I want to wrap my arms around him again, but instead I do what I do when I have to ride behind my brothers. I keep as much distance as I can and grip his shoulders instead. The short path through the woods doesn’t take long, and soon Misha’s truck is right in front of us, parked on the edge of the road.
Before I get off the bike, I run my fingers along the back of Damien’s neck, grazing the skin I’ll never get enough of. This man is my new addiction. I want to explore every part of his gorgeous body. I want to know everything about him, and walking away from him right now is the last thing I want to do.
When he cuts the engine, I quickly whisper, “I won’t forget,” before hiking my leg over and stepping off. Our eyes briefly meet, and for just a second he lets me see the promise he’s giving me. This isn’t the end of this. It’s only the beginning.
Yuri gets out and meets me halfway to the truck. “Nice win,” he tells me. “Your cut is big. Everyone bet on the guy with the orange bike.”
I roll my eyes at him. “Of course they did. They never learn.”
“Here’s hoping they never do,” he says before looking over at Damien. “Thanks for getting her out of there.”
“No problem,” Damien says, and I resist the urge to look over at him.
“Is Allie okay?” I ask before Yuri can start to question what we’ve been doing this whole time.
“She’s fine,” Misha says from the truck with a laugh. “Dima was pretty pissed and his hand’s going to be swollen for a few days, but she’s fine.”
“Everyone else make it out okay?” I ask. “You didn’t kill anyone, did you?”
“Come on, sis,” Yuri says. “You know us better than that. Never in front of witnesses.”
“Accidents happen,” I say, but he just grins at my worry and looks back at Damien.
“You think you can make it back okay? If you follow us, you just need to turn off when you see Clatskanie River Road, then take a quick left on Neskowin. Stay on that. It’s impossible to miss Uncle Vasya’s place once you’re on it.”
Damien pulls his phone out and says, “You guys go on ahead. I’m gonna call Ev first.”
Yuri starts to walk back to the truck while he says, “He left with Bran. They should already be at the house by now.”
With both my brothers watching me, all I can do is give a casual wave to Damien and say, “Thanks again for the help.”
He nods but his face is guarded and it’s nothing like the way he’d just been looking at me. I turn away when he turns his attention to his phone, and I really hope he sends me a messagelater because this is going to be a lot harder than I thought it’d be.
I can handle it for now, though. I think I could put up with just about anything if the end result is his powerful body pressed against mine. I swear I can still feel every solid inch of him, and I know I’ll be thinking about that sizable bulge I’d gotten to palm on repeat. No way is that something I can just forget about.
We leave Damien parked on the side of the road, and I wish he’d opted to follow us. I know he can take care of himself, but I still hate the idea of him out there all by himself. There’s no way to voice my concerns without my brothers noticing, so instead I ask them for details of the fight. They’re more than happy to regale me with details of busted lips and noses and then the panicked frenzy when the idiots realized who they’d chosen to pick a fight with. Our family’s business stays in the city, but even though our parents chose to live on the outskirts doesn’t mean the people around here don’t know who we are. At the very least they’ve heard rumors, and those are enough to scare most people.
As violent as my brothers can be, they’ve always kept it in check with the locals. It’s bad for business and would only attract attention from the police, which is the last thing any of us wants. We try to fit in as best we can. My brothers and older cousins all went to the same private high school as a lot of the people who went to see the race tonight, so we’re not a complete mystery to them. I’d chosen a private tutor and learned from home with Tyoma since most everyone else had already graduated. It wasn’t a bad deal. The days were shorter for us so it left me with a lot of extra reading time.
“Yulia always misses the fun,” Yuri says, pulling my attention back to the conversation.
“She’s too sweet to lie,” I say. With a laugh I add, “At least she knows it. As soon as she realized something was up, she mademe swear to not tell her any details. She knew she’d cave the second her parents asked her about it. She didn’t want to rat us out.”
“She is a terrible liar when she tries to do it,” Misha agrees. “It’s for the best if she just sits these races out.”
They start talking about the times they got in trouble as kids because Yulia would panic when asked a question by our parents and start crying. I was only three at the time, so I don’t remember much, but all our dads knew that if they wanted the truth, Yulia was the one they could get it from. She was never a tattletale. It’s more that she couldn’t bear the thought of lying to her family so instead she’d panic and freeze and cry. It was a dead giveaway every single time without her having to utter a word. Our family still laughs about it.
Mom and Dad are still gone when Misha pulls up to the house. I ignore the teasing comments warning me to stay out of the woods unless I want to see Mom’s bare ass in the moonlight and head inside. The dogs greet us in a wild frenzy while I undo the heavy riding boots I’m still wearing and toss them aside.
Saying a quick goodnight to my brothers, I go to my room and the first thing I do is send Damien a text to make sure he got back okay. When he doesn’t answer right away, I strip down and take a hot shower, washing off the dirt from the race and the smell of exhaust and gasoline. While I wash my hair, I keep replaying the time I’d had with Damien, the things he’d said, the way he’d touched me, and the certainty in his voice when he’d said he wasn’t going to let me go. I know we’re still at the beginning of whatever this is between us, but he hadn’t sounded like a man who was confused about his feelings or just wanting a fling. It had felt deeper than that, like he wanted more and was determined to get it.
My phone chimes with his response while I’m wrapping a towel around my head. Grabbing it, I see the voice message and click on it.
“Is it weird that I miss you already? I ended up waiting for Bran and Ev to join me and then I rode back with them. One of your uncle’s rules was that we aren’t allowed to go out without a Medvedev.” He gives a soft laugh before saying, “I’m glad Allie is okay, but I’m not sorry there was a fight tonight and that I’m the lucky bastard who got to ride off with you, even if it did leave me with jeans that felt way too tight.”
I’m grinning like an idiot while I lean against the counter and listen to his deep voice.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t say goodbye to you like I wanted. Do you think your dog will try to eat me if I sneak onto your property?”
