Page 6 of Knuckles (Dragon Riders MC 4)
A fully-grown woman with legs so long they could wrap around any brute and lull him to sleep.
I tried to take it easy on the road until I felt Simone’s grip loosen. Usually, that was the sign that someone had grown comfortable back there. But her grip never did loosen up at all. She kept a tight squeeze on me right up until I eased into the parking lot of the Iron Horse. And even then, I had to peel her away from me so I could get off my bike. I wasn’t sure if she clung to me out of fear or something else, but every time I caught a glimpse of her eyes, there was a passing worry behind them I couldn’t decrypt.
Simone had always been good at putting up fronts.
So, the fact that hers was currently cracking meant something really wasn’t right.
I knew this was a bad idea, though. Bringing her along. I mean even though I knew Link would eventually okay it after some talking, I knew she’d be nothing but a distraction. We had so much to catch up on. So many years had passed us by since the last time we saw one another. But I also knew I couldn't leave her behind. Not with her dealing with, well, whatever she was dealing with. She was genuinely afraid, and I’d only ever seen Simone scared like that of one person in my life.
Our foster mother.
Nevertheless, I had always taken care of her. And I always would. Hell, the reason why I bought that dilapidated piece of shit to spruce up one day was because it had enough space for both myself and her. And I figured if she ever found her way back home, she’d need a place to stay. I had a savings account I dumped money into just to hand over to her one day, should this lifestyle take me too soon. And in my will? Everything I had was to be given to her.
From sunup to sundown, I’d made a promise to her when we were little to always take care of her.
And I took that very seriously.
Growing up, I wasn’t just her protector, though. I was her biggest supporter. Her best friend. A shoulder she could cry on and someone she could always come to and ask for help. Every day that passed by, I missed her like hell. Every day that went without communication, I worried about her that much more. And after the days turned into years, I gave up hope that our lives would merge again, even though I still dreamt about it.
Dreamt about the day she’d come walking back into my life for good.
And now that she had, it burned me to know why. It stoked a fire in my angry gut to know that the reason she came back was because someone had her afraid.
I was ready to kill them, and I didn’t even know who—or why—yet.
Seeing her had dredged up a lot of feelings, though. Feelings I had stuffed down for years. Simone had been my first crush. The first set of boobs I ever saw from around the corner of a door whenever I grew curious when I was a child. She was my first kiss under a blanket in the middle of a storm because neither of us could sleep. And when the two of us became interested in the opposite sex, we both went out on a date with one another to “get the first one out of the way.”
I loved that girl in more ways than one.
And I hadn’t realized until she popped back up that I never did stop loving her.
But the second I turned eighteen, my foster parents were ready to kick me out. They never did like me. Simone was the angelic child, but even she got the brunt of a lot of their bullshit. After I aged out of the system that handed them money every month for us, they kicked me out with nothing but my clothes and my shit in a trash bag. And I bounced around for a while, sure. Working under-the-table jobs and trying to carve out a path for myself that didn’t require sleeping inside of dumpsters whenever it rained and begging for scraps on the fucking street.
Finding the Dragon Riders was a godsend in my life at the time. And when I had the money, I sent Simone postcards.
You know, after Bowser helped me track down her constantly changing addresses.
Maybe that has something to do with why she’s so scared.
“Knuckles!”
I turned around, my hand on the front door handle of the Iron Horse, as I watched Simone slide her helmet off her head. Her beautiful blonde hair tumbled down her shoulders, disheveled and a bit sweaty as the sun grew in intensity above us. And yet, she was still the most gorgeous girl I’d ever laid eyes on.
