Page 59

My fingers hover over the phone. “Holy hell. Roger is a DOM, too?” Luce blurts looking over my shoulder at the messages.
“Too?”
“Smith was very upfront about it. Must be an MC thing. The type of men who join are all badasses.”
“We need to Google this. I don’t know much about it at all.”
“Didn’t you read Fifty Shades? I gave you my copy.”
My face turns red. “I did. But that was a book. It was scripted.”
“Hmmm… I’m on it.” She taps on her phone a minute later her eyes widen.
“What?”
“Road trip next weekend? There’s a BDSM club in San Francisco. We could drive.”
“No.”
“Why not? It’s Labor Day. We have three days off and sightseeing is the perfect cover.”
“Why are you always getting me into trouble Luce?”
“I’m your best friend. It’s my job.”
“They’ll tail us. You have two guards and a man saying you’re his property after knowing you for two days.”
“Yeah, Rog seems like he’s cut from the same cloth. We’ll do a bait n’ switch.”
“Stop. You’re serious about this?”
“It’ll be fun, Dev. Think of it as our last hooray before we both get too deep in relationships that won’t be easy.”
“Okay. But what are you going to do about your plane ticket back to Chicago?”
“I already changed it. Besides, you aren’t the only one going to Springdale High tomorrow morning. I have an interview.”
“Seriously?”
“Yup.” A grin lights up her face, “You were right about this town and the men in it.”
“But Smith lives in California.”
“So? It’s a hell of a lot closer than Chicago. Besides, I’m overdue for a change of scenery.”
“You’ll get the job. Rog told me the downstairs apartment is fully furnished, too. All that’s there are clothes and boxes that still belong to the other tenant.”
“I know. It’s going to be awesome. We can take turns cooking and driving to work.”
“I can’t believe it. I’ve never been so happy. I have a home here in Springdale, my new family at Sassy’s, Rog and now you. Something bad is going to happen.”
“Shut-up, Dev. Don’t jinx it.”
“I don’t have to. What I need to do is stop being a chicken shit and tell Rog everything.”
“Okay. Fine. But you’ve only been with him forty-eight hours. Give your relationship time to grow.”
We’re interrupted by a knock at the door. I get out some bills and open it stunned to see the pledge from California standing there with two bags of takeout.”