JUNE 28
“So you two are back together? Wait, were you ever officially together?” Emily stirred her iced Caramel Macchiato and gave me the side-eye with her baby blues.
I groaned and buried my face in the intoxicating aroma of my extra-hot vanilla Blonde Roast in the hugest size possible. Anything to avoid Emily and her knowing look—although the mouthwatering scent had more than a little to do with it, too. Ever since that morning a few weeks ago, she wouldn’t let me forget that she’d seen me with Zag. Not that there was anything wrong with it, because now I was.
With Zag.
I lifted my cup and took a sip, then gave Emily the look back. “What do semantics matter? We’re together now.”
“You know I’m just giving you shit. If you’re happy, I’m happy.”
Nicole lifted her coffee cup and gave me a smile. “I told you so.”
I laughed. “And you waited a whole thirty seconds before rubbing it in. Thanks, Nic.”
“No problem.” Nicole took a sip of her coffee. “So since you guys are all official, don’t you think it’s time you introduced him to your friends? Glimpses of him walking away don’t really count. Maybe over drinks at the Mineshaft?”
“You want to meet him?”
“Well, he’s an important man in your life now. You guys are going to be together for a while, right? I think we need to take a minute and kick the tires, so to speak.”
I read between the lines of Nicole’s little speech. She was so transparent sometimes. “You mean you want me to introduce you to all his hot biker friends.”
Nicole rolled her eyes and shrugged. “What? You can’t blame me. I told you that one time I saw him that the man’s hot. It stands to reason they’re harboring some serious talent in their gang.”
“Club. If I’m going to introduce you guys to Zag and his friends, you can’t call it a gang. They’re really prickly about that.”
“Sorry. Club. So when do we get to meet all the cute boys?”
“Oh my god, Nic.” Emily wiped the corner of her mouth with a napkin. “Is that seriously all you think about?”
Nicole snorted. “And you don’t?”
“No, some of us are worrying about more important things, like our jobs and our friend’s well-being.”
It was noticeable and obvious why Emily left out her family from her list of concerns. She’d written her family off since her dad had been reported to DCFS—the Department of Children and Family Services—and she’d moved into my house at sixteen. And her parents didn’t do anything to get her back. Not that it mattered—Emily’d been an honorary member of my family since grade school. I tried to make up for the lack in her life, but sometimes I wondered if that was why she’d clung to her screwed-up relationship with that abusive asshole for so long. She’d dated Michael for a ridiculous amount of time, given how crazy he was and how badly he’d treated her. That one relationship had soured her on dating men. In the ten-year span of our dating years, I could count the number of guys Emily had gone out with on two fingers—the asshat Michael being one of them. She was so caught up in school, and then work at the library, I doubted she’d even noticed we were in our late twenties. Or maybe she didn’t care. God, that thought made me sad.
Nicole shrugged. “Maybe a biker is just the thing to get that stick out of your ass.”
I flinched. “Nicole! Not cool.”
“I’m not wrong.”
“No, what you are is rude.” Emily turned to me and ignored Nicole’s innocent look. “Are you going to tell your parents?”
“Which part? That I’m dating a biker or that I saw one of his ‘brothers’ selling drugs in the parking lot at work?”
Nicole abandoned her silent taunting of Emily and gave me an incredulous look. “Wait, you haven’t even told them about the drug deal?”
“No, I don’t want them to worry.”
“But you’re going to testify. They’re going to find out. It’s better if they hear it from you.”
“If it even goes to trial, it’ll be months from now. I just wish we had working security cameras on that level, and then this whole thing would be moot. They’d have film of it and I wouldn’t have an overprotective biker on my ass.”
Nicole smirked. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“He’s making me nervous. Doesn’t want me to go anywhere on my own. And he’s texting me every hour. It’s starting to creep me out.”
Emily traded a look with Nicole. “Like stalker-boyfriend creeping out, or homicidal-biker on-the-loose nervous?”
“What? No, not Zag. I mean, not totally. And Preacher is safely locked up since he couldn’t make bail. It’s just…I don’t know. I think Zag’s being overprotective and…”
“You’re scared he has a reason to be?” Emily finished for me.
“Yeah. This is totally not my world. I do family barbecues and movies with the girls. Not biker wars and drug deals. I just—” This time I broke off because my phone chirped with an incoming text message.
Zag: You still out with your girls?
I bit my lip and fought the urge to text back: Yes, Dad. Something told me Zag wouldn’t find it funny. Instead I held my phone out to Emily and Nicole. “See what I mean?”
Nicole winced. “Yeah, that does seem like overkill.”
I nodded. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he wanted to install spyware on my phone so he can know where I am at all times.”
Emily shrugged. “I think it’s sweet.”
“What?”
“He cares about you and wants to know you’re safe. It’s sweet.”
“It’s nutty. I’m gonna have to talk to him about it.”
Nicole snorted. “Before or after you tell your parents you’re dating a biker? Or that you’re testifying in a drug trial?”
I closed my eyes and sighed. Nic had a point. If I could, I would avoid the difficult stuff in the naïve belief that it made my life easier. And yet…
I texted Zag back. We’re still at Mackay Mocha House.
Sometimes it was just easier to go with the flow.