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“Go!”
“Let me in the car.”
Dove put her fingers in her ears and shook her head. “I can’t hear you,” she hollered.
“Dove, let me in the damn car. You are not going to drive back to Texarkana by yourself.” It was Monday morning, and it was time to head back to reality. After spending the rest of the day and all night locked away in Aero’s room, the time to leave had come too quickly.
“Sloane,” Aero called. “Just get on my bike. This was Dove’s idea.”
Dove rolled down her window an inch. “Get away from my car, stranger. I want to drive by myself so I don’t have to listen to some book on tape.”
I rolled my eyes and propped my hands on my hips. “It’s called an audiobook, Dove. Books on tape are from the freaking eighties.”
“Don’t care,” she laughed. “With you on the back of Aero’s bike, I can listen to Dorothy the whole way home without you complaining about needing to listen to the next chapter in your book.” She rolled up her window and flitted her fingers at me. “Shew!”
“She shouldn’t have to drive home by herself.”
“She won’t be by herself,” Dice pointed out. “We’ll be in front and behind her the whole way.”
I wrinkled my nose and shielded my eyes from the sun. “You got the hots for Dove?” I asked.
“Sloane,” Aero growled. “Get your ass on the back of my bike and stop bugging Dice about Dove.”
“Not my type,” Dice replied.
“You mean hot and nice aren’t your type?” I shot back. Telling me my best friend was not your type was not a good thing to do.
Dice pulled his sunglasses over his eyes and shrugged. “I guess not, doll.”
Dove rolled down her window. “Did you just ask him if he likes me?”
“Yes, I sure did.” I stomped my foot. “He said you’re not his type, and I do not accept that.”
“Girl, you should accept it because he is not my type either. He’s like a big brother with the way he was watching me this weekend.” Dove wrinkled her nose. “You’re gonna have to live happily ever after with your biker alone, Sloane. I’m not joining the old lady life.”
“Ol’ lady,” I corrected her.
“Whatever,” she laughed. “You need to focus on your hot biker and not worry about me, okay?”
“Are we fucking leaving, or are we just going to hang out in the parking lot?” Compass called.
I cringed and scurried over to Aero. “For the record, I am getting on the back of Aero’s bike under duress.” I grabbed the helmet Aero offered and plopped it on my head.
“Your ol’ lady talks too much,” Pirate groaned. He was parked next to Aero, and he looked like he was going to throw up.
“I’m your ol’ lady?” I snapped the strap under my chin and dropped my arms.
“You good with that?”
I shrugged, “I mean, it seems pretty fast in the romance book world, but I’m gonna take it and not freak out about it.” Cue internal hyperventilating.
“Lies,” Dove called out her window. “She’s going to internally freak out about it the whole drive home and then have a mental breakdown once she’s alone.”
“Shut up!” I shouted. “Is the girl code really gone for you?” My god. Of course, I was going to freak out about Aero calling me his ol’ lady, but I was going to wait to start that freak out until I was home. I turned back to Aero and plastered a smile on my face. “I guess it’s okay to be your ol’ lady.”
He shook his head and slid his sunglasses over his eyes. “You’re a nut, Sloane.”
Yeah, but now I was his nut.
“Let’s fucking go,” Compass called. “We got a long fucking ride in front of us, and you guys chitchatting are only making it longer.”
I hopped on the back of Aero’s bike and wrapped my arms around his waist. “Is he always this cranky?” I whispered into his ear.
Aero shrugged, “Nah, not normally. Him and Yarder have been a bit off lately, but I’m sure it’s nothing.”
That seemed ominous. I shook my head. I needed to stop treating my life like it was a romance novel.
This was real life and not a novel.
“I’m sure it’s nothing.” I brushed off all my bad thoughts and took a deep breath.
“Ready to get back to reality, babe?” Aero called.
As ready as I was going to be.
I came to Motorcycles, Mobsters and Mayhem just Sloane, and now I was leaving an ol’ lady and a motorcycle club in tow.
Freaking crazy.
*
