The Biker's Fate Chapter 520

Tate

Hayden had just opened a bottle of wine when the doorbell rang, and I checked the front door camera to see Flash outside.

"I'll make myself scarce," Hayden said, reaching for the bottle.

"Nope," I said, smacking her hand, and dragging her out of the kitchen. "No treat for you until this whole mess is over."

"Aw, Mom," she moaned, stomping up the stairs.

I pulled open the front door and forced myself not to lick my lips. "You have two minutes."

Flash wore dark jeans, motorcycle boots, and a tight, black, ribbed Henley. He was stunning.

He frowned. "Thought I was taking you to dinner."

"I never agreed to that." I waved my hand. "Come in. Let's get this over with."

"Where is everyone?" he asked, walking inside.

"Mom and Dad have date night and Hayden is hiding." I crossed my arms. "Your two minutes start now."

"I did not sleep with Madison."

"I saw you."

"When?" he demanded.

"The night of the block party."

He frowned. "Graduation?"

"Yes."

"How could you have seen something that never happened, Tate?"

I threw my hands in the air. "You disappeared. Your mom was looking for you, so I offered to find you. I opened your bedroom door to find you ramming your thing into Madison."

"My thing?"

"Your," I pointed to his crotch, "Thing."

He stared at me for several seconds, before he grinned slowly.

"Stop it," I hissed.

"We'll put a pin in the thing…" He grimaced and shook his head. "I mean, we'll loop back to that later."

I rolled my eyes, and he took my hand.

"What are you doing?" I asked, trying to pull away from him.

He held me tighter. "Look at me."

I met his eyes with a huff.

"Madison dumped a cup of soda on me, so I went upstairs to clean up. I walked out of my bathroom to find her buck-naked on my bed."

"What?" I rasped.

He nodded. "I told her to get the fuck out of my room and she responded by yanking the towel off me. What I think you saw was me trying to get it back from her. At no time have I ever rammed my… thing… into Madison Payne. I have a hard and fast rule that I will never disrespect my mother by fucking someone in her home, Tate, you know this. If I was going to break that rule for anyone, it sure as shit wasn't gonna be Madison Payne."

I was dying to know who he'd break it for, but I refrained from asking.

"Why didn't you just ask me what happened with Madison?" he continued.

"I think I was just so stunned." I had made the decision to tell him how I felt that night, mostly because I knew that whichever way he responded, I'd be able to process his answer away from home. I was leaving for college the next day, so I'd decided to throw caution to the wind. "I mean, I thought I saw you going for someone I would never be able to compete with—"

"Because there is no competition, Tate," Flash interrupted. "There never was. You're worlds above her."

"Well, that's not entirely true. She's blonde, curvy, all tits and ass, and wanted by every man who sees her."

"Not true."

"Totally true," I argued.

"I have never wanted Madison."

"Never?"

"Never," he confirmed.

"Well, then what the hell's wrong with you?"

He chuckled. "I have always recognized that she doesn't live in the real world. She's a pathological liar, and although I know it's a defense mechanism, I figured out I couldn't trust her back when all that shit went down with her dad."

We'd had a pretty nasty fight about it in sixth grade. We'd worked things out, but the drama with Madison wasn't totally over… ever.

"So, her dad wasn't hitting her?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah, he was. He was also a porn dealer."

"What?" I whispered.

Flash sighed. "He made dirty movies and I think he might have been grooming her to eventually be his star, but that's all shit I figured out later. When we were twelve, I had no idea she was manipulating me into doing more than I should have been. I was lucky my dad got wise and stepped in. I didn't know shit at that age and Madison exploited that."

"She was also twelve," I pointed out.

"Yeah," he said with a sigh. "And she was too young to know what she knew."

"You think?"

"Yeah, I do. That doesn't excuse the fact she was a total cunt to you, Tate, but she didn't know any better."

I wrinkled my nose. "You're so gracious."

"Not gracious enough to put up with her shit, Tate. Don't saint me just yet."

"Can we back up to the part about her being a cunt to me? How did you know about that?"

We'd all been at a middle school party and Madison had asked if I could help her with something, luring me into the pantry and locking me in. I was stuck in a dark, dank closet for what felt like hours while I heard laughing on the other side.

"She told me. Well, sort of."

I gasped. "What? Really?"

"A little pissed you didn't tell me, but we're moving forward, so I'll let that go for the moment."

"You're getting sidetracked," I admonished. "What did Madison tell you?"

"She told me the door was stuck and you'd gone in there to wait for Mark Rivera for your seven minutes in heaven."

"I absolutely did not." My blood ran cold. "Oh my god, Flash, did you actually believe her?"

"Of course not. She told me she had to get a screwdriver to unscrew the door."

"You can't unscrew a door," I scoffed.

He chuckled. "No shit. That was the moment I cut all ties with her. At least, as far as jumping when she told me to."

"Seriously?" I squeaked.

"Yeah, baby. It's always been you. No one was ever going to treat you like shit on my watch. Probably why she pulled that stunt the night of the graduation party."

He looked sincere.

No. Nope, he had to be lying.

I dropped my head, but Flash squeezed my hand. "Tater Tot."

"Don't."

He stepped closer to me. "Talk to me, Tate. I want to make this right."

"Why?"

"Seriously?"

I met his eyes again. "Okay. Fine."

"Tate," he breathed out.

"What, Flash? What does this solve? Even if you didn't sleep with Madison, it changes nothing."

"I miss my friend, Tate. I miss… us."

"There is no us."

He leaned in. "It. Never. Happened."

"Flash—"

"Never." He stepped closer. "Ever." Closer again. "Never."

I stepped back but he followed. "What are you doing?"

"Hopefully, making you understand it never happened."

I bit my lip. "But if it never happened, then I've been planning your murder for no reason."

Flash dropped his head back and laughed. "Jesus, woman, you're funny."

I wrinkled my nose. "I'm not joking."