Page 108 of Intolerable Bishop

I bit back the groan as her legs tightened on my hips, and she obeyed my command. Testing her, I pulled the front wheel up about a foot and set it back down.

“Oh my god, what are you doing?”

“You trust me?”

“Okay, here’s the thing. I trust you with my life, but if you’re going to do what I think you’re going to do, that is like jumping out of a perfectly good airplane for fun.”

I laughed. “Nothing wrong with skydiving. Come on, Ren, live a little. Life is short. Right?” I could almost feel her heart pounding against my back.

“Sweet Jesus, what am I thinking? Okay, fine, do it.”

“Just stay with me.”

I did a few small wheelies again, getting used to her weight and how the bike responded. She was like glue and moved with me. With a smile, I brought the front up into as high of a catwalk as I dared and held her there. Other than the guys, no one saw this side of me. My mother would’ve fainted, and those at school…well, it was better that they thought I was just the class nerd who wanted to beat everyone with my GPA.

“Oh My God!” Ren yelled, her enthusiasm infectious, making me smile. “This is insane! I love it!” Putting the bike down, I laughed hard. She never ceased to amaze me. “Can we do it again? That was incredible!”

“Hang on.” As soon as she tightened her grip, I brought the front end up. There was something so exhilarating about feeling the bike balance like this. The math and physics behind it made the nerd in me so fucking happy that it was disgusting.

“We have traffic pulling on. I don’t like being near vehicles for tricks,” I said, lowering the bike. “I promise we will on another blank stretch.”

“Theo?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re crazy. I just want you to know that, but I love it,” Ren said, and my eyebrows shot up.

“Careful, Ren, you might catch real feelings if you keep talking like that.” She grew quiet, and the sound of my own breathing was loud in my helmet as I waited for her to say something.

“Is that what you think? That I don’t care about you?”

I was really happy that she couldn’t see my face, but it didn’t stop me from wanting to fidget. “Honestly, I don’t know what to think. I see how you are with Myles and Blake, but I’m not sure how I fit into the equation. What variable do I fit?”

“I have zero experience in dating one person, let alone three, so I don’t have a clue how this is supposed to work, but…I want you, and I have very strong feelings for you. But don’t let that go to your head.” I smirked. Strong feelings were a start, and it was a place to work up from. “I’ve kinda been holding myself back.”

“Because of Liam?”

She was silent again, and I knew the answer even before she spoke. “Yeah. I’m not sure he’s going to accept me being in your life, and I’m not comfortable being the reason you two split up.”

“Yeah, I know.”

She was voicing what worried me, too. Sex with Liam had been out of this world since we made up, but he was still quiet about Ren. I could see the jealousy in him whenever I said I was heading to the cabin. We couldn’t last like that. One of us needed to give in. That meant that I let go of Ren, which was nearly impossible at this point, or…Liam became X in the multivariable equation that equaled five.

We lapsed into silence, the words unsaid speaking louder than the roar of my bike. I needed a plan, but what…that was the riddle proving to be tricky to unravel.

“Theo?”

“Yeah?”

“Where the hell are we going?”

I laughed, and just like that, the awkward tension burst.

Fuck, my heart was already in deep.

AUGUST 14 – SUNDAY 5:30 PM

Ren