Page 30 of Bowser (Dragon Riders MC 2)
“Do you know where they have coffee in the mornings?”
I blinked. “What?”
“Coffee? You know, breakfast? That damn lobby attendant told me they served breakfast, but never told me where. And I’m hungry, damn it!”
I tried not to laugh at the old man. “Uh, I’m not sure. But it sounds like something like that might happen in the lobby?”
He waved me off. “Bah. Whatever. I’ll go get something myself.”
However, that did give me an idea of where to go find Bowser.
You know, before I chewed his ass out.11BowserSly refilled his coffee. “So, we headin’ out this morning? It’s gonna take us at least another eight hours to get where we’re going.”
Link reached for a donut. “Yep. Within the hour, I’d like to be back on the road.”
I sipped my coffee. “Good thing we packed light. Hey, Ash?”
He held up his hand. “Before you ask, she was fine last night.”
I nodded. “Thanks for doing that, by the way. I appreciate it.”
Knuckles chuckled. “Anything to keep your dick in your pants.”
The guys roared with laughter as I rolled my eyes. I stood from my chair and refilled my coffee while all of us sat cramped in some back room off the front lobby. I mean, “breakfast” seemed more like coffee, donuts, and cake. But at least it was something. And if we all filled ourselves up a bit, it would prevent us from stopping until we had to pause for lunch.
Which really just meant drive-thru and ten minutes to wolf shit down.
“All right, all right. We need to calm down, guys,” Link said.
Sly waved his hand in the air. “You’re no fun.”
I snickered. “And you are?”
Ash thumbed over his shoulder. “You know you can hear his snoring through walls, right?”
Sly grimaced. “Fuck you.”
Knuckles grinned. “Says no girl ever if they have to sleep through that kind of shit after they ride you.”
I doubled over with laughter before the sweetest voice wafted in through the doorway. And sat me bolt upright.
“Bowser?”
The guys immediately stopped laughing as my eyes found Hope. The irritation in her eyes was to be expected. But the sad downturn of her lips punched me in the gut. I knew I was about to catch hell for last night. And I knew damn good and well letting her use my wallet to buy food wasn’t going to scratch the surface of the apologizing I needed to do. However, it was necessary. Hope was becoming a very serious distraction for me.
And I had to keep my head in the game.
“Uh, guys? Let’s go finish packing up,” Knuckles said.
Sly nodded. “Yeah, yeah. I got shit to pull out from under the bed.”
Ash smiled. “You mean, the person you killed with all that racket last night?”
Sly frowned. “I’m gonna kill you if you don’t can it.”
Link stood up. “Okay, okay, okay. Come on, guys. Let’s give them some privacy.”
They all filled up their coffees and grabbed one last piece of food before Hope and I were alone. With that angry fire spiraling in her forest-colored eyes.
“Morning,” I said.
She put her hand on her hip. “That’s all you’ve got to say to me after last night?”
I sighed. “Hope, it isn’t what you—”
“You left me alone last night, Bowser. You didn’t even come back, did you?”
I stood. “Actually, I didn’t leave you alone last night. I had Ash watching over your doorway.”
“And that’s supposed to make me feel better that you simply abandoned me in a hotel room without so much as an explanation as to what happened?”
“I told you I had things to do with the guys.”
“Yeah, yeah. Crew business that kept you in Link’s room all night.”
I nodded. “Yes.”
She shook her head. “Do you really think I’m that stupid, Bowser?”
“Not particularly, no.”
“So, you don’t actually think I believe you had fucking business to take care of all damn night with my sister’s boyfriend.”
“Whether or not you believe me isn’t pertinent. What’s important is—”
She scoffed. “Don’t talk to me like I’m an idiot. Because even though everyone around me thinks I’m one, I’m actually not. And I thought you knew that.”
“No one’s treating you like an idiot, Hope.”
“You’re lying to me like one. And here I thought you were different.”
I drew in a deep breath to calm myself. “Fighting isn’t going to get us anywhere. We’re all on edge and—”
“Next time, Bowser? Just tell me you don’t want to do your job and then put someone in my room that can actually do it. Got it?”
Then, she turned around on her feet and walked straight out of the room.
My head fell back with a groan before I abandoned my cup of coffee. If I wasn’t awake before, I sure as hell was now. I lumbered out of the lobby and headed back for the hotel room, where Hope was stuffing her shit into her satchel. I walked around her, trying to give her space. But with every passing second, things got more tense between us.
