How About No (Bear Bottom Guardians MC 3)

He blew out a breath. “If I’d known…”

I shrugged. “If you’d known, you wouldn’t have done anything differently because you’re not the type of person that would leave a person like Lina hurting if you didn’t have to.”

I was, though.

I would have…had Wade not made me see things I didn’t wish to see.

Kind of like the day he’d found out about Lina, and how he’d encouraged me to donate to her because I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if she died.

He was right.

As much as I hated donating to her, I’d still do it if she absolutely needed it. Regardless of my feelings toward her, she was still my sister.

Even if my sister hated me.

“Can you open my sunflower seeds?” he asked, gesturing to the unopened bag that was still in the large sack that held the rest of our food.

I picked the sack up and reached inside, smiling widely when I saw the Snickers bar.

“This yours?” I asked.

He rolled his eyes. “No. Yours. You know I don’t like caramel.”

I did know that.

I also knew that he hated the smell most, and it got to the point where I couldn’t even eat the Snickers in front of him because he could smell the caramel.

I was fairly sure he was full of shit, but that argument was so old that I’d gotten to the point where I just did what he asked because it was easier than listening to him moan and whine for an hour.

But, since I loved Snickers so much, I still ate them. I was just hyperaware of where I ate them and brushed my teeth immediately afterward.

“You’re going to let me eat it in front of you?” I asked, spotting the second one underneath his seeds—which I opened for him and handed over.

He took the bag and reached inside, pulling out a small handful which immediately went into his mouth.

He sucked them all to one side and then reached for the cup that was in the center console. An Icee one that he’d stolen from the gas station.

I’d always been curious about how he held so much in his mouth while also opening the seeds with his teeth and tongue. Then there was the fact that he could also talk and hold conversations while he had his mouth full.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” he questioned.

I smiled. “You know I’m watching you and trying to figure out how you’re opening those while you have a mouthful of seeds, and you’re still talking to me.”

He spat an empty shell out into the cup and looked at me. “I’m just talented. What can I say?”

I rolled my eyes.

Though, Wade did have a point.

He was very talented with his mouth. I knew that firsthand.

On our first date, he’d tied a cherry stem with only his tongue, and had given it to me by way of his mouth kissing mine.

My eyes had widened when he’d transferred that knotted stem into my mouth by way of his tongue sneaking in.

I had melted right then and there, and the memory still made me hot as hell.

“What was that look for?” he asked.

I bit my lip and looked away. “Well,” I hesitated. Did I really want to tell him what that memory was for? Then I decided, why the hell not? “I was thinking about our first date and the cherry stem you tied into a knot with your tongue.”

His lips quirked up at one side. “I remember that. Vividly.”

I flushed hotly and turned my head down to my lap. Then I busied myself with searching through the mountain of snacks we’d gotten at the convenience store.

“How did you know that couple and their kids?” I wondered, choosing a bag of corn nuts and ripping into them.

“Ridley is a biker. Bikers know the bikers in their area, though Uncertain is a little far from Bear Bottom. We do run into each other a time or two during the year. We mainly know each other from the Toy Runs we run each year right before Christmas. About six or seven clubs from the surrounding three states meet up and make a run. All the donations we collect and toys go to children in need,” he explained.

I nodded my head in understanding. “Gotcha. I liked that run.”

I went on that run once and only once, but it was my first big run that I’d ever gone on with Wade on the bike in front of me.

“The one this year is going to be good,” he said. “We’re going to have ten clubs participating, and we’re sponsoring the Children’s Hospital in Dallas. All those kids that are there for various reasons will have their entire Christmas covered.”

That made my heart swell.

“You did that because of Rome’s son, didn’t you?” I asked softly.

Wade shrugged. “It was a suggestion, yes. But Rome was the one to really start planning it out. Him and his new old lady, Izzy.”