Affliction

“Let’s do this,” I say, following him and feeling like a fool talking to myself. Maybe he doesn’t know anything but asshole talk? He continues to ignore me as he hands me the helmet, and then starts his bike. The ground under my feet shakes as he pulls the throttle back. The loud, deep rumble moves through my body and I can’t help the excitement I feel knowing I’m about to get on the back of this sexy man’s bike.

Putting the helmet on my head, I fiddle with the strap, but he doesn’t turn back to help like Nix did for Kadence. He simply sits, waiting for me to climb on.

“Okay, I’m ready,” I say, trying not to let his silence bother me. He is intimidating; I’ll give him that, but the tattoos, the darkness, and the mystery…who wouldn’t put up a decent fight? Ready to get on the back, I move forward and put my hand on one shoulder, ready to mount. I lift my leg, but my dress stops me from getting on. “Don’t turn around,” I tell him, hiking my skirt up to get on behind him. He still doesn’t say anything, just stares ahead while I fix my skirt, making sure I don’t flash anyone. Jesus, Kadence made this look easy.

“Where do I put my feet?” I ask, a little unsure of myself when I finally settle in behind him. He leans to one side, bends from the waist and reaches down. His large, callused hand slides down my naked leg. I don’t respond, but the intimate touch feels so good I have to force myself not to purr. His touch is firm, but still has a softness about it as he positions my foot on a small peg. He holds it there for a moment, and for a brief second, I feel his thumb slowly sweep along my skin in a small caress. It’s so subtle I second-guess what I felt until he releases my ankle and then does the same for the other side. I don’t react, unsure of what it means, or if it means anything. What I do know is this man seems like a list of contradictions. So hard and filled with so much anger, while in the next breath he’s gentle and even a little lost. I lean forward when he sits back up and wrap my hands around him. His body feels hard underneath them, the leather of his cut cool on my fingertips.

“Second right off Main, then first left,” I tell him, my fingers flexing instinctively at our closeness. He nods, still not speaking, and after a few revs of the throttle we take off. My grip on his cut deepens as the forward motion catches me off guard. I’ve never been on a bike, and after hearing Kadence’s rendition of her ride with Nix, I can now say the woman did not lie. Even if we only go slow, the air blowing my hair back is exhilarating. I don’t know if I want to get off.

“You can go faster,” I encourage, hoping he takes the hint, but something tells me he’s not the type of man to take any sort of hint. He continues to stay mute, so instead of wasting my breath, I hold on tighter and memorize his hard body under my hands.

The short ride to my apartment is over before I know it, and when he pulls into the lot, disappointment fills me. I shouldn’t be feeling like this; the man is all wrong. He doesn’t even seem interested. Why do I always go for the ones not interested? He idles in the drive while I manage to untangle myself without flashing my neighbors.

“Well, thanks for the ride, Sunshine,” I say once I’ve handed back his helmet. He takes it without speaking a word and places it on his head before looking back at me. Jeez, he really is a man of few words.

“Okay then,” I say awkwardly, even giving him a small wave and goofy smile. Holly, the guy isn’t interested. Don’t be cute. I inwardly groan at my discomfort.

His eyes narrow as he watches me and I realize I’m better off hitting my head against a wall. The man clearly has his own issues and is not interested in me being cute. I know rejection can happen—I’m just not familiar with it. I try to ignore the sting of his dismissal. I turn before I make a bigger fool of myself and start walking up the front path.

“See ya,” he finally acknowledges while revving his bike and pulls out before I can even reply. What the fuck? Now he talks?

Hitting the button for the elevator, I go through the events of tonight. The whole situation was weird. Between his instant snarky attitude at me being in his shop, to his obvious annoyance, I’m pretty certain cranky sexy biker doesn’t like me at all.

The doors open and I walk through ready to put this whole night behind me.

I don’t need some sexy tattooed biker to warm my bed. I push the button to take me to my floor. Shit, I might not need him, but I sure as hell want him—even if it’s just to say I’ve had him. Or at least, that’s what I’m telling myself.

***

“So, let me just get this right for a moment. You went to visit your asshole ex-fiancé without telling me. He is a part of some huge drug ring and the men after him—the men who started the fire at your house—are friends of Nix’s?” I tick off everything that just went down as Kadence sits back down on the sofa the following morning.

“Yes,” she admits, crying into her hands.

I knew something was up when I received a text message from her. I had only just spoken to her about her first sleepover at the clubhouse and filled her in on my non-eventful ride home with Sy. She told me she was hanging out for the day, when not twenty minutes later, she needed a lift. I didn’t ask questions, just jumped in my car and drove to get her. I should have pushed her, demanded she tell me what had happened, but she brushed it off as nothing. I didn’t even second-guess her when she was home for five minutes and then raced out the door. When she came through the door an hour later, white as a ghost, I knew something serious had gone down. Next thing I knew, sexy, badass Nix was banging the door down telling her that her ex-fiancé was second in charge of one of the county’s biggest drug rings. I wasn’t expecting the blow up, but hearing Zane’s name alone has my skin crawling. I’m not surprised he’s come back to start some shit. I never liked the douche. Even back when things were good between him and Kadence he always rubbed me the wrong way, but being the good friend I am I kept my mouth shut and helped her plan her dream wedding.