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My brows furrowed in confusion. I would’ve remembered if we’d made plans, mostly because there was no way I’d agree to any alone time that would give him a chance to figure out who I was—who Ashlyn was—until I was ready to tell him. “We didn’t have plans for lunch.”
“No, we didn’t.”
Relief surged through me, and I shook my head. “I can’t. I just reported my husband missing and it’ll look bad.”
“There’s nothing for you to look or be guilty of,” he paused, and his lips curled into a grin, “Yet.” His eyes sparkled beautifully when he was being playful and immediately my mind went back to that night six years ago.Dammit.“Come on.”
I hesitated because I didn’t want to go with him. The more time we spent together the more likely it was that he would figure out my secret. But we never went to restaurants or diners, and it would be good for Ash to get out. It would probably be good for us both. “Okay. Fine.”
His smile brightened and triumph lit his gaze. “I’ll be waiting outside.”
I appreciated that he didn’t gloat, so different from the man I planned to forget as soon as I could. Ash and I dressed quickly, and I grabbed our bags. As we left the hotel, she rushed down the stairs towards Slate.
“Where’s your bike, Mr. Slate?”
I heard his deep chuckle as I came down the stairs to join them. He was standing beside a silver Chevy, “It’s just Slate, and my bike isn’t big enough to fit you and your mom.”
She giggled and the sound was so welcome that I tripped on the last step. There hadn’t been many reasons for Ash to smile in the past few years. Sure, she had a bedroom of her own and her basic needs were met but Alex hadn’t let her make friends or hang out with other kids. Just thinking of it broke my heart all over again.
***
Fifteen minutes later we pulled up to a group of buildings behind a ten-foot-tall chain-link fence. “Where are we?”
“This is our clubhouse,” Slate said with a smile. Looking proud of the nondescript building.
“Like a tree house clubhouse,” Ash asked.
“Something like that but without the tree house. Our club requires membership too.”
“Cool,” she said, her voice full of awe.
Inside there were at least a dozen people, possibly more. They’d all turned to greet Slate and offer kind smiles to the unknown visitors. The room looked like a gigantic bar complete with pool tables, dart boards, and a literal bar stocked with floor to ceiling bottles of alcohol. “Wow.”
“Right?” Slate bumped my shoulder before he nodded. “Follow me.”
“Hey Uncle Slate, who’s this?” An adorable boy with messy blond hair smiled.
“This is Ash and her mom Emma. They’re gonna hang out with us for a while, you think you and Chopper can show Ash around?”
“Yeah, sure. Chopper, come here boy!” He patted his thigh and let out a sharp whistle and a large bulldog came trotting over. “You’ll love him. He loves hugs and scratches, but he farts a lot.”
She looked to me for confirmation, and I gave her a quick nod, which sent Ash dropping to her knees and wrapping her whole body around the dog.
When it became clear that Ash was safe and within my sight, I followed Slate to a table, feeling nervous under his watchful gaze. “A lot more women and kids than I expected.”
“We’re a normal family, like anyone else. Except we ride really cool bikes.”
“I’ll give you the part about the bikes but the normal part? Somehow, I doubt that.” Slate was many things, but the man couldn’t be normal if he tried.
His gaze darkened and I squirmed in my seat.
“Look,” I sighed and folded my hands on top of the table. “I’m not a bad person and I didn’t do any of this on purpose.”
“I know.”
His confident statement threw me off guard. It didn’t make sense that he knew that when I wasn’t completely convinced myself. “How?”
“Do you know what my role in the MC is?” He pointed to the patch on his chest that said the words tech captain.
