Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 73192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Unfortunately, now she was playing hard to get, reminding me around every corner that this was only temporary.
Honestly, I wasn’t sure if at this point that was what she felt herself, or if she was just repeating the words that came out of my mouth as a reminder to herself.
All bets were off, though. Slowly and surely, I’d reel her in, entwine her life in with mine and make her feel loved and worshipped while also not restricting her inquisitive nature.
“So how did you meet ol’ Tyler here?” Corban Bryant, a twenty-year veteran and Texas State Trooper, asked.
Reagan’s eyes twinkled as she turned to me.
“He pushed me down in the mud,” she teased, her eyes shining with an inner light that was practically daring me to spank her ass.
“You lie,” I snorted. “What she failed to tell you was that she was trespassing on my property and that she was stealing my shit.”
“Moss. I was ‘stealing’ moss. And he made me give it back.” She sneered.
The men at the table started to chuckle.
It was my ex-partner, Dade MacIntyre, who said, “I bet he scraped off that entire tree where you took the moss, too. Didn’t he?”
Reagan blinked wide-eyed. “How did you know?”
She said it sounding like she was so in awe that I had to laugh.
“Dade and I were partners for three years,” I informed her. “He knows me about as well as Rome…” I trailed off.
“And there’s the elephant in the room,” Dade said. “How’s ol’ Rome doin’ anyway?”
I shrugged and threw my arm around Reagan’s shoulders. “I don’t know, to be honest. Reagan and I saw him when we went out to eat a month or so ago. He didn’t look very happy, but I don’t know if that was due to the fact that he saw me, or that he finally realized that Tara was a vindictive woman.”
“Probably both,” Dade said. “I saw him at the hospital a few weeks ago. He didn’t look any more pleased that day, either.”
I wanted to ask badly about why Rome was there, but I chose not to open my mouth.
Reagan, however, didn’t have the same problem.
“Why was he there?” she asked as she dipped her chip into the hot sauce. The hot sauce that she’d poured so much butter into that it no longer resembled hot sauce as much as butter with a smidge of hot sauce added to it.
“He was there with a little boy. Did you know he joined a motorcycle club?” Dade asked.
My brows rose. “No. Which one?”
“The vest said Bear Bottom MC on it.” He shrugged.
If my brows could go any higher, they would have.
“That’s the one that’s affiliated with the Dixie Wardens. In fact, I think they are Dixie Wardens,” Reagan said as she tapped her finger absently on the table as her face pursed in a frown. “Kind of. Janie’s grandfather is a Dixie Warden. From Benton, Louisiana. They branched off into a chapter in Bear Bottom a few years ago. Their kids kind of took it over, and then went and changed the name because they felt like they had something to prove, and couldn’t do it by taking the easy way out and taking their fathers’ MC name.”
I grinned.
I knew exactly who they were, because I’d almost joined with Rome.
I was sad that he’d done it without me.
Sad about a lot of things when it came to Rome, actually.
I looked down at my lap where I was tearing apart my napkin, piece by piece.
If I were being honest, I was more upset about Rome than I was about Tara. I missed my friend.
A tiny finger poked my side and I looked to the side to see Reagan staring at me with worry on her face.
“You okay?” she mouthed.
I shrugged.
Okay was a relative term. Physically, I was okay. Emotionally? I didn’t think I’d ever get over losing my best friend—a man that had been there my whole life. A friend since I was a kid.
It was awful mourning the loss of someone who wasn’t dead.
Reagan frowned, moving her hand to rest on my thigh.
The move put her hand over what was left of the demolished napkin and I was forced to either remove her hand from my leg or stop tearing up the napkin.
There was one thing that I’d never be able to do when it came to Reagan Rose Alvarez and that was disappoint her.
I let the napkin go and then placed my free hand on top of hers while dropping the remnants of my napkin on the floor at my feet.
She relaxed into me, but before she did, I saw the determination on her face.
Reagan looked like she wanted to fix what was broken between me and Rome, but she couldn’t. Hell, even I couldn’t.
There were just some things that could never be fixed, even if the two parties involved had been best friends since they’d learned how to walk.