Ana
“Where the hell are we going?” I scream, though I know it’s likely he won’t hear me, given that we’re going 110 km on the highway and in the process of overtaking a Mack truck.
I feel Elijah’s waist shudder beneath my fingers and realise he’s laughing at me. He’s not going to tell me. I knew that much before opening my mouth. I’ve been pestering him since he busted into my room this morning and demanded I get dressed because he was kidnapping me for the day, and he still hasn’t budged. Then he’d started rifling through my underwear drawer, picked up a pair of frilly pink knickers and inspected them, as if they held the answers to all life’s questions.
“Okay, I hate to be the one to break this to you, but I really don’t think those are your size, Cade,” I’d mumbled as I’d tried to tame my bedhead without appearing obvious.
“Why haven’t I seen these on you yet?”
“The day’s still early,” I remarked caustically and he waggled his eyebrows at me and tucked them into his back pocket.
“You own a swimsuit?”
“I live in subtropical climate. Of course I own swimmers.”
“One-piece? Or bikini?”
“Are you going somewhere with this?”
“Where is it?”
“Top drawer on the left.”
He yanked open the drawer and rifled through until he found what he was looking for. Producing my yellow string bikini he held it up in front of him and whistled. “Holy shit! I knew this was gonna be a good day.”
Then he’d shoved me out of bed by dumping half my wardrobe on me and promising me ice cream if I got dressed and came quietly.
The downfall of riding bikes is that, even on a warm summer day, you still have to factor in wind chill. It makes dressing for days like this difficult, because Australian summers are merciless and jeans and leather are the last things I felt like putting on my body in 40 °C heat. I’d just prayed he was taking me somewhere cool enough that string bikinis were considered acceptable attire.
Elijah slows the bike and turns off the highway. It’s quieter now, but instead of pestering him again about where he’s taking me, I tuck my head in against his back and watch the trees fly by in a haze of brilliant greens. Another ten minutes sees him pull the bike over at a tiny shoulder in the road marked out with bollards. There is room enough for three cars, but we’re the only ones inhabiting the space.
“Admit it, you brought me to the woods to off me.” I ease off the bike and begin working on my chin strap. All around us is bushland, but the ground beneath my feet is mostly made up of grass and sand, and I can hear the gentle lull of the ocean nearby. In front of us lies a small winding track surrounded by more trees. “Aww, and you haven’t even had the chance to see my bikini yet.”
“Ah, but this way I’ll have the chance to do both. They don’t call this place Shark Bay for no reason.”
Elijah was already off the bike and taking out the ammo cases that he stored his belongings in while he was on the road. He’d quite cleverly crafted his own way to carry his belongings through the use of a custom made sissy bar that housed them. I smile down at him as he chocks up the side kickstand with a small wooden block so it won’t sink into the soft ground.
“You know, if you rode a Vespa you wouldn’t have to chock your bike up with kindling. They have these amazing new things now called centre stands.”
He stands and snakes his arm around my waist, pulling me into an embrace, only instead of kissing me he takes my chin in between his thumb and forefinger and gives me his sternest face. “Do not mock my baby.” He pulls away and strokes his palm over the seat. “She was my first love.”
“Well, your current ... er ... girl, is getting jealous with all the attention you’re paying your first love, and she has orifices you can stick things in without having your boy bits burnt off.”
He pulls me into him again and his mouth goes to work on my neck. “Fuck I love it when you talk dirty.”
“Come on, before we get arrested for roadside indecent exposure.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he replies and leads me to the path.
The beach was beautiful, pure white sand, calm crystal azure waters and not a single soul in sight, but Elijah wasn’t happy stopping near the track. No. He made us walk for another kilometre before choosing too plonk down our belongings near a huge paperbark tree that had long since succumbed to dune erosion and was now firmly embedded in the beach.
He unrolls the picnic rug he’d carried and sets it and an ammo case down before us.
