Chapter 6 #2
He watched her go, wondering about the rest of the house.
It seemed remarkable. Comfortable. And perfectly attuned to Dillon.
There were pictures on the far wall of Dillon, Davey, and even their other cousin, Jessie.
There was an older one with all three of them on their bikes.
They were holding their helmets in one hand and making a peace sign with the other and smiling broadly.
All three of them were good looking. There were a few of him and Davey with Dillon in the wheelchair also.
Other than that wall with a few bikes in the pictures, there wasn’t any other sign of motocross in the living area.
He wondered about that. Dillon had been a good rider with a good career.
Davey had a damn two-stroke bike in his living room, mounted like a trophy from when he’d won the 250 championship.
Other trophies and plaques adorned Davey’s house as well.
He knew Dillon had won a lot too, but he never would have known it from the living room.
“Hey, Rico!” Dillon called out from behind him. “I was sleeping. Someone kept me up late last night,” he teased.
“Someone might keep you up late again tonight if you let him.”
Dillon’s smile lit up the room. “I might.”
“Good. First, I have a surprise for you. Ready to go?”
“Go?”
“Get a helmet.” He was hoping Dillon would have an extra one. He’d only brought one.
“Helmet? What the fuck you talking about?”
“Seriously. It’s a surprise, D.”
“D?”
“We need nicknames, don’t we?”
Dillon scowled at him, but Rico thought it was funny.
“Come on D. Surely, you have a helmet?”
“I have one. In the garage, probably, but I can’t really get down in there to find it.”
Anna stepped up behind him with a knowing smile. “I can find it.”
“I can’t ask you to do that.” Dillon shook his head.
“You didn’t, but I will.” She winked at Rico, then headed toward the other side of the house.
“Relax, D. This is gonna be awesome. Come on. Let’s meet her out front.” Rico walked toward the door, but when he realized Dillon wasn’t following him, he stopped. “Come on.”
“Whatever.” He eyed Rico suspiciously but wheeled himself toward the door.
Rico opened it and let Dillon roll out ahead of him. When he rolled far enough down the ramp to see the motorcycle, he stopped. “What the fuck?”
“You like?” Rico asked.
“A sidecar? Rico?” He turned, looking over his shoulder at Rico. The bike with the sidecar was on the other side of him, looking like a big barrel of fun.
“Yes! I want to ride with you, man.”
A strange expression crossed his face before Dillon turned away. Rico didn’t know what it was. He circled around and knelt in front of Dillon. “What are you thinking? This will be fun.”
“No one—” He was choked up. He ran a hand over his face. “No one has ever done anything like this.” Dillon’s voice was husky and laced with emotion.
“The rest of the world can fuck the hell off. This is gonna be epic, Dillon.”
“Come here, first.” He grabbed the sides of Rico’s face and pulled him in for a kiss. A quick peck, then a lingering press of lips, and finally a slip of tongue. Rico took it as an invitation to devour Dillon’s mouth. The kiss turned passionate and breath-stealing.
Then a wolf whistle behind him had him standing upright. Anna stood in the driveway with a helmet in her hand. It was a full-fledged motorcycle helmet for regular street riding, not the motocross type that required goggles. “Will this do?”
Rico whooped and practically jumped over to take it from her. “Yes! Yes! Yes! Let’s go!”
After a few minutes of getting Dillon situated, helmet on and strapped into the sidecar, Rico was ready to go. “All set?” he asked.
“Fuck yeah! Let’s do it!” Dillon pumped his arm in the air, and Rico revved the bike. He took off down the drive, and Dillon hollered, throwing his hands in the air.
Rico took the corner onto the main road fast, barely looking before barreling out. That made Dillon whoop again. This is gonna be fun!
He could barely hear Dillon yell, “Faster!” He knew his next purchase would be helmets with headsets so they could hear each other better. For now, he got the message clear enough. Faster!
He took the backroads over to Highway 491.
He didn’t want to get on the Interstate, but he needed a bigger road to go faster on.
The road Dillon lived on connected to Coal Basin Road which ran up to the highway.
It was a little bigger, and he got up to almost sixty miles per hour at one point.
There wasn’t much traffic until they got closer to town.
The highway ran south into town, so Rico turned the bike north.
Once they were farther away from Gallup, there was no traffic on the road. Rico pushed the speed up to eighty.
Dillon shrieked, but the sound was carried away on the wind. Rico smiled inside. He could only imagine what this meant to Dillon. What it would mean to him if he were in that same situation.
Eventually, they hit another highway and then took a smaller road circling Rock Springs and making their way back down to Gallup.
Rico could probably find a million places to ride the open roads that were beautiful and awe-inspiring.
He wasn’t sure the back roads of New Mexico were that.
It did have a certain charm. Small scrubby trees were scattered along the edge of the road, and in some places, snow still covered the banks that rose up on the side of the road.
The roads around Las Vegas weren’t much better until you got into the mountains.
No mountains where they were, and it was mostly that same rough landscape everywhere he looked. Except when he looked at Dillon.
They ended up back at Dillon’s place. Rico killed the bike and dashed up to the porch where Anna had left Dillon’s chair. Dillon was unusually quiet until they got inside the house.
