Hellfire barks out a laugh. "You do that. And tell him you degenerates are spreading that sharing an old lady curse. Be good if he kept that shit in his own club."
Ghost's lip twitches ever so slightly before settling right back to humorless stone. Dunno if anyone else noticed, but I'm giving three to one odds that he's one of them.
I put my arm around Sandra’s waist. "Sorry, we haven’t found a cure for it yet."
Hellfire nods. "Gonna grab my beer then. Officially, you’re welcome to stay, but man to man, I recommend you boys don’t linger too much or the rabble will have time to regroup."
"Think we're done here, anyway." I tip an imaginary hat to Hellfire.
A moment later, we're on the road, the air blowing in our hair and the salty breeze coming in off the ocean. Out on the water, far in the distance, the green and red lights of passing ships tell us which way they're going. This stretch is open, a slice of open coastline between cities, one of the few places where you don't have to pass through a gate to get to the water.
Sandra pats me on the shoulder and points when a sign says: "Public Beach Next Exit."
I nod and pull ahead of the others, signaling for them to follow.
12
SANDRA
It would beeasy to lean into Zero’s warm back and let the solid reassurance of his body and the rumble of the bike wash over me as we head back. But the bar fight cut our date short, and I’m not ready for everything to end yet.
The beach is little more than a dirt parking lot and a few picnic tables. It’s a narrow, natural cove with rocky walls on either side. Now that it’s dark, we’re the only ones here. It makes it feel almost private. Intimate. The guys park right up next to the sand. I dismount, making sure my legs are holding up this time.
“Any particular reason you wanted to stop?” Beast asks.
“I was having fun.” I start pulling my boots off. “Are you so eager to get back?”
A moment later, there are four pairs of boots standing together before the sand, and we're walking down the beach together.
"What a night," Piston says. He slides an arm around me and pulls me in.
I'm not sure whether he means the fight, the warm weather, the nearly full moon lighting up the beach, or something else. It all feels nice right now. I wander over to a big rock near the water. The bulk of it is on the sand, but at the far end, waves slosh onto it in a relaxing pattern.
"I wanted to thank you guys for keeping me safe." The leather jacket was a nice buffer on the bike, but now it's a little warm. I take off my jacket and toss it on the rock where it will stay dry.
Zero holds up a hand. "Whoa, hold on. You don’t owe us shit."
"What?” It takes me a second. “Presume much? I wasn't offering to strip for you.”
A laugh slips out, and once I start, I can't stop. The guys look at each other, then back at me trapped in massive giggle fit. Their expressions only make me laugh harder. When I finally manage to get myself under control, I'm wiping tears from my eyes.
“It’s notthatfunny,” Piston says.
“I mean it kinda is.” And then my mind considers the potential of an empty beach on a warm summer night with three big, sexy bikers and it isn’tquiteas funny. It’s a lot of other things, though, that I’m not sure I can be trusted with.
"You alright? You did good back at the bar, but shit like that can still rattle you afterwards." Beast watches me curiously.
"Yeah, I’m okay. Not that it wasn’t a little scary, but I could tell you were watching out for me, and it wasn’t my first rodeo, you know? Relatively speaking, this was a day at the park."
“You don’t owe us your story, baby, but if you wanna give it, we’ll listen,” Zero says. “We know some of what happened afterQuickshot and the others met Natalie, but not your side of things.”
“You sure you want to hear it?” I sit on the rock, the surface still hanging onto the warmth of when the sun was up, letting the water lap at my toes. They sit beside me on either side.
Piston reaches down and splashes my leg. “Go on, rip off the bandage.”
“I was fourteen when our parents died. I was really into the emo scene even before the accident, you know? Heavy eyeliner, shaggy hair, striped arm warmers, the whole nine yards. But I was a nerdy alternative kid posting my art and poems online, not actually getting into real trouble. Nat was eighteen. She tried to take care of me, but she was my sister, not my mother. Every time she tried to act like a parent, it just made me mad. I started skipping school and going to parties whenever I could. For a while it was the only thing that felt good when everything else was shit.”
Beast hums in agreement. “I know that feeling.”
