She seemed disappointed. “So it’s not all shoot ‘em up and hookers and drugs like they show on television, then? It kinda sounds boring the way you put it, dude. Why did you join Storm rather than one of those other clubs?”
His shoulders eased and a smile twitched at the corners of his lips. “Storm was the right fit for me.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “That’s a very cryptic reason, but I won’t push you. I know you bikers are the guarded type and all.”
I stifled a laugh. Magan was trying so hard to be cool around him, and he was making an effort to let her get to know a little about him. It made my heart happy.
“You’re still in school?” he asked her.
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I’ll be in year twelve this year and then I get to escape this living hell at the end of the year.”
“I take it you don’t like school?”
“Did you, dude?” she threw out as if the answer was a no-brainer.
“I liked school,” he said, stunning her.
“What the..? No way. You don’t seem like the type who would have liked school.”
He raised his brows. “There’s a type who doesn’t like school?”
She gestured at him. “You know…your type is like the people who give society the middle finger and tell them to eff off, you know? Like, you don’t put up with bullshit, and I bet you didn’t put up with the bullshit at school.”
“I did well in school, Magan. And, yeah, I’ve always been the type to tell people to eff off, but the type you see sitting in front of you today? That’s year’s worth of work. You’ll learn as you get older that you grow into yourself as you go. And part of that is taking all the steps through life that lead you to discover who you are.”
“Ugh, I hate steps,” she complained.
Griff chuckled. “Yeah, you and your sister, both.”
My tummy fluttered that he’d remembered our conversation when I’d told him of my strong dislike of working through steps to get things done.
As I watched the two of them begin to get to know each other, I couldn’t help think what a strange world this was, bringing three people together like us.
Three people who truly needed what the others had to give – friendship and acceptance.
* * *
Griff dropped my car keys onto the kitchen counter and reached for my hand as I walked past him. Pulling me back to him, he said, “I like your sister.”
We’d just dropped her at her house after dinner. She had planned on calling her boyfriend to come get her, but Griff had insisted on driving her in my car. I was pretty sure that made her feel special, and I loved that he’d given her that.
“I can tell that she likes you, too.”
“How?”
“You’re clueless on teens, aren’t you?”
“Can’t say I spend any time with them, sweetheart.”
I laughed. “She spent the night talking to you, and asking you about yourself, and the conversation never felt stilted after the initial meeting. That’s a sure sign a teen likes you.”
He gave me the tiniest smile. If I’d blinked, I would have missed it. I felt for sure he was about to say something, but he didn’t.
Frowning, I said, “What were you just about to say just now? It was like a thought ran through your mind and you let it go straight away.”
He stared at me in silence until his chest rose and fell quite hard. Blowing out a long breath, he let me go, and ran his fingers through his hair. His eyes revealed a hurt or a pain that hadn’t been there earlier, and I hated that I’d brought that on, but maybe he needed to talk about it.
“Griff?” I pushed him.