Felice
“So, we’ve seen just about every tourist trap in town,” Felice said, running her hands through her long, blonde hair. They were lounging around their hotel room, trying to decide what to do for the day. Pierce was glancing through a booklet of some sort, looking for anything they hadn’t yet done. But after three weeks, almost everything that looked even a little fun had been done already. “Instead of looking for more touristy things, why don’t we just do whatever you would do if you have a night off here?”
Pierce blinked at her. “What do you mean?”
“What would you have done if you just wanted to get out of the MC and you didn’t have any duties holding you back?” she repeated, saying the words slowly. Pierce threw one of the ugly throw pillows from the couch at her, but she deftly ducked. “Or were you not allowed hobbies?”
He frowned, looking a little lost. “Most of my hobbies revolved around fixing the bikes and keeping up with everyone at the MC, Felice. We didn’t have a whole lot of spare time.”
“So you did have some spare time,” Felice said immediately, making Pierce roll his eyes.
“I guess we did have some spare time.”
“What did you do with it?” she asked, scooting closer and staring up at him.
Pierce melted within seconds, his mouth curving up into a smile and betraying his amusement. “Alright, fine. We would go for rides up in the hills. The hills aren’t far from here, and they have some overlooks. Sometimes we’d bring snacks and just sit up at the overlooks and smoke and drink and bullshit.”
Grinning, Felice picked up her purse off of the couch and stood in one fluid, graceful motion. “Sounds good; we’ll stop at 7-11. They serve smokes and drinks, but we might have to look elsewhere for the bullshit.” She eyed him, a crooked grin on her perfect, beautiful lips.
Pierce laughed, a loud, barking sound that echoed around their hotel room. Felice laughed right back at him, and then hurried out of the door. It would take a while to get up into the hills, and Felice’s stomach filled with butterflies at the idea. This was going to be wonderful; she would not only have an excuse to cling to Pierce’s perfect body all the way up the hills, but she would also get to feel the thrill of being on his bike with him again. And that thought was enough to want to spend some time out in the savage, savage wilderness.
# # #
Pierce
Felice nearly screamed with delight as the two of them took off on the bike. Her innocent delight at riding Pierce’s bike was one of the million reasons he loved her.
“Love? What I love about Felice?” The thought was still so new and raw that it felt a little like lemon juice poured over paper cuts, but the word popped up in his mind over and over again. He loved Felice? Yes, he did. He loved her like he’d never loved anything before, or would ever love anything again. She was the sun, the moon, the stars, and everything else he found beautiful about this world.
It was so true, he couldn’t have convinced himself otherwise no matter what.
They picked up some supplies, stuffed them into the saddlebags on Pierce’s spare motorcycle, and sped up the hills. The road quickly turned from city streets to suburbs, then those turned in quieter, one-laned things that were steep and narrow. The going was a little dangerous, and Felice clung to Pierce as though she would fall off at any moment. He nearly laughed at her clinginess. It was easy to forget that not everyone had spent their whole lives astride one of these monsters, learning every motion and sound. After years straddling this particular saddle, Pierce knew exactly how this bike would react to every situation. He knew how it should feel underneath him, how much power to hold back, and how much he should lean to one side or the other to keep the bike in perfect balance. Felice’s weight, as slight as she was, added a little bit of an unknown to the balance, but he adjusted for it like the bike was part of his own flesh.
It was a fine day out; the rains had brought a little warmth back into the air. Everything was cool and washed in sunlight, the rain completely soaked into the thirsty ground. The overlooks were going to look amazing, especially with the fiery, autumn leaves just starting to set all of the trees ablaze. He just hoped Felice liked them as much as he did.
After about an hour of driving, they pulled into one of Pierce’s favorite overlooks. It was hidden from the road in a way that made it nearly impossible to spot, even when you knew what you were looking for. The spot was a little overgrown and small, but it was also private and beautiful, and it was one of Pierce’s favorite places to go when he and his people would occasionally escape the confines of the MC’s warehouse to see a little sky.
As they pulled off of the road and onto the path that lead back into the overlook, Felice gripped Pierce's shoulders a little hard, her nails digging into his arms in a way that reminded him of the night before. It sent a thrill through his veins.
