Page 16 of Under an Endless Moon

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I wavered, unsure if I should answer him directly or taunt him a little. Taunting him seemed the prudent way to go.

Me

Wouldn’t you like to know…

Burly Bear

Exactly why I’m texting…because I want to know.

I bit down on my bottom lip as my fingers flew across the screen.

Me

I sent out a booty call, and I’m currently waiting for one of those bikers to crawl through my window.

If only I had the courage to make that happen, but the last thing I wanted was for Otto to think I didn’t possess it. For him to know that I’d never recovered.

It took him two minutes before he finally responded.

Burly Bear

Don’t make me turn this bike around.

I hesitated, knowing I was doing nothing butpoking the bear, but loving the power a little too much.

Me

Why? You want to watch?

Okay, maybe I had taken the inappropriateness too far. Maybe the margaritas I’d been slinging back at Kane’s had gone to my head. Maybe I was playing with fire. Because I might not have been able to hear his voice, but I knew the words he shot back were rabid.

Burly Bear

Don’t push me, Raven. You don’t want to see what it looks like when I come unhinged. Think it’s best if you keep your conquests to yourself. Don’t want to think of you with another man, and I sure as fuck don’t want to watch youwith one.

I reread it four times.

Another man.

Another man.

Maybe I was looking too much into the phrasing. Conjuring that hope I needed to stamp out.

A seed of guilt sprouted. I shouldn’t toy with him like this. Lead him to believe something that wasn’t true. But I couldn’t bring myself to confess to him what it really meant. How I was stuck, and I wasn’t sure I would ever get out of the quicksand that forever dragged me under.

Still, I tapped out a reply, hoping to assuage some of what I’d done.

Me

I’m only playing with you, Otto.

Burly Bear

Go to sleep, Raven, before I turn this bike around, anyway.

There was the tease. A promise that I was off the hook. Besides, I doubted that Otto would ever truly be angry with me.

A heavy sigh pilfered from my lips.

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