Page 21 of Can't Get Over You
Which made it surreal to be back in town and with Finlay clinging to him like he was her only hope against the hordes of zombies chasing her. He liked it.
That was not good, so he pinned it and took off.
When he got to the club, he didn’t recognize a lot of the bikes and trucks. He had no idea what happened to most of the guys he’d once known.
He only knew one thing: Marco was gone.
A sharp twist of regret had him lowering his gaze to the snow-covered ground. He and his friend had gone in different directions. There was nothing he could’ve done about that, but it didn’t take away the disappointment that life hadn’t gone better for his oldest friend.
While waiting for her to get off his bike, he checked the family chat.
Dad: What the hell was that?
Ava: Need us to come back?
Boone: Jude, the legend. Bagging a date his first five minutes in town.
He wrote them back.
Jude: She’s an old friend from high school. She needed a ride.
Boone:
Dad: You need us for anything?
Jude: No. I’ll be home after I figure things out with the kid.
Once off the bike, Finlay handed over the helmet and jacket. “Thank you.”
Her shaking hands and voice messed with him. “What’d that fucker do?”
“He kept a secret.”
He studied her for a moment. That wasn’t always a dealbreaker. Not when you loved someone.
What the fuck do I know about love?
Not a damn thing.
“Don’t look so murderous.” She cracked a half-hearted grin. “He didn’t cheat on me. At least, I don’t think.”
Her hair was a mess, so he bit the tip of his glove and tugged it off, freeing his hand to brush strands off her forehead. “You okay?”
“I don’t know. I feel like a rubber ducky floating in a bathtub. I don’t have legs, so I can’t kick toward the side, and I’m just…bobbing.”
“All right, ducky. When you figure it out, let me know. For now, let’s get you warmed up.”
As she held his gaze, she broke into a soft grin. It lit her eyes and put color back into her pale complexion. “You know what I just remembered?”
“What?”
“That day you rescued me from the raccoon.”
He’d never forgotten. For a lot of reasons. First, she’d been wearing the cutest fucking slippers he’d ever seen. Second, because of the fear in her eyes. It had been real. And third, because that was the day all the pieces had come together, and he’d understood her. Her essential loneliness.
He’d never talked to Leia again.
She nodded. “Today’s the second time you happened to be there right when I needed you.”
