Riding with the Bad Boy (Love Along Route #14)

Chapter 1

Danielle

Y ou have to be fucking kidding me!

I looked down at my phone, willing the cancellation notice to disappear, but it stayed right there staring up at me in big, bold red print.

Of all the rotten timing. I wanted to scream, but I was in the middle of helping Daphne, one of my best friends, move into her boyfriend Dermott’s house.

It was a beautiful cabin in the mountains right between Bliss Haven and Heartland Falls.

It was a little further from the city of Brexley, where he was a star on the Grey Gliders hockey team.

During the season he mostly spent his time in the city, but he would be changing that now that he and Daphne were together and her family owned Bliss Creamery, one of the biggest ice cream companies in the US.

“What’s wrong?” Sunny, one of our other friends, asked. I guess I must have made a noise or something because when I looked up, everyone was staring at me.

“It’s nothing important.” I turned off my phone and put it back in my pocket. I would call the car rental place when I got home.

“Are you sure?” Daphne’s brows were drawn together. She put down the box she was holding. “If you need to go Dermott and I understand.”

She and Dermott had been dating for almost three months, but they had known each other since they were kids. Product of growing up in a small town where one of you is a star, and the other has a family who throws one of the biggest ice cream parties in the US every summer.

“No, I’m good,” I told them. “Just a problem with my travel arrangements.” I was supposed to be leaving next Friday for my foster sister’s wedding in Saddleback, Tennessee, and as of five minutes ago, I had no way of getting there.

“I think it’s a sign that you shouldn’t be going.” Sunny shook her head. She had been snippy about this whole trip since I mentioned it. The two of us were close, but there were plenty of times we completely butted heads.

“I have to go.” I reminded her. “She’s family.”

Sunny huffed. “I’ve known you for how many years and you’ve never mentioned having any kind of family. Now, all of a sudden, you have some sister that came out of the woodwork in a no-name town in the middle of Tennessee. That’s a little suspicious to me.”

“She didn’t come out of the woodwork,” I told her for what felt like the hundredth time.

“She’s my foster sister, and she’s getting married.

We might not talk often, but we lived in the same home until she was adopted.

I only have like three people I keep in contact with from then, and she’s one of them. ”

“Doesn’t matter. I don’t trust her.” She stated, and I rolled my eyes along with Daphne and her sister Hailey, who had just walked in with her boyfriend Parker.

They were helping with the move, as well.

Their brother, Beau, and his girlfriend had been here earlier, but she was on a deadline for the paper, so she needed to leave early.

As far as I knew, Beau was coming back later.

“What’s she complaining about now?” Hailey asked, nodding her head toward Sunny.

“She’s still trying to convince Danni not to go to her sister’s wedding,” Daphne explained. She was taking a break from bringing in boxes to start putting things away.

“Still?” Parker asked. “I’m not even part of the Sassy Six and I know about this.” He laughed.

The Sassy Six was what a lot of people in Bliss Haven had a tendency to call our group. I thought it was a good name, so it didn’t bother me at all.

“I’m just looking out for my friend.” Sunny put her hand on her hip. “And besides, what kind of name is Belle, anyway? It sounds way too wholesome if you ask me.”

“Really, Sunday?” I snorted. We called her Sunny, but it was a nickname. If anyone had a wholesome name, it was her.

“She does have a point.” Her husband Elliot laughed as he came in with another box followed by Dermott. He must have heard us outside.

“Please.” She scoffed. “I’m about as far from wholesome as a chicken is from a cow. There’s not an angelic bone in my body, and you know it.” She poked him in the arm as he put the box down by where she was standing.

“You’ll always be angelic to me.” He pulled her into his arms and buried his face in the side of her neck, making her laugh.

“You think you’re so smooth.” She slapped at his arm, but you could easily see there was no malice there. He responded in French and she broke out laughing again.

Between the two of them and all the couples that seemed to be creeping up around me, I was actually starting to question if real love did exist. When you grow up in foster care, you have a tendency to have people come and go in your life.

I got lucky that I ended up in a decent home until I aged out, but that didn’t mean that I thought love lasted.

I knew for a fact you could find those that meant the most to you in an instant.

Yet somehow it seemed like overnight the whole Sassy Six crew had basically up, and found men that were perfect for them. From Ginger, who was my best friend and also grew up in foster care, right down to Daphne and Hailey. The only two single girls left were me and Blair. It was wild.

After I aged out, I tried the relationship thing and quickly learned it wasn’t for me.

The idea of settling down wasn’t something I ever wanted.

I was okay with sex. I liked sex, but commitment was a different conversation.

