Page 36 of Jingle Belle's Biker

“Sin . . .”

“What? I like a man to chase me.”

“I’m not.”

“I know.”

“Shit.” I start laughing. It’s one thing about her, that brutal edge of honesty she can spin with an edge. “Never change.”

“Are you going to stay?”

“No.” The little thread in her voice, the core of hurt that I rejected her for something better, which I didn’t. It just ran its course. I’m betting she’s fucked other guys since we split, just as I’ve fucked other women, but we did have something, so I get it. If she’d taken off, I might feel that little flicker of hurt too. “I’ve got a job, like I said.”

Or maybe not.

I don’t know. It’s not something I think about. When things are done, they’re done.

“A job.” She snorts. I know she wants something, but I’m fucking content to let it play out. “You said work.”

Which is something I’m not willing to explore, not the reason that lies beneath it.

I zip up my jacket a little higher as an iced wind starts.

“Work is usually translated into job.”

“For the grunts.” Her chip’s peeking over her shoulder.

“Money’s good.”

“How long will you be there?”

“Long enough.” I pause. “Not settling at the club?”

“Fuck, Nicholas, it’s not the same,” she whispers.

“We’re not a thing.”

“Anymore. And . . . I dunno, I thought it’d be good. There’s some prime dick, not to mention pussy, but . . .” Sin trails off.

“If you’re trying to get me jealous, it’s not working. I know you. I know me. We work to a point.”

“Yeah. Whatever, I’m not fucking begging you back, dickwad. Just let me know if you move on.”

And she hangs up.

I go to my bike, laughing, as I run a hand over the saddle and chrome. For a moment, I wonder what they’d all think if I turned up at clubs with a real vintage bike, maybe from the swinging sixties, with a sidecar.

A special one.

And in it, a black cat in a leather coat and goggles. Maybe a cat-shaped helmet.

They’d lock me the fuck up.

Besides, Nomad wouldn’t ever go for it.

With that idiotic thought in my head, I get on my bike, gun the engine, and take off back to the latest place I call home.

Green eyes, pointed ears, and a black furry face greet me in the a.m.

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