you realize you’d do anything, give up anything, just to get closer, even though you can’t stand the person?”
She recoils at my words, and I instantly feel like shit. After Gia took off and ended up living with Hatch at the Wild Outlaw MC compound, she was so messed up and dependent on him she could’ve died.
I depended on Hatch for information. She depended on him for survival.
“Gia, I’m sorry. That didn’t come out right. I meant that—”
“No need to apologize.” She shakes her head as if she’s trying to shake free the memories. “I know exactly what you mean, and of course I have. I know the feeling well.” Her fingers toy with the ripped ends of her paper napkin. “Rex, he, uh . . . he doesn’t like to talk about it.”
“I don’t blame him. You should’ve seen him the night he found out where you were.” A shudder runs through my body at the memory.
She nods. “Yeah, I know, but how can we move past it without talking? He never brings it up, refuses to even mention Hatch’s name. Even in therapy he shuts down. And the nightmares . . .” A long breath escapes her.
“Give him time. I’m sure he’ll come around.”
“Anyway what you and Hatch had was not the same as what I had with him.”
“It wasn’t what it looked like. I just . . . I need to find him and have him be okay.” Just, not for the reasons she might think.
She takes a deep breath, and upon exhaling, her shoulders relax. “It’s weird. Part of me wants him to be okay, but then there’s this other part of me that hopes he’s not.” She sits back and slumps in her chair. “If Rex ever gets his hands on him . . .”
Only nightmares could do justice to what Rex would do if he were confronted with Hatch again. Rex and Gia are like one soul, bound together for life and beyond. I’ve never seen anything like it, except for with my parents. Their love transcends all understanding, survives through the most tragic of life’s events, even death.
What would it be like to feel that kind of love? I can’t even imagine being at a point in my life where I’m free enough to experience it.
“Anyway, I’m sorry I brought it up.” She waves me off with a flick of her slender fingers.
I pick at my warming beer bottle. “Can I ask you a question? What was it like living in the MC compound? Did you, I don’t know, hear or see anything that freaked you out?”
“I was out of it most of the time. If I wasn’t, I’m sure it all would’ve been pretty freaky.” Her eyes go unfocused over my shoulder. “They had prospects that they’d push around: young guys who one day would be serving drinks and taking their shit and then swagger in with their cuts and emblems as full-fledged members. They would talk a lot about rites of passage and being bonded by blood.” She tucks her bright orange hair behind her ear. “I didn’t really hang out to listen.”
“I’m glad you got out of there. That could’ve ended very differently.” A shiver tracks down my spine.
“Because of you, Trix. You saved my life by going to Rex. I’ll never be able to repay you for that.”
“No need to. That’s what friends do.”
A wicked grin curls her lips. “Speaking of friends . . . I don’t care what you say. I know there’s something going on between you and Mason.”
My stomach bottoms out at his name. “There’s not—”
“Stop denying it!” She slaps her palm on the table and leans in to whisper. “Mason was going to rip Lane’s arms off right there in my kitchen.”
I groan and drop my head into my hand. “Nothing’s going on. I’m just as confused as you, I promise.” I push back and down the rest of my beer. “We keep running into each other, and every time we do, I can’t tell if he wants to kiss me or kill me.”
“In my limited experience, I’d say if he likes you he wants to do both.”
Likes me? Mason likes me? Do I like him? A swarm of butterflies takes flight in my belly, answering my internal question.
Oh shit! That’s not good. Sure, his hot-cold routine keeps me guessing. He’s definitely not hard on the eyes with his casual just-walked-off-a-Quicksilver-photo-shoot look. My body heats at the thought of his strong hands on me, his