Page 42 of Brightness

“Ominous, where are we going?”

He side-eyes Void.

Void nods, obviously giving the okay to tell me.

“To get my VP a new ride.”

My eyes widen. “We’re going bike shopping?”

Void turns back to me, wincing with the pain in his ribs, but gives me the brightest grin I’ve ever seen from him. “Yeah, and you’re helping me choose.”

I emit an audible gasp. “I am?”

“You are!”

Ho… ly… shit!

“I thought this is a sacred thing, a man choosing his bike?”

“It is, but you’re part of my life, Ivy, and I want you to be in it for a long time. So, you’re going to help me choose my next bike, seeing as you’ll be spending a lot of time on the back of it.”

Wow!

Here’s me complaining about not getting any, then he tells me something like that.

I lean forward, reaching out to caress the side of his face. “It would be my honor.” I move forward to plant a firm kiss on his lips, a tingle shooting through my soul.

“Ivy, you’re gonna need to sit back, I can’t see out the side of the cage,” Ominous grunts out like we’re annoying the shit of out him.

I giggle, regrettably pulling my lips from Void’s, and sit back in my seat while assessing Ominous. His light blond, short-back-and-sides hair makes him look like he’s just come out of the military. The trimmed beard gives him a masculine appearance. Ominous is hot, there’s no denying it, but there’s something mysterious about him as well. “Hey, Ominous, why aren’t you on the gate anymore?” I ask, throwing my legs up on the seat and getting comfortable.

“Now we gotta talk too?” Ominous grunts to Void. “I thought you said all I gotta do was drop you off?”

“Can’t stop her from asking questions,” Void replies.

I sit forward, placing my arms on each of their seats, my head popping through into the middle section. “That’s right, so you may as well talk to me, or I can get reaaally annoying.”

Ominous mumbles something under his breath. “Fine… fuck! Since Spark took off for California, I’m needed more inside, so West is manning the gate. We rotate it between the brothers.”

“Mmm… and you’re happy with not being on the gate?”

Ominous turns to look at me for the briefest of seconds before his eyes go back to the road, his body alert. “Why you so interested in my life all of a sudden?”

Void snorts. “C’mon, man, she’s not conspiring to take you out.”

“That’s what everyone thinks before they get a fucking bullet to the brain,” Ominous grunts out.

“Wow! You’re tense. I get why they call you Ominous now. It’s ’cause you’re so freaking foreboding.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” he says through gritted teeth, keeping his eyes focused firmly on the road.

“It wasn’t one,” I chime.

“I’ll take it anyway,” he snaps.

“You’re my kinda guy, Ominous. A no-holds-barred, take-no-shit, take-no-prisoners type deal.” I smirk. “Why haven’t we talked before now?”

He groans. “Because we haven’t been locked in a cage together.”

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