Page 148 of Ride or Die

He slipped his hands into his pockets, leather jacket wrinkling. “Bad’s kind of relative, isn’t it? The alternative was usually worse.”

They continued walking and eventually looped around to head back towards the shop.

“Sometimes you pick between crappy options and choose what you can live with.”

The backs of his knuckles brushed hers.

Riley couldn’t have lived with herself if she’d known she was actively aiding and abetting criminals. She’d gotten up and went to work and ignored Gio and done as she was told.

She’d been a good employee.

Paying off her loans had felt more important than figuring out why some of the numbers didn’t make sense. Maybe that was selfish, but it was better than the alternative. She didn’t want to be back in bed with hair that hadn’t been washed in two weeks, eating a bag of chips every other day because that was all the energy she had. She didn’t want her mom to call every day and ask if she could come visit. She didn’t want Kristi to look at her like she had.

She couldn’t do that again. She’d barely gotten out the first time.

Maybe not looking was survival. The loans had been a reason to get out of bed, as pathetic as it seemed.

Cookie snarled at a dog across the street and retreated to Saint’s side as the fur along his back stood straight up.

A stress response, as Saint had said. He’d lived in a dumpster. It made sense that dogs he didn’t know might make him scared.

Riley hadn’t acted maliciously; she hadn’t wanted anyone hurt, even if she hadn’t looked as closely as she should have. Maybe that was a stress response too.

Saint’s hand brushed hers again, and she linked their fingers together. His cheek lifted in a smile, but he didn’t look at her. She flipped their hands and studied the little scars, silvery under the streetlamps they passed. They formed a web of choices that included working for bikers and saving Cookie, even when he hadn’t wanted to be saved.

She was quiet until they got back to the shop. Large drops fell, and she stopped Saint as soon as they got through the shop door.

“We need to set some more rules. For this. Us.”

Saint stilled. “Okay.”

“I want to know what you’re going to do. Loop me in. Even if it’s hard.”

He swallowed. “Okay.”

“And I’ll do the same thing.” She stared at the ground where her old sneakers touched the tips of his boots.

“Even when it’s hard.”

She looked up into Saint’s dark gaze, careful and warm and steady and everything that she’d come to love. Her eyes prickled, and she nodded. “Okay.”

Something settled between them, like a block fitting into place, and while it should have felt big and momentous, it didn’t. It felt right. Like it’d always been there.

They walked slowly up the stairs together, like the dark shop provided some sort of insulation, some sanctuary from the consequences of their choices. But it didn’t.

It was just dark.

By the time they got back up the stairs, Nico was out on bail.

Chapter 44

Riley

The fog was heavy in Riley’s lungs, wet and cold, as her boots collected dew from the grass. She pulled her coat tightly around her shoulders. It was late and uncharacteristically cold.

Kristi waited for her, tights and sneakers damp with rain and sweat. It had been a week since Andrew’s visit and then Nico’s arrest, and Riley had finally made some decisions.

She glanced over her shoulder to where Saint and Dante were silhouetted by the high beams, shoulder to shoulder. Dante had already been at Saint’s and wanted to “come for the car ride.”