Page 32 of True Honey
“I promise I’ll be safe and will return you to Harbor before three in one piece,” he said before he helped me into the helmet.
I peered up at him through the open visor and tried to seem a little more relaxed but the reality was my heart was racing a million miles an hour and I was so scared I could feel the fear in the back of my throat.
Silas tapped my helmet with his hand and smiled knowing he had gotten his way. “One second,” he laughed, backing away and scooping his backpack off the ground. He tossed it lazily into the window of a nearby mustang, reaching in to pop the trunk. He dug around in it for a second before finding a second helmet with a little grunt of pride and returned to throw his leg over the shiny black bike with ease.
Holding his hand out to me, I swallowed down the bile that rose in the back of my throat and climbed onto the back of the bike as he pulled on his own helmet.
“Make sure you lean with me, follow my body,” he said.
“Now there are instructions?” I said nervously, trying to stop my hands from shaking.
“You have to hang on,” he called over his shoulder, lifting his elbow and letting his fingers dangle, calling out to mine. “I don’t bite, Drew,” he added, sensing my hesitation.
I reached forward and he hooked his fingers into mine pulling me closer against his back and tucking my hand flat to his stomach. I mimicked the motion with the other hand and interlocked them as the bike rumbled to life.
“Hold on,” he said over the sound of the engine. “Tighter.” He warned.
He didn’t have to worry about that, the second the bike jolted forward my grip tightened around him and I pressed my helmet between his shoulder blades, screwing my eyes shut in fear. I could feel the soft laughter that shook his stomach. The wind whipped around us, filling the helmet with loud, white noise that was almost calming after I got over the initial stomach churning panic.
When I finally found the courage to lift my head we were coming down through the rush hour traffic that led into Lorette. The vibrations of the bike between my legs masked the shaking in my hands and I could feel myself relaxingenough to enjoy the drive. Silas was quick, but he was cautious and it showed in how smoothly he rode between cars.
Once we broke from the grid locked traffic he parked the bike and killed the engine. He slid off, pulling off his helmet and setting it on the seat in front of me.
“Give yourself a second. First rides can make your legs feel like rubber,” he said, fixing the rogue pieces of hair that were messed up by the helmet.
I slowly got off, feeling the ground beneath my feet but he was right, my legs were still racked with the after vibrations and it took me a moment to get myself together enough to pull my helmet off.
Silas laughed as my hair came out even worse than his.
“Here,” he said, stepping forward to take the helmet as I tried to comb out the helmet hair.
Once I got it to lay flat, I readjusted in my sweater and tried to calm down from the exciting start to the morning. The store he had parked in front of wasn’t a clothing store but a jewellery store.
“No, we can tell people that it’s getting sized,” I stepped back from him.
“Absolutely not,” he said, his jaw ticking. “You’re going to go pick one out and we’re going to telleveryonethat will listen that I just know you so well that it was exactly what you wanted.”
“That’s a big lie, Silas. Weren’t we trying to keep things simple?”
I said, trying not to hyperventilate from the added pressure.If you lose a ring like that…“What if I lose it?”
“You’re not going to lose it,” he said without hesitation. “And after this is done you can pawn it if you want, keep the cash.”
That made me scowl.
“Or don’t,” he said, “I’m just trying to show you that the ring, the money, doesn't matter. I’m willing to sacrifice everything to make this work,” he lowered his voice. “Ineedthis to work.”
“Fine,” I said but only because the desperation in his voice was evident and it had an effortless way of sliding through the gaps in the wall that I had built around myself.
He looked elated that I had agreed to the ridiculous notion of a ring and he backed up toward the store. “This first, then shopping,” he said, too excited about it for his own good.
The store was smaller and smelled overwhelming of polish. There was an older gentleman behind the counter who looked suspiciously happy to see Silas as he pulled out a box of rings from behind the counter.
“Mr. Shore,” he said as we approached the counter and I shot Silas a nervous glare. He had planned this right down to having the man pick out a few rings I might like. There were three rows that contained five rings each ranging from large to larger and on to so ridiculous that I had to contain my overwhelmed laughter just seeing them.
“These are all too big,” I whispered, turning my head into his shoulder so as not to offend the clerk. “What about something small, simple…”
Unexpectedly, Silas agreed and asked the gentleman to collect some other choices. When he disappeared down the glass display Silas turned his chin down to meet my eyes.
