Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
After an hour, my feet were killing me. Stiletto boots were not meant to be walked in for long distances. From where I was, I still had at least a few more hours of walking left until I reached the Kendry Bridge and another hour from there to my house.
I debated going into the next store I came upon to see if I could use a phone to call the house. Prue was there. I could ask her to come get me.
The loud rumble of a motorcycle driving by made me look at the busy road next to me. I noticed the Haven’s Rebels cut before I saw the rider look back at me. The rider was wearing a helmet and sunglasses, but I could tell right away who it was.
As I continued along the sidewalk, I watched as he switched lanes, slowed, and pulled over just up ahead. It took me a minute to reach him, but as soon as I did, he got off his bike and faced me.
“What are you doing on this side of town walking alone?” Bram demanded, stopping me in my tracks. “Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?”
I folded my arms across my chest. “Is that what you pulled over for? To scold me? Because if it is, get back on your motorcycle and continue on with your day.”
He pulled off his sunglasses to give me a stern look. “I don’t know if it’s stupidity or sheer balls, talking like that to a man like me.”
“Are you going to hurt me, Bram?” I asked. “Then get it over with.”
At first, he seemed like he thought I was all words, but the longer he stared at me, the more he looked taken aback. When he made no move to come after me, I went to walk around him.
He put up a hand to stop me. “Wait. Why are you here? Why are you walking alone?”
“I don’t have my car and my phone is dead.”
“Can I ask why you don’t have your car?”
I tucked my hair behind my ear. “I got a ride here last night, and by my own choices, I don’t have a ride back.”
“Right,” he said, sounding like he was trying to find patience. “And why did you decide to walk home from the other end of the city?”
“Because I got in a disagreement with…my friends.”
“When you say friends, you’re talking about Roe, Wyatt, and my stepson, Reid?”
I nodded.
“So you got into a disagreement with them and they fucking let you walk home alone?” I could tell he was trying to keep his voice calm, but it was obvious he was not happy.
“I told them to leave me alone. So you can’t really blame them for giving me what I asked for,” I said.
He sighed through his nose. “Maybe not, but it still pisses me off.”
“Why?” I asked. “You don’t even know me.”
“I—” He paused, as if unsure what to say. “I knew your father.”
“Is that how you knew my name?”
He looked away toward his bike. “Yeah.”
I shifted my weight from one aching foot to the other. “Then, acquaintance of my late father, can I go? Or can I please borrow your phone so I can call someone to come get me?”
He reached under his chin and undid his helmet. “I’ll give you a ride,” he said as he took off his helmet and held it out to me.
I glanced at his motorcycle and took a step back. Other than the tires and leather seat being black, his bike was mostly chrome, but the gas tank and the parts that curved around the wheels were this dark metallic orange. “I can’t. My mother would kill me if she saw me on the back of your bike.”
“I’ll drop you off down the street.”
I shook my head as I eyed his motorcycle again. “I can’t.”
He lowered the helmet as he stared at me like I was a puzzle. “You’re afraid.”
I bit my lip as I gave a slight nod.
“If you want, I’ll drive ten miles per hour all the way,” he offered. “We might get honked at, but I don’t fucking care.”
I huffed a laugh. That was very nice to offer.
“If you really want to, you can call someone to come get you, but just know I’d be careful. I wouldn’t let anything happen, especially with you on my bike.”
I figured he was worried about getting into trouble if I got hurt because of him, but I was oddly reassured. I wanted to believe him. I also wanted to call Prue.
Coward.
Weak.
Pathetic.
My thoughts wouldn’t shut up. It’d be so easy to roll into a ball and drown in them.
I’d done it before. Finding the will to get up and keep going after falling so low was like climbing Mount Everest. I did not want to get to that point.
I didn’t want to have to make that climb. So I had to keep standing.
“Charlotte?” Bram said.
“Sorry. I’m having a bad day,” I said with a voice that cracked and eyes that began to burn. “I’m being really hard on myself over the dumbest of things because of how bad I already feel.”
