I stare at him.
He laughs harder.“Jesus, Mellow.I’ve never seen you like this.”
“I’m not like anything.”
Looney laughed out loud the fucker.“You bought a booster seat and now you’re debating cotton quality.”
“It’s a T-shirt.”I explain looking at the clothing as if an answer may just come out of thin air.
“It’s two T-shirts,” Looney corrects.
Moving back to my closet, I make a decision.I grab a shirt off a hanger and pull it over my head just to end the conversation.Dark charcoal henley this time, not black.Clean jeans.Boots.Sliding my cut on, I relax instantly under the weight of the leather.
Looney watches me button the collar once at the throat and shakes his head slowly.“You are going down hard, Brother.”
“Shut up.”
He lifts both hands.“I’m just saying, if you start talking about your feelings, I’m moving out of state.”
“I don’t have feelings.”
He snorts.“Sure, you don’t.And I’m a walking poster child for sanity.”
I grab my keys off the dresser and brush past him.
In the hall, he calls after me, “Don’t get arrested!”
“Wasn’t planning on it.”
“Then it’s true love!”
I flip him off without looking back.
The bike’s already out front, cleaned this afternoon because that is a great test for the dipshits, aka prospects to do especially in the Alabama heat.I roll it down the drive and out toward Lucy’s place with the kind of tension under my ribs I haven’t felt in years.
Not before a run.Not before a fight.Something worse.Excitement for something new.
Lindsey’s SUV is already in Lucy’s driveway when I pull up.Good.Means Quinn’s covered like I arranged.
I kill the engine and sit there one second too long, hands on the bars, staring at the porch light washing warm gold across the steps.Her curtains are half-open.A shadow moves inside.
Then the front door opens.Lucy steps out.And every thought in my head clears clean out.
She’s wearing a pair of dark denim jeans with a deep green fitted shirt that makes her hair look even lighter, her skin soft and warm under the porch light.Ankle boots with a slight heel.Small earrings I probably shouldn’t notice but do.Her hair is braided, falling over one shoulder, and for half a second I forget how breathing works.
She catches me looking and stops at the top of the steps.I wanted to do the traditional walk to the door and shit, but she beat me to it coming out already.
“What?”
The question comes out almost shy, which doesn’t fit the smile touching her mouth.
I get off the bike and approach her.“You look beautiful.”No reason to bullshit it.She’s fucking show stopping.
Heat rises in her cheeks.
“Thank you.”
Lindsey appears in the doorway behind her, grinning like she’s just been handed front row seats.
