“Please. Just trust me.”
“Trust.” I snorted. “Funny how you can throw that word around so easily.”
I felt him stiffen, saw the dark regret fill his eyes too. But it didn’t last long. And soon determination took hold of his face, so fierce I couldn’t look away.
“Damn it, Summer. I can’t tell you why until we get there, but I can promise there’s something in it for you.”
“There’s nothing I need from you.” My bottom lip wobbled, my eyes blurred.
“You do need this,” he nearly cooed at me. “Finishing this trip is as much for you as it is for me.”
I looked away, my heart thundering loudly in my ears. “We don’t even have a car, remember?” I was grabbing at straws, desperate. “Our experience with them hasn’t been the best.”
“Gramps is pissed as hell about his bike, but he’s also got a soft spot for blondes, so he sent us a limo.” I heard the grin in his voice, likely thinking he had me right where he needed me.
“A limo?” I scowled.
“Top of the line.” He waggled his eyebrows up and down.
“Don’t you have to have a special kind of license to drive one of those?”
“Probably.”
I dropped my chin to my chest. “Ugh. Why can’t you drive alone?”
He caressed the back of my elbow, causing goosebumps to form on my skin. “I need a nursemaid.”
I away pulled my arm, not liking his soft caresses, let alone his excuses, then turned to look at the bathroom door. Where was that nurse?
“What if I told you I’ve already booked a plane ticket home?”
“Cancel it.”
“That costs money.”
One side of his mouth kicked up. “I’ll reimburse you.”
“How? By robbing a bank?” I huffed.
“Don’t tempt me.” That’s when he grabbed my hand again and pulled me to his lap.
I squealed, nearly falling over. “What are you doing?”
With his arm wrapped tightly around my waist, he leaned close to my ear and whispered, “Please, Summer. Finish this adventure with me.”
Irritation itched my nerves at his choice of words. Adventure? This was no adventure. This trip had been a test of my wills, my sanity even. No longer did I want to be near him, be close to him, or let him touch me even. No longer did I want to think of the ‘what-ifs’ when we’d only wind up a ‘never-could-be.’
But his eyes darn near twinkled. Add that to all his sweet, sudden charm, and I could only be so strong. Someday I would learn. But apparently that day wasn’t going to be today.
“Why, Niyol? Why does it matter so much that I do this with you?” I asked.
It wasn’t his fault I felt the way I did. He’d told me from the first moment we’d touched that anything between us couldn’t happen the way I would likely want it to. Yet there I was, wholeheartedly feeling things for the one guy I couldn’t have but wanted so much it hurt to even breathe in his presence.
Fingers slid just under the back of my shirt, sending tingles across my shoulders. I swallowed my hiss and ignored his flaring eyes, the hot breath of his mouth against my neck and chin. But his whispered words? They were impossible to deny.
“Because I need you more than I need anything, or anyone, right now.”
“Well, you can’t have me anymore, damn it.” Frustration had my hands balling in my lap.
Before he could respond, the nurse popped out of the bathroom and headed our way. I took the moment and rose from his lap, my back turned to him as I slowly whispered the words I’d probably live to regret. “I’ll drive you to San Diego. I’ll finish this trip. But after that?” I shook my head, refusing to look at him for fear I wouldn’t get the words out. “I can’t see you again.”
And then I left him there, locking myself inside the bathroom. Separating myself from the pain while facing the reality alone in the confines of a small stall. My mistaken feelings for Niyol were bittersweet and honest, but something I could never live out.
Twenty-Nine
Niyol
Twenty-four hours had passed since I’d been discharged from the hospital. Yet there we were, back on the road like nothing had changed. At least for me it hadn’t.
Summer was a whole other story.
“You’re quiet today.” I leaned against the window, wincing. Even on pain meds, my body was sore as shit. Some broken ribs from the fall off the bike, adding to the GSW in the back of my shoulder. Guess I shouldn’t complain. It could’ve been worse.
“I don’t have anything to say.”
I nudged her thigh with my foot over the console. “You always have something to say.”
“Not today, I don’t.”
She stared out the windshield of the limo—or should I say, the hearse—with a blank expression. Not real sure where Gramps had gotten this beast. Hell, I’m not even sure how Summer was driving it. I’m betting he’d sent it on purpose as some sort of sick joke for fucking up his bike—not that it was my fault. The only good thing was, it’d get us to San Diego in one piece.
Just before we started back on the road, I’d gotten a phone call from Slade. He and Archer had covered for me after all, telling Flick and the brothers that I was coming back, but had to go see Maya first, my Gramps too. Either the two of them were in my brain and could read the future, or they were lucky-ass guessers, because I’d never said yes to returning.
But I’d never said no either.
Still, I was thankful as fuck to still have them at my back, especially since the club was my next stop after today.
I blew out a slow breath and studied Summer in the driver’s seat. Summer, with her extra-large coffee tucked in between her thighs like always. Summer who hadn’t bothered to look me in the eyes all day. Summer who’d apparently given my phone a workout with all her calling.
Not only had she called Maya, but she’d also called Archer, which was how he’d found out about the accident. In turn, he’d called Flick and the brothers back at home, then bought return plane tickets—two of them.
