“There’s a dealership on the southside. Bet it’s still open,” King said.
I dropped my hands. “You think?”
“Guess we could go there.” Dallas ran a hand over King’s wet shirt and scrunched the fabric up.
King leered at him.
After a few seconds, everyone looked at each other and shrugged, so without a better idea, we were off.
As soon as we got to the dealership, Will started chuckling, and I was so fucking happy he was in a good mood that I grinned. King had beat us there again because the rain had stopped, though the clouds were still rolling overhead, and he was already standing in an aisle near the brand-new BMW bikes, scowling at them. The large lights that lit the lot made the wet bikes gleam, a magical fantasy.
I whistled. “The girls sure do look good.”
Dallas was already chuckling as he got out to go cuddle up to King.
A minute later, we were all standing there staring while a nervous lot attendant seemed to be deciding whether he was brave enough or not to take his balls in hand and come over to ask if we wanted to buy a bike.
“Come here, kid!” King called.
The boy, he was too young for me to lump him in with the men, came over. He probably wasn’t eighteen yet, blond, and swimming in the polo shirt with the dealership logo emblazoned on the front. He nervously glanced between each of us.
“Are you here to look at motorcycles? I can take you inside to talk to my grandpa.” He shuffled in that direction, just dying to run away.
I snorted. “Summer job?”
He nodded quickly and stared at King in all his soaked glory like he might piss himself.
“Have you been working here all summer?” Dallas flashed him a smile and the soothing voice he used caused all of us to look at him as if he’d grown a second head.
The boy nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Do you remember a man taller than me, probably six feet, and this wide—” Dallas held out his hands. “—coming in to buy a bike?”
The boy’s forehead wrinkled. “We sell bikes every day.”
King groaned, slapping the boy on the shoulder in a friendly way. “It’s okay, kid. We don’t need any help. We’re just browsing.”
He nodded, his neck springier than a bobblehead doll, and took off for the showroom like his life depended on it.
“Well, this was dumb,” I said, rubbing the bridge of my nose while I scowled out at the sea of shiny new bikes. “Maybe we should go to another bar.”
“All right!” King grinned, and while I was sure he wanted to find the cash as much as the rest of us, maybe the idea of barhopping all night was just as appealing.
“I’ll go with you on your bike,” Dallas said.
King waved him off. “The road’s still slick.”
Dallas crossed his arms, but King was already on his bike, leaving the rest of us to scramble after him as we rushed back to the truck.
“Where the fuck is he taking us?” I turned the wheel and followed him out of the lot.
“A bar,” Will said.
I glared at him out of the corner of my eye, and he gave me a happy-go-lucky smirk.
“To hell,” Dallas said from the back seat and that got Will chuckling again.
Traffic was light, so it was easy to tail King. A cannonball couldn’t unseat him on his bike. He just melded to the machine in a way that was borderline unnatural. Some people had that in them and some didn’t. You couldn’t teach it. They were born to ride.
