When it was nearing the end of her shift, I ran back to Dante’s and grabbed my bike so I could take her home. Leaving Sasha’s took another layer of stress off me, just as much as it did when Dante left the establishment.
“You ready?” I asked as I leaned against the closed front door.
“Yes,” she said with a sigh, and I glanced over her shoulder at Sasha, who was arguing with a man about his pathetic excuse for a tip.
“Good, let’s get out of here.” When she neared, I wrapped a long arm around her shoulders and led her out of the bar toward my motorcycle. The golden light of the setting sun played off the bronze flecks in her brown eyes. “Here,” I said as I pulled the helmet from my handlebars and tossed it to her.
She caught it with one hand and pulled the full face helmet over her head, and I grinned. “What?” she asked as she threw her leg over the back of my bike, and her shorts hiked up even higher over her thighs. She really shouldn’t be here, this was no place for her. She was so innocent, so beautiful. “What?” she asked again.
“Nothing,” I replied then climbed on in front of her, hit the start, and rolled the throttle as the engine roared to life beneath us. “You ready?” Her answer was to wrap her arms tight around my waist and shift closer to me. My stomach tightened at the proximity.
“Let’s go,” she said and pressed her thighs firmly around my hips.
She gave me directions as we went, but I was silent, steaming about her being the mysterious Allie the guys had been talking about and about the fact that she would put herself in the path of the Coyotes.
I needed to get her home safely, but all I could think about was that heat that was radiating from between her splayed legs. I sped down the busy streets, and the city flashed by us in a blur that I barely noticed. She drew closer, probably trying to use my body to block with wind whipping all around us.
I didn’t want her to let go, and that surprised me—I knew that I was always protective of this girl, God, no that wasn’t right, she was a woman now, all woman, but something stronger was building inside of me.
As we neared a red light, Kobe released her grip on me, and the night seemed to grow even colder. I willed the light to turn so she would lean into me again.
“Thank you,” she said as I pulled in front of her apartment and took the nearest available spot. She slid off my bike, freeing her long dark hair from her helmet.
I waited until she looked at me. “You’re welcome. But we got to talk.”
“What do you mean?” she asked nonplussed. I dismounted and then wrapped an arm around Kobe’s waist in a possessive move. I walked next to her as she led me upstairs to her second floor apartment.
“I know what you’re doing,” I informed her.
Kobe slid her key into the door and walked into the dark living room. “And exactly, what do you think I’m doing?”
“You...this whole trying to get close to the DT Coyotes because of Jared,” I said as she pulled off her tank and stood in front of me in a flimsy lace bralette. She tossed the shirt onto the overstuffed sofa. “It’s suicide. You need to stop, quit.” I shoved my hands into my pockets as I turned away from her and flicked on another light, my attention drawn to the far wall covered in photographs of her, Jared, and me. There was a photo of Jared and me getting our tattoos. There was another one of Kobe sitting on our shoulders, she had a leg on Jared’s shoulder and her other leg on my shoulder. She had a hand on each of our faces covering our eyes. I sighed at the memories. I would never forget that day. God, that photo had only been taken a few weeks before Jared died.
“It’s not stupid,” she said. “It’s been years, and no one has found a goddamn thing. I know in my heart is was the Coyotes, Easton, which is why I can’t understand you being a member. Were you a member this whole time?”
“No, of course not. But maybe you should leave things be and know that they will be brought to justice, I promise you that.”
“Really? It’s been four years and the police have done nothing.”
“Taking down organizations even as shoddily ran as Coyotes takes time, years in fact. There is a lot of behind the scenes shit that needs to be done,” I said as she shoved past me to deadbolt her front door. “Starting with the fact that they need proof. They have to catch the gang members in action.”
“Whatever,” she muttered, and turned to face me, her back against the door.
“You should quit your job,” I said going back to my original topic of conversation.
“Quit my job? Are you fucking crazy?” she shot back and tossed her long hair over her shoulder.
“You’re crazy if you think hanging around Sasha’s is even a remotely good idea,” I said, and grit my teeth as she side stepped around me. I blocked her in the entryway.
“Get out of my way,” she cautioned and stepped to the right. I blocked her again.
“What do you think you’re going to get from being around the Coyotes? Are you expecting them to just randomly talk about the night they shot him? Because I’ve been hanging around them for years and not once has a single one of those guys so much as mentioned a shooting.”
“That’s not my plan, but thanks for asking,” she fired back sarcastically. She rolled her eyes
