I quickly glance at her over my shoulder. “Right now?” We’re only a couple of hours into the trip, but then I remember she’s pregnant. Prez mentioned a few times how it had affected Jasmine when she was in the same state.
She nods in answer, and I speed up so I’m beside Bear. He looks over to me, and I make a gesture with my hand that we need to pull over. He nods, and I take the lead. Up ahead there’s what looks like a diner, so I exit the highway and pull into the parking lot. I park my bike, Tracker and Bear pulling in either side of me.
Stepping off my bike carefully so I don’t accidentally kick my passenger, I offer my hand to Charity and she takes it. She raises up off the seat, swinging her body around and settling her feet gracefully onto the ground, standing and stretching for a few seconds. Then she pulls off her helmet, and the smile that emerges is contagious, and I find myself shooting one back to her. “That was freakin’ amazing,” she says breathlessly, her eyes blazing as bright as her smile.
I laugh, loving her reaction. “Yeah? You like that?”
“Are you kidding? The carefree feeling of being on a bike is out of this world.” Her genuine excitement with the whole experience is amazing to witness, and I drink her in. Her hair is messy from the helmet, but she soon fixes that when she bends over and runs her fingers through it, straightening it and working out the knots.
My eyes land on her ass, of course, the denim of her jeans stretched tightly over it, no panty lines visible. I growl, “Let’s go,” needing to focus on anything else but the sight in front of me.
She quickly stands upright again, a confused look on her face, and I gesture toward the doorway of the diner.
“I’m hungry,” Hazel says, walking toward us.
“I can eat,” Charity replies, walking ahead of us.
“Really? You guys only ate, like, a couple hours ago.”
Hazel slaps my shoulder. “Don’t be rude, Charity has a baby.”
Charity turns and faces us when she’s opening the diner’s door. “Don’t use my baby as an excuse, Hazel. Just admit it, you love your food.”
Hazel laughs, and I take a moment to watch and enjoy their playfulness. I’m so happy Hazel has a friend she can be so carefree with. When I think about all she’s gone through in her life, well, it makes me so damn proud.
“Hey, you, you coming?” Hazel asks, bringing me out of my daydream state.
“Yup,” I answer, then step into the diner, with Bear and Tracker close behind.