Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 97275 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97275 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Gabe was Ember’s husband. They’ve been married just short of a year. My second nephew is due any minute now, which explains why Gabe didn’t let her come alone. He’s scared she’ll go into labor like all the other women in Ember’s life and have the baby in the middle of a Walmart.
“Listen, she only wants some help choosing one. The sales clerk only looks at her boobs. He has yet to make eye contact with her, and I don’t want her to be screwed. She’s buying one whether you say yes or no. Just help her. Gabe refused to walk into the building. He said his man card would be revoked if he even thought about going in there. Also, don’t tell her I called you, just say you were driving by and saw me.” Ember rambled.
I loved the heck out of my baby sister, but sometimes she stuck her nose where it didn’t need to be stuck. Payton and I have been playing this cat and mouse game for a couple of months now. We’re both interested, but neither one of us will do anything about it. She wasn’t ready, and I didn’t want it.
That didn’t mean I was happy that she was going to put her life at risk by riding this piece of shit around as her main mode of transportation. She needed to be in something that would protect her, not this thing that gave absolutely zero protection. She was going to kill herself.
I wasn’t one to talk though. I rode, and it was the only thing I could do at times to clear my head. Sometimes it took a whole tank of gas, but at the end of my ride, I had a cleared head. If anything could make Payton smile like that, I was going to let her do it without putting up much of a fight.
Payton did a U-turn, and then rode back into the parking lot. She pulled right up to us, nearly to our feet, and was getting off before she even noticed me standing there. Her step faltered and she went down hard onto her ass. I watched her sit there, face up in flames before I came to my senses.
Holding my hand out, I jokingly said, “Smooth.”
She poked her pink tongue out, blew a raspberry, and put her hands behind her ears, wiggling them like a three year old.
“How old are you again?” I deadpanned.
Inside I was laughing my ass off though. She always surprised the hell out of me. She dismissed me with a sniff, and turned to Ember.
“I’m getting this one. I like the sparkly pink, and the salesman said he’d give me a good deal.” Payton said.
Thirty minutes later. Payton was the proud owner of a new 2014 150cc BMS scooter. It was bright fucking pink, and sparkly to boot. The damn handlebars now sported streamers, too. The prick sales man tried to screw her, not give her a good deal, so it was a good thing I was here.
Outfitted with a pink leather jacket, pink and white Minnie Mouse helmet, and gloves, she was ready to “rocket.”
“Make sure you look both ways. Twice. Don’t pull out in front of anyone. If you see a person in a driveway ready to pull out, assume that they’re going to, because they damn well will. They don’t see people on bikes. Leave at least two car lengths in front of the car in front of you. Be aware. Never get distracted. Hesitation kills. I’ll follow you home.” I informed her with short clipped sentences.
She stood blinked a few times, and then turned her face away from mine. “Okay.”
I gritted my teeth. She wasn’t sparring with me today. You could tell she didn’t want to do what you told her to do, yet she didn’t ever start an argument. She just took a step back, and let everything play out. She didn’t confront anything. Something must be wrong.
Nodding, I walked up to my bike, throwing my leg over the side. I started her up with a rumble, and my kitten purred, just as she did when I made her my senior year of high school. I’d put everything I made at my part-time job into my bike. I spent hours working on it every day for months until I was satisfied with how it looked and ran.
I flipped Gabe the bird as we exited the parking lot. He was too busy laughing to see it though. The first stoplight we pulled up to reminded me of why I was embarrassed. A badass like myself was supposed to have the cute thing on the back of the bike. Not riding on a silly scooter next to me. A hot damn pink one at that.
The teenagers pointing and laughing in the car next to us were about to have their asses handed to them. I lowered the glasses to the bridge of my nose, and then let loose “the glare.”
Ember, my darling sister, called it the “Big Brother.” She said that it would whip you in to shape in no time fast. I wasn’t sure if that was the case, but I did use it on her a lot when she was a kid. Normally it shut her up, but there was no telling if she shut up because of the glare, or if she decided to cut me some slack.
The teenagers left in a squeal of tires, and I had to laugh because of their horrified expressions they all were wearing.
Payton’s husky laugh from beside me jolted me out of my thoughts. “You’re badass. Those kids just ran a red light in front of a cop!”
I glanced back at the retreating car, and sure enough, a motorcycle cop was trailing behind them with his lights on. At that, I laughed my ass off. Karma was a bitch.
We arrived at Payton’s apartment fifteen minutes later. She parked next to her Mazda and hopped off. I remembered helping buy the car with her only last week. Payton was going a little crazy in the spending department with her new job. She jumped up and down, squealing excitedly. I just shook my head. This woman was crazy, and all of that craziness turned me on beyond belief. Too bad she didn’t want me back.