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“Be back Monday.”
“A little before two o’clock. My king has shit scheduled that day.” Undertaker stared at us coldly and it gave me the creeps.
“I will,” Ethan said.
“We have spare helmets. Hold on,” Charley said, then went back inside.
Scar started telling Ethan something about the way the bike shifted. I didn’t know anything about motorcycles, so I tuned them out and went over to pet the dog while the rest of the men stood around looking at the Harley and talking to each other. When Charley came back with the helmets, I took one from him, and he smiled at me.
“Just don’t do anything weird in the sidecar,” Charley said as I slipped the half helmet on. Ethan came over and buckled the strap under my chin, even though I could’ve probably figured it out, but the way he carefully stared at me made my belly warm.
“Like what?”
Charley shrugged. “Don’t throw your weight suddenly. Just listen to your man, okay?”
I nodded.
“Fish,” Scar said with a scowl. “What are you telling him?”
Charley rolled his eyes. “How to ride in the sidecar.”
Scar grunted, and I went over and climbed into the sidecar. I was surprised, but the red leather was pretty comfortable. It had looked hard. Me drumming out a nervous rhythm on the sides of the car seemed to break the spell, and the bikers wandered back into the clubhouse.
“Do you want to go to that Frisbee golf thing?” Ethan asked with a tiny smile as he climbed onto the bike with the visor on his helmet raised.
“So, that’s it? You’re just in this club now?” I gestured at the clubhouse.
He shook his head. “They’re going to put me through hell to join. It’s kind of like I’ll be auditioning for the job. My... brother dying bought me that right.” He shrugged.
I felt awful. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know your brother died. What happened?”
Ethan shook his head and started the motorcycle. The engine roared and the vibrations trembled through my body. “Hey, can you pull up directions to that place?”
Nodding, I opened the map app on my phone and showed it to him through the spiderweb of cracks on the screen. He spent a minute zooming in and out on the map, then handed my phone back. With a wink, he slapped down the visor. He seemed really calm about losing all his stuff earlier. How often did things like that happen to him? I would’ve been freaking out about losing my phone, but he was just ready to keep our date moving.
As he backed up the bike, then started to drive away from the clubhouse, my stomach fluttered and warmth returned. We were on adate. I’d never been on a date. I glanced at him, but he had on a full helmet and I couldn’t see what he was thinking. He waved at me and tapped the top of my helmet, and I laughed. Riding in the sidecar was fun, and the happy feeling dancing around in my stomach stayed that way during the ride through the city.
It didn’t take long to reach the park where the Frisbee golf games were held. Immediately I knew something was wrong because when we got to the small pavilion where the tickets were sold, the metal shutter was pulled down over the small ticket office. Ethan stopped the bike in the gravel parking lot, and we glanced at each other before we took our helmets off.
“I’m sorry. I had no idea they were closed. It didn’t say they would be online.” I frowned at the shutter. “There isn’t even a time listed when they might be back or open.” Anxiety twisted in my gut.
He shrugged and brushed my hair off my forehead, which gave me a shiver. “Do you want to ride around? It’s a nice day for it, and I should probably get more practice in. We can stop for lunch in a bit.”
“Sure. Why not?”
He smiled before sliding his helmet back on, and I did the same. In no time, we were off again. Excitement curled through my gut as we raced around the city on the bike. Okay, we probably weren’t going that fast, but it felt amazing to be in the sidecar, and I wasn’t nervous the way I’d been when I was on the bike with that stranger. I reached up and touched Ethan’s knee when we were at a red light, and he grabbed my hand, giving it a squeeze.
Eventually we ended up in a small suburb outside of New Gothenburg, and I had to laugh as we passed a banner over the street we were on—Pioneer Pumpkin Festival. He found a spot to park his motorcycle, dismounted, and then held my hand while I climbed out of the sidecar. I helped him take his helmet off, and then he got mine. We tossed the safety gear onto my seat.
“This is so weird,” I said with a laugh as a woman in an old-timey brown dress that wafted across the sidewalk headed toward us. She dragged a wooden wagon of pumpkins behind her and waved at us. I twiddled my fingers back while Ethan sort of frowned at her.
“So, uh... would you like to look around?” he asked, glaring at the groups of people moving between craft stands and food trucks. There were families and other couples clearly out looking for something to see and do.
“Why not?” I sniffed the air and my stomach growled. “I mean, at least we can eat some fair food, right?”
He grinned and nodded. As we stepped up onto the sidewalk, my shoe caught on the curb—probably because I was so busy staring at him—and he grabbed my hand as I stumbled. I licked my lips. We weren’t anywhere near Cider Mill. We were on the other side of New Gothenburg, not that someone from home might not be around.Screw it, I’ll take the risk.I tangled our fingers together.
He sucked in a deep breath and stared down at our joined hands, then nodded once as if we’d had a whole huge discussion. We strolled along the sidewalk, the same as everyone else.
