Taking her hand in mine, I lace our fingers and we walk into the store and over to the restrooms, her going left and me going right. One thing I will give them props for is the cleanliness of their bathrooms. Hell, I think they even hire people as restroom attendants, which is wild to me. I’ve heard they pay well, too, which means this community probably got a serious boost to their economy.
I’m waiting outside the restrooms when she comes out, a pink tinge to her cheeks as she spots me. “Sorry it took so long, there was a line when I got in there,” she says.
“No worries, we’re riding wild and free today, Shelly,” I reply. “Wanna look around?”
She smiles up at me while nodding. “I love their saltwater taffy, but I’m also a bit of a throw whore.”
I start laughing as I guide her to the wall that’s lined with saltwater taffy, those gummy things that so many like, beef jerky in various flavors, and chocolate covered nuts. She grabs a peppermint and a cinnamon, and seeing the look on her face, I go ahead and pull off several more, tossing them into the basket I picked up.
“Need some jerky before we go see if there’s something you want with that fucking beaver’s face on it,” I say, causing her to giggle.
Seeing her so relaxed, so open has me grinning down at her. If we weren’t in the middle of a bustling store, I’d kiss her, something I’ve been wanting to do for quite some time now.
All I’ll say is I’m glad I’ve got the hard case on the back because right now, it’s full to the brim with not only Shelly’s finds, but my own. “Okay, mount up,” I instruct.
We’re once again riding, free and easy, when she says, “Thank you for that. This has been one of my best days in a long time.”
“I’m glad, Shelly. It’s been one of mine as well,” I admit. “In case you’re wondering, we’re going to a little hole in the wall placewith the best birria tacos I’ve ever had. The salsa is just right, and the chips are plentiful.”
“Sweet,” she whispers, although it comes through loud and clear thanks to the Bluetooth.
Thirty minutes later, I pull into the parking lot of Rosita’s and park. Shelly climbs off and after I secure our helmets, I take her hand as we walk to the entrance. “Señor Abyss!” Rosita yells. “Come, come, I have the perfect seat for you and your woman.”
We follow her and I have to admit the table is perfect. I’m able to sit with my back to the wall so I can see anything coming our way, and before we’re properly settled, a waitress approaches with chips and two bowls of salsa. She sets them down and asks, “What do you want to drink?”
Normally, I’d have a beer or two, but we’re a long way from home and as Mack said earlier, I’ve got precious cargo on the back of my bike. So, I order a Coke and Shelly gets a sweet tea. “Can I get lemon on the side?” she asks the waitress.
“Yes. Are you ready to order?” she asks us.
“Give us a few minutes,” I request. She nods and hurries away to get our drinks. By the time she’s back, we’re ready to order.
“I hope our food doesn’t take too long,” Shelly says as she dips a chip in the salsa. “Otherwise, we’re going to need more chips, and I’ll be too full to eat my tacos.”
I chuckle. “Babe, gonna say it again, we’re not on a timeline for anyone, so if we sit here two hours to eat, that’s perfectly fine.”
“That may be true, but I’m enjoying the ride and the company,” she replies, smiling at me. “It bears repeating that this has been one of the best days I’ve had in a very long time.”
CHAPTER
FIFTEEN
Shelly
The waitress dropsanother bowl of chips on our table, causing me to burst out laughing. “It’s like she heard us or something,” I manage to say through my giggles. Still, it doesn’t stop me from grabbing one of the warm chips and dunking it into my bowl of salsa. “I also like that they give everyone their own bowl of salsa.”
“Keeps folks from double dipping out of one bowl, I guess,” Abyss replies.
I roll my eyes at him but keep nibbling away. “I mean, maybe if it was a stranger, but if it’s someone you’re involved with, it shouldn’t be an issue. Unless they’re a salsa hog, because then, all bets are off as far as I’m concerned.”
Another sweet tea is placed on the table and the waitress says, “Y’all’s food should be up shortly.”
I rub my hands together, excited to try the birria tacos that Abyss talked up so much. “Can’t wait,” I say.
“So, Mack used to ride, huh?” Abyss asks, pulling me from my thoughts of which chip I’m gonna snag next.
“Yeah, until the day he laid his bike down when some asshole blew the light and almost hit him. Despite the fact that the car never made contact with him, it destroyed his bike and did a number on him as well. It’s one of the reasons I started tattooing as early as I did. He had been teaching me since I was old enough to hold a gun steady, and a lot of his are ones I did when I first started, but when your dominant hand is in a cast for twelve weeks, you have to do what you can to keep the clients satisfied. They never said a word about being tattooed by an underage teenage girl, thank goodness, and once he was healed up, I went back to doing the stuff I was doing, checking clients in, ordering supplies, that kind of thing. He’s the one who chose to stop riding because he said he couldn’t bear the thought of leaving his two girls alone if someone else decided to be stupid behind the wheel.”
“He’s fucking lucky the state didn’t shut him down,” Abyss remarks. “But I can understand why he did it.”
