Chapter 36
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Devon
Taylor’s bike hits the dirt at full throttle, spitting dust. He crests a rise and pops the front tire clean off the ground, holding a wheelie before slamming back down.
Christian follows suit, taking the same hill and twisting midair just enough to make my stomach drop. They weave through the trail at top speed, cutting close to rock faces and dry washes, their engines screaming loud enough to echo off the canyon walls.
Salem keeps her camera on them, snapping shot after shot while Matty, Xed and Huck hike around with Hannah.
They’d asked if I wanted to come along—at least, Xed did—but it hadn’t felt like a genuine offer, so I’d declined.
Instead, I stand in the shade of a large saguaro and watch Christian tear it up with my hands in my pockets.
Last night was… a lot.
After we fucked again, we’d immediately fallen asleep. And this morning, Salem had barged in early as hell to announce our plans for the day. Gave me flashbacks from the tour last year, but with how rushed everything was, we haven’t had a chance to talk about what the sex meant.
He said it was more than just a fuck, and it certainly felt like it. Making love, he’d called it. Platonically.
Why the fuck does everything have to be platonic?
Christian hits another rise and throws a clean tabletop, bike flattening out midair before snapping back into line.
Taylor follows it up with a perfect Nac-Nac.
They’re showing off for each other, and it’d be kind of cute if I weren’t currently sweating my ass off.
Apparently, even November isn’t enough to cool off the desert heat.
“These boys, I swear,” Salem sighs, sipping from her water bottle as she joins me in the shade. A slight shock ripples through me when she offers a drink, and her lips quirk at my expression. “Your mouth has literally been on my vagina. I think we can share some water.”
I huff a laugh before accepting the bottle for a sip. “More worried you’ve poisoned it.”
“Oh, trust me, if I wanted you dead, you’d know.”
We stand in silence, watching Christian and Taylor stir up dust. Eventually, Salem pulls out her phone to type a message, and I give her a sidelong glance. “So that picture you took last night. What do you plan on doing with it?”
She hums, keeping her eyes on the screen. “Blackmail, probably. Or revenge porn.” When all I do is stare at her, she meets my gaze with a smirk. “Okay, I plan on sending it to Logan at the most inconvenient time. I like making him hot and bothered.”
“Sounds about right.” Shaking my head, I almost lean back against a cactus before remembering how intensely painful that would be. “I think you thrive on other people’s pain.”
She's silent as she lifts the camera to catch more photos. After lowering it again, her expression has evened out to something almost soft. “You know, up until recently, I thought the same about you.”
“My two missing back teeth think that’s bullshit.”
“Yeah.” With a deep breath, she turns to face me fully. “Hi. I’m Salem.”
I glance down at her offered hand in confusion. “Uh…”
“Salem Peterson,” she continues, smirking. “I’m married to Logan, we’ve been together for two years, and I also have a boyfriend and a girlfriend. Ethically. And I’m a marketing manager. I like taking pictures because growing up, it was the only thing I could control—”
“What the fuck are you doing?”
“Re-introducing myself without all the fake bullshit. Let me finish.” Grabbing my hand, she forces me to shake hers.
“I am also… impulsive, frigid, and hard to love. At least that’s what my mother always told me, and judging by how everyone reacts to me, I believe her.
These misfits are the only people on this planet who’ve seen all of that and loved me anyway. We aren’t perfect, but we’re family.”
I pull my hand free, wiping her sweat on my jeans. “Cool. Good for you. Add it to your resume.”
“Now you go.”
“I’m not doing this,” I scowl.
She raises a brow. “Why not?”
“Because you already know who I am.”
“Try me.”
I drop my gaze to glare at the red dirt dusting my shoes, at the dry sage brush and sharp gravel. At anything other than her face.
She waits patiently.
“I’m Devon,” I finally mutter. “Professional junkie and all-around screw up.”
“That’s not real,” she sing-songs.
All I do is scoff. “It’s the realest thing I’ve got.”
Salem doesn’t push it. She just studies me before turning away, and against my better judgment, the words start pouring out.
“I used to ride,” I say quietly. “A lot. Just a mountain bike as a kid, but I was good at it. Like your photography, it was the only thing that made me feel like I had some control. Then I got a motorcycle. Found out that my own parents gave me up at birth, which led me to make some poor life choices. I hurt people along the way, and now here we are. The rest is history.”
The bikes roar past again, engines roaring around us.
“I don’t know where I fit,” I add with a hard swallow. “And I hate that everyone only sees that… that broken side of me.”
Salem studies my face, her eyes softer than I've ever seen them. “See? Was that so hard?”
“I feel violated.”
