“I’m good.” I shrug and motion for Lane to deal the fucking cards already.
I feel the steely gray eyes of Gia as her glare bores into me. First thing I did when I got here was ask if she’d talked to Trix. She said she hadn’t, but judging by the look of pity on her face, I’d say she knows things aren’t good between us. Thankfully, Lane showed up before she was able to question me further, but I can see by the way she’s studying me she’s itching for more information.
A few more beers later, and we’ve managed to play poker without the subject of Trix and me coming up. I threw back more booze than I should’ve, and the game wasn’t holding my attention, so I ended up losing all my money. I’ve never been readier to go home and pass out, hoping I wake up tomorrow with my girl in my arms surrounded by her clean floral scent with her blond and purple-streaked hair tossed across my chest as if this is all just some shitty dream.
“Think I’m getting a Harley,” Lane says, pulling me from my thoughts.
“Sweet.” Gia leans in. “What kind?”
“Fat Boy. Guy I know is sellin’ one.”
She moans. “Ohh, yeah. Fat Boys are sweet.”
Lane nods. “You ever ridden one?”
Rex visibly tenses, but Gia’s too wrapped up in the conversation to notice.
“No, but I’ve ridden on the back of one. Super smooth ride.”
Rex clears his throat. “Oh yeah, how smooth?” He tugs on the barbell through his eyebrow so much so that I have to look away, afraid he’s gonna rip the fucking thing from his skin.
Gia sits back, her face draining of what little color it has. “Rex—”
“Come on, Gia.” He leans in toward her and something about the way he’s doing it makes me want to jump in between them to protect her. “Why don’t you tell us how fucking smooth that ride is, huh? We wanna know.”
She shakes her head and drops her gaze. “I’m sorry. I—”
“Sorry what? That you brought this shit up again?”
Her chin jerks up to glare at Rex. “Again? You never let me talk about it. Ever! It’s like you brought me home and just expect me to dive right into your life and leave everything that happened back in Denver!”
“Drop it.” Aggression rolls off Rex in waves that make the hair on my arms stand on end.
She throws her hands in the air. “See! There you go again!”
“I’m not talkin’ about this right now,” Rex growls and flicks a rubber band at his wrist.
“Fuck you! I didn’t do anything wrong, and you treat me like what happened back there is some dirty secret.”
He fists two hands in his hair, and Lane takes this opportunity to excuse himself to the bathroom. I’d do the same, but feel the need to stay in case these two start really going at it.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
She throws out an arm. “You never want to talk about it. Ever. But guess what? It happened.” She presses her forefingers into her sternum. “We both fucked up, and it happened. I know you want to hate Hatch for what he did, but—”
I slam my beer bottle against the table, getting both sets of eyes. “What did you say?”
The tension in Gia’s shoulders dissolves instantly and she blushes. “I’m sorry, Mason. You shouldn’t have to listen—”
“How the fuck do you know Hatch?”
Rex’s body instantly goes rigid. His fists ball up tight against the table.
Gia turns her body toward me. “Wait, how do you know Hatch?”
We all stare at each other for silent seconds, and the feeling that things just went from really fucking sucky to the worst shit ever hits in atomic levels.
“He came back for Trix—” Before the ‘ix’ leaves my lips, the table is gone, tossed by Rex across the kitchen to shatter against the concrete island. “Rex, man, talk to me.” My voice is vibrating with rage, fear, fucking full-blown panic at the total loss of control I see in my friend’s eyes.
“Where is he, Mase?” I hear the question, but I’m stuck staring at Rex whose eyes have gone vacant. “Mason!”
“How the fuck should I know?”
Rex pants like an overheated dog, his lips curling back over his teeth. “Call Trix right fucking now. Ask her where he is.”
“I can’t. She’s not taking my calls. She’s . . . I don’t know, she’s pissed at me and—”
Gia moves to stand in front of me, her hands on my shoulders, demanding my attention. “What do you mean she’s not taking your calls? When did you see her last?”
I run a hand through my hair. “Almost a week. It’s weird, everything seemed okay, but shit went down and now I don’t know where she is.”
“He came back for her, she’s gone, and you don’t know where the fuck she is?” Rex is practically vibrating.
“Mason . . .” Gia’s bottom lip trembles. “Where could she be?”
“She went home. I think. I mean . . .” She said good-bye.
Said she’d never say good-bye, but . . .
She had to take care of her sister in the mountains.
Out of town.
The Majestic Mountains?
Santos took her home. Said he’d keep her safe.