Sinful Protector (Roughshod Rollers MC 2)

Everything about Kyle was absolutely intoxicating last night, and it’s difficult to forget that. As such, I’m glad to finally leave my apartment and make my way to the bus stop.

The journey to the college is quiet; there are several other people on the bus, but they’re all focused on their own thing. I pull my phone out and tap a message out to Jacqui.

“Just on my way, wher

e are you?”

A message comes in seconds later.

“You’re early today. Something wrong?”

I glance at my watch and wince. In my zeal to get out of my apartment, I had left far earlier than I meant to; it’s only nine thirty now.

“No, just got bored at home.”

“You could do some of that unpacking.”

I snort at the reply. It’s fast getting to the point where I wouldn’t be able to use the excuse that “I’ve just left my boyfriend and found a place to stay,” for why I haven’t finished unpacking. Jacqui never took that excuse at face value in the first place. She knows me well enough to know that I haven’t unpacked because I hate doing it.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll see you later for class.”

I’m about to put my phone away when it chimes with one last message.

“I’m already out. I’ll meet you there soon.”

I smile. I have a feeling that Jacqui hasn’t bought my excuse that I was just bored at home, and is checking on me. She really is a good friend.

Because she has a car and lives closer, my friend is already there by the time the bus pulls up outside. I yawn and step down, smiling as I see the curly-haired, dark-skinned woman leaning against the fence, reading something on her phone. She looks up as I approach.

“Did you get any sleep last night?” she asks in greeting.

Looks like I didn’t manage to cover up the bags under my eyes as well as I hoped I had.

“Some,” I defend. “Just…not as much as I should have.”

“What did you do?” Jacqui snorts. “Stay up all night eating chips and watching movies?”

“No, I… Hey, how did you know I stopped to get chips?” I ask.

“You always do that when you’ve been drinking,” Jacqui says with a roll of her eyes. “You stop at that little corner shop near your place and grab snacks, and then you gorge on them while watching movies until you fall asleep on your couch.”

I cast my mind back to other times I’ve walked home after drinking. Huh… She’s right, I do all that, don’t I?

Except I didn’t do that last night. Last night I grabbed a random man off the street and took him home to sleep with him, instead.

Jacqui eyes me, looking suspicious.

“You always follow that pattern,” she says. “What was different about last night?”

I draw in a deep breath. She was going to find out eventually; I can’t hold my tongue after I’ve started drinking, normally, so I’ll end up telling her whether I want to or not. It’ll be better for me in the long run if I just tell her now.

“So… I ran into Jesse,” I offer first.

Jacqui immediately scowls.

“That jackass?” she asks. “What did he want?”

“It was actually just a coincidence,” I assure her. “I ran into him after I bought my snacks. He wanted to get back together.”