Page 38 of Wait For Me

“Watch yourself,” Trench called as he steadied me quickly.

“I don’t think I’ve ever ridden that long before,” I admitted.

“Sorry, I wasn’t even thinking about how long that ride was.”

“No need to apologize, I enjoyed it.”

“Good,” Mike moved in closer and leaned down as if he were about to kiss me. I turned my face quickly, so all he caught was the edge of my face, near my ear. He pulled back with a bit of a frown on his face.

“I had a great night, but this isn’t the best timing for me. I just broke up with my ex, I’m here to help Aunt Viv, and honestly, there isn’t any room for anything more right now.”

“I see,” he hummed the words and glanced away for a minute. “I think it’s a little more than that, but I’m going to head out and leave you in peace with your decision.”

“Thank you, I appreciate that.” I really did. There was no part of me that wanted to explain to him how creeped out I was that he had followed me and knew things about me that he had no business knowing. Sure, he did it at the club’s behest to keep me safe, but none of that sat right with me. To me – he was a stranger. To him – I was someone he knew too well already. It just didn’t mesh.

I stood there and watched as Trench took off into the night. When his taillight disappeared at the end of the road, I finally let out a relieved breath, glad the night was over.

“What’s up with that?” The deep voice from the shadows startled the shit out of me. I jumped and turned to see that Bagger was sitting on one of the chairs my aunt had set up in the corner of her porch.

“You scared the shit out of me,” I told him as I held my hand over my heart that beat far too fast to be healthy.

“Sorry. Been waiting for you.”

“It’s after midnight. How long have you been waiting?”

He shrugged. “Who knows. I showed up and Vivian said you were out to dinner.”

“You disturbed Vivian?” My anger rose, along with my heart rate.

“Nope. She was sitting out here enjoying the evening air when I showed up. Sat with me for a while before she got tired and went back inside.”

“And you stayed why?”

“Answer my question, and I’ll return the favor.”

“What question?”

“I asked you what was up with that,” he reiterated.

“What was up with what, Bagger?”

“Don’t call me that. You never did before.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “It’s right there on your chest.”

“Yeah, but you never called me that. It was always Jared.”

“Whatever,” I huffed, too tired to have this argument with the man. “What exactly did you want to know?”

“You didn’t let Trench kiss you, and then looked relieved when he was finally gone. He do something you need to tell someone about?”

“What? No. I just…” I sighed and sat down in the chair beside Bagger. “It creeped me out being with him.”

“Why? He’s a good guy, far as I know.” It looked like it pained Bagger to admit that.

“He followed me for almost a year. Watched me.” I shivered at the thought. “Reported things back to the club, to my family, that they had no business knowing. While we were out, he knew things about me without having to ask. It was just all wrong.”

“I followed you for the club before him. You telling me that you find me creepy now too?”

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