“Quinn’s making slime,” she explains.“I’ve got everything handled.You two have fun.”
Lucy gives her a look.Lindsey ignores it entirely and looks at me instead.“Hurt her and I’ll tell the whole town your middle name.”
I blink.“Bostic.”
She laughs.“Good answer.”
Then she disappears back inside.Lucy exhales, embarrassed and amused all at once.“Sorry.She’s my only friend here and can be a bit overprotective.”
“Don’t be.Lindsey is Lindsey.She may be Nitro’s baby sister by blood, but she’s obnoxious in the best possible way to every brother in the club.”
I hand her the spare helmet I brought.Her eyes widen.“We’re taking the bike?”
“That was the plan.”
A beat.Then she looks at the bike.Then at me.Then back at the bike.“Okay, I’ve never done this before,” she admits.The answer comes a little too fast, a little too brave.
I step closer, not crowding her.“You don’t have to if you don’t want to.I can go get my SUV.”
“No, I want to,” she replies quickly.“I just haven’t done this before and I don’t want to mess up.”
I glance from her to the bike and back.“You trust me?”
Her eyes hold mine.In this moment, the question meant to be innocent and simple suddenly feels heavy, complicated, but also necessary.“Yes.”
The word lands hard.I keep my voice even.“Then, I’ll take it easy.”I tease to lighten the tension.
She nods once.I help her with the helmet, fingers brushing the soft skin near her jaw as I fasten it.She goes very still for a second, and if I had any brains at all I wouldn’t notice.
I definitely notice.
Then I swing a leg over the bike and hold it steady while she climbs on behind me.The first touch of her hands at my waist is tentative.Light.
“Hold tighter,” I tell her over my shoulder.
Her fingers flex.“Like this?”
“More.”She leans in embracing me.
The feel of her pressed against my back nearly has me rethinking every decision I’ve ever made.I start the bike.She jumps a little at the rumble.
“You okay?”
“Fine,” she replies, which means maybe.
So I ease us onto the road slow and smooth, taking the long way toward the coast.No sudden acceleration.No sharp turns.Just warm wind, fading evening light, and the very careful awareness of Lucy wrapped around me.
The first few minutes, she’s stiff.
I can feel it in the way her knees grip the bike, in the way every muscle in her arms is locked.Then, little by little, she loosens.Her grip changes from afraid to anchored.By the time we hit the open stretch near the water, she’s leaning with me in the curves instead of fighting them.
At the first red light after the bridge, I glance back.
“You still alive?”
Her eyes are wide behind me through the mirror.Then she laughs.Actually laughs.“This is insane.”
“Bad insane?”
