Page 76 of Love is Blind

That first sentence sticks with me. He’s right, I haven’t been paying attention—not to the important shit. But my eyes are wide fucking open now and Birdie has some explaining to do because none of this shit makes sense.

~*~

Cracking my knuckles,I step outside the jail. The urge to ram my fist into the brick wall eats at me because this is not how I operate. I don’t give away my face or my intention without having a solid plan of attack in place. I walked into that jail with no knowledge whatsoever and I made it obvious. Telling Mendez I had the correction officer’s in my pocket was a grave mistake. That’s how a man gets himself killed or worse—his woman.

Muttering a curse, I start for my bike. I make it two feet before I stop dead in my tracks, my eyes locking with Maverick’s as he pushes off his Harley.

“You want to tell me why we’re here or should I guess?” He grinds out, clearly fucking ticked with me.

Fucking Wiz.

I shake my head and continue toward my bike.

“Shouldn’t you be at Tara’s birthday party?”

“I got a couple of hours for that,” he replies. “You going to ignore my question?”

Sliding my helmet from the handlebars, I meet his gaze.

“I’m trying to.”

He crosses his arms against his chest and shakes his head.

“That’s not how this works.”

Sighing, I lean my ass on the seat of my bike. He’s right, it’s not.

“What’s going on Ghost?” Maverick presses. “It ain’t like you to keep secrets from me.”

“It has nothing to do with the club,” I argue.

I’m not that far gone yet that I’m taking on club business without bringing it to the table first. That starts happening, I might as well turn in my fucking patch.

He raises an eyebrow and repeats my words back to me. His eyes narrow into tiny slits and his jaw clenches tight.

“And that’s supposed to make me feel better? Vivi ain’t got shit to do with the club, that bitch is a personal problem and you’ve made it your job to handle her whenever she comes sniffing around. You never asked, you did it out of loyalty and respect for my family.”

I look away. I know where he’s going with this, but the situations are not the same. Still, I ask, “What’s your point?”

“My point is personal problems don’t exist between brothers. You bleed, I bleed. Didn’t think you needed the reminder, but there you go. Now, are you going to tell me why the fuck you’re visiting someone in county?”

“She’s been lying to me.”

Or whatever you call it when you keep shit from the man you’re sleeping with.

“I’m going to guesssheis Birdie.”

Narrowing my eyes on him, I cross my arms and say, “Gotta wake up pretty early in the morning to fool you, huh?”

He shrugs a shoulder and juts his chin, signaling for me to continue.

“The night I met her, Emmy warned me Birdie was going through some shit, but she didn’t know what it might be and I didn’t give a fuck then. She was supposed to be a one-night stand, man. A fucking escape from reality.” Shaking my head, I pause. That changed as soon as I had her in my bed. “Anyway, I come to find out she left Charlotte because she was arrested with her ex-boyfriend.”

Maverick motions to the jail behind me. “That who you went to see?”

I nod, still disgusted by my actions.

“What were the charges?”

---