Chapter 8

LACEY

I sat at the bar with Ezra standing right next to me. Even underneath the dim lighting of the dingy bar, I could still make him out. He still looked just as I remembered. The hair. The scruff on his jaw. The intensity in his stare. He was dressed differently but it was only another suit. And it made him stick out from everybody else.

“You don’t have to dress like that,” I said.

“What?”

“Your suit. You’re a little overdressed for a place like this. Have you ever thought about wearing something more comfortable?”

“I’m comfortable right now.”

“Comfortable for a suit. Think about it though. A pair of jeans. A t-shirt. A nice pair of sneakers. You’re…”

I cut myself off when I realized what I was about to say. Ezra didn’t let it go though, widening his eyes at me.

“I’m what?” he said.

“You’re… still…”

“Still…”

“You’d still be handsome even if you weren’t in a suit.”

He didn’t look as cocky as I would’ve expected after a compliment, so I wasn’t as embarrassed.

“You don’t have to flatter me,” he said. “I already know how you feel.”

“So humble…”

He leaned close to me and whispered, his breath warm against my cheek.

“I already fucked you. You don’t have to pretend like you’re not interested.”

He pulled away from and nonchalantly took a sip of his vodka. I had to admire his confidence. Most guys I’d talked to would say something just to try and impress me. Not Ezra. He wasn’t going to play any games.

“I like it,” I said as I ran a hand over his sleeve.

I reached out and put my hand over the material of his dark gray suit. It wasn’t even the hard muscles underneath that left me impressed.

“I suppose there’s something to admire about a suit,” I said. “Never worn one myself.”

“I wear it for me. No one else. It’s a luxury. Maybe an indulgence. I can admit that. But if I have the opportunity to wear a suit, why wouldn’t I take it? Men wear suits for special occasions. Why not make every day special?”

“If every day is special, they wouldn’t be very special now, would they?”

I gave him a wink and took a sip of my liquor. The sting from the alcohol was followed by a warm buzz that worked its way down my throat and up and down my spine.

“My parents weren’t rich,” he said. “I grew up on a farm.”

“I remember you mentioned that before.”

“It was mostly torn denim and t-shirts that got worn-out as soon as you put them on. When it got hot during the summer, it was just the jeans.”

“That must’ve been nice to look at.”

“It was a good feeling, working out in the fields. The sun shining down on you and the wind blowing against your sweaty skin. You worked long enough and just taking a swig of water was the best feeling in the world on a parched throat.”

Ezra’s eyes looked like he was lost in whatever it was he was thinking about. It was the first time I’d ever seen him so distant.

“You grew up on a farm,” I said. “Then you just decided to go to the city? You must’ve hated it.”

“Just the opposite. I wouldn’t have traded my youth for anything else. But I left for the city because I thought that maybe something was out there. It’s the same reason I ended up in Ivory.”

“So, Ezra, did you find what you were looking for?”

I arched an eyebrow at him. He gave me a smirk, obvious intentions in his narrowed eyes. There were a few patrons at the bar tonight but all of them were minding their own business, leaving Ezra and me to have a private conversation all out in the open.

“I don’t know what I’m looking for exactly,” he said. “But I’m going to keep looking.”

I twisted my lips at him, trying to fight the smile from coming to my face.

“What about you?” he asked.

“Me?”

“Yes. Tell me all about what Lacey…”

“Nolan.”

“Tell me what Lacey Nolan was like when she was a child.”

“I…”

I laughed softly at the question, shaking my head because I knew there wasn’t anything to tell him.

“I wouldn’t know how to describe myself when I was a kid,” I said. “I guess I was just like any other young girl.”

“Did you grow up in the big city?”

“I… I spent most of my life there, yeah. I knew the city in and out. I went to school there. I started working there. And now I’m here…”

“What about your family?”

I bit my tongue when he asked. I took another sip of my drink while he waited for my response.

How do I put this?

“I’m sorry,” he said suddenly. “That’s a personal question. I shouldn’t have—”

“No, no! It’s all right. I… I don’t have any family. Not in the city.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, Lacey.”

“Don’t be. It’s not like it’s your fault. Besides, I like to think that everything I’ve been through made me into the person I am today. I wouldn’t trade anything in the world for it.”

He peered down at my arm. A smirk slowly formed on his lips.

“What’s so funny?” I said.

“What’s this?”

Ezra reached out and pressed a finger against the tattoo along the inside of my bicep.

“Oh, this… Just a tattoo,” I said. “I was younger and thought it would be cool to have a heart on my arm. I guess I was hanging around the wrong crowd. Why? You don’t like it? Women get tattoos, too, you know?”

“They do. I just don’t usually see them get it on that area.”

“Right. I suppose it’d be more appropriate for me to get something on my lower back. Something nice for you to look at while you’re fucking me from behind.”