“What’s in the case?”
“Breakfast.” He sets out some grapes, apple juice and a few white takeaway bags, the kind that hamburgers usually came in. They’re sodden and the oil has soaked through, but I couldn’t care less. This impromptu picnic is singlehandedly the most romantic thing a guy has ever done for me.
“You brought me on a picnic?” Tears were springing to my eyes, which was so unbelievably stupid and girly.
Elijah glances up at the quaver in my voice and baulks. “Shit, baby girl, don’t cry. It’s just a couple of soggy egg and bacon rolls and the beach on a beautiful day.”
“I love soggy egg and bacon rolls.” I say and plonk myself down on the Tartan blanket, knowing all the while that I mean infinitely more than loving greasy breakfast hamburgers. I know next to nothing about Elijah’s past. It drives me crazy, knowing that in a small way I have him, and yet the secrets that he keeps ensure I’ll never really have him at all, not until he learns he can open up to me and trust me the way I want him to. Despite all his secrecy and the fact that I haven’t really had anything else to compare it to, I think I’m in love with him. Each day I feel myself falling a little more, and I don’t really know what that means for either of us. Sure, he’s here with me now. And yes, he seems content living in Sugartown and working at the shop with my dad, but for how long?
Elijah wipes away a tear and cups my cheek. “You okay?”
God, I’m such a head case. He’d probably start running for the hills if I said the words I’d just been thinking out loud.
“Yeah.” I nod, and set about schooling my features into something that don’t resemble a sobbing, snivelling crazy person. “It’s just, every time I think you couldn’t possibly get any more perfect, you do something that surprises me.”
He laughs and then seems to sober a little when he realises I’m serious. “I’m far from perfect, darlin’.”
“No you’re not. Not to me.” I crawl across the mat towards him and take his face in my hands, kissing his lips softly. He lifts me up and sets me back down in his lap so I’m straddling him.
“You’re incredible.” I pepper his face with kisses as I say, “You’re generous, sweet and unbelievably accommodating between the sheets.”
He laughs and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear as he says, “You’re unbelievably easy to accommodate.”
“You’re beautiful.” He raises a brow and I roll my eyes and add, “In a very rugged, manly sort of way. And the way you are with Sammy? He’s special, and a lot of people don’t see that, but you do. Plus, you said you like my pie.”
“Darlin’, there isn’t a man alive who wouldn’t like your pie,” he mocks, and I give him a playful slap across the arm.
“Face it, mister. You’re a catch and I’m not letting you get away.”
“Then it’s a good thing I’m not going anywhere,” he says and falls backward onto the soft sand, kissing me senseless.
* * *
After our soggy rolls and a swim we lay on the blanket, wrapped in one another’s arms, despite the heat. I trace the tattoo over his chest and say, “Tell me about your tattoos.”
“What do you want to know?”
Everything. But namely why another girl’s name is emblazoned on your heart, and is there a reason why you haven’t had it removed before now when you’re clearly not together?
I can’t say that, though. I have to ease my way into questions wit
h Elijah because his instinct is to shut down my questions by distracting me with bone-melting orgasms. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it does make it difficult to get to know him better.
“Who’s Lilly?”
Crap. So much for easing into it.
He makes this scoffing sound in the back of his throat, like a derisive laugh, only it’s laced with anger. “Somethin’ on your mind, Ana?”
“I think it’s a fair question, considering you had her name permanently etched into your skin. And over your heart, no less.” Even as I’m saying the words, I’m still not sure why it’s all that important. I don’t know why I’m being so irrational about it. I mean, it’s a bit of ink, for god’s sake, just five little letters that could have belonged to anyone. It could be the name of his beloved pet pooch, but my blood feels like it’s simmering inside my veins no less.
Elijah shifts out from under me and begins gathering together our things.
“What are you doing?”
“I think we should head back. You’ve got some work to do at the shop, and I’ve got some things to take care of.”
