Page 80 of Riding Dirty

As I open the trunk of my car, I look around and take in the neighborhood. It’s a quiet street; not many cars drive down here, and the yards are all neatly kept with rocks, cacti, and drought-friendly shrubbery. This is what I would envision when I was a kid as a fairy tale. Granted, I’m here cleaning, and I don’t live here, but this is within my reach now.

“You good?” Alex asks.

I turn to look over at him, and my lips curve up into a grin. “I’m good,” I murmur. “I was just looking around this neighborhood. It’s really nice. Really quiet.”

Alex snorts. “And you’re thinking about all the dreams we talked about as kids?”

“This was the dream, or something like this.”

“It was,” he murmurs. “When we were kids, we thought every person behind a house like this lived a perfect life. Are you going to get it with him?”

I think about his question. Perfection. That’s something I haven’t dreamed of in years. In fact, I gave up on any chance of having a perfect anything a long time ago. But also, it feels like it could be a reality with him.

Coast lives at the clubhouse right now, though I can’t imagine he’d want me to live there. He’s already said he wants me and Alex to move to a different place. I wonder if that’s still what he’s thinking.

But I also can’t imagine him living in a suburb like this. I cannot picture his bike rumbling down a quiet road and pulling into one of these driveways. The thought alone makes me want to burst out in laughter.

“I can’t see him living here,” I confess.

Alex snorts before he mumbles a yeah. I wonder what else he’s thinking as he finishes loading everything up in the trunk of the car. I want to ask him, but at the same time, I’m not sure I really want to know the answer.

“I’m exhausted. Do you want to get something to eat on the way home? I didn’t put any of the cash from the event center job in the bank. It’s in my wallet. I figured we’d look at maybe using it as a down payment on a car or something. But I think we can get some dinner with it?”

Walking toward the driver’s side, I tug the door open and start to sit down when I realize that Alex hasn’t moved from the trunk. Turning my head, I look back at him. He really hasn’t moved, though. He’s standing there, slack-jawed, staring at me.

“Alex?” I call out.

“A down payment on a car?” he asks, his voice barely above a whisper.

“Yeah,” I say. “I mean, we can call it a work expense or whatever, but I wanted to talk to you about that, too.”

He swallows, blinking, and doesn’t speak, so I continue. “I know I started this before you came to live with me, but I wanted to make you a partner. Without you, I never would have been able to survive.”

Alex shakes his head from side to side but doesn’t speak. Then I watch as he lifts his hands, presses them against the trunk, and marches directly over to me. He stops in front of me, but not before he throws his arms around me.

“Stop being nice to me when I was such a fucking dick to you,” he whispers against my ear.

I laugh, wrapping my arms around him to hug him back, closing my eyes and enjoying the moment. It’s been a long time since we just hugged one another. Probably years, if I had to guess. And I couldn’t even tell you when or why we did, though it was probably because of some life event that seemed tragic at the time.

“I’m not being nice to you,” I whisper. “You’ve earned it.”

And that is that… for now. We break away, climb into the car, and then head straight for dinner because I’m starving and I know he must be, too. The conversation is dropped, and food takes priority.

CHAPTER

SIXTY-ONE

WRATH

Standing outside her door, I watch as Alex and Elodie walk up the staircase. I have Elodie’s key still, but I’m not going to use it. Not when her place is literally just one big room. I don’t want to invade her privacy that way, at least not yet.

Soon enough, I will, I’m sure.

They’re chatting, but I don’t really take in what they’re saying because all I can do is watch her make her way toward me. She’s absolutely fucking beautiful, her mass of hair piled on top of her head in a messy bun, wearing an oversized shirt and a pair of tight shorts.

No makeup and a smile on her face as she talks to her cousin… Fucking stunning.

Alex notices me first. I brace myself, waiting for him to say something that might piss me off. I prepare to let it roll off my shoulders, even though all I’ll want to do is pound his face in with my fist.