Losing Me, Finding You(44)

“I want to do this, Austin, but I don't want to go straight there. I say we do some small jobs first, just in case Walker decides to follow us. Maybe St. Marlin's and then Long Horn? They're not big cities, but they'd be easy to do.” She pauses and a small crackle cuts through the line. “Besides, the route's a bit convoluted and it'll take us longer to get there. Makes for more riding time.”

I think about what she said for a moment and then my face cracks into a smile. I rev up the engine and pick up speed, hitting a flat, straight stretch of road with as much power and force as I can muster. Amy yelps and clutches me so tight I can feel her heart beating in her chest like a trapped bird. I try to ignore it, but it beats straight down to my dick, making me hard as rock. This girl is gonna be the death of me.

“You know what, Reynolds? You're on. I like the way you think.”

Kimmi's laughter comes through the com for a brief moment before I switch the channel back over to the music and gun my bike all the way into the next town.



Chapter 34

We spend the entire night driving, flying through the darkness like bats, a sea of metal and chrome, with people as colorful as they are unique. It's a strange experience, one that I have to admit, I'm anxious to repeat. I can see the appeal of the open road when I'm out here, the way the wind grabs at you and doesn't let go.

And then there's Austin.

When he sits on that bike, he becomes a different person, much less closed off. With my arms wrapped around his chest, I can feel the beat of his heart. It speeds up at every turn, beating frantically through the fabric of his leather jacket. It's enough to keep me wide awake despite my fatigue, enough to keep my mind on daydreams and fantasies until the sun starts to peek its head up at the edges of the sky, burning the night to rosy pink.

When we finally pull into a town and start to slow, my mind jumps like I've been shocked, snapping out of the trance of the road and bombarding me with hoards of annoying thoughts. I wonder how Mama will start her morning without me there? And Christy … what does she think of me now? If I call her in a day or two, after she calms down, will she talk to me? I push the thoughts back and try to keep up with the flurry of sudden activity.

The entire group pauses and the music on the intercom dies away completely, leaving a chorus of excited chatter that makes my head hurt a bit. I watch as Gaine climbs off his bike and heads inside a hotel lobby. When he comes out, he nods his chin and the entire group spills into the parking garage that's attached.

Austin parks his bike and helps me down with a smile.

“Tell me you liked the ride, beautiful?” he whispers, holding my hand tightly in one of his. For a brief moment, there's nothing but his face and his sandy hair and his beautiful eyes.

“Hurry up, Sparks. The Pres wants you front and center.” Beck's voice jolts me out of my trance and I can barely manage a quick nod of my head before Austin is scowling across the garage at his boss. He takes me upstairs to the hotel room, but he doesn't stay, disappearing to go attend to whatever it is that he needs to do. I wonder if he'll ever tell me what that's all about, if that stuff is something you get to know when you've been fully accepted into the group or not.

I look around the room and am not surprised to see that there's only one bed. Austin said I didn't have to sleep with him, but we both know better. We can hardly keep our hands off each other. I smile and fluff my hair in the mirror. It's frizzy and flat at the same time somehow. Helmet hair, ugh. I set my duffel bag down on the end of the bed and rifle through it until I find a clean pair of jeans and a black tank top. It was the best I could do given the circumstances. My cardigans and floral skirts wouldn't exactly work with this crowd. I pause for a moment and check my wallet. Fifteen dollars in cash. Great. Definitely not enough to buy any new clothes. I wonder briefly how this whole MC thing works. I mean, they can't all have jobs if they're on the road all the time, right?

I take my clothes into the bathroom and grab one of the white towels that's stacked on a metal shelf above the toilet, tossing it over the shower curtain rod and pulling back the white plastic. I don't admit it to myself, but I linger a bit, hoping Austin will come in and join me, but after about a half hour, I realize he isn't coming back and shower quickly. By the time he does return, my hair is dry and I've even rimmed my eyes in kohl and colored my lips with a dark pink that my mother would never approve of.

“Well, hello there, beautiful,” he says, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me against him. One of Austin's knees slides between my legs as he lifts me up to my toes for a kiss, sliding his tongue into my mouth like he's known me forever. I try not to melt into a puddle on the floor. “Good news,” he says, pulling back. “Got you a jacket.” He lifts up the item in question and presses it to my chest, letting his knuckles brush against my breasts in the process. I swallow hard and step back.

The jacket is sized perfectly for me, beautifully made of gently oiled leather with a red satin interior, but on the back, there's only one patch. It's the one on the bottom, the one that says USA. Austin sees me looking at it and touches his fingers under my jaw to grab my attention.

“When you first join an MC,” he begins, sliding his fingers along my face until they're wrapping in my hair. “You only get one patch. If you're a good, good girl, then maybe you'll earn the rest.” Austin uses my hair to pull me forward for another kiss, a more desperate one this time. My hands come up and touch his stubbly face, running along the hard line of his jaw and then …