“Are you really upset because of the disagreement you had with your friends?”
“I think I used the wrong word,” I said, staring down at the ground. “I don’t think it can be a disagreement when I agree with the other person. It’s just hard to hear someone say something you’ve been telling yourself for so long.”
“What did they say about you?”
I shook my head, not wanting him to know. Surprising us both, I held my hand out for the helmet. That strange defiance I’d been feeling lately was pushing me to prove myself wrong. “Can I hold onto you when you drive?”
He handed it over. “Of course you can.”
I exhaled heavily through pursed lips before putting the helmet on.
What the hell am I doing agreeing to this? I thought as I watched him straddle his bike and hold a hand out for me.
I placed my hand in his. He had big hands, especially compared to mine. They were also calloused like Roe’s.
His hand closed around mine as I put my boot on the footpeg and swung my leg over. As soon as I was seated behind him, he started the motorcycle. Even though I was expecting it, when it roared to life, it startled me. I wrapped my arms around his ribs tightly and buried my face into his back.
His body shook, telling me he was laughing. He patted my hands. “Here we go,” he shot over his shoulder just before he took off.
The hours it would have taken me to walk only took fifteen minutes on Bram’s bike.
I admitted that after the first five minutes, my fear eased. Not completely, but enough for me to lift my head and watch what we drove past.
Bram did as he’d said. He parked down the street from my house, which I strangely didn’t have to give him directions to. He offered me his hand again to help me climb off. I took it because my legs were a little shaky.
“So how was it?” he asked me as I took off the helmet and handed it back to him.
“Not as bad as I made it out to be in my head, but still a little nerve-racking.”
He looked down with a small smile. “You get used to it.”
I’d have to take his word for it. “Thank you for the ride.”
“Anytime, kid.”
I gave him a little wave as I headed for my house. I didn’t hear him take off until I was almost halfway up my driveway.
I pulled out the house key attached to my car fob to unlock the front door.
As soon as I got inside, I took my boots off my aching feet.
I set them, my keys, and my wristlet by the stairs to take up to my room later.
In sock feet, I went to the kitchen. After all the walking I had done, I was parched.
The house was quiet, which wasn’t unusual.
Prue was the only one who worked weekends.
We had three housekeepers, one landscaper, and a handyman who fixed and maintained everything on the property, including the pool out back.
Prue, who was the head housekeeper, was also the staff manager.
She had been working here for twenty-plus years.
She worked late some days and knew everything about the house.
I filled up a glass of water, chugged it all down, and refilled my glass again. As I went to take another drink, I felt someone come into the kitchen. I thought it was Prue. I was mistaken.
“You’re finally home,” a male voice said.
My stomach dropped as I turned toward the kitchen’s hall entrance. Clay stood there, dressed in casual but still expensive attire: starched jeans and a gray Prada cashmere sweater.
His nasty eyes looked me up and down, not hiding that he liked what he saw. “You look like you’ve gained weight.”
What?
No, I don’t.
“I went to a party with Brandon last night. He insisted I drink. I’m just bloated from that,” I explained.
“Is that who you were with all night and this morning?” he asked.
I nodded and tried to act calm by taking a small sip of my water.
“Did you fuck him?” he asked.
I choked on the water in shock and began coughing.
“I’ll take that as a no,” he said as he came farther into the room toward me. “That’s not going to make your mother happy. In fact, she might get angry enough to cancel the rest of her trip and come right home when I tell her.”
I set my glass down on the kitchen island. The way he stared at me, I felt like prey. The hair on the back of my neck was standing.
He came closer until he was only a few feet away. He leaned a hip against the counter. “I totally understand why you haven’t given it up. I know how inexperienced you are.”
He doesn’t know shit.
He slid his hand across the top of the island over to mine, which rested near my glass. His pointer finger ran over the tops of my fingers. “I can help, you know. I can pop that little cherry of yours—”
I pulled my hand away in disgust and took a step back.
He smiled. “Oh, come on. I can show you how to please him.” Just as the last two words left his mouth, he lunged for me, knocking over my water glass.