Page 20 of Virgin Skin

“Thanks.”

“You have three aunts on my side, by the way. And my parents are still kicking, and just as stubborn as they ever were,” he says. “I’m going to introduce you to them, just maybe not right away, if that’s okay?”

“Of course. I know this is weird. We’re strangers, but you’re my dad, so there’s this whole expectation of closeness. It’s a lot to navigate.”

“We’ll figure it out,” he says, and that warm feeling expands inside of me.

“Yeah,” I agree. “We’ll figure it out.”

After we finish eating, we walk back to Ink Slingers and Hero offers to swing by the motel after work to help me move my stuff over to Piston’s. Again, I can’t think of any reason to say no, so I just thank him, and we exchange numbers.

While I wait for my Uber back to the motel, it hits me again that I’m going to be living with Piston. Guilt twists in my stomach. After spending a little time with Hero, I get why Piston is holding back now. I’d say it’s enough to convince me to drop all flirtation and keep things as platonic as possible between us, but that would be a lie.

I don’t want to cause a problem between him and Hero, and I don’t want to fuck up this shaky new relationship with my dad, but I know I can’t let this thing between Piston and me go either.

PISTON

The orange glow of the bonfire in my backyard is a familiar sight this time of year. The smell of charcoal and meat overpowers the burning wood and smoke, and chatter and laughter drown out the crackle of the fire. Every so often, the thunderous rumble of another motorcycle cuts through thenight and my heart jams itself into my throat, even though I’m positive Hero’s going to show up with Milo in his truck since he’s going to have bags and shit with him.

I can’t believe I agreed to let Milo stay here. On the other hand, what were my options? Hero was right, we couldn’t let him stay at the motel indefinitely, and Idohave an extra bedroom. The unspoken part is what’s still eating at me hours later. He wants Milo to stay here because he trusts me to watch out for him.

“Throw a few more on the grill, man,” Gates calls over to me, pocketing his phone again. “My old man and the rest of the guys are closing up the garage and going to swing by.”

“For the love of fuck, if you keep using such cringe biker lingo, we’re going to have to revoke your standing invite,” Jag says blandly, tilting a bottle of beer to his lips and narrowing his eyes at Gates. “Also, please tell mehe’snot coming.”

“Who?” Gates looks legitimately confused while I tear open another package of hot dogs to toss onto the grill.

Jag shakes his head. “Never mind. If I speak his name, I’ll just jinx it.”

“Ooookay,” Gates murmurs, glancing over at Tex for help.

Tex shrugs. “You know Jag. On a good day, he makes about as much sense as tits on a duck.”

I sputter a laugh. Tex has a point there.

We all met Gates a few years back now, at a rest stop not too far outside town. We chatted about bikes, and he’s been an honorary member of our crew ever since. Of course, his husband and the Big Bull Mechanics keep him too busy to come around for rides or anything as often as the rest of us, but we’ve always made it clear he’s got a standing invite.

“You know, one of these days, we should think about making you official,” Arrow says, his arm around his boyfriend, Lewis. “What do you think? Would you want to be an Ink Slinger?”

“Like, work at the shop or do you mean patch me in?”

Arrow huffs. “See,” he says pointedly to the rest of us. “It’smoreconfusing now that our club and our shop have the same name.”

“So, we should go back to being the cannibals?” Jag rolls his eyes.

“The Skins,” Arrow mutters.

The roar of a motorcycle engine cuts off the conversation and I whip my head around. Instead of being Hero and Milo, which Iknewit wouldn’t be, it’s Monty, owner of Basket Case Bikes.

He pulls to a stop among the other Harleys parked on my back lawn and hops off.

“Hope you guys don’t mind me crashing. Riggs texted me that the party was here tonight.”

“The more the merrier,” I assure him.

As promised, the guys from Big Bull start showing up, and they keep me busy enough with food that I forget to listen for Hero’s truck for a while, which explains why I startle when he claps me on the shoulder with his big-ass bear paw. He gives a deep chuckle and then flings his arm around me.

“Hey, I just want to say thanks again for letting Milo crash here.”

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