Page 337 of One More Kiss

Trinity

The drinks are goingdown like Kool-Aid and this was the most fun Diana and I’d had in the longest time. I wasn’t worried about who was going to claim me for the night or what they were going to want to do.

I didn’t have to think about my brother and the reason that I had to put up with all the bullshit.

It was just fun.

Miles and the other guys with him slid out of their booth and I chided myself for knowing his every move. It was stupid. He wasn’t my man, so I really didn’t have a right. Yet I’d noticed him the minute we’d both been in this room together. It was like the second my body had known he was around, I’d wanted him so badly that I could taste it.

Maybe this was a sign that I needed to stop seeing him. After all, getting this attached was really dumb.

“You honestly look like you’re staring at a perfectly cooked steak right now.” Diana snapped my attention back to her. I hadn’t realized that I’d been staring or that it had been noticeable.

“Am not.” I totally was.

“Fuck,” I muttered under my breath, but I should’ve known that Diana would hear it.

“What is it?”

“My brother.”

She leaned her elbows on the table to look at the phone in my hand. “What does he want?”

I glanced up and met her eyes. “He’s outside. Says I have to go.”

“Why?” Her face scrunched up. “We’re allowed to have a life. He doesn’t own you.”

All of the things she was saying were true, but if I resisted, it’d cause problems. If I stayed, he’d come inside and as it was now… my stomach dropped. Miles and his club brothers were on their way outside while my brother and who-knew-who-else were already out there.

This wasn’t going to end well and even if it had nothing to do with me, I didn’t want to be there for it. There wasn’t anything I could do to stop it.

“We should go,” I told her before downing the rest of my drink. If I was leaving early, I was at least going to finish my drink.

“Trinity…”

“I don’t know what you want me to do, Diana. You can stay, but you know what happens if I do.” I quickly wet my lips. “I just… It’s easier this way. It’ll be worse if I don’t go now.”

Diana took a minute to consider what I’d said. She was in this life, but not the same way I was. Hanging around the club was a choice for her. Something for her to do because she was bored, she’d said. I’d always thought there was more to it but had never wanted to pry. She’d tell me when she was ready.

She and I might’ve been best friends, but there were things that were understood and we didn’t talk about. I’d never shared the reason that I belonged to the club and she’d never felt the need to share the trauma that had her completely fine with being passed around a motorcycle club. Though to be fair, she didn’t actually get passed around. Right now she’d been kind of claimed by Ryan, one of the brothers. They were fucking regularly and because of that, the others were staying clear. It wasn’t like being claimed as an ol’ lady. This was different. When Ryan was done with her, she’d be back there for whoever wanted her.

After sucking down the rest of drink, she slapped her hands against the table and said, “Let’s go, then.”

We both shoved out of our chairs and headed to the door.

“Do you think he’ll at least let us hang out at our apartment?” she asked. “I was just getting into girls’ night.”

“I don’t see why not.”

We pushed through to the outside and sure enough, my brother was leaning against his bike with his legs crossed at the ankle. He was also staring at his phone. Probably waiting for my reply, which I hadn’t sent.

We were almost to him when he glanced up and saw us. He was away from his bike and in my face before I could blink.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he yelled.

I snapped my head back. “Getting a drink. Why are you freaking out? How did you know I was here?”

He pointed at a couple of bikes across the lot. “Do you know who those fuckin’ bikes belong to?”

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