Page 9 of Stealing the Biker

“I think it’s romantic.” She smiles at me and quickly pulls her hand back to her lap.

“Careful. Your jock might get the wrong idea.”

“Is he still watching?”

He’s not. He’s flirting with some cheerleaders, but I lie. “Yeah. He looks jealous.”

“Really?” she brightens.

“Absolutely.”

“Do you think he likes me?”

“He’d be a fool not to, even if you are a brat.”

“Ugh.” She deflates.

“I’m only teasing you.”

“I know that.” She sits up straighter and pokes at the remaining apple slices with her fork. “After this I have anatomy, then art. You can hang in the library or chill in the bathroom until the final bell. I can meet you at the back door or at your truck.”

“You sure you don’t want to lock me up in a broom closet or the boiler room?”

“Uh no. That’s the make-out spot. You definitely will get caught.”

“How do you know it’s the make-out spot? Thought you said guys don’t approach you.”

“Everyone knows about it. I don’t know from experience or anything. It’s just a fact.”

I want to tease her further, but let it go. I don’t want her to get the wrong idea and think I’m trying to flirt with her, but she makes it too damn easy to get a rise out of her. “Library it is then.”

I grab a book off the shelf not really caring what it is and take a seat on the floor, hoping no one asks questions or even notices I’m here. I flip the book open to a random page and pull my cell out to let Link know that Kiesha is in class and fine, other than being a brat.

At the school. She’s good. Do you have a picture of this asshole I’m supposed to be keeping a lookout for?

Do a mugshot search and his latest will pull up.

I type in the website and after a few minutes I ping the fucker’s image. Seems like he gets arrested often. How do people like him continue to be released to repeat their same transgressions? My father was the same damn way.

Proved time after time how selfish he was. How he loved drugs more than he hated himself. I never gave up on him. Not even in the end, when he was on life support from his organs, giving out from years of abuse due to his continued drug usage. I sat at his bedside praying for a miracle. For him to wake up and turn into a new person overnight.

The reality was it was never going to happen. He was who he was, same as Kiesha’s father is who he is.

There’s no changing or helping someone who can’t see past the disease of addiction.

They eat, sleep, and breathe their next fix.

My mother wasn’t much better. I had hoped my father’s death would wake her up, but in the end, his loss had the opposite effect. She was determined to join him in death as soon as possible. And she succeeded, thanks to Cloud Nine.

I don’t talk about my childhood much. Not even with Sabrina. One of the main reasons I wanted to join the club was because of how hard they work to prevent others from suffering the way I did. The way my parents did.

Protecting Kiesha from a man who will destroy her to get what he wants is personal for me.

If I can save her from that pain, I will.

No one understands what she’s going through better than me.

Chapter Four

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