Chapter 19
CHAPTER
NINETEEN
LINDY
“Lindy? That you?”
I stopped moving, my grip tightening on the window wiper in my hand. I’d never forget that voice. Ever.
Zac, Wes’s friend from the old days, stood there gawking at me as I cleaned the windows of Lenore’s Lace before opening. I glanced at him. He wore a jacket and shirt and tie with khakis and loafers. And that flippant smirk of his. “What are you doing here?”
I wiped the window dry in long strokes. “Working.”
“Here in Meager? At the lingerie store? You modeling here or…”
“Are you modeling?” I sprayed cleaner on the next section of glass. Unfortunately, he didn’t move away, didn’t walk past. My muscles tightened under his inspection.
He let out a too-loud laugh. “I’m an accountant now. I work at a company in Rapid?—”
“Don’t care.”
“You look…amazing.”
“You sound amazed.”
He let out a short laugh. “I am. Full of amazement and awe.” His voice drawled. The arrogant shit was flirting with me.
“You’re full of crap, and I’m real busy. Good-bye.”
“Aw come on, don’t be cold with me, Lindy. We used to be friends, didn’t we?”
“No, we were never friends.”
Grinning, he sauntered in closer to me. “We should go out sometime, catch up, hang out.”
“Why would I do that? I don’t like you. Never have.”
He chuckled, almost shrugged, his hand wiping down his navy blue tie. “Liking” each other didn’t matter. What he was after, as ever, was to get laid.
He cleared his throat. “After that night, I called you so many times, but you never called me back.”
I wiped down the window in long strokes.
“I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“Fuck off. You lit the match and walked away laughing.”
“That’s not the way it was. I laid out the truth about Wes at your feet. You saw him that night with his girlfriend. You wouldn’t believe me, so I had to show you. That must have been some shock, but you don’t have to take it out on the messenger. Wes is the one who blew up your world, not me. I was honest with you—” His hand flattened against his chest.
“Honest? You had a big plan for us that day in Deadwood, didn’t you?”
“Come on, that was…boys being boys.”
I stilled, my lungs crushing together. “Of course, you said that.”
He pointed a finger at me. “After he blew you off without a word, I was the one being understanding. Wes was the coldhearted liar.”
Fierce winds gathered in my chest, whipping together into a tornado. “You offering me revenge sex after I saw him with that girl was you being understanding?”
“It was an opportunity to get him but good, but no reply…” A grin twitched his lips.
My fingers tightened around the neck of the liquid cleaner bottle. “I missed out, huh?”
“Fuck yeah you did. But we could have some real fun now.” His teeth dragged against his bottom lip. “You don’t look like that spooked virgin anymore, so?—”
I lunged at him, the bottle soaring, my fist flying, landing on his face. He howled as pain exploded through my hand. The plastic bottle spun on the sidewalk at my feet.
An arm snapped around my waist, hauling me backward. “Hey!” shouted Bear, the huge One-Eyed Jack who was my protector of the day.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Zac’s hand covered his eye as he gasped for air, coughing. “You crazy bitch!”
“You’ve always been nothing but a cheap bully!” I launched at him again, but got heaved and landed in someone else’s grip. Wes.
“Who the hell is this joker?” growled Bear, his hand on Zac’s chest, holding him back.
“Who the fuck are you?” Zac screeched, hopping on his toes. “Don’t touch me! I’ll sue you for assault.” Zac blinked at me and Wes, his face splotched with red, his tie crooked. “Are you two together again?”
“You still talking?” ground out Wes.
“Stay away from us, you rotten piece of shit.” My hands cuffed Wes’s arm, which remained firm around my middle. Steady and sturdy. I pressed into the wall of his body, and his grip on me tightened.
Bear let go of Zac. “Keep moving.”
Wiping at his mouth, Zac glared at me. “You’re nothing but a trashy cu?—”
Wes lunged at him, a hand at his shirt collar, pulling, twisting, shaking him. Bear stepped back and caught me with his heavy arm.
“Not one word more, you fuck. Not. One,” shouted Wes. “Do not even look at her. Not ever. You hear me?” Lips curling, he shoved him, and Zac stumbled back. “Move the fuck on, man!”
“Don’t talk to either one of them again, you hear?” Bear growled at Zac. “Now move!”
“Fucking low-life white trash bikers.”
“Who you calling white trash, asshole?” I yelled.
“All of you! And him—” his voice seething, he gestured at Wes. “Sure, now he’s playing the white knight, but he’s nothing but a pussy! Tried to back out of our plan at the last minute, ‘cause he felt bad. Fucking idiot, ruined everything. Would’ve been so good. We were going to pop all your cherries, Lindy. I was?—”
Wes flew, his arm swinging. In a flash, Bear grabbed him back with one hand and shoved at Zac with his other. “Shut your foul mouth, you little fuck!” He shook Zac like a sack of beans.
My lungs squeezed tightly in my chest. Wes had changed his mind. Wes had said no. He’d said no.
Zac smoothed back his hair and adjusted his waistband, an ugly scowl searing his bruised face. “You two deserve each other, you know that?”
Ignoring Zac, my arm slid around Wes’s torso, and he pulled me in tightly alongside his body. Casting us a final acidic glare as he spouted curses under his breath, Zac tracked down the sidewalk, shaking his head.
“What a fucking shit,” muttered Bear.
Wes pressed me deeper into his side. “You okay?”
My gaze locked on his like a magnet, and heat blasted through my veins. Wes was no longer the legend in my teenage mind—not the knight in shining armor, not the ruthless villain. He was a man. A man who felt passionately and deeply, a man who made mistakes and bore regrets. The man I craved.
My hands went to his jaw, and raising up on my toes, I brushed my lips against his, and a moan uncoiled in his throat, matching mine. We held each other, kissing fiercely, kissing gently.
There on Clay Street in broad daylight, in the heart of Meager, we kissed like it was the beginning of something new, something that would last forever.
Only in my world, nothing lasted forever.