“Sounds like your brothers think a lot of you.”
“No more than I think of them.”
“I know you have your club brothers and all, but what about your real family? Do you see them?”
“I do.” He reminded me of a turtle pulling back into his shell. “Not as much as I should, but yeah, I see them.”
“Is there a reason why you don’t see them more often?”
“My twin brother and I had a bit of a disagreement that never fully got resolved.”
My chest tightened. “Did this disagreement have anything to do with the woman you told me you were in love with?”
“He married her.”
“Oh, wow.” I sank back into the sofa and sighed. “I don’t even know what to say. I’m so sorry.”
“Nothing for you to be sorry about.” He gave me one of his sexy smirks. “Besides, things have a way of working out.”
Something about his tone made me wonder if he was still hoping that things would work out for him and his long-lost love or if he was talking about something else altogether. The fact that I didn’t know concerned me—a lot.
I started to feel something I had no business feeling—jealousy.
Thatcher had been honest and upfront about us from the start. It was one of the reasons why we’d decided to keep our arrangement uncomplicated. Now that he’d opened the vault, I felt the need to ask, “So, you still see her?”
“I do.”
“Isn’t that hard?”
“Yeah, it’s hard, but not as much as it used to be.”
That jealous feeling remained, but the sting wasn’t quite as bad as moments before. I felt the warmth of my blush as it crept over my cheeks and feared Thatch would notice, so I quickly stood and headed for the kitchen. “I’m going to grab us a couple of beers. You need anything else?”
“No, I’m good.”
When I returned, I decided it was time to lighten the conversation, so I placed the beers down on the coffee table and asked, “What about music? Are you a country or a rock kind of guy?”
“A mix of the two. You?”
“The same, I guess.” I sat back down on the sofa, then reached for my beer. “I love nineties music, but honestly, I’ll listen to just about anything.”
“A nineties girl, huh?”
“Oh, yeah. The eighties, too.” I took a sip of my drink, then added, “There’s nothing better than riding around listening to all the Journey classics mixed in with the Eagles and some Whitesnake.”
“You should try listening to them while riding on the back of my bike.”
“Is that an invitation?”
“Absolutely.”
“I’m going to hold you to that.”
“I certainly hope so.” He leaned over and grabbed his fresh beer from the coffee table, then took a pull. “You got any other questions?”
“Of course, I do.” I thought for a moment, then smiled when one came to mind. “What’s your favorite movie?”
“Favorite movie? Really?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“I guess it’s a tossup between The Godfather and Rocky.”
“What is about men and The Godfather? That movie is so over the top, and Rocky isn’t much better.” I rolled my eyes with an exaggerated groan. “Why can’t you guys like normal movies like Good Will Hunting or The Notebook?”
“Well, for starters, The Notebook is a fucking chick flick.”
“No, The Notebook is a beautiful love story about—”
“I don’t care how you try to spin it, babe. It’s a chick flick and nothing more.” He gave me a sexy smirk. “But Rocky, now that’s a real love story.”
“What?” I gasped. “Are you kidding me?”
“I’m being one hundred percent serious. The part after he fought Apollo Creed, the fight of his life, and gave it everything he had. His eyes swollen shut, bleeding, and barely able to stand, who was it that Rocky called out to?” Thatch’s tone was intense and passionate as he spoke. “Adrian. The love of his fucking life.”
“Oh, good grief. That guy finally got some sense knocked into him.” I groaned. “Only a man would think that’s romantic.”
“It’s not just romantic. It’s a fucking classic,” he argued. “You should watch it and see for yourself.”
“Yeah, right, I’ll be sure and do that.”
“I’m serious. You gotta watch them.” He pointed to my remote. “See if you can find them on one of the movie channels.”
“Right now?”
“Yeah, right now.” Thatch stood up and headed towards the kitchen. “You find the movie, and I’ll make us some popcorn.”
“Rocky?”
“Find it, woman!”
“Fine.”
I had to admit I wasn’t exactly thrilled about watching hours upon hours of Rocky Balboa, but I loved the idea of spending extra time with Thatcher. It had been so much fun getting to know him better, and I had high hopes that Rocky just might bring us even closer.
And it might have if we both hadn’t fallen asleep halfway through the first movie.
7
VIPER
I hadn’t planned on staying the night at Rebecca’s place—I didn’t have the time for such distractions. A shit-ton of things needed to get done at the club, which included touching base with Dax and any intel he had about the Broken. I also needed to get with Menace and ask him to find out everything he could on Camden.