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My stomach does a weird little flutter at the warm promise in his voice, and I try shake off my reaction. My entire body has been on edge since I walked in and saw Malice doing… everything he did to the woman bent over the couch, and I feel like I’m still trying to get my equilibrium back.
Ransom gets on the bike, throwing his leg over it with practiced ease before gesturing me over with a jerk of his chin. “Climb on behind me.”
It takes a second for me to get myself moving, but I do it, clambering awkwardly onto the large bike behind him. There’s enough room for us both on the seat, but it’s a very intimate position, the front of my body smushed against the back of his. I stiffen a little, trying to keep a bit of space between us.
With the push of a button, he opens the garage door. Then he cranks up the bike and revs the engine. I can feel its powerful vibrations under me, so much more immediate and intense than being in a car.
“Hang on tight,” Ransom tells me as he rolls out of the garage. The door closes behind us as we turn onto the dimly lit street.
As soon as we start to pick up speed, I forget all about how I wanted to keep some distance between us. I do as he told me to, clinging to his large body as tightly as I can, my arms wrapped around his waist and my hands clasped against his muscled abs.
He speeds through the streets of Detroit like he owns them, and my hair whips around my face as we speed past businesses that are shuttered for the night. Adrenaline pours through me, but as it becomes clear what a confident, skilled rider Ransom is, I start to relax a bit.
I feel…free, in a way, and almost high on it.
I’ve never done anything like this before, and it feels kind of good.
He heads in the direction of my apartment, but instead of taking me straight back there, he pulls up in front of a little hole in the wall diner about a mile away from my place.
“Are you hungry?” he asks, twisting around a little to look down at me.
A bemused smile tugs at my lips before I can stop it. For some reason, these men keep trying to feed me.
Ransom cocks his pierced eyebrow, grinning as he takes in my expression. “What?”
“Nothing.” I shake my head, glancing toward the diner. “Yeah, I could eat.”
“Good. Come with me,” he says, and we get off the bike and go inside.
The diner is almost entirely empty when we walk in, and it has a worn down but somehow cozy feel to it. We settle in a booth near the back, and I pick up the menu on the table and flip through it idly—as much to give myself something to do with my hands as because I’m trying to decide what to eat.
A bored looking waitress comes over to take our order, although looking at Ransom makes her perk up a little bit. He orders a burger with cheese fries and a milkshake, and I order the same thing.
The waitress takes our menus and leaves, and I start fiddling with the piece of paper wrapped around the silverware on our table as I glance at Ransom.
“So you’re not a vegetarian like Malice, huh?”
He chuckles. “Nah. Me and Vic both eat meat. I get why Malice made the choice he did, but I like burgers too much to ever give them up.”
“Yeah. Me too.”
“So, has your mom left you alone?” Ransom asks. “She hasn’t tried to steal from you again, has she?”
I blink, taken aback by the question. But I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. These guys are all super close. They’re brothers, and they apparently do everything as a team, so of course Malice would’ve told him about what happened with my mom.
“No, she hasn’t. I haven’t talked to her since then,” I tell him. “But my money hasn’t been touched again.” I swallow, picking at a hole in the Formica table top. “It’s not the first time she’s stolen from me, although this was the biggest sum, I guess. It was hard growing up with her.”
“Yeah? How so?”
Ransom is watching me, his arms folded on the table in front of him. That same light of curiosity I thought I saw in his eyes the day he came to visit me on campus is back, but burning brighter now.
I think about the strange men who came to our house at random hours of the day and night, about the looks some of them gave me, and the ones who asked my mom if I was available for a little fun too… and about the man who decided not to ask her at all. But I don’t want to get into any of that with Ransom, so I don’t mention it.
“I missed a lot of school when I was younger,” I say instead. “Because Mom needed help paying the bills. So I’d get a job and work, but then she’d spend the money on stupid things. Stuff she didn’t even need. Drugs or booze or clothes to make herself feel better. So then we’d still be behind on the bills. When I turned eighteen and moved out, I told myself that I wouldn’t have to deal with her anymore, but…”
I sigh, shaking my head.
“But what?” Ransom prompts, leaning forward a little more.
