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The right side of my ribcage and my right arm and shoulder are covered in a tapestry of skulls, a custom piece by my stepbrother, Logan, woven with a crown, anatomical heart, and Boreas—the God of Ice, to fill the full space. My left arm has a half sleeve consisting of three flowers, one for each of my siblings, including Logan, on my forearm.
Logan’s an award-winning tattoo artist with his own shop. He’s also got a body piercer who does great work—she did my ladder. I’m ninety percent sure he’s got a thing for her, butdude is so tight-lipped he’ll probably never do anything about it.
I slip the thermals over my head and pull them down my chest, adding my T-shirt over top. I’m used to being around ice, my body can probably acclimate to the cold better than hers.
“Sure you were.”
She zips my jacket up to her neck—thankfully, her hoodie fills it out—and pops her helmet back on.
“You’re so full of yourself. Do you jack off to the mirror when you masturbate?”
I bark out a laugh and push my helmet over my head. “How else would I get off?” I say, straddling the bike. She laughs and scoots behind me when I sit down. This time, she doesn’t need me to help her, and as soon as her arms are wrapped around me, I pull away from the shoulder.
We’ve been taking mostly easy roads, but when we get close to sixty miles per hour, a squeak of excitement comes through the intercom, followed by a small giggle. I grab her knee, oddly wishing I could see her expression.
“What’s so funny?”
She laughs again. “This is nice. It’s very—” She releases a breath. “Freeing.”
That’s exactly what it does for me. When life’s pressures get stressful and I want to drown out all the noise, going for a ride reminds me I’m still alive.
“I come out here when I’m overwhelmed. It makes me feel small, in a good way. Gives me perspective. Most of the time, when I get back home, the other shit doesn’t matter so much.”
“Thanks for inviting me. I needed this.”
“You’re welcome.” Jordan isn’t nearly as tense as she was before, but I wonder what happened thatmade it a bad day.
We take some of the quieter county highways and enjoy the sunset. I point to a line of trees out in the distance.
“My grandparents used to own all that land. They had a farm with a ton of acreage.”
“You come from farmers? And here I thought you were a broken, stuck-up cake eater like the rest of us.”
I chuckle. “Oh,Iam. But my mom had a much humbler upbringing.”
“So your father’s side is loaded.”
It’s complicated.
“Kinda. My biological father, Jerry, was an asshole. When my mom divorced him, she had three kids and no place to go. So, my grandparents sold a few acres, and that money was used to give her a fresh start. A couple years later, Mom married Bruce Teller—cake eater—and he adopted me and my sisters. He worships my mom and raised us like his own.He’swho we call dad.”
“Do you still talk with your biological father?”
“No, we cut all contact. He died four years ago.”None of us went to the funeral.I don’t need to get into that. I clear my throat and ask what’s really on my mind. “That’s old news. Tell me about your bad day, what happened?”
She sighs. “It’s not so much that it was bad, but I’ve been dodging calls and visits from Bryan and Veronica all week. I have to go back to the condo, but I don’t want to. And I have to find a new place to live, which is a pain in the ass. Guess I was hoping I could hide out at the café and eat scones for a few more weeks.”
“So do it.”
“I have to face the music. I still have to officially break it off, it’s looming over me.”
“Eh, let him sweat a little longer. He’s losing his fucking mind over it. He texted me that night—raging and pointingfingers. He’s been going nuts trying to find who ratted him out.”
She groans over the intercom. “I love that his priority is trying to find out the person who gave him away... Before my parents left to spend the winter in Monaco, they said I needed to work it out like an adult.” She clears her throat. “And I kinda led them to believe we’d be getting back together. So they’re gonna be pissed when they find out that’s not happening.”
“Why would you do that?”
Her shoulders shrug against me. “Peace? I needed to not have them in my ear about it every second of the day. They eased up once I stopped arguing.”
