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You’ll get yourself killed.
The world racing by is a total blur.
I don’t want to see your annoyingly good-looking face just yet.
What the fuck?
Jake’s voice, his words, charge through my head like a stampeding heard of elephants, and I yank the accelerator, frowning. The pull of my bike beneath me as I max out the last but one gear is as fierce as first gear. Fucking wicked.
You have something to live for now.
I jerk, only a fraction, but at this speed, a fraction is all it takes. “Fuck,” I curse, fighting with the handlebars, trying to regain control and get myself back in a straight line, automatically easing my grip of the accelerator. I manage to claw back some control and let the bike slow until I’m chugging along at a pathetic forty, getting honked at by cars overtaking me. I blink, shaking my head. “If I have something to live for, why the fuck are you trying to kill me, Jake?” Jesus, that was close.
And get some fucking leathers.
“Fuck off,” I mutter, pulling into a layby to gather myself. “Since when has it been acceptable to talk to me like that?”
Since I’m dead and you’re a fuck-up. And you can’t swing at me.
It’s actually quite a relief to hear my brother and not my bastard conscience. I don’t know what comes over me. I pull off my helmet, and I laugh, leaning forward and using the bars to hold myself up. What the ever-loving fuck is wrong with me? My eyes are streaming. My body out of control, jerking with my hysterics. I’m gone. Take me to the fucking loony bin.
I glance around the countryside, and all I see is Jake’s smiling face. He’s happy. Because I’m happy. Where the hell has he been all this time? I dream of him. Think of him. But never has the fucker ever really spoken to me. And he chooses now? Of course he does. Because . . . Ava.“You proud of me, bro?” I ask, pushing my fingertips into my eye sockets. “I’ve foundthewoman I want to spend eternity with. A good woman.” Okay, a little younger than everyone probably expected, but still. “You’d love her. She’s smart, like you. Ambitious, like you. Sarcastic as fuck and absolutely does not suit swearing.” I smile. “Yeah, you’d love her.”
Great. But twenty-six, Jesse?
I laugh. “Yes, twenty-six.”God, I miss you, Jake. Still.Scrubbing my hands down my cheeks, I look over my shoulder when I hear a car on the gravel behind me. A car I recognize. “Oh, no,” I say quietly, putting my helmet back on with haste. By the time I’m ready to pull off, Freja has parked her Maserati conveniently in front of me.
I start pushing my way back to gain enough space to swing out. “I thought it was you,” she calls, holding the top of the door, smiling at me like I didn’t send her packing the other night with a few home truths. She starts to wander over, and I seriously dislike the cocky swagger she’s got going on. “I thought you should know,” she says, the triumph in her voice heightening my worry. She knows she has my attention, because her smile’s just widened. She thought I should know what? I don’t want to ask. I pull my helmet back off, waiting for her to hit me with whatever it is that’s going to fuck up my day and my mood. “Mikael has hired a designer for his new project.” She pouts. “I think you might know her.”
Dread. It’s like a pile of bricks falling onto me. I don’t have the capacity to wonder how the hell Freja knows about Ava. All I can think is...hell to the fuck, no.Ava isdefinitelynot working with Mikael Van Der Haus. The smarmy fuck. He had little to do with the development of Lusso, his partner overseeing the works. Now? Now he’s met Ava? I bet he’ll insist on more briefing sessions than necessary. More calls. Perhaps a few dinner meetings. Lunch meetings.Fuck, no.“Do you want to keep playing at The Manor, Freja?” I ask, going into immediate damage control. Her fading smile gives me my answer. “You’ll keep your mouth shut, or I will give your husband everything he needs to wipe the floor with you in court, do you hear me? I don’t give a fuck if my Manor is brought up.”
Her face is a picture. Didn’t she think this through? I push my helmet on roughly, pumped up on anger, and zoom off fast, cursing. Why can’t the world just fuck off?
26
Freja’s made me late.Jesus, hell hath no fury. I see Ava up ahead, walking to the end of the road. It could be me, but she looks a little heavy-footed. Annoyed?
I whizz past and pull up at the curb, slipping off my helmet and resting it on my lap, and I watch as she leans against a wall, her attention on her mobile phone. She looks up, sees me, and smiles. My beautiful girl. My fingers tingle at the thought of touching her.
Pushing herself off the wall, she struts over, her eyes getting their own fill of me. The satisfaction never gets old. “Good afternoon, lady.”
“You’re a menace.”
Truth. A menace who’s head over heels. “Did I scare you?”
“Yes,” she huffs, motioning to my bike. “That thing needs a noise risk assessment.”
Thing? “Thisthingis a Ducati 1098.” I slip my helmet on the handlebars and make a grab for her. “Kiss me,” I order quietly, leaning her back and moving in, not giving her the opportunity to comply. I can’t wait. And neither can she. She holds me tightly, and I’m a slave to what she does to me, the feelings she evokes.
So when she starts trying to break free, I’m indignant, naturally. I’ve only just got her in my arms again, so I hold tighter, kiss her harder, feeling her hands on my chest, trying to pry us apart. What the fuck is she playing at? I release her mouth, but not her body. “What do you think you’re doing?”
She continues to squirm. “Let me go.”
Never.“Hey. Let’s get one thing straight, lady,” I say, sounding as outraged as I’m feeling. “You don’t dictate when and where I kiss you, or for how long.” That’s my call.
“Jesse,” she huffs, out of breath from her struggling. “If Patrick sees me with you, I’m in all kinds of shit. Let me go.”
My instinctive flinch as a result of her foul mouth gives her the break she needs, and she’s gone from my arms, putting way too much space between us. “What the fuck are you talking about?” I yell, feeling immediately lost without her close, adding to my grievance. “And watch your mouth!”
