Page 63 of Love Lies Bleeding

A wave of warmth falls over me at how lucky I am to have this man as my friend.

Grabbing his hand, I tow him toward the counter where Jake is watching us with a measured expression. I can practically feel the tension dripping off him. It serves him right, thinking he could march back into my life like what he’d done was nothing.

“Eddie, this is Jake, a friend of Hunter’s.”

I still hold Eddie’s hand and he gives mine a little squeeze before he offers his hand to Jake. “Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too, and I’m a very old friend of Cherry’s. We go way back.”

Eddie chuckles as he pulls me closer, wrapping an arm around my back and pasting me to his hard body. I play along, placing my hand on his chest and gazing up at him.

“Good to know.” Eddie looked around the store before giving his attention back to Jake. “You here for some furniture?”

“No, I’m here for Cherry.” Jake pins me with a gaze that says ‘game on’. “Aren’t I, Blossom?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure why you’re here, Jake.”

“I wanted to show you something, remember?”

“Well, make an appointment and I’ll look then.”

“Yeah, I’ll do that.”

Jake’s slow, steady breaths and the tick in his jaw show how annoyed he is by not getting his own way. Good. It will do him good to know the world doesn’t revolve around him.

“That your bike outside?”

Jake brought his bike? How had I missed that?

“Yeah. You ride?”

“Not as much as I used to, but yeah I do. That’s a sweet ride.”

“Yeah, it’s a custom Arch KRGT-1.”

“Nice. I wish I had the time to get out more.”

“Yeah, I know the feeling. Nothing like your bike, your girl, and the open road. Hey, Blossom?”

What is happening here? These two idiots are bonding over a bike, even if said bike was a thing of absolute beauty.

“I’ll take your word for it.”

I give Eddie a sly pinch and he jumps a little before seeming to get the memo that he wasn’t here to bond with Jake but to be my buffer.

Giving me a look of absolute adoration, he focuses back on me. “We should get going, baby girl.”

“Of course.” I turn to Jake with a sugary smile. “Sorry, Jake, I need to close up. Eddie and I have plans this afternoon.”

I pull out of Eddie’s arms and he lets his hand run down my arm as if he can’t possibly let me go longer than a second. “Yeah, we’ve got plans all afternoon, sugar.”

You’d need to be an idiot to miss the implication in Eddie’s words and Jake was no idiot. His head tips back, his legs spread and he looks dangerous all of a sudden. Like he wants to rip Eddie apart.

“I’ll let you go, but can I just get one word in private, first?”

That’s the last thing I need after poking the bear for the last five minutes. “I don’t—”

“It’s about Lexi.”

---