Page 25 of The Biker and the Loner
He molests me with his hot stare as I unlock the side gate and close it behind me. And when I’m close to the motorcycle, he reaches out to grab me and reels me in, a tiny gasp fleeing me. He smells fresh and clean; a faint undertone of bathing soap mixed with the scent of pure male.
"You don't know how to call your man and check how he’s doing?" he demands. "You forgot my number or something?"
"You're not my man," I point out.
"You think if you keep saying that it'll somehow make it true?"
I play with the edges of his jacket. "I told Kendra."
"Yeah?"
"She thinks you may have changed from..."
"From?"
Ugh. I feel like an asshole for saying it, but..."From the sleep-around, slutscum that you were before you left."
He snorts, his expression giving nothing away. "She does, huh?"
I trace my finger around the snakehead emblem on his jacket. "So... Are you?"
He chucks my chin. "Guess you'll have to jump all in with me and see." He lets go of me. "Get on. The movie starts in fifteen minutes."
"Movie?”
"Yeah. It's Drive-In night."
Oh, right, I forgot about Drive-In night. Den of Heathens has a Drive-In outing on the last Thursday of each month, where the bikers and their women all ride to a Drive-In and watch whatever’s showing that night. Alcohol, blankets, cuddles and kisses for the couples, and bawdy jokes for the singles.
I’d only gone once before deciding that Drive-In night was more for the couples than for the singles. That one time I went, all the singles left early. We felt left out.
But I suppose I won't be feeling left out this time. The thought puts a smile on my face as I climb onto the back of Scratch's bike and circle my arms around his waist.
He revs up. "Good?"
In answer, I squeeze my arms around him.
Never been better.
~
The movie has already begun when we arrive. Most people remain in their cars, but the MC can be seen at the back on blankets and fold-out chairs. As I dismount, Scratch kills the engine then gets out a blanket from the storage compartment.
I spot Onyx. His grin is wide and infectious. I want to grin back, but I'm too nervous. It’s been almost two years since I ghosted the Heathens and stopped accepting their invitations. I do see the occasional one or two during my shifts at Tipsy Scoop, but I’ve not been around them inthiscapacity for a long time now.
When Scratch is done laying out the blanket on the brown grass, he beckons me with two fingers. "Peach, quit looking like a lost chicken and get over here."
“Peach?” I ask. “So I’m not ‘yams’ anymore?”
“Nah, I’ve decided I like Peach better,” he says. “Yams makes me hungry for food, Peach makes me hungry foryou.”
“I hate both.”
“Tough luck.” He beckons to me again. “Get over here.”
I lance him a vicious glare but go to him nonetheless.
Sliding his big paw to the back of my neck, he asks, "You alright?"
