“Yes.”
“You’d tell me if you got uncomfortable.”
“Yes.”
“You’d tell me if?—”
She puts a hand on my chest.Just flat there.Warm through my shirt.And every thought in my head gets derailed.
“I’m okay, Tucker.”
The way she says my name is quiet, certain, meant to settle me.
It does.Mostly.
I look over her shoulder at the growing line of bikes.Brothers from our chapter are pulling in one by one, engines rumbling low through the predawn air.Old ladies climb off behind them, tugging jackets straight, laughing in clusters, swapping greetings and gossip before the ride even starts.
Gainz pulls in next to Stunt, kills his engine, and pulls off his helmet.
One glance at me and Lucy standing too close and he grins like a bastard.
“Look at that,” he says loud enough for everyone in the county to hear.“Mellow’s gone domestic and social.”
Lucy laughs softly beside me.
I glare at him.“Morning to you too, sunshine.”
Gainz swings off his bike and nods toward Lucy.“You survive him yet?”
“Barely,” she says.
He points at her.“See?I like her.”
“I’m right here, ya know.”I mutter.
Lindsey arrives a minute later clinging to the back of Looney’s bike, her helmet crooked and her laugh already carrying before the engine’s even dead.She hops off and heads straight for Lucy.
“Thank God,” she says.“A face I actually want to spend all day with.”
Lucy smiles, visibly relaxing the second she sees her friend.That does something good to my chest.
Looney yanks off his gloves and jerks his chin toward Nitro, who’s standing beside his bike pretending not to watch Lindsey.“You keeping your hands to yourself today, or do I have to remind you this one’s my baby sister?”
Looney flips him off.“She’s thirty, you prehistoric asshole.”
Lindsey snorts.“And still not interested!Calm your shit, Nitro.Looney is just my friend.”
Nitro beams at his sister reassuring him that she isn’t tying herself to one of the brothers.“That’s my girl.”
Lucy laughs outright this time, the sound bright in the cool air, and I catch the way some of the tension leaves her shoulders.
Good.That’s the point.This ride was never just about taking her out.It’s about letting her see the other side.The one outsiders don’t get.
The one that matters.The one that is the ease after the chaos that can be our lifestyle.I touch the small of her back lightly and guide her toward the group as more bikes roll in.“Come on,” I murmur.“Let’s get you introduced before Looney tells everyone I’m in love and ruins my reputation.”
Her brows lift.
“Would that ruin it?”
