Page 79 of The Belle and the Biker

"Crash, what are you doing?" I demand. "What's wrong?"

"Can you just trust me on this?" he says in a low voice.

"Not when you're acting like this, no. Do you see the shooter or something?"

He doesn't answer me. And that can't be it because none of us know what the shooter looks like. Tawny hurries along after us. Crash rushes us down the street.

"Excuse me," I say, annoyed. "I need to go to the bathroom, which I could have told you if you hadn't dragged me out of the restaurant."

"Can it wait?" He starts walking faster, looking over his shoulder as if checking to see if someone's following us.

"No, it can't!" People are staring. I yank my arm from his grasp and stalk into a coffee shop. Crash and Tawny come in after me.

"Bathroom is for customers only," a waiter calls to me as I head to the back.

"That man is buying my coffee." I point at Crash, who sighs and goes to the counter with Tawny.

Crash is hiding something from me. I have no idea what happened back at the restaurant, but he's being beyond weird. And it happened after Tawny mentioned something about a blonde staring at us, which gives me a strange prickly feeling all over.

Did I make a mistake letting my guard down with him? In all the time I've known Crash, I never thought he'd be dishonest with me. If anything, he's always been honest to a fault. But right now, he's hiding something from me.

When I think back on it, he's been acting weird about all those phone calls he's been getting. Why does he always need to talk outside the trailer? Why does he walk away from the trailer and keep glancing back at it like he doesn't want me to hear him? Why have I seen him angrily hang up his phone several times this week?

That's the kind of stuff that Percy used to pull on me constantly, and then he'd tell me that I was crazy and paranoid for questioning him. He gaslighted me—while banging my former best friend.

After I use the restroom, I stand in front of the mirror, trying to gather my composure. I'm so aggravated with Crash that I rip off my wig and stuff it into my purse. I fluff out my hair, feeling hugely relieved. Freedom!

He's going to have kittens when he sees me like this, and I do not care one bit.

I stalk out of the bathroom and almost run into a Chanel-wrapped platinum blonde with the type of icy expression that would have been right at home on the face of any of my sorority sisters. She stares at me.

"Weren't you just wearing a wig?" she demands.

What an odd question. I arch an eyebrow. "Who are you, and why do you care?"

"Who am I? Who are you? What are you doing with my fiancé?" She holds up her hand and wriggles her fingers, showing off a seriously oversized sparkler.

Her what now? She couldn't possibly be talking about Crash, and she doesn't look like a woman who'd go for Crash.

Then again, did I?

Well, whatever the hell is going on, I will discuss it with Crash, not her.

I smile tightly at her. "I forgot… The Charleston Home for Crazy Bitches is having its field trip today. You have fun now."

I push past her and hurry toward Crash, who is standing next to Tawny, holding my coffee.

The blonde rushes past me and throws her arm around Crash's waist.

"Astrid, what the fuck?" Crash snaps.

He knows her name.

"Crash, sweetheart!" she says loudly. "I've been more than patient, and I think you've spent enough time with your little fling. I mean, it's getting embarrassing. Your father is ready for you to come back home, and so am I."

Crash shakes her off violently. She grabs his arm and clings to it. He rips his arm from her grasp and yells, "Get away from me, you crazy bitch!"

She bursts into tears and pretends to cringe away from him. Then she lunges and grabs for his arm, which he holds up high so she can't reach it.

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