“Seriously?” I stand up, too, so that he’s not doubled over talking to me like I’m a naughty child. He’s incredibly intimidating when he towers above me like that. Even if I wasn’t 5’2, he’d be intimidating regardless, but at least this way I’m able to look him in the eye. Kind of. “You’d seriously rather run than have a conversation about your ex?”
“She’s not my ex.”
“Then who is she?”
He looks me dead in the face, and the rage I see swirling in those pretty dark eyes makes my stomach clench. “No one you need to worry about. She’s dead.”
I know that. Or at some point I’d guessed as much, but I still feel like crap when I hear the words flee his mouth and see his anger turn to sadness. Irrationally, that just makes me angrier.
“You don’t talk about your past. In fact, you go out of your way to change the subject, like you’re ashamed of where you come from.”
“I am ashamed!” he bellows, and I snap my head back as if he’s just struck a physical blow. I spin on my heel and start heading for the path, though I have absolutely no idea what I’ll do when I get there. I’m not crazy enough to hitchhike—I saw Wolf Creek, people—but I’m not sure I want to spend the next hour on the back of the bike snuggled up to Elijah, either.
“Ana, get back here,” he growls.
“Screw you!”
“Where you gonna go, baby girl?” he singsongs, and because I can practically feel him breathing down my neck, I pick up the pace. The next thing I know I’m airborne, and Elijah flips me over his shoulder like a goddamn cave man.
“Put me down, arsehole.” I kick and scream and pound on his back with my fists. I think I may have even got in a shot to the side of his head with my knee.
“You keep strugglin’, baby girl. I can do this all day.”
I believe him, too. The boy’s probably got enough stamina to stand there for several days, but the minute I stop acting up he unceremoniously dumps me onto the blanket and crouches in the sand before me.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled, I just ...” He exhales loudly and looks down the empty beach before meeting my gaze. “I guess there isn’t a whole lotta good to talk about, you know? The shit I’ve seen. The shit I’ve done. I’m not proud of any of it.”
“I’ve done things I’m not—”
“I’ve done time, Ana. Twice.”
I feel my eyes widen in surprise. He’d hinted as much the night of our “date” but I thought it was all just for show. I didn’t believe that he’d actually been in jail.
“Yeah, not so perfect now, am I?
“You hurt anyone?”
He shakes his head solemnly. “Just my future and any shot I might have had at a real career. I fix bikes because I’m good at it. I’ve been taking engines apart and putting them back together since I was ten years-old. Sometimes I think I have oil running through my veins instead of blood. I make enough to get me from one town to the next, but it’s not any kind of life. Sure as shit not enough of one to drag someone like you into it.”
“Someone like me?”
“Baby girl, you could have any man you want and instead you settle for a broke ex-con.”
I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer to my next question. In fact, I was pretty sure I’d really rather not know, but I had to ask all the same. “What did you do?”
“The first time?”
I nod.
“Stole a car with some buddies of mine, took it for a test drive and wrapped it around a telegraph pole. Sean ended up with a concussion and a broken arm, Luke had a cracked rib and Brent and I walked away unscathed—at least until they found out I was driving. Then they marched me straight into juvie and spat me out three years later.”
“And the second time?”
He swallows, hard. “Part of my release on good behaviour is that I can’t talk about it.”
“Well, that’s convenient,” I deadpan.
“It’s the truth.” Elijah swipes a hand over his face. “Look, I should have told you this a lot sooner—”
“No shit.”
“I’ve kept my nose clean since I got out. I don’t plan on ever going back. That shit’s done with. There are parts of my life that I can’t talk about and others that I won’t. If you think you can handle that then great, if not, then we end this thing right here.”
“What is this thing?”
“You tell me.”
Easier said than done. Yes, I was falling for the guy, but holy crap, how do you fail to mention something this huge to someone you care about? And does he really care about me, or am I just a way to pass the time between this town and the next?