Much to Pierce's delight, the overlook was just as stunning as he'd remembered. As his powerful bike roared once last time before falling silent, the stunning overlook came into full view. The leaves this far up had already started turning, the oranges, reds, and greens all blending together like a forest fire. The overlook was nearly at the top of the hill, leaving them with a nearly three-hundred-and-sixty degree view.
Felice slid off of the bike, her eyes wide, her hand pressed to the valley between her perfect breasts. She seemed to be having trouble catching her breath, scanning the view with a kind of awe he had been hoping to inspire.
Getting off of the beaten path a little, Pierce pulled a few branches out from the woods, filling the park's little fire pit with bits and pieces. He laid out a blanket for Felice, and she sat down on the bit of cloth and watched him work. He took out a cigarette and a lighter, lighting both his smoke and the wood in the fire pit. Felice watched him with curious, green eyes, her arms locked around her knees as he worked.
“Have you done this a lot?” Felice asked, watching as the little cones of receipt paper caught flame, slowly setting fire to the wood. Lucky for him, most of the small stuff was already dry after the rains yesterday, probably from the warm sunlight pouring through the trees. Pierce worked quickly, feeding the fire little bits of wood until it was big enough to take one of the bigger, slightly damp logs.
“Yeah. Sometimes the crew and I would come up here when I was younger; we'd make something of a camping trip out of it. We didn't have any money, so we had to come up with our own amusements.” Pierce grinned, his mind filling with memories of his many visits to this very spot. “We learned pretty early on that as long as we stayed quiet and didn't destroy anything, the police would leave us alone. It was always the loud groups that got into trouble. We would spend most of our weekends up here.”
Felice set her chin down on her knees, her eyes following him around the campsite as he performed the chores necessary to keep the fire going. The sun was heading toward the horizon already, taking much of the light with it. It made the fire seem all the brighter; it glittered off of the side of his motorcycle like a Christmas display. By the time the sun set completely, Pierce had everything set up. A large blanket took up most of the room by the fire. A bottle of wine waited for them along with a collection of cheap snack foods that were Pierce’s favorites. Holding out his hand to her, Pierce helped Felice to her feet, twirling her around before sitting her down closer to the fire.
Chuckling, Felice glanced around at the odd collection of things waiting for them on the blanket. “So, what’s first?”
Pierce twisted the cap off the wine, taking a sip right from the bottle. He passed it over and Felice stared at him for a long moment. He was pretty sure she was going to pass, but then she tentatively took the bottle with both hands and held it up to her mouth.
“Wow,” she laughed, taking another sip of the wine. “That is unbelievably sweet. What is it?”
“Some cheap dessert wine, I think. It gets better the more you drink, I promise.”
They dug through the snacks, Felice laughing at the names and started obsessively checking the ingredients. “Does this actually contain any real food, or is it just chemicals pushed through a tube?”
“I think it might have a little food in there somewhere. But how about you try it first before you mock it?” Pierce chuckled, sticking a few Cheetos Puffs into his mouth. “Have you never had a Cheeto?”
Felice made a face. “I don’t think so. They always looked so orange, like they were made from nuclear waste.” Looking a little ill, she put the puffy, cheesy thing in her mouth, chewing suspiciously. “Hey, these don’t taste as bad as I thought they would!” She took another from the bag, nibbling on it as Pierce chuckled.
“These things are one of my favorite snacks. I love these things.”
Felice’s face went serious all of a sudden, her eyes black in the dancing firelight. “I — Pierce, thank you for all of this. For showing me your home. It means a lot. I — I’ve been wanting to — ” She paused for a moment, looking over the darkened landscape. “I’ve been hoping to get to know you better.”
Pierce glanced down at the ground, breaking a Cheeto in half. “There’s nothing much to get to know; my life isn’t glamorous or anything. It’s not like yours.”
“But if it’s important to you,” she said, her voice wavering, “then I think it’s important, too.” Felice turned away from him, her eyes studying the stars, which were coming on in force on this clear night. “They are important, because I love you.”