Bad For You - Sherilee Gray Page 0,41

the way light flickered behind the warehouse, they had a bonfire back there as well.

“You belong here,” Trix said. “Grifter’s your boyfriend. Some of the women who come to parties like this are here to take a walk on the wild side, which is cool. Do your thing, sisters. But you need to make it known that Grifter is taken.”

“I don’t want Jesse to think I don’t trust him.” Nerves were now flying through my belly.

Addie planted her hands on her hips. “He lied to you, Lila. If nothing else, you need to confront him. And if something messed up is going on, you can tell him where he can stick it and we’ll get you outta here. Either way, with you in that outfit, he’ll eat his tongue when he sees you strut your sexy ass in there.”

He had lied.

And he had been avoiding me, I was sure of it.

I’d told myself after Jarod that I’d never let anyone make me feel the way he had ever again. And right now, I didn’t feel great. Jesse had made me feel this way, whether he meant to or not.

I thought Jesse and I were growing stronger. No, we hadn’t been seeing each other very long, but we had a complicated past. I didn’t think honesty was too much to ask for.

Trix held out her fist. “You ready?”

I bumped it with my own. “Let’s do this.”

Trix, Addie, and I strode through the tall gate. Usually Everly would be here with us, she was my sidekick in all things, but I was worried she’d tell Dane and he’d give his friend a heads-up that I was coming. I didn’t want that.

Jesse had kept tonight a secret from me for a reason, and I wanted to know why.

There were a couple of younger-looking bikers with patches that said “prospect” on their vests standing out front by the bikes and they perked up when they saw us.

“Ladies,” one of them said, swaggering toward us. “You’re looking fucking fine tonight.”

The other one joined them. “Why don’t you hang here and keep us company.”

I straightened my spine. “I’m actually looking for Grifter.”

“Knowing him, he’s already found company,” the first guy said.

“He better freaking not have,” Trix said. “This is his girlfriend.”

The guy actually paled. “You’re Riff’s woman?”

“Just tell us where to find him?” Addie said.

“Tell ’em,” the other guy said. “If she’s telling the truth and you don’t send her to him, Riff’ll kick your skinny ass.”

The first guy scowled and crossed his arms. “Round back, last I saw him.”

“Thank you,” I said and headed for the door of the warehouse.

“I’d go around the side,” the second guy said. “Shit’s getting wild in there.”

I smiled my thanks and we hustled around the side of the building to the back.

“Whoa,” Addie said beside me.

Whoa indeed.

The party was in full swing back here. There were rough-looking bikers everywhere. Topless girls dancing. People making out…doing a lot more than that.

“No wonder Grifter didn’t tell you about it,” Trix muttered.

Honestly, I wanted to run the other way. This was even worse than what I’d seen at his house all those months ago.

“Hey, honey,” some older guy with a scraggly beard said.

That’s when I spotted Jesse. He stood on the other side of the bonfire. He was holding a bottle of beer and talking to a couple of guys. He was in low-slung jeans, his leather cut, with nothing on underneath despite the cold, showing off all that muscled, tattooed skin. There were girls dancing almost on top of him. But Jesse didn’t seem to notice, deep in conversation.

His gaze lifted at that moment and somehow came straight to me. His entire body rocked back—then he was on the move, striding around the bonfire toward me.

The older biker grabbed my arm. “Hey, I’m talking to you.”

Jesse planted a hand in the guy’s chest and shoved him off. “She’s taken.”

The guy stumbled back. I’d barely noticed him. I’d only seen Jesse.

“What the fuck are you doing here, Lila?” His gaze bored into mine before dipping, taking in what I was wearing. His nostrils flared.

“You lied about tonight,” I said. “And I know you’ve been avoiding me.”

His green gaze was hard. “I had stuff to deal with.”

“Okay, so why didn’t you just tell me that instead of lying to me?”

His jaw clenched. “Let’s go, and we’ll talk.”

“Was it so you could hook up with one of those girls?”

His head jerked back and he looked around, like he hadn’t even realized there were girls