Page 71 of Reckless

And somewhere over the last few months, without me even realizing it was happening, I’ve stopped wondering too.

I trust him. The realization arrives so quietly it almost slips past me.

Not just with the motorcycle.

With me.

With my life.

With Piper.

With every broken, messy part of myself I’ve slowly been handing over one piece at a time. The thought should probably scare me. Instead, it settles somewhere deep inside me, warm enough that I catch myself smiling into the back of his cut where nobody can see it.

Almost as though he senses it, Ghost reaches down without looking, and his gloved hand finds mine where it’s wrapped around his waist. His thumb brushes once across my knuckles.

Just once.

A tiny, absent gesture that lasts no more than a heartbeat before his hand returns to the bars. His attention settles back on the road ahead.

Mine settles right where it belongs—around him.

For a while, that’s all the world is.

Blue sky stretching forever overhead. Red mountains rolling by in the distance. Fifteen motorcycles carving their way across the desert.

The steady vibration beneath me.

The man beneath my hands.

Then, something changes.

It’s so subtle I almost convince myself I’ve imagined it. The easy rhythm beneath my cheek shifts by the smallest degree, his shoulders settling into a familiar kind of focus that has my attention before I even know why.

His helmet tilts a fraction.

Left mirror.

Right mirror.

Then left again.

His breathing stays steady, but something in the set of his shoulders changes, a quiet tightening I don’t think anyone else would notice unless they had spent enough time holding onto him to learn the language of his body.

I lift my head, curiosity replacing comfort as I follow the direction of his gaze.

At first, I don’t see anything beyond the familiar staggered line of brothers stretching behind us, chrome catching the afternoon sun in quick flashes of silver.

Then, movement.

A flicker of black in the distance.

Chapter Fifteen

SAGE

Two SUVs roll onto the highway from a side road nearly half a mile behind us. Dust hangs in the air for a moment before the wind tears it away. They fall into step with our speed so smoothly they could almost disappear into the traffic. Almost.

A knot tightens low in my stomach before I understand what my instincts are trying to tell me.