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“That’s okay… I’m going to get a taxi,” I said and stopped at the edge of the sidewalk, determined not to take another step with him.

“Evie… You don’t have to do that. I don’t mind helping you find a room.”

“It’s fine. You’ve been drinking anyway. Maybe you should call for a ride, too.”

“Please,” he said, mocking me. “That girly drink of yours was like drinking fruit punch. I only had one real drink, and it didn’t even give me a buzz.” Taking my hand again, he said, “Let me help you out.”

That jolt struck me again, and as hard as I tried to stay strong, it was all for naught. I caved and hated myself for it, but the Evie of tomorrow could deal with the fallout. Evie of the present was just going to go with the flow and see where the current took her.

The thick moisture in the air threatened to turn my hair into a frizzy mess. Maybe the helmet would keep my hair flat or maybe it would make my head sweat. Considering I had nothing at all with me to sort out the mess the humidity could cause, I was hoping for the former. Helmet hair had to be better than a frizz ball.

I stood close enough to him to smell that he still used Irish Spring. I used to love that smell, but every time I encountered it in the years since, it reminded me of him, so I’d avoided it at all cost. I started to realize just how much I
hadn’t
gotten over him, feeling like a fool for being hung up on someone I hadn’t even seen since I was a teenager. It was no wonder I never found true happiness with anyone else. Maybe this would be our second chance at love. Maybe fate was trying to step in to correct the mistakes of the past. Or maybe I was going to get my heart broken again and my life destroyed.

CHAPTER 9 – JET

What the hell was I doing? And what did I expect the outcome to be? There was no way she’d ever trust me again, not after the shit I pulled on her. I zoned out for a second, waiting for her to finish a phone call she insisted she had to make before we left.

“Love you,” I heard her say, yanking me back to reality. My mouth dropped open slightly as my eyes rose to her just in time to see her dragging her finger across the screen to end the call. A smile passed over her lips.
Fuck. She’s got a boyfriend. She’s got love written all over her face.

“Is it okay to carry my purse like this?” She took the strap to her red leather bag and slung it over her head so that the strap sat on her left shoulder and the bag hung near her right hip.

“Yeah, that’ll work.”

I swung my leg over the bike and sat down on the seat. She stood there looking at me in apprehension for a second before taking a step closer.

“Haven’t you been on a motorcycle before?”

“Um, well… No, not really.”

“Not really? Either you have or you haven’t.”

“I was on a dirt bike a couple of times with my ex-husband, but never anything like this.”

Ex-husband.
My jaw clenched, and I nearly bit my tongue to keep from asking her details that I probably didn’t want to know.

Reaching back, I patted the seat behind me, inviting her to take her place. I didn’t watch her get on the back of my bike, but there was no mistaking her there. She settled into place, her thighs squeezing against my hips. My abs tightened as she gripped my sides. Placing my hands on hers, I pulled them around to the front of my body, placing them low on my torso and entirely too close to my cock.

I didn’t care if she had a boyfriend or not or who she’d told she loved only a minute or so before. In that moment, the only two people who existed were the two of us, and in my heart and soul, she was mine again. Consequences be damned.

We didn’t stop until I’d taken her about five miles away from where we’d started out. It was a much better part of the city with plenty of hotels to choose from. I turned onto a dead-end street lined with places she could get a room. Pulling up to the curb, I turned my head and asked her which one she wanted to go to. She chose a place called the Oak Inn, and I dropped her at the front door.

“Thanks for giving me a lift and for dinner,” she said, smiling at me. “It was nice to catch up.”

“No problem, darlin’, but you aren’t getting rid of me so easily. Go get checked in. I’ll wait for you here.”

She rolled her eyes playfully and turned to enter the front lobby. I watched her perfect ass sway back and forth as she walked away. Couldn’t help myself from thinking about how fucking sweet it would be to see it completely naked with me pounding my cock into her. I had no doubt in my mind I’d be seeing it and the rest of her spectacular fucking body in all its glory soon enough.

Like I said before. I didn’t care if she had a boyfriend or not. Just one more thing to add to the list of things that made me a bad person.

My phone rang, interrupting the dirty thoughts about her I had running through my mind.

