Page 5 of Torqued Off

I give the signal to slow and she matches my pace. She has good intuition too. Avoided a rim-bending pothole like a champ.

I lift my visor. “You interested in grabbing an iced tea or some water?”

She nods. “That’d be great.”

I go to slap my visor down and get in front of her, but I hear the rumble of another bike behind us. I glance over my shoulder.

Are you shitting me?

I motion Quinn to turn off into the Graffiti Street Bar’s parking lot downtown. She seems happy to be taking a break and has her bike off quickly and starts to dismount.

When she has her helmet off, I say, “I’ll be right back.”

Her eyes narrow in. “Bree?”

“Right back. I’ve gotta put someone in their place.”

I spin my bike and go back the way we came, meeting up with two riders. One who needs to give me some space if has any chance of being more than a guy in the hallway that could’ve been. And the other’s probably been roped into this.

I rev my engine and squeal my tires, knowing that it’s completely against Red Lipstick rules, but I’m a little pissed.A lot.I don’t like to be followed. I don’t like men assuming they can insinuate themselves into my life. I decide who. I decide when. I just fucking decide…period.

I’m going well over the speed limit when I blow past them and spin my bike so I can be behind them.

Hades drops back and lets Arrow, Gia’s man, go ahead.

He lifts his visor as he starts to speak and I see the color in his face. “What the fuck, Bree?! Are you trying to kill yourself?”

“Are you following me?”

“You didn’t answer me!”

“Because it wasn’t a valid question. I’m alive. I can handle a bike. Now, are you following me?”

“You had to be going a hundred on the downtown streets of Kildare. There are pedestrians…children…women…” His chest rises and falls.

“Wow. Who made you in charge of the laws?” I ask and his eyes close for the briefest moments.

“No one, but rules are still here for a reason.” His voice is a lot softer now. Not hallway soft, but over the roar of our bikes, nothing can be quiet.

He’s right.

But I won’t tell him that.

“Sorry. I was pissed. Why are you following me, Hades?”

“Let’s talk…”

We pull into the parking lot of the Bar while Quinn and Arrow head inside. If Gia’s introduced them, they’ll be fine.

I dismount and I’m in his face—well, not exactly face—as he does the same. The discrepancy in our heights is almost comical. My eyes meet his nipples, at least that’s what it looks like.

“Why were you following me?”

“Not here.”

He grabs my hand and tugs me toward the alley and alarms go off in my head. I start to struggle, my boots scratching the hard black top, my body contorting, and yet he keeps me moving forward. My heart triple times.

“Hades let…go of me…” My voice starts to close in and I start to feel tiny in his presence. It’s a feeling I’ve avoided for years. Childhood trauma makes for a hard adulthood.

---