Jack & Coke (The Uncertain Saints Book 2) (3 page)

I nodded in confirmation. “Yeah.”

I’d met Lenore when she was dating Griffin and then became friends when I’d bought my shop that was directly next to her sex toy shop, Uncertain Pleasures.

We’d hit it off, and now we swapped services.

I cut Lenore’s hair, or gave her a massage, in exchange for her giving me free sex toys.

Or condoms.

Or anything I wanted, really.

I’d not moved beyond the former two, though.

I was too chicken to try any of the more adventurous stuff without having that little push in the right direction. And without the right man, that would never happen.

“I thought you said Mig was married,” my sister asked.

I looked up at her. “He is.”

She gave me a questioning look.

“Then why is he looking at you like he wants to eat you alive, one slow, luxurious lick at a time?” She questioned.

You know those times that you know you shouldn’t look?

Like, with everything in your being you want to look, but you know if you do, you’ll be caught looking?

Well, I was caught looking.

And I liked it.

The way his eyes met mine made me feel like we were the only ones in the entire diner instead of it being filled with nearly fifty people.

He held my eyes for a long time.

So long that I knew it would be considered more than just a glance.

The only thing a married man should be doing, anyway.

“Maybe he’s not happily married,” Tasha offered when Mig finally looked away from me.

I shrugged.

“She yells at him a lot, and he just takes it. I don’t know if they’re happy or not, but I know from what I can see, it isn’t all sunshine and roses,” I answered, trying in vain not to look back at Mig.

Except when I did, he was leaving, and I was left feeling bereft.

I watched the muscles in his back play with the movement of his arms.

Watched the muscles bunch as he reached his arm forward and pushed open the diner’s door.

Then I licked my lips as I watched him walk to the SUV that I hadn’t seen until now and drop in it.

I’d have had to climb into it.

But Mig was tall.

Really tall.

At least six foot three or more.

He rolled his window down and looked in the direction of the diner once more, and my breath caught when his eyes met mine.

He smiled.

A quick, almost imperceptible flash, but I saw it.

And I blushed.

His grin got wider.

How he could even see that from where he was, I didn’t know. But I knew he knew what he did to me.

With one last look, he slipped a pair of shades over his eyes that reminded me of the ones baseball players wore, the sporty type where the lens came to a point at their cheekbones.

They covered up his beautiful gray eyes that always reminded me of storm clouds. Then he placed his heavily tattooed arm on the door, and started to back out of the parking spot.

I watched until I couldn’t see him any longer.

“Oh, you’ve got it bad,” Tasha teased.

I returned my gaze to her.

“He’s married,” I answered with a sigh.

She nodded. “Well, from what I could tell, y’all definitely have some chemistry going on. But you need to be careful, because that’s exactly what your new business does not need: you being known as a home wrecker.”

I snorted.

“The man’s a biker…isn’t it expected that he’d
cheat?” I asked, pushing away the basket containing my lunch.

My stomach was in knots as I thought about him being married.

Tasha was right though; I totally had the hots for him.

And I’d had them for a long time.

I’d been in Uncertain, Texas for going on six years now.

My parents had moved here at the end of my senior year.

My father had just gotten out of the military, and he’d decided to open a fishing and bait shop off the side of Caddo Lake.

So I’d been here the day Mig had arrived in town.

He’d ridden in on his Harley, dressed in a black leather jacket, tight faded blue jeans, and his signature wraparound sunglasses.

And here I was, years later, still just as hot for him as the day I’d seen him for the first time.

I’d never told anyone about my avid crush on Mig, though.

I was too scared of all that was him.

Secretly, I was worried that if I admitted my crush, he’d somehow find out.

He was good like that.

Then I’d moved into the house next to him, completely by accident, and about died.

But he’d been exceptionally cool about everything.

And he’d become a friend, even if from a distance.

A friend that I had the hots for…who was married…with a kid on the way.

Yeah,
fuck my life.

Ladies, if you see a man eating BBQ wings with a knife and fork, it’s likely he doesn’t eat pussy right either. Run. Don’t look back. You can thank me later.

-Tasha to Annie on the eve of her marriage to Ross

Annie

Ross: I think about you every day.

Me: I think about pizza every day.

Ross: Don’t you miss me even a little bit?

Me: Let me think about it.

Ross: Well?

Me: Well, what?

Ross: Do you miss me?

Me: No.

Ross: Not even a little bit?

I thought about that for a second.

Did I miss him at all?

No.

Did I miss being with someone?

Yes.

Would I take Ross back to get
that
back?

Hell fucking no.

Me: No.

I placed my phone down onto the coffee table, then turned my head to study my front yard.

It’d been mowed.

By Mig, no doubt.

Jesus, did the man ever slow down?

I wished I’d have gotten up the courage to talk to him when I’d first moved in.

Then Ross would’ve never happened.

And I might be happy right now, living the life his wife was living instead of my miserable excuse for an existence.

I stood up when I saw Mig walking towards the road and his bike, watching as he straddled the bike, gave a hard glare at his house, then started his bike up with a roar.

My brows rose as I saw him speed out of the little road we were both located on, and laughed when I heard his bike all the way to the highway.

My phone rang just as I moved back away from the window, and I smiled when I heard Lenore’s voice.

“Hey! Wanna come hang
with me so I won’t be the only girl?” Lenore asked cheerily.

I thought about my life and how I never did anything.

How I would never meet another Mig if I didn’t get myself out there, and I came to a decision.

I was going to have to get over my crush on Mig.

And I was going to have fun doing it.

“Sure,” I said, walking to my bedroom to get dressed. “Where am I meeting you, and do I need to bring anything?”

I made a half-assed attempt to fluff up my hair, and in the end decided to put it up in a high pony tail, following it up with a swipe of mascara as I listened to Lenore give me directions.

