Page 258 of Fury

“You want to get down?” I asked her. “You can get down.”

“No. I want to ride with you.”

Everything inside me melted like a chocolate bar in the summer heat.

“You look great.” Lenore checked her helmet for the twentieth time. “You’re all set. Let me take a picture with your phone.” Lenore raised Zoë’s phone and took several shots of us.

“Let’s do a selfie with all of us,” said Zoë.

Lenore moved next to Zoë and took a photo of all three of us. “Perfect,” she said softly, her fingers tightening over the phone.

Small hands with fingernails painted a metallic blue clutched at the back of my jacket and let go as if she’d realized she’d made a mistake. Lenore put her hands over Zoë’s, bringing them around my middle again, pressing them into my sides. I couldn’t breathe, my heart pounded in my chest.

“Like that, okay, sweetie?” said Lenore.

“Won’t I tickle him that way?” Zoë asked. “Won’t that bother him?”

“No, it’s okay. You hold on and don’t let go.” Lenore’s voice wavered.

Zoë leaned against my back. The pressure of her weight minimal, the pressure of her overwhelming. “I won’t let go.”

My eyes slid to Lenore’s.

Molten fire, drumming heartbeats. My woman and me and our daughter.

This may not have been a perfect outcome, not having Zoë all to ourselves, Zoë never learning the truth, but at this very moment that didn’t add up to much but spilled milk. What mattered was us knowing our daughter, building a relationship.

All the kingdoms and empires in this ugly fucked up world could never add up to this sensation swelling in my veins, coursing through my heart, filling my ragged soul and binding all its thousand scars.

With precise movements I made my engine burst and rumble, and I braced.

“Eek!” Zoë’s body jumped and she held me tighter.

My eyes squeezed shut.

“That’s it. Like that.” Lenore stroked her leg. “Remember, when you get back, there’ll be brownies and ice cream.”

“Yay! My favorite,” replied Zoë.

“Mine too,” said Lenore.

I leaned back. “Zoë, you ready to party?”

“Yes!” she shouted over the steady drone of the engine.

A smile took my lips hostage as Lenore’s full eyes lifted to mine. Everything roaring inside me was written all over her face and resonated between us. Joy, sadness, elation, longing. Yet there was also a sense of achievement.

We got here, baby, through fire and blades, demons and curses, blood and plagues.

A fucking triumph.

I grinned. “We’ll be right back.”

“I’ll be waiting.” Lenore brushed my lips with hers and gave our daughter’s leg a final squeeze. “Have fun!”

I kicked the toe stand and set my bike on fire. I took off, gaining speed at the end of the lane. My heart expanded, filling with the music of Zoë’s squeals and the magnificent scream of my engine as we flew down the road.

And that fury erupted inside me.

---