It just seemed like asking for heartbreak, and I had enough of that as a kid. I didn’t need another dose as an adult.

However, lately I have been wondering if I was missing something important in my life. It had started when Ginger found someone, then Hailey, Daphne, and now Belle were getting married. I had started to take a hard look at some choices I was making in my life.

“Back to this random sister.” Sunny caught my attention again. “I think we should have her checked out. The fiancée too.”

“Babe.” Elliot’s face went serious.

“What? I’m protecting my friend.” She stared back at him. “All we have to do is make a call.”

“What kind of call?” I asked. The room was deathly silent.

It was a known secret that all of us knew Sunny and Elliot had some sort of past they never talked about.

We all had our different suspicions, but none of us ever came right out and asked.

For a long time, I thought they might be in the witness protection agency, but I was now beginning to think their past might be government-related.

They had this way of talking that felt like they were part of one of those secret agencies you see on television shows.

The kind where some ex-spy comes out of retirement to take down the bad guy they could never seem to catch while on the job.

I was like eighty-nine point nine percent sure out of all of us, I was the closest to the truth.

Elliot put on a smile that didn’t come close to touching his eyes. “It’s no big deal.” He shook his head. The smoothness of his voice giving me con artist vibes from every heist movie I’ve ever watched. “Just a few friends we know.”

There it was again. They were fully government. They had to be. I looked at Hailey, and her smile spread. She was thinking the same thing.

“I think you should leave Belle and her fiancée alone.” I decided to change the subject some. “I’ve known her since I was a kid. She’s fine.” I didn’t talk about my childhood and I wasn't about to start.

“But you also haven’t seen her since you were what? Ten? People can change.” She pointed out.

That was true, but I couldn’t believe Belle had changed enough that I needed to worry about going to her wedding for the weekend. She had seemed fine when we went to Memphis for her bachelorette.

“I’ll be fine. I simply need to figure out how to get down there.”

“You could fly,” Parker threw out. “A last-minute ticket will probably cost ya, but I can have Archer check into it.” He offered up his business partner’s services.

I shook my head really fast. “I don’t fly.” There was no room for discussion in my tone. “I’ll just find another car for the drive.”

“Where are you going in Tennessee?” Dermott asked.

“Some town called Saddleback.”

“I think that is where they are having the Steel and Smoke Motorcycle Rally that Rocco is going to.” Dermott smiled. “I think he is leaving next Friday, too.”

“So?” My heart pounded in my chest. There was no way he could be suggesting what it sounded like he was suggesting.

“The two of you could go together.” He nodded as if he just came up with the best plan ever.

“I don’t think so.” I shook my head.

“Why not?” His brows drew together.

“Yeah, Danielle, why not?” Hailey had a half smile on her face.

“Because.” I drew in a long breath. There was no way I was going to admit that Rocco and I had been casually sleeping together for almost a year. No way in hell.

It wasn’t anything serious, which was exactly how both of us wanted it.

Neither of us did relationships, and we weren’t jealous people.

At least not normally. There had been a few occasions where I found myself a little more annoyed by the rumored partners he had around Heartland Falls, but I never brought it up.

We had agreed not to be exclusive, and it wasn’t as if he was the only man who had ever been in my bed.

He was just the hottest and most talented lover I've ever had.

“Because?” Hailey pushed. I had a feeling she was the only one, other than Ginger, that had an idea that anything was going on between us, but like a genuine friend, she kept it to herself.

“Because I don’t want to inconvenience him.” I smiled at her. That sounded like a good excuse.

“I’m sure it won’t be an inconvenience.” Dermott kept going. “It’s a long drive, and I’m sure Rocco would appreciate the company.”

“Me too.” Hailey nodded. I was going to slap her if she kept this up. “And it would be a great way for you two to get to know each other better.” Her smile was a sneaky as an used car salesman.

“I’m good.”

“Hailey’s right.” Dermott was not letting this go. “Rocco is a great guy. I’ve known him since we were kids, and I’m sure he would be happy to do you a favor.”

“Do who a favor?” I didn’t have to turn to recognize that deep, smoky voice.

My body tightened with anticipation. Memories of that voice in the dark of night washed over me. I swallowed down the wave of desire that pulled at me to turn right into his arms.

“Danni,” Dermott spoke up. “She needs a ride to Tennessee next week, and I told her you’d be happy to help her out.”

There was a dark chuckle from behind me and I looked back into forest green eyes that darkened with hidden passion.

“Is that right?” The smile that spoke to every part of my body crossed his face. “I’d be happy to give Danni a ride any time she needs it.”