His grin stayed in place, but something about it thinned.Not enough to be rude.Just enough to make me notice.
“You ask a lot of questions,” he said.
“I own the Dairy Bar.Asking questions and talking to people is like half the job.”
He reached over and grabbed another cheese curd.“My trip was nothing, Ever.”
I let it go, but it was still weird that he wouldn’t tell me anything.Not even his friends’ names.
Jesse reached over and brushed his thumb across the corner of my mouth.“You had ranch there,” he said.
I froze for half a second, then nodded like a normal person and not someone who had suddenly become hyper-aware of the fact that his hand was still near my face.
“Oh,” I said.“Thanks.”
He smiled at me.
A good smile.Easy, manly, not too polished.The kind that probably got him what he wanted more often than not.
And I liked him.
I did.
I needed to remember that.
“You’re quiet,” he said after a minute.
I looked down at my lemonade.“Just thinking.”
“Dangerous.”
“So I’ve been told.”
“What about?”
I hesitated.
Because I couldn’t exactly say,I’m trying to figure out why safe feels good but not enough and why the thought of bringing you to the clubhouse makes my stomach do weird things because of another man.
So I went with, “Saturday.”
“The party?”
“Yeah.”
He leaned back slightly.“You don’t want to go?”
“No, I do.”I picked at the paper wrapper from my straw.“It’s just…”
I paused again, because how did I explain the Fallen Lords to someone outside of them without sounding ridiculous?
Jesse waited.
I blew out a breath.“That world is… a lot.”
“That bad?”
“No.”I shook my head.“Not bad.Just loud.Big personalities.Everybody in everybody else’s business.Once you get pulled into it, you kind of just…” I made a vague circling motion with my hand.“Get absorbed.”
