“Did you tell Benny and Carson that we’d be back in time for their party on Sunday?” I asked when we reached his Harley.
King nodded, handed me my helmet (a wicked cool ‘brain bucket’ that had the words ‘Property of The King’ scrawled on the back in gold script) and swung over the bike. “They know, babe.”
“I just feel so bad that I won’t be there to help them set up,” I tried to explain as I settled behind him.
“Babe, it’s a fuckin’ Halloween party and you already spent the last three days helpin’ ‘em decorate the house. It’s for university students, they don’t need you to set out snacks and fuckin’ fruit punch.”
I blushed but planted my hands on my hips. “This is their first party as a couple, King. It’s important they know we support them.”
“We see ‘em every week, babe. Think they know it.”
Strangely, maybe, King and I had become really close with Benny and Carson, who had also moved to UBC in September to start their undergraduate degrees. They fought all the time because Carson still had a hard time being openly gay and Benny was an affectionate guy but it was clear to everyone who knew them that there was a lot of love there. They lived off campus like us, on the main level of a little bungalow with Carson’s mum living in the basement. She’d left her husband and didn’t want to be far from the son she’d neglected for the first eighteen years of his life. I was fairly close to her too, and we went to hot yoga every Sunday morning.
I settled behind King on the bike, pressed my cheek to his chest and dragged in a deep breath of his leather, fresh air and laundry scent. We did our laundry together now and I loved the smell of that clean scent on my own clothes, but nothing was the same as taking a hit directly from the source.
“You are such a dork,” King chuckled when he heard my deep inhale.
“You love it.”
“Yeup, makes me fuckin’ crazy. Don’t know what’s sexier, you in your geeky book tees or you in nothing.”
He felt my aroused shiver against his back and laughed.
“Dad needs us or he wouldn’ta called. Need you to be prepared for anything, yeah?” he asked after he’d sobered.
Zeus had called in the middle of the night requesting that King come home for the weekend. It wasn’t a usual request since Zeus wasn’t a helicopter parent and he’d been really good about giving King his space from The Fallen. Still, when Zeus called, you answered. So, here we were.
“Do you think it’s the Nightstalkers?” My scarred hands flexed involuntarily at the reminder.
The rival MC hadn’t taken off after Luis died. They’d only regrouped, and after lying low for the summer, I had to wonder if they were making their comeback.
“Don’t know, babe.”
“It could just be he met a woman and he wants us to meet her?” I asked, jokingly.
Zeus Garro did not date. Not ever.
King snorted.
“Maybe Harleigh Rose is dating someone and he wants us to meet him?” I hoped.
H.R. was more beautiful every day and a fifteen-year-old girl in high school, so it would be expected for her to have a boyfriend.
Zeus Garro did not let his little girl date. Not ever.
“You done talkin’ crazy now, babe? Wanna get home and assess the damage myself.”
“For now,” I muttered, but only so he would laugh again, which he did.
“Don’t be afraid to scratch or bite,” he said, reminding me of the first time I’d climbed onto his bike, and followed him onto the Sea To Sky Highway with no idea of where he’d take me. “I’m gonna ride hard so hold on tight, Queenie, yeah?
“Always,” I said under the roar of the engine as he pulled out of the lot.
The End.