Page 15 of Broken
A sight next to the car makes my heart stop.
The red bike.
The rider has a helmet on and seems innocent enough in a T-shirt and jeans. Just because he has a bike the same color as in my dream doesn’t mean anything. The vision of the bike sideways while I am lying on the ground comes back. It almost feels like I’m there.
The cold dirt almost soothing the bruises I feel forming. I’m pressing my cheek into the ground after being struck by someone. A large booted foot kicks my stomach. I don’t see anything above me. I can see their feet, three sets of them. I swear if I concentrate I can hear the laughing.
“Stupid whore.”
Then they all laugh.
I feel something on my leg and jump.
Max is looking over at me, and I see that we’re in a parking lot. “You okay, Tramp?”
I take a few deep breaths, almost needing to remind myself that they were just memories. “Yea, I guess I dozed off.” I try to convince him, hoping my voice doesn’t sound as shaky as it feels.
“Okay, if I remember you slept perfectly.” He winks at me, and I remember waking up on his chest. “Let’s go get some food.”
He gets out of the truck, walking over to my side. The door opens and he offers his hand to help me jump down. When I take it he gives me a small tug, and I ungracefully fall into his arms. Our bodies are pressed together, my face resting in the crook of his shoulder, and my hands gripping his sides.
I pull my face back to look at him. His eyes are studying me like I’m the only thing he sees. Deciding to be brave, I move forward an inch, pressing our lips together. Max groans and takes a step forward, leaning me against the side of the car. His tongue pushes past my lips and I let a small moan slip out as he caresses my tongue with his. He tastes like peppermint. I drag my hands up till I’m gripping the back of his neck.
Our connection is quickly broken. “You’re fucking dangerous. We need to go inside before I take you right here, and that’s not what I want to do.”
I smile at his confession about me affecting him.
He does the same for me. When we’re close I have an overwhelming need to touch him. There is a pull, a connection that was instantaneous between us. I remember feeling it that night as I stood outside his car. I never once looked at the girls in the backseat. My eyes were drawn to him. Without even knowing his name I found comfort in him when the President was questioning me.
“And they say bikers are trouble. Women are trouble.” He laughs and grabs my hand.
We walk into the restaurant that has a large neon sign stating that it’s a buffet. The hostess leads us to a red leather lined booth against the wall. I slide in and instead of sitting across from me he sits next to me.
“I figured this place would be good, since you really don’t know much about what you like, and what you don’t. This way if you get something you don’t like, you can always grab something else.”
My face breaks out into a smile that hurts my cheeks. He knew taking me to a normal restaurant might be overwhelming when I tried to order. I lay my head on his shoulder. “Thank you.”
His hand gently rubs up and down my thigh.
“Hey, y’all. What can I get ya to drink?” the waitress asks, and Max orders a couple sodas.
Once she walks away, he turns to me. “Ready?”
I nod and scoot out of the seat. I’m completely overwhelmed as I stand in front of four different rows of food. I’m trying to decide where to start when a voice sounds in my ear.
“Just pick one. We can stay here till you try everything they have.”
His breath tickles my neck and he places a kiss on my skin before leading me over to the first row. I take a little bit of everything and decide that I will probably leave here and need to be rolled to the car.
When we go back to the table he still opts for the seat next to me and I give him a sideways look, surprised he doesn’t want his space.
“What?”
“I just thought you’d want your space to eat.” I shrug.
“I can move if you want, but when we are in town we can’t be like this. I have to keep my distance, so I just figured I’d take advantage while I could.” He tilts his head to the side almost as if he’s asking me what I want him to do.
I answer him by scooting a little closer to him, completely satisfied by his answer.
