AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Mom’s mouth fell open but only one word came out. “Jolie!”
I had never wanted to go for a ride on a motorcycle. I’d actually never even thought about it before. Was I scared? Yes. Was I turned on by Shane and his leather jacket and that dark, dangerous machine between his thighs? Also, yes.
He lifted up a spare helmet. “I have a helmet,” he told my mom.
“He has a helmet, Mom,” I said lightly. “It’s fine.”
I put the helmet on, and he helped me do it up.
“Put your feet there,” he said, pointing. “Hold onto me.”
I did as I was told.
“’Bye! Have so much fun!” Marie shouted as he started up the bike, and she waved happily, as my mother frowned and we roared away.
I didn’t wave. I was too afraid to let go of Shane. I wrapped my arms around his strong chest and held on for dear life.
* * *
We sped down through West Vancouver, across the Lions Gate Bridge, then cruised through Stanley Park. Shane parked us near Second Beach and I felt giddy as we left the bike, walking through the trees and along the Seawall.
We made our way toward where the park gave way to the bustle of the West End. Then we cut down to English Bay Beach. We took off our shoes and left them on a log.
We walked, side by side, through the edge of the surf with our jeans rolled up. Not touching. Not talking. Just walking.
I wasn’t even sure why Shane brought me here. He didn’t really say. We’d just ended up here.
He picked up something, plucked it off the sand and gave it to me. A little white seashell, like a tiny ice cream cone, smaller than the diamond in my mom’s engagement ring, in a perfect spiral.
I studied him. The thick waves of his dark hair blowing in the breeze as he gazed off over the water, the glare of the sun off the waves reflected in his pale eyes, as he pretended not to notice that I was staring.
He glanced at me.
And I suddenly got a funny picture in my head. Shane on some dating app, with a goofy little profile.Likes bondage and walks on the beach.
I spluttered, swallowing a laugh.
His eyebrow went up. “What’s so funny, little dove?”
“Nothing. My toes are getting numb.” I wiggled them in the sand as we walked and the water lapped over my feet. It was August, the peak of summer, but the water was pretty cold. “It’s not California up here, is it.”
“No,” he said, his smile fading. “It’s not.”
* * *
At the end of our beach walk, when I confessed to Shane that I sucked because I’d accidentally dropped the little seashell he gave me somewhere—“It was so tiny!”—he kinda rolled his eyes. I pouted when he gave me another one because it wasn’t the same. “This one isn’t as perfect. It has a crack through it. The other one was like a flawless ice cream cone. It made me hungry.”
So, he bought me a real ice cream cone from a food truck—“To shut you up,” he said.
I ate it, happily. “You need to get one of these. Hedgehog is my favorite.”
“What is hedgehog, anyway?”
“Are you kidding?” This man hadn’t lived. “It’s hazelnut and chocolate and it’s the best thing I’ve ever had on my tongue.”
“The best thing, huh?”
“Okay, second best.” Why was I blushing? How could he do that to me out of nowhere, with just a few words? “You seriously don’t want one?” We were already wandering back down toward the Seawall as I devoured my cone.
