Page 28 of Bullseye
“He respects you so much he threw a brick through your window?”
“You don’t know that was him.”
“Who else could it be?” She knows something, but she won’t spill.
“I don’t know? Random kids?” Storming around my apartment, she threw yesterday’s clothes, a brush, and some random things she brought with her, into her overnight bag. “Harry? He hates women.”
“Harry? He’s my best friend. He wouldn’t do that.” She grabbed my remote and shoved it into her bag. “Hey, uh, I think you grabbed my TV remote.”
“Yeah? So?”
Standing as tall as she could, she gave me her pissed-off, don’t-mess-with me, biker-chick look, but all that did was make me want to mess with her all the more.
“Sen, baby. Please. I do respect you. And I think you’re worth a hell of a lot more than your appearance. But look—”
“No, you look. Last night and this morning. We had fun.”
“Fun?” Her words felt like a shot in the gut. “Fun?”
“All I’m saying is, do you know what happens if I look weak now? If my guy swoops in and calls in favors for me?” I knew she was pissed, but I enjoyed the moment of being calledher guy. “Forget it. I’d never pledge. For me to even have a chance to make it as one of the Steel Knights, I have to work twice as hard as any man there, and be twice as good.”
She was right. Especially if she was going to win over Harry.
As I stand here now, watching her lead the pack, damn… I have to admit, she is twice as good as any one of us. I knew she could drive, but I had no idea she could drive likethat. The only one of them who’ll be able to catch her is Bullet.
But that man can handle a bike almost as well as I can handle a gun. What about her? Can she continue to handle her bike that way? Moving at those speeds? Closing my eyes, I imagine her hitting a patch of grease, spinning uncontrollably, wiping out, and ramming straight into a tree.
Christ. What an image.
A world without Seneca Villetrio is not a world I want to live in.
“Your girl’s something, huh, Bullseye?” Using his beer bottle, Texas tips his hat to me.
My girl. I let those words float down over me. I would like Seneca to be my girl.
But I have no business making her mine.
Yet last night, that’s exactly what I did. I claimed her, and she let herself be claimed. That was no one-night stand. No matter what I tried to tell myself.
What have I done? If I’ve made it so obvious that the usually oblivious guys at the club have picked up on my feelings for her, how will she feel if andwhenI have to take off and leave her behind?
She’ll be destroyed.
Running a hand up through my hair, I clamp it onto the back of my neck, letting my head hang low. That’s it. I have to cool it. I’m the man here, and I have to set the pace for us. And, unfortunately, the pace for us is no pace at all.
Watching the bikes approach and slow down, it’s Harry and Seneca, neck and neck. He glides easily over the finish line, but she is a damned close second. Harry takes one final spin and flips his bike around to impress his girl, while Seneca parks her bike and a thousand pounds of worry fall off of me. Yes, I know she’s a big girl and can handle herself, but it still doesn’t mean I can’t worry. Pulling off her helmet, she’s wearing a giant grin. She should.
That was some impressive driving.
Shaking her hair, she runs her hands through it, finger-combing it in that sexy way where it falls over one eye and exposes the whole shaved side of her head.
I stand there like a doofus as the rest of the prospects pull up and park.
Seneca looks at me and nods, and I raise my chin in response. It’s like we’re total strangers, and it’s getting icier between us by the second. And sure as I’m standing here, I know it’s not only because of this morning’s disagreement. Ever since that brick went through her window, she’s been… off.
Even through the lovemaking this morning, she was holding back. Last night she gave herself to me so completely there were moments when I could not tell where I ended and she began, but this morning, even though she was buck naked, it was like she was donning her Seneca armor.
I know why I have to keep my distance, but why the hell does she?