Not a number I recognized, but then that wasn’t out of the norm for the people I kept company with. Most of us used burner phones and you never know when someone had picked up a new one.

“Yeah?”

“What the fuck is going on?” Flint, an employee of my father, asked. “Why haven’t you called me?”

“Sorry, man… He was there with some kids, and I forgot to let you know.”

“Bullshit, Jet. He’s been alone the whole time I’ve been here. I thought maybe you got your ass in hot water when I didn’t hear from you, and came to make sure you didn’t need some backup.”

“They must have left after I did,” I said, trying hard to keep my cool while lying my ass off.

“You want me to go ahead and get him?”

“By yourself?”

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” he said, no doubt alluding to the few times over the years that my head just wasn’t in it, and he relieved me of my duties.

“This can’t blow back on me. It’ll be my balls if he thinks I just blew it off.”

“I’ve got you this time, J. I’ll just tell him I saw him out, and it was too perfect not to grab him.”

“Thanks, man.”

“Yeah, get back to your piece of ass, you lucky son of a bitch.”

“I’m not with—”

“Sure you’re not,” he said before the phone went silent.

Fuck. Niall can’t know I’m with a girl—Evie, of all people—instead of doing what I was told.

He wouldn’t know who Evie was even if he’d somehow seen us together, but I couldn’t risk it. There was no fucking way I was going to go through what I did to keep her safe, just to put her right back in danger’s way because of a chance meeting. I texted Flint.

Don’t do anything. I’m on my way now.

Less than twenty seconds later, his reply came through.

Whatever you want. I’ll wait.

I debated on whether I should just take off or not. Yeah, it’d crush her… again, but maybe it would be for the best. Before I could decide what to do, she came walking through the front door of the hotel, smiling at me and pulling me right back into the fantasy that I could really be with her.

“I’m all checked in. The lady at the front desk said I could go around to the back of the building to that door. The stairs there are close to the room.”

“Hop on, I’ll take you.”

After she did as she was told, we drove around to the back of the building where I let her off. She handed me the helmet, and I placed it on my head. The smile that started to grow on her face faded.

“So this is goodbye?” she asked.

“Yeah. That meeting from earlier is back on. Maybe we can get together later,” I said and gave her my number. “Text me and let me know where you all end up, okay?”

The more I tried to distance myself, the more I seemed incapable of it. There was no way any of it would end well if I didn’t stop, but how do you just give up the only person who ever saw all your flaws, all your deepest secrets, and loved you anyway?

CHAPTER 10 – EVIE

I opened the door to my room and searched for a light switch, which I found on the wall a second later. The room was nice enough, and I was extremely thankful for the cool blast of air that hit me as I entered. I flopped down on the bed and contemplated how the hell I was going to get home as I stared at the generic artwork decorating the pale yellow walls. Sophie would take me for sure, but it was so far out of the way for her that I felt bad even thinking about asking her. My best bet was probably to just go ahead and rent a car. I could then look into buying a new one as soon as I could.

That was a headache I didn’t want to deal with. I made okay money, but since I was self-employed, it was a hell of a lot harder to prove to banks that I was capable of making the payment for the entire term of the loan. This was why I’d been determined to drive my previous car until the wheels fell off. Unfortunately, the engine hadn’t lasted as long as the wheels had, and my car-buying fund wasn’t nearly as well endowed as I’d hoped it would be.

And if it weren’t for that same, no-engine having car, I probably never would have seen Jet again.

Sophie calling interrupted my contemplation.

“Where are you?” I asked.

“Just got into Oakton, babe. Where are you?”

“I’m at the Oak Inn. It’s on a road called—and I shit you not—Hotel Lane.”

“I bet whoever came up with that name had to think long and hard,” she said with a chuckle. “I’ll plug it in the GPS, and we’ll be there soon.”

“Hey, Soph?”

“Yeah?”

“Did you bring any extra clothes or anything? I wasn’t planning on staying overnight or going dancing, so I’ve got a whole lot of nothing.” Even if she had brought clothes for me, I’d still have to go somewhere to get some shoes because her feet were way smaller than mine.

