Page 54 of Moto
It makes me frown. Win may not be the right word. Short-term solution sounds more like it. A bandage. A quick fix. Definitely not something permanent. But if Reese is cool with it, so am I. Because I want Kayla any way I can have her. I want her back in my bed, underneath me, begging to come. Even if that means I have to share her temporarily.
I’m willing to deal with the repercussions.
And there will be repercussions.
There always are.
17
Kayla
Ihaven’t seen Tammy since I graduated high school. We were always close, but after she enlisted in the Air Force and I left for college, we lost track of each other. Hugging her is like slipping into a well-worn pair of jeans or walking straight back into an old life.
It’s a consoling familiarity.
“Kayla Kincade! What are you doing here?” She squeezes me so tightly, my back cracks. “I thought you walked away from this scene forever ago?”
“I did.” I strain to breathe as heartbreaking memories pelt me like bullets. “It’s sort of a long story.”
“I got the time, girlfriend.” Tammy’s twang springs off her syllables.
Tammy grew up on one of the most rural farms in the area. She’s a tall, thin, country girl with five overprotective brothers, who shoots straight from the hip. She can also ride anything with two wheels and has no problem showing you up while she does so. I remember when she schooled her oldest brother on a dirt bike. It was then and there she earned the respect of every man in her family. She was a sore winner, kicking up mud right in his face. But I guess when you’re the only girl swimming in a sea of testosterone, you need to make your statements where you can.
I angle my face away from her, determined to suppress the toilsome emotions. Tammy turns my cheek, sweet compassion gushing out of her big hazel eyes. Just being in her presence teleports me back to the past.
“All feels real again, huh?”
“For a minute.” I try to smile, fighting off the sadness before it drags me under. Before the guilt swallows me whole. It only takes a split second before I’m suffocating.
“So don’t think about the past, and tell me what you’re doin’ here! On the back of Reese Dane’s bike, no less.” She shakes me excitedly. “You’re every woman’s target tonight. Including mine!”
I turn red, restraining a smirk. “It just sort of happened. I was his nurse when he got hurt.”
“His nurse?” She puts her hands on her hips.“That’s it?”
“Yes, his nurse. That’s it.”
“And what are you now?” she pries.
Tammy’s no idiot. Neither am I, and neither is Reese. Showing up at a rally with a girl on your bike says something. Specifically,she’s mine.
I glance back at Reese and Dev, both glaring at me in completely different ways. Reese looks like he wants to eat me alive; Dev looks like he wants to murder me. Who can blame him? At the moment, he probably hates me. And why shouldn’t he? I slept with him, then ignored his every phone call and text. And trust me, there were numerous. I drilled it into his head that I want nothing to do with bikers, and then have the audacity to show up at a rally, of all places, an hour after I fucked his twin brother in broad daylight.
I’m a walking fucking contradiction. Truth is, I was so ass backward after what happened with the two of them that I didn’t know what to do. I needed time to sort things out.
Dev is the dangerous one. Plain and simple. I know when he looks at me, it’s more than just physical attraction. I felt it when he touched me, when he kissed me. It was emotionally charged. Being with Dev felt final. Being with Reese felt free—no strings attached. No chance to get hurt. I knew he never planned to stay. He was an easy out. At least, that was my impression until he showed up clear out of the blue. I’m in the worst possible situation. Caught between two men I yearn for equally. Desire equally.
“Now, we’re . . . friends?” I try to simplify it.
“You asking or telling?”
“I’m not really sure, to be honest.” I laugh. “I’m just trying to let it all sink in.”
“I understand that. Reese Dane is definitely one fine piece of man. I’d let himsinkinall night long. Mmm.” I snap my head toward Tammy as a stab of jealousy punctures my gut. “Hell, I’d even take his brother as a consolation prize.” She jokes as I glare at her. Once she peels her eyes away from Reese and Dev, Tammy looks at me, startled. “Why you shootin’ death rays? You can’t lay claim on both of them.”
Says whom?
I know that thought is preposterous, but still. In my warped little world, they’re both mine.
