Page 2 of Better as It

I kick up my kickstand the rest of the way before firing up the engine, dropping a gear, and taking off. Nothing about her changes, she is simply taking another ride on another bike, with another Hellion. No tension, no reaction.

She doesn’t live far from the night club. It’s a nice condo on the beach. I couldn’t live here, the way all of them look the same, being set up alike, it isn’t my thing. For a young woman, though, this is safer. Plus, I know BW just moved her in not long ago. It’s a summer thing until she goes back to school. She’s in college. I think someone said she wants to be a vet. This is her summer break. From what BW said, she’s struggling being away from home and as much as her parents want her to be with them, Doll thinks it’s best to let her have her own place to helpher transition back to school. Dia wants to have independence as well, according to her brother, but knowing Tripp, he’s still controlling it, and that is why she’s set up in this place.

Killing the engine, I hold my hand up for her to use as she climbs off my bike. At the contact a different shock flows through me. A silence settles in the air between us as she takes off the helmet shaking her already messy hair out.

“You wanna come in?” she invites.

“Shouldn’t invite random guys in your place, Dia.”

She shrugs, “you’re halfway to Hellion, you’re not random.”

“Halfway to Hellion, you got jokes,” I kid back with her. No one said don’t go inside with her, and I wasn’t told to stay outside. In fact, the directive was keep her safe and don’t leave until she’s sleeping off the night.

“Look I’m home from college for the summer. Not big on being alone. You’re safe. You’re not the kind of guy to murder me. Don’t make me stay the night by myself.”

Alone with Dia Crews is reason enough to say no. She’s a dangerous drug with her looks and sweet personality, I could get high off being around her. Yet, I find myself climbing off my ride. She begins to walk ahead. I pause taking off my helmet and contemplate what I’m doing as she looks over her shoulder at me.

“You comin’ or what?”

Like some lovesick fool, I follow and I can’t help but wonder if this very night will be my rebirth or my undoing.

Inside, the place is tidy. It smells of lemon with a slight hint of burnt bacon, maybe from her breakfast. I lock the door behind us as she heads into her kitchen.

“You want anything?” she asks and my idiot mind immediately thinks of all the naughty things I’d love to do to her. Yeah, I want something: her.

“I’m good.”

She takes out a soda, popping the top to the can, taking a sip while gesturing for me to follow her to the living room. She points to her couch, “sit.”

The leather is worn, comfortable. She drops down beside me, but not touching me. Tucking her legs under her, there is this casualness between us as if we do this regularly.

“Thanks for picking me up, Justin.”

“No problem.” I don’t actually know what to say. I don’t want to be the dick that says I really didn’t have a choice. BW issued the order and he’s fully patched now, just in the last couple of months actually. I’m not going to question his order. I don’t dare risk my final rocker over a ride.

“Most prospects aren’t this relaxed when they pull ‘Dia Duty’ to grab me.”

“I’m not most prospects.”

She studies me, eyes laser focused as she seems to be sobering up. “No, Justin, you’re not like any other man.”

We sit in silence as she takes me in. I don’t avoid her stare and I find I’m comfortable with her even without saying a word.

“Do you like it?”

“Do I like what?” I run my hands over my thighs, the denim of my jeans against my palms. “Being a prospect?”

She nods.

I laugh, “Darlin’ no one likes being a prospect. Do you like it? Growing up in it?”

She smiles proudly. “It’s all I know. I can’t imagine life any other way. People hear the words motorcycle club or Hellion, they make assumptions. It pisses me off. Guns, drugs, whores, trouble. In school some people wouldn’t let me come to their houses because of who my dad is.”

“Their loss, missing out on you.”

She pulls her tangled hair up into a messy bun using a hair tie on her wrist, but continues on her ramble. “There is so muchmore to club life. As a brother, it’s loyalty, it’s family. As a female, it’s about unity. We are a community that sticks together through the good and the bad times. The world is an ugly place, I’ll take the Hellions all day over sorting life outside of it. That’s my family thick and thin.”

Our conversation flows easily and before I know it, the clock reads 4:13 and she’s half-asleep beside me on her couch.

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