“Tate, you can’t ignore me,” Murphy said, trying to draw her out.
In answer, she grunted something. Rubbing a hand down his face, Murphy stepped into the room. Without thinking he opened a drawer, wanting to know something new about this woman. When he’d left Tate she’d been happy, all too ready to tell him her secrets. This Tate wouldn’t give him a damn thing.
What he found made him pause. Lying in the bed of her underwear was a dildo. It was plain rubber or whatever dildos were made of. He saw the lube to go with the dildo. Moving the underwear around he saw another smaller dildo.
“You can stop snooping,” she said.
Turning toward her, he saw two boxes in her arms.
“What the hell is this?”
He held the sex toys wondering what her response would be.
“That is Bob. He helped to be my first time. Virginity is overrated, and that’s what I use for my ass.”
Okay, she’d shocked him more than he expected.
“You think I was going to sit around waiting for you?” Tate snorted, putting the boxes back on the bed. She took her toys from his hands. “No man would have ever been good enough for Tiny. I used what was at my disposal.”
“By f**king a fake cock?”
“You were f**king Lion whores.” Her voice grew louder. “You’ve got no right to yell at me.”
Dropping the toys into the drawer, he banded an arm around her waist, pulling her close. “No? You’re mine, Tate. You promised yourself to me.”
Tears filled her eyes, and she went lax in his arms. “You promised me a lot of things, Murphy. Remember those promises?” she asked.
He tensed.
“Do you remember your promise to put me first? To tell me when you were having to do business?”
There was nothing for him to say to stop her.
She pushed him away, and Murphy let her. “You broke all your promises, and in doing so, you lost me.”
“You’re mine.”
“No, I’m not.”
Tate shoved him out of her apartment. Murphy let her. Right now she wasn’t ready for him to fight. It took every ounce of willpower to leave her alone.
****
With very little sleep, Tate met Kelsey downstairs waiting for her. The other woman was dressed in her dental nursing uniform while Tate wore her receptionist clothes.
“You look like you had a rough night,” Kelsey said.
Sipping her coffee from the travel cup, Tate agreed. “It was a rough night. A shit night.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“No. Actually, give me your view on this.” They walked side by side. Tate loved the feel of the fresh air on her face. “You fall in love with a guy who’s always around. Yeah, he’s ordered to be around you and protect you, but you’re around each other all the time. You’re together so much you have feelings for each other. Then, when you think you’re ready to start a life together, he disappears, and you see him with another woman every day.”
“Is he ha**ng s*x with these women?”
“Yeah, he’s having sex.”
“I’d learn to move on and not have anything to do with a man who clearly thinks so little of me,” Kelsey said.
“Exactly what I was thinking. I hope his dick will drop off.”
Kelsey chuckled. “I bet.”
They made it to the practice and promised to meet for lunch. Tate spent most of the morning ignoring everyone. A couple of the women tried to draw her into a conversation, which she ignored. She saw the questions in their eyes. Testing the waters she talked to a couple of women and saw through their act. They wanted to get to The Skulls, not be her friend.
At lunchtime Kelsey had to work through with a dentist on some kind of root canal. Going into town Tate picked up a sandwich and took a seat on the nearest bench.
Eating her sandwich, she watched the world go by. An hour for lunch was long enough. When she saw Lash and Angel approaching on his bike, she tried to finish eating her sandwich.
Too late, Angel bounced over to her. “Hey, Tate, what are you doing?”
The other woman accepted the club life too easily. Angel was nice, but Tate needed to move on. “I’m on break. I’ve got to get back to work.”
She stood, brushing the crumbs down her body.
“You’re seriously going to cut everyone off?” Lash asked.
Tate hesitated. The Skulls were her family. “I’ve got to get back to work.”
Leaving them on the street, Tate headed back to the surgery where she was working until late in the afternoon. She saw Kelsey nibbling on a sandwich when she returned. The waiting room was full.
“Hey, how are you doing?” Kelsey asked.
She needed to get used to having a friend. Angel and Eva were both her friends, but they came with the club. Why was it so hard for everyone to understand that she wanted some time away from it?
“I’m doing good. You?”
“It has been a busy morning.” Kelsey let out a sigh. Looking over Kelsey’s shoulder she saw the other nurses and receptionists chuckling.
“What’s going on?” Tate asked.
“Your father is in with Dr. Bixton, and he’s causing up a storm.”
“What?” Tate looked toward the young doctor’s door. There was no sign of her father, and no sound coming from the room.
“It’s nothing. I don’t think he’s here for you,” Kelsey said.
Tate removed her jacket taking a seat behind the desk. Great, this was not what she wanted to deal with right now.
Get out of Fort Wills.
The idea struck her, but she couldn’t do it.
“Hey, do you want to get out of here for a couple of days this weekend?” Tate asked. Kelsey was still waiting.
“What? Get out of Fort Wills?”
“Yeah, let’s go to Vegas and go wild?” Tate liked the idea the more she thought about it.
“Okay, that sounds a little reckless to me.”
“How old are you, Kelsey? I’m twenty-four, and I’m feeling a little too old for my age. I don’t want to feel old. We’ve got the rest of our lives to settle down. Let’s go and be wild. You’ve got the weekend off, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then come out with me?” Tate begged her new friend already knowing she was going to invite Eva as well.
“What the hell, why not? Let’s go to Vegas.”
Tate let out a whoop as Tiny left the dentist’s office. He looked angry and stopped when he saw her.