When her feet hit the ground, she goes straight for my motorcycle and slips my helmet on. She’s ready to get away from me. I don’t like that feeling. Not one f**king bit.

I stalk over to her, pull her into my arms and make her look me in the eyes. “Tell me something about yourself that I don’t know. I don’t know shit about your life back at home.”

She swallows hard and tries turning her face away, but I don’t let her. I need to be able to read her eyes when she talks. “I work at a hair salon. I’ve been there for four years. I love it. Doing hair makes me happy. I just turned twenty three a few months ago and I have a cat named Puma. He’s black and white and a pain in the ass, but I love him. I hate seafood. I eat ranch sauce on everything and have a passion for reading. I’m not much for the party life and would rather curl up with someone that cares about me and watch a movie instead of going out.” She pauses to look down at my lips before looking back up. “There’s not much else to tell.”

I release her face and we both just stand here in silence. Something feels a little off about the way she’s acting. Maybe it’s just me. I don’t blame her for not wanting to get close to me; especially, not knowing my intentions. I don’t even know them myself. This is all new to me.

“Okay.” I turn and walk to my bike, unsatisfied. “Let’s go.”

* * *

Sarah has been giving me weird looks all f**king day. I’m not really sure what’s on her mind, but it’s starting to get on my damn nerves.

“Say it,” I mutter.

She sets her towel down on the bar and begins wiping it off. “Say what?”

I look up from putting the glasses in the cooler and study her face. She definitely has something on her mind. She knows I don’t like playing these games. I’m not a f**king mind reader. “You have something you want to say. Since when do you hold back?”

Shaking her head, she turns away and starts working faster at wiping down the bar. “Okay, then.” She drops her towel, leans against the bar and smiles. “You broke your f**king rules.” Pushing away from the counter, she walks over to me and kneels down next to me. “Someone finally broke you. I’m in total awe of this woman. She’s a goddess. I’m definitely jealous, Slade.”

Grunting, I slam down the glass in my hand and stand up before rubbing my hands over my face. “Fucking, Cale.” I reach for her arm and pull her up to her feet. “I swear he gossips just like a f**king chick.”

She quickly grabs for a beer and places it in front of one of her customers before rushing back over to me. “He called me this morning to see if I wanted to get off work early; said he needed some extra cash. He got on the subject of Aspen and it came out. He’s just as shocked as I am. Believe me.”

“Yeah. Well, you’re not the only ones. Don’t even ask me to explain it because I can’t. I wouldn’t even if I knew how so back off.” I lean against the register and watch as a few girls look at me from across the bar, smiling to each other. They’re both looking desperate; watching my every move as if their lives depend on it. I’m sure it won’t be long before they approach me and try to pull me into the back. I’ve had it happen more than once while working. It used to get me all worked up. Right now, I’m not even feeling it.

“Do you need to take a break?” Sarah stands next to me and eyes the two girls before nudging me. “I can handle the bar. I don’t need you.”

“Nah.” I push away from the register and start checking the bottles of liquor to see if any need to be replaced. I need anything to keep me busy. “Not this time.”

“Wow. Two surprises in one day,” she says teasingly while walking back over to clean the bar. “I don’t know how to take all this in.”

“Yeah, well I can be full of f**king surprises. Trust me.”

“Oh yeah. Well, here’s another one. Look who’s here.”

I turn behind me to see that Aspen and her friend have just walked in.

Fuck me. She is f**king beautiful.

Aspen’s eyes stay focused on me the whole time that her and Kayla make their way up to the bar. They both stop in front of Sarah and order a couple drinks. I see her trying hard not to look at me. I can tell it’s a tough struggle for her.

After the way we left things earlier, I’m not sure how the f**k to feel about her being here. I don’t get the way she was acting. I opened up to her and it feels as if she’s trying to keep me out.

Fuck that. I don’t need that right now.

Seconds later, Cale comes walking in and I focus my attention on him. Just the ass**le I need to speak with.

The girls have taken their drinks and are heading over to one of the empty couches. Now would be a good time to give Cale a piece of my f**king mind.

I wait for him to step behind the bar before I get straight to the f**king point. “You have a big f**king mouth.”

He looks at me and then over to Sarah. “You can take off if you want. I’ve got it from here. I’m sure you don’t want to deal with this side of Slade.”

Sarah nods her head and grabs for her things. “Yeah, I’ll be more than happy to get the hell out of here.” She starts walking away, but then stops to look back at us. “I already closed out my tickets. You boys have fun now; just not too much without me.” She winks and takes off in a hurry, waving back at Aspen and Kayla.

“My bad, man. I didn’t think you’d get pissed about it. You’ve never been secretive about your sex life before. It just sort of came out. It’s a big deal. I still can’t believe it.”

“Yeah well, it’s a big deal for me too so let’s just drop it.”

“All right.” He looks over at Aspen and Kayla. “You do realize she’ll be leaving soon, right?”

“Yeah. So?”

“She probably won’t be coming back for a long ass time. There must be something special about her for you to let her get to you the way she has for this past week. Are you sure you’re willing to let her go?”

I take in a deep breath and release it. I look up to see Aspen laughing at something some moron is saying to her. I feel my stomach drop as I watch her having a good time with him. “Yeah. It’s not my place to have her stay. There’s nothing going on between us. She’ll be gone tomorrow and things will go back to normal.”