Page 20 of Legacy
That’s why she wouldn’t meet my eyes.
It made living together pretty much a complete nightmare. And it was all my fault.
I shouldn’t have gone into her room looking for her. What I had to say could have waited until morning.
I definitely shouldn’t have touched her lips, even if it was her that took my finger into her mouth.
And I sure as hell shouldn’t have opened my mouth and broken the spell that had settled over us.
That was the real reason Kate wouldn’t look at me now. Because she had wanted me as much as I had wanted her. And she felt guilty about it.
I felt guilty as well.
But I still cursed myself for opening my mouth and talking.
“I thought you were going to bring Kate.” Leaning up against the wall next to me, Duke followed my gaze to Conner. “He’s a good kid. She did a good job raising him alone.”
She had. Kate was the kind of woman who had her life together. Even with all the mess she was currently in, it was perfectly clear that when it was all over, she wouldn’t need or want me hanging around.
“Yeah, she has.”
“So where is she?”
“She’s coming later.” I shrugged. “Pocket said he would bring her, but she was all for getting a taxi.” Another shrug, just to prove once and for all that I didn't care. When truth was the total opposite. I cared very much.
“Ok.” Duke let out a long exhale. “I have some questions. One.” He held up a finger. “You okay with her being on the back of his bike?”
I side eyed him. “Pocket has never come off his bike, as far as I know. He's one of the safest riders in the club. It's why he should have been road captain…” I trailed off. I was going off on a tangent and we both knew it. It didn't make it any less true, though. “Kate would be safer riding with him than anyone else in this club.”
“Yeah.” Duke fell silent. And we both went back to watching Conner as he meticulously polished the bikes in the yard. It was a prospect's job, but Conner had asked. And he had done a damn good job of it so far. One day, when the time was right, I would be happy to sponsor him in the Sons.
If Kate didn't have my balls for even mentioning it, of course.
“Ok. Two. How do youfeelabout her riding with him?”
I swallowed hard. I knew what he was getting at, of course. I wasn't stupid. Her turning up with Pocket would raise eyebrows. People would have questions.
Hell, I had questions as well. Just none that I could bring myself to ask.
“They have become friends. She likes him.” I forced myself to say those words even though it hurt to admit it. I had seen it. Anytime Pocket was around, I would catch them chatting and giggling together. Only earlier I had found them both laughing in the kitchen as she cooked up the roast lamb she had promised me.
“And that doesn't bother you?”
“Nope.” Again, I did what appeared to be my favourite thing to do. I shrugged. “She's not mine.”
“No?” Duke's voice lowered. “That's good, cos—”
I whirled about just in time to see Pocket's bike slide through the open gates. Clutching his cut, her summer dress pushed up her thighs, was Kate. I knew it was her. I didn't need to see her face.
The jealousy was sudden and very, very real, making me a total liar. It only intensified when Pocket helped pull the helmet from her head. Her cheeks were flushed with laughter; her eyes sparkled with it. Nothing he said could have made her look like that — Pocket couldn’t be that funny.
“Easy brother.” Duke straightened from his place against the wall, sensing the shift in my thoughts.
There was nothing easy about what I was seeing. Nothing at all.
“You said yourself that they are friends. That you didn't care. You literally said it a few seconds ago.”
“Don't fucking care what I said. She said she was getting a taxi. Not that she was riding with him. I didn’t really think…” I blew out a breath. “Get out of my way, Duke.”