“Don’t try to change the subject by talking about that, Miss Nolan.”

We shared a laugh. The conversation was light-hearted enough. Even though I couldn’t remember the last time I talked to someone about myself, I was comfortable talking to Ezra about anything. Well, almost anything…

“I just thought it’d be nice,” I said. “A big, red heart over my arm that would always put a smile on my face whenever I looked at it.”

“Wearing your heart on your sleeve. Literally.”

“How about you, Mr. Grant. What’s the deal with your tattoos? You know, for a man who wears suits all the time, you’d think about getting bigger collars to cover it up.”

“I wear suits for me. I’m not trying to be anything else.”

“I see… You grew up on a farm.”

“You’ve been listening.”

“What would your parents say about you dressing the way you do? A poor farmboy who worked out in the fields now wearing a suit that looks like a million dollars.”

“I can assure you that my suit isn’t that expensive.”

“But what would they say?”

Ezra kept staring at me, that narrowed gaze of his so focused. He took a big gulp of his liquor and set his glass down on the bar counter. His lack of a response made me realize that I might’ve said something wrong.

Stupid…

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean to talk about your parents. I was just—”

“It’s all right,” he said with a half-smile. “My parents probably would’ve laughed at seeing me in a suit. But they’d be happy, too.”

“Are your parents…”

“They’re still around. Back on the farm. I can’t imagine they’d trade that life for anything else.”

“Growing up on a farm. Being out in the open. Not having to worry about traffic or pollution or bumping into rude people on the streets. Must’ve been nice.”

“It was. Maybe I’ll go back to it. One day. I could even take you with me.”

“Sounds like a date.”

We shared another laugh. Even though I still didn’t know much about Ezra, the comfort I had just from being around him was something I couldn’t ever remember having around another man. It was a security that made me indifferent to everybody else around me.

Ezra raised a hand up and the bartender poured him another drink. I scanned the bar and noticed a group of bikers sitting in a corner booth. They were staring right at Ezra and me.

Must be my imagination…

I blinked my eyes and shook my head. I looked away for a second but when I turned back, the bikers were still staring in my direction. Every single one of them was focused.

“Don’t look now,” I said. “But it looks like we’re getting a bit of attention.”

“What?” Ezra said.

He turned and looked toward the corner where the bikers were looking at us.

“They are looking at us, aren’t they?” I said.

“It appears that way.”

“Do you know them?”

“Never seen them before in my life.”

“Desert Rebels,” the bartender said suddenly.

“What?” I said.

“Desert Rebels,” the bartender repeated. “They’re a nomad MC. Not from around Ivory.”

“They must be somebody if you know who they are even though they’re from out of town,” Ezra said.

“There are enough MCs in Ivory that I hear all the chatter,” the bartender explained. “It’s not that big of a deal though. You just look at the patch on their chest and take note of it, then you move on with your life.”

“Is there any reason they might be looking in our direction?” I asked.

The bartender glanced at me then turned to Ezra. He shifted his eyes up and down and chuckled to himself.

“Must be the suit,” he said.

He left to tend to some other customers on the bar. I laughed softly then reached out to straighten Ezra’s tie.

“I told you the suit was going to give you trouble,” I said. “Why wear a suit when a nice pair of denim and a comfortable cotton shirt would do the job?”

Ezra hadn’t taken his eyes off the bikers in the corner. The motorcycle club wasn’t budging. They weren’t even trying to hide the fact that they were staring at us. They were so focused that I started to feel a little nervous.

“Ezra.”

“Yeah?”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“You’re planning on opening a restaurant in Old Town.”

“That’s the plan.”

“I figure if you’re going to be in that area, why wouldn’t you want to just drink at the bar there?”

“Why would I do that?”

He finally looked away from the MC and turned back toward me.

“I don’t know,” I said with a shrug. “Get to know the locals. Make some potential customers. What was that place called again…”

“Hades. I don’t think Hades is the name of a club that seems very inviting.”

“From the looks of things, this place doesn’t seem very inviting either.”

I finished the rest of my drink and stood up from my seat in an attempt to fight the anxiety building in the pit of my stomach.

I moved closer to Ezra, looking up at him. The focus in those blue eyes of his almost distracted me enough to make me forget what I was about to say.

“Listen,” I said. “I… I think I’ve had enough to drink tonight. Why don’t you and I get out of here?”

“Where’d you have in mind?”

“The place I’m staying at. It’s not far from here. Give me a ride?”

I bit my lip as soon as I said it. Just thinking about it was enough to make me grin.

Whatever Ezra himself was thinking about, I wanted to make him forget it. Some bikers staring at us wasn’t going to ruin this night for me. I’d gotten to know Ezra even more. Now I was planning on getting closer to him.

He finally returned the grin I’d given to him and nodded.

“All right, Lacey. Let’s go for a ride.”