The thought of Summer calling the people who mattered the most to me set her a notch above everyone else in my life. I just hoped she wasn’t too pissed when she found out why I wanted to finish this trip with her.
“Let’s play another game,” I suggested, all too aware of what had happened during our last one. She must have felt the same way, because her cheeks turned pink. Another thing I fucking loved. The woman was all sorts of bashful but had a whip-fire tongue when she needed it the most.
Instead of ignoring me like I expected, she smirked and said, “My choice?”
I nodded. “What’ll it be? The license-plate game? I spy?”
She shook her head. “No. I’m not into kids’ games.”
I chuckled. “Don’t I know.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I want to play ask me/ask you.”
I stretched my legs out and scowled at the dash. “Not sure if I like the sound of that.”
“What?” she huffed. “Are you scared?”
“Yeah. I kind of am.” Honest-to-God terrified of where this could lead. Yet I found myself curious about the prospect of getting inside her head, even though I didn’t want her in mine just yet. “I’m tired of the quiet, so shoot. Ask me anything. About my past, my present, or my future.”
“Fine. Where’s Maya?”
Not the question I was expecting.
I shifted in my seat. “Told you she had to go home.”
“You’re telling me, the supposed love of your life couldn’t stay—”
“Hold on now, Princess. I told you before, it’s not like that with us now.”
She pursed her lips but didn’t reply. I’m pretty sure I’d stumped her for once. The idea made me grin.
“My turn now.” I cleared my throat. “Who fucked you over before you came on this trip with me? The guy you were crying about that night at your grandparents’ house?”
“I…” She chewed on h
er bottom lip before finishing. “How do you know I was fucked over?”
“Doesn’t take a genius to figure it out.” Emily didn’t give me a lot of detail in the diner about her best friend’s past, but from the way Summer had acted that night in Des Moines, the things she’d said? It wasn’t too hard to figure out.
“He wasn’t just an ex.”
I raised a brow at her, waiting as she tapped her fingers on the wheel. She cleared her throat and finished with, “Landon was my fiancé.”
I knew that, but it still bugged the shit out of me hearing it anyway. Maybe that’s why I was a dick when I replied, “You’re too damn young to be engaged.”
“Seriously?” she huffed. “My parents married straight out of high school and had three kids by the time they were twenty-four.” A shrug. “Age is nothing but a number. Now it’s my turn.”
I held up my hands in defense. “Go for it.”
“Why am I still driving you when we both know you could’ve found another way to San Diego?”
Of all the questions she could’ve asked, it had to be the one I couldn’t answer yet. Not because I didn’t know, but because it would ruin everything I’d planned.
“Come on, Sum. I already told you I can’t tell ya that.”
“I have every right to ask. It’s part of the game. No holds barred and everything, remember? So if you’re refusing to answer the question, then I win, end of story. And what I want for my prize is to be done with this trip and you too.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Jesus, tell me how you really feel, why don’t ya?”
“Screw you, and the ship you sailed in on, Niyol Lattimore. You’re just as bad as my ex was when it comes to being a dick and I am so over it.”
Fuck, fuck, fuck. I didn’t want to argue with her.
“Summer, I—”
“I’m done with your games. Just stop talking.”
I turned to her, finding her lower lip quivering. My fingers itched to reach over, tug her hand into mine, kiss her pain away. But her wall was up. And the confession that was on the edge of my tongue wouldn’t budge. So, I shut my eyes and let it go.
She’d know what was going on soon enough.
Thirty
Summer
“What’s the address?” I asked, my hand lingering over my cell phone’s GPS.
We’d made it. Seven-thirty at night and we were sitting in a parking lot, six blocks from the ocean.
I should have been relieved that the last leg of our trip had been incident-free, but the heavy weight on my chest from our earlier fight wouldn’t eradicate itself no matter how much I willed it away.
Niyol’s dark brows furrowed as he held a small piece of paper in his hands. Over and over he flipped it, the small words written across the lines seeming like a puzzle to him. It was obviously private, so I didn’t attempt to read it. Instead, I studied his profile; the way the setting sun hit his face through the window. It was the first time I’d given myself permission to look at him all day. And just like I figured, it hurt.
It hurt so bad I couldn’t breathe.
He wore his hat today, such a strange but wonderful combination to his persona. The brim was now folded almost in half. His hair hung in waves over his ears, and the light hit him at an angle where he appeared adorably boyish—scruff and all. In that moment, he didn’t look like a big, bad, gruff biker. Instead, he looked exactly like the Niyol I had come to know. A guy who was sweet when he wanted to be, harboring a touch of danger always hidden just below the surface.
“Just turn left. Head to the beach.”
I cringed, unable to tear my gaze from his face at the same time. How ironically bittersweet it would be seeing the Pacific where my mom had once been, with him and Maya reuniting again right there in front of it. Even if they weren’t together, it still hurt knowing she’d get what I couldn’t: the boy and the man.
I stared down at my lap, inhaling through my nose. “Yeah. Sure. Whatever you need.”
I knew he was studying me this time, but what for? What was he thinking?
