Page 12 of Cold Hard Truth

“Whatever you say.” I smile because I know he’s lying to himself.

And the fact that his teeth clench when I do is proof that he doesn’t appreciate my amusement.

“Done?” he asks when I slide my deck back into the box and slip them into my bag.

“I was done before you walked in.” I sling my bag over my shoulder, chewing on the inside of my cheek as I watch him.

“What?” he fires back when I don’t stand or break our staring contest.

“I saw the future, you know.”

“Seriously?” He leans back, lacing his fingers together and wrapping them around the back of his head.

“Yes,seriously.”

His eyes narrow. “What did you see?”

I pause for a moment, debating between keeping it to myself or handing him the ammunition. But Sage already thinks I’m odd, so it’s not like it can get worse.

“I saw that you’re my destiny.”

“Come on.” He stands up, spinning the chair around again like it can create some distance. “You can’t say shit like that, Lyla.”

“What? The truth?”

“Fortunes aren’t truth. They’re daydreams, or wishes, or whatever other false hope you’re feeding on. But they aren’t reality.”

I knew when I said it, he’d go on the defense like he does every time he’s faced with the fact that things between us are changing. But he doesn’t have to be such an ass about it.

“Never mind.” I shove my chair out and stand up. “Tell Kane I’m headed home if you see him.”

“Lyla, wait.” Sage grabs my arm before I make it to the front door, spinning me around to face him.

The force presses my back to the hard wooden surface, and I don’t know if he means to stand this close, but he doesn’t back up.

“What, Sage?” I’m frustrated and out of breath.

I know I’m young. I know I’m naïve. I know we’ve got nothing in common, when all he wants isto be a biker, and I want nothing more than to escape this place. But I hate that my heart races with his body this close.

And I can’t escape that feeling he gives me.

“It’s just—” He cuts himself off, brushing his hand over his face.

“You don’t need to explain yourself to me. You asked, and I was answering. It doesn’t matter anyway, right? You’re not a believer.”

He drops his hands to his sides, defeated. “Right.”

But he doesn’t back up, and I can barely breathe with him this close. It was easier when we were younger. When I could think of him as Reed’s overprotective brother, and he could look at me like his biggest headache.

Now, I’m not sure what this is. His leather cut is proof that even if we try to figure it out, I’ll never stay with him. And my father is enough of a reason that Sage won’t cross the line.

“This used to be simpler,” I mumble.

“What did?”

“Everything.” I gnaw the inside of my cheek. “Wrong age, wrong time, wrong place, wrong guy. Screw the cards, right?”

He stares down at me, his jaw ticking with each reminder of how we’ll never be right for each other. It was age before and now it’s him being a prospect for my father’s club. A rift slowly ripping a canyon between us.

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