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“You don’t have to do this.” Her voice crackled softly through the speaker in my helmet.

“Yeah, I do.”

“No, you don’t.”

I rolled my eyes and shifted gears as we pulled away from another junction. The vibration of the bike traveled through us. Despite all the arguing, her arms stayed wrapped around my waist.

“You got somewhere else to stay?”

The answer took longer this time. “No.”

“Then I do.”

She huffed quietly through the comms, and I smirked. I’d won this one.

A few minutes later we hit a red light. The bike settled beneath us and traffic rolled past in both directions.

Without thinking, my hand dropped from the handlebar and landed lightly on her thigh. Just a quick squeeze through her jeans. The same way I’d done before. The movement was automatic enough that I didn’t even register it until Maria’s fingers tightened briefly around my middle, causing my heart to jump. Then the light changed, and my hand returned to the handlebar.

Maria stayed quiet. I don’t think it was because she’d changed her mind, but because she’d just run out of arguments. For the rest of the ride, she leaned a little more heavily against my back, and every now and then I caught myself listening for her voice through the comms before remembering she’d finally given up trying to win.

By the time we pulled into my apartment complex, the truck was already turning in behind us and the car a few moments later.

I ran upstairs to open the door and came back down. Ghost and the prospects immediately started unloading furniture.

Reaper made it halfway to the nearest box before Maria caught him. “No.”

He stopped and looked around like she couldn’t possibly be talking to him.

Then she pointed directly at him. “No.”

“For the love of⁠—”

“No.”

Reaper looked toward me for support.

I kept walking.

“You’re enjoying this.”

“A little.”

Ghost barked out a laugh from beside the truck.

“She’s got your number, kid.” I chuckled.

“Traitor.”

Maria folded her arms.

Reaper glared at all of us before muttering something under his breath and dropping onto the tailgate.

Satisfied he wasn’t about to add more damage to his ribs, Maria turned her attention back to us.

I grabbed one end of the sofa with Tiny and hauled it upstairs. By the time we came back down, Reaper had apparently decided following instructions and staying put were two very different things. He’d abandoned the tailgate and was making his way up the stairs.

“What happened to sitting down?” I asked.