46. “Dancing in the Flames” - The Weeknd
“Dancing in the Flames” - The Weeknd
Walker
“Put this on.” He hands me a helmet.
“What will you wear?”
He sticks it on my head and fastens the chin strap. “It’s difficult to get hurt when you’re only going five miles an hour. Traffic is a nightmare.” He swings his leg over the bike and fires it up.
I straddle the seat behind him and wrap my arms around his waist. I’ve never ridden on a motorbike before, but my normal fear has vanished, maybe in the face of postcoital bliss or because I trust Heath.
It doesn’t make sense, choosing to trust him, but there is something different about him now. My mum’s words kept running through my head. One mistake shouldn’t define a person.
Heath isn’t a cheater. He’s never looked at other women, I’ve never caught him texting someone else, and when we’re together, his focus is solely on me. Those aren’t the actions of a cheater.
I should know. I had one for a father.
Heath made a mistake. A stupid, awful, heart-breaking mistake.
But I also understand why he did it. Sometimes when you’re scared, it’s hard to see past anything but an instinctive reaction.
For me, it was running. For him, it’s always been self-sabotaging.
We both have some growing to do, but at least we’ll do it together.
We cruise down one street after another. He’s doing his best to avoid the traffic pileups, which have gotten better since this morning. Every time we stop at a red light, he rests both hands on my thighs. My whole body tingles from that single touch.
An hour later, I’m already burning for him again. Our close proximity on the bike only amplifies the need I have for him. I shift against him, and he looks over his shoulder at me, a devilish grin on his face.
“You gonna make it another ten minutes, or should I pull over now?”
Considering we’re currently making our way across the bridge, I pinch his side through his T-shirt. “Just hurry.”
He revs the engine and zips around cars like he’s in a video game and not real life.
“I prefer to arrive alive,” I say over the noise of the wind and traffic.
When we pull up to the driveway of the manor, I wonder who is throwing a party. Four cars are lined up outside, the tail end of a cherry-red Maserati blocking anyone else from entering the premises. I pull the helmet off.
Heath slips the bike through an opening between the gate and the vehicle. As we roar along the narrow strip of gravel, I recognize the rest of the cars. Red Maserati, black Aston Martin, dark green Bentley convertible, white vintage Ferrari Spyder.
Arrayed on the porch in a variety of positions are their respective owners: Rhett in a pink tank and denim cutoffs, Pierce in a white shirt and gray slacks, Maeve in a houndstooth dress and black boots, and Lux in a white tennis skirt and polo.
Oh, fuck.
Lux lurches from where she is propped against the porch railing when she sees us. She darts across the lawn, and Heath has to stop the bike so he doesn’t run over her. “Oh my god, Walker.” She practically pulls me off the bike and into her arms. “I am so sorry.”
She crushes me against her rose-scented body. When it becomes clear she doesn’t intend to let go any time soon, I drop the helmet in the grass and bring my hands to her back. She wiggles us back and forth until I’m sure that I died on that motorbike and this is some form of purgatory.
“Okay, my turn.” Maeve’s voice cuts through our little reunion. She frees me from the human Velcro, only to attach herself to me instead. She smells luxurious and expensive, like a bottle of cognac and velvet. “I had no idea.”
She releases me as quickly as she grabbed me, and I stagger backward a step. Heath is still on the bike, but he has cut the engine. His eyes are glued to the handlebars, and he seems unwilling to look anyone in the eye, even me.
“Are you twats coming up? I’d rather not have to move,” Rhett calls from the porch, where he’s straddling the railing and leaning his back against the post.
Lux and Maeve tug me toward the house. I look back at Heath. “Are you coming?”
He meets my eyes for a second before dropping them again. “I’ll be there in a second.”
So much for getting it on in that giant bed of mine.
Or taking a bath together in the clawfoot tub.
I allow myself to be led to the steps of the place I called home for a month.
Fortunately my lease isn’t up until the end of the week, or the cleaning crew would be in for a surprise when they showed up.
Pierce wraps stiff arms around me when I reach the porch. “We’re terribly sorry for everything, Walker. I feel like absolute shit over what happened.”
I nod against his chest because I don’t know what else to do or say. Do I say it’s okay? It’s not. Do I say all is forgiven? I’m not sure if it is yet. Even Heath and I have a mountain of issues to work through.
After Pierce releases me, Rhett beckons me over to his precarious perch on the banister. I approach him, shaking my head. Leave it to Rhett to make even an apology selfish.
He slings an arm around my shoulders when I’m close enough. “Just so you know, I wasn’t in favor of the plan, but they outvoted me.”
Maeve tosses a cushion from one of the rocking chairs and hits him square in the chest. “Liar.”
His mouth drops open. “I never lie.”
She rolls her eyes and hurls another pillow at him. This one causes him to sway slightly.
He throws up his hands. “Okay, fine. I lied.”
With one final cushion, Maeve manages to hit him before he can place his hands back on the banister, and he falls off and into the bushes below.
