Page 61 of Bad for You

I took Sofia in. She was nervous. “You don’t need to do that…”

“No, I do. When you called…when we were on the road, I made it seem like Riff and I were together. It was a dick move.” She stared down at her feet. “I was messed up, getting out of a bad situation, and I guess…I felt threatened by you, scared Riff would get sick of dealing with me and my shit, leave me to go to you and forget all about me.” She glanced at me. “Dumb, I know. Riff’s not like that.”

No. He wasn’t. “How are you doing? Jesse mentioned…he didn’t share much, but enough.”

Sofia’s smile was wobbly. “It’s been hard.”

“You miss him, don’t you?” I said gently.

Her gaze shot to me.

I didn’t know Sofia that well, at all, really, but I reached out and covered her hand resting on the mattress, with mine. “My situation was nothing like yours. Nothing compared to what you’ve been through. But getting away, breaking free, from any kind of abuse, it can mess with your head.”

“Yeah, yeah it can,” Sofia choked.

Her hand turned under mine and she wrapped her fingers around mine. “It sucks.”

“Big-time,” I said and held her gaze. “It does get easier.” I was still working on a couple of things, trusting myself for one, my own judgement, and my confusing feelings when it came to sex. Yes, my parents, my mom especially, was in my head, but even a few months ago, the thought of having sex again made me feel so wracked with guilt and humiliation, my stomach had churned.

So I’d definitely made progress.

“I hope you’re right,” Sofia said.

“I haven’t been through what you have, but I’m here if you ever need to talk, okay?”

She blinked rapidly, then finally looked at me, a small smile curling her lips. “I like you, Lila.”

“I like you too, Sofia.”

There was a thump by the door and Jesse walked in, his expression unreadable. “You ready, Bambi?” He glanced at the woman beside me and his expression softened. “You need anything before I take off, Soph?”

She gave my hand another squeeze, then stood. “Nope. I’m fine.”

“You’ll call if you’re worried about anything?” Jesse said.

Sofia nodded.

Jesse crossed the floor and pulled her in for a quick hug, then she waved at me and quickly left. Jesse frowned after her, finished dressing, then walked around the room, grabbing a few things and stuffing them in a pack before turning back to me. “Let’s go.”

Something was off, but I didn’t have time to question him. He took my hand and rushed me out the door and around the warehouse to the lineup of bikes out front. Jesse strapped his pack on the back and glanced up at me.

“Wait there.”

He strode back into the warehouse, and I stood there feeling out of place as several bikers milling around openly looked me up and down, assessing. I didn’t know where to look, so I stared at my feet. Last night had been intense, kind of crazy, but in a good way. I’d liked it, some parts I’d loved. This morning, I’d been confronted again with our differences.

I didn’t belong here and everyone knew it.

Then Jesse was coming toward me again, a jacket in his hand, and the look on his face as he stared down the men who had been watching me sent a shiver down my spine. It was cold, flat, full of warning. There was no sign of my Jesse in his green eyes.

The men quickly looked away and Jesse strode up to me and gripped my chin. “Ignore them. They’re just jealous you’re getting on the back of my bike and not theirs.”

My face heated.

A slow smile curled his lips. “FYI, my dick gets hard every time you blush like that.”

He held up the jacket and I slid my arms in the sleeves and huffed out a laugh. “You must be in pain a lot.”

“You have no idea,” he said, a growl in his voice that made my nipples tingle.