“Baring your soul often does that,” she huffs, turning her head to watch the guys race.
“Look, no one in this family is bloodless. Taylor and Huck went through years of hell before they finally got it right. So did Matty and Xed. Logan and I are still trying to figure it out, but that’s life.
If you belong anywhere…” Her gaze swings back to mine as she offers me a genuine smile.
“If you belong anywhere, it would definitely be here.”
I blink at her slowly and try to process the fact that she just said something nice to me. “Is this your way of apologizing for kicking my ass last year?”
“You kissed my husband without his consent and outed him against his will,” she deadpans. “So, no. But. For what it’s worth, I do feel bad about it.”
“Thanks, I guess.”
“Just don’t hurt him,” she tacks on, suddenly serious. When I follow her gaze, I find it on Christian, now off his bike and wrestling with Tay in the brush. “After last year…”
It’s my turn to sigh heavily, turning my scowl to the sky. “Yeah, I know. Xed gave me the talk yesterday. You’ve all been through shit, life’s been hard. I get it. You don’t have to worry about me hurting anyone anymore. I’m getting too old for this shit.”
Fuck, I really need to figure out what I’m doing with my life. Working at the Prospector is fine, but it’s not something I want to do forever.
And I must have muttered some part of that under my breath, because Salem hums before studying me closely. “You could always join up with the guys and do stunts.”
My brows slam down. “Really?”
“Why not?” She shrugs and lifts her camera to snap a photo of me. “You did some stunt work with them on the tour. People have been asking about you online. Could be fun for a while, if your old bones can take it.”
“Fuck off! I’m thirty, not sixty.”
But… maybe. I do miss riding. I miss my crotch rocket. Honestly, I miss everything about last year, besides the toxicity and ass kickings. The trip was fun. Until it wasn’t.
“Just a thought,” she says. “You’d need a bike, but maybe you could borrow Huck’s.”
“Borrow my bike for what?” The man himself appears with Hannah attached to his back, her parents in tow.
“Devon’s joining TOT.”
Huck raises a brow, and I shake my head quickly. “I never said I agreed.”
Taylor’s next to chime in when he and Christian wheel their bikes over. “Agree to what?”
“Dev’s joining TOT,” Huck tells him, setting Hannah down.
“I’m not—”
“Seriously? Hell yeah! Up top, bro.” Tay raises his palm for a high-five, but I ignore it, too busy focusing on Christian with a breath caught in my lungs.
He meets my gaze steadily, expression unreadable beneath his visor.
For a second, no one speaks.
Desert winds hum around us. The bike engines tick as they cool, and Matty scoops Hannah up while she chatters away about a lizard they saw on their hike. Life keeps moving, but I feel like my heart has ground to a halt.
Christian finally pulls his helmet off.
His hair sticks to his forehead with sweat, hazel eyes bright from adrenaline. He studies me lengthily, almost like he's searching for something. Then, he asks, “You want in?”
There’s a tension lingering between us that makes me think he’s asking about more than just the dirt bikes.
I fake a casual shrug. “Wasn’t exactly my idea.”
A corner of his mouth lifts. “Not what I asked, fool.”
Swallowing hard, I exhale slowly through my nostrils as everyone waits for an answer. “I don’t know, I just…” No, no lies. No deflecting. Only the truth this time. “Yeah. Yeah, I want in.”
“It’s hard work sometimes,” he tells me. “Like, it’s not all goofy stunts and shit. We have to plan things right so we don’t hurt anyone.”
“Or yourselves,” Huck mutters under his breath.
I nod once. “Yeah. I remember from last year. I’d take it seriously.”
And I would—I will. If last year taught me anything, it’s this right here. No more pain, no more violence. Not where these people are concerned.
Christian keeps his gaze on mine, stepping into my space before bringing our bodies close…
And then the fucker knights me on each shoulder.
“Welcome to TOT,” he grins, eyes sparkling with humor.
The tightness in my chest loosens slightly. Not all the way, but enough to breathe.
Taylor whoops immediately. “Yes. Triplets of Terror. Time for a rebrand!”
“Fuck, I’ll have to rework all my designs,” Huck groans.
“Imagine all the cool shit we can make with this, baby. Cerberus, from Greek mythology. Hydra!”
“That three-headed alien thing from Godzilla,” Xed offers.
Everyone breaks off into conversation, but Christian loops his arms around my neck, still watching me. When I smile at him, he gives me one back.
“Ready to get serious, pastelito?” he whispers, mouth close to mine.
This time, I know he’s talking about more than just the bikes.
Deciding to say fuck it, I close the distance between us and softly press my lips to his in front of the sky and all our friends. “Yeah, hot shot. I’m ready. Let’s do this.”