Until November (Until, #1)(32)
“I'm gonna get dressed, baby, so unless you want to watch, you should go wait in the kitchen.”
“I’ll be in the kitchen,” I squeak then walk quickly out of the room.
Chapter 5
I was lying on the ground, laughing so hard that I thought I might pee myself after calling Liz and asking her to come four wheeling. She was working at her shop and couldn’t make it so we made plans to meet up Monday after my meeting with the lawyer.
Asher drove us out to his parents’ house. Everyone was standing outside a huge, steel building when we arrived. They were gassing up the four wheelers and bikes.
I’ve never ridden before so Asher showed me what to do. I really only heard half of what he said because my excitement was taking over. We took off on the trails around his parents’ place and rode for a couple hours.
Eventually, the guys started racing so Sven said he would teach me how to ride his dirt bike while Asher was racing his dad. I was practicing my balance when Asher came around the corner and saw me on the dirt bike. I watched Asher walk over and shove Sven then he slung his hand out in my direction. I could see his mouth moving but I had a helmet on so I couldn’t hear what was being said.
I stopped the bike and Cash held it up while I got off. I walked towards Asher. His mom and dad were standing to the side while he yelled at his friend about how in the hell he let me get on his bike. Hearing what he was saying pissed me off. I wasn’t some helpless child who needed constant supervision.
“Is everything okay?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. I looked around and noticed everyone was watching.
“What the hell are you thinking?” Asher glared at me. “That bike is too big for you. Do you realize you could be seriously hurt?”
“Are you serious?” I asked looking at him like he grew a third eye. I could hear the guys chuckling behind us.
“Deadly f*cking serious.” He growled.
“You listen to me, Asher. You are not the boss of me. I'm going to learn how to ride a motorcycle and then I'm going to buy one so I can ride it whenever I want and there is not a damn thing you can do about it,” I said, poking him in the chest.
“Fuck, no, you’re not.”
“My dad’s teaching me on his next day off,” I said, smiling sweetly.
“Baby, I'm telling you right now, if you think that I'm going to let you ride, you’re crazy.”
“And, baby,” I said sarcastically. “I'm telling you that I don’t need your permission to do anything.”
“We’ll see.” He growled then pulled me into his chest and kissed me hard—with tongue—while everyone watched. When he broke the kiss, I was in such a fog that I didn’t even yell at him for kissing me in front of his parents. He put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me into his side. I looked around and everyone was smiling. I was wondering what the hell just happened. We were arguing then we weren’t…is that normal?
“Alright, kiddos. Let’s go eat,” Asher’s mom called loudly. I started giggling and Asher just looked down on me, smiling.
“What?” I shrugged my shoulders. “She makes me feel like I'm five years old.”
Asher’s mom made amazing BBQ pulled pork in her crockpot then toasted giant potatoes buns and loaded them with meat. She even made sweet potatoes fries and homemade coleslaw. It was delicious.
We sat around a large fire pit, drinking and eating, then she brought out marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate bars so we could make s’mores. It was perfect.
I was tucked close to Asher with my belly full and my favorite hard apple cider in my hand. Life couldn’t get any better than that. The guys started telling stories about tricks they played on each other when they were younger and other stupid things they did.
“So Asher and me used to skateboard when we were in high school,” Sven said starting his story. “One time we were out riding around when Asher fell while trying to do a trick off a set of stairs near the library. Well, he missed his landing and ended up doing the splits down the stairs, hurting his groin muscle. We went back to my house so he could put some ice on it. I was in the kitchen getting ice out for him when I heard him screaming from the bathroom like a damn girl. I ran towards the bathroom to figure out what happened. I bang on the door and he didn’t answer. All I could hear was moaning and crying. So, I say f*ck it and walk in to a scene that, to this day, is still burned into the back of my eyelids. Your man,” he said, looking at me and laughing, “was laying on the floor in the bathroom with a jar of icy/hot. He decided to put that shit on his groin, thinking that would help. He got that shit on his balls and almost passed out from the pain.”
I was laughing so hard, I fell backwards off the log that we were sitting on. I hadn’t had this much fun ever and I was dirtier than I had ever been in my life. I had mud in my hair, on my face and all over my clothes. I'm sure I looked like a homeless person but everyone else was just as dirty. Even Asher’s mom was covered in dirt. I loved all of them and I loved Tennessee. The laid back lifestyle and the friendly people were so different from New Yorkers. I realized, lying on the ground in the dirt, that I was happy. Really, really happy for the first time in my life. Asher leaned over and helped me back up on the log. He put me back under his arm and kissed my nose, smiling.