Page 22 of Ride Hard
A middle-aged waitress eyed us but didn’t try to butt in. Domestic violence must be a thing around here if they didn’t bat an eyelid at Chaser’s rough treatment. Us weird strangers would blow through in an hour, and we would be someone else’s problem beforelong.
“What’ll it be?” she asked, placing her hand on the table and leaningforward.
“A burger and fries with ketchup on the side.” I rattled off my order. “And a Coke.A bigone.”
The waitress raised an eyebrow atChaser.
“Double it,” he said, not taking his eyes offme.
His gaze was making me uncomfortable, and I watched the waitress walk away and shout our order to the cook. Chaser snorted and leaned back, drawing my attention to the table oncemore.
“You know, you really need to lay off with the manhandling,” I declared. “It’s giving people the wrongimpression.”
He ground his teeth, signaling he was about to blow agasket.
“You run with bikers, but I don’t think you’re one. Not really,” I added, reaching for a napkin, which I laid over mylap.
“That’s a dangerous observation,” he retorted, glancing out thewindow.
“Avoiding eye contact,” I mused. “Interesting.”
“You’re the biggest pain in the ass I’ve ever met,” he said with a snarl, leaning over the table. “You’re childish, petulant, and borderlinestupid.”
“Petulant? That’s a big word for a tricycle tyrant.” I smiled sweetly even though his wordscut.
He was right about all of it. It was beyond time to grow up, and I’d done that the moment I’d run from the Fortitude compound all those years ago. But ever since Chaser showed up… Riling him up was the best entertainment going around. I wasn’t going to make things easy for him. By the time I found a window of opportunity to dump his ass, he would be begging to get rid of me. Win-win.
“The problem is,” he went on, my insult bouncing off his hard outer shell, “all the crap coming out of your mouth is bravado. That’s not who youare.”
I tensed. “How the fuck would youknow?”
“Professionalexperience.”
The sunglasses felt heavy on top of my head. Just when I thought I had him pegged, he said something that threw me off course. He didn’t look like a biker, but it didn’t mean he was or wasn’t. He could’ve come fromanywhere.
“I guess we’ve both got things to hide,” he said, studyingme.
“So you don’t denyit.”
“You’d be a moron to believe people weren’t lying to you about something. Even when they say they’re beingtransparent.”
“Humanity sucks,” Isaid.
“To apoint.”
“I’ve never met a single person I would diefor.”
He laughed like I’d just told the funniest joke ever and ran his hand over hisface.
“What?” I demanded, giving him the biggest dirty look I couldmuster.
“You’re really self-centered. I’ll have to add that to thelist.”
“Excuse me?” My mouth fellopen.
“Wake up, princess,” he said, his lip curling. “Most people haven’t found the one. I would go as far to say that kind of shit happens to one in a trillion, and there ain’t a trillion people on this fucked up excuse of a rock. You need to readjust yourexpectations.”
“And where should I readjust them to? My father?You?”
