“You think she ever really believed the shit she said? That she was scared of me?”
“Why do you care?”
I stare at him. He’s smart enough to figure out why I’m asking.
“Bro, you are nothing like your father. And fuck her for ever suggesting you could be,” he spits out.
“Thanks for always having my back, brother.”
“Morning, boys.” Shelby’s husky greeting immediately lifts the dark cloud that settled around us.
We both turn and find her slowly making her way to the picnic table.
“Mornin’, songbird.” Jiggy waves over his shoulder.
Shelby brushes my side as she rounds the table and sets down a thermos. She holds up a stack of travel mugs. “Thought you might want coffee.”
I curl my arm around her waist, pulling her between my knees and leaning in to kiss her. “Thanks. Didn’t want to wake you, so I didn’t make any.”
Jigsaw reaches over, swiping the thermos and tugging one of the cups out of Shelby’s hand. “Your man threatened me with bodily harm if I made any noise when I got in last night. So, thank you for this.”
She taps my nose with her finger. “You shouldn’t be mean to Jiggy.”
“Aw, you two are so sweet.” Jigsaw holds out his cup. “Can you stir your finger around in here since there’s no sugar?”
Shelby pulls a few little white packets from her back pocket. “I could,” she sings in a teasing tone and waves the sugar in his face. “But I bet you’d like these more.”
“You’re a goddess.” He swipes all the packets out of her hand and rips them open so fast tiny pieces of paper fall to the ground like confetti.
“I brought some for you too.” Shelby reaches into her other pocket and hands me a couple of the white rectangles.
I run my gaze over her tank top, shorts, and slippers. “You cold?” I shrug off my cut and start working the buttons of my flannel loose.
She stops me with a hand on my shoulder. “I only came out to bring you coffee.” She kisses my cheek, wiggles her fingers at Jiggy and heads back to the RV.
Jiggy cranes his neck to watch her go. “Some days I think Z’s dolphin theory is bullshit,” he mutters.
Without even thinking about it, I punch him hard enough to slosh coffee out of his cup.
“Ow.” He swipes droplets off his jeans. “What was that for?”
“Stop eying my girl.”
“It was a compliment,” he protests.
“Implying you want to fuck my girlfriend isn’t the compliment you think it is.”
“That’s not…” He tilts his head. “Okay, I see how you arrived at that conclusion. At least I only said it to you. I held my tongue until she left so I didn’t make her uncomfortable.” He scratches the side of his head. “I don’t think I’ve ever done that before.”
“Great, you’re finally learning the manners of the average ten-year-old.”
Not at all offended, he grins at me.
Since I realize he’s trying to distract me from our earlier, heavier discussion, I let it go. Jiggy doesn’t like to get deep in his feels often. When he does, he needs to clown around to shake it off. No one understands that better than I do.
Chapter Seventeen
Shelby
“Why don’t you just ride with us?” I ask.
The weather’s been beautiful the whole time we’ve been in California but this afternoon the skies look uncertain.
Jiggy scratches his head and glances at the truck. “You don’t want me in the way, disrupting you two from…whatever it is you do in your giant cage.”
I wiggle my fingers in his face. “I can only give him so many hand jobs on the road, Jiggy. You’ll be doing my wrist a favor.”
Rooster coughs and chokes on his coffee. “Don’t encourage his wild fantasies,” he mutters.
Jiggy’s gaze slides between the two of us. “You sure I won’t be in the way?”
“Of course not.” I push him toward the truck.
“Hang on, chickadee,” Rooster says. “We need to load his bike.”
“Oh, right.”
While they’re working at the back of the RV, I grab my guitar, a notebook, and a blanket and build a little nest for myself in the back seat.
“What’re you doing, songbird?”
I hop out of the truck. “I’ll sit back there so you can sit up front with Rooster.”
His mouth twists down and he turns away. “I don’t—”
“It’s fine. Really. I want to work on something.” I glance at the back of the RV. “Where’d Rooster go?”
“To pay the park or something.”
“Oh.”
“He finally told you everything,” Jiggy says in a hushed voice.
“He did. I understand why you wanted me to ask him.”
He shrugs.
“I’m sorry we left you to deal with Ashley on your own.” As much as I think getting Rooster away from her was the right thing to do, after what I learned, I can’t stop the guilt nagging at me.
“Nah, it’s fine.” He rubs his palm over his scruffy chin as if he’s contemplating his next words. “She won’t bother you again.” He taps his Lost Kings MC patch. “I made it clear this isn’t high school and that next time I wouldn’t be as friendly.”