Chapter 47 #2
Hours later, I knew two things with absolute certainty. First, my entire body was going to hurt tomorrow. Second, Jasper had intentionally allowed me to believe we were going to Nebraska without ever saying Nebraska once.
The road had been strangely soothing at first. I wrapped myself around him because there was nowhere else to put my arms, pressed my cheek between his shoulder blades, and let the steady vibration of the motorcycle drown out everything I didn’t want to think about.
Jasper stopped often enough that I knew he was watching me more carefully than he pretended, feeding me coffee and food, checking my hands for cold, touching my face as though he needed physical confirmation that I was still beside him.
It wasn’t until the signs started pointing farther south and the air started getting warmer that suspicion pushed through my exhaustion.
By the time we crossed into Louisiana, I was too tired to be angry.
I should have known.
The city swallowed us in sound and light, a completely different world from the quiet roads we had spent most of the day traveling.
Music drifted through open doors. People spilled across sidewalks.
The air smelled warmer, heavier, carrying food and alcohol and something sweet I couldn’t identify beneath the exhaust.
Jasper changed as soon as we entered the city.
I felt it in the way he sat on the bike. Something in him loosened as streets became familiar, his body leaning through turns without hesitation. Even the way his voice changed as soon as we hit Louisiana—that southern accent so similar to Gator’s.
Nebraska might be where he lived now, but watching him navigate New Orleans made me understand what he had meant when he said home.
He had never promised to take me west.
The Bourbon Bar sat in the middle of all that New Orleans energy as if someone had captured the city and shoved it through the front doors.
Even before Jasper killed the engine, I could hear laughter from inside.
Music spilled onto the sidewalk every time the door opened, followed by bursts of conversation and the warm smell of whiskey and fried food.
I climbed off the motorcycle slowly, my legs protesting the movement. “You are such an asshole,” I said with no heat in my voice.
Jasper removed his helmet and gave me a completely unapologetic smile. “You asked where we were going.”
“And you said home.”
“This is home.”
“You knew I thought you meant Nebraska.”
“I cannot be held responsible for assumptions made by beautiful women.”
I would have argued if the door hadn’t opened, allowing Devlyn to step outside.
For half a second, she simply stared at Jasper. Then her eyes landed on me, and every bit of surprise disappeared beneath concern.
“Fiona?”
Hearing my name in her voice did something I wasn’t expecting. Rosewood suddenly felt much closer than all the miles behind us.
“Devlyn.”
She crossed the sidewalk before I could say anything else and pulled me into her arms. I held on tightly until she pulled back. Her hands remained on my arms as she studied my face. Whatever she saw there wiped the surprise from her expression. “What happened?”
Before I could decide how to answer, she looked over my shoulder at Jasper.
Her eyes narrowed.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
Jasper sounded entirely too pleased with himself when he replied, “Mornin’, Dragon Lady.”
“Don’t Dragon Lady me, Romeo. Why the fuck are you standing outside my bar with Fiona?”
Gator appeared in the doorway behind her, his attention moving from Jasper to me before settling back on his cousin.
Jasper lifted his hands. “Long story.”
Devlyn looked at me again, and this time the concern in her face deepened. “Apparently.”
Despite myself, I laughed.
Devlyn looked at me again, and whatever she saw wiped the irritation from her face. She squeezed my hand. “Come upstairs with me. You look like you need a bed that isn’t moving seventy miles an hour.”
I glanced toward Jasper automatically.
His gaze met mine immediately. “Go on, Ma Belle. I’ll be up shortly.”
There were questions waiting for him in the Bourbon Bar. I could see that much in the faces of the men who had begun paying attention from inside and in Gator’s expression now that he was looking at Jasper instead of me. Whatever conversation was about to happen belonged to them.
Devlyn led me through the bar and toward the stairs.
Upstairs was quieter. Not silent, because the bar still existed beneath our feet, but the music became a muffled rhythm instead of something filling the entire room. Devlyn led me down the hall into a bedroom, then closed the door.
“Before anything else, Fi, tell me you’re here because you chose to come with him.”
“Yes.” The answer came without hesitation. Whatever else I was uncertain about, that wasn’t part of it. I had climbed onto Jasper’s motorcycle because I wanted to go with him. Even now, exhausted and aching from the ride, I didn’t wish I had stayed behind.
Some of the tension left Devlyn’s face, but she kept watching me. “Okay. Then something else is eating at you, because this isn’t the face of a woman who just decided she wants the man downstairs.”
That came close enough to the truth that I sat on the edge of the bed rather than try to pretend otherwise. My hands settled in my lap, and I found myself staring at them instead of at her.
“He doesn’t know about Charlie. I tried to tell him before we left, but he wouldn’t let me.”
I looked up at Devlyn. “I started to tell him, but before I could get the words out, he kissed me. Then he told me whatever I was afraid to say could wait until I was ready.”
Devlyn came over and sat beside me. “And that’s what has you twisted up?”