Last Mile (Vicious Cycle #3) - Katie Ashley Page 0,25

he had finally returned from getting the keg with Joe. “Oh, Samantha wanted to see my brother’s pet deer.”

Marley grinned. “No shit. A pet deer? For real?”

“Yeah, for real.”

“You need to count me in, too.”

“Then it’s a double date,” I said. A double date? What the hell are you thinking, you douche?

“That would be more like a threesome than a double date, wouldn’t it?” Samantha asked. When my gaze snapped to hers, a tantalizing look twinkled in her eyes. It was the kind of look that had the ability to make me feel like a fumbling teenage boy instead of a very experienced man.

After clearing my throat, I replied, “I guess so.”

Marley chuckled. “Leave it to my Sam to say something inappropriate.” He then slid his arm around Sam’s waist and drew her closer to him. “My girl is something else, isn’t she?”

I felt the heat of Samantha’s gaze on me as I replied, “Yeah, she is.”

“I’m glad. I hoped you would get along.”

Samantha smiled up at him. “You have nothing to worry about, babe, because Bishop and I get along really well.” She pinned me with her dark eyes. “Don’t we?”

“Yeah, we do.” With my mouth feeling unusually dry, I said, “Why don’t we go try out the new keg?”

“Sure,” Marley replied.

We ambled over to the bar, and Joe quickly filled us three foamy beers. Holding his glass up, Marley said, “Here’s a toast to new friends.”

Samantha snickered. “You can be such a lame ass sometimes.”

“But you like me anyway,” Marley countered.

The word “like” surprised me. I wondered why he hadn’t said “love” instead. Maybe their relationship wasn’t as serious as I thought it was. Of course that still didn’t give me the right to be lusting after Samantha.

“True,” she said as she raised her glass.

When I brought my mug up to clink with theirs, a feeling of dread pricked its way over my skin. Deep down, I knew this friendship would bring nothing but trouble and heartache. But in spite of all that, I drank to it.

FIVE

SAMANTHA

The ride back from the Raiders clubhouse held an entirely different sense of anxiousness than I had felt earlier in the night. Part of my job was always preparing for the unexpected—to have a plan B and C to execute in case plan A failed. But after all the research and all the profiling, Bishop Malloy had been the epitome of unexpected, and that fact unnerved me completely.

As I held tight to Gavin’s well-defined abs, I pictured Bishop’s toned muscles flexing as he took a shot at the pool table. Although he was quite a sight to behold, it wasn’t Bishop’s physical attributes that had my mind reeling. It was discovering that he had a deeply caring side. As sergeant at arms in the Raiders, he was called upon to deliver punishment from the club, I knew. While his body was built for being an executioner, his eyes had held such kindness and compassion as we spoke. And that was not at all what I had been expecting or prepared for.

Seeing him holding his nephew had momentarily thrown me off my game. Anyone would find a hardened biker cooing over a baby a little disconcerting. Couple that with the fact that most women find a man with a baby the equivalent of emotional kryptonite, and it was no wonder I had been unnerved. Recognizing Bishop’s paternal side was probably the first time I allowed myself to really see him as a person—one whose love for his family and friends was the reasoning he used to justify some of the illegal and immoral things he did.

Somehow I had managed to get my game face back on. He had taken the bait when I played him like a fool by overtly coming on to him, but he seemed conflicted by an inner turmoil. I had expected him to be the type of man who didn’t give two shits about whether a woman was already involved with someone else—that he would see nothing wrong with taking me from Marley. After all, Bishop was an officer in the club, and to the Raiders, Gavin was no one. I’d read sickening articles where some MCs ordered prospects to let them “break in” their wives and girlfriends. If they didn’t comply, then they were thrown out. In the back of my mind, I had built up an image of Bishop being that despicable.

But Bishop had surprised me by backing off as many times as he did. I had