Page 79 of Swan

I would give anything to be on the back of the bike with Drake.

But he was only being nice. I knew the brothers preferred to save that spot for their old lady.

“I, um, I think the car?”

I caught his smirk when I flicked my gaze to him and away. “Let me know if you change your mind. Later, Birdy.”

“Bye.” I waved, climbing into my car and shutting the door. I put my key in the ignition and noticed that Drake still stood on the path. His arms were crossed over his chest. I leaned forwards enough to see his face, and he tipped his chin up at me, smiling.

Why wasn’t he leaving? I waved again, and his smile grew wide enough that I saw his teeth flash. Was he waiting for me to go?

I started the car, wound down my window, and called again, “Bye.”

“Later.” The humour in his tone puzzled me since he was the one being weird by hanging about until I was gone.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

DRAKE

There was something different about Swan. I couldn’t really put my finger on it, but for some reason, she wasn’t meeting my gaze for long. At least when I spoke to her the other week outside of her appointment, she actually talked to me instead of the short answers I got when my family had gone to hers for dinner.

I’d left the house that night wondering if I’d done something wrong.

But I had a feeling it’d been just an off day for her since she’d already seemed upset when I got there. My gut had soured when I saw her trying to play her emotions off as having something in her eye.

She’d been struggling, and I would have given my left nut to have held her. Comforted her.

“What’re you thinkin’ so hard about?” Ruin asked as he pulled Wolf under his arm more.

We’d arrived at Ruin’s earlier in the day and got designated a room in the mansion. Now we were hanging out in Pick and Billy’s pub.

I could feel eyes on me and glanced over to the women at the pool tables. Swan quickly looked away.

I took a pull of my beer. “Nothin’ much.”

“I call bull. You’ve been quiet all day,” Coyote said.

“Anythin’ we need to worry about?” Vicious asked. He was a brother from the Caroline Springs chapter, like Ruin was since he’d moved to Melbourne for Wolf.

“Nope.”

Billy tapped his knuckles on the table. He smirked. “Is it women problems? Got too many to deal with?”

The brothers chuckled.

Yeah, the brothers had seen the attention I got and how I was from sixteen to eighteen, but I hadn’t been into anyone since the day Swan had claimed my attention.

Not that she or anyone else knew.

Brothers still saw the women flirting but didn’t notice me knock them back.

Didn’t bother me if they thought otherwise. I knew what I wanted.

If I ever got the chance to make Swan mine, I didn’t want for her to think she hadn’t been important to me since the day I fell for her.

Texas must have caught the unease coursing through me because he said, “Leave it.”

Pick glanced at Texas and back to me, then nudged Billy in the thigh with his knee.

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