Jenna had never considered herself much of a hero. The bravest thing she’d ever done was run away from home and hide from the authorities until she was no longer a minor. But seeing Cade on the ground at the mercy of five bikers had sparked a rush of righteous fury inside her. She’d run over to where they parked their motorcycles and kicked them all down, ensuring they collapsed onto each other for maximum damage. Then she darted off and snuck around toward where Cade was lying, taking a route that would allow her to keep out of sight until the last moment. Finally, when that crazy biker with the knife rushed Cade, she stepped out and sprayed him in the face.

As soon as the guy collapsed, Jenna turned and told Cade they should leave. She helped him up, eying his head. There was a bloody scrape on one side, and the opposite side of his face was swollen, like he’d been punched and had hit something sharp as a result. She looked over his shoulder and spotted a smear of blood on the tree. She threw an angry look at the biker on the ground, who was writhing from the effects of the mace, and resisted the urge to spit on him. Instead, she interlocked Cade’s fingers with her own and said, “Can you still ride?”

Cade clenched his eyes a couple times. “Yeah, my head’s clearing. I was just dazed for a few minutes.”

“Then lead the way. I don’t know where you parked.”

He spun on his toes, and they took off across the park.

The biker who Cade had knocked down got to his feet, but he didn’t pursue them. He knelt next to his friend and pulled a wad of tissue from his pants pocket, to try and wipe away the mace. Funny how they could be so nice to each other, yet hold a grudge so bad that they would chase a guy for days on end due to a single, well-deserved punch. The hypocrisy of some people.

Jenna was alerted by a shout, and she turned her head to see the other three bikers sprinting toward her and Cade like madmen. Yelping, she sped up until she was side by side with Cade, and running at full speed, they managed to stay roughly forty feet ahead of the group of angry men. So when they made it to Cade’s bike, parallel parked in a space on the street, waiting innocuously, as if nothing bad was happening at all, they had just enough time to hop on, start it up, and tear out of the space. One of the men even made a dive for Jenna, but his fingers fell short as the bike peeled away, and he fell flat on his face.

Jenna wrapped her arms tightly around Cade and planted her face against his shirt, which was dotted with grass and leaf bites from his unfortunate encounter with the ground. She didn’t realize until they hit the first stop light, a full twenty blocks down, thanks to Cade’s expert driving, that she was still clutching the can of mace in her hand like it was some holy object she used to commune with a god. And perhaps it was. After today, she was certainly never leaving home without it.

When the light turned green and Cade hit the gas again and they flew down the simmering LA streets, no sounds of pursuing bikers behind them, the danger finally past, Jenna allowed herself to relax for the first time all day. She planted her chin on Cade’s shoulder and watched the buildings flicker by, the sinking sun casting the City of Angels in a brilliant golden glow. I’m going to miss this, she thought with a pang, when I finally leave, when I…leave him behind.

She tightened her grip on him that much more.

Do I really have to? Dylan is the most important person in my life, but does that mean I truly have no room for someone else? For something else? Is it really wise to focus on so singular a goal, and let everything else fall away?

An hour ago, she would’ve answered all those questions with a resounding yes. But seeing Cade on the ground, hurt, it had shifted her perspective, ever so slightly. There were other things she could do in this life than work herself to the bone and think sad thoughts about Dylan and their broken home. She could do good things for other people that didn’t interfere with her goals. She could enjoy herself in ways that didn’t detract from her slow, steady march to financial victory over her father. She could be, well, herself, and not this hopeless person entrenched in self-made solitude.

These two days with Cade proved that. Dylan was still in the same situation he’d been in when she arrived in LA. And she was still on her mission to rescue him. She had managed to have fun though, despite her situation. She had managed to step outside the confines of the life she’d forced herself to live these past few years without ruining all her hard-made plans. If she could do that for two days, why couldn’t she do it more often? Why couldn’t she do it with someone?

Why couldn’t she do it with someone like Cade?