16. Kiera
KIERA
It looked so schlubby compared to the dark wash jeans and black henley she’d thrown on under her leather jacket. I’m surprised that’s the outfit she’s willing to ruin…
But she just smiled wide at me, letting her eyes skim up and down my body unapologetically. “Sporty. I like it. But we’ve gotta talk about your lack of layers. You’re going to freeze to death.”
I shrugged as I sidled closer, grabbing the helmet she left out for me. “Hardly my fault. You gave me zero info on where we’re going. Guess you’ll just have to share your jacket with me.”
“I’ll do you one better,” she smirked, pulling out a spare jacket she’d been holding out of my view on the other side of the bike.
It was a bit worn at the elbows, but in spectacular shape otherwise.
A hand-me-down, I was guessing. “We should get you one of your own, but for now, this’ll keep you safe and warm on the bike. ”
“Thank you.” I smiled, letting her ease it onto me. It was soft and warm, like a gentle hug. I’m not sure I will need one of my own, actually.
As she pulled on her own helmet and got settled, my eyes drifted over the bike between her legs. After all of these weeks of riding around on them, it still wasn’t lost on me how sexy the Suzuki looked. Even sexier with its owner on top of it.
My brow furrowed as I noticed a shiny new chain threaded over the back wheel’s gears. “Your bike busted again?”
“Huh?” Spencer tilted her head, following my chin as I nodded toward the chain. “Oh, yeah… Just some scheduled maintenance.”
“Mhm…” I crossed my arms, giving her a once over. “I’m sure Leo would concur.”
“How about you worry less about what Leo thinks and hop on so we can get going? Don’t you want to know what your surprise is?”
“You could just tell me,” I teased, placing a hand on her back as I swung my leg over the bike.
“But where’s the fun in that?”
The second I wrapped my arms around Spencer’s waist, she lifted the kickstand and let the engine roar to life, tearing down the driveway with reckless abandon.
The only comfort to be found in all of Spencer’s speed-demon tendencies was that if we crashed, at least it would go quickly.
But even in all of my nerves, I knew that she was a skilled driver.
And more than that, I was starting to trust that she wouldn’t put me into a situation she couldn’t get me out of.
As we rode, the route looked familiar. We were headed to Valemont, not the deep woods as I’d suspected. Fuck, I’m really underdressed, then.
But as I tried to imagine what seedy new part of town I would see tonight, I was surprised when we drove down mainstreet, past the diner and the tourist destinations, past the Glass Canon and the tattoo shop until we pulled up outside of…
“Lucky Strike?” I pulled off my helmet as soon as the bike came to a halt, narrowing my eyes at Spencer. “Please tell me we’re not doing another lesson…”
She smirked cheekily as she took off her helmet and helped me off of the bike. “Not a lesson per se…”
Before I could ask what the fuck that cryptic shit meant, there was a rustle from the alleyway — one that set even Spencer’s hackles up. She pulled me quickly behind her, shoulders tensing as she peered down the driveway. “What the fuck…?”
My hands clenched the back of her leather jacket as I peeked around her broad back. “Maybe we should?—?”
But before I could finish the sentence, there was a hollow metallic bang from inside the dumpster. A second bang, and the lid flew open, revealing a hulking black creature covered in garbage.
“Is that a fucking bear?!” Spencer grabbed my arm and tried to push me back onto the bike, but I stopped her with a palm to her chest.
“It’s the dog from the car!” My eyes widened as the creature turned its head, an old banana peel dangling from its lips as it locked eyes on Spencer. “Poor thing has to be starving. Maybe we can find it something to eat.”
Softly cooing as I picked through Spencer’s bike bag, I found an old stick of beef jerky and tore open the package. “You hungry, baby?”
As the Rottweiler’s gaze shifted from Spencer to me, its mouth watering at the sight of the jerky, Spencer tensed. “Please be careful, Kiera. You don’t know that dog.”
The scratches on its side were starting to heal over, brown now instead of the bright red that had drawn my eyes the night we found her.
“It’s just a baby.” I muttered, never taking my eyes off the puppy. “You’re just a sweet baby, huh?”
The dog’s big, orange eyes flicked from the food in my hand up to my eyes, trying to decide if it could trust me. And I didn’t blame it — my own experiences with shitty men made me cagey around strangers.
But just as the puppy’s hunger was about to win out, a screech of tires behind me made all of our heads whip around.
My heart raced, terrified that I was about to get hit, but it was just some asshole in a pickup who’d taken the turn a bit too hard. The puppy didn’t know that though, and the second my eyes left it, the dog bolted down the alleyway, disappearing around the back corner of a shop.
“Wait!” I called out, preparing to run after it, but Spencer stopped me with a hand around my bicep.
“Kiera…”
“It’s going to get away!”
“And what’s your plan for catching it?” Her tone wasn’t unkind, but the concern on her face was clear. “Listen, I want to help it just as much as you do. But we’ve got to be smart about this. Chasing it down now is only going to freak it out.”
“What if it doesn’t come back?” I frowned.
“It will. There’s only so many places it can dumpster dive in town. Most of the tourist places lock up the dumpsters. So if we start leaving out some food, it’ll have to come back. We can earn its trust from there.”
I pouted as I craned my neck down the alleyway. “You really think that’ll work?”
My heart ached at the thought of its brown eyebrows, scrunched together in confusion. The little Rottweiler needed somewhere to eat in peace. And I wasn’t certain the alley next to an autobody shop was going to fit the bill.
“I promise it will, Bunny.” Spencer wrapped her arms around me from behind. “And if it doesn’t, I’ll track it down myself. Okay?”
“Okay…” I murmured, melting into her embrace.
Rubbing my arm, she placed a sweet kiss against my temple before rumbling in my ear. “Alright, baby, ready to head inside?”
I took a deep breath, “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
Lacing her fingers with mine, Spencer led the way into Lucky Strike. There was an energy radiating off of her — a sort of tension clashing against excitement. And as we entered the shop, I realized that it wasn’t just her energy that had shifted.
The entire inside of the autobody had been rearranged. It was hard to tell where exactly everything had been moved with the lights off, but the ring of candles surrounding a big, empty car lift in the middle of the shop certainly hadn’t been there yesterday.
My head buzzed trying to guess what kind of romantic surprise Spencer had planned for me — and why she had chosen here, of all places.
But my chest tightened as two figures stepped out of the shadows: Dom and Leo, each with a set of bike chains in their hands. “What are we…?”
Before I could finish the question, Spencer placed a hand on my back, pressing me forward as she locked the door behind us. And only then, as I watched my last exit close behind me, did I notice the bike chain dangling from own pocket and wonder what the fuck I had gotten myself into.