Page 6 of Reid
“That should be enough for now.”I waited for him to give my card and license back, and then he placed my cranberry and soda in front of me.
“I’ll bring the pitcher.”
“No offense, Jack, but I don’t know you.I’m not going to give my sister and our friends drinks I didn’t see you make.”I might have felt safe in Hannigans’, but I wasn’t stupid.“I don’t mind waiting.”
“Smart girl,” he said with a nod.“But that’s my woman and family over there.Your friends belong to me.”
I shrugged.“Like I said, I don’t know you.What I do know is that sometimes family is more dangerous to a person than a stranger.I’ll wait for the margaritas.”
He paused in the middle of mixing the large container, something flickering deep in his green eyes as he looked at me a little closer.
Intense blue eyes flashed through my mind, reminding me of Reid and making my heart do a little kick.Our brief meeting the day before had knocked me on my ass.When he’d left to take care of the clogged pipe, I’d almost begged him not to go.I hadn’t let myself think about him all day, but I felt an ache inside me that reminded me of when I would have to leave Evie at the end of our visitation each birthday.That hollow, empty sensation in the middle of my chest hadn’t eased since I’d last seen him.
“What’s your name?”Jack asked, pulling me out of my head and back into the present.
“Everly,” I answered without hesitation, wondering if he was asking to make sure it matched the name on my driver’s license and credit card.With makeup on, I looked my age, twenty-one.Without makeup, sometimes I looked like I was fifteen.
Dear ol’ Mom had some amazing genes when it came to the outside wrappings.She’d still looked like she was in her twenties when she died, and that was on top of her boozing it up every single day until her sudden death.Her organs had been shutting down without anyone guessing because she showed no surface signs that she was in organ failure.
“Someone in your family hurting you, Everly?”Jack’s tone had shifted from neutral and professional, turning colder, darker.The grumpy middle-aged men on either side of me scuttled away, picking up their drinks and pretending not to cower from whatever demon had suddenly possessed the large biker bartender.
But all I felt was that continued sense of safety.I considered his question.No one had ever physically harmed me in my family.Mom had been more of a danger to herself than anyone else when she was drinking.And I’d never actually had a real conversation with my father.
Emotionally, my parents had eviscerated me, heart and soul.
“I’m not in any danger, Jack,” I finally answered honestly.
“You come tell me if that changes, Everly.”
I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat.If only Evie had had someone like that when we were younger.He placed the pitcher on the bar top, making sure the lid was on tight before scooting it closer to me.“Tell Nishia to have fun for me, yeah?”
“Yeah,” I promised, picking up the plastic container.
Hands full, I turned in the direction of our table and came face-to-chest with someone…big.I blinked, taking in the black T-shirt that was stretched tight over a hard chest, the stitching on the leather vest immediately telling me it was an Angel’s Halo member.Another Enforcer, according to the patch on his chest.I needed to do a deep dive on the overall hierarchy within MCs.Enforcer seemed like a badass position to hold in a club.
Tipping my head back, I had an easy smile on my face until I saw a pair of intense blue eyes.
Everly
It tookme all of two seconds to realize they weren’t the same shade of blue as Reid’s, but they were pretty damn close.My gaze skimmed over the stranger’s handsome face, noting the piercings on either side of his nose, the rough stubble on his jaw, and the confusion pulling his brows together.
Not a person on the planet would say that the man standing in front of me wasn’t hot.He looked similar enough to Reid that I knew they were related.His brother had needed help with the clogged pipe the day before.Maybe this was Elias.
“You being a good girl, peaches?”he asked, dipping his head and…
“Did you just sniff me?”I demanded, taking a step back.People in our immediate vicinity abruptly stopped talking and looked at us at my raised voice.
Okay, maybe it was a deep inhale that would have been super hot if I weren’t already interested in someone else.But I wasn’t interested.I didn’t even know this guy, so I was going withsniffingbecause, to me, that word wasn’t even remotely sexy.Likemoistwas cringy to the majority of the world’s population, sniffing was one of my ick words.
Blue eyes narrowed on me.Leaning down, he sniffed again.“You aren’t peaches,” he growled accusingly.
“Stop sniffing me, you creepy bloodhound,” I snapped, already knowing exactly who he thought I was.
Evie and I twinned harder than any twins when it came to our appearance, but my sister was in love with her peaches-and-honey-scented hygiene care, heavy on the peaches.She’d even found laundry detergent that smelled like peaches.I preferred rose and vanilla, heavy on the vanilla.
Dressing alike, doing our hair and makeup so we looked exactly the same, were our coping mechanisms.Evie needed it because for the entirety of the time she’d lived with William, seeing her reflection and pretending it was me was how she’d survived.I was there with her in that mirror.
She could put her fingers to the glass and touch me.If it hadn’t been for that, I knew Evie would have been lost to me forever.Now that we were finally together, seeing me match her calmed her anxiety.Just like keeping the door open and unlocked.
