Billie looked up at the night sky and exhaled. Her night just got better and better. She fingered her cell and thought of calling home again but she knew her father was most likely in bed and Gramps was plunked in front of the television, with his bowl of extra salty popcorn and a supply of diet Coke. He’d never pick up the phone because the TV volume would be way too loud and since she didn’t want to disturb her father it looked like she’d be hiking it home.
“You may as well leave it and we’ll tell Ed to tow it later tonight.”
She sighed. “I suppose.”
“Why don’t you toss your gear in the trunk and I’ll give you a lift.”
Billie bit her lip. If anyone came back and stole her equipment she’d be more than pissed, but she sure as hell didn’t feel like lugging it all the way home either. Decision made, she popped the trunk and tossed her stuff inside and then turned to Shane.
“Where’s your bag?”
“I stowed it in Forest’s truck.” Shane nodded to his bike. “Let’s go.”
Billie hesitated and his smile widened.
“You afraid of me, Barker?”
She eyed him for a moment and then asked the question that had been burning in the back of her mind ever since she’d seen him the week before. “So, what’s with you and my sister?”
In an instant the warmth vanished from his eyes and was replaced with a frosty glare. He was silent for a moment, his dark eyes intense and Billie wondered for probably the twentieth time, how on earth her sister could have been with someone like Shane Gallagher and then ended up with a wet rag like Gerry Dooley.
Gallagher might have bee
n on the wild side but still…Gerald was the polar opposite.
Shane cleared his throat and started toward his bike. “There’s not much to tell. We hung out for a while a couple years back and then we didn’t.”
Billie slid up behind him. “Really, that’s it?”
He handed her a helmet. “That’s it.”
His tone was clipped and Billie knew there was a lot more to the story but she didn’t push it. It was really none of her business.
Shane revved the engine, it sounded mean and dirty, and they took off. The air was crisp and fresh and for a few moments Billie held on and let her mind forget all her problems. She didn’t think about hockey, or the fact that her immediate job future looked pretty damn sad. She didn’t think about her father, or her sisters, or even Dearling’s hairy ass. For one blessed moment she cleared her mind and enjoyed the freedom of a bike and the open road. The wind on her face and the star-heavy night sky and the…
Wait a second. Billie frowned and tugged on Shane’s arm—they’d missed her street—but he ignored her and a few moments later they pulled into the parking lot of The Grill. They coasted to a prime spot right in front and Shane cut the motor.
“I thought you were giving me a lift?”
“I am,” he waited for her to slide off. “I did.”
She glared at him.
“I never said I was taking you home right away.” He grinned and it took a bit for Billie to resist the pull of his smile. The man was way too good looking for his own good and the leather—the bad boy reputation—only added to his appeal.
“Look, none of these guys are expecting you to come back here, not really.” A slow grin spread across his face. “Especially not Dearling or Longwood.”
“I don’t know…” she thought of what Bobbi had said earlier, about Duke and Jackie’s marital woes. She thought about the rest of the town and how everybody seemed to have an opinion on a woman playing hockey in the men’s league. Heck, even Jason McDaniel from the hardware store had gone on and on about it while she’d stood in line waiting to pay for some paint—he wasn’t a fan—like she cared two shits what he thought. The guy had never put a pair of skates on in his life. What did he know?
An image of Dearlings hairy ass crossed her mind. Asshole. Why should she let them have fun and whoop it up when clearly, she’d won the game? Not that she was keeping score or anything.
Logan was inside, she’d noticed his truck on the way in and just thinking of him brought a wave of heat to her cheeks, so she looked away, exhaling shakily. No need for Gallagher to notice.
Damn, but she needed to get over her schoolgirl crush because he was involved with Sabrina Fairfax and even if he wasn’t, he’d called her ‘kid’ twice since she’d been back. It was obvious he didn’t think of her as a grownup and she shouldn’t care—it had been more than a few years since she’d seen him, but the thing of it was…she did care. She cared a whole lot.
“Are you really gonna let these small town dickhead’s win?” Shane prodded.
“What’s it to you?” she asked suddenly. She hardly knew Shane. Maybe he was angling to get into her pants? Bobbi was unavailable so she was the next best thing?