Page 69 of Falling for my Brother's Best Friend

His hand slides into mine. “I’ll tell you later. Come on. We only have about fifteen minutes before everyone has to ride.”

I allow him a pass on telling me about his relationship with Slim and his groupies, and we weave through the crowd. He nods hello to various people who refer to him solely by his last name. I feel as though I’m in a different world. Denver and Rome never mentioned anything about this part of Liam’s life. Then again, why would they? I never showed interest.

After what feels like a mile, he stops me in front of a woman with dyed red hair and nails so long, she could literally scratch out someone’s eyes.

“Kathy,” Liam says.

She turns from her conversation with a man and smiles brightly. “Liam.” She’s the first person other than Nina to use his first name.

He hugs her and picks her up off her feet. Over his shoulder, she zeroes in on me. A smile indents dimples into her cheeks until he sets her back down.

“Who do we have here?”

Liam doesn’t take my hand or put his arm around me this time. “This is Savannah.”

“Hi, Savannah.” She puts out her hand, and I shake her boney hand with rings on almost every finger. “I’m Kathy.”

“Hello.”

“And are you guys…?” She wags her finger between us.

“No.” Liam does something behind me that makes Kathy laugh, but when I turn around, he pretends to just be standing there.

“What did he do?” I ask.

“Mother-son confidentiality.” Kathy beams at Liam like she loves him like a son. “Slim and his roadies are here.”

I feel the tension wafting off Liam. “We saw. As far as he’s concerned—”

“She’s yours?”

My head volleys between them as they finish each other’s sentences.

“Nina?” she asks.

“Green with envy.”

“I figured.”

Liam doesn’t once look at me during the conversation. Kathy turns around, and that’s when I see the patch stitched onto the back of her black leather jacket. Chicks Brigade. I point, and Liam, finally paying me attention, laughs.

He bends down to my ear as Kathy answers a question someone else asked her. “She runs the Chicks Brigade. If you want a membership, I can get you in.”

I look around and see mostly all women in this area, next to bikes that have some sort of girly flair to them.

Just then, someone gets on the microphone and tells the crowd to line up.

Liam leans over and kisses Kathy’s cheek. “We’ll see you after.”

“Nice to meet you,” I say, putting out my hand.

“You as well. Watch out for that one. He heals hearts, doesn’t break ‘em.” She points at Liam.

But he snags my hand and says goodbye to Kathy before weaving us back through the mass of black leather. When we reach his bike, he puts the helmet back on my head, secures it, then puts on his own.

“I thought bikers always wanted to feel the cool air breeze through their hair?”

“Believe me, you’d rather have helmet hair and be alive than have perfect hair and end up a pancake on the road.” He checks the strap of my helmet one more time then climbs on the bike, waiting for me to join him.

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