Page 14 of Knuckles (Dragon Riders MC 4)
“Ugh, I could use a walk,” I groaned.
JayJay threw away our trash. “We could walk around the motel complex.”
I thumbed over my shoulder. “If we walk just through those woods, there’s an entire park back there. We could go walk our food down that way.”
“Not through the woods.”
“But I mean if you’re with me?”
He pierced me with a glare. “Not. Through. The woods.”
I held my hands up. “All right, all right. You don’t have to get mean about it.”
He sighed. “We can walk around the motel complex as much as you want. But I want lights and cameras on us at all times. Okay?”
“Okay. I get that. Sounds like a good walk to me, anyway.”
“Just… let me get a shower really quickly? Being on that bike all day requires a shower before I do anything else.”
I grinned. “Gives me enough time to change into something that isn’t your shirt.”
His jaw clenched again. “Yes. Do that.”
I winked at him. “Anything for you, JayJay.”
He turned on his heels and walked into the shower room before closing the door behind him. And after throwing back the last few drops of my Dr. Pepper, I got up and got into my loosest clothes. I pulled on a dress I had underneath my outfit from yesterday and slid into my heels, cursing myself for not bringing any other comfortable footwear. And as I fluffed my hair in the mirror, my phone lit up on my bedside table.
So, I walked over to see who was calling me.
Janie!
I picked up the phone without a second thought. “Girl, I’ve got so much to fill you in on its sick.”
“I was wondering when you’d call me! Last I heard, you were going to meet Justin yesterday and then nothing. I was beginning to think you had forgotten all about little old me.”
I giggled as I slipped outside to take the private call. “I could never forget about my best fucking friend, Janie.”
“Good. Because I want to know all about how approaching Justin went.”
I sighed. “Well, it’s going.”
“Going good? Or… going, bad?”
“Good-ish. For now. I’m kind of on a trip with him.”
She squealed. “A trip! How can a trip be bad!?”
“It’s a working trip for him. But he convinced his boss—I guess—to let me come with him.”
“Oh, that’s good. That means he wants you around, honeybee!”
I snickered. “This isn’t college anymore, though. Men are a lot more complicated out here in the real world. And I haven’t been around Justin for a long time now. What if all he views me as is a little sister and nothing else?”
“Well, have you tried asking him?”
“I can’t just ask the man, Janie. I can’t just blurt it out like that.”
“Sure, you can! At Charter Community, you blurted shit out all the time no matter what. What’s changed?”
Everything. “I don’t know, girl.”
“Listen, if you don’t take a risk, you’re never going to know. The worst he can say is—”
“Ew?”
She clicked her tongue. “You know him better than that. Hell, I know him better than that and I’ve never even met the guy. You know he’s not going to say that to you.”
I shrugged. “People change.”
“Not that much, though. SiSi, if Justin is anything like the person you’ve described to me, the worst he can do is let you down easily.”
“I know, I know.”
“So? Talk to him, honeybee. That’s all you can do. That’s all anyone can do in a situation like this. Tell him how you feel. How you’ve felt for a while now. And the worst that will happen is he’ll tell you that he doesn’t see things the same way.”
My eyes watered at the mere thought. “It’s going to suck if he does.”
“But it won’t be the end of the world. That’s what I’m trying to get you to see. You’ve spent too much of your time and money tracking him down over the years. Chasing after those postcards he sent you. Trying to figure out how he knew where you were even though you didn’t know where he was. You have your chance to get all of those answers if you’ll just flap those lips of yours.”
I giggled. “You’re right, I know.”
“Good. Now, go get ‘em, SiSi. You got this.”
I drew in a sobering breath. “Right. Yes. I’ve got this.”
“And call me right after to tell me all about it.”
My face fell. “Girl, if things go right? You’ll be the first phone call after a couple of hours.”
“Woooo, SiSi! Gettin’ salacious up in here.”
I smiled brightly. “You know me. Always sexin’ it up.”
“He’s a lucky man, honeybee.”
“And I’m a lucky woman. At least, I hope I will be.”
“All right, enough with the speculative pity party. Go get your man. And call me the second you can, okay?”
I nodded. “I promise.”
“Good. Love you, girl.”
“Love you, too.”
As I hung up the phone, my mind raced. I slid it into my bra beneath my dress and peered over my shoulder. JayJay seemed like such a different person now, and I wondered if we could actually have a future together. I mean sure, he had grown into a man. He was no longer the scrawny teenager I grew up with. But he’d found a family he belonged with. He had friends. A home. A place to call his own. He seemed so content and good with where he was.
