Page 49 of Ride or Die

“A little birdie told me you went home with Cole Dawson last night.”

I turn to see Kendra smirking at me, one of her dark eyebrows climbing high in obvious suspicion.

My eyes flair. “I-I…” I shake my head, squeezing my eyes shut before gaping at her. “Huh?”

She giggles. “Cole Dawson.”

I feel my cheeks flame with the kind of heat that singes through to my bones. I’m not embarrassed. I’m thirty-three years old for chrissake. But the more people know about mein this place, the more it means I might be overstaying my welcome. I can’t risk making a name for myself. That’ll only lead to the kind of trouble I’m already running from.

“Girl, relax,” Kendra chides, bumping her hip with mine. “He’s fine as hell and… Well, I’ve heard the stories.” She looks down, her smirk telling.

Interest sufficiently piqued, my brows knit together as a flicker of concern spikes in my chest. “What…stories?”

She flashes me a wide-eyed glance. “The… he… his…” Suddenly a huge, beaming smile claims her face, but instead of finishing her sentence, she cranes her neck and looks over my shoulder, waving a hand and shouting out. “Maci!”

“This better be good, y’all.” Maci huffs as she comes up behind me, a flustered look on her pretty face. “Gramps over there must be on his death bed or somethin’ ’cuz he’s tippin’ big.”

I glance over to her section, to the man who would have to be at least eighty, grinning at the ladies on stage like a kid eyeing a dessert buffet.

“I think he’s in oil.” Maci’s eyebrows dance suggestively.

“Clara doesn’t know,” Kendra says with a smirk, looking at me.

“Don’t know what?” Maci gruffs, about as confused as I am.

“About… Cole.” Kendra offers her a knowing look.

It takes all of about three seconds before Maci’s eyes nearly bug out of her skull, a slow grin curling her lips as she looks from me to Kendra and back again. She nudges me with her bony elbow. “Oh, girl, you’re in for a treat.”

I deadpan. “For the record I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Let’s just say… he’s—” Kendra glances up toward the beams in the ceiling in thought before meeting my eyes again. “Bedazzled.”

I make a face. “Bedazzled?”

Maci snorts a laugh, tongue in cheek. “Oh, yeah.”

I officially have no idea what they’re talking about, nor do I think I want to know if their traded glances and devious grins have anything to do with it.

Rolling my eyes, I shake my head. “Cole and I are just… friends.” I shrug. It’s a half-lie. Because we are friends, but I’d be lying my ass off if I said I hadn’t thought about our moment last night on the porch steps. I’m not sure if I was imagining things or not—it was late, and I was dog tired after all—but he was looking at my lips like he was wondering what they taste like. If he’d leaned in to kiss me, I can’t say I’d have pushed him away. I dig my teeth into my bottom lip at the memory silently chastising myself because hell, he is far too young for me to be thinking these things.

“Well,” Maci begins with a shrug, “act surprised.”

I watch her head back to her section before turning back to Kendra and rolling my eyes again. “We’re literally just friends,” I say again.

Kendra’s eyes zero in on something behind me, another smirk tugging her lips as she turns back to face the bar with a muttered, “Friends, my ass…”

Confused, I go to question her but before I can, I’m startled by a hand on my waist. Spinning around so fast, I almost topple off my ridiculous heels when I come face to face with the man himself.

Cole stands there, smirking down at me, dressed almost identical to last night in his jeans, and shirt adorned with patches of sponsors, hat dipped low on his head.

“What… What are you doing here?” I ask, my brows tugging together in confusion and a little sheepishness because his sudden presence sure isn’t going to help quell Maci and Kendra’s suspicions.

He shrugs a broad shoulder, turning to face the bar. “Thought I’d stop by and have a drink.”

“You’re here… alone?” I quirk a brow, not seeing any of the familiar faces from last night.

“Yep,” is all he says.