Page 42 of Ricochet

Anger pounded in his ear. His eyes saw nothing but red, and Colintried to keep the calmest touch on her hand that he could manage. Nothing short of a death threat would fall from his lips, so he grunted and kept walking with her.

“And outside of Mayhem,” Adelia added, “there’s this headache in Sweet Hills about who thinks what. MC girls are easy. Since you know I’ve come across a bit of a tit for tat headache, I’ve found it closer to ignore it all, and avoidpretty much everyone. I just hang out with my close friends. Mostly Seven.”

“Seven’s good people,” Colin managed as they walked out the front doors of the community center. A few cars and motorcycles had been left over night, and he angled them toward his rental. “She’s a good barometer.”

“Yeah, and Seven normally has no time for men. Jax is a freaking miracle…”

Colin stopped Adelia next tothe passenger door. “That’s fucked up about Tex, you know?”

Her placating grin gave him a non-answer.

“Controlling who you choose to be with.”

She shrugged and looked over his shoulder. “It’s his club, his rules.”

“Get your own rules,” Colin snapped harder than he meant to.

“I’ve been meaning to…” Her gaze fell to the side. “But I got myself wrapped into this job with them that I can’t leave.”

“Get a new one.”

“I can’t—and I won’t.”

“Why don’t you care about what Tex says?”

“It doesn’t matter that much to me.”

“That’s insane, Adelia.”

“Really. It’s not. I promise.”

“You can’t let a guy like that make those choices for you.” He shook his head. What kind of men had she dated? Tex-approved pieces of shit? Colin could only imagine.

She bit her lip. “I think I’m not saying enoughfor you to read between the lines.”

Read between the lines? What more did he need to hear than her adoptive father who saved her from a pimp picked out the people she could have sex with. “Then say it because your world is blowing my mind.”

Her brown-sugar eyes swept the ground as though her secret was stashed there, and when she met his gaze, her color was gone. “I’m a virgin.”

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