“Rico, hey. Thanks. For that.” He nodded to the front of the house. “Man, you have no idea. That was awesome. But did you actually buy that? You shouldn’t have.”
“Did you have fun?”
“Yes.”
“Good. That was the point. It was worth it, and we can go out for a drive any time you want.”
“That means a lot.” Dillon smiled ear to ear, and that smile meant more than a lot to Rico. His heart fluttered an erratic beat in his chest. “Come on. Let me give you the tour, then maybe we can eat?”
“Okay.” He’d follow Dillon anywhere, but throughout his house was a treat.
The living area where he’d been earlier was dark and homey, but the rest of the house was bright and sunny especially Dillon’s bedroom.
The entire house had been built with extra-wide hallways and wheelchair accessible features.
He had a wide desk in the office he could roll up to.
The same in the bathrooms. They ended in the kitchen, where the counters were a bit lower than normal, and the refrigerator was wide and short.
Dillon had easy access to everything. He loved that.
He wanted Dillon’s life to be easier. “This is really nice, Dillon. I like it.”
“Davey had a big part in everything. He helped me design it and get it built. It wasn’t refitted. We built it from scratch, so it, you know, works better.”
“I see. Davey’s a good guy.”
“He is. Let’s eat. I can cook a few things, but I already have some grilled chicken and salad stuff in the fridge.”
“That’s perfect.”
Dillon started pulling stuff out and handing it to Rico.
Little bags held cut up veggies and chicken.
He put everything on the counter while Dillon rolled across the floor and grabbed plates out of a low cupboard.
“Anna cut everything up for me. She knows I’ll eat better if everything is easy to grab and eat.
There’s dressing in the fridge. Grab the ranch for me? ”
Rico nodded and grabbed the ranch and a vinaigrette for himself.
They ate and chatted at the big table. It was huge, big enough to hold twelve people, minimum, but it didn’t feel overwhelming with only the two of them there either.
Dillon’s chair fit right up to the table at a perfect height.
Everything in the house was laid out in a way that could make Rico easily forget Dillon was in a chair. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“I thought. Well, I thought that you were completely paralyzed, but it doesn’t seem that way at all.”
“Oh, I was. When the accident happened, it crushed part of my spine. The nerves couldn’t get the info from the brain to the legs.
” He tapped his forehead and then his thigh.
“But I’ve had several operations since then, and last year I had another one that helped restore a lot more.
And I’ve been in physical therapy since. It’s helped a lot too.”
“That’s good, right?”
“Real good. I mean, I still can’t wiggle my toes. I don’t have a lot of feeling in my legs, but some. My hips and thighs.” Dillon bit his lip, looking shy. “My groin.”
“That seemed to work pretty well last night.”
“It did.”
“Cool. Anything else I need to know?”
Dillon stared at him long and hard, and Rico felt the weight of Dillon’s world pressing down on his chest. He didn’t know if he needed to apologize, take back his words, or press forward.
Then Dillon gave a little nod as if deciding something. “You’ve thrown me for a loop, Rico.”
“How’s that?”
“When we first met, I thought you were...”
Dillon’s opinion of him meant everything. “Were what?”
“I don’t know—a player? A good time, maybe? Someone who wanted to fuck around and didn’t care about much else.”
Rico shook his head. “I know I have attitude. I can come off as conceited. I’m not.”
“I think it’s a motocross trait.” Dillon chuckled. “I think I was pretty cocky back then too.”
“When you were racing?”
“Yes, but now you’re off the subject.”
Looking into Dillon’s deep blues, he could easily get off-topic. “Topic? What topic?”
“You.”
“Oh, right. I’m cocky.” He rolled his eyes dramatically, trying to make Dillon laugh again. He wanted to hear that sound every day.
Dillon didn’t laugh. “Seriously, that’s what I thought. I was wrong.”
“Dillon?” He wanted to change that fucking topic again. He didn’t want to know if Dillon hated him.
“You’re so much more than that. You fuckin’ care. About everything. About me. And not only for a fuck or whatever.”
“Of course.”
“So what you need to know is...”
Rico held his breath. He didn’t know what Dillon would say next. He was right so far. Rico did care about everything, especially Dillon, and probably way more than he needed to.
“Rico, I could easily fall for you. So if you are fucking with me. Don’t. Take that bike back to the shop and leave me alone. But if you care and want more...”
“I’m not taking that bike back.”
“What are you saying?”
“I want more. I’ve wanted more for some time. Let’s try this.”
“Why do you want to hang out with a cripple?”
Rico stood up. “First, I don’t see you that way. You’re not. You get along just fine.” He waved his hand around to indicate Dillon’s house. “And not only here. I’ve never seen you out of place, even at the track.”
Dillon rolled his eyes.
“Second, you’ve got a lot to offer. You have a big heart and gorgeous eyes.” He’d meant to go for things that were beyond physical, but those eyes staring up at him like he’d hung not only the moon but all the stars as well, made Rico’s heart stop.
“My eyes?” Dillon’s mouth hung open.
“Yeah.”
“Fuck! I’m in trouble.”
Rico laughed. Maybe they were both in trouble.