19. Lissie
Chapter 19
Lissie
“Please stop me from dreaming of him. He is the villain. Don’t forget that.”
I ’m sitting in the coffee shop waiting for Letti to finish her order when someone walks in.
When I look around it’s Cody’s mother who’s walking in and heading straight to our table. She stops when she sees me sitting there.
“Lissie.” She turns to look around. I never really had much to do with Cody’s mother since she always hated me for marrying Cody so young. I’ve seen her only a handful of times over the years.
“I’m afraid I interrupted your coffee, but once I saw you—” She stops as she looks at me. “You don’t come here often.”
“No, I don’t.” Because Cody had all the money, I couldn’t do anything.
“And your health, dear? Better? Cody said you ran off to get better, something about being sick in the head,” Cody’s mother says to me. I sit there, confused. Of course, she speaks to him. And, of course, he wouldn’t mention what a fuckhead he is or what he did.
“It’s a shame, really,” his mother says, and I don’t even bother asking her what she means.
I stand, grabbing my empty purse, as Letti joins us. I turn to Cody’s mother and give her a warm smile. I don’t mean it, but I try not to let my discomfort show. Her eyes narrow slightly, and I feel like I see a flicker of disdain before she forces a polite smile in return.
“It was nice seeing you again. Tell my son to call me when you get home.” She reaches out and grabs hold of my arm. I pull back and rub unconsciously at my wrists where Cody tied me up. They are completely healed now, but just hearing his mother talk of me going home to him has me feeling trapped as sure as I was when I was tied to that damn bed.
“I guess he never told you then.”
“Told me what, dear?”
“That I left him for fucking his whores while he had me tied to his bed.”
She blanches and takes a step back. “What an awful thing to say about my son.”
“No worse than the truth.”
She pats her hair. “I see what Cody meant now. You really are sick in the head.”
I take a step forward. “Just because you are blind to his faults doesn’t mean they aren’t there.”
Letti mumbles something unintelligible, so I glance back at her before she pulls me out of the shop. “Tell that dickhead to also add a bullet to his shopping list, and hopefully he can use it.” I freeze at her words—suicide is a touchy subject to me. She doesn’t immediately realize their impact, but I do.
And it’s not her fault.
“Lissie,” Letti breathes, and then her eyes go wide. “Shit, sorry. I forgot.”
“It’s fine. Thank you for getting me out of that situation.”
“So, that’s Cody’s mother?” she says, changing the subject, and I don’t miss the sarcastic edge in her tone.
“Yep, and I can guarantee she will be calling him right now to tell him she saw me,” I say with an eye roll. “Glad I’ve got that interview today at that bar. What did you say it’s called again? Scars?”
“Yep, and I’m sure you’ll get the job.” She beams at me. “Now, let’s get home and get you dressed.”
“They have the best steak… it’s literally amazing.” Letti passes me the menu as we sit in the bar. It was a great interview, and Letti wanted to stay for food. The manager was wonderful and knew I had no experience, but basically, she brushed that off and told me I could learn since it’s not rocket science.
“You eat here?” I just assumed they only served alcohol.
“Yes. You haven’t eaten anything good until you’ve tried their steak.” She raises a brow at me, nodding her head at the same time. I laugh and shake mine. Lowering my gaze to the menu, I find what she mentioned—a steak with veggies on the side. A waitress comes over and takes our order, smiling at me as she does.
“You’re Lissie, right? Haylee just mentioned she hired you,” she says, pointing her pen at me.
“Ahhh, yeah?” I reply.
“Your next bartender,” Letti says with pride.
“Always good to have new blood,” she says, winking before she heads to the kitchen to put in our order.
I turn to Letti. “How do you know everyone here?”
She goes to speak as someone slides in next to me. Letti’s cheeks start to pinken, and by the smell alone, I know exactly who it is. I hate that I know the way he smells and that I know without looking that he’s leaning toward me.
“Because of us,” he answers for her.
I still refuse to look at him, keeping my eyes locked on Letti. “Have you fucked the waitress here too?” I ask Milo, my back still to him.
“Now, Elizabeth, is that jealousy I hear?” His voice lowers to a whisper as he gets closer to my ear. “You want to fuck me?” I turn to Milo, who’s watching me with eager eyes, so close that my gaze flicks to his lips. I remember how they tasted, and then I feel bad, really bad. I turn back just as the waitress comes over with our drinks and places them in front of us. Letti refuses to make eye contact with us.
“Do I get an apology for you knocking over my bike? You scratched it, Pretty Lady, and I had to get that fixed.”
I ignore him and his sultry voice, which is way too close, and focus on Letti instead.
“I’ll forgive you, just this once, if you’ll kiss me,” he croons in my ear. Letti’s eyes move to Milo. I huff out a breath and turn to look at him. When I do, he wastes no time, his lips finding mine, bruising them as he kisses me.
I forget to breathe when he kisses me. It’s like he sucks all my oxygen from me and takes it for himself. I’m too stunned to pull away or stop this, but thankfully—or not—he pulls away first and smirks at me. My brows shoot up, and anger hits me hard. Before I can say or do anything, he’s up and leaving.
“So, you and Milo?” Stunned at what just happened, I turn back to see Letti grinning as she raises her drink toward her mouth. “We always wondered why he never settled down. Now I guess we have our answer.” She takes a sip. “I mean, he always did watch you like a hawk when we were younger and you were at parties with us.”
