She nodded and left him to clean up the mess, making her way home. Instead of taking her car, she opted to walk. Arriving home, she had enough time to change before someone was knocking at her door.
By chance it might be Matthew, she checked her cell phone, but he had left her a message that something had come up and he wasn’t going to be able to make their date tonight. It wasn’t a real date.
They agreed to keep things light. He was coming by for sex.
Whoever was at her door wasn’t Matthew. She knew he wouldn’t step out on the club. For as long as she could remember, all Matthew had wanted was to be a fully fledged member. Even when they were nothing more than toddlers. He had told the whole class that he was going to be a biker like his dad.
She opened the door, and sure enough, Raoul was there. This was scary. Very scary. She pocketed her cell phone and followed Raoul out.
A bike was waiting, and this made her more nervous. Riding on the back of his bike didn’t sound like a good idea to her. It was on the tip of her tongue to refuse, but he nodded in that general direction, and she didn’t have a choice but to climb on behind him.
He handed her a helmet, and she slid it onto her head even though it was hot as hell.
This was crazy.
She wrapped her arms around his waist, and Raoul turned over the ignition. They took off, heading toward the Trojans MC’s clubhouse.
Luna had never made it a habit to visit there. The lasttime she’d been there, it had been a revelation. Matthew had told her the truth. When she tutored him, he’d told her all kinds of details about the club. Some of them she believed, others she didn’t.
The old lady ritual had been one she’d thought was fake. It wasn’t.
Matthew had told her to never tell a soul what he talked about, and she never had. Not to her parents. Not to anyone. They’d remained secrets to her.
Matthew had asked her not to for his own safety, so she hadn’t told anyone. He’d been a dick to her and had broken her heart, but that didn’t mean she wanted him to suffer.
So, she’d said nothing.
Arriving at the clubhouse, she took note of how empty it seemed. Raoul parked his bike and waited for her to climb off, and as she did so, she tried to give him back the helmet that she’d taken off. “Keep the helmet.”
She followed Raoul inside, where she saw a lot of bikers, and that was another detail Matthew had told her coming true. It looked like another club whore was being initiated.
Luna couldn’t help but look to see if there were any married men from the club that she knew taking part, and she didn’t see a single one of them. She didn’t have time to process that before she was led to Duke’s office and then told to sit down. She did, lowering her ass into a chair.
Then she waited.
Duke stared at her from across his desk, and she had the feeling he was still assessing if she was the right person he wanted to see. She had no idea why.
“Do you care about my son?” Duke asked.
In the room were Pike and Raoul.
“What?”
“You and I are very aware of how much my son lovesyou,” Duke said.
“Look, if this is about what Holly said and me giving her back the cookies, I think you need to back off. I’ve heard all of Matthew’s…” She closed her eyes. “Whatever they are.”
Duke sat back. “You don’t think he loves you?”
Luna tilted her head to the side and gritted her teeth. “He has always said it, Mr. Bana. Nothing in that regard has changed and years ago, I believed him and got my heart broken.”
He leaned forward on his desk. “I know my son, and I can promise you, Luna, you’re the only person my son has ever confessed his love to. I’ve watched that boy for the past few years, and I can tell you there is no one else for him. He got his shit together. Cleaned up his act, and I know not a day goes by when he doesn’t regret what he did to you. He’d take it all back if he could.”
“Why did you want to see me?” Luna didn’t want to hear about what Matthew had been through. Part of her wanted to cave and give them a real chance, but she was terrified. What if it was a ruse? What if he was only after some fun?
“I’m aware, in the past, Matthew has told you some club secrets.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She wasn’t going to run the risk of him getting in trouble.