Page 29 of Walking Red Flag

“That’s a plus right there.” Rayann snickered, which sounded more like a cat sneezing. “That’s why I’m with Gibson, really. He makes beacoups of money, and I don’t have to work once we get married.”

She sounded like a real winner.

What a great trait to have when looking for a husband—has lots of money and won’t make me work.

I doubted that any significant other would want their spouse to have to work, but times were tough. Sometimes you didn’t have a choice.

I was getting ready to leave, getting tired of hearing their vitriol, when Hazel said what she said next.

“Asher said to me in private when Milena was at work that Milena was a cold fish in bed. He admitted that she never wanted sex, and that she was still refusing to give it up to him after months of them being together. Who the fuck makes their boyfriend wait that long if there isn’t something wrong with your vagina?” She snickered. “She did smell super bad after our long runs. Maybe she has something wrong down there…”

I’d had enough.

I didn’t even know Milena, but based on the way she looked and acted, I knew that she was reserved. She had self-respect.

Oh, and she didn’t smell at-fucking-all.

And I’d just been pretty fuckin’ close to her as I’d driven her here.

As close as one could get without both of us being naked…

Let’s just say, what I smelled wasn’t stink.

It was womanly, and so goddamn appealing that just thinking about it made me hard all over again.

I probably shouldn’t have reacted the way that I did.

I definitely should’ve kept my mouth completely shut, but fuck. The women and the way they were talking about Milena. It did something to me.

It made me enraged, and I didn’t like catty bitches that spoke ill of people they were supposed to protect.

I’d had enough of that happen in high school regarding my little sister.

She’d changed at some point, and her friends had noticed. Instead of treating her with caring and compassion, they’d turned on her. Which had only been worse for Keely.

Channeling the anger that always formed in my heart when it came to how my sister was treated, I stood from my bike, making myself known.

“I’ll have you know that Milena was here meeting me,” I said carefully. “She wasn’t here to ‘stalk’ you. She was here to meet me to give me a key since I was in the area. I can also share that she’d been running all the way from her house, and she most certainly did not stink. She smelled fantastic, and had she not been fresh from a breakup with an abusive man,”—I leveled Hazel with a look—“I would’ve made a move on her because she’s gorgeous. I also have to admit that she’s likely only a ‘cold fish’ with her ex because he was a disgusting human being. Why would you want to give your body to a man that you don’t respect?”

Neither woman had anything to say to that.

“As women, you should uplift each other. You should never tear each other down. And I hate that Milena has someone like you as a friend when it’s clear that you don’t think of her as a friend.” I turned my back on them and straddled my bike. Only when I had my helmet in place did I turn back to them and say, “Maybe you should do yourself a favor and start investigating why you have so much hate in your heart toward a woman that only has love in hers.”

With that, I started my bike up and headed toward my house.

I switched my bike out for my work truck and trailer, then headed to Milena’s place, The Grizzly.

Her shop was a little bit farther out than I would’ve liked, but that was okay. It was a nice change of scenery on the outskirts of Dallas.

A lot less headache, too.

Sometimes, I questioned why I’d decided to come back to this hellhole.

But then I remembered about my task for this afternoon, and all made sense again.

Traffic. People. Higher cost of living.

All of it was worth it to be closer to my brother.

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