His mate’s excitement wasn’t something to mock, even good-natured. It was beautiful, and Ash wouldn’t have it diminished for someone’s throw-away joke. He’d known Lou for over twenty years, but she’d come dangerously close to severing their friendship today.
Chapter Six
As soon as he exited the diner, Danny sucked in a deep breath. He must’ve lost his mind. Had he just seductively fed Ash in a packed diner, where a ton of people were enjoying their meals?
“The hell were you thinking?” He ran a hand through his messy hair, heading toward the motorcycle while cursing under his breath. He was so ready to get out of there before he did something else embarrassing, like making out in the parking lot because apparently his descent into madness was an ongoing thing.
Reaching Ash’s bike, Danny was still livid with himself for turning the family-friendly diner into— That wasn’t the reason for his anger. It wasn’t as if they’d crawled onto the table and made out like horned-up teenagers.
“You’re pissed because you can’t keep your walls up around him,” Danny muttered. Walls meant safety. Without them, he was left exposed and vulnerable, making it too easy to fall for Ash.
Danny rubbed his sternum, admitting to himself that the battle had been lost when he’d woken up in Ash’s arms.
“Goddamn it!” He shoved open the rear storage box and yanked out the helmet. Then watched in shocked disbelief as it flew out of his grip and bounced across the packed dirt and loose gravel, tumbling end over end before sliding to a stop.
Oh. No.
A sound between a burp and a whine escaped. There wasn’t a chance in hell the helmet survived unscathed. The dirt was pitted with small, sharp pebbles, shards of thick glass, and it had even bonked against a pipe protruding half an inch from the dirt on one of the bounces.
Danny hadn’t moved since the helmet slipped free, frozen in horrified shock.
The helmet had high gloss, reflective paint and was probably custom made. Would a month’s pay even cover the cost to replace it? There were probably a million scratches over the entire surface, too many to even consider buffing them out.
Danny took a step forward to retrieve the helmet when a pickup drove by, the tire clipping the helmet and sending it flying in a high arch.
This could not be his life right now.
His head slowly turned, his eyes following metallic blue and red flames, watching as it smacked into the bricks of the building then hit the ground with a noise that would haunt his dreams. Crack, scrape, thud. Once again it bounced away, only this time no skid.
It simply stopped with a loud groan, like it was completely over today.
Why bother retrieving it? What would Danny save it from, more damage? The thing probably had more dents and scratches than a junkyard car.
Maybe if he pretended the helmet wasn’t sitting in the middle of the lot like a metallic beacon, he could feign outrage when Ash discovered it, looking like someone had purposely taken it out of the storage bin and used it for soccer practice.
His mind froze when he realized what he was doing. Devising a plan to deceive Ash? Danny had done it so many times while he’d been with Brad, it had become second nature. Because truth had painful consequences. A well-constructed lie didn’t.
But Ash wasn’t Brad, and Danny didn’t like how he’d reached for dishonesty before truth.
That wasn’t who he was, at least before Brad. But two years of cruelty and manipulation had forced Danny into this mindset, to adapt for survival, and even though it had been a year since… He was still living in survival mode.
His gaze darted toward the door when it opened. Ash walked out, heading his way. Danny’s breathing grew shallow, his limbs trembling at past memories—the fists, the venomous words, the pain, and the begging that had never saved him.
As Ash passed the helmet, he scooped it up, never breaking stride.
Danny frantically searched Ash’s expression, noticing lines of irritation around his eyes.
“It’s my fault.” Danny forced out the truth, refusing to be dishonest. But as soon as the words poured out, his trembling worsened.
Brows furrowed, Ash studied Danny’s arms, then he slowly lifted his gaze and stared him in the eye.
Don’t turn into something you’re not, even if it terrifies you.
“I yanked it out, and it flew from my grip.” Danny tried to swallow, but his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. Somehow, he managed to keep going, even though his brain screamed for him not to. “Then a pickup tire clipped it, sending it flying and making it hit the building.”
Ash’s frown deepened, his lips parting.
The trembling was uncontrollable now, making Danny look as if he was standing in the middle of a blizzard. Tear stung his eyes then fell, but he didn’t wipe them away.
