Nine

The sounds of the night echoed through the quiet Red Cap parking lot as Rider held Sally on the back of his parked bike. It was a short walk from where they’d parked to the door, and the party behind it. But it was taking them longer to get there because he kept stopping for new tastes of her mouth and to whisper sweet things in her ear.

Speaking of…

Time for another kiss break.

He pulled her hand, dragging her back between his legs where they were propped against the bike. She grinned lazily as he brought her tight to his body and curved his hand around the back of her neck.

“We’re never getting out of here if you keep this up,” she warned.

He shrugged, closing the distance. “There’s an El Camino over there. And an El Camino is on my list.”

“Your list?”

“My list of places we need to fuck.”

She let out one of her new laughs. The kind that came from deep down. And yeah, it was still the prettiest thing he’d ever heard. Drunk or not.

“Your list can’t hold up to mine,” she challenged.

Rider raised an eyebrow.

“On a trampoline, against the refrigerator door, on my bike, pool table, the roof of the motel… oooh! On the washing machine after Adam fixes it. The elevator, the stairwell…”

“Shit, woman. Slow down.”

She grinned so wide her teeth showed. Damn, she was pretty.

“You’re going to be insatiable, aren’t you?”

She pressed up on her tip-toes, kissing him sweetly. “As if you aren’t.”

“Damn straight,” he rumbled, capturing her lips and kissing the hell out of her. He was making this a long one. It needed to last them until they got done celebrating the wins with their friends.

But Sally eased back first. “Being watched,” she breathed.

Rider grinned against her cheek. Yeah, her list was definitely more daring than his. “My vixen likes being watched? Peach, that’s naughty.”

“No, Rider,” she hissed, “we’re being watched right now.”

“What?”

His eyes darted between the vehicles around them. But he didn’t have to look far. Under the floodlight and the glow coming from the neon lights of the front, he could see Adam.

His friend stood frozen in the middle of the lot, a few feet away from them. One hand was raised to his hair. Like he’d been about to run it through and hit pause.

“It’s Adam.” Rider lifted his hand to wave, breaking the spell, and Adam strolled forward.

Pulling Sally to a stand, he called out, “Hey, bro. What’s up?”

They slapped palms like normal, but there was an edge to Adam’s movements.

“Didn’t realize y’all were here.” Adam glanced at Sally uncomfortably, his gaze sliding down to where her hand was linked with Rider’s.

Rider frowned as she started to let go, but he squeezed her hand to keep it there.

“Just showed up.” Not a complete lie. “What are you doing outside?”

Adam crossed his arms, looking between Rider and Sally like he was some warden and they were on the verge of landing in his love jail. It sent Rider’s protective instinct flaring.

“I came out here to think. You?”

Rider narrowed his gaze at Adam. Something felt off with the guy. He’d never been the most easy-going. But tossing Rider the third degree was never his style.

“Stargazing. Where’s Megan?”

“Stayed the night with Gracie. Can we talk, me and you?”

“Sure.”

“Alone,” he added pointedly, tossing Sally a scathing look.

She stiffened beside Rider, but he gave her a peck on the temple and she went soft. “I’ll wait right here,” she said, warily.

He watched her swing her leg over to straddle his seat before following Adam over to the doors.

“What’s up, man?”

Adam spun, looking furious. “Why don’t you tell me,” he snapped, his brows forming an angry V on his forehead. “What are you doing with her? With… with… that.” He flung his arm in Sally’s direction.

“Whoa, whoa…” Rider’s hands hooked on his hips. He needed to keep them there. Because if this conversation kept going the way it was, he was going to want to punch his friend clean out. “That? Did you just call her a that? She has a name. What the hell is wrong with you?”

Adam ran his tongue over his teeth.

“Are you with her now? Like fucking Aaron is with Lexington? Is that what this is?”

“Yes.” Rider grappled for patience. “I’m with Sally.”

“You want that? Someone like her?”

Someone like her… was his friend actually a judgmental bastard? It was a damn shame some people could only see the surface of a person, and not the shiny stuff they held on the inside.

“She’s amazing,” Rider ground out. “Fucking amazing. And I’m sorry you can’t see that.”

“Rider, there’s something not right with her. With all of those girls. Don’t you feel it?”

Rider let out a half-relieved breath. So Adam wasn’t a bastard. He was just picking up on the fact that the vixens weren’t quite normal. Drake was going to have to tell him soon. They couldn’t keep hiding something like this from him. He was too involved with them all.

“You don’t understand, man. It’s not like you think. They’re good people. Like the dogs. And Sally’s the best of ‘em.”

“But do you want to be with her?”

“Yes, goddamn it. Of course I do.”

Adam let out a cruel sounding laugh. But Rider heard more to it. Sadness. Concern. Pain.

Shit, what was this?

“For how long, Rider? A night? A week? This is the stupidest fucking thing you’ve done. And the timing is…” He shook his head. “… pure shit.”

Oh. Okay.

He was pulling out the Big Daddy Adam routine. He was the only one of them with a kid, and sometimes he forgot they weren’t his. They weren’t Megan. And they sure as hell weren’t looking for his lecture.

“Why don’t you tell me what the fuck is bothering you so we can get this over with and I can get back to my girl.”

A cruel smirk lifted one corner of Adam’s mouth. “Your girl. Your girl?”

“Yeah, asshole.”

“Your girl…” he jabbed one finger at the door, “is in there.”

Rider frowned, not understanding. He’d think the man was drunk, but he didn’t smell alcohol on him and Adam rarely ever had more than one or two.

“What are you talking about?”

“Evie! Evie, goddamn it.”

Evie had been left on the dust of the track when Sally crashed. He hadn’t thought another second about her. Now her name coming from Adam’s mouth was like a fucking two-ton to the chest.

“She’s here. She’s back. To stay, man.”

“What?” Rider’s head spun. Evie was back in Cedar Valley?

What about her shitty dreams? What about that green, green grass way over there in Hollywood?

“Rider, she’s in there waiting for you.” Adam tossed his hand at the bar, looking almost relieved. “She wants to make things right. She’s… I talked to her. She’s real sorry. She regrets what happened with you two.”

“What?” He knew he’d asked the same question three times, but he couldn’t make anything else come out.

“Look man, you can have all the things you lost. Your marriage, more. I know how bad she hurt you, but this is a second chance. Who the fuck ever gets a second chance, Rider?”

He heard the unspoken part of what Adam was saying. He could have Evie again. But Adam could never get his girl back. She was gone for good.

Rider stared at Adam in a new light. The pain and hope rolling off him was choking. He wanted to fix Rider so badly, just to make himself feel better. Wanted to give Rider what he could never have.

A second chance.

Adam swallowed hard and Rider could see wetness form in his eyes.

“You can be happy again, Rider. The rest of us are fucked. But you… you can be happy.”

Happy. Yeah, that’s what Rider wanted too. To get back all that joy he’d had so many years ago. Before all the pain and wrongs.

“Don’t fuck this up,” he warned. “Don’t waste it.”

Rider nodded slowly.

Oh, he wouldn’t. Couldn’t waste it. Could never live with himself if he did. After all, Adam was right. Second chances didn’t come around often.

He clapped his hand on his friend’s shoulder, squeezing, and Adam’s brow went wrinkle free for the first time in… Rider couldn’t even remember when.

“Good luck,” Adam offered as Rider slipped past him and through the door of Red Cap.