Page 2 of Secrets

He shrugs. "Hell if I know. I tried talking her off the ledge, literally, and she wasn't having it. She released her hands and just dropped. I was close enough to grab her arm, but I'm afraid she smacked her head on the bottom of the bridge when it all happened. But I think a little blood is nothing compared to being roadkill."

"He should've let me die," Jolie calls from the gurney. "He just had to be a damned cowboy."

"Can I go now?" Bodie asks, itching to get away from the flashing lights. If he sticks around too long, they'll more than likely find a reason to handcuff him. It's a cop versus biker prerogative.

"Yeah, you can go."

He stands but turns. "Is she going to get help? I didn't do this all for nothing, right? She won't be let go tomorrow and show up here to do the same thing, will she?"

"She'll be under a mandatory seventy-two hour hold for observation, and treatment will be determined then," the cop says. "Sounds like you saved her life. Assuming you weren't the one to drive her here in the first place."

"Yeah, of course, you'd just see me as a scumbag biker, huh?" Bodie says as he walks over to his bike. "The world wouldn't make sense if I was on the good side."

Bodie pulls into the driveway of the address Dallas "Chicago" Smith sent him when he called saying he needed a transfer. The former President of Black Valley told him to stay with Colt and Lex Nichols. The Drifters just patched over another club in Summerville, and the couple and their two kids transferred from Griffin's Beach, the mother charter. And after Bodie found Evie Halstad with another man, he knew he had to get as far away as he could. She'd ripped out his brand-new heart when she answered the door wearing another man's shirt.

Walking up to the door, Bodie's unsure if he should knock or ring the bell. It's past midnight, and the last thing he wants to do is wake up their kids. He'd be shown the curb as quickly as he showed up for creating problems like that.

"Hey, man," Colt says, answering the door before Bodie needs to decide his best course of action.

His blond hair sits in a bun on the top of his head while the bottom half of his head is buzzed. He wears nothing but a pair of sweatpants, and Bodie takes in the size of this guy. He's not overly tall, but he's built. Professional wrestler built.

"Chicago called?" Bodie asks as Colt moves aside and lets him into the house, still filled with boxes.

Apparently, they haven't fully settled into their new home just yet. Bodie's not really clear on why they left Griffin's Beach, especially with both of their fathers being officers, but he's just glad to have a place to crash tonight.

"You're a little later than we thought you'd be," Lex says as she walks up wearing one of Colt's shirts and shorts.

Bodie can tell it's Colt's shirt because it's damn near a dress on this little thing. How she gave birth to two kids, he has no idea, but he likes the mess of blonde curls clipped on top of her head. Her blue eyes stare at him as she gives him a welcoming smile, and Bodie knows immediately that he likes her.

The two look like a damn good fit, too. With Colt's large muscular frame looking like he's ready to throw down at any minute, and her sexy demeanor with the crazy curls and striking eyes, they look ready to conquer the world for some reason. But what seems strange is the fact Lex should be the type of woman Bodie drools over. Instead, he can't take his mind off of Jolie.

"I had to be a damned cowboy," Bodie says, repeating Jolie's statement.

"Excuse me?" Lex asks and leads him into the living room where she sits on the couch.

Colt sits down next to her, his arm wrapping around her as she leans into him, and Bodie sits on the recliner across from them. "You know that bridge over the highway as you come into town along the back roads?"

Colt nods. "Yeah. Why'd you come the back way?"

"I needed to clear my head," he says, avoiding trying to explain the strange pull he felt along with it. "My ex answered the door wearing another asshole's shirt, and I just... I can't be in Black Valley right now."

Crinkling her nose, Lex says, "I can totally imagine. Except in my scenario, there was no shirt. Both were naked." Colt squeezeshis eyes shut, and Lex just shakes her head. "So, what happened on the bridge?"

Colt cheated on Lex? Is that why they moved?

"Was it an accident?" Colt asks, his eyes showing regret.

Bodie tilts his head. "I gotta ask-"

"It was years ago before we were married," Lex says. "Colt needed to get me to leave because he was all dark and broody, and he knew the one way to do that would be to fuck his ex. I got to walk in on her on her knees with him in her mouth."

"Not my proudest moment," Colt says. "But we're working past it. Obviously."

To Bodie's surprise, Lex chuckles. "It was after his brother died and his parents split up. It still sucks, but I don't actually hold it against him. I just like to remind him sometimes to keep him in line."

Colt kisses her temple, and Bodie knows he wants a relationship like theirs. Without the cheating and death part. "There wasn't an accident," he says. "There was a woman ready to jump to her death onto the highway."

Pulling away from her husband, she leans forward and rests her elbows on her knees. "What?"

---