Page 27 of Unmasked Anarchy
We don’t talk about the clubs, or Gage, or guns, or anything that would sour the taste of this almost illicit little mid-afternoon.Instead, Kael tells me he played baseball once, until he shattered his knee in a fight, and that he can’t stand the taste of strawberries because he ate a hundred of them just to impress a girl in kindergarten and then puked everywhere.
He is so easy to talk to.
The conversation is effortless.
We finish the whiskey and switch to shitty beer, which makes the world float a little, and I can’t help but let myself drift into the banter.It’s dangerous.Stupid, even.But in this lighting, at this bar, I can almost believe I am someone else.Someone who isn’t married to another biker.Someone who could just say fuck it and take this man into the bathroom, letting him fuck me senseless.
A song comes on, something old and classic, and Kael says, “Dance with me.”It isn’t a question.There’s no room for protest, and maybe that’s what I like about it.
I shouldn’t.
I know it.
But I do.
I take his hand and follow him to the dance floor where there are a surprising amount of people actually dancing.There’s no way he should be good at this, but the bastard is.He’s light on his feet, and his movements are effortless.He spins me, just once, and the room spins a little.Kael notices, eases the pace, brings it back to a gentle two-step where his hands rest carefully on my hips and his eyes don’t let me go.
I can feel every head in that booth by the door tracking us.I don’t care.I don’t care about anything except the way his fingers splay at my lower back, the way his breath is warm against my cheek, and the way we don’t step on each other’s feet even once.
The song ends.He doesn’t let go right away, instead he holds me flush against his body, his eyes locked on mine.
“You’re trouble,” I say quietly.
He grins, dark and edgy.“So are you, darlin’.Maybe that’s why I can’t seem to stay away from you.”
I need to stop this before I cave and put my lips on this man.
“I need to pee,” I whisper, releasing him.
I go to the bathroom to try and sober up.I splash water on my face, but it does nothing to stop my head spinning.I want to stay in here, let the world slow down so I don’t have to make a decision, but the dull sounds of the bar and the clink of ice in glasses calls me back out anyway.
There’s a glass of water where my whiskey glass was when I return.I stare at it, then back at Kael.
“Drink it.”
I take it, tucking my hair behind my ear.He waits until I’ve had two sips before he speaks.“You know you can crash at my place, if you want.Just sleep it off.You don’t even have to talk to me.”But his eyes say there’s a lot more he’d like than just talking.
God damn him.
He’s playing a wicked game.
I know I shouldn’t, but I have nowhere else to go.I’m drunk and can’t drive like this.
At the very least, I will wait a few hours there before driving home.
At least that’s what I tell myself when I nod at him.
What we are doing is dangerous, but as I follow him into the dark, the orange city lights blurring above, I know I’m not going to stop chasing that feeling until I burn my entire world to the ground.
~*~*~*~*~
WHEN WE ARRIVE BACKat the Sons’ clubhouse, it is in full swing.There are men and women everywhere, a fire crackling in the middle of the lot, music playing and laughter rolling through the evening.I can’t help but feel an ache in my chest, because on nights like these back home, I feel like the club I have been part of for so many years, is family.
Then reality smacks me in the face, because I’m not important to them.
I don’t matter like I should.
The fact that Gage hasn’t once spoken about the people who attacked me, or finding them, tells me everything I need to know about where I stand.