I finally meet his gaze and I’m surprised by the amount of anxiety I see there. It softens my anger, just a little, enough to understand why he’d keep this a secret from me. Aside from the fact that it’s been court ordered, that is. “Does my dad know?”
Another solemn nod. “One of the stipulations of my release is that I have a job to go to before I move on anywhere. I have a parole officer who rides my arse if I’m more than an hour late to check in with both her and my new employer. If I break parole I go back inside, hard time and no hearing.”
“And he’s okay with this?”
“When he gave me the job, he was, but when I met you—hell no! Why do you think he fought so hard to keep me away from you? He wanted to string me up by my balls after he found out you’d spent the night with me.”
“Well, I kinda know how he feels.”
“I’m sorry, Ana.” He tentatively cups my face in his hands, as if he’s afraid I’ll pull away. I don’t. I lean into his touch instead. “It didn’t feel right, telling you before now. I’m working hard to keep that shit buried, you know, but sometimes it all just resurfaces and kicks me in the nuts.”
“I get it, I do. But if you lie to me again, Cade, it won’t be my dad you’ll have to watch out for.”
“Shit, baby girl.” Elijah ducks his head and his dimples come out swinging. “You’re pretty bloody scary when you wanna be.”
“I learned from the best.”
“No arguments there.”
Elijah
You’d think having a kid along on a date would seriously cramp any chances I had of getting his older sister naked beneath me by the end of the night, but whenever Ana saw me treating her kid brother like my six-year-old best mate, it’s like her maternal instincts went into overdrive. At nineteen, she may not have been aware that her body clock was already set to the soccer mum setting, but it was as plain as fuck to me. She’ll make an incredible wife and mother someday, and I feel a pang of stupid jealously that I won’t be around to see it.
I can feel her eyes on Sammy and me as our dodgem car careens head first into a couple of little punks that’d been out for blood since the ride began. She leans against the wire fence, her cheeks flushing as she spea
rs her bottom lip with her teeth. I can practically feel the lust emanating off her. A couple of guys her age stop to check out her arse as I feel both a swell of pride and possessiveness roll over me. That arse is mine, and in just a few short minutes I’ll show everyone by slipping my hand into the back pocket of her jeans and squeezing it until she yelps. For now, I’ll avenge the beating we’re taking from these little Justin Bieber lookalike shits.
Sammy lets out a squeal of a laugh, his head thrown back as another little turd ramrods us in the rear.
“You okay, buddy?” I ask and he nods. “Whaddya say we hit these fools where it hurts?”
“Do it!” he screams and flies back against the seat as I hit the pedal to the floor. Christ, he’s so bloody little, I’m surprised the jolt doesn’t break him in half. We take off after the fuckers, side-slamming both their cars into the guardrail at once.
Ignoring the signs about remaining seated while the ride is in action Sammy jumps up on his seat and gives them both the finger. “Eat thit fuckerth.”
I laugh before catching sight of Ana on the sidelines. I can practically see the steam pouring out of her ears. She’s ranting about something, though the candy-coated shit they call pop music is grating at my eardrums and blocking whatever the hell it is she’s raving about.
“Dude, sit down. You’re totally cock-blocking me right now!” I yank Sammy back down in his seat.
“Whath cock-blocking?”
My eyes go wide with horror and then I laugh. “Ask your sister.”
The end of some tragic bloody Lady Gaga song signals the ride’s end and, before I can stop him, Sammy’s up in his seat again and screaming at his sister, “Ana, Elijah thaid to athk you what cock-blocking meanth.”
Every person within fifty metres turns their head to gawk at us. I throw Ana a sheepish grin and her returning glare is both a thing of wonder and the kinda shit nightmares are made of.
“Both of you get your bums over here, now!”
Aww shit, I am never getting near that pussy again.
“Thee lookth mad.” Sammy stares up at me as we make our way over to the gate.
Born to Ride Page 78
