Chapter Seven

Skye opened the apartment door and lugged in the portable table she used for work. All her appointments were done for the day, and she had the whole weekend off before she had to go back out on Monday.

"Let me help." Mariah hurried to the door and grabbed the handle of the table.

"Thanks." She stepped outside. "I'll be right back."

Hurrying down the steps, she jogged to her car. Once she gathered both work bags, she locked her vehicle and returned to the apartment.

Closing the door, she caught a whiff of a sweet scent. She sniffed. "Are you cooking?"

"Bitch, you know me better than that." Mariah motioned her into the attached kitchen. "I picked up sweet and sour chicken and fried rice at Ying's on my way home."

"Oh, God, that sounds so good." She kicked off her shoes. "Wasn't it my turn to order food?"

"Yeah, but don't worry about it. I had a craving and had already stopped at Ying's before I realized it was your night to buy."

"I'll pick up dinner next Friday." She raised her brows. "I'll put it on my schedule."

Mariah held a white food container in her hand and rolled her eyes at Skye. "Neither one of us would have to spend our money on dinner or stay home if we had dates on Friday night."

"Not in the mood. The last time we went out to find men, you hooked up with that mechanic." She waved her hand in the air. "Bubba or —

"Bobby." Mariah laughed. "He had everything going on but no brain."

All Skye could remember was that Bobby's friend tried to get with her, but she had zero interest in him. He was everything that irritated her.

He still lived with his parents and while most people her age still lived at home or went to graduate school, that guy had no goals to work and become independent. He was unable to hold a conversation beyond his workout schedule at the gym. He lacked a car and depended on Uber to get him everywhere.

"Grab a couple of plates," said Mariah.

She washed her hands at the kitchen sink and carried the plates and silverware to the island. The center counter was big enough to have two stools and acted as their table.

Three bites into their meal, Mariah pointed her fork at her. "So, where did you sleep last night?"

"I already told you in my text." She swallowed. "With Dio."

"I know, but how did it all happen? He just offered to let you sleep over?"

"No, it was nothing like that. He didn't have a choice, really." She took another bite of rice. "He hurt his back yesterday and could barely move. I went over there to give him a massage and show him how to stretch to make the pain go away."

"Mm. "

She glanced at Mariah. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Her friend shrugged. "You're leaving out how he asked you to spend the night."

She stabbed a sweet and sour chicken with her fork. "Well, he never asked."

"Skye."

"Okay. Okay." She set down her loaded fork and wiped her hands on one of the napkins from Ying's.

One of the reasons she had never confided in Mariah about her feelings toward Dio was that her best friend was always suspicious of why she wanted to hang around him all the time. Ever since she was eight or nine years old, she could tell Mariah thought it was weird how she was close to Dio. Mariah judged Dio because of some preconceived idea that men, especially older men, were creeps.

Because of that, she avoided talking about her feelings toward Dio. She would never want Mariah to think Dio was a pervert.

"He fell asleep during the massage, and I worried he'd get up during the night and hurt himself. So, I stayed over there," she said.

"Where did you sleep?"

She shoved the piece of chicken in her mouth. "Mm-his-bed-mm."

"What?" Mariah gawked at her. "You slept with him?"

"No." She wiped her mouth with the napkin and swallowed. "He was hurt. I slept next to him in bed. Don't read anything more into it."

Mariah kept staring at her. "But you wanted to sleep with him."

Skye choked on the food and coughed. The more she tried to stop, the more violent her coughing fit became.

Mariah retrieved a bottle of water from the fridge and handed it to her. She drank and caught her breath. Were her true feelings showing on her face?

"Truth." Mariah's gaze intensified.

She would never lie when asked for the truth. That trust between her and Mariah made them best friends. She never had anyone in her life who accepted her so openly. But her feelings toward Dio weren't normal. They were private, complicated, and wonderful.

"I hate talking about it because you wouldn't understand," she whispered. "He's not...whatever you think he is. He's been there for me forever."

"That makes it even worse, Skye." Mariah rounded the island. "It's not healthy. It's like...he planned it."

"Planned what? Nothing happened. I slept at his house. I didn't sleep with him." She inhaled deeply, knowing if he had asked her, she would've had sex with him. "I chose to stay at his house, and yes, in his bed. He wasn't even aware of what I'd done until he woke up this morning."

"Then, what did he do?"

She exhaled in defeat. "He sent me away."

Mariah studied her. She shrugged. It was hard to explain her feelings. No one would understand.

Mariah hugged her. "I love you, but you never answered me."

She closed her eyes. It would be so nice to have someone to talk to about her feelings toward Dio. Some days, it felt like she was going to explode.

"I swear, he doesn't know how I feel about him." She pulled back and looked into Mariah's eyes. "It'll sound crazy, but I've always loved him. It's just different now. I see him as someone I want to be with in every way possible. Like, whenever I'm with him, I want to touch him. I stand there hoping he can see how I feel because it's too difficult to explain how I went from loving him one way to wanting to love him a different way. He doesn't view me as a woman open to being with him."

"He'd have to be blind not to see how beautiful you are," whispered Mariah. "And, I know for a fact, he's not blind. I've seen the way he looks at you."

Hope filled her. "You have?"

"Why do you think I've had such an attitude toward him?" Mariah blew out her breath. "Whenever you talked about him, I worried he was grooming you."

"Grooming?" She laughed. "Dio? Are you serious? He would never hurt me."

"Admit it. Your relationship with him—that you've always had with him— is strange because he's acted like an...an uncle to you."

"He's not my uncle. He's a member of Havlin Motorcycle Club." She wrinkled her nose. "He's family but not related to me."

"It's a figure of speech, bitch."

She leaned against Mariah, needing the support of her best friend. "What am I going to do? I can't just make these feelings go away. "

Mariah put her hands on Skye's shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "Are you sure you love him in that way?"

She nodded.

"Okay." Mariah lowered her voice. "Then, I'll help you."

"Help me...how?" She shook her head, confused.

There was nothing anyone could do. Dio hadn't noticed her. Maybe he wasn't even open to a relationship with her because of her age and the fact that she was Maverick's daughter.

Dio was the real deal. A loyal man who would protect her for the rest of her life. He always put her first. But she couldn't force him to see her as a sexual person. Could she?

"Just wait." Mariah cocked her eyebrow. "He won't know what hit him."

She bit the inside of her cheek. If Mariah believed they could pull something over on Dio, she was insane.