Page 2 of Biker's Goal

“I’llalwayscome when you need me,” I promised her. “I love you. Hang in there.”

A tiny, broken sob escaped her, and I clenched my fists. “I love you, too, Tye.”

* * *

When I reached the bar,her boyfriend—Tyler, Taylor, Turner, whatever the fuck his name was supposed to be—was waiting outside the bar and pacing in front of the entrance while typing furiously at his phone. At the sound of my bike, he turned to face me, and his face visibly paled under the shitty bar lights. I tugged my helmet off and set it on my seat before striding toward him.

“Tye—” he started, but my fist cut off the rest of what he was going to say to me.

He stumbled and lost his footing as blood spurted from his nose. He hit the ground hard, but no one rushed to his aid. I spit on his face. “Come near Aura again, and I’ll do more than break your fucking nose next time,” I snarled just as the woman I’d come to rescue emerged from the bar.

She grabbed my arm. “Come on, Tye,” she whispered. Her beautiful eyes were red-rimmed, and her nose was tinged pink. It was clear she’d splashed water on her face to try to hide how much she’d been crying, but she couldn’t hide from me. She couldneverhide from me.

“Aura—” her ex tried.

I spun her around and marched her toward my bike while calling over my shoulder, “You and her are fuckingdone, Taylor.”

“My name is fucking Timothy!” he shouted after me.

“Wow,” I muttered. I glanced at Aura, only to find her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “You dated a tool namedTimothy?” I shook my head and grabbed my helmet off the seat. “His name was a dead giveaway that he was going to be a douchebag, baby.”

She sighed. “He was sweet when he asked me out,” she muttered.

I settled my helmet on her head, then worked on fastening the strap beneath her chin. “The assholes usually are.” Then, I swung my leg over my bike and patted the seat behind me. “Hop on, baby. Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

2

Aura

The after-game party was in full-swing when Tye came to a stop at the curb in front of the frat house he stayed in. I stayed here with him more than I actually stayed in my dorm, but I usually avoided this place when there was a party. Everyone got so rowdy, and I was a fan of sleeping.

I had no idea how Tye, who was definitelynota people-person, put up with parties every single weekend of the football season. I offered to sneak him into my dorm room since I roomed by myself thanks to his parents paying more for me to basically have a dorm room that was like a studio apartment, but he always declined, saying he didn’t want to be on the same floor with a bunch of other women.

And honestly, I couldn’t blame him. On weekends, they could be just as obnoxious as these guys and the parties they threw. But at least the walls were thicker, and he didn’t have to leave his room to use the bathroom or grab food and something to drink.

“Do we have to be here?” I asked as I slid off the bike.

“Yes.” He swung his leg over his bike to dismount and turned to face me, reaching up to unclasp the strap beneath my chin. After sliding the helmet off my head, he set it on his seat. “I’m not a fan of your building, and if Tyler wants to come looking for you, that’s the first place he’ll go.”

Despite being an emotional wreck over being cheated onagain, my lips twitched in amusement. “His name is Timothy.”

Tye grabbed my hand in his and led me toward the frat house. The ground was shaking beneath my feet from the loud bass, and the closer we got to the house, the more my teeth vibrated from the sheer volume of the music. I grimaced. Tye squeezed my hand before leading me inside.

“Go on to my room!” he shouted over the music. “I’ll get us something to drink and be up in a minute.”

I nodded and reluctantly dropped his hand, beginning to weave through the crowd to get to the stairs. Random guys from the football team shouted my name in greeting as I pushed my way through, and I raised my hand in greeting each time, not interested in losing my vocal chords just to shout back at them in greeting over the music.

Once I made it up the stairs and into Tye’s room, I quickly shut the door behind me, breathing a sigh of relief when the music was at least muffled a little bit. Knowing Tye would be a minute because no doubt, girls were going to try to throw themselves at him and his teammates were going to try to rope him into partying, I stripped out of my clothes and snagged one of Tye’s shirts from his closet, sliding it over my head.

When I crawled onto his bed and burrowed beneath his blankets, I buried my face in his pillow, inhaling the scent of him: pine and citrus. He always reminded me of Christmas and summertime all at once. His smell was addictive and my favorite scent in the entire world.

The door creaked open, and the music grew louder before Tye stepped in fully and quickly shut the door behind him. When I lifted my head, he was toeing his shoes off, a beer and a mixed drink in his hands. When he lifted his head, a small, crooked smile tilted his lips, and my heart flipped in my chest.

Why did Tye have to be my best friend? Why did the one man I wanted more than anything in the world have to be the one man who would never see me as anything other than his friend?

It fuckingsucked.

“You good?” he asked, setting the drinks on the nightstand.

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