“Oww!” he bellows.
She throws her head back and cackles. “Serves you right, douchebag.” She replaces the cushion and sinks into a rocker.
Lux saunters over and leans against one of the huge white pillars. “For the record, I was here to apologize first.” She crosses her ankles in front of her.
“She’s right, but I was here just a few seconds behind her,” Maeve says.
“It doesn’t matter who was here first.” Pierce crosses his arms over his chest. “What matters is that Walker knows we didn’t understand the full situation.”
“Or any of it,” Rhett mutters as he reenters the porch, dusting off his backside. He shoots Maeve a glare before climbing back onto the handrail.
“Do you forgive us?” Lux reaches for my hand .
“I—” I study the four of them. The last thing I expected was for them to make an effort like this. How could I not forgive them? “Of course,” I say.
“Woohoo!” Rhett throws his hands in the air, loses his balance, and promptly falls back into the bushes.
“I think you’re safer on the ground,” Maeve calls to him. “Maybe we should get you a walker, one of the ones with tennis balls on the bottom.”
He lifts a hand from the flower bed, middle finger extended.
“I still can’t believe Heath cheated on you,” Lux says, gripping my hand tighter. “I honestly didn’t think he had it in him. You two were always so sweet togeth—”
“Just because a couple is sweet in public doesn’t mean everything is sweet behind closed doors,” Maeve says. “You should know.” She gives Lux a knowing look.
Lux ignores her. “I wish you had told us.”
“I didn’t want to cause drama within the group.” I tug my hand back under the pretense of arranging my hair. I can only imagine how disastrous it looks after that helmet.
“You caused a lot more than drama by leaving without saying anything.” Maeve’s voice comes out sharp. She softens it. “We were worried about you.”
I never stopped to consider how my leaving would affect all of them. I was primarily focused on getting away before the conflict blew up in my face.
That’s what my dad was doing too. Not thinking about anyone but himself.
“I’m sorry,” I say quietly.
“Water under the bridge.” Pierce lays a hand on my shoulder. “Want me to beat up Heath for you?”
I raise my face to his in surprise. “What?”
He nods to the driveway, where Heath is still sitting on his bike, playing with his phone. “Just say the word.”
I frown and shake my head. “It’s all good.”
“What does that mean?” Maeve sits forward in the rocker. “What’s all good ?”
“Heath and I. We’re good. We talked, and—” My cheeks flame with heat. “It’s all good.”
“Tell me you are not taking that bastard back,” she says.
I blink at her. “I’ll keep my mouth shut, then.”
“Walker, you can’t be serious.” She pushes herself out of the chair, which threatens to swallow her tiny frame. “He cheated on you.”
The situation feels like a mirror image of countless conversations I’ve had with my mum. Only this time, I understand a little about what she must have felt every time I yelled at her. I lift my hand to my mouth to bite a nail. “I’m aware.”
Maeve swats it away. “Don’t start that again. Listen to me, Walk. Cheating is a hard no, remember?”
“It’s her decision, Maeve,” Pierce murmurs.
“He cheated on her!” she shrieks.
My heart trips, and I cast a look at Heath, still on his bike. His eyes lift at the same moment, evidently having heard her. His chest expands as he inhales. He sticks his phone in his pocket and turns the key. The engine roars to life.
“No,” I yell, and race down the porch steps. Rhett lifts his head from the flower bed where he’s still sprawled, but I ignore him, focused on one person only.
Heath lifts his head as I approach, but he doesn’t kill the engine. I tug the helmet from his head and toss it aside. I grab his face in both hands. “Please don’t go,” I say against his mouth. “Stay. With me.”
I taste his hesitation, so I kiss him harder. When his fingers thread their way into my hair, I know I’ve won. I break off the kiss. “Come on.” I tug his hand. “They’ll have to forgive you.”
“I’m not sure they have to do anything,” he says, but he follows me to the porch. Rhett has picked himself up from the ground and joined the others. They form a barricade at the top of the steps, arms crossed and chins jutting out.
“Guys.” I entwine my fingers with Heath’s. “You can accept us both or reject us both, but you’re not splitting us up. If I can forgive Heath for what he did, then you sure as fuck can too.”
They switch their attention from us to each other. Maeve mutters something to Pierce. They converse for a few minutes among themselves, long enough that I start to get nervous.
Heath tugs on my hand. “Hey.” His eyes are so warm and deep, I want to climb into them and never leave. “No matter what happens, we have each other, okay?”
His fingers find my chin and lift it up, high enough that he can seal his mouth over mine again. At least if they decide to kick us out, we can head inside and finish what we started earlier. If they decide to keep us, it’s hard to say how long until they all leave.
Someone clears their throat. “After a lengthy discussion, we’ve decided—”
“Just kidding! You can stop kissing now,” Lux calls. “Of course we accept you both.”
Heath pulls back enough to meet my gaze. “What do you say? Make them so uncomfortable that they leave?”
I grin and tug him back down to me. “Deal.”