I never noticed that. But, then again, I never noticed much of anything, as I was too lost in my own pain.
“Why was he here?” I ask.
The waitress brings our steaks out, interrupting me as she places them before us, before she winks at us.
“This is on the house, girls. Enjoy. And holla at us when you’re ready. The boss said you’ll need something sweet after this.”
“Thanks, Chastity,” Lissie says as the waitress, Chastity, walks off. I look past her and see men with leather vests, some of whom I recognize, near the pool table. I spot Mason and he holds up a beer, nodding hello to me. I don’t see Milo anywhere, though.
“Who owns this place?” I ask.
“Milo does.”
She cuts into her steak, and I do the same to mine. It does look good.
“Milo?”
“Yep. He owns a few other places, too, but I like to come here best. He hired a kid off the street and taught him how to cook. And, damn, he’s a good cook.”
“Milo’s reputation…” I start to say.
“Oh, we all know. Most of the town is shit-scared of him, but he helped me out when no one else would. Don’t get me wrong, he’s scary, but the good type of scary.”
“You think he’s scary?”
She nods, taking a bite of steak. Her eyes close for a brief second before they open back up. “Do you not?”
“I think of him as Milo.”
Just then, he walks by our table and looks my way. He doesn’t say anything, but I can see it written all over his face. Milo knows he will win whatever battle we have going on. He tells me so by the slight curve of his lips and his raised brow.
I finally peel my eyes off Milo, stab a piece of steak, and bite into it. She’s right.
This is the best steak I’ve ever had.
“Your family is fine with you hanging around him?” I ask, cutting another piece of steak. “I mean, I get who your brother is, but they’re fine with you there all the time as well?”
“Well, my mother wasn’t happy. My father thinks Morris is the best thing to ever happen to the family. And while I’m going to school—”
“You’re in school?”
“Yep, to be a lawyer.” She beams. “Part-time. I can’t take it all on at once.” She shakes her head and places her knife and fork down. “The club has helped me heaps. You know… they pay well too.” She winks.
Dessert comes without us ordering it. I spot Milo in the corner, with a drink in hand, watching us. I flip him off, and he throws his head back and laughs before raising his glass to me. I try not to smile but fail miserably.
“You ready to head back?” Letti asks, pushing away the plate from the brownie we just ate. “I’m so full.”
“I can see why you come here. The food is great.”
She nods in agreement. “Do you mind if we stop at my parents’ house on the way home?” she asks.
“Should you be drinking?” Milo asks Letti, suddenly standing next to us.
“Should you be kissing women without their permission?” I ask in return. A few of his friends cough and laugh around us.
Letti excuses herself to chat with her brother. Even if she didn’t have anything to say to Morris, I bet she would quickly find something to make herself scarce.
“I had permission. You’re just slow to the party,” he says matter-of-factly.
I raise a brow and step closer to him. “I never gave you permission. So does that mean I have permission to do as I please to you?”
“Yes, please.” He smirks, and I have to stop the responding smile that wants to attach itself to my lips.
Stepping even closer so there is only a sliver of space between us, I lean up on my tippy-toes and get as close to his ear as possible. “You’ll keep your lips to yourself, won’t you?”
“Nope,” he replies, and I reach between us and grip his cock, hard, through his jeans.
He stands there, unmoving, and stares at me. “I like it dirty. How dirty do you want to get, Pretty Lady? Can you handle it?”
“Keep your lips to yourself.” I squeeze him briefly and then release before turning and striding straight out the door. I’m reaching for my cell when he walks out behind me.
“A kiss for a ride home,” he offers.
I roll my eyes at him as Letti pokes her head around the door. “I’ll be a bit, but if you don’t want to hang around, Milo can take you. You have a key, right?” Her eyes dart to Milo, who nods before she looks back to me. I nod, too, not wanting to burden her any further.
“Get on the bike,” he orders, putting the kickstand up and moving the bike so it’s in front of me. Looking away, I take Letti’s helmet he offers me and get on. This time, I don’t need any help as I climb on behind him and wrap my arms around his waist. The air is cold on my hands, so I slip them into his jacket and under his shirt until I find his skin. He doesn’t pull away or tell me to move my hands at the touch of my cool palms.
Leaning against him, he takes the turns slow and steady, and if I didn’t know any better, I would say he also took the long way home. When he gets to Letti’s street, he slows down until we stop out front, where he turns off the bike and pulls his helmet off.
The first thing I smell as I take my own helmet off is his hair. I think that’s where his rich leather scent comes from. Climbing off, I go to hand him the helmet, but he looks at it and back at me.
If those eyes could tell me a story, they would tell me how much he wants to devour me right now.
“Come back to the clubhouse with me?” he asks. I bite the inside of my cheek and shake my head. “Elizabeth.” He reaches for my hand, but I pull it away before he can capture it.
I shouldn’t form attachments while I’m still trying to repair myself.
That would be a stupid thing to do.
And I am far from stupid.
So why do I want to be stupid with him?
“I have to sleep. I’m tired.” I walk up the path to the apartment, and when I get to the door, I look over my shoulder to see him still watching me. “Thanks for the lift, Milo.”
I go inside before I change my mind.