"Then you need to try harder," Tank says. "Because if Diesel finds out you're sniffing around his daughter, it's not going to end well for anyone."
"So Pyro said.”
"From where I'm standing, you're about to blow up your entire life for a girl you barely know."
He's right.
He's absolutely right.
But knowing that doesn't change the fact I can still feel Everly's wrist under my fingers, can still see the way she looked at me like she wanted me to kiss her.
"I'll handle it," I say.
"You’d better, because I'm not pulling you out of this mess."
He walks away and I go back to work. My hands are steadier now, but my mind is still racing.
I need to get my shit together.
I need to lock this down before it gets any worse.
But even as I think it, I know I'm lying to myself. It's already worse. It's been worse since the second she walked into that clubhouse.
And I don't know how to fix it.
Friday night, I'm at the clubhouse when Everly walks in. She's wearing jeans and a dark green sweater that makes her eyes look almost black.
I force myself to stay at the bar and not go to her, force myself to drink my beer and pretend I'm not tracking her every movement.
She sees me and there's a question in her eyes, something that asks what happened, why did you pull away.
I look away first because I don't have an answer.
An hour passes and I'm doing okay. I'm keeping my distance. I'm doing my job.
Then Everly gets up to leave and I'm off my stool before I think about it.
I follow her outside to the parking lot. The cold air hits like a slap.
She stops at her car and turns to face me. "You're avoiding me."
"No."
"Yes, you are. You've barely looked at me all night."
"I'm just doing my job."
"Bullshit." She steps closer and I force myself not to back up. "What happened Wednesday?"
"Nothing happened."
"We almost kissed and you ran."
"I didn't run."
"You did. Pyro called you to the chapel and you couldn't get away fast enough."
She's right and I hate it.