“I was working,” he said. “And I have been for the last week because a new semester started. Not to mention it’s kind of hard when I don’t know it’s you that was texting. Would it have killed you to say ‘hey, it’s Verity?’”
My brows furrowed at his words.
I sighed.
He was right.
Randi, however, was tired of being silent.
“I’m Randi.” She held out her hand. “Do you have any friends with nice beards?”
I smacked my friend’s arm.
“You have a husband with a nice beard,” I chastised her. “And I’m pretty sure he’d take exception to you asking some stranger that.”
“He’s not a stranger,” Randi countered. “He’s obviously more than friends with you. So, about those friends.”
I sighed.
“You’re off the hook. You can go eat now.”
She looked torn.
I knew how much she detested the gym, and only came because she was a nice, supportive friend.
However, she’d been telling me about the tacos her husband had started making since we’d started the workout, and I knew she was ready to get home and eat them.
Hell, I was ready to eat them and I hadn’t even been invited.
“Fine,” she finally settled on. “But I’ll be hearing everything there is to hear tomorrow, understand?”
With that she left, leaving the two of us standing in an uncomfortable silence.
“What else do you do besides working on your bladesmith stuff?” I asked him, circling one finger around the braid of my hair and twirling it as I waited for a response.
“I’m a firearms instructor and police academy instructor,” he answered. “How much longer do you have until you’re done?”
I hadn’t known.
I thought that he only worked on his blades. It was news to me that he had another job on top of that one.
“Umm,” I hesitated. “I was going to go walk outside…to catch Pokémon.”
His mouth twitched. “How long will that take you?”
I looked at my watch. “About an hour or so. Why?”
He nodded once.
“That gives me enough time to finish up here, and then you can go with me to dinner.”
I pursed my lips.
“What makes you think I want to go to dinner with you?” I asked.
He leaned in close, and was about an inch away from touching his mouth to mine when we were interrupted.
“Um, excuse me,” a hesitant, sugary sweet voice called from behind us. “But would you mind showing me how to use this machine?”
I turned.
Truth, however, was not deterred from his goal.
His hand hooked around my chin, turned my face to his, and then I could taste him.
He’d had something pepperminty, and I could taste it on his tongue.
His beard tickled my jaw, and it took everything I had not to collapse in a puddle of goo at his feet.
Then he released me, and went back to his weights.
I stood there, watching him with a dumbfounded expression on my face, and ogled while he lifted.
He’d gotten to the number ten when he said, “Those Pokémon won’t catch themselves.”
I jumped.
“I’ll be outside.”
Then I ran away, trying not to let my vagina do the thinking.
Because if I did let her out to play, I’d be doing him in the freakin’ locker room, and he was right.
Those Pokémon wouldn’t catch themselves, and I had an egg about to hatch.
***
He found me outside an hour later, and I was staring at the screen of my phone with a determined look on my face.
“Come on, you little fucker,” I grumbled, tossing another ball at the piece of shit that refused to stay captured.
Hands grabbed my hips, and I gasped and spun, coming face to face with a sweaty and amused Truth.
“I called your name three times,” he said, explaining why he’d scared me.
I grinned and closed my phone, shoving it into the pocket at the back of my capri pants.
He watched me do it, and grinned as he gestured toward the parking lot.
“Let’s go,” he said.
I followed him, resisting the urge to grab his hand, and walked side by side with him through the small garden that was outside the gym, stopping only once when the ducks from the pond tried to demand food from us.
“Where do you want to go to eat?” he asked.
I pursed my lips.
“Sushi?” I offered.
If I was going to break my diet, I might as well break it thoroughly.
He nodded once and came to a stop in front of my car.
“You can ride with me if you want,” he offered.
I looked around for the familiar looking bike with no seat, and furrowed my brows.
“What are you driving?” I asked.
He pointed to another bike, this one with a seat, and I frowned.
“Did you get rid of the old one?”
“Nope,” he denied. “Still sitting in the same spot I parked it after leaving dinner with you.”
“Did you have this one?” I continued.
He handed me his helmet and I took it, pulling it on over my messy braid while continuing to hold eye contact.
“Yes,” he answered. “But I’d sent a few pieces of the engine in to get fixed, and just got them back yesterday. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth to drive the other one.”
I tilted my head to the side.
“Destiny and Kenneth are bad people,” I told him. “So they did it on your bike…who cares? Just put the seat back on and ride it. It’s not like you had any responsibility in why they cheated.”
He gestured for me to get on, and I did, waiting for him to answer.
Reaching forward to strap my helmet on tighter, he said, “It’s tainted. Everything about that bike was mine. I’d built it from the ground up. To have them do that on my bike…it left a bad taste in my mouth. It is a signal of my failure, and I didn’t want to continue to see that, and be reminded of that. The bike, although it was my baby, is replaceable. Why continue to use something that doesn’t make me happy anymore,” he smiled evilly then. “Plus, wouldn’t you stop sleeping in your bed if you found out that she was fucked by your man in it?”
I paused, my lips pursing, and sighed, “Well, actually, I did have to replace my bed. So, I do understand.”
He nodded once and took his seat in front of me.
When he sat down, it was on top of my thighs, so I scooted back as far as the seat would allow me, which sadly, wasn’t much.
With the two of us on this bike, I was unsure of the power.
However, the minute he started it, and I felt the power of the motor between my thighs, all doubts fled my mind.
Instead of worrying about how my ass was hanging off the back, or anything else pertaining to my ass, I wrapped my arms tightly around Truth, and let the wind take me.
And when Truth pulled up in front of the same pub, I realized that he was giving me a gift.
He was sharing his world with me, and I was going to let him.
Two hours later, I took him to my house.
Well, I gave him directions, anyway.
The moment he saw it, he stopped at the end of the driveway and stared.
“This is a big fucking house!” he yelled over the din of the motor.
I snorted.
“Call it what it is! A monstrosity!” I yelled back.