“We’re going for a ride.”
No, we’re not.
The last thing I want to do is ride on a bike.
“No time,” I retort simply. “We need to talk about?—”
“Hopon,” he orders tersely, leveling me with those dark brown eyes. “We’ll talk later.”
The fuck does a bike ride have to do with being able to have a damn conversation?
Nonetheless, I’m fucking tired. I’m jittery and spent, so I pluck the heavy helmet from his grasp and shove it over my head.
Climbing on the back of the bike, I wrap my arms firmly around his waist, causing Cairo to glance over his shoulder at me.
“Ever been on a bike?”
“No.”
His head rears back in surprise.
“I like being in a metal casing, so if someone crashes into me, I’m not a pancake.”
“The fuck are you talking about?”
My eyebrows clench. “Bikes are dangerous.”
“So is racing.”
“Yeah, but at least I have a fighting chance to climb out. You’d get thrown eighty feet onto the concrete. Crawl out of that.”
Cairo’s lips lift into a smirk. “Never thought you’d be scared of something.”
“I’m not scared,” I retort haughtily. “But I don’t know how good you are at driving this thing and managing it if something goes awry.”
“I’m good.”
I lift my shoulders. “Did you need me to give you a push in order for you to take off or…?”
Cairo starts the bike back up, and I immediately feel the machine vibrate underneath me. The seat in the back is higher than where Cairo is sitting and, okay, maybe I’m afraid of bikes.
“Hold on,” he orders, then puts the bike into gear and starts to pull away from the curb.
Cairo steers and maneuvers the bike with ease. However, it doesn’t stop my death grip around his waist as we go. I’m not entirely sure how long we drive around, but the breeze feels good against my heated skin, and I find myself slowly relaxing. Cairo doesn’t do anything crazy, and we finally pull up to his coffee shop.
Getting off the bike, Cairo’s hand holds my hip as he throws down the kickstand and helps me off. Without asking, he gently pulls the helmet off my head and towers over me with those dark features and unreadable eyes.
“You alright?”
What is alright? I’m starting to forget the meaning of the word.
Everything seems to be happening around me constantly, and I’m losing my edge. The no-shits-given girl who let things slide off her back and took care of business.
I don’t know how to navigate what’s happening, and the two men in my life I relied on, they’re not here.
Dad’s not here.
Levi is underground.
