Page 77 of Busted Dreams

A phone chimed, and when Trinity pulled hers out, she stood up and dusted her jeans. “This has been awesome, but I’m out. Thatcher, I’ll see you later, or not. Have fun withyourslut.” She raised her hand in a peace sign and strutted off toward the gate.

Everyone stared after for a second, completely silent.

“Can you not invite her again?” Lanie looked straight at Beck. “M’kay? Kay.” Then she went back to her boyfriend.

My heart pounded. I would probably always hate attention. Especially when I was called out for no reason other than the fact that someone had their feelings hurt. It was obvious she wanted to lash out, but why me?

“I feel like I should apologize.” Thatcher coughed uncomfortably as he watched Trinity disappear. “She must have had a friend close by,” he said to himself.

“It’s not a thing, don’t worry. She’s rebelling. I hope for your sake she wakes up quick, because if not, she’s liable to get in trouble.” Graves was starting to take on the role of wise parent. Then he looked at me. “So why do I feel like that was about you?”

Fuck.

There was too much intelligence in his eyes to try and brush off his question. I didn’t have to answer it anyway. Rhys did.

“We’re all dating Astrid.”

Beck whipped around and thumped Rhys on the chest. “Not cool. It should be up to Astrid if she wants to share that.”

I put a hand on Beck’s thigh. “It’s fine. Trinity looked at me when she said it. They’d have to be brain dead not to know something was going on.”

My heart still beat in my ears, the consistent rhythm drowning out all the noise except for our conversation.

“All of you?” Angel seemed more intrigued than anything else.

“Well, the three of us. Jonah hasn’t come to his senses yet.” Thatcher’s laugh was empty as he tried to lighten the conversation. Graves turned his attention to Jonah, who dropped his head to stare at his lap, clearly not participating in this particular discussion.

I didn’t know why that hurt as much as it did. The sting felt a little like rejection.

“Yes, we’re all dating Astrid.” Beck pulled me so close, I was practically on his lap. “I, for one, am not bothered by it, so if it’s an issue for you, let me know now so we can leave. I won’t have anyone making her feel bad for her decisions when we all made it together.”

That wasn’t exactly true. I had given them an ultimatum. But none of them had reacted that way.

Graves exchanged looks with Angel, then both rolled with laughter.

Beck turned to glance at me, then the others. We were all confused about how the conversation had taken this turn.

“Listen, Beck. I get you’re concerned people will judge you guys for your lifestyle choices. But you don’t have to worry about that here. We’re a motorcycle club fighting its way back onto the good side of the law. We don’t have any room to judge. Not as long as you’re happy. Now if you’d shown up touting that same story with that man’s sister, then I might say something.” Graves started eating his food, done with the conversation.

We must have all been floored because no one said anything else. Thatcher was the only one to move by reaching for plates and passing them around. Once we had our food the way we liked it, we started to eat, maybe as just a way to avoid the conversation. Slowly, we started to talk again. This time, it had nothing to do with the dramatic scene with Trinity or our illicit love affair.

It was fun. More than I thought it would be after our last time here.

The sun started to set, and the cookout got more rowdy as the few kids present disappeared.

“I think it’s time for us to go.” Beck stood and stretched his arms over his head.

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay for karaoke?” Angel smirked. From that one look, I doubted he was really talking about harmless singing, but I was too afraid to ask.

“Positive,” Jonah answered for all of us.

“Monthly cookouts. You three are expected. Your friends can come too.” Graves paused as he started to get up. “Except for the sister. When she’s not such a pain, we can try again. Otherwise, I’m afraid Lanie will whip her ass. Your sister probably doesn’t want that.”

“No, I can guarantee she doesn’t,” Thatcher agreed. “Thanks for allowing us to come. Even with my sister, I had a good time.”

“Me too,” Rhys shook Graves’ hand one more time.

“The manners on these friends, Beck. Where’d you find them again?”

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