I remember Jacqui accusing me of discriminating against Kyle because of the sort of club that he was part of, and I wince. Does Kyle face that all the time?

“Ready?” Kyle asks, smiling at me.

“Yeah, let’s go,” I say.

He reaches out and takes my hand. His palm is warm and I smile as I curl my fingers around his, giving them a gentle squeeze. This is nice.

When Kyle asks about the reservation, we’re directed to a small table near the window. Before we even have a chance to ask, the waiter takes our drink order and leaves us with menus. Kyle laughs.

“Efficient,” he comments. “Have you been here before?”

“Last year, Jacqui had a dinner here for her birthday,” I say. “It’s a nice place.”

“It looks it,” Kyle agrees. He opens his menu casually. “So, what’s with you and motorbikes?”

I’m honestly surprised that it’s taken him so long to ask.

“My dad was in an accident a long time ago,” I tell him. “He had a motorbike, and he was part of a club, too. I was young when he died, and I’ve always associated motorbikes with his death.”

Kyle nods solemnly. “I get that. But, you know, you don’t have to push yourself. I would have been okay with taking the bus.”

I smile at him. “I know. What about you? How long have you been around motorbikes?”

“Almost all my life,” he chuckles. “My dad rode them, though I was never allowed to until I was teenager. I always wanted him to teach me.” His face falls. “I…fell off the rails when I was a teenager, though. Did a lot of bad stuff. During that time, my dad had a heart attack. He managed to teach me how to ride a little, but never got to finish. Instead, it was Old Man Brooks who taught me the rest, after he took me by the ear and asked me what I thought I was doing with my life.”

I feel my heart going out to him. Is that why Kyle loves his motorbike? Because it makes him feel closer to his father?

“Old Man Brooks?” I ask.

“The mechanic I work for,” Kyle says with a half smile. “He caught me stealing from him when I was nineteen. He could have called the cops on me, but he didn’t. Instead, he gave me a job, taught me the trade and put me through school.” He chuckles. “That fucking old man… I’ll never be able to repay him for that.”

“Wow,” I say, sitting back. “Looks like you’ve had an exciting life. I haven’t done anything more exciting than move out of home and go to college.”

“That sounds plenty exciting,” Kyle laughs.

“What about the Roughshod Rollers?” I ask. “How’d you get involved with them?”

“It was Ethan that found me,” Kyle says with a smile. “He brought his motorbike to us to be fixed. We became fast friends, and then he introduced me to George Barker, the one who started the club in the first place. Unfortunately, I didn’t know him for very long; about two years after I met him, he also died in an accident.”

I remember thinking, before, that Kyle knew what it felt like to lose someone in the same way I did. He must be the man who set up the poker nights for them, the one that passed away.

“I’m sorry,” I say; his l

osses are both a lot more recent than mine.

“It’s okay,” he says with a smile. “We just keep moving forward.”

The waiter approaches again, and I quickly scan the menu, realizing that I don’t know what to order. I give him the name of a pasta dish that looks nice and he leaves again. There’s an awkward silence left in his wake; we’d been interrupted in the middle of talking about something serious, and now neither of us knows what to say next.

“What about your family?” Kyle asks.

“Oh, I just have an older brother,” I say, startled by the question. “He’s a doctor.”

“A doctor and a lawyer,” Kyle says, sounding impressed. “Your mother must be proud.”

I smile. “I like to think so. I’ll be finished with my degree, soon. My brother keeps joking that I can defend him from a lawsuit if it comes up. I tell him that if he does anything that requires a lawsuit to be brought up against him, then he’s on his own.”

Kyle laughs. “I wish I had siblings, but I was an only child. It was just me and dad.”

Tags: Mia Ford Roughshod Rollers MC Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net