Chapter Fourteen
Bone
It was eleven-thirty at night and I was on my bike with no fucking reason to be riding into Marshfield.
At least, that was what I told myself. I knew where I was going.
I’d known when I walked out of the clubhouse and climbed onto my bike. I’d known when I turned toward town instead of taking one of the back roads I usually rode when I needed to clear my head.
I damn sure knew when Bing’s came into view.
I just wasn’t admitting it.
Hazel had been on my mind too fucking much.
All day. Yesterday too.
Since Friday, if I wanted to be completely fucking accurate.
Her standing against the brick wall behind Bing’s. Her smart mouth. Her eyes dropping to mine. Her asking me for that ride last night.
I’d wanted to say yes. That was the fucked-up part.
When I’d walked out of Ma’s house and seen Hazel sitting on her porch in those tiny fucking shorts and that scrap of a tank top, I’d almost forgotten the plans I’d already made.
Almost, but I’d had shit to handle. Club shit.
Plans I couldn’t blow off because the woman next door was sitting on her porch looking like every dirty thought I’d had about her over the last week.
So I’d told her I needed a raincheck. The disappointment that flashed across her face had stuck with me.
I wasn’t responsible for Hazel’s feelings. Hell, there weren’t any feelings between us to be responsible for.
There was attraction. A lot of it.
I was tired of walking around hard every time I thought about what would’ve happened if Kori hadn’t opened that back door Friday night.
I needed Hazel off my mind.
More like I needed to get off.
That would solve the problem.
I turned into Bing’s parking lot and circled around the building.
The employee lot was in back, and I’d noticed where Hazel parked Friday night. I pulled into the space beside her SUV and killed the engine.
Silence settled around me.
I stayed on the bike, looked at her SUV, and then shook my head. “What the fuck are you doing?”
No answer. Probably because there wasn’t a good one.
I didn’t chase women. Never had.
Yet here I fucking was.
Eleven-thirty on a Tuesday night sitting outside Hazel’s job. That looked a hell of a lot like chasing.
I reached into my cut and pulled out my cigarettes. I lit one and inhaled, the smoke filled my lungs as I stared at her SUV.
I wasn’t chasing Hazel. I was finishing something we’d already started.
That was different.
Friday night had been leading somewhere.
We both knew it.
Last night, she’d asked for the ride.
She wanted to spend time with me. I wanted to spend time with her.
And if that time ended with Hazel underneath me? Even fucking better.
I finished half the cigarette before I decided sitting in a parking lot arguing with myself was fucking pathetic.
I dropped it, crushed it beneath my boot, and headed for the back door. The same door I’d followed Hazel through Friday night.
I pulled it open and the music hit me.
Nothing like Friday.
Bing’s wasn’t dead, but it wasn’t packed either.
One pool table had a game going. Maybe ten people were scattered along the bar. A couple sat at one of the high-top tables near the dance floor.
Nobody was dancing.
Nobody was yelling.
I scanned the bar for Hazel, but I didn’t see her.
I knew she was here. Her SUV was outside.
I headed toward the bar and a couple guys looked over when they noticed my cut.
One nodded.
I nodded back, then I took the stool at the far end, away from everyone else.
CL spotted me. He finished pouring a drink and walked over. “Bone.”
“CL.”
“What’re you drinking?”
“Usual.”
He nodded. Didn’t ask what I was doing there alone on a Tuesday night. Another reason I liked him.
He went for the cooler, and I rested my forearms on the bar and looked toward the swinging door leading into the back.
The door swung open and Hazel walked through.
There she was.
Black shorts. Bing’s shirt. Hair pulled up tonight with pieces falling loose around her face. She had a plastic tub filled with clean glasses balanced against her hip.
Her eyes were down as she pushed through the door and then she looked up.
Surprise flashed across her face, but I could tell she was glad to see me.
Fuck.
She handed the tub to CL. “Can you—” Her eyes came back to me.
CL took it. “I got it.”
She headed straight to me. That shouldn’t have pleased me as much as it did, but it fucking did. She stopped on the other side of the bar. “Well.”
I leaned back slightly. “Well?”
Her eyes moved past me. She looked toward the pool tables, then the front door, then around the rest of the bar.
“What’re you looking for?”
“The invasion.”
I almost smiled. “What invasion?”
“Your motorcycle army.”
“Not here.”
She looked behind me again. “None of them?”
“Just me.”
Her gaze settled on mine.
“Disappointed?” I asked.
Hazel rested both hands on the bar. “I’m sure Crystal will be.”
“Crystal?”
“She was very excited about the tips Friday night.”
I chuckled. “The guys tend to tip well.”
“Yeah, Kori and Crystal made out good.”
“Did you?”
Her eyebrows lifted. “Did you what?”
“Tip out well?”
Hazel thought about it. “Decent.”
I stared at her. “Decent?”
“I tipped you fifty bucks,” I chuckled.
“Exactly.”
“On what? Four beers?”
“Five.”
“Still.”
She smiled. “I said it was decent.”
“You’re full of shit.”
“A little.”
I laughed. CL appeared and set a beer in front of me. “Here.”
“Thanks.”
He glanced between Hazel and me. “You got everything you want?”
I wrapped my hand around the bottle. Hazel was still standing directly across from me.
Watching.
Waiting.
I should’ve said yes. Instead, my eyes stayed on hers. “Beer’ll do for now.”
Hazel’s lips twitched. “For now?”
CL looked between us again.
Then apparently decided he didn’t want any part of whatever was happening. “I’m going down there.”
Neither of us answered him.
He walked away and Hazel leaned a little closer over the bar. “You came to Bing’s at almost midnight on a Tuesday for a beer?”
“Looks that way.”
“Uh-huh.”
“What?”
“I don’t believe you.”
I lifted the bottle and took a drink. “Don’t?”
“Nope.”
“What do you think I’m doing here?”
Hazel’s eyes stayed on mine and I set the beer down. The bar between us was probably a good thing, because if it hadn’t been there, I would’ve been standing a hell of a lot closer.
“I’m here for something else.”
Hazel went still.
The teasing expression didn’t disappear.
It changed.
Her eyes dropped to my mouth, then lifted again. “Something else?”
“Yeah.”
She wet her lips. Fuck me. I wasn’t imagining this and hadn’t been Friday night either. Whatever was pulling me toward Hazel was pulling her right back.
“Are you finally ready to cash in that raincheck?” she asked.
My mouth curved. “Yeah.”
Her eyes widened slightly. Maybe she’d expected me to dance around it. Not my style.
“Tonight?” she asked.
“That’s why I’m here.”
Hazel glanced toward the clock behind the bar.
“When do you get off?”
“One.”
I nodded. An hour and a half. I could wait. Hell, I’d already spent days waiting.
She looked at my beer and then back at me. “That’s a long time to sit by yourself.”
“I’ll manage.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yeah.”
Hazel studied me for a second, then that smile came back. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“I get off at one.”
“I heard you.”
“And you’re really going to sit there until then?”
I picked up my beer. “Yep. I’ll be here.”