Page 50 of Wicked Minds
“Back again,” he teases when he’s within earshot before grabbing two ice-cold beers, popping off the lids, and setting them in front of us on the sticky bar top.
“It’s hard to say no to this one.” I point my thumb at his sister, who fake gasps while Xander chuckles.
“Tell me about it. I still haven’t worked it out.” Leaning in as though he’s about to share a secret, he stage whispers, “If you ever figure it out, let me know.”
Scandalized, Tara slams her beer on the bar top. “Riley ismyfriend!” She points an accusing finger at her brother, who pays her no attention.
“You got it.” When I wink conspiratorially, Tara’s head swivels and she gapes at me.
“You wouldn’t!”
With a nonchalant shrug, I fight back my laughter as I say, “Better be nice to me then.”
“Why did I bring you here again? This was a terrible idea. If I’d known you were both going to gang up on me, I’d have left you to waste away your youth alone in your apartment.” She fake pouts, and both Xander and I burst out laughing.
“Alright, alright. We’ll stop teasing you.”
“Yeah, I gotta get back to work, anyway,” Xander says. “Good to see you again, Riley.” Turning to pierce his sister with a stern look, he states, “You know the rules.”
With a mocking, two-finger salute, Tara smirks at her brother who rolls his eyes before moving back down the bar to fill orders.
Resting our backs against the bar, we look over the packed-in crowd toward the fighting ring, where two men are currently dancing around one another. We watch in silence as we drink from our beers, and I find myself not as sucked into the fight as I was with Royce’s. Perhaps it’s not the fighting that I enjoyed, but watchingRoycefight.
Picking at the label on the beer bottle, I side-eye Tara as I hedge, “Do you know when Ruthless is up?”
She smirks knowingly. “Soon, probably. You’ll know when his fight is up next.” I nod. “So… he’s been at the club every night you’re on.”
“He doesn’t trust Ben, and he’s been giving me a ride home after work.”
“Oh really now? Do tell.”
“It’s not like that,” I say with a roll of my eyes at Tara’s teasing tone. “We… well, we sit in silence a lot, but it’s a comfortable silence. And we’ve talked. He apologized.”
Tara scoffs. “I’d damn well hope he apologized—ideally with his tongue between your thighs while you saw stars.”
“Oh my god, Tara!”
“What? That man isfine, and you told me you can hardly keep your hands off him when he’s around, so I don’t see what the problem is.”
“The problem is… Uhh?—”
“See! You don’t even know what the problem is. You’re looking for an excuse to put up walls, Riley.”
“I’m not,” I protest. “He did a shitty thing.”
“Yeah, he did, but he equally didn’t know you then. You said so yourself that he softened toward you the more he was around you.”
“He did,” I agree. “And, yeah, I can understand why he went along with Grayson’s fucked-up plan, but I have to think of Aurora. I need to know I can fully trust him before letting him in… before I can trust him with her.”
“And I get that, babe. Believe me, I do. I’m just saying, there’s no harm in you benefiting from his groveling and having a little fun in the meantime.”
“Ugh,” I groan into my palm. “Why am I such a mess?”
Tara barks out a laugh. “Newsflash, Riley, we’re all fucking messes.” She gestures with her bottle toward the crowd of people around us. “Every single person here is a mess in their own way. That’s just fucking life. It’s messy. You should know that better than anyone. The point is to find people who understand your mess, who get it because their mess matches yours.”
“Damaged people call to damaged people,” I murmur.
“Exactly,” Tara agrees.
