“How long have you ridden bikes for?” she asked.
“All my life practically. When I was a kid I used to dirt bike, since I was seven. Messy, but a whole lotta fun.”
“Still speak to your last girlfriend?” Her questions were personal.
Mine were more about finding out what she was hiding. I had nothing I wanted to hide from her though. I wanted her to know me. “Nope. Clean cut. Gotta rip off the bandaid,” I replied sincerely. I didn’t believe in holding ties to the past.
“Do you believe I’m a cheater?” She swung the pendulum back where I wanted it.
That question stopped me in my tracks, but I was a man of truth. “Yes. I told you that already.”
“Are you going to continue pursuing me?” she asked as her blue eyes turned icy.
I felt more drawn to her than ever. I lightly reached out and touched her fingertip, stroking over her fingernail. She just gave me one of those sexy slow smiles I liked so much. “Yes.” Blunt answers were what she asked for, so I supplied them.
“Will you take me for a ride on the back of your motorbike?”
This to me, was a no-brainer. “Yes, we can do that later, if you want.”
Jaz crunched into a nacho and the crumbs dropped on her shirt. “Nah, I have a few things to take care of today. Maybe some other time.”
She lifted my hopes and then dropped them to the ground, making me a little bit crazy. After I revealed I thought she was cheating, a glazed look crossed her face.
I told her the truth and that was a good foundation to start with.
“Are you done with your questions, or do you have anything else you want to ask me?” I asked, breaking the silence.
She stilled for a minute, deep in thought. “Do you talk to your parents?” she asked with such a gentle softness that I could barely hear her.
“I do. You?”
“Yes, I talk to them every day.” She sounded wistful as she replied.
I wondered what that was about, but I didn’t press her. “Wow. That’s great. I probably see mine once a month, and that’s if I’m lucky.”
A touch of sadness drifted into her eyes when she brought up her parents. I found it weird, since she mentioned that she saw them every day, why would she be sad about it?
“Ah well, you’re doing what you can.” She nodded. “Are you part of some sort of motorcycle club or something?”
“Yes, how did you know that?”
“I don’t know, just a funny feeling I had. Tell me about it.” She acted quiet and humble.
The sass I encountered at the casino seemed to no longer be there. She seemed like a different person almost. Another shock to my system. I liked both sides. “I am, that’s how I started working the job at Red Stone. The club is called the Rebel Saints and I work at the Wheelz bar as a manager part-time at the moment. I split my time between there and the casino.”
The sun decided to pop its head out again to visit us. So now, it was my turn to be disappointed as I knew Jaz would shield her eyes with her sunglasses again.
She picked up her glasses and popped them on her face as the waiter brought our second round of drinks. “You’re a busy man. You have any time to play, or are you all about chasing me around the casino and working?”
The blunt sarcasm of her joke made me laugh. “I do take time off, it’s just a real hectic time right now. What about you? Do you take time out from gambling and moving from place to place?” I’d begun to build a profile of Jaz…beginning to get her number. She moved around casinos. The question was, why did she leave the last one? I figured if I followed my hunch, I would be able to pick up something about Biloxi.
“I do all the time. I enjoy myself. I like new things and adventure. I’m hoping to go on a little history tour over at the Holbeck Museum. I wanna learn about the town.”
“You wanna learn about the town and history?”
“Yes. I like numbers, good odds… and I’m a history buff. I like to know what monuments are still standing and what has been destroyed. It’s a thing with me I guess.” Again that odd sense of melancholy emanated from her.
She was making me uncomfortable. “I would have taken you to the museum if I had known that.” I sipped my beer easily and returned my eyes to the water.