My mouth was dry just wondering what was underneath his faded and ripped jeans, his riding boots, and his grey shirt shredded on the side. I saw it because his leather jacket was unzipped and hanging to the side.
He handed the helmet over, his face stony.
I took it, making sure our hands did not touch, and he noticed. The corner of his mouth lifted for a split second, then he went back to being a wall.
I didn’t wait. I gathered my hair up and pulled the helmet down. When it was in place, I stood back, crossed my arms over my chest, and cocked my head to the side. Then I waited.
He frowned, his own head tilting to the side. “You trying to be funny?”
“Just wondering what it’s like on this side of the helmet.”
His eyes narrowed, those gorgeous blues, but he didn’t say anything further.
Neither did I. That was the whole point of this.
After another few seconds, he shook his head slowly. “What are you doing?”
Maybe the gig was up, and it hadn’t put him on edge. That’d been the hope.
I sighed, taking the helmet off, but I didn’t hand it over. I held it, resting it just on the back of my thigh, and I nodded at his bike. “Since when do you guys wear these, anyway? I thought you needed open-face helmets?”
He leaned forward, plucking the helmet away from me, and moved back. “Easier for cameras not to spot me.”
I looked at his bike’s plate, but it was smudged over.
Who was this guy?
Fine. I’d try a different tactic, and what the tactic was for, I couldn’t answer. I was going with it, feeling my way because there was a weird ebb and flow between him and me.
He probably wasn’t here for me. Right?
I don’t know.
He might’ve needed to hand something in, or... I had no clue, but my gut was telling me he was here for me. That he knew I had detention today. That he knew the exact time I’d be let out, and I’d even be let out early.
He had it all worked out to be here when I would be walking to my bike.
“What do you want?”
He didn’t wait a beat. “You know me.”
“Your name is Christopher Raith.”
His eyes narrowed. “You know where I come from.”
Now I shifted, rolling to the back of my heels. “I know whose blue eyes you inherited yours from, yes.”
One nod from him. “He’s my uncle.”
His uncle was the president of the entire Red Demons MC. Max Raith.
Royalty.
I noted, “And you know my uncle.”
A second nod. “I do.”
Mine was not. He was a member, but I knew he was important to the original charter.
So I knew his uncle.
He knew my uncle.
We knew each other, but we didn’t know each other, and still standing, staring, I knew we both wanted to know each other.
4
Christopher
Kess Foster.
They never told me how gorgeous she was going to be, but she was. My dick had been hard for an entire year straight, and she was standing here, done with high school, and she never had a clue she’d been in danger.
‘Club business.’ That’s what her uncle said he told her.
Club business, my ass. She had a right to know her life had been threatened and that she was the reason I was even here. All year. Her uncle was at the house until I got situated. We had a security system put in place, and I holed up close in the house next door. She never knew. Ever. When I rode my bike up, I went into the backyard. I asked Heckler, her uncle, if she wondered about the bike sounds. His response was she didn’t. There were other bikes riding up and down their street but none of them were MC bikers.
I guess it worked.
As for the other reason I was here, I’d been the one chosen. A year older than her, I’d already graduated, and Max had been adamant I get my degree. Then this situation came up where there’d been rumors of someone trying to push in on a territory that wasn’t quite ours, but we also didn’t want to let anyone else in. Mix that with a few whispers that came down the pipeline one of ours had a niece in Roussou, California and how pretty her head might be as a trophy.
Max hadn’t waited.
I got the order to head out immediately.
Word was worked out with local law enforcement. There were other players in town, a whole ‘crew’ system in the school so I hadn’t needed to be around during the day. Not much. Not until the last semester. Things got dicey, and she had no clue, so I started hanging out a bit more than she realized.
But I was there, watching, and feeling like a creeper.
The threat was recently eliminated, so I got the call to head back to headquarters.