Page 13 of Her Savior Biker
“Because I don’t want you to be a one and done,” he says, and there’s something raw in his voice. “I don’t want you to wake up tomorrow and regret this.”
“I won’t—”
“You thought you wanted Mason too.”
The words are a physical blow, stealing the air from my lungs. I actually stagger, like he’s slapped me.
“That’s not…” I can’t finish the sentence. Can’t breathe around the pain in my chest.
“Shannon, I didn’t mean—”
“Get out.” My voice is barely a whisper.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have—”
“Get out!” This time it’s a shout, and I don’t care if I wake Aiden. “Just leave.”
He stands there for a moment, looking like he wants to say something else. Then he grabs his keys and walks out without another word.
His truck starts up. The sound fades into nothing. Then I sink onto the couch and let myself cry—for my stupidity, for myloneliness, for the way he made Mason’s name sound like an accusation.
Maybe he’s right. Maybe I don’t know what I want.
But I know what I don’t want—to be treated like a victim who can’t make her own choices.
Reyes
TheridetoTheBlack Crown is pure fucking torture.
Shannon sits in the passenger seat like she’s made of glass, staring out the window at the Colorado landscape rolling past. Her hands stay folded in her lap, and she hasn’t said a word since we left the safehouse. The silence stretches between us like a live wire, crackling with everything we didn’t say last night.
I want to apologize. Want to explain that comparing her to Mason was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done, and I’ve done some monumentally stupid shit in my life. But every time I open my mouth, she turns further toward the window, putting up walls I can’t break through.
Aiden, on the other hand, hasn’t stopped talking since we buckled him in. “Where your bike?” he asks for the third time.
“At my house, buddy.”
“You have house?”
“Yeah.”
“I want see it.”
Shannon’s jaw ticks, but she doesn’t turn around.
“You have dog?” Aiden continues.
“I do.”
“What his name?”
“Diesel.”
“Why Dee-zo?”
“Because he’s loud and he smells bad.”
Aiden giggles. “I like dogs. Mama, we get dog?”
