Page 52 of Set the Moment
“You’re fine, angel…I would never let anything happen to you,” he coos, making my stomach flutter as he squeezes my thigh reassuringly.
I’m shaking as I look at the side of his helmeted head.
“Really?”
“Of course, now hold tight.”
You don’t have to tell me—
My back slowly lowers to the ground and I swear that I can see the angels above grimacing as the front wheel of the bikeliftsoff of the ground.
“AHHHH OH MY FUCK—” My shout is cut off by the maniacal laughter of the asshole who holds my life in his hands. I hold on for dear life as he zooms, faster and further down the near empty street, whisking me away as I tuck my head into his back.
“Fuck. I hate you so much! I’m going to shoot your little cupid looking ass in the back, I swear it! Fuck. Fuck.Fuck!” I scream and mean every single word as we come to a stop.
My body remains glued to Jace’s, not falling for the same old trick again as he sniffs a laugh.
“Although I love having you holding on to me, baby. I think you’re going to want to see this,” he says smoothly, patting my hands as he puts the bike in neutral, taking out the key.
My eyes are glued shut as my mind slowly picks itself up from the highway and travels back to its host. When my brain finally catches up to my body, I open one eye. The tension in my body rackets higher as I take in my surroundings.
Trees taller than skyscrapers and a graveled road that goes on for miles surrounds me. We’re in a parking lot with only about three or four more cars surrounding us. Jace turn to face me with his helmet off, staring down at me expectantly.
So, this is where it ends…
I wonder what my tombstone would say…Here lies a girl with pink hair and a fat ass. Or maybedeath by psychotic blond dude.
Sucks…
“If you’re going to try to kill me now, just know I will fight back. I have bear mace in my pocket,” I say, slowly pulling off the dark helmet he’d given me.
At this, Jace raises a brow, crooking his neck to face me with an amused grin.
“Bear mace?” he asks.
So what if I’m lying! He doesn’t have to know that… Straightening my back, I raise my head with a confident nod.
“Bear mace! So you better not try anything funny, psycho… I’m watching you.” I narrow my eyes as I wiggle a finger at him. Jace feigns his fright, jumping back with an exaggeratedly scared face and his hands up in mock surrender. I roll my eyes at him and take in my surroundings as he helps me off of the bike, his calloused hands wrapping protectively around my waist after he gets the bike settled.
The skin around my waist thrums with the heat of his touch, warming my cheeks as I look around the greenery.
“So what’re we doing here? I was joking yesterday when I mentioned you trying to seduce me in the woods…that seems painful, with all the sticks and bugs.” I shudder at the thought of my knees even touching the floor of a wooded area.
I’d rather sit and listen to Georgia drone on about Eden Marlowe’s “excellence” before touching twigs and spiders in the middle of the woods.
Jace chuckles, his voice airy as he asks, “Isn’t it obvious?”
I scrunch my nose as something pungent and farmy—if that’s a word—assaults my nostrils.
“It smells like cow ass…” I grumble, tilting my head to look at the smiling man.
“It’ll smell like a lot more than that when we get inside.”
Jace doesn’t give me the time to process his words before he’s grabbing a hold of my hand, leading me in the opposite direction of where we parked, and it’s then that I realize where we are.
A large archway in the shape of an opened mouth monkey is tall and inviting in front of us with the wordsLottie Exotic!splayed on a sign under the mouth’s opening. I furrow my brows as Jace walks us straight through and eye everything as we pass by a stand with different exotic animals on the top of bubble dispensers.
“A zoo? What are we—” I whisper more-so to myself, but Jace hears it all.