“Where is this place?” I asked after she’d told me what turns I needed to take to get there.

“It’s…shit. I gotta go. I’ll see you there in ten, I forgot I was supposed to bring beer.”

I shook my head as I reached for my tightest pair of jeans that I had, shimmying into them and wincing when I pinched my belly in my attempt to button them.

After three more tries, I got the button done and the zipper up before I threw on a plain black halter top, slipped my feet into a pair of flip flops, and started towards my front door.

I grabbed my purse, and armed the new alarm, being very sure that I got the numbers correct, before I backed out of the house, locked the door with the key and hurried to the street where I’d parked my car.

Although there was parking in the back of the house, I liked parking out front because it gave me more opportunities to see Mig.

And yes, I realize that I have an unhealthy obsession with the man.

But a girl can fantasize!

It was literally a hundred and fifteen out, and no matter how many years I’d been dealing with this humid Texas heat, I’d never get used to it.

I followed Lenore’s directions to a T and found myself at a house that was about a hundred yards shy of the river.

The closer I got to the front door, the more nervous I became.

This didn’t look like a place to drink. This looked like someone’s house!

I pulled my phone out and called Lenore.

“Umm,” I said once she answered. “Where the hell am I?”

“You’re at The Uncertain Saints’ clubhouse,” Mig said from behind me.

I jumped and turned, and my heart started to pitter-patter.

This definitely wouldn’t work well with my whole ‘try to get over Mig’ plan.

Mig

I don’t really know what I expected out of this night.

Peace and quiet.

Time to chill and just be one with the world.

It was definitely supposed to be a much needed breather from my bitch of a wife.

What I didn’t think I’d see was the one woman that never failed to make my heart beat faster.

The one that I just couldn’t seem to stop thinking about.

And we were having an in-depth discussion with the whole fuckin’ club about why I didn’t like my wife.

“Why don’t you divorce her? I don’t understand why you put up with her if she did that to you,” Annie asked with confusion.

She was about two beers in, and I liked her this way.

She was chatty instead of nervous, and I found that
this
Annie was also fun to watch.

Not that I didn’t like her sober, but I liked how the alcohol loosened her up, and she didn’t hesitate to say what was on her mind.

I was lucky to get more than two sentences out of her on a normal day.

Which was why I was talking about this subject instead of shutting it down.

I
wanted
to talk to her.

“That’s because he has the morals of a damn preacher. His conscience won’t allow him to drop her like she deserves,” Peek offered from his position across the table. Peek was the president of our little motorcycle club, and a major pain in the ass sometimes.

Annie blinked.

“Why? I know she did something bad. You don’t get off on treating women badly. Yet every single woman you meet, you’re suspicious of,” Annie said.

I did do that.

But I couldn’t help it.

“When my father started to date after my mother and he split up, he’d bring every single one of his bitches home to meet me. And every one of them was nice as could be in front of my father, but the moment he left the room, they could care less about me.

“That continued for the rest of my childhood. Then I started dating, and women just kept proving to me over and over again how devious they are. I’ve yet to find one, besides the one I can’t have, that aren’t bitches,” I told her.

Annie’s eyebrows rose.

“You’re not calling me a deceptive, manipulative bitch, are you?” She teased.

I gave her back an eyebrow raise in return.

“I said ‘besides the one I can’t have.’ not being bitches. That’s you,” I told her.

She snorted. “I never said you couldn’t have me.”

My heart started to race.

“You know I can’t,” I said.

She shrugged.

“I guess I’ll settle for being your only female friend then,” she teased.

I snorted.

“You can come drink beer with us anytime you want,” I invited, gesturing to the table of my friends.

Peek and his wife, Alison. Griffin and his woman, Lenore. Wolf and his kid, who was currently sleeping in his room. Ridley and Casten. Even Apple, the prospect, wasn’t half bad.

We were a bunch of people that had become family out of necessity.

And I would trust each and every one of my brothers to have my back if I needed it.

And Annie was easily becoming one of the few women in the world I would trust.

“I don’t think I’ve ever actually heard why you and your wife got together.
What’s the big deal?” Lenore asked with confusion.

I was surprised Griffin hadn’t shared.

It wasn’t a secret.

It just pissed me off to think about.

So I didn’t tell anyone if I didn’t have to.

Which luckily wasn’t often since my brothers were more than willing to tell it, like it was obvious that Wolf was ready to do.

“Jennifer came to one of our parties. We don’t have many, so when we do open them up to the public, quite a few people show up,” Wolf started. “This bitch must really have been jonesing for this party, because the moment she walked into the door, she locked her eyes on Mig.”

“Now, anyone who’s been around this town for a while knows that Mig isn’t exactly the nicest one of us. He doesn’t even pretend to be. So there she was, walking straight in and right up to Mig like they knew each other,” Wolf continued. “And not one of us thought it was odd at the time. We went on about our business, drinking and having fun. Mig tried to ignore the woman and was doing spectacularly at it until a fight broke out among two young girls over who was going to play pool next.”

“Okay… So, what happened then?” Annie asked while Wolf paused to take a sip of his beer.

“What happened next was cloudy for most of us. All we saw was Mig breaking up the fight, then going back to his table where he was talking to a couple local officers and drinking his beer,” Griffin started. “The next thing we know, he’s taking Jennifer to his bedroom and leaving the party. But who are we to block him from what he wants.”

“Except…” Annie urged.

“Except for Mig waking up the next morning totally blank on what happened, with a headache from hell, and a sore cock,” Ridley piped in.

Annie blinked, turning to me.

“You were drugged?” Her voice rose.

I nodded, the bile burning deep.

“Went to the doctor the next morning thinking I was dying. Turns out I had enough roofies in my system to knock out a two-ton rhino,” I answered.