What had happened to make her cry?
She was gorgeous. Which was really fucking weird of me to notice, seeing as she looked as if her world was crumbling all around her.
Her hair, straight, thick as fuck, and all but engulfing her upper body, almost seemed to shine in the sun.
It wasn’t like an orange red, either, but almost like a fall red. Like the color of brownish-red leaves that definitely didn’t fall anywhere down here.
More like the red leaves’ color you only saw in pictures from up north.
I sat there so long that eventually the girl got herself together, her eyes started to scan the area to see who was around.
Luckily, due to my stillness, she skimmed right over me.
That’s when I saw that her eyes were violet.
Like, no fuckin’ joke, her eyes were goddamned purple.
Purple wasn’t a real eye color… was it?
I wasn’t sure.
What I was sure about was the fact that she took my breath away.
Even with her face all splotchy due to her crying, and her eyes rimmed red with her makeup running down her cheeks, she was the prettiest thing I’d ever seen.
And that was saying something, because I had a lot of girls showing their interest in me.
That was just something that had happened for me since high school. A, because I was a Crow, and Crows were infamous in Intercourse, Texas. And B, now it was even more exciting to date a Crow seeing as we’d formed a motorcycle club.
So yeah, I had my fair share of chicks looking for a ride on the back of my bike.
A lot of them were hot.
But this girl… there was just something about her that sent a thrill through me.
Eventually, though, the girl got up and started to walk away.
I started my bike then, causing her to look over her shoulder directly at me.
Her mouth opened wide in surprise, and she blinked a few times as she tried to bring me into focus—yes, she was still crying.
I strapped my helmet on, allowing her to look, and allowing myself to look as well.
Sitting down, I’d been able to see very little of her body.
But goddamn.
Standing up?
She had hips for days, thighs that were thick, and her ass. My god, was it a masterpiece.
Her hair danced down the length of her back, tickling the part right above the small of her back that I’d rest my hand on if I were walking next to her.
I sat there with my feet on the ground, holding my bike steady, until she turned and started to walk faster toward her car.
A Cherokee. With some fuzzy dice in the rearview mirror.
Shit, that was cute.
Even cuter was the way she looked at me as she got in her car.
Curious but wary at the same time.
After I saw the locks go down, I put my bike into gear and started out of the hospital parking lot, wondering if I’d ever see her again.
CHAPTER 2
It be what it be.
-words of wisdom
SABRINA
“Take care of Banger for me.”
I looked over at my friend. “Banger is a menace to society. I’m pretty sure if I tried to take care of your stepsister, she’d eviscerate me.”
Faye’s lips went white with strain as we went over an uncomfortable patch of road.
“Did you call her?” I asked.
Faye shook her head. “No.”
Goddammit. God. Fucking. Dammit.
Faye!
But I wouldn’t raise my voice to my best friend.
Not now.
Not after the last week.
Not after learning that she was dying.
Not after I’d learned yesterday, from Faye’s doctor, that she needed to be put on hospice care to help her manage the pain.
Pain she refused to acknowledge because she wanted to go to the beach.
I sighed. “She deserves to know.”
Faye nodded. “She does but… she doesn’t do well with death. I don’t want her last moments with me being a forever reminder that she lost me.”
I felt my insides swirl in despair.
In the next few days—possibly a week—I would lose my best friend.
It just didn’t seem real.
Even worse, the dawning realization would hit me, over and over again, and each time, it would be worse than the last.
“So what does that mean you want me to do?” I cleared my throat. “Do you want me to talk to her? Do you want me to tell her? I mean… she’s not going to be happy that you didn’t tell her. At least call her.”
Faye looked out the window. “There are some things that I never told you about Banger.”
I felt a jolt hit me. “Some things?”
“They’re not really mine to tell, but I’m going to tell you them anyway, because God can’t strike me dead twice… and I’d be happy to have it happen right now.”
I felt that lump in my throat grow larger.
“Faye…” I started.
She cleared her throat, her voice still weak when she said, “Banger dated a guy a year or two ago—I don’t even remember when actually—when she found out that the guy wasn’t her boyfriend, but her handler.”