Page 2 of Rider

He brings his hand up and rubs it down his face. “I’d feel better knowing that you got inside. I get that you don’t want me coming near your house, so I’ll wait here until I see you get safely inside.”

I swallow over the lump in my throat because it’s been a long time since anyone ever did anything nice for me without expecting anything in return. I gave him a genuine smile. “Ok. Thank you. Really.” As I start to walk away I’m stopped by him calling after me.“Hey ladybug, it was nice meeting you tonight.”

I scrunch my nose up at him not understanding his word choice. He must have noticed because he offered up a response. “The coat. It reminds me of a ladybug.” His smile is sheepish and uncertain, his mask of bravado slipping, surprising since he seems like a man who understands his own worth.

I look down at my coat, one that I only bought because it was warm and on sale. It was what I could afford, I never even thought about what it looked like. I shrug my shoulders at him, give a tight smile, “I went with what I could afford.” I turn back towards my house. When I start up the porch steps I look back down the block and he’s still standing there. I give him a little wave and he waves back as I get my key out of my pocket and unlock the door. When I step inside, I turn around and he’s still there waiting on me to get inside. I can feel the smile lingering on my face.

As I closed the front door, Mrs. Lopez, my next door neighbor’s, snores hit my ears. I quickly shrug out of my jacket, get my boots off and head into the living room. She’s asleep on the love seat while Colton is laying on the couch asleep again. I bite my lip at the thought that he fell asleep thirsty or hungry. Gently, I pick him up and get him into his crib. The crib is lowered to the lowest rung on the frame and I have to reach far over to make sure I don’t jostle him which could wake him up. It needs to get converted into a toddler bed but I just haven’t had any free time to do it. Luckily he stays asleep and I head to the kitchen and put the milk away,quickly getting back to the living room.

I gently nudged Mrs. Lopez to wake her up. I feel bad that I had woken her to ask her to stay with Colton, but he was sobbing for milk. When he gets like that it’s hard to calm him down. Usually the only thing that calms him is to get whatever it is he is asking for. Since Mrs. Lopez frequently watches him she understood and came right over. I try not to take advantage of her and her kindness because without her I don’t know what I would do. I can’t afford a daycare and she lets me pay her in groceries and help her do things around the house. She’s getting older and all of her children live far away so in a way we rely on each other. It also helps that she literally lives five feet away.

She slowly stirs and blinks away the sleep in her eyes. “Oh, dear. You’ve made it back safely. I was so worried, I saw the snow when I first came over.”

“Yes, the car wouldn’t start so I had to walk. I’m sorry it took me so long. Was he ok? Did he give you a hard time?”

“No, dear. He’s always a perfect angel for me. I explained to him that you were going to get the milk and that it would be okay for him to fall back asleep. I did give him some warm water to try and help soothe him. If I had any milk in my fridge, I would have just given it to him but all I’ve got is water and juice. I’m sorry dear.”

“Mrs. Lopez I can never thank you enough for all that you do. You never have to apologize for helping.”

She took my hand between hers and patted it gently. “You don’t have to dear, I appreciate everything you do for me, and that little boy is the cutest to watch. And please I’ve asked you for almost a year now to call me Gabby.”

We walk towards the door and pause as I help her get her coat on. “Thank you again Gabby.” She smiles softly at me and heads out the door. It’ll only be a few more hours before she’s back over here to babysit. I groan thinking about my lack of sleep tonight. I confirm the door is locked before putting my pajamas on, checking on Colton one last time and jumping into bed. As I lay my head on the pillow, my thoughts drifted back to Rider and his strong hands and broad chest. He was quite possibly the most gorgeous guy I had ever seen in real life. The fact that he took time out of his night, walked in the snow with me and wanted nothing in return except to know that I was safe… swoon.

I know that nothing will come of it and I’ll probably never see him again but goodness was he nice to look at and had the sexiest voice. Every time I tried to sneak a look, I noticed something different about him. I could have sworn I saw some tattoos peeking out and his legs were wide and nicely muscular. I’m still thinking of him when I finally drift off to sleep.

Rider

When my alarm goes off, I roll over and reach for my phone. It is way too early and I was up way too late last night. Once I got back to my bike the roads were rough, it took forever to travel the few miles home. It took a long time to unwind, unable to get the Ladybug girl out of my mind. I laid in bed thinking about everything she said, replaying it over and over in my mind. I got stuck on the fact that she had to walk to get milk for her kid in the night. It really pissed me off that she had to walk there and that her baby daddy was such scum. I started to think up ways I could find out who he is and give him the beating of his life. Teach him how a woman should be treated and how to man up and take care of a child he helped create.

