Page 53 of Wait For Me

“Wow.”

“What?”

“I wasn’t expecting that.”

I chuckled. “Well, let’s keep the fact that my mom raised me with manners between the two of us.”

“Whatever you say, macho man,” she joked as we walked in, but Star glanced back over her shoulder and decided to sass me some more. “And stop it with that awful nickname.”

I ignored her request. She was my star, I gave her that name because of the way her beautiful brown eyes always twinkled with mischief when she was younger, and something a little bit dirtier as she got older.

“You said you were busy running around everywhere today, did everything go all right?” I asked her as we were seated on the far side of the restaurant. The place was a little more upscale than I preferred to go to, but I thought Star might enjoy the ambiance.

“This is new,” she said.

“Yeah, been here about two years now, I think.”

“Everything went well today.” It was an afterthought, like she forgot to answer before, but she was also busy looking around the place. “This is kind of a snooty place, isn’t it?” She asked as her eyes came back to meet mine. Then, we were both laughing.

“Shit, yeah. I don’t know why I thought you might like this place.”

“It’s okay, as you know, trying new things is my jam. What’s good here?”

“Never been before, so I can’t say,” I told her honestly as I glanced over the menu. I felt her eyes still on me and gave my attention back to her. “What?”

“So, you’re trying something new with me?” The grin on her face made my fucking heart slam into my ribs. Jesus, she was beautiful.

“Yeah, Twinkles, this is a you and me thing.”

We stared at one another in the dopiest way before the waiter brought our drinks out to us and caused enough of a distraction that Star allowed her ruffled feathers to show a bit. She tried to hide the blush that stole across her cheeks by leaning down to retrieve something from the leather satchel she brought in with her. There was no way I was calling that thing a purse, it looked more like a fancy laptop bag or something a professor at a university would use, except it was weathered, black leather.

“I almost forgot,” she mentioned quickly as she pulled out a folder, then took papers from it, and laid them on top of it. “These are the papers my lawyer drew up. That’s where I had to go today before I could meet up with you. He said they were ready and wanted to go over them with me first so that I understood everything. I suggest you have a lawyer do the same with you.”

I put my hand overtop hers that rested on the papers. “I trust you, Star.”

“You shouldn’t trust anyone with your business, Jared.”

It was my turn to grin at her because she was back to using my given name instead of my road name and it fucking turned me on to hear it on her lips again after all these years.

“How’d I know you were going to hop right back into bed with her? Who is the liar now, Bag-g-ger? Thought you two never had anything going?”

Star and I both turned in the direction of the angry, slightly slurred voice to find Missy standing there with a reddish colored drink sloshing up and down the sides of the glass she couldn’t keep still.

“We never have had anything going,” Star confirmed.

“So, you think you can just waltz your little whorish biker ass back in town and steal other women’s men for the fun of it and nothing will happen to you? I’ll fuck you up. Just wait. You’ll get yours, bitch and he’ll come crawling back because I know things he doesn’t.”

Missy looked down, laughed, and then tossed whatever was in her glass in Star’s face. The stupid bitch nearly fell right into the table because she kept going with the momentum of her own arm swing, but I caught her before she could end up across our table or in Star’s lap. Once she was set right on her feet, I started to deliver some hard truths.

“You were always nothing more than a placeholder, and you knew that shit. You were too selfish for me to claim as an old lady, that’s why I never did. You’re a spoiled, little bitch throwing temper tantrums because you fucked up, said the wrong thing to the wrong person, and then got caught lying about it. This is on you – not her. I’ll remind you though that Star is the daughter of the Savage Viper’s President. With that title comes protection. You step one toe out of line toward her again and you will have the club to deal with, and that’s only if they get to you before I do – you feel me?”

Missy stared blankly at me, as if she was having trouble comprehending the words I spoke. I ignored that and turned my attention back to Star who attempted to clean herself up with the linen napkins on the table that didn’t appear to absorb shit.

“Now, I’m in the middle of a fucking business dinner and you just threw wine all over my investor and the legal paperwork we were supposed to sign. So, carry your fucking ass out of my sight.”

Missy turned and looked down at the table, probably noticing the legal paperwork sitting there between Star and me for the first time. She started crying almost immediately.

“Oh my God! Jared, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. You know how I get emotional sometimes. It was just jealousy.” When I didn’t say anything to her, she grabbed my arm and tried again. “I’m sorry.” Her crocodile tears dripped down her overly made-up cheeks as she swayed slightly, unable to stand straight on her own.

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