Jake
Bryce came back into the living room and held out another beer to me. I took it gratefully, using the opener on my keyring to pop off the cap in one smooth, practiced movement. I took a healthy swig, nowhere near drunk enough to deal with the chaotic thoughts running through my head.
This seemed to be my near-constant state ever since Halley had come looking for me at the shop. That had been four days ago now, and I still couldn't seem to get her out of my head. My thoughts were a jumbled mix of what-ifs, both past and present. What if she had stayed? What if I had gone to Louisiana to find her? What if we hit it off again? What if...
“Dude, where the fuck is your brain lately?” Bryce asked, and I realized he had been holding out his bottle to clink against mine for a few seconds now while I stared off into oblivion.
I shook my head, trying my best to clear it, and tapped my bottle against his before I drank another large gulp of the liquid. “Sorry,” I muttered. “There's just stuff on my mind.”
“What kind of stuff, though?” Bryce asked. “Come on, man, we're best friends; you can talk to me about these things. Maybe I could even help you. Surprising, I know.” He paused. “Seriously, though. Is it something with the business?”
“Nah, it's nothing to do with the business,” I said. “Thankfully. Things have been actually really good lately. We've all been working hard, and that leads to—”
“Oh, come on, man. Don't start sounding like a corporate boss!” Bryce laughed a little, but his face quickly fell back to the serious, concerned look that he'd been sporting before. “I take it you're probably not just wondering how you're going to spend that bonus check that you'll be able to cut yourself in light of all this good business?”
“No, I already know that that's going to a new paint job,” I told him, frowning. “You know that too.”
“I know, I know,” Bryce said, holding his hands up placatingly, and I realized that my tone had been harsher and more agitated than I'd meant for it to be.
“Look, it's nothing big, okay,” I said, shrugging one shoulder. “Let's just drop it.”
“Uh huh,” Bryce said, shaking his head. “Man, I've never seen you like this before. Just spill it.”
“There's a girl,” I finally admitted.
Bryce's eyes got big. “Oh. Wow.” He laughed again. “Dude, I totally didn't see that one coming.” He leered at me. “So, she's got good tits and you keep getting lost in 'em?”
I silently tried to decide how much I wanted to tell Bryce. “Remember when Halley came into the shop the other day?”
If anything, Bryce looked even more comically incredulous. “Did you start banging her again?” he asked.
“No,” I said hotly, picking at the label on my beer bottle. “Do you remember that girl that I slept with five or ten years ago, at that girl Tiffany's party? At the biker bar.”
“Oh yeah,” Bryce said, rolling his eyes a little. “Jesus, you would have thought you were some woman, with the way you were pining after her. Like, one-night stand and you suddenly think the two of you are soulmates or something.” He took a sip of beer and promptly choked on it. “Wait, wait, wait,” he said, shaking his head. “You don't mean to tell me that that was Halley, right?”
I didn't say anything, and he groaned. “Oh fuck, dude. Why didn't you tell me that the other day? That explains so much.”
“Yeah,” I said, scrubbing a hand back through my hair. “Thing is, I still don't know even what she wanted. And I stupidly gave her my number instead of writing down hers.”
“Rookie mistake,” Bryce said, smirking at me. “If you want something that badly, you have to be proactive, man. Don't go putting the balls in someone else's court.”
“I know,” I moaned. “I keep hoping that I'll run into her around town. I've been going out of my way to go through a bunch of different neighborhoods and whatever else I can do, but I still just haven't seen her. It's eating me up.”
“Yeah, that makes sense,” Bryce said. “I mean, I still think you're nuts, but that explains why you've been a total space cadet lately. You're kind of edging your way towards creepy stalker levels, though.”
“I just don't know what else to do,” I said miserably.
“What about what's her name? Tiffany?” Bryce asked. “You met Halley at her party, right? And wasn't she the one who told you that Halley had moved? Wouldn't she have, I don't know, at least a phone number or an email address or something for your girl?”
“I hadn't thought of that,” I said, inwardly cursing my stupidity. Of course, Tiffany would have that information; years ago, she had told me that the two of them were really close friends, and they probably still were. Even if they weren't she could probably point me in the right direction. Or at least, I hoped so.
I bit my lower lip, looking around the place and suddenly realizing how stupid I was to be having this conversation in the middle of the Devil's Route clubhouse. Sure, we were the only ones in the living room at the moment, but anyone could walk in at any time. And hell, there could be people listening from out in the hallways or anywhere. I winced.
“You're too suspicious for your own good,” Bryce said, chuckling a little. He knew me well enough to read my sudden change of mood like that.
I shook my head. “Remember that Frank has announced me as his heir to the Devil's Route MC,” I said, keeping my voice down just in case we were being listened in on. “And that means that certain people are going to be looking for any way to stab me in the back. Showing a stupid weakness like—”
“Falling for a woman isn't a weakness, Jake-o,” Bryce interrupted, shaking his head. “Plenty of bikers have wives, remember?”
“But getting hung up on a woman who was meant to be just a one-night stand is...” I shook my head. “Look, let's drop it, all right? But I'd appreciate if you would keep this whole thing private for now. The last thing I need is anyone else from the club mucking around in my personal business.”
Bryce shrugged. “Sure thing, man. Whatever helps you sleep at night.”
I rolled my eyes at him and drained the rest of my beer, already getting up to get another one.