Page 42 of Fighting a Riot

Whatever.

The world had a way of giving me what I wanted when I wanted it –only it never worked out quite right– so I mentally girded myself for the worst possible experience.

Yak’s actions made it clear that this was not a date, but I couldn’t stop myself from enjoying the hell out of it. Spending time with him was easy in a way it hadn’t been with Destin. But then I suppose Destin had been trying to impress me –or more likely he was juggling. Trixie’s point about Mia waiting in the wings struck home, and ultimately Destin must have given her some glimmer of hope for her to even be in the wings.

Those thoughts flew out of my head once we took off from the zoo. I loved everything about being on Yak’s bike. The roar of the wind, the rumble of his motorcycle, sitting so close to him –even if I didn’t really need to, since his bike had a backrest.

We hadn’t even ridden a full mile before Yak veered off for Main Street. Guess he hadn’t been kidding about the bar being close, because we pulled into a dirt parking lot moments later.

At least thirty bikes had to be sitting in the lot and probably ten people were milling around. The men were all rough around the edges, and looking at the women–I felt overdressed. Most of the women were in tank-tops, or crop-tops if they had sleeves, and many were wearing shorts instead of pants. At least I’d opted for my black, long-sleeve Nine Inch Nails shirt instead of something more colorful, so I didn’t stand out quite so bad.

Yak rolled to a stop and I stayed still.

He looked at me over his shoulder. It gave me a great view of his profile and not for the first time I admired the hoop-shaped nose ring on his right nostril.

“Need you to get off, Nora.”

I bit back my smile, but said, “There is such a double entendre there, you know.”

He sighed. “I don’t need a distraction like that. Hop off. Have to give you a quick run-down before we go inside.”

I hurried off his bike and took off the helmet. He stood facing me, but his eyes were scanning the area behind me. From the expression on his face, Yak was all business.

“Really wish I didn’t have to bring you here,” he muttered.

“Why?”

He shook his head, then made eye contact with me. “My club president wants me and Roll here because another club is here. Don’t know what the point is exactly, I’m guessing Roll does. But, they got an ax to grind with us and always have. You don’t need to be around this shit.”

“What happened?”

“Too long a story, but they’ve attacked our women rather than man up and attack one of us.”

“Oh,” I whispered.

He nodded. “Yeah. There’s a whole lot more to it than that, but you get the idea. They don’t like us and…” He paused. “Here comes Roll. Don’t act too friendly with Trixie.”

My head reared back. “Why?”

“She ain’t gonna be the same person you’re used to, either. This isn’t the place for girlie shit, Nora.”

I put a hand on my hip to argue, then lowered it. “I’m not that girlie, Yak.”

His lips tipped up. “Oh, yeah, you are. But this gives you the chance to prove me wrong.”

“What the hell is she doin’ here?” Trixie demanded when she climbed off Roll’s motorcycle.

I turned to her. “Hi.”

“Hi, yourself. This is not your scene, Nora Jean.”

“You mean Norma Jean, but it’s all right. I’ve been told to stick close to Yak and not do anything you’d do.”

Trixie narrowed her eyes on Yak. “Not do anything I’d do?”

Roll lumbered over to us. “Stop, Trix. Both of you keep to yourselves.”

Another motorcycle rolled into the lot and pulled up next to Roll’s. A petite woman with red-hair got off, and then a tall, lanky man with long, brown hair pulled back in a low ponytail swung off.

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