Page 28 of Knuckles (Dragon Riders MC 4)
My face grew pale. “Skeleton’s here?”
He nodded. “He’s telling everyone you’re his girlfriend and that he needs to find you.”
Dani’s voice rose behind JayJay’s back. “Well, that shit isn’t happening. Not on my watch. Where’s this Skeletal dude, anyway?”
JayJay furrowed his brow. “What?”
I giggled. “It’s fine. She’s okay. I’ve been renting a room from her ever since she gave me this job at the diner.”
He studied me. “So, you are working here.”
I nodded. “Yep.”
“How the hell did you get here in the first place?”
I took his hand. “Privacy first. Then, we talk. Dani?”
She giggled. “Get out of here, you two. And if this means you’re going to quit, just give me a heads up before you book it out of town.”
“I’d never leave you hanging like that. You know this.”
“Still. Just keep me afloat.”
“I will, girl. I will.”
I took Justin’s hand and led him out of the diner as Dani switched places with me in terms of my shift. And when I led him outside, his bike was nowhere to be found. I looked up at him with a curious gaze before he pointed down the road.
“Did you leave your bike at the ice cream parlor?” I asked.
He nodded. “When that girl told me you were at this diner, I just took off running. I didn’t know what else to do.”
My heart warmed me to my core. “Well, come this way. Mine and Dani’s place is only three or so blocks this way. We’ll be safe there, for now.”
His fingers threaded between my own. “Want to tell me how you got here, then? You know, pass the time?”
I smiled. “I, uh… well, after I was taken from the hotel, we drove for a while. I got hit in the head with something and it played with my memory there for a while.”
“You got hit in the head? Are you okay? Let me take a look.”
I swatted his hand away. “Once we get to the apartment, all right? You can look at all you want there.”
He grinned. “All I want, huh?”
I rolled my eyes. “Anywaaay… Skeleton and the guy he was with—I think his name was Rocker? Or something? —they pulled into a rest stop and both of them left the car unattended. Now, Skeleton threatened me before he got out. But, really. The man should’ve known better.”
“You made a break for it.”
“Damn straight, I did. I tore through the woods, hid out for a while, and when I knew Skeleton wasn’t patrolling the area anymore, I started walking down the road. An elderly couple named Isabel and Bernard pulled over and picked me up. Said they were headed to a place called Cherry Branch. They dropped me off at the diner because they figured I hadn’t eaten, and I didn’t know what else to do to get back to you. At the time, I couldn't remember where I was supposed to be getting back to. So, when Dani offered me a job, I took it. I figured I could work and make some money until I remembered where I was supposed to be, then I’d get a bus ticket back home.”
“You’re something else, you know that, S?”
I stopped at the wrought iron fence. “I’ve been told that a time or two. Hold on, let me get us inside.”
I let us upstairs and we were soon in the safe confines of the four walls I had called home for the past couple of weeks or so. Honestly, I wasn’t sure how much time had passed. The diner paid out weekly, and I wasn’t used to that kind of payment schedule. So, all of the days sort of bled into the other and I knew it was the end of the week when I got paid.
And I had already been paid twice.
“Nice studio,” JayJay said.
I pointed to the mattress on the floor in the corner. “Dani doesn’t have much room here, but she’s let me crash, nonetheless. She’s a good person.”
“She sounds like it. Now, give me that head of yours. Where were you hit?”
I pointed to my right temple. “Around that area.”
His fingers ran through my hair as he massaged, pulled, and tilted my head this way and that. And even though the intrusion wasn’t inherently sexual, it didn’t stop me from wondering what his hands might feel like elsewhere. His thumb softly slid against something that made me jump. But when I jumped, he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me right back against him.
“Hey, hey. It’s okay. Just a bruise,” he said softly.
I slowly looked up at him. “How bad is it?”
He shrugged. “It’s fading. More yellow than anything now. Does it still hurt?”
“It was a bit tender, yes.”
“You’ll need to see a doctor about it, then. Bruises shouldn't hurt that much at this point.”
I nodded slowly. “I figured as much. They cracked me pretty good.”