“Okay. Let’s go then.” He cleared his throat as he motioned me ahead with his finger.
I swallowed hard and nodded, before pulling us back out onto the road.
My jaw locked as I drove two blocks, then four, and five, until we came to the road that ran alongside the beach.
“Turn here.” He pointed to a smaller road, as if he knew the location well.
Terrified to speak for fear I’d beg him to stay with me, or worse yet, sob, I did as he asked. My strength was weakening every second longer we sat in this car. My hope was that the open air would clear my head. I made a mental note of where I wanted to come back to after I dropped him off. There was an old-looking wooden bridge to our right, long and crafted beside the edge of the water. It was beautiful, the perfect place to just let myself be—think about my mom. The perfect place to walk and think and… cry, too, something I’d been trying hard not to do all day.
“There. Stop there.” He pointed toward another parking lot.
“The beachfront lot?”
“Yeah. It’s perfect.”
“Is this where you told Maya that—”
“Come with me, okay?”
Lost in his gaze, I broke down and agreed. It was selfish of me to act this way when he was just moments from finding the beginning of the new life he’d been searching for since we left Illinois.
Wordless, he slipped out of the car once I parked. Regardless of my inner turmoil, I unbuckled and said a silent prayer to God as I followed Niyol out, praying for strength to get me through this.
The early evening air was warm and humid, sticking to me like a second skin. I brushed wisps of my hair away from my face as I stood next to the front bumper of the hearse. It seemed appropriate to drive one, seeing as how close to death I suddenly felt. Dramatics were not my normal flair, but I blamed it on exhaustion.
I could do this. No problem. I needed to function on my own, and I sure didn’t need the trouble that came with a man like Niyol. Or any man for that matter. I hadn’t been single since college, boyfriends off and on, constantly by my side. I’d go home, start back at work, and be free to be me.
Except there was a huge problem: the thought of never seeing Niyol again hit me harder than the thought of leaving him behind.
Maybe the two of us could keep in touch as friends. Distant friends—not like how we’d become, obviously, but acquaintances. I wouldn’t call us besties by any means. But at the same time, I knew I was starting to feel for Niyol something far deeper than I had for any guy before. That should have been a warning in itself, but I refused to let myself believe that six full days in the presence of a man who was virtually a stranger to me could be the thing I’d been searching for when I wasn’t even looking.
I sighed, taking stock of the place where we would say our goodbyes. The beach was deserted except for his dark towering frame near the edge of the water. Niyol looked like a dark angel wrapped in black, in the midst of heaven and hell combined.
Soft waves crashed over the sand, and I moved closer, resolved in my need to at least dip my toes into the water. I hadn’t seen the Pacific before. Not even as a kid.
Just like my mom.
The tide rose and fell over Niyol’s bare feet, the sound of it crushing like the ache in my stomach. With careful ease, I kicked off my flip-flops and finally stepped into the water.
“Brrr, that’s chilly.” I shuddered but continued to revel in the sensation.
Niyol’s arm brushed mine and my breath caught, trapping the salty air inside my nose. “You okay?” he asked.
I could feel him looking at me, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the ocean. I felt as though I was at the end of the earth, with nothing left before me but perfection in the form of water.
Was this how my mom had felt?
“Yeah.” I shivered. “It’s really beautiful here.” A white flag flew from a lone boat, and the image of a family aboard d
eveloped in my mind. I twirled my bracelet, feeling a lump form in my throat at the same time.
“This is your first time seeing this, right?” he asked.
I nodded and turned away, refusing to let him see any emotion other than contentment trickle across my face. “Yes.”
Our elbows touched when he moved even closer. This time I shut my eyes at the simple connection. The heat of his body soaked into mine, teasing me with what I couldn’t have. But then Niyol did the unspeakable, stealing the breath from my lungs when he threaded his fingers through mine.
I stared down at our interlocked hands. Why? was the first thought that passed through my mind. The second? Thank you.
Wordlessly, he pulled me deeper into the ocean until the water engulfed our ankles completely. Once we were in place, he began to speak.
“Summer, I have something I need to tell you.” He reached up and grabbed his hat with his free hand, turning it around.
“What is it?” This was it. This was his goodbye.
“It wasn’t just me making a promise to myself to get to San Diego.” He took a deep breath, slowly blowing it out. “I also made a promise to get you here too. That’s why I didn’t want Maya taking me the rest of the way.”
I blinked. “But you said Maya had to work, and she couldn’t take you because of that.”
“I did.” He cringed. “But I lied. Maya had work, but that’s not why I didn’t wanna go with her.”
My shoulders tensed. “I don’t understand.”
He grabbed my other hand, pulling me around to face him. I stumbled a bit, my bare toes brushing against his beneath the water. He wrapped his uninjured arm around my waist, and a sensation of home rushed through me.
“I’m not staying in San Diego, Summer.”
“What are you talking about?”
He lifted his bad arm to touch my waist. But then he winced, and I stepped closer, so he didn’t have to stretch as far. Confused or not, I didn’t like the idea of him hurting.
Her Wild Ride: An addictive, steamy biker MC romance suspense novel Page 19