Wild Fire (Chaos #6.5)(79)

That hit.

He knew it when she hit back.

“In case you haven’t noticed, we’re not anything to each other, J,” she informed him. “I don’t even know your name.”

He stepped back.

She watched him do it and winced.

But no fucking way.

Maybe he’d screwed up, and then she’d screwed up.

But she knew that went too far.

“You’re right, we’re not,” he agreed. “Sorry to fuck up your day.”

He headed to his bike.

She moved with him.

He was firing it up when he felt her hand over the leather on his forearm.

He looked up at her standing beside him.

“J, hang on a sec,” she requested.

“Do your thing, A, live your life,” he threw her words back at her. Then he finished it. “Hope it’s a good one. Later.”

With that, he opened up his bike and glided away.





Jagger lost track of how many times he saw her after that.

At concerts, mostly.

Also at some bars.

Couple of times, out to eat.

Even at the mall once.

She’d been with guys.

He’d been with girls.

She’d been with friends.

Ditto with him.

Also alone.

She kept her distance.

He did too.

Eye contact and then avoidance.

Through all this, over the years, even though he was born there and he knew a lot of people and there was more than a rare occasion he’d run into one of them, it was the first time he realized how small of a town Denver was, even if it was a big city.

But it wasn’t lost on him they had the same taste in music, food and social life.

It also wasn’t lost on him that was way cool and it way fucking sucked because she was enjoying it, so was he, but never together.

He knew he should boss up, apologize for acting like an asshole and getting in her shit after she got back from college.

That said, she was the one who lowered the hammer, so on one of those occasions they were in each other’s space, she could have bossed up too.

She didn’t.

And the longer she didn’t, he got to the point where he just wouldn’t.

So he didn’t either.





In the end, it wasn’t about bossing up.

In the end, it was about the fact he was on his bike and he saw some kid motoring down the sidewalk, totally being chased.

And seconds later, he saw it was A doing the chasing.

So yeah.

No hesitation.

He waded right into that.

Fuckin’ A.

In both ways he could mean that.





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