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“I know.” He pretended to be grumpy. “And I’ve got to do what I can to get back on my feet—literally,” he said. “I don’t like the rehab much, but I need to get back to where I can do some kind of work. Being on disability sucks.”
“That’s the spirit.” Ronan laughed.
“It does. I know that just sitting here, I’m rotting away. I need to be able to get out of the house and do things.”
“You could take us to the bike races this weekend,” Kayla said, grinning. “You used to love for us to go.”
“That takes money,” Linc said sadly. “With the ticket price and parking, it adds up. I’m sorry, honey, but I don’t work anymore, and they don’t give me much for sitting around the house.”
“If it wasn’t a cash flow problem, would you like to go, big brother?” Ronan asked.
“Hell yeah! I’d go in a heartbeat.”
“Well, as it turns out, Frankie owes me some money. Seeing as Kayla did most of the work on his street bike, he owes her. He’s been stalling about paying up. I know he’s racing this weekend, so I’ll hit him up for three pit passes. He’ll scream about it, but he’ll be happy to not have to cough up cash right now. And since it means he’ll be on Kayla’s good side, I know he won’t really mind.”
“Get five so we can all go,” Kayla said.
Jett coughed, though Ronan needed no reminder. “We sort of have plans for this weekend,” he told her. “We can go together another time.”
Linc looked at his plate. “Thanks, Ronan.”
“Hey, Linc. I’ll never manage to pay you back for all the big brothering you did.”
“Didn’t do enough to keep you out of jail.”
“Not that last time, anyway. Others though.”
Linc laughed. “Right. There were some other times…”
They drifted into stories of growing up, edited somewhat for Kayla’s ears.
When he left the trailer, Ronan felt good. Jett was right behind him, grinning ear to ear as well. He might have been feeling wistful too and missing old times when thing had been simpler. He hoped Linc would stick to his guns and do what it took to recover. It was a lot like his decision when he’d been sent up. He’d determined his only chance was to just do his time. He’d avoided trouble as much as possible and come out the other end with new scars but able to start fresh.
As he rode, his head clouded by thoughts, he stayed on the secondary roads, just following the twists and turns of back streets and letting the family issues evaporate. Clearing his head made room for another thing he was thinking about far too much—the very attractive and intelligent Ms. Tessa Lee. The very hot Tessa.
The three of them had had a fantastic weekend, but that kind of euphoria didn’t go on forever. He wondered how people got to know each other in her world. Not that it mattered. He’d learned long ago that he and Jett didn’t function well in that world. He’d been getting lost until Linc introduced him to bikers. Instantly, he’d found they were his people. He understood them. It had been the same for Jett, though his charm had carried him along more unobtrusively in the normies’ world for a longer time.
As he rode, his mind churning through the various permutations, Ronan realized he had flown on autopilot to the school. He stopped and stared at the darkened building and wondered if he really stood a chance with her. Jett pulled up beside him, removing his helmet with a frown. “What’re you doing here?”
He shrugged in reply as his mind continued to wander. She’d let them make love to her, and he was hooked. He knew Jett was too. They didn’t have to discuss it to just know. The question would be if she wanted something more, or if she could even imagine a long-term relationship with two bikers. They couldn’t change who they were, and neither could she.
“You’re thinking about her.”
He nodded, though Jett probably didn’t need a reply, judging by the certainty in his tone. “Yeah.”
“Wondering if there’s a future for us.” It wasn’t a question. “Can someone like her fit in our world and vice versa?”
“Yeah.”
Jett was silent for a minute. “I don’t know, brother, but I’m not ready to let her go.”
“No, me neither.” That decided it, at least for now, and they were soon on their way again, though Tessa remained in Ronan’s thoughts, and he doubted she left Jett’s either.
Chapter 12
Donna Turnbull had beenthe irresistible force behind arranging a field trip to visit a beverage bottling plant across town. “It will be good for the children to see industry in action. At their age, they should start thinking about the jobs or careers that interest them. A visit like this will let them see a little bit of what life is like in the workplace.”
While convinced that Donna didn’t have a clue what life was like in the work world outside of school, especially a factory job, and certain what they’d get would be a sanitized package tour, Tessa had to admit her point was valid. Most of the students only knew about jobs they’d read about or heard their parents talk about at home. This would be tangible. Few companies had a program for letting children see where their parents worked, and even if they did, this kind of exposure was good—it showed different kinds of workers in action.
