“Adoro il modo in cui mi menti,” he responded, and before she could ask him what he said, he returned to their previous conversation. “How long it takes depends on the type of motorcycle I’m building and the specs.”
“Dirt bikes are quicker than cruisers. Black ships in faster than blue,” she responded passively.
“Yes, to the first one. No, to the last. You aren’t wrong. Black is always faster to get because it’s the most standard color, but since my bikes are custom, it means they come with a custom paint job.”
“So it doesn’t matter what color you order because you’ll paint over it.”
“Right,” Elias agreed.
They lapsed into silence, and a couple of minutes later, they pulled into the venue parking lot. There were a few cars there, hers included, but she didn’t see Willa’s car. She pulled her phone out of her coat pocket and dialed Mickey’snumber. When it went to voicemail, she called her again, getting the same automated message.
“Damn it, Mickey.”
“Are you okay?” Elias asked.
“No. Mickey has my car keys and wallet, and Willa’s car is gone.”
“Maybe she’s inside. There are still people here.”
Eri got out and headed into the building. Mickey might still have been there. Eri drove the three of them that afternoon. She hadn’t bothered to bring her purse, so Mickey had offered to keep her items in her backpack. She hadn’t thought to get them from her before she went with Elias to drop off the newlyweds because she assumed Mickey would wait, but she discovered that wasn’t the case when she entered and found the staff cleaning. Elias was standing beside her car when she returned outside.
“You wouldn’t have Avian’s keys, would you?”
Her friend had a spare key to her apartment in case of emergencies. She lived in an apartment on campus, and they were notorious for not answering the maintenance phone after six o’clock.
“I don’t. I can ask Zia Lorna if she has them.”
“Please,” Eri responded, and while he called his aunt, she attempted to call Mickey again with no luck. She was sure Mickey was somewhere with some woman she’d met, and the last thing Eri was trying to do was cockblock, but damn.
She tried the handles on her car just in case Mickey had put her belongings in it and left it unlocked, but she hadn’t.
“She doesn’t have Avian’s keys. Just Marco’s,” Elias informed her after getting off the phone.
“Great.”
“We can call Pop-A-Lock. Get them to come and open it.”
“Doesn’t really help me, Elias. It gets me in the car, but I can’t start it and don’t have my house key.”
“I can start it,” he told her. “But you’re right; that doesn’t help if you can’t get into your apartment.”
Eri decided not to speak about his offer to hot-wire her car and ignored that it oddly appealed to her. She would have taken him up on it and gone to her dad’s if he weren’t off skiing somewhere.
“We can go to my place until you get ahold of Mickey,” he offered.
Eri bit her bottom lip. She didn’t have very many choices. Sure, she had other friends besides Avian, but most of them had gone home for the holiday.
“Yeah, okay. Thanks.”
He opened the door for her, and she got back into his car. As he pulled out of the parking lot, she texted Mickey to call her.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Elias opened his front door, allowing Eri in first. It was the first time she’d been to his house. The first time other than their car ride, they’d been alone together. He hung his keys on the hook and his coat on the rack after helping her out of hers.
“Make yourself at home,” he stated, steering her into the living room before entering the kitchen. He took two drinks from the fridge and returned to the living room. Elias found her looking at the collage of pictures on the far wall.
“Are these all the bikes you’ve built?” she asked, looking over her shoulder at him.
