My chopper.
My pride and joy.
I looked over at Cap, but he just nodded his head.
I relinquished my beautiful chopper that I restored and decorated myself.
King ushered us over silently to a fucking van he had stashed away in the darkness of the bushes.
“Come on,” he whispered, “we’ll use the engines of the bikes to cover up our sounds. Let’s get you guys to the safehouse.”
And just as we all piled into the van with King driving, Cap in the passenger’s seat, and the rest of us stuffed in the back, we waited for King’s men to rev our bike engines.
He cranked the van up, keeping the lights off, and backed out of the bushes just as they pulled away from the trees.
23
LIZZIE
No wonder the girls loved the bike rides.
It felt so peaceful being on the back of Doc’s bike. The wind rushed by us, and it felt like little faerie wings wafting against my skin. The smooth motion of the leans as we took turns made me cling to his waist, and I found that I enjoyed being smashed against him. We leaned together. We moved together. The motorcycle rumbled between us.
Yet all too soon, we were shoved into the back of a van.
I found myself crammed on Doc’s lap.
“Won’t be long now, my Elizabeth,” he muttered as he kissed my temple.
I melted into him.
HisElizabeth.
I hoped he never stopped calling me that.
But the ride in the van wasn’t smooth. The wheels bounced over potholes and jostled around curves. The world tilted a bit as my lack of food reared its head. I’d never been one that was prone to motion sickness, but on an empty stomach and with no grounding force, I was a goner. The nausea kicked in, and with every dip of the vehicle that bounced us back up, my ribs ached.
One of the turns made me whimper.
“Hey,” Doc called out, “keep the driving smooth. We’ve still got injuries back here.”
His arms wrapped around me, cradling me against him as he tucked my head beneath his chin. I allowed my eyes to close, if only to shut out the uneven field of view that tumbled in my vision. I just focused on his warmth. On his protective embrace. The way his body seemed carved out to fit mine. There was strength where I had none. There were spaces where I had a lot. And every single inch of me seemed to fit with every single inch of him.
I got so lost in the feeling of my body against his as we bobbed and swayed that I didn’t register when the vehicle stopped.
“We’re here, beautiful,” Doc muttered against the top of my head.
The van doors flew open, and King stood there with a smile on his face. “Home sweet home. Come on guys. No one will find you here.”
“Don’t jinx it,” Jasmine muttered.
Doc refused to let me go, though. I attempted to pull away, but all he did was buckle his arm around my lower back as he slid along the van floor. He had me leaned against him, my head tucked along his shoulder, and eventually, he planted his feet onto the floor. He stood with me in his arms, and it took us a second before we moved.
I watched the world form behind him, and I realized why he took a second to pause.
We were in the woods.
We weredeepin the woods.
