I glance around. It’s not so bad around here I could find somewhere to grab a coffee and come back. It’s not like I have plans. I’m about to speak when the roar of motorcycle engines splits the air. A whole convoy of them come riding up and I watch, mesmerized as they ride in formation, like migrating geese.
Noah is at the front. He has on one of those helmets that doesn’t go over his whole head, so his face is showing. I didn’t even realize people still wore those. He spots me straight away and lifts his hand. Notto wave at me, he indicates for the bikes to carry on while he turns into the parking lot of the bar.
“Oh shit,” I mutter.
The man beside me laughs quietly and I glare at him.
“Looks like the Prez is gonna help,” he tips an imaginary hat at me and saunters off.
He says something to Noah as he passes and I stand stock still, watching him get off the bike, his thick thighs look amazing in those jeans.
Stop it, Taylor. No bad thoughts about the bad man. After setting down his helmet and gloves, Noah walks over to me.
“What are you doing here?”
I almost say, well hello to you too, then remember where I am and who I’m talking to.
“I lost something on Friday and I think it might in the bar,” I tell him.
“Bar is closed.”
“Thank you for that, I hadn’t noticed.”
His lips lift in a half-smile. “What is it you’ve lost?”
“Um, a bracelet. It’s important to me.” He frowns. “Your friend said that Raven isn’t around and the bar doesn’t open for another hour. Could you maybe let me look around or, you see if its there. I called earlier and someone said it might be in lost and found?”
Now he openly smiles. “I don’t know who you spoke to but I think they were either hung over or fucking with you. We don’t have a lost and found.”
“Oh,” I look away. This is the only place where it could be, unless it’s fallen off while I was out somewhere, in which case it could be lost forever. I press my lips together to hold back the emotion.
“Wait here,” Noah says, taking a step back.
He probably saw me tearing up and wants to get rid of me.
“I don’t have keys but I can get in the back way.”
Without any further explanation he walks away. At a loss, I wring my fingers together, a nervous habit I’ve had since childhood. After what feels like five minutes but probably wasn’t, the door behind me clicks from the inside. Noah opens it and steps back to let me in. I squeeze past him and walk into the bar. It looks different when it’s empty but it’s dark inside because of the blinds over the front windows.
“Any idea where you might have lost it?”
“I only sat at the table back there or when I went to the-” I cut myself off there. He knows full well where I went.
“I’ll check behind the bar if you want to take a look.”
We go our separate ways, and I search around where we first met Raven, the table where we sat and then I wander down the hallway to the bathroom. I half expect him to follow me again but he doesn’t. I’m not sure if that is a good or bad thing. The bathroom doesn’t yield any results either and my heart sinks.
This was the last place I thought it might be. I walk back into the bar and Noah looks up from his phone.
“Not there.”
“I don’t see anything here either, but I can check with Raven when she gets back, she might have found it and put it somewhere safe.”
“Thanks, I appreciate that.”
He watches me, well, more like studies me, and I can’t help thinking about how he had me pressed against the wall, staring so intently at my mouth and calling me Cherry.
“How did you get home that night?” he interrupts my thoughts.
