Page 19 of Striker's Yield

“Good, then why don’t you and Striker go ahead and head out. I can handle everything until closing. Then meet you guys at Striker’s,” Athena suggests, and damn if I don’t want to hug her.

“That works,” I answer before Autumn can even think to protest. I close the distance between us, grinning. “Come on, Mama, let’s get out of here.” Tugging her toward the door, I look at Tony. “Get the address from Lila. I’ll see you there in a bit.”

For the time being, I’m taking Autumn out on the bike. Since there’s going to be a bit of time now, I’m taking advantage of it.

CHAPTER 9

Autumn

“See you tomorrow night,” Lila says and lets out a yawn that’s totally fake.

“Night,” Striker calls out to her departing back.“Don’t forget we’ve got the club barbeque tomorrow. You’re helping with the kids.”

“I know. I’m not a ditz, big brother,” she shouts, not turning around. “Night, Autumn, see you in the morning.”

I’m not sure what to think of the fact that she’s not reacting to the point I’m still there or that Striker told her I was staying the night. She’d been excited and thought it was, in her words, ‘That’s ducking awesome.’I couldn’t believe it.

The whole day seems so surreal, and honestly, I’m exhausted from it all. All I want to do is go home and curl up in my bed, but that’s not going to happen. Striker’s made it apparent I wasn’t going anywhere.

Throughout the afternoon and evening, it’s been one thing after another. From the moment we left the café, I hadn’t wanted to leave. I needed to be there to make sure everything was good, but he dragged me out of there. I hadn’t put up a fight. I wanted to, God knows I did. All fight left me when he put me on the back of his bike and just rode.

For a good long while, that’s all we did. He took me out of town, taking 258 toward Suffolk, turned in Carrsville, and just watched the scenery. It was beautiful, so freeing. He’d slow for the curves, careful not to take the sharp ones to fast. We ended up in Windsor where he took us up 460 and he got on 95 south. We hit Emporia, and that’s when he headed home.

I’d been surprised to see he lived in a three-bedroom log house sitting outside the city limit. It’s a beauty, and I love how it sits a good way back. You can see some of it from the road, but there’s still privacy. On either side of him, he has neighbors, but neither of them is right on top.

The inside of his place was spacious, with an open plan build. The kitchen and living space were all connected. Off the living room was a hallway that had a bathroom, and where Striker’s bedroom was located. Going the other way leads next to the kitchen. There’s a set of stairs that lead up to the second floor, where Lila’s room and a spare room are set up. There’s also a door leading to the garage, where I found Striker had two other bikes parked.

“You’re quiet,” Striker says, his voice gentle as he pulls me out of my thoughts.

“Just tired,” I answer and give a shrug while curling my arms tighter around my knees.

Striker twists and reaches across the couch to snag me around the waist. He drags me to him and adjusts us both so we’re stretched out along the couch. One of my legs is tangled with his while the other is hitched up to his waist.

“How’d you enjoy dinner?” he asks, stroking along my spine.

“Okay, I suppose.” I shrug.

Saying the evening was eventful is an understatement.

Tony got there, and when he did, he had two other men with him. They and Striker had a lot of laughs reminiscing. They talked battle stories. Some dicey ones. Others were hilarious even if they freaked me out.

Then, Tony started in on me, telling stories to Striker, Lila, and Athena about me. Some of the antics I got in alongside Avery. The most humiliating one he told was the story about the ketchup bottle. Not that it was humiliating as much as it was horrifying. We’d been out to eat with Tony’s grandparents. I’d gone for the ketchup bottle. It was one of the glass bottles, and the ketchup wasn’t coming out. So, I put the cap back on, or I thought I did. Well, when I went to shake it, the cap flew off, and ketchup went everywhere on Tony and his grandfather. Both men thought it was hilarious. They’d eaten the rest of their meals with stained shirts.

Tony went on to tell another story, this one about how I pounced on a girl in school and threatened to jab her eye out with a pencil when she wouldn’t stop making jokes about another student who had and struggling with the reading. I ended up in detention rather than being suspended or expelled.

I finally had to put a stop to it when he told the story about me cutting a girl’s hair at the ponytail. I mean, I did it, but I’d done it in retaliation for what she’d done. The girl had used a permanent marker and wrote whore on Avery’s cheek when she’d fallen asleep by accident in class.

I mean, she totally deserved it and never messed with my sister again. Back then, I went by the rule of an eye for an eye.

“Do I need to be hiding the kitchen utensils from you?” Striker chuckles and adjusts us so we’re even cozier.

I swat at his stomach and do my best to seem annoyed. It’s not too hard, but I’m also exhausted, and laying like this is comfortable. More so than I thought it could. “No, you don’t have to hide anything. I’m more mature now than I was back then. Though, in my defense, they had it coming.”

“I’ve no doubt.” He snorts. His fingers sliding up and down feel good, and I find myself relaxing more and more. “We still gotta have our talk.”

Great. I was so hoping we’d be able to put that off.

To maybe never.

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