Then I started thinking about all the ways I could help her out. If I offered her any of my services, I was certain her pride would get in the way and she’d deny any help. Thinking hard about what made me want to help her so badly, had me reflecting on our meeting. She was a knock out that’s for sure. Her green eyes pierced my brain every time we would make eye contact. I figured she had to be a good mom to trudge through the snow at four in the morning to make sure her kid had milk. A few more minutes of thinking and laying there, I couldn’t take it anymore. I quickly got out of bed and headed to the shower. Not wasting any time, I got dressed and got out the door. It was still early and there was little traffic out.

This time instead of hopping on my bike, I got into my double cab truck, and headed to the shop. I drove a few miles and wished I had a hot coffee to sip and wake me up. I made a mental note to stop and pick two up along the way back. Quickly enough, I pulled up to Venom Bite Auto Shop, where I had owned and worked as a mechanic for the last nine years. It was my home away from home. Other than my house and my club this was everything that I had. This place was a dream growing up loving cars and thankfully to my club and the loan they had originally given me, I was able to open it and make it thrive. I paid my loan off a few years ago but a piece of my revenue went back to the club every year and I was more than okay with that.

When I got out of my truck and went inside, the doors were already open. I raised my chin to the guys I could see behind the glass windows working in the car bays. Several looked surprised to see me and the others who hadn’t taken notice of my early appearance. They looked like shit, completely hungover and hating their lives. It made me chuckle because I had been just like them so many times, drinking all night, ending the night getting laid. That late night life came with living at the clubhouse. Now that I had my own house and not living in the club’s quarters I had settled down and didn’t spend as much time partying.

I made my way through the shop till I came to a stop in front of what I needed. I picked up the jumper cables and then went to the back to search for the right battery. I had gotten a good look at her car in the driveway before I left last night and I had a good idea of which one would work. I walked back and forth, loading my truck with the jumper cables and the battery, taking two just to be safe. The entire time, I could feel the guys staring and becoming increasingly curious as to what I was doing. I smiled and flipped them off in jest as I walked back out. “I’ll see you guys in a few hours.”

When I rounded the corner of her street, I couldn’t stop smiling. As I neared the house, I could see the car still in the driveway covered in snow. I jumped out of the truck and got out my snow scraper and a brush. In no time I had the windshield cleared and the hood of the car cleared off. I had the battery unloaded and the jumper cables ready. Now came the hard part. I had two options, I could pull a long screwdriver out and find the latch on the hood to open the car or I could knock on her door and ask her for the keys.

I chose the latter and walked over and up the steps to the porch. I saw her doorbell but I hesitated to push it. What time did a baby get up? I chose to use my fist and lightly knock on the door. When I thought no one had heard me, I started to knock again but before I could the door opened about two inches and those piercing green eyes of hers took me in. Before I could even say good morning, she spoke. “What are you doing here?”

Ah, there it was, she was weary that I had come to collect some debt she assumed she owed me. “I came to do another good deed. You got the keys to your car?”

She gave me a look and then gave me a yes that sounded more like a question than an answer. Then she did something that made me laugh. She shut the door in my face. Well ok then. I gave the situation a minute and started to leave to go back to the car. I guess it was going to be the screwdriver. I stopped at the bottom of the steps when I heard noise behind me. She was wearing the red and black coat I’d seen her in just a few hours ago and she had shoved her feet into boots but her hair was in a loose ponytail giving me a better view of her face and she had on pink fuzzy pajama pants. She was so naturally pretty that I had to look down at my boots to hide the thoughts that were clearly visible on my face. But God, she looked so fucking young.

“So what’s all this about?” She gestured towards my truck in the driveway.

I turned around and started walking towards both of our vehicles. I had to clear my throat before I could speak, I had too many swirling emotions going through me. “You said your car wouldn’t start so I figured I could do something about that.”

She followed me out into the driveway and we both came to a stop at her car. I held out my hand waiting for her to give me the car keys. She pursed her lips and gently placed the keys down in my waiting palm. I smiled at her and used the fob to unlock the car. I went to the driver side door and easily found the latch to pop the hood open. This was an older model Honda that was about ten years old. I knew this car well because we would service them in the garage often. The car was clean inside and you could tell it was well taken care of. I also spotted the car seat in the backseat.

When I got out of the car and went back to the hood she had moved over to stand on the sidewalk off to the side of the car. I could tell she was trying to nonchalantly watch me work on the car. Truth be told, I could have worked in complete silence and been content but I wanted to talk to her. I wanted to get to know her. I wanted to know whatever tidbits she’d tell me and I wanted to know her name. She hadn’t told me last night and I desperately wanted to find out. As I was taking a look at her battery and the cables around it, I started to make conversation.

“This won’t take too long if you need to go to work soon.” Maybe she’ll offer up what she does or better yet where she works.

“I’ve got some time before the salon opens. I appreciate you doing this but you didn’t need to.”

I looked up from the battery and met her eyes. “I know. I don’t need to do anything but I want to.” I walked back over to the truck and got out my multimeter. I already knew this old battery was probably done for but I needed to check to be sure. “So you’re a hairdresser?”

---