Page 10 of Property of Player

Her eyes hit my VP patch. “I think it’s obvious why. And with my brother gone, you’ve moved right up, haven’t you?”

“It wasn’t what I wanted. I didn’t want Dozer dead.”

“Oh, please. You’ve wanted to be VP since you were sixteen.”

“Not like this. Not the way it happened.”

She shrugs. “Whatever. I have to get to work.” She pushes past me, and I let her go, but I vow this won’t be the end. I haven’t felt this alive in four long years. But even as I watch her go, I know she’s going to have me breaking every rule I’ve set for myself. I promised myself I’d never put another woman I cared about in danger again. And taking up with Taylor again would do exactly that.

Frustration surges through me, and I punch the wall.

Goddamn it.

When I return to the table, Molly gives me a lifted brow but doesn’t ask.

My plate of food is waiting, and everyone has started eating. Taylor ordered us crab cake sandwiches and homemade potato chips. Someone in the kitchen must have delivered them while I had her outside.

The aroma of the food is mouthwatering, and Beck moans around his first bite.

I dig in. Jumbo lump crabmeat seasoned and broiled to perfection served on a toasted bun. I remember them well. Her father always made the best anywhere around, hands down. It’s good to see the recipe hasn’t changed in all these years.

My father’s laser eyes don’t miss my cut knuckles when I reach for my beer.

His gaze shifts to the bar where Taylor is slamming the cooler with more force than necessary.

We eat, and the table is subdued by the date and the visit to the cemetery, but maybe more so because my brothers are pissed at my father. I can’t blame them. The news our father dropped on them today rocked their world.

There’s something about losing the home you grew up in. It’s like we can never go home again, even though I know in my brain it’s not the location as much as it is the family. Tell that to my heart.

This sucks, and we all know it.

After we eat, my father pays the tab and drops a hefty tip in cash on the table.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spot Taylor behind the bar. She watches us exit, a line of leather-clad men who walked out of her life after Dozer’s death as abruptly as we’d walked in.

I can still see the devastation on her face the day we buried him. After losing her father, losing her big brother was just too much for her. She left town before I had a chance to see her.

Although she and I had been over for a long time by then, it still tore my heart out to see her pain that day. When I heard she’d left town and I realized she’d really gone out of my life completely, it was sobering.

Somehow, I’d always felt our story wasn’t over, that somewhere down the line we’d mend our fences and at least be friends again.

She knew me better than anyone, and although she’d lost her brother, I’d lost my mother and wife that day, and I needed a friend. I’d longed to talk to her. She’d always been a good listener, but she wasn’t here for me when I needed her most.

I suppose I didn’t deserve her sympathy or empathy.

Payback’s a bitch, as they say, and I’d hurt her badly.

Chapter five

Player

After we eat, I drop Molly off at her car in the clubhouse parking lot.

She tries to question me about Taylor, but I cut her off with a twist of my throttle. I don’t even climb from my bike, just sit there waiting until she gets in her car.

She picks up my mood and doesn’t push, giving me a quick peck on the cheek. I think she reads me enough to know I’d shove her off if she tried to kiss my mouth right now.

Once she pulls out, I meet with the guys at a nearby gas station.