Page 11 of Bullet
Nick’s nervous expression melted into a smile. “That she did.” He turned to face her again. “Well, congrats! Do we have anyone else?”
No one said anything and a few of the other silver-flag-wearing people in the crowd deflated. Nick must have seen it, too, because he clapped his hands a few times. “Hey. I’ll have none of that. There was a shit ton of people here tonight and this isn’t the end all be all. If you think the Knights are right for you, come by and see us more often. Who knows, you may find yourself nominated yet.”
This seemed to brighten spirits and as Nick climbed off the bar, the music started up again, and everyone went back to talking, drinking, and dancing. The chosen prospects continued to stand as Nick made his way over to speak to them.
“I’m surprised you cleared that,” Avery said.
I frowned. “It wasn’t up to me.”
Avery tapped my back. “Sure it was.”
With that, the rest of the members walked out from behind the bar and threaded back into the crowd, but I’d had enough excitement for one night. I walked back through the warehouse and used the back door to leave the Taphouse, walking around to the front at a slow, tired pace to get to my bike. I got to the side of it and started to pull my helmet out of the back when a finger tapped me on the shoulder.
I turned around and my heart started to beat faster than I was comfortable with. Celia was standing there facing me, her hip kicked out to the side and a seductive grin on her face.
“Aw, were you just going to leave? Without even saying goodbye?”
Chapter Four
Celia
It turned out to be a better idea than I realized, staying away from Harry until that night. The whole point was to keep him hanging on by a thread, but if I’d seen him prior to that night, I might have lost sight of my goal.
“I know you saw me in there,” I hummed. “I’m surprised you didn’t say hello. Especially after that night we had.”
The memory of it burned over my skin as it fought to recall all the places Harry had touched me. He was just a means to an end, but what a sexy one he was. If it wasn’t the muscles that I knew were hidden under his reserved jacket and jeans, it was the glasses that sat in front of his golden eyes, with the few wisps of his brown hair hanging down in front of them. If my target had been any less attractive, I wouldn’t be struggling so much.
“How have you been these past few weeks?” I asked.
Harry was standing next to his bike with his helmet in his arms. He looked at me with something between a curious gaze and a harsh glare. “You’re kidding, right?”
I pushed out my bottom lip, doing the best I could to achieve faux innocence. “What do you mean?” Instead of answering me right away, Harry climbed on his bike. He watched me, almost like he was waiting for me to say something else, and for a moment, it seemed like an invitation. “Oh, do you want me to come?”
“Do I look like an idiot to you?” he asked. “We go out, and I actually thought we had a good time.”
“We did. In fact, that was one of the best nights I’ve ever had.”
“So then, why haven’t I heard from you? I called you. I texted you. Was it just about the sex? If it was, that’s fine, but I’m not interested in wasting my time, so you can go find someone else to spend the night with.”
“Call me clueless but given that someone else had to convince you to go out with me at all, I’m a little surprised that you’re the ‘all or nothing’ type.” I set my hands on my hips and intentionally stuck them out to accentuate the curves that Harry’s eyes kept flicking to, no matter how hard he was trying to keep them straight. “So I wasn’t trying to marry you after a single date. That makes me a bad person?”
“I didn’t say anything about marriage,” Harry replied, “but I had a certain expectation that you’d at least answer my phone call if I tried to contact you again, not just completely ghost me. If you weren’t interested in anything more than spending the night together, you could have said that so that I wasn’t left wondering.”
To say I was surprised by Harry’s position would be an understatement. He simply didn’t seem like an emotional guy. The point was to lead him on, but I didn’t think it’d be so difficult. Was he really only going to give me one chance?
“Listen, I thought everyone enjoyed a little cat and mouse. It’s not like I’m the only one who played hard to get.”
“Yeah,” he said, “but once I agreed to go out with you, you didn’t have to try anymore. I wasn’t so lucky.” I opened my mouth to retort, but before I could get any words out, Harry started up his bike, cutting me off with its loud rumble. “There are plenty of people in that bar who would be happy to have you. Go play around with someone else.”
With that, he pulled his helmet over his head and revved his bike a couple of times, then he pulled out of the parking spot and roared away without looking back.
Insulted would be putting it mildly.
Our first night together was one for the history books. Why would anyone turn down the opportunity to havethatagain? With my arms crossed, I watched Harry pull out of the parking lot and ride off down the street until he was out of sight. I knew I had to go home, but I didn’t want to face what awaited me there.
Did I wait too long to contact Harry again? Did I mess everything up by playing it a little too cool?
With nothing left to do, I fished my keys out of my pocket and made my way over to my car. I got in, and even waited a few additional minutes to see if Harry was going to double back, but he didn’t. Defeated, and unsure of how I was going to explain my failure, I finally left Hoppa’s Taphouse and made my way home.
