Page 74 of Ivory's Ruin Romance

She hated to ask. Being vulnerable was much easier when it meant being bound and gagged, but his touch had been both arousing and comforting, and it made her way too honest. “Am I worth it? Changing your plans and going through all the extra effort to be together?”

Adrian rose to his feet with certainty written in his eyes. “Yes, you are.”

Warmth flooded her veins.

He reached out and helped her to her feet beside him. “It’ll take time, but you’ll get used to knowing your worth. I’ll make sure of it.”

His unwavering confidence in her had been more than she’d expected, and hearing it spoken so plainly felt like drinking fresh water when she’d been living in a desert. He didn’t avoid the topic or reach for reasons to prove her value, either. He accepted her as is, which was more than she’d ever done for herself.

She cast her eyes down, realizing just how much she’d gotten used to belittling herself and accepting the same from others. Some days, she couldn’t even tell if her self-perception was her own or a mutated version of someone else’s. If her goals and dreams were hers or inherited from her parents.

She looked up, accepting them as true equals. A black knight and his cherished witch. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure.”

Once dressed and armed with retouched makeup, she made quick work of stuffing the clothes back in her closet and together, they headed out. The earlier rain had reduced to a mist, cold and refreshing against her face, but the clouds remained heavy and clung to the sky as the sun tried to burn its way through.

For weeks, spring had merely been a glimmer on the horizon, but today, its warm tendrils wove into the air. Even the earth beneath her feet seemed more alive, and she imagined seeds germinating as small sprouts rose out of the mud.

As they approached Adrian’s bike, a bright splash of purple made her gasp. “Don’t tell me,” she whispered, spinning to him and bouncing on the balls of her feet. “The extra helmet is for me?”

His smile widened. “Yup. It’s all yours, sweetheart.”

Dangling from the seat next to his black one hung another helmet with a vibrant violet visor, the rest a matte black. It came with two small, pointed ears laid back on the head like a mythical creature.

She squealed and pounced on him with a bear hug. “Ohmygosh, thankyou-thankyou-thankyou!”

He wrapped his arms around her and returned the embrace, chuckling. “I’m glad you like it, but there’s one more thing to go with it.”

Electricity hummed in her chest. Nothing could make this day better. Yet there was more.

Adrian stepped up to the bike, unlocked their helmets, and handed hers over. She took it carefully as if it would break at the slightest excess force—even though the helmet would protect her, not the other way around. Inside, she found a pair of deep mauve leather gloves. The soft material stretched slightly around her fingers as she tried them on, forming a perfect barrier against the misty cold.

“These are perfect,” she breathed, repeating her thoughts out loud and turning to him. “Thank you so much.”

He’d already gotten on the bike, wearing his own helmet for the first time. The crinkles around his eyes showed through his visor as he reached over to help put hers on. “There, now you’re all set. Let’s go.”

???

Half an hour later, they pulled off on a back road next to what looked like a vacant fenced lot. The large, paved space housed an old warehouse and several smaller sheds with a handful of cars scattered along one end—more than a few of which had cracked windows, patches of rust, and various missing parts. The smell of rain saturated the air, dampening the undertones of rubber and oil.

“Where are we?” she asked as Adrian put out the kickstand and shut off the engine. Little hints of sunlight kept fading in and out from behind the clouds, highlighting the clusters of graffiti on the walls one moment, then plunging them into shadow the next.

He removed his helmet and shook his hair loose. “An old shop-turned-junkyard that’s owned by Royal Flush. Raptor gave us permission to use it today, but I’d advise you not to go poking around.”

She nodded, glancing over the myriad of graffiti paintings, the largest of which read ‘Royal Flush – All or Nothing’ around a skeletal hand holding a playing card. Her gaze drifted to other pieces of art as Adrian walked up to the tall chain link fence, unlocking the gate and pushing it open.

When he came back, instead of driving in, he reached over and tugged her hips up to the center of the seat.

“What are you doing?” she giggled, little tingles amplifying his touch.

“Not me,” he replied. “You.”

Her laughter petered out. “What?”

His eyes still had the little crinkles at the edges, but their golden core looked as serious as ever. He wasn’t joking. Her smile dissolved.

“Me…what?”

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