Page 114 of Savage Grace

But I didn’t have to worry about forgetting what it sounded like, because from that night on, he never missed an opportunity to say it again.

EPILOGUE

ASHE

“Let the clutch out slowly!”I yelled through cupped hands, heart hammering in my chest as I watched Zarina bunny-hop her way down the empty street on my bike.

I told her that I didn’t care if she dropped it, and that was partially true, but I knew that the sight of it actually happening might break my heart a little bit.

What I was more worried about, though, was the way that Zarina seemed to forget to let out the throttle when she wanted to stop. But still, she was getting better.

The sound of a car approaching caught my attention, and I let out a whistle, motioning for Zarina to move off the road and into my driveway.

She managed to make it up the slight hill without dropping it, and I let out a sigh of relief once the kickstand was down.

The silver ute pulled up in front of my house, and I waved at Charmer who was hanging out the passenger window. Bull drove it forward, and then reversed, swinging tray-first onto the flat part of my driveway where unloading would be easier.

Zarina came down the path, grumbling to herself while she tried to remove the stubborn gloves from her hands.

“You don’t wear any fucking gear,” she whinged as she came to stand next to me. “Yet you’ve got me in two thousand layers of leather just to go up and down your street at a snail’s pace.”

“Yup,” was all I said, because I wasn’t changing my mind either.

I crossed my arms over myself, smiling up at the present on the back of Bull’s ute that Zarina hadn’t even noticed yet. Charmer hopped out of the passenger side and smacked the side of the tray.

“Whaddya think, Captain?” he smirked at Zarina.

“About what?” She grunted as she continued to tug at the tight glove.

“Jesus Christ—” I chuckled, turning to her and ripping it free from her hand, just as she finally looked up and noticed the new bike shining in the sunlight.

“Get fucked.” Her mouth fell open.

Bull barked a laugh as he undid one of the straps.

“Is it for me?” Zarina began bounding in place, excitement fucking pouring from her.

“Well it ain’t mine, that’s for sure,” Charmer hopped up onto the tray to get the ramp.

A high-pitched squeal escaped her, and she barrelled towards Bull, jumping and wrapping him into a crushing hug. He chuckled, all warm and smiley, and patted her on the back.

“You knowIbought it for you, right?” I pouted, crossing my arms.

She waved me off, still latched to Bull.

I shook my head, but couldn’t help but smile, climbing up onto the tray with Charmer to help him unload it onto the street.

The way that Zarina loved my friends, my brothers, was something special. The same way that I knew they loved her. There was no way I could fault it or be mad at it. It gave me the warm and fuzzies something furious.

As soon as the bike was stationary and on flat ground, Zarina was straddling it with a blinding smile.

“I can touch the ground!” she clapped, doing a little happy dance on the seat.

We all stood back and watched her as she turned the key, pulling the throttle more than necessary just to make some noise. It was nowhere near as loud as any of my bikes, but she wiggled that little joyful wiggle anyway.

What I wasn’t expecting was for her to kick it into gear and do a quick pull down the sidewalk, letting out what I thought was a long “Wee!” as she went.

“Helmet!” Charmer, Bull, and I all called at the same time. But she was back a moment later, completely ignoring the scowls each of us were giving her.

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