“I’ve got you completely covered. I knew when I changed the plans you probably didn’t have anything. I’ve got your back, as usual,” she said. “Oh, and I had a pair of heels you left at my house after the last time we went out dancing, so you’re good to go.”

My legs were longer than hers, but I could make whatever she had work. Her pants always looked cropped on me, and the shirts usually fit well. I just hoped she didn’t bring a mini skirt or a short dress. That would be harder to work with.

“I can’t wait until you get here. I have a ridiculous amount of things to tell you. You won’t even believe half of what’s happened today.”

“I’ll be there shortly,” she exclaimed.

“Come to room 206, okay?”

I turned on the television to entertain myself until Sophie and her roommate could get there, but it all faded into background noise. Memories of Jet played like a movie in my mind. Painful ones entwined with our relationship firsts. Not painful because they were of Jet, but because of the things he’d told me. Even though we shared some beautiful moments, they were often tainted by the darkness he lived in every day.

Our first kiss was even tragic in a way.

It was a Friday evening, and my parents had left for a weekend trip to visit my mother’s friend who’d just had a baby. She lived almost four hours away, so they’d always made a weekend out of it when they’d gone to visit her. I’d stayed by myself overnight a couple of other times when they went to visit her, but generally, I just holed up in my room and pretended to the outside world like I wasn’t really there. This one was supposed to be different.

Jet and I would be completely alone and free to do as we pleased. Not that I planned on having sex with him. I’d thought about it more than once, but I wasn’t there yet. I just wanted to kiss him without the threat of my mother or stepdad catching me and either giving me hell or making fun of me. With my parents, I never could tell which way they’d go. Of course, they’d forbidden him from coming over while they were gone, but since I had no one to catch me breaking their rule, I invited him anyway. I hadn’t told him they’d be gone and had just let on like it would be like any other day.

The sad part about it all was that I didn’t even know if Jet wanted to kiss me. I thought that was where we were headed, but I couldn’t be sure until he made a move. There were times when there was no doubt in my mind that he was eventually going to be my boyfriend. I figured we’d be getting to the kissing and holding each other and doing all those things teenagers do when they were in love soon enough, but sometimes, he seemed so indifferent and as far away as he could be from what I wanted.

We were almost inseparable at school, especially when waiting for buses to go home in the afternoon. No matter what the weather was like, we always sat outside on this long, wooden bench that lined the one side of the canopy out front. You could sit on it like a normal bench, but kids often sat on the back of it with their feet resting on the seat because it was wide enough and there was plenty of space so you wouldn’t fall off. More than once, I’d found myself sitting between his legs because he’d come up and plop his ass down on the back part behind me after I’d sat down the normal way. He’d rest his forearms on my shoulders with his legs on either side of me, and I was in heaven. People even started to speculate about us. The rumor spread that we were together and doing it like bunnies every chance we got. If only they knew, I had never even been kissed.

He came to my house more frequently, and I could usually tell by his mood at school if he was going to show or not. This particular day, I had a feeling he would, and I couldn’t keep myself from getting up every ten seconds to see if he was outside. After about forty-five minutes of that nonsense, I moved outside to the front stoop. Storm clouds dotted the sky, and I prayed like hell it wouldn’t rain. Not that it mattered either way. It wouldn’t ruin anything, except that I’d have to go back in and continue my staring-out-the-window routine.

Everywhere I looked, I saw something I could relate to him and my growing infatuation. The gray clouds in the sky reminded me of his eyes. The grass was the same shade of green as a shirt he’d worn once. The chain-link fence reminded me of a design he’d doodled in my notebook. He was everywhere.

The wind picked up a little a few minutes later. Maybe a skirt wasn’t the best idea, but at least it was long and flowy. There was only a slim chance that it’d fly up and expose my butt. I’d gotten myself all gussied up for him, and the white skirt was perfect in my mind to complete the look I was going for. I normally wore jeans, over-sized band T-shirts, and a lot of black, but I wanted to try something different. Maybe the way I usually looked wasn’t quite enough to hook him. Was it possible he saw me as “just one of the guys”? Maybe going with a soft and feminine look would be the key to taking our friendship to the next level.