Page 17 of Fly's Path

The bus pulls to a stop, and the door opens.

“Let the Kissing Pact begin.” Savie shoves her knitting into her bag, which is almost as large as mine, but I doubt she keeps her entire life on her at all times.

Winnie whistles as we step out of the bus.

There are a half-dozen bikers just kind of hanging out around us.

How is it possible that among the bunch of them there isn’t a single one that gives me creep vibes at first glance? There’s always at least one guy in every group who you just know, looking at him, that you need to watch your back when he’s around.

This is dangerous.

“Let the games begin,” Savie whispers in awe.

Why do I have a feeling she isn’t going to let this Kissing Pact go?

***

After an hour of marathon planning, I find a little nook outside to hide. Dylan and Dahlia have always been the planners of the group, but this is a whole different level of epicness.

“You needed a break, too?” Piper walks over, looking like she’s completely exhausted.

“Yeah.” I hold out a purse granola bar. “Need a snack?”

“Thanks. Sometimes I wonder why people need to…I don’t know, people so much.” She leans her head against the block wall and closes her eyes. “Sometimes, can’t we just let things be for a while?”

Why do I get the feeling she isn’t talking about the reception plans, which are a bit stressful, but mostly fun? “What’s going on?”

Piper sighs. “I’m hiding from him. I told him this was all about helping a friend, and it is, but I needed some space. He wants to introduce me to his family.”

Oh.

OH. “The family Winnie was talking about.”

She nods. “What am I going to do? This can’t work. It won’t. The second I walk in there, they’re going to see right through me. They’re going to break us up.” Tears well up in her eyes. “By the end of our first date, I knew we’d never work out, but Valen…” She brushes one away from her cheek with her hand wrapped around the granola bar. “He’s perfect. Literally perfect. Sweet. Thoughtful. Smart. He barely knows me, but he goes out of his way to spoil me. Every time I’m near him, I feel like a spoiled princess whose prince is determined to give her the world.”

WOW.

“No matter how often I try to show him that I’m not a princess, he just doesn’t get it.”

“That’s because you’re wrong.”

The shocked look on her face would be funny if it didn’t accompany a dropped bar.

The urge to pick it up and blow the dirt off overwhelms me. It’s gone, and that’s all there is to it. “Piper, you’re a princess. You’re his princess. The woman he wants to give the world to. You deserve love and kindness and beauty, and all the gifts that man wants to give you. How much money you have or where you were born doesn’t matter. If that man sees the beautiful person inside of you, you better start believing he isn’t wrong. Also, so what—”

“Huh?”

“So what if his family is rich and powerful? They’re just people the same as you or me. Money just means they can buy nice things. It doesn’t determine their worth.”

“I just…I’m so afraid that I’m going to fall hard for him, then he’s going to toss me away like a used tissue.”

No, you mean like your family did. Like that ex of yours. “Is he really giving you the vibe that might happen?”

She shakes her head. “I’m pretty sure he’s planning our wedding and deciding how many kids we’ll have. Oh, and what type of dog?”

“That’s rude. You should pick out your dog together.”

Piper giggles. “I’m going to want a mutt from the side of the road, and he’s probably going to want some thoroughbred.”