Page 145 of Black Flag

“But I want to ride ona Harley!” Emma insisted stomping her foot.“Just one ride.”

“Emma Riley, get in thefucking car!” I shouted pointing toward the door.

I was hardly in the moodfor any of this but also, I was clearly not thinking when I told the entire barthat she was Emma Riley.

“Silly Sway,” Emmajumped in. “it’sEmma Gomez now.” She saidhaphazardly. “I’m married.”

The entire bar tooknotice.

“Wait, you’re JamesonRiley’s sister, aren’t you?” a girl asked from behind the bar grinning likeMiss America after she’d been crowned.

“No, I was mistaken.” Imuttered pulling Emma toward the door. “They’re not related.”

Biker Billy grabbedEmma’s hand. “The lady said she wanted a ride.”

“She doesn’t want aride.” Van growled standing inches from him. He pushed Emma and me protectivelybehind him. “Like she said, she’s married.”

“That’s not what shesaid.” Biker Billy didn’t back down either and I began to realize we were aboutto be in one of those biker brawls you see on TV. You know the ones where itends with someone getting shanked and missing teeth and then suddenly the barblows up.

“Nice going asshole,” Iwhispered to Emma. “Now look what you’ve done.”

“Me!” she pointed at herselfwith wide-eyes as her black waves fell into her eyes. “What did I do?”

“You insisted on cominginto this shit hole.” I gestured toward Biker Billy and the clan. “You’vecreated a war!”

“It’s a little dingybut I wouldn’t call it a shit hole.” She completely ignored my remarks aboutthe war.

“You’re a fuckingretard.”

Morefoomanchu’sandschmuckstasher’smade their way toward us.

Everythinghappenedso fast that Emma and I had no ideawhatactually went down. The only thing I remember was Biker Billy screaming.

Before I knew it, Emmaand I were being placed inside the Expedition and driving away like bats out ofhell. Looking out the back window, I half expected the bar to blow up.

Emma turned toward Van.“You have some serious aggression issues.”

Van said nothing inreply but his glare did.

Though I wasn’t surethis was ever possible, Emma was quiet for a good hour.

I liked Van more andmore every day.

“No more biker bars.”Emma whispered as we pulled into a drive through Burger King. She only saidthis because Van told her she couldn’t get a kids meal unless she apologized, Ifound this extremely entertaining. Emma had finally met someone who refused toput up with her bullshit.

She slapped my leg whenthe guy in the drive-through handed her a paper hat. “Do you remember thattornado we got caught in outside Kansas City?”

“How could I forget atornado, Emma?”

She shoved a chickennugget covered in barbeque sauce in her mouth. “You never know. You could haveblocked out the memory.”

“Nope, it’s stillthere.”

Once we found a hotelroom that night, Emma and I still weren’t on good speaking terms. Mainlybecause I had to pee every few miles and Emma just wanted a warm bed to sleepin.

So what did she do?

While we circled theparking lot looking for an open stall, she turned on Britney Spears to annoythe shit out of us.

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