Page 60 of Bullet

Willa swallows hard. She picks the apple back up and thrusts it into my hands, folding them around it. “That’s heavy. And ominous. I do think he’s serious, but he’s also respectful. He values your friendship, and right now, he needs a friend more than anything.”

“If I—if we… if we were together, there’d be consequences.”

Willa scoffs. “You don’t have to worry about me. I’m a grown woman. I’m about to have my own place and my own business.”

“I was thinking about my job and how it would be awkward with the club if we dated and then it didn’t work.”

I can’t pretend that this hasn’t been on my mind, jumbled up in the horrible mix of everything that’s had to do with Harold, the club, our house in Seattle, how we’re going to move on with our lives, and what taking the job with the club is going to look like.

“Maybe, but they wouldn’t fire you, and people move on. You’re going to be in Seattle anyway, so you could just hide there and do their lawyering stuff from a distance.” She unfolds her hands from around mine. “Just go for that ride, Lynette. Stop overthinking it. Talk to the man. Be there for him and let him be there for you. You have to take a chance sometime, and even if you end up alone, you’re never going to be truly alone. You’ll always have me.”

Willa might have more experience in matters of dating, even if most of her relationships have been short term and not serious, or not a relationship at all, but when did she become the bigger sister, looking out for me and giving advice?

“If you want to do that tonight,” Willa reiterates, determined to get her way, even if that way has nothing to do with her and everything to do with my love life, “I’m going to be sleeping out at the shop. Since I was away all weekend, I want to hit the renos hard. I want the apartment above to be ready by the time it’s January.”

“Atlas is going to be helping you?”

“Yup.”

I give her the big sister hairy-eye and she stares me down right back, daring me to ask her if there’s anything going on when she’s already promised there’s not. It takes all my control, but I manage not to give her a lecture.

She breaks the stare down first. “I’m going to have a shower here, pack my bag again, and go there. I’ll be going directly to class in the morning, and then I’ll be there until late after that. I won’t be back until tomorrow, probably around nine or ten, but I’ll text and check in so that you don’t worry. If you don’t text me back right away, I’ll know that you’ve found your lady balls and you’re thinking with them instead of your overworked brain.”

She picks up her bag and skips out of the kitchen, buzzing and alive with her plans. I sink down at the table. Overnight, it seems she’s gone from a rebellious teenager to a woman as driven as I’ve ever been.

As if the universe really is providing the cues, my phone rings. It’s in my purse, which means I have to do a deep dig to find it. It’s Bullet, but I already knew it would be. I answer, cutting into my voicemail message.

“You’re back.”

His deep voice rolls through me, mixing with Willa’s earlier words, creating a drugging heat stronger than anything I’ve allowed to creep into me for the past few weeks. I’ve held it off, but, admittedly, I’ve lowered my shields ever since the charges against Bullet were dropped.

“We’re back,” I agree, at an uncharacteristic loss for words.

“I’m sorry I let myself in. I wanted to make sure you had groceries for the week.”

“Yes, I—thank you.”

“I asked Wizard to let me know the second you got back. I shouldn’t be messing with your privacy like that. It’s just hard to go from bodyguard mode to… to nothing, really, I suppose.”

My skin warms, especially my face. Half of it is a creeping indignation, and half is a wicked blush. “You’re not nothing, Bullet.”Let me show you. Teach me what you like. Guide me so that I can pleasure you the way you pleasured yourself that night. I’ve died a million fucking deaths wanting you. I’m still dying. Come for me. I need you, and it’s frightening. I don’t want toneedanyone.“I thought that you might like to go for a ride. On your bike. Later.” I’m stumbling over words. It’s new for me. I hate the lack of eloquence that makes me appear completely transparent. “Around eight, maybe.”

The silence is like a taunt that my brain picks up, pressing on every doubt that I’ve ever had. I know what riding on the back of a bike means in his world. Maybe I read the situation wrong and he’s not after a relationship, just sex? Okay, it’s not like I proposed or anything, but why the fuck didn’t I just ask him if he wanted to go for a coffee or—

“I’d like that, Lynette. Can I take you outside of Hart? There are a few backroads that end up in nothing but open land or a few forested areas. The stars are incredible out there.”

I can’t even pretend that I have a solid foundation to stand on anymore. Bullet isn’t an acquired taste. It took me half a minute to get used to him and to come around to the idea that I was wrong about the club. I didn’t have to lay my morals down. This isn’t a conflict of interest. My armor is rusted clean through, cracked and broken. There’s nothing left to keep him and hisquiet confidence, the magnitude of everything he is, and his pervasive kindness out.

My heart stutters and sputters like an old engine. The hours that I have to wait for him feel like an eternity. Restlessness courses through my blood.

“Yes. That would be nice.” The growing wild feeling that’s been taking root and slowly spreading bursts over me. I don’t recognize the unbridled sensation. I clutch the phone a little bit tighter against the volley of tingles that make my teeth want to knock together.

“Good. I’ll be there at eight, then. Do you have sturdy boots? If not, I can get you a pair. I’ll bring an extra helmet.”

“I don’t have a pair.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve got it. See you then.”

“Sounds good.”

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