Chapter 10
Once on the interstate, she was glad Rafe made Diana ride in front of her. To her relief, her sister kept up, not deviating. Maybe the rides with Paul had paid off.
Aware of Rafe behind her on his big Harley, she began to take in the scenery.
Soon they left behind the urban landscape and came to the wide, open green spaces north of West Palm Beach.
Tree farms peppered the roadside. Cell towers stretched skyward.
Some people thought Florida boring and dull apart from its pristine sandy beaches and turquoise waters, but Allison did not.
She enjoyed the wind rushing past her, the variety of palm trees flanking the road like a phalanx of tropical soldiers, and smelling the fresh air and occasional earthy, clean smell of water from ponds.
Yellow wildflowers peppered the swale separating north and south-bound lanes.
Once in a while, she spotted a deer or rabbit in the fields off the interstate.
An electronic sign overhead warned motorists to look for motorcycles.
Passing motorists slowed down to look at Comet riding in Keith’s sidecar. One car rolled down the window and a camera stuck out, snapping photos. Allison grinned.
As Rafe promised, they stopped at a fast-food restaurant off the interstate. Allison went into the women’s room while Diana made a call, walking around the parking lot.
“Ten-minute break,” Rafe warned.
When she emerged, he followed her to her bike. Here it comes.
She glanced at her sister, chattering away. Probably Paul. The diamond Diana sported on her ring finger winked in the sunlight.
She held up her hands. “Before you lay into me, this was the only way I could get Diana away from Miami. And Paul’s family.”
Rafe’s expression remained neutral. “Why this ride?”
“I talked her into a last-time sisterly adventure before she settles down.”
He looked different in the black leather jacket, black T-shirt, faded jeans, engineer boots and mirrored sunglasses. He’d grown back his short-trimmed beard as well. Stubble was a sexy look on him.
Bad boy Rafael. Well aware of her stirring female interest, she tried to focus on Diana.
She glanced at her sister talking on her cell phone. “Diana turned down all my other suggestions. She wasn’t going to do this until I begged her to join me so we could spend time together.”
Rafe bent down to examine her bike. “Nice job on lubricating the chain. Did this yourself?”
“Of course.”
“Why not take her away on a weekend to Saint Kitts?”
“Who has money for that? If I had a choice, I would go somewhere else instead of doing this trip with you.” Allison glared at him.
“But this was the only option, the only way I could get her to come away with me. I’d already gotten the time off and signed up with another group, but yours had the only openings for two riders. ”
“Lucky me.” Rafe stood up. “I’m not babysitting either of you.”
“I don’t need a damn babysitter. If she falls behind, I’ll take care of her.”
“I don’t trust your sister.”
Allison grit her teeth. “I’ll take care of her.”
“Who takes care of you? Seems you’ve always been taking care of her.”
“I can take care of myself, and it’s none of your damn business.”
“It is my damn business if she’s associated with Hernandez.”
“Diana doesn’t do drugs, either recreational or pushing them. I will vouch for her.”
He pushed his aviator sunglasses up his nose. “She’s marrying into a known family of a drug kingpin. You tell me, Allison. If she’s so innocent, why did she get upset when I looked into those boxes?”
Allison started to answer, saw Diana approach and inclined her head. “We should get on the road.”
When Diana got on her bike, Allison pointed at the phone. “Who were you talking with?”
Diana’s eyes widened. “Just a friend.”
When had her sister gotten so covert and sly? Allison felt a sting of hurt, shrugged and climbed back onto her bike.
Two hours later they arrived at the first official stop of the Teddy Bear Run.
The town of Arbor Beach’s cultural center had thrown out the welcome mat to all bikers on the run coming from South Florida.
At least two hundred bikes parked in the driveway and on the grass before the building.
A canopy tent shaded women standing behind a makeshift bar serving cold drinks.
Chips, pretzels and cookies were arranged on platters on a long folding table beneath another canopy.
Though it wasn’t yet the heat of summer, Allison appreciated getting out of the sun. She felt slightly lightheaded.
Maybe the heat was getting to her. Or the stress of worrying about her sister.
After getting a chilled can of cola, she went to join Diane on one of the chairs set up beneath a sprawling banyan tree.
While Debbie walked Comet and gave him a drink of water from the collapsible bowl she carried, Rafe and the guys in their group mingled with other bikers.
