Page 30 of June 7

Walking to the back of the locker room, he kept his gaze on Daisy. She kept swimming. Back and forth.

He'd have to talk to her after she got off work when he took her home on the Harley.

Chapter Twelve

The hum of the vacuum and the aroma of peanut butter cookies wafted through the room before eight o'clock in the morning. Daisy stepped on the OFF switch and removed the canister from the machine. There was a half-inch of sand no longer on her area rug.

She stuck her arm behind the curtain and opened the sliding door enough to dump the sand when someone grabbed her wrist. Unable to see past the curtain, she screamed.

"It's me." Bane pushed her door open wider and swung back the curtain she'd used to block out the outside world. "What the fuck is going on?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." She put the canister back in the vacuum and tugged the cord out of the electrical socket.

"You didn't come to the shop yesterday after work—"

"Tara gave me a ride home. She only lives two blocks away." She wound the cord around and around the vacuum's handle.

"I knocked on your door until midnight, wanting to talk to you, and you refused to answer." He grabbed her wrist. "Look at me."

She faced him and smiled brightly. "Was there something you needed?"

"Need?" He dropped her arm. "Fuck, babe. What's this all about?"

"I'm sorry." She wheeled the vacuum to the front closet by the door. "With work and taking care of the duplex, I've realized I don't have much free time. I'm sure you understand. You have the parts shop and your club that keep you busy."

He glared. "It sounds a lot like you're ghosting me."

She laughed. The timer on the stove buzzed. She washed her hands, grabbed a hot mitt, and removed the cookies from the oven.

"I'm not ghosting you. We're neighbors. You know where I am." She shrugged. "We had sex, and it was nice. Really nice, Bane. But you have your life, and I have mine."

"Shut the fuck up," he muttered.

"If I led you to believe—"

"You led me to believe you wanted fucked." He stepped closer. "You led me to believe you enjoyed yourself."

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