Page 74 of Wreck Me

“Thank you, sweetie.”

My dad joined us and we all hugged goodbye, and then they were out the door.

I waved as they drove past the gates, then disappeared down the dirt road.

Then I locked the door and spun back into the entryway of the house, the space now eerily quiet.

I frowned.

It was strange that I was interpreting it that way.

I usually loved spending time alone. I preferred it to having anybody in my space.

Maybe it was just a case of getting used to being around people with Luxe, heading over to Caleb a few evenings a week, and living with my parents again. Maybe it was just me adjusting.

I opened the connecting door through the house that led into the garage and made a beeline for my bike. It would be dark in a couple of hours and the weather reports were warning of rain soon too, so my opportunity to take a ride today was now or never. Fortunately, I’d already gotten through my readings and work after waking up at the crack of dawn this Saturday, then working all the way through to the mid-afternoon. I’d even set up and started work on the Revit software that they were going to start teaching us to use in class soon.

Everything was under control.

All under control.

I snatched my hard leather jacket off one of the hooks beside my Harley and shrugged it on. As soon as it was zipped, I pulled on my helmet.

And then I was swinging my leg over my bike.

Anticipation was thrumming through me as I started it up, then peeled out of the garage.

As soon as I navigated around the winding private drive and hit the open backroads, I was flying, the rumble of the engine beneath me rolling through me, the wind whipping around me, the power of my Harley propelling me forward.

It was invigorating beyond belief.

So incredibly freeing.

And most of all, it took everything else away, and just let me be.

So the rain had come sooner than the perceived weather experts had predicted.

I’d had to leave my boots in the garage because they were completely caked in mud.

And my clothes hadn’t fared much better.

I’d wiped them down a little with some paper towel in the garage so, thankfully, as I made my way through the house, I wasn’t actually dripping mud all over the place.

I hung my leather jacket in the laundry room, making a note to clean it properly later, and I took off my jeans and put them straight in the wash, along with my socks that were soaked through because when I’d stepped out of my boots in the garage, I’d accidentally trodden right in the muddied splashes they’d made. Seriously? Talk about undoing a good ride.

I headed upstairs in my bra and panties and made a beeline for my ensuite bathroom.

Even my hair was caked in mud.

I turned the shower on, then quickly stripped off.

And then I was climbing into the shower in the next beat.

I shampooed my hair that was a matted mess, then conditioned it.

And then I closed my eyes and sank into the feeling of the warm water soothing me.

I wasn’t headed to the boys’ mansion tonight, so I was literally alone. Just my own company for the rest of the weekend. I was planning to make the most of it. It was why I’d made sure to get my college work out of the way. Then I could just relax. Now that I couldn’t go for another ride because of the shit weather, I could work on my guilty pleasure of planning out the sequel to the video game I’d made. It was a guilty pleasure because I wasn’t supposed to be doing it anymore and I couldn’t around my mom or dad, or they’d interpret it as me doing a one-eighty and wanting to go back to the institute. It wasn’t that. It was just nagging at me, the ideas sparking in me and demanding I give them breath. It was hard to just shut that creative energy down. And I guess I didn’t really want to, because it still got me excited, it still had me buzzing with anticipation thinking about working on it.

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