Read Unrequited (Fallen Aces MC #1) for Free Online Page A

frustration and finish by pulling my ponytail through a semi-closed fist. “Our relationship isn’t the best; I resent being there most of the time.”
    I avoid his gaze and stare down at the table instead. He’s bound to make all sorts of assumptions about how heartless I must be to say such a thing. I’ve just admitted I’d rather be anywhere than taking care of Papa—well, almost anywhere.
    “What’s wrong with him?” King takes a sip of the coffee and then runs his tongue along his top lip to catch the droplets in his moustache. He doesn’t care about what I said.
    I breathe a little easier. “Cancer.” He eyes my hand as I spin the sugar holder around to read the special that’s advertised on the back.
    King studies me for a moment, his fingers twitching on the tabletop. “You don’t seem very affected by any of it.” He snatches up his pack of cigarettes and lifts his eyebrows as if to ask if I mind.
    I shake my head. “He’s not a nice man. He doesn’t deserve to have anyone care that he’s dying.” I look around the café at the other patrons while a strange silence falls between us. “Anyway. I’d rather not talk about him. Tell me how your week was.”
    “Busy.” He lights the cigarette between his lips and then swirls the coffee again, studying it as it coats the walls of his mug. “Can’t really tell you much more than that.”
    “Tell me about yourself then,” I say, eager to know as much as I can.
    He smirks, squinting down at the cup as the liquid settles to the bottom. “What would you like to know first?”
    “Why did you join a motorcycle club?”
    He grins, cigarette poised between his lips. “Straight for the hard-hitters, huh?” Normally I’d balk at the habit, but on him, it seems almost natural that he would smoke.
    “Straight to the one I’m most curious about,” I reply.
    King downs the last of his drink and pushes the mug to the side of the table. “I joined because I felt like I belonged.”
    “Simple.”
    “It’s the truth of it.”
    “You like it?”
    He holds my gaze again and smiles. “I’m wearin’ the colors, ain’t I?”
    I grin, ducking my head. Touché. He’s so easy to talk to—so relaxed. Such a contrast from how my days are normally spent.
    “How long you been in America?” he asks as a waitress comes to collect his cup.
    “Almost four years.”
    He holds a hand up to the girl to indicate she should wait. “You like anythin’?”
    “No, I’m fine.” I look up to the girl and smile. “Thank you.”
    She returns to the kitchen with the dirty dish, leaving King to pick up where he left off. “You came here for your father?”
    “Yes and no. He didn’t tell me he was sick at the time.” I catch King’s eye and give him a sad smile. “I probably wouldn’t have come if I’d known, and I think he knew that.”
    “No?” His eyebrows peak. “Why did you come then, if you say you don’t get along?”
    “He said he’d help me go to a good college.” I fidget with the earbuds hanging at my front. “I don’t think that’ll happen now, though.”
    “What would you have studied?”
    “Hadn’t decided yet. What would you have done if not the club?”
    He traps my hand under his, pulling it away from my chest and placing it on the table. The connection scorches. “Probably what I did before the club.”
    “Which was?” My throat tightens. Did he feel that too?
    “Carpenter’s apprentice. I had a year to go before I was certified in the trade.” He stubs his smoke out in the ashtray.
    “You gave your job up to join the club?”
    King shakes his head. “I could have kept doing it; a lot of the members work normal jobs.” He sighs and shrugs. “I just wasn’t feelin’ it any more—thought my time would be better invested in club business.”
    We carry on swapping basics on ourselves, ending an afternoon where we started out as strangers as friends. I want that more than anything with him—friendship—but I want to