Page 83 of Crash and Burn
“I did, thanks.” I poke my tongue out at him.
“Watch that tongue, Princess,” he warns.
“Or what?” I challenge.
“Y’all can get a room while Clutch and I get food,” Saint says.
At the mention of food, my stomach growls.
“Sounds like we’ll be getting food, too.” Rascal laughs.
I shrug, smirking. “A girl’s gotta eat. Where are we anyway?”
“Lubbock, Texas,” Clutch answers. “We’re about six hours from home.”
Clutch parks the SUV and we all climb out, heading inside.
“Welcome to Texas Roadhouse!” The hostess greets us. We get seated right away.
“Can we get some extra butter, please,” Saint asks the girl.
“Of course.” She smiles and walks off.
A couple minutes later, a waitress comes up to our table. She drops off Saint’s butter and takes our drink and food order before walking away.
“Are you gonna talk to Niko when we get back,” Rascal asks.
“I haven’t thought about it much,” I admit. “Maybe eventually, but I need time to process everything.”
“That’s understandable. If you wanna talk about it or anything, I’m here.” His hand comes to my thigh and squeezes.
“It’s not the same, but I was adopted,” Saint tells me. “I grew up wondering about my biological parents a lot. So, I get that aspect of it.”
I turn my attention to Saint. “Have you ever thought about finding your bio parents?”
“Not until recently,” he says. “I’ve thought about it more and more, but I haven’t made any decisions, yet.”
“That’s definitely a difficult decision to make,” I state.
“You got the resources to find them,” Clutch adds. “If that’s what you choose to do.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I love the parents who raised me,” Saint says. There’s a hint of pain in his voice.
“There’s nothing wrong with wanting to know who your bio parents are,” I assure him. “I get it. I loved my mom. She was the best, but there was still those lingering thoughts wondering who my father was and why he was never around.”
“We’re all here for you, no matter what you choose to do,” Rascal tells him.
“The brotherhood of this club is the very reason I wanted to join the Savage Menaces to begin with,” Saint says. “Thank you.”
We get our food and our topic of conversation switches to something more upbeat. For the most part, I listen and observe the guys. Their ability to act as if the past couple days didn’t happen is pretty impressive.
I know I got lucky this time around. For whatever reason, I wasn’t tortured or punished for my escape two years ago. Maybe it was all part of Rodrigo’s plan.
“Hey, everything okay?” Rascal whispers in my ear, breaking me out of my thoughts.
I smile and inhale his sexy aroma. “Yeah, just listening to you guys talk.”
He kisses the side of my head and pulls me into his side.
