Before I can figure out a reply, Charlie hollers, “Blondie! It’s your turn. Get down here.”
Rook sighs before giving her a sharp nod. He then pulls a lime green Post-it and black pen out of his pocket. He scribbles something down on it before handing it to me. “Text me so we can figure out a time to start. Even if you don’t wanna teach me how to draw, I’m still happy to teach you how to code.”
“I’ll teach you what little I know,” I mumble as I take the paper from him.
Rook gives me a half smile before he pushes to his feet and stalks over to his bike.
When it rumbles to life, I glance down to see his name and number scrawled in neat handwriting. I snort because the name really wasn’t necessary. I don’t usually have random people handing me their numbers, so it’s not like I’ll get confused about who it was.
I’m watching Rook ride down to Hal and Charlie when two people sit next to me, one on either side. Glancing between them, I’m unsurprised to find Colt and Remy perched on the wall, pretending to watch their friends below.
Remy’s the first one to glance over at me. He grins when our gazes connect, and it makes his angular face look almost boyish. “Hi,” he practically shouts with how excited he is.
I can’t help my half smile at the genuine joy radiating from him. “Hi.”
At my soft greeting, he ducks his head and looks away. He fidgets for a moment before reaching into his hoodie and pulling out a tennis ball that he starts bouncing on the paved trail.
“So… you like sport bikes?” Remy asks before he cringes at himself and hangs his head.
Colt snorts at his brother, but I keep my attention on Remy. I know what it’s like to feel so damn awkward when trying to talk to new people, so I just want to put him at ease.
I give him a small smile. “Yeah, I think so. I just got my first bike yesterday.”
“A 636 is a sweet first bike. I have a CBR600 for stunting, so I’m partial to 600s. What made you wanna start riding?”
I shrug because there’s no way I’m telling a stranger the real reason. “I rode dirt bikes as a kid, so it seemed like a good next step.”
He grins at me. “Really? That’s sick. Bet you did a lot of crazy jumps on your dirt bike.”
A startled laugh bursts out of me because, normally, people don’t guess that jumping was one of my favorite parts of riding dirt bikes. “Yeah, I loved going to motocross tracks and jumping my little heart out. I eventually got banned from it because I kept breaking stuff.”
Coop, Charlie, their parents, and Wren had to stage an intervention after I broke both my legs in multiple places, my arm, and my collarbone doing a particularly risky jump when I was sixteen. As much as I loved the rush of jumping my bike, I couldn’t stand how distraught they were after I woke up from surgery.
I’ve only done small jumps since, and I definitely miss it sometimes. I don’t miss the constant aches, pains, stitches, and casts from it, though.
“Badass.” Remy holds his hand out for a fist bump. I hesitantly tap my knuckles to his, and he grins like he just won the lottery. “Stunting isn’t the same thing, but it’s still pretty fun. If you ever wanna try it out, I can show you the best places to practice wheelies, stoppies, drifting, and other fun stuff.”
“I might take you up on that sometime.” When I’m way more confident riding my bike, of course. No way am I embarrassing myself in front of a hot guy by wiping out a bunch of times and looking like the uncoordinated dork I am.
“If you do stunt, wear extra gear,” Colt rumbles. “It can fuck you up just as badly as dirt biking.”
I glance over at Colt in surprise. He’s not looking at me, though. He’s staring out at Rook and Hal with his jaw clenched tightly. Colt seems upset about something, and, as usual, I assume it’s something I did.
“Thanks,” I whisper, not wanting to piss him off further.
Colt doesn’t look over at me but gives me a tight nod of acknowledgment.
The three of us sit in silence, save for the rhythmic thumping of the tennis ball Remy’s tossing, while we watch Charlie direct Rook into a bunch of different poses with and without his helmet.
After a few minutes, Charlie steps back and glances in our direction. “Thing One and Thing Two, you’re up!”
Colt sighs before he fluidly unfolds himself to his full height. He prowls to his bike without a second glance at us.
I stare after him for a moment, wondering what I did that made him so angry with me. A little part of my heart I refuse to acknowledge hurts that I pissed off Colt, but I ruthlessly shove it down.
“Don’t worry about Colt,alouette,” Remy leans over to whisper. “He just hates that I stunt and doesn’t like me dragging someone else into it. If my twin had his way, he’d smother me with bubble wrap and lock me in a padded room to keep me safe from everything. Colt’s not mad at you. He’s pissed at me for putting both of us in danger, at least in his mind.”
I look over at Remy in surprise, wondering how he knew exactly what I was feeling. He smiles at me before bounding off after his twin, not giving me a chance to reply. Not that I really knew what to say.
