23. Blakely
Blakely
“ M e and Dad had a nice chat,” I tell Lenny as we stare at the occupied parking lot, warming the bench as everyone waits for the groups that went on a ride to come back.
I wait for him.
Like a hurricane, Lai pops out of nowhere, “I was looking for you everywhere!” She sounds out of breath yet she is still speaking at the speed of light, “Do you remember the drunk motherfucker that hit on you the first week?”
I slide my eyes in her direction, “What about him?”
“Brook texted me that a biker tried to run him off the road and Meadow saw it so he drove toward him to see if he was okay and that guy tried to crash his bike,” she inhales, “But Meadow managed to get away from him and then kill switched his bike while he was driving.”
A wave of concern climbs up my body as I lift my ass off the bench. “Where are they?”
“They should be here any minute.”
“Is he okay?” my heart’s beating frantically against my chest as I ask in panic .
“Who?”
“Meadow…”
She grins and that relaxes me to some degree, “Yeah, he’s a goddamn demon.”
Shit.
The heave of my chest grows and I try to calm my ragged breaths but I won’t calm down until I see him with my own eyes, alive and well.
My eyes search between the bikers that enter the parking lot and as soon as she finishes another sentence that my ears block her out, I catch Meadow’s bike entering as well. “I’ll talk to you later, Lai.”
I quickly charge forward, running like my ass is on fire but I need to see him and ensure his safety.
From the distance, I see him parking, getting off his bike, and throwing his helmet to the ground in fury.
I exhale a breath of relief.
“Who the fuck do you think you are?” Meadow’s words are sharp with a lot of conviction yet he stays away from the other guy. His combats are firmly planted on the ground as he tosses his hands all over the place in accusation. “Are you playing god or some shit?” he spits to the side. His thick black strands sway with each movement, and as his fingers run through them, they layer up in a beautiful pile.
“I was just fooling around,” the other guy answers and out of embarrassment, he chuckles.
“At someone else expanse,” Meadow spews, hand curling into a ball at the side of his frame which tells me exactly what he feels. “What if he had gotten hurt, caused a chain reaction because we rode as a group, or died.” He thinks about Michael when he says those words. “You tried to wreck my bike.”
“But no one got hurt—”
“Because I stopped you!” Meadow immediately cuts him off. “I’m reporting you because if you do it again and hurt someone or kill them you’d not only leave them hurt but their family and friends.” He takes a deep breath, “I have plenty of witnesses who will support me,” he nods his chin to all the bikers around them and they nod in return.
“Look, man…”
“I don’t want to fucking see you right now,” he motions Brook to handle things, while he stretches his back.
“I got it,” Brook reassures before he writes down the guy’s details on his phone.
I stand at Meadow’s side, a few feet away, enough to be close but not to interfere. I can feel his pain radiating off of him as I shed a tear, feeling so proud to watch him deal with his pain like this. As the anger slowly dissolves from his system, he slides his face over to me, and his darkened expression softens.
The sun is gone, leaving behind streaks and smudges of gold across the faint blue skies. The lighting compliments his sun-kissed skin as it hits his gorgeous features.
I can’t even count the seconds before his front clashes with mine, his arms are wrapped around me, and his forehead glued to mine as a long moment stretches.
I look up at him through my lashes, trying to assess him .
What’s going through his head? What did he feel out there when he saw it; when he acted?
“You were worried about me getting hurt all summer but who protects you when you’re out there?”
“My brothers.” His voice is breathy. “Down here and up there.”
Panting, we exchange ounces of affection through our gaze as we stare at one another without breaking it once. His palm finds my cheek and I lean into him, needing to bathe in his warmth. I reach up to caress his jaw and give him the same confidence he gave me earlier when he poured his heart out to me.
His breath fans my face, “If that was you out there, I don’t know what I would’ve done, I probably would have killed him.” His confession burns me from the inside and my heart flutters. “I don’t want to lose someone I love again because of someone else.”
“Love…?” I slightly pull back to look into his green eyes which admire me the more they pierce through my soul.
His hands trail up to my neck, where he leaves a wet kiss, “You made me fall in love with you.” He kisses the same spot on the other side. “And fuck, I fell so hard.”
The moment my lips collide with his, nothing else in this world exists around me because that kiss is comforting. That kiss is real. That kiss belongs to us.
When he bites my bottom lip a giggle escapes from me so I bite him back and he chuckles into my mouth but makes a tiny groan.
“You can’t stop yourself, can you?” He asks in amusement.
“You know what I love about you, your emotions aren’t superficial, and you feel them down to your bones. You are not afraid to feel. That may seem like a weakness to others, but it is your strength.” I sigh, looping my hand around his neck. “You wear your scars better than most. You can be a pain in my side but… I love that pain. I love you.” I give him a chaste kiss and lick his lip ring right after because I can’t help it which makes him smirk. “You try to hide but you could never hide from me.”
His eyes are fixated on mine. No words come out of his mouth for a long minute.
“I knew you were gonna cause so much trouble, Grinch.” He hauls me across his shoulders and lands his palm on my ass, the smacking sound is muffled by all the noise around us but the sting burns even with my shorts on.
People stare, mainly at him.
No one knows except me and his family and we will keep it that way. Meadow deserves to walk freely around here and shed his mask once and for all.
This is his home where he can be himself.