“Jesus,” I said almost to myself as we turned down yet another block that was lined with bikes.
“We’re going to be walking,” Tide said. “A lot.”
I could see why.
Finally, after a good two and a half minutes more of searching for a spot, we ended up nearly back to the main road.
Expertly, Tide backed his bike into the spot, with Shine taking the space directly beside him on one side, while Haggard took the other.
When the bike shut off, my ears continued to rattle.
And my bones were jelly.
The other day when I’d gotten my first ride on a motorcycle, I’d been shaky for a few minutes after getting into my house.
Now, after getting off with Easton’s help—mostly because Tide got off and left me—I realized that this time my legs were significantly worse.
“She can walk,” Tide grumbled, his eyes narrowed on me and Easton’s grip.
“She probably can,” Easton said. “But I didn’t want to see her face-plant and fuck up the other side of her face.”
“How are you supposed to convince people that we like each other when another man helps me off of your bike?” I batted my eyelashes at Tide.
Tide narrowed his eyes, walked forward, and all but yanked me into him.
I would’ve fallen onto my face had he not caught me around the waist and pinned me to his body.
Now, here is the moment where I realized just how… hard he was.
His chest was hard. His abs were hard. His legs were hard. Other things that I wasn’t allowing my brain to think about were hard.
He looked down at me, studying my face and the bruises that I could feel forming, then stared directly into my eyes.
I scrunched up my nose at him. “You could’ve gone about that differently.”
“I could have,” he agreed. “But I didn’t want to.”
I tried to push away, but he held me tightly against him, showing me how feeble my strength was compared to his.
“Remember, you’re supposed to act like you like me,” he purred, dropping his face down to mine.
My breath stalled in my chest, and it took everything I had not to stretch up and offer my lips to his.
And thank God I didn’t, because when he bent close he went to the side so he could whisper into my ear. “I fucking hate those pants.”
Then he let me go, leaving me wondering what in the good goddamn hell was wrong with my pants.
I looked down at him once I was holding myself up, wondering why they were so bad.
Sure, they were old.
They were so old, in fact, that now they were back in style again after ten years.
I’d used to wear them in high school and had saved them for when I’d lost a little bit of weight.
Only, I realized that I would never lose weight, and just squeezed my ass into them because they were my favorites.
They were worn so thin in places that you could practically see skin.
Yet, I would wear them until it was physically indecent to do so anymore.
I tugged down my black tank top and glanced over to see that we were once again the center of attention.
My eyes went to Iris, and then the black leather vest over her shoulders.
I’d realized on the ride over that the back of her vest said ‘Property of Shine’ on it. Sophia, Haggard’s wife, was wearing one that said ‘Property of Thief’ while Price’s girl, Sabrina, was wearing one that said ‘Property of Trinket.’
And I wondered how I would feel wearing a leather vest that said ‘property of’ on it.
“Let’s go.” Tide took my hand and started to tug me along behind him.
I followed as I said, “Maybe you should’ve made me a property of ‘Roll Tide’ vest for me to wear to this shindig. I don’t look legit.”
He looked down at me over his shoulder and said, “I’ll not let them make the mistake that you’re not mine. I don’t need a property vest to show it.”
For some reason, those words felt ominous. Like maybe I should prepare myself for what was to come. Oh, and maybe for once, I should’ve kept my mouth shut.
The walk, at first, was uneventful.
There wasn’t a single person as late, apparently, as we were.
Then every few minutes I’d see a group of bikers down an alley, laughing and drinking, and having a grand ol’ time.
“Why do you think they’re gathered in those alleys?” I whispered so only Tide could hear. “They look like creepers.”
Tide snorted. “Despite this being an event, you’re not supposed to have alcohol outside of the rally mile, which happens to be about one square mile of a block. If they want to keep their drinks, they stick to the shadows. As to why they’re in those alleys in particular, I don’t know.”
“They’re probably fucking.”
I looked over at Easton.