Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 76807 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76807 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
“Hmm,” she said, glancing down at it, then me. “I might need you to check me for ticks later,” she decided. “They could be hiding, you know, anywhere.”
“That one only works if you end up on the ground, baby,” I told her with a smirk. “Now, go on. Check this off of your bucket list,” I invited, waving toward the long field she could practice on.
I watched as she sucked in a deep breath, then hit the ignition, shifted, and engaged the clutch.
Then she was off.
Like a teenager behind the wheel the first time, jerking forward, then panicking to a quick stop.
“You got this,” I told her, giving her a small smile, remembering my own first attempts to ride a bike.
I hadn’t been smart enough to test out driving on a grassy field. And I’d gotten some wicked road rash from the backstreet I ended up skidding down more than a few times before I finally got the hang of it.
Thankfully, no one had been there to witness that humiliation. Though Finn, then president’s younger son, the guy who’d pushed for me to be let in, had some questions for me when I’d returned his bike all scratched to shit.
Lost your fight with the street, huh? he’d asked with a spark to his eyes that I watched slowly go out of his eyes in the years afterward, only seeming to return the past year or so as he recognized and worked toward managing his depression.
“If you laugh at me, I swear to god, I will kick your ass,” Cali declared, squinting at me.
“I’m not laughing. Yet,” I added, getting a lip twitch out of her before she tried again.
I got to watch something I’d experienced myself many years before. Seeing someone learn to trust themselves and their instincts, to stop being afraid of the machine and the hard ground all around them.
It was actually really fucking cool to see.
As she gained confidence.
As she pushed it a little faster.
As she learned to turn.
Her shoulders loosened, her posture eased, and, as she closed in on me, a big smile broke across her face.
I couldn’t help it.
I smiled back.
Feeling more of her spill into my chest, filling all the empty spaces I’d been ignoring for years.
Then, inexplicably, she slowed almost to a stop, threw her weight, and landed hard on her side in the grass, the bike just a foot or so away from her, engine still purring.
Frowning, I reached over to switch off the engine before turning to her, finding her on her back with hands behind her head, grinning up at me.
“The fuck are you doing?” I asked, shaking my head at her.
“Well, now, I’m really going to need that tick inspection,” she declared, knifing up, grabbing my hand, and yanking me down until I tumbled down beside her.
I rolled onto my back, and she was quick to climb over me, straddling me, grinning down at me, and clucking her tongue.
“Oh, geez. Looks like you’re going to need one too,” she said, shaking her head.
“You’re fucking ridiculous,” I declared, but I was smiling.
“I mean, how else am I going to get to see you without your clothes on?” she asked, brows raised.
“You’ve—“ I started, but shut my mouth when I realized she actually hadn’t seen me undressed yet. “Trust me, baby, anytime you want me to take my clothes off, all you have to do is ask.” At the light in her eyes, I laughed, grabbing her hips, and pushing her off of my lap before I had second thoughts about not getting naked in a fucking field. “When we are somewhere that the police won’t find us and slap indecent exposure charges on us,” I clarified.
“Getting arrested is on my bucket list,” she declared as I got to my feet, and extended a hand to her.
“You’re shitting me.”
“Nope. I mean, I don’t want to do any time or anything. But I think it would be interesting to be cuffed and fingerprinted and—“
“Strip searched?” I asked.
“Well, okay, maybe not that,” she admitted, wincing.
Suddenly, though, I didn’t want her to have to mark anything off of her list, so I found myself thinking about the cops the club had on the take, if any of them might be willing to pretend to go through the motions with her, give her the experience without the record.
Because, unlike her, I didn’t believe that Cali’s family was cursed to all die young. I had a feeling that she had a good, long life ahead of her. And having a record would put a crimp in her future plans.
I could definitely ask around and see if I could make this happen for her.
“I didn’t injure it, did I?” she asked as I pulled the bike back up on its wheels, and climbed on.
“Nah. It’s fine. I might need you to wash it for me, though,” I said, smirking.