Page 4 of Ride or Dies

It was her turn to sigh, but she sat down, staying closer to the edge than she was to me, but she was here with me and that was enough.

For now.

“I guess that’s one more thing that hasn’t changed,” Evie said before taking another drink of her beer. She made a face. “And what the hell is this? It’s awful.”

“What, the big-time star only drinks light beer? Or maybe you need one of those fruity drinks?”

“I’ll have you know, those fruity drinks have enough alcohol to knock a man twice your size on his ass.”

I grinned. “Oh, I doubt that, honey, but if you’re that concerned about my ass—”

“I want nothing to do with your ass,” she said quickly.

Too quickly, I thought. But I didn’t push that. I wanted to know more about what she’d said before.

“What did you mean by one more thing that hasn’t changed?” I asked, stretching my arm along the back of the seat so that my fingers just barely brushed against her curls.

“You.” She pointed her beer at me. “Same old Tucker, intimidating and beating the shit out of people just because you can.”

My eyes narrowed and I leaned forward. “If I’m beating someone’s ass, you better believe they deserve it.”

“Mm-hm.” She didn’t even try to hide her skepticism. “Like when you got into that fight and got expelled? You had a reason for breaking Paul Keppler’s nose and arm and ribs, then? It had nothing to do with wanting to ruin my love life?”

My grip on my beer tightened and I downed the last of it to give myself a moment, because if I didn’t, I was going to blurt out the whole story, and she didn’t need to know it.

“Paul Keppler was a little weasel, and I was looking out for you,” I said finally. “And I just cracked his ribs. Didn’t break them.”

It was the truth, but not all of it. I’d been keeping an eye on Keppler when he’d started nosing around Evie, but I hadn’t touched him until I heard him telling his friends that he planned on finding out if she really was a virgin or if the rumors about her and the track team were true.

“Oh, that’s so much better,” she said sarcastically.

“Let’s not talk about the distant past,” I said, not wanting to argue with her, not when I finally had her alone. “You’ve been busy since you left Bedford. You got what, three MTV awards? And a People’s Choice?”

I smiled at the blush that flooded her cheeks. Damn. She was always so cute when she was flustered. Hell, it was the reason I used to say embarrassing shit to her.

“Jenna’s kept you well-informed,” she said, looking down at her hands as she rolled the now-empty bottle between them.

“Who said it was Jenna? Maybe I’ve been—”

“Tucker.” Levi’s voice cut me off.

I looked up to see him and Mason coming my way. Dammit. Why the hell did he always have to interfere?

“Excuse me.” Evie glared up at Levi. “Tucker and I were talking.”

“I’m supposed to care why?” His words were as cold as his eyes.

“Right,” Evie shot back, “I forgot. You don’t really give a damn about anyone else. Never have.”

Levi deliberately turned away from her and focused on me. “We gotta go. There’s a problem at the clubhouse.”

“We promised Jenna we’d be here for the whole party,” I reminded him.

“Harley Quinn is there.”

Fuck.

I turned to Evie. Her gorgeous lips were twisted into a scowl, her face flushed and eyes sparking with anger.

---