Mickayla took a deep breath.“I’m trying to tell myself he didn’t mean what he said.Otherwise, forgiving him will be a tall order.”
My brows drew together.“You mean the part about getting yourself a man?His voice carried on the breeze.”
Mickayla’s bitter laugh filled the sedan.“No, him saying he didn’t have time for ‘dealing with the shit a wayward wild child pulls’ with special emphasis onchild.”
Alexandra’s head dipped toward her shoulder.“He probably didn’t mean it like that.”
“He did.It came up more than once in that conversation.We were both pissed though, so I’m trying to let it go.”
Alexandra’s cell rang.
“Hey, Raff—,” she answered, then paused.
After a moment, Alexandra said, “You should call me after you calm down.”
Another pause.Alexandra twisted her head to aim an annoyed look at Mickayla, who chuckled quietly.
“Tundra stopped us from doing anything, not that there was anything we could do, and I knowyouknow that because you’re at that truck stop thanks to Tundra’s text.”
The next pause was much shorter.
“No, Raff, we’re almost there, so please use the next fifteen minutes to cool down or we’re going to have an entirely different type of problem.See you soon, babe,” Alexandra said.
She tucked her phone away and looked over her shoulder at me.“Nickel is at the truck stop with Rafferty.Seems you and I are riding back on their bikes, and Mickayla has to drive back alone.”
“That sucks.Even though I love being on his motorcycle,” I muttered.
“Oh, boy.Sounds like you got it bad,” Mickayla said.
Alexandra aimed a gentle look at Mickayla.“I hate to tell you this, Mick, but if your future man is a biker, you’re gonna have it just as bad because there’s a big difference between riding with my dad and riding with Rafferty.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Mickayla said, then twisted her head toward Alexandra.“You sure we need to stop at the truck stop?”
“I’m sure I don’t want to poke the bear,” Alexandra said.
Chapter 25
A Dressing-Down
Ryan
NomatterhowmuchI tried, I couldn’t help but overhear Bluff’s side of the conversation with Alexandra.He sounded as pissed as I’d felt when I discovered Ivy wasn’t in my room.With anyone else, I’d still be pissed, but somehow I’d calmed down after talking to Ivy.Or maybe it was that I knew how persuasive my sister could be, and I’d have been along for the ride, too.
Maybe.
Then again, I had years of experience in resisting her ideas or even diverting her attention to something completely different.
The notion of Ivy going back to that place set my teeth on edge.I hated her revisiting that trauma – especially since it was a damned fool’s errand.No way Campbell’s body was still where we’d left it, five days later.
Our morning session of church and information Lark shared had cast a new light on the whole situation.
“I can’t believe Lark got us into this fuckin’ mess,” Bluff said.
I sighed.“Yeah, but he isn’t gonna ask a woman if she’s someone’s ol’ lady if it’s a random hook-up and she hasn’t given him reason to suspect that shit.”
Bluff’s eyebrows arched as he shot me a pointed look.“But it wasn’t just random.He said he was with her at a rally and hooked up again back in May.Would Ricochet have a random hook-up with a customer at On a Lark?Something tells me all of you know not to do that shit.”
I wobbled my head as I thought about it.“She wandered in the first day of our soft launch four months ago.He made sure to cut her loose after that.Problem was her nephews didn’t come around until two days later.I’m amazed Lark put it together.”
