His body relaxes for a moment as he lets my tongue slips just past his lips. His arm, almost out of instinct, coming around, snaking its way across my lower back, and pulling me in.
It all happens in a second, and then Dad finishes his sentence.
“Could you see Drew running from the cops? She’s 14.”
As if Dad saying my age out loud causes some sort of realization to happen in Eli’s brain, he pulls away from me, just looking down, stunned.
“They drove in this direction. Any idea why?”
“Cause they’re smart.”
“How so?”
“They drove towards the MC grounds, knowing that you guys would take the bait and assumed they belonged here. They probably took the trail around and circled back.”
A couple more words are shared between the cop and my dad before the flashing lights cease and gravel crunches into the distance..
When the door opens again, Dad’s looking at me, shaking his head.
Moving out from underneath the garage, Dad wears a look I can’t quite place as he looks between us.
“Eli, I need to talk to my daughter.”
He only calls me his daughter when he’s mad at me.
“Go sleep it off upstairs.” He tells Eli without taking his eyes off me.
He nods his head before stumbling through the door into the kitchen.
“Eli?” Mom calls after him. I hear her speaking to him, but I can’t hear what she’s saying.
“What were you thinking?” Dad asks, crossing his arms and leaning backward against Mom’s car.
Sighing, I roll my eyes. “I was thinking that I ran into him at the party. Saw him dropping his keys several times when trying to get on his bike, so I drove him home.”
“You ran from the cops?” He asks.
It’s almost comical of him to condemn me for running.
“I told you, if you run from the cops, you don’t get caught.”
“I didn’t get caught.”
He laughs, shaking his head. “Only because I covered for you.”
“Please, most people outrun them because they hide. That’s what I was doing.”
“Semantics.” He waves his hand back and forth. But his reaction tells me he knows I’m right. “How did the chase start?”
“I was telling him to get on the back; he was being fucking Eli and arguing with me about it. He finally caved, as the lights came around he got on. I knew he was the oldest one there, and they might try to pin it on him.”
“Can they identify you?”
“No,” shaking my head, “pushed the plate up and already had our helmets on by the time they were close enough.” He’s trying to keep himself from laughing now. “I doubt they even saw us come in here. They just saw a bike, saw us coming in this direction, and assumed it belonged to the MC, and since we were coming from a high school party, most of them don’t even realize Z and Zeke graduated.”
“You’re right, you should have seen his face when I said they were both out of the house.” He admits to me. Furrowing his brows, “Why was Eli at the party in the first place?”
“He’s having a hard time since Z left. I told him to come talk to you.”
