Page 26 of Cocky Secrets

I don’t want to be called baby girl anymore, but just this one is fine by me. However, knowing what I know, I have to force a smile in reply, because,Oh Dad, you have no idea how much freedom you just gave me.

“It was nice to meet you,” I say to our host and the man who just hid the key to my cage for no one toeverfind. I watch him walk back to his home, as if a normal sales-deal has been completed.

“Ready to head back?”

“Definitely! Let’s go!”

“Don’t get too excited. We still have to face your mother. She’s going to shit a brick when she sees you ride up on that beast!”

I wink, “I’m still ready.”

With that, we ride back home, the wind indeed on my face as I wished it to be, and the world unfolding before me, come what may.

ELEVEN

Sage

The bell above the door jingles as I step into our sleepy town’s beloved, quaint diner, helmet under my arm. The warm scent of coffee and freshly cooked bacon wraps around me like the welcome of a friend.

It’s early morning, barely past seven, and the local crowd is here—families, regulars, and what looks like a couple of tourists from the way they’re arguing about maps on their phones.

I slide into a booth in the corner, my eyes scanning the familiar faces at the counter. Mom was more worried than pissed off, when we returned to the plantation yesterday with my new Harley. What we hadn’t anticipated was what hadreallyirritated her — that she hadn’t been asked to go to the diner with Dad when he’d gone researching.“I’m stuck here all the time and you go in and have breakfast without me?!”

“That’s what you’re mad about, Meg?”

“This is no surprise that you bought her that hog! Oh no! I’ve been waiting for you two to come home, expecting it! You know why? Jett told me when I discovered both of you were gone!”

“That mother fucker,” Dad grumbled, shouting, “Jett, I told you to keep it a secret!”

Jett shouted back from the outside porch, “You think Luna would’ve let me keep that one from Meg? Come on now!”

So, this morning, Mom climbed on the back of Dad’s Harley, and me and my brothers each saddled our own, for an early morning ride to get a family breakfast outside of the plantation’s normalcy, just the five of us. Sofia Sol stayed home with the kids since she loves to sleep in, and they do, too.

Mom’s in the bathroom right now. Luke and Atlas are already planted at the counter, laughing and teasing each other as they await plates of scrambled eggs and crispy hash browns. Dad is with them, and all three are wearing their usual leather jackets, an ever-present reminder that they’re members of The Ciphers, for anyone who’s interested. And from the lingering glances cast their way, it appears many people are. It was news to me, yesterday, to discover they have a good reputation in town. It makes me relaxed in this atmosphere, knowing that we’re among fans.

“You sitting by yourself, Sage?” Atlas calls over to me.

“Need to get a good look at the diner from this angle so I can’t paint it later,” I call back over the continuous conversation of other customers. “Besides, there’s no more space at the counter.” The chair-stools, bolted in since the 1960’s, have only enough room between them to climb on. No way to pull a chair up from one of the tables even if they were high enough.

Atlas points to the empty one beside Dad. “What’s this?”

Dad smacks him upside the back of his head. “For your mother.”

“Oh, right,” Atlas mutters, and Luke laughs at him. “What? I’m not used to Mom being with us!”

I can’t help but smile at their antics, but my attention drifts past them, ahead, to the other end of the diner. Bear is leaning against the far end of the counter, in jeans and a tank-top that fit him like they were invented for his body alone. He’s chattingwith the waitress, but I can see from the way his gaze flickers towards me that he knows I’m watching. A thrill of excitement runs through me, and I pretend to focus on the menu in front of me, switching gears on purpose as if I’m not interested in him. As if I didn’t hope to find him, thinking maybe it was his usual morning routine to have breakfast here.

“Coffee?” a waitress in her sixties with too much mascara asks.

“Sure.” The booth was already set up with two sets of utensils rolled in napkins, and coffee mugs turned upside down on saucers. I flip one over, reaching for the bowl of creamers next. “Thank you.”

Bear finishes his conversation and strides over, past my family, work boots thudding softly against the worn tile floor. His amber eyes are warm and inviting, and I can’t help but feel a rush of warmth spread through me as we stare at each other for the entire extent of his journey.

“Mind if I join you?” he asks, a hint of a smile playing on his lips.

I told you I can’t see you.

I told you it’s impossible.

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