Read Online Dirty Shame (Bluefield Bad Boys #1) by Tess Oliver - Free Book Online

just heartbroken when I left Bluefield. I was shattered.”
    His blue eyes flickered with an intensity that I couldn’t define. It wasn’t anger or hurt. It was something deeper, more profound. It seemed he badly wanted to tell me something. But he stayed quiet. And I was slightly relieved. I wasn’t looking for any seven-year-old confessions. I was just trying to lift some of the pressure from my heart, a heaviness that had been there for a long time.
    “Lanie, the way it ended.” He shook his head. “It’s complicated.”
    Two girls were talking animatedly as they pushed open the door. They both looked wide eyed at Kellan.
    The petite brunette slid between us. “Damn, Kellan, can’t you two find a back room or something?”
    “I’ve got to go.” I pushed past him and out the door. I squeezed through the crowded barroom and caught a glimpse of Becky coming out of the office. Her face flattened some as she saw me coming toward her.
    “Shit, Ry, what happened? Too long a line?” Then she caught sight of something behind me. “Oh, never mind. Got it.”
    I grabbed her hand but didn’t look back through the bar. I’d seen him. The bandage was off, and the damn wound hadn’t healed at all. He still had no real explanation for breaking my heart. Although, maybe the explanation was more obvious and far less romantic than I’d imagined. Kellan loved women and they loved him. I was certainly not enough to hold his heart. Or anyone’s, for that matter. Chase was proof of that. “Becky, please, I have to get out of here. This was a mistake.”
    “All right. I’ll admit you look a lot more shaken than I’d expected.” She gripped my hand tighter, and we navigated the quickest path to the door.

Chapter 9
    Kellan
    The porch creaked as I walked across it and sat on the top step. Even without turning on the heat, it was warmer inside the cabin, but I’d needed to clear my head. I spent most of my waking hours inside dark, cramped spaces and crowded bars. Sometimes, I craved the wide open space and fresh air like a drug addict craved heroin. And tonight, I’d needed it more than ever. Tonight, my one true temptation, the one craving that could never be satisfied, had returned. And the longing was as fierce as ever. I’d left the poker game and the bar and headed back home, no longer wanting to be around people or music or light. Seeing Rylan had brought back every second of our last night together. Rylan had left town believing that I’d ditched her on the gym roof. My silence afterward had only compounded that conclusion. I’d wanted to tell her, to let her know what had really happened, but I didn’t want to hurt her. I didn’t want her to know the lengths her dad had gone through to make sure I stayed away from his daughter. She loved her dad. It would only break her heart more to know. And it was in the past. No fucking reason to stay in the past, far as I was concerned.
    Right. No fucking reason to stay in the past. I got to my feet and fished my motorcycle keys out of my pocket. I climbed on my bike and started it up, sending a rat out of the bushes and across the road. I pulled onto the unpaved road in front of the cabin and rode toward town.
    Rylan had moved on. She’d gotten a degree. She’d experienced life past the suffocating borders of Bluefield. I was still that bad influence from the wrong side of the tracks in her small hometown. She’d moved past her teen years. I’d done some growing up as well. But hell if I was going to let her leave here again thinking I was the worst asshole in the world.
    Aside from the dull roar of voices and music coming from The Hole, the rest of the town had shut down for the night. Rylan had left the bar long before me. My guess was that she’d headed back home. There just wasn’t much else to do—on either side of the tracks—after midnight.
    I lowered my face to avoid the sting of the cold air. The bike rumbled over the tracks as I headed north on the main