Some of the bikers wore denim jackets bearing the names of biker gangs with members of law enforcement.
How long before Di realized Rafe wasn’t really a landscaper, but a cop himself?
Hopefully she could get her sister to Georgia and eloping with her beloved long before Diana even suspected.
Not that Di disliked cops. But she didn’t want Di blurting out to anyone in Paul’s family that the man at his uncle’s house had been a cop.
Diana excused herself to talk on the phone. She was lucky. She had Paul.
Sometimes Allison got so lonely the only cure was to slip onto her bike, ride off and feel the wind against her face. Feel alive again, feel some kind of belonging, even if it was only for a little while. On her bike, there was more than freedom and the feeling of flying.
There was escape from the dark thoughts tumbling through her mind. Surely there had to be more in life than traveling the country, working to save lives that often couldn’t always be saved.
Lately she’d wondered what it would be like to settle down like Diana. Find a man who treated her like a queen, or at least didn’t treat her like crap. Get married, have someone to belong to, who belonged exclusively to her.
“Too bad you have to marry the family as well,” she muttered, fiddling with her long braid.
“Hey, stranger!”
Startled, she looked up and saw a biker dressed in denim, faded jeans and a white T-shirt. His face was ruddy from the sun and the smile he gave her was welcoming. Average face, brown hair a little too long, but not bad.
For a split second, confusion gripped her. Then he sat in the chair Di had vacated and sighed.
“Wow, Ally, you sure know how to hurt a guy’s feelings. That night we spent wasn’t that memorable?”
Heat suffused her face. She rolled the cold soda over her forehead and finally it clicked.
“Dan Johnson. How are you?”
“Doing mighty fine, now that you’re here.”
Dan. Nice guy, zealous about his bike and always on the make for women. They had gotten drunk together at last year’s Teddy Bear Run and...
Well, she was usually careful about the guys she slept with, but he’d caught her during a vulnerable moment.
She’d just come off an intense cell phone convo with her mother gushing over Di’s latest success in modeling, and how she was dating a multi-zillionaire who recently bought a nineteen-million-dollar mansion on the Intracoastal, and Di’s boyfriend invited them all to some fancy party for the Air & Sea Show at his condo on Miami Beach. ..
No amount of liquor could quell the hurt inside, or the slight resentment of her younger, more successful sister. But tumbling with Dan between the sheets had chased away the feelings that, despite her career, she was riding to nowhere, fast.
“We never did get that second date.” He winked at her.
Allison sipped her soda. “You know that was over soon as it began, Dan. I told you last year, let’s remain friends. Nothing more.”
“I know. But you can’t blame a guy for trying, not with a woman like you, Ally. You need a guy on the road to look after you.” He patted her hand in a patronizing way that almost made her smack his fingers.
“Allison,” she said curtly, pulling away her hand. “I need a man like my bike needs a flat tire.”
He looked confused. “Why would your bike need a flat tire?”
Good gravy, this was pointless. Using metaphors to politely tell him to get lost was like explaining an aneurysm to a toddler. Well, not exactly. At least the toddler wouldn’t be condescending.
“I can help you with your bike, check it over. You need to make sure you have enough coolant and transmission fluid before you get on the road,” Dan told her.
“Really?”
Seeming to sense an opening, he began droning about the proper care of her motorcycle. Allison bit back a sigh. Last year she’d told Dan she did all her own maintenance. Seemed he’d forgotten about that, along with her insistence they could be only friends without benefits.
Rafe, in a group of other bikers examining a vintage Triumph motorcycle, glanced her way. His gaze lingered on her for a minute, then he pointed at Dan and gave a thumbs-up and a head shake.
You okay, he was asking.
Allison shot back a thumbs-up, nodded and smiled, not to reassure Rafe, but in remembrance of the special sign language they’d developed to communicate when she worked as his confidential informant last year.
Sometimes Rafe would be at the biker bars where she hung out with the Devil’s Patrol, just to check on her.
Suddenly she realized in all the times he’d checked on her, it wasn’t because Rafe doubted she could get the job done.
Or that she needed rescuing.
It was simply to be there in case she needed him. Otherwise he’d back off.
His attitude was refreshing, especially compared to mansplaining guys like Dan who thought no meant yes.
Rafe was a rarity—a man who respected women enough to leave them alone when they wanted to be alone.
I don’t want to be alone, though. Not when I’m around Rafe.