13. Meadow
Meadow
A s I make my way to the convenience store, Blakely comes out of her room, straying behind me as I walk forward. “What your little legs can keep up?” I taunt her and kind of missed doing it these last few days.
“Bite me, blackthorn.”
A nickname! I’m excited.
“I will.” I turn my head halfway. “Just tell me where.”
“Or I can find someone else,” she sasses, stopping short when I halt immediately.
“Blakely…” I grit her name between my teeth.
“Oh, he called me by my real name, so he is pissed off, good.” She scoffs back at me. “What? What can you possibly do?” she inches closer, craning her neck, making an effort to stick it in my face in vain, but she’s cute I’ll give her that.
“I won’t let anyone touch you. If you want to try me, be. My. Guest.” I slightly distort my upper lip playfully.
“What about you?”
Our breaths mingle, and her body slowly presses to mine. My cock strains in my sweats, if she’d get a tad bit closer she would feel it too. The narrow slope of her jaw begs to be caged between my fingers.
“What about me?” I reverse her question back at her, turning my ball cap backward.
“You get to sleep around and decide who I get to spend my time with?”
I glide my tongue across the inner side of my mouth. “For your information, I haven’t been with anyone for over a year and no, I’m not deciding for you anything, I’m keeping you safe.”
“Really…?” she looks perplexed but I don’t know about which part.
“Yeah.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter, you don’t own me.”
I turn away from her, rolling my eyes in frustration because she is right. I don’t. I also don’t want her with anyone else here but me . I fix my posture and when I look around, she is gone like fucking Houdini. The place is getting crowded this morning so it is easy to go unnoticed or maybe she’d rather hide behind a few cars than have a conversation with me.
I let out a low grunt, grimacing.
“Good morning you gorgeous ray of fucking sunshine.” Dad greets me as I stride into the store.
I yawn the words out, “Good morning, gray fox.”
“How was the race?” he fixes Mom’s containers clumsily and I bet she would fix them right after him. “I had an emergency yesterday, one of the riders was dehydrated so I told everyone to make sure they drink a lot and I ordered more water packs we can distribute. ”
“Good call, I won.”
“Never doubted you.” His eyes study me for a second. “Why do you look so beaten though?”
I stretch my arms to the side, “The time differences, I guess.”
That’s a lie. I’m used to it by now.
It’s Blakely taking over every cell in my brain.
“At least you fly first class so you get some quiet and you can sleep on the way over.” He finally finishes the mess he made inside those containers and moves to the next task, filling the empty cooler with more Pepsi.
She’s everywhere.
Her delicious body and her moans blur everything.
“Private plane actually,” I correct, focusing on his face.
His eyebrows turn in question.
“My agent got us on a private flight with a famous super fan, he was going to the race and had some business there anyway.”
“That’s nice.”
“Yeah, it was okay. At least cut us some flight hours back and forth.”
“So he got you back here as well?”
“He sent us with his crew back, and I had to wear a helmet all the time to keep the secret away.”
He hums in approval. “Small price to pay.”
I nod to confirm.
“Meadow,” he pauses in front of me, “You know you don’t have to keep your identity a secret anymore. ”
“I do. I’m getting all these messed up phone calls and messages but at least I can keep you away from that and myself. This is my job but not my entire life. Besides, you know that they will ruin this place if they find out you’re my parents.”
He goes to say something, cutting himself off, and then says, “I know this will make things hard.”
“They only care about news coverage, they don’t care about us. We care about us. And I will never let them ruin what matters to me.”
It’s not just the racing. I took jobs as a stunt performer in movies and gained more fans there as well and I can’t let that affect everything I worked so hard for. My private life is separate from my job and the media will have to deal with it.
I love my privacy and I need this place to be my escape.
He curves his palm around my neck and pulls me into a hug, “I love you, son.”
My throat clogs as I whisper in his ear. “I love you too, Dad.” I tap on his back and tighten our embrace.
We pull away and I say, “I got some new streetwear like hoodies and jeans with protection that my sponsors send me every month. I requested them to send me a baby-size suit for Dean and Lennon’s baby girl.”
“That’s a fantastic idea, they will love that.” He grins widely.
“Who would like what?” as if we summoned him Dean enters the store, his bright blue eyes blinding. “Lenny wants to stay in bed today.” He shares .
“Nothing,” Dad blurts, “We thought Donna and Blakely would like a double date with us.”
WHAT?
My eyes bulge out of their sockets like a cartoon character as I snap my neck over to him. Out of all the things that he could’ve said that’s the first thing he thought of.
I’m already feeling Dean’s eyes land in displeasure on the side of my face.
“He’s just kidding,” I chuckle in embarrassment.
Why am I embarrassed?
Clearing my voice, I notice Dad’s coffee cup on the counter, “Dean, want some coffee? My treat.” My fingers snap.
“Sure.” He leans over the counter while I start the coffee machine.
Dodged it.
“While you two are here, I’m going to the back to rearrange some things,” Dad let us know before he disappears in the back.
I quickly fill two cups and signal Dean to come after me outside the store.
