“No problem, honey, take your time. Hold your hand up or holler when you want serving.” The waitress didn’t stick around. Keeping his gaze on Sasha, Pussy wondered what she was thinking.
“Why do you want to know? I’m not that important.”
“You’re important to me,” he said.
She let out a gasp.
“You’ve not always been blind?” he asked, directing the conversation elsewhere.
“No, I’ve not. How have you been since you lost your friend?”
Her question caught him by surprise. Thinking about Ashley upset him.
“She died, and there’s no changing that.” He rubbed his palms down his legs.
“Do you blame yourself?”
“Yes, I do.” Pussy wasn’t going to lie to her. He didn’t want to. Was this what Ripper and Curse went through with their women? Devil seemed to change overnight with Lexie.
“Why?”
“She did something for the club and died for it. Ashley didn’t deserve to be killed, but when I get the bastard responsible, I’ll kill him.”
He watched her tense.
“Are you afraid of me?” he asked.
Sasha didn’t answer him. He watched her frown, but seconds later she shook her head. “No, I’m not.”
“No, are you insane? I just told you I’d kill a man for killing my friend, and you’re not afraid.”
She ran a hand across the table. “I don’t get you. Do you want me to be afraid of you, or do you want me to trust you?”
Letting out a sigh, he rubbed a hand across his face. “I’m sorry. Thinking about Ashley makes me mad, and I don’t know what I’m saying.”
“It’s okay. You’ve never hurt me.”
“You don’t know me,” he said. Didn’t this woman have any gut reaction to the dangers out there?
“Kenneth did know me, and yet I’m blind because of him.”
Her words forced him to pause as he looked down at the menu.
“What? He hurt you.”
“No one knows what he did. The doctors think I was arguing with him over something silly and I fell down the stairs. I was told trauma to the head can cause blindness. Kenneth hurt me, and since then I’ve been blind, depending on him to take care of me.” She stopped talking. He saw her lip wobble. “My mom can’t do anything. She’s scared of him, I’m sure of it.”
“He caused your blindness, and now you’re having to rely on him. Who takes care of you?” he asked.
“No one. My mom and Kenneth take turns to get me out of the house. He rearranges the furniture so I can’t remember the layout of the room.” She stopped. “I really shouldn’t be telling you this.”
Pussy opened his mouth to talk to her when the sound of her stomach rumbling caught his attention. “You’re hungry?”
“Yes, I’ve not had any breakfast.”
Cursing his interest in her life, he started to read off the menu. None of the food registered in his mind as spoke the words out loud.
“Oh, I like the sound of the spicy cheeseburger. Could I have all of that with extra sauce and sides?” she asked. Her face looked animated.
“Sure.” He signaled for the waitress to come to the table. Pussy ordered their food and asked for the dessert menu. When he turned back to her, he saw her panicking.
“Crap, I’m so sorry. I don’t have any money. There’s no way for me to pay you back.”
“Don’t worry about it, baby. I’ve never taken a woman out with the intention of her paying. This is all on me, so enjoy it.” He took hold of her hand once again.
Pussy liked the feel of her hand in his. There was no way he’d be giving Sasha back to Kenneth, knowing about what he’d done. The club wouldn’t let a woman go back to someone who was going to hurt her.
Sasha was vulnerable.
“I’m sorry about your friend,” Sasha said, breaking the silence that had fallen between them.
“Thank you. Ashley, she was a spitfire and didn’t deserve to die.” He stopped talking to clear his throat.
“Have you killed someone before?” she asked.
“I’m not going to answer that.”
“I don’t know what else to talk to you about. I hate silence.”
“Tell me what you know about our club.” He ignored all the other people in the steakhouse. The smells were making him desperate for food.
“I don’t know anything about you. My mom and Kenneth have warned me to stay away from you. They’ve not said anything other than that you’re dangerous.”
“And yet, you’re not afraid of me?” he asked.
Looking down her body, he caught sight of her hardened ni**les. Did he turn Sasha on?
She’s blind, you idiot. Don’t start thinking about that shit.
“No. You don’t make me feel afraid. I’ve been around Kenneth. He’s not a nice guy. Whenever he goes to town he’s always in meetings with an Italian guy.”
He paused. “Italian guy?”
“I think he’s an Italian. He’s got an accent, but I think I’ve heard Kenneth say he’s not actually Italian. I think he has mixed Spanish and Italian heritage, but I’m not sure.”
“What does he look like?” he asked.
“I don’t f**king know. Blind remember?”
“Shit, sorry.” Could Kenneth be working for Frederick? Shit, today was only supposed to be about getting out of Piston County.
****
Sasha smiled. Did he know how sweet he was?
“You’ve no need to be sorry. A lot of people forget about it, even my mom.” She tried her best to reassure him.
“It doesn’t matter. You shouldn’t have to go through something like that. It’s not right.”
She really wished she knew what he looked like. From being next to him, she knew he was tall. Was he taller than Kenneth? She didn’t know. In her mind she pictured Pussy with messy blond hair, which he never brushed. Bed hair, she believed they called it. He had to have tattoos. Every biker had to have them. She wondered what pictures or words they wore.
“Why do you go by Pussy and not Shane?” she asked.
“You’re a curious little devil, aren’t you?”
“I’ve got a lot of things in life to be curious about. You intrigue me.” She rested her face on her hand, wondering if she was even meeting his eyes. Did he have brown, ocean blue, green, or hazel colored eyes?