Page 85 of Hidden

“Good. Now let’s see what you’ve learned,” he said, a split second before hauling me up and flipping me onto my back, straight into the water.

A while later, I was lying on a towel, the sun warming my chilled skin, drying me off as Luke spread out the food he had packed for us.

He spent the past half hour all but wrestling me in that water, and my body was beyond sore, but my heart beyond happy. He said he had been “intimidating a rival gang with aquatic dominance”, but it felt more like “throw my girlfriend around as an excuse to touch her body.”

I wasn’t complaining.

I loved Luke. I loved him touching me. I loved being alone with him like this, his smiles lighting us both up. In these moments, without the pressure of our gangs, our life, or any other obstacles in our way, we could just be ourselves. Carefree and in love.

It was perfection.

“You know,” Luke murmured once all the food was prepared. “This picnic almost cost me my life.”

“Oh, yeah?” I murmured back, turning my head slightly and opening one eye. “Why’s that?”

“Mama caught me.”

Mama. What a ridiculous fucking name. Ever since she had all but adopted Luke, he had taken to calling her Mama K or, Big Mama. Which was now just shortened to Mama. And it seemed, since being the president’s old lady, this had caught on with the rest of the club, and was now her official biker name—even though old ladies were not supposed to receive one.

“Why? Are you not allowed to eat without permission?” I asked, plucking a grape from the plate and placing it between my teeth.

“Oh, it wasn’t the food that was the issue. It was the questions—why did I need that much, where was I going, who was I going with?”

“You’ve dodged those types of questions before, though.”

“Yeah, but before I never called the president’s old lady a nosy little witch, and I never threw a cream cake at her.”

I sat up on my elbows at that.

“You threw a cream cake at Kitty?”

“Maybe a couple of the grapes, too,” he admitted, a smirk on his lips.

“Oh, you’re in so much trouble when you get back.”

“She swatted me around my ear,andhit me with a tea towel. This was strictly self defence!”

“Uh-huh, tell it the jury, mister!”

“You’d be on my side, wouldn’t you?”

“Nope,” I replied simply, popping the P.

“What do you mean, no?”

“I’m not going up against Kitty. The woman scares the crap out of me. You’re on your own. I might visit you in jail, though. If I find the time…” I added cheekily, only to gasp as something wet hit my side.

Sitting up, I glanced down, seeing the last remnants of a cream cake dripping from my skin onto the towel.

“Oh, you’re going to regret that!” I warned, grabbing one of the sandwiches and smushing it in his face before he realised what I was doing.

“Run, Princess. You’ve sealed your fate.”

Pushing to my feet, stopping for a second to grab the fruit bowl, I took off running down the beach, throwing strawberries over my shoulder at him.

My feet slipped in the warm sand, the grains sliding between my toes, making my movements heavier and sluggish. But Luke was struggling just as much. Throwing cups of water at me, he attempted to chase me down, dodging my ammo.

A wet slap had me almost choking on laughter, and a quick peek over my shoulder saw a bright red spot in the middle of his chest, and strawberry juice dripping down his abs.