“What was it like to find out you’re going to be a dad?” I ask, handing him a cup.
“We traveled across the US with our van, then we traveled the world to every destination she wanted to go to until she told me, Dean I want to go home and start a family. Nothing in the world prepared me for that moment.” He sips his coffee. “We talked about kids from the beginning so I guess the time was right and I was the happiest motherfucker you’ve ever seen.”
“That sounds like a fairytale,” I comment as I gulp my coffee.
“A little. Not entirely. We both had our baggage but together we made it into our adventure. She is the best thing that has ever happened to me. Now our daughter is the second-best thing. I feel like I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole life.”
Family.
The aching feeling in my chest, the void—that’s the price of letting people inside our hearts and giving ours to others.
Scar plays with the dogs as we continue to chat.
“The fucker is relentless,” Dean shakes his head sideways.
I chuckle at his comment. These two always had a peculiar relationship.
“Scar, come here boy.” He crouches down to brush his black fur, and Scar snuggles against him in return. “He loves Lenny’s pregnant belly, he always insists on cuddling her and keeping her warm although it’s like a hundred degrees here.”
“Maybe he knows something you don’t,” I suggest with a smirk.
“I doubt it.” He stares at him with nothing but affection. “He’s a weird fucker but as long as he keeps my wife safe and makes her happy, he is a welcomed fucker.”
That he is.
“What is the deal between you and Blakely?” His gaze drifts to the bikers in the distance, getting ready for a morning ride.
I thought I could dodge this question. “I don’t know what you mean.” I pet Arrow when she stretches along my leg.
“Please don’t be the idiot you were a couple of years ago. After you lost your two other best friends you were rogue for a while. When Rio left, you fucking hated him for it. And now, without Michael, I just hope you are not going to be careless.”
“I was never careless around all of you.” My features harden when my eyes encounter his thunderous gaze.
He points a finger at me, looking annoyed. “No, you were careless with yourself, doing dangerous turns and cornering in competitions to push the boundaries.”
“That’s what a pro rider does,” I swallow the coffee down, “I needed something I had control over, somewhere I could unleash all the pain. I was careless to get better results but also careful as much as possible.” We don’t yell at each other but it feels like our hearts do.
“You know the pain doesn’t go away. The memories won’t ever leave you but they can quiet and turn into a background noise that is a part of your story. It’s a chapter and you have many more of those in the future.” He sounds like a goddamn novel.
“I know it now.” I huff in anger at the wind.
“Go get him Scar, scratch his money maker,” he goads, “Scratch his face.”
I chuckle, “Asshole.”
Later that day, after a ride with Dean and the group I’m teaching, I pull into the motel parking lot and see Blakely getting off of someone’s bike, and that instantly sparks a feral nerve in my system.
The blood in my veins boils as my eyes follow her little body walking toward her room. Charging in her direction to catch up with her, I take my helmet off in the process. The minute she opens the door, I push her farther into the room, enter inside, shut the door, and shove her back against it.
Tossing my gear onto the floor, my lips slam into hers, a long suffocating, lustful, and bruising kiss like the ones before. I’ve been dying to do that since the moment I left.
Pulling away with a gasp, “Why did you ride with someone else?”
“Unbelievable, you need help!” she fumes, pouting her lips almost into a snarl. “You don’t own me and you made it crystal clear it was just a job done the other day.”
“Wh-what?” I lower my voice, “What made you think that?”
“The look on your face.”
I gaze at her, lost in those brown eyes that make me question everything. “I told you I’d be back. Why are you always finding excuses to get away from me?”
“Maybe because you always give me a reason to.” The sincerity is laced thickly in her voice.
“And what if I gave you a reason to stay, would you?”
“After my tire blew up in the middle of the road, he gave me a ride. Milo sent someone to pick up my bike and bring it here and they will replace the tire with a new one. Happy?” Her hostility collides with my chest. “I deserve a smoke or an orgasm.”
“You deserve to suck my cock,” if we’re making suggestions, “Instead of wasting your skilled lips on a cigarette, demonstrate your expertise on my boner.” A dirty look meets her eyes as I wiggle my eyebrows once, taunting her, trying to get a different reaction.
Her pulse is dashing over the roof and she’s bluffing this by acting tough but I’m willing to run with it. My fingers lock around her throat, slowly tightening.
“Tell me you want this,” I ask, my lips almost brushing hers.
“I’ll tell you what,” she mulls the idea in her head, “One night.”
“Let’s make each other forget everything for one night.” I tighten my hold until she gasps. “Agreed.” My eyes search hers, making sure she’s focused on me and what I am about to ask. “We can do whatever we want to each other?”
“Agreed.” The intent spills out of her tongue. “I’m clean, you can take me raw.”
Oh, fuck. “Are you on the pill?”
“Yes.”
“I’m clean too but are you sure?” I check again.
“Positive.”
“That’s reckless.”
Those sweet lips that taste like raspberry chapstick move again, “Fuck me already.”
I won’t pretend that hearing those words doesn’t make me so fucking hard so I gaze into her eyes and let my crooked smile say unspoken words before I prepare her for tonight.