Page 21 of Wild Hope
“Listen to me, Quentin. I love Kendra. I’m going to marry her. I was waiting for you to get back to tell you.”
“You want to marry Kendra?”
The talk of marriage stops him. He’s breathing hard, bent over with his hands on his knees, and we stare at each other across the room.
He’s like a raging bull, and I don’t know if he’s going to charge. I don’t give him a chance.
“I tried to deny my feelings, man. But I love her. She’s the most amazing, smart, funny, kind, caring woman I’ve ever met. I want to make her my wife. I want to do right by her.”
He's breathing heavily as he stares at me, the words sinking in.
We’ve been through a lot of together, me and Quentin. We fought alongside each other; we’ve seen shit a man shouldn’t see. We’ve been through hell and back, and we’ve ridden together to chase the demons out of our lives.
It’s only because he knows me so well that I’m still standing right now.
“She feel the same way about you?”
My shoulders sag with relief that he’s coming around to the idea.
“I don’t know,” I say honestly. “I hope so. I was going to buy her a ring today and find out. I’m not messing around with her, Quentin. This is for keeps.”
“This is a lot take in.” He lets out a big sigh and runs his hands through his hair.
“But if she loves you, why the fuck has she gone?”
His words have me racing for the door. “I don’t know. But I’m gonna find her and find out.”
We’ve wasted time fighting and Kendra could be miles away, picked up in some stranger’s car. The thought has me bolting down the stairs.
I hear Quentin running behind me as I sprint to my bike.
“I’m coming too. I don’t know what the fuck has gone on between you two, but if she’s running away from you, it can’t be fucking good.”
His words have a grim warning to them. I wanted to get his blessing, but we’re a long way from that.
I push the thought out of my head as I gun the engine. I can’t let Kendra leave the mountain. I have to find her.
10
KENDRA
There’s a blister forming on my left heel. I should put my sneakers on, but in my haste to get the hell away from the Wild Riders clubhouse, I pulled on my knee-high boots. The heel on them means they’re not made for walking long distances, but in the half hour I’ve been on the road, I’ve seen only two cars.
These remote mountain roads aren’t good for hitchhikers.
The goddamn birds are singing too loud and the sun blasts my face, making me squint. But I can’t waste time stopping to get my sunglasses out of my bag. I want to put as much distance between me and Travis as possible.
How could I be so stupid as to think there was anything real between us? It’s my stupid teenage fantasies where we get together and live happily ever after messing with my head. I thought I was playing them out, but he was just playing with me.
I don’t think Travis meant to play me. He's an older man and probably has affairs with women all the time. I’m just too inexperienced with men to realize that’s all it was.
Travis never promised me anything. It was all me that put that on us, wanting to believe in my teenage fantasy.
But that just makes it harder. If Travis was an asshole, at least I could feel angry. But all I feel is a deep sadness, a heaviness in my chest. It’s a heaviness that makes it hard to put one blistered foot in front of the other. It’ll take me another hour to get to town. And then I’m changing shoes, getting on the bus, and never coming back.
An engine roars somewhere behind me, and I step to the side of the road and stick my thumb out, waiting for the car to come around the corner.
But it’s not a car. It’s a motorbike, and it screeches to a halt beside me, kicking up gravel and dust into my eyes.
