Page 63 of A Brother's Secret

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Amalia...

“Oh, god,” I groaned getting off of the back of Kyle’s bike. I looked up to the dilapidated exterior of the motel Archer had made our reservationsin.

Kyle and I had been woken up that morning to Reaver jumping on the bed. I swear to god I was going to find that stash of energy he had and steal some. He’d bounced and bounced crowing like a fucking rooster and I damn near hoofed him right in the junk for it. We’d gotten something like six hours of sleep, which after the drive we’d completed the day before coupled with the hard partying? Yeah, not nearly enough.

We’d gone out to the bar area of the club and had found Archer on the phone and poring over maps. He’d hung up, declared the reservations for this motel were made and handed Trigger a sheaf of papers including a map. I’d looked at Kyle and asked if Trigger was coming with but he’s said something about it being Archer’s job as Road Captain, whatever thatwas.

Now we were here, getting checked in, the evening wearing on toward night. As soon as we had our keys, we were supposed to go straight to the shop and get my shit. I didn’t care about the furniture. I just cared about the ink, needles, my other two guns and the grand prize: my portfolio. Any other incidentals I could make off with were just a bonus after that. Each guy had one cleaned-out saddle bag on their bike in anticipation of pack-horsing my shit back to Kentucky.

Kyle caught my elbow and pulled me around to face him. He sat down on his leaning bike and pulled me between his knees, settling his hands on my hips. His quick brown eyes caught mine and held them as he dipped his chin and gave me a contemplative and searchinglook.

“What’s bothering you? It’s not like you to drag your feet on anything and you’ve done nothing but on thisone.”

I turned away and fixed my gaze on the faded teal blue paint on one of the motel room doors.

“I used to fuck Joey,” I said finally and turned back to look at him. He was smiling which confusedme.

“And? I used to fuck Shelly and you dealt with it just fine, you don’t think I can do thesame?”

“Not you I’m worried about,” I said honestly.

“Oh yeah?” His expression became a little guarded and he waited me out. Sometimes I hated when he waited me out and this was one of them. I gave a harsh, impatient exhale and swore.

“Joey can be a little intense, but he’s a good guy. I don’t really feel like breaking his heart.”

“You guys were close, I takeit?”

“Yeah andno.”

“Yeah andno?”

Damnit, he wasn’t going to let me get away with vague. I rolled my eyes and tried to turn but he kept me rooted to the spot, his hands smoothing around to my ass and pulling me closer. I sighed and looked down at him where he was sitting and came clean.

“He was the closest I ever let anyone get beside you. He thought it was serious, I knew it was getting serious, and I broke it off. He still doesn’t know he was getting all involved with a total lie. It hurt him, then my dad died, then I disappeared – “ I threw up my hands and let them crash to my denim-clad thighs. He didn’t get it, and I didn’t want to say it out loud. That Joey was in love with me and I had let it happen because I’d been excruciatingly lonely. That I had let him fall in love with me with absolutely no intentions of ever returning it. God, what kind of a fucked-up bitch did that makeme?

“You had a life as Lexi, baby. I getit.”

“Yeah, you get it, Kyle but Joey? Joey’s not goingto…”

“Problem?” Trigger called down from the second floor of the motel, over the railing.

“No,” Kyle calledup.

“If there’s a problem, I bet I can solve it,” Reaver called down with a wickedgrin.

“Fuck you, no! You’re not solving anything,” I calledback.

Reaver cackled like a maniac in response and shot forward, disappearing into his and Trigger’s shared room. It was him, Trigger, Disney, me and Kyle on this run to Indigo Ink. Revelator had a wife and kids which made it harder for him to break away. He’d wanted to come, though. Was a little intent on it, actually; something wasn’t quite sitting right but hell if I knew what itwas.

“I say let’s get it done, get a few hours of sleep and take our happy asses back home,” Disney said and I feltbad.

“I appreciate you coming,” I said and he smiled taking the sting out of his next words.

“Then let’s go get your shit already. Faster you get it done, the sooner you ain’t never got to pretend you’re someone else or lookback.”

He had a point, but still, it was never a fun thing breaking someone’s heart all over again which I was bound to do here. Joey wasn’t going to take my disappearance, sudden reappearance, and subsequent vanishing all over again really well. He was bound to not take me pitching up with four unknown bikers from Kentucky real well, either.

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