Page 87 of Hold Me Down
“I wouldn’t miss that for anything in the world. She can kiss my ass.” I smile unwillingly at his declaration and giggle, which prompts him to smirk, despite his aggravation.
“Okay, then. It’ll only be about an hour before we meet back up, then. That’s a good first time apart, don’t you think? Not too long?”
Revving draws our attention to the front windows, snapping Damien into gear. He pulls me close, and then behind him, as he steps in front of me, and I know he’s never going to agree now. Heavy feet trot down the steps, and I jerk my head that way, relieved once I see Carter’s languid posture.
“Grease and Viking are here.” His tone is plain, like it isn’t either a good or bad thing that they’re here unannounced.
When they finally come into view through the windows, a smile instantly breeds on my face. I thought the accelerating sounded familiar, but I definitely didn’t think I’d see this. Grease is riding Damien’s bike up the driveway, and it looks brand new. The chrome is shiny and bright, and the black paint looks fresh and smooth.
I step beside Damien and look up at him, hoping to see the same excitement that I’m feeling, but I don’t. Instead, itlooks like he’s seen a ghost. His face pales a little, and he stands completely still. He doesn’t even move his gaze from the window. With all of the turmoil around us, we haven’t talked about his bike. I’m not even sure he knew that Grease had it. He’s very vaguely talked about the moment he was taken, and the wreck he was in. I’m going to guess that it’s all rising to the surface.
Victoria grabs Elizabeth and picks her up like she’s afraid of them, and then I realize that they’ve never met them before.
“Oh, don’t worry. They’re friends of ours,” I say to her before looking back up to Damien. “Everything’s okay, right?” I squeeze his hand, which snaps him back into the moment. He looks down at me and blinks rapidly, trying to pull himself together.
“Yes. Yeah, everything’s okay.” He squeezes my hand back and leads me towards the garage door.
Everyone else follows, including Daisy, but thankfully, Victoria stops by the car and Ser helps get Elizabeth into her seat. Damien, Carter, and I walk out of the garage, meeting Grease just as he pulls the bike up. He throws his leg over to stand, then yanks his helmet off to reveal his thrilled grin.
“Special delivery!” Grease yells and throws his arms out, then he waves to Viking as he parks the truck in front of the second garage door. “What do you think? It’s like it never even happened, huh?” He admires the motorcycle and looks back up to Damien, but then his face falls. I know he meant it in a good way, but that probably wasn’t the best option to say. “Shit,amigo. My bad.”
“No. It’s fine,” Damien tries to play it off, but I can hear the hesitation in his words.
“I can walk you through what I fixed, if that’ll help?”
“That’s a great idea,” I chime in and step in front of Damien, looking up at him with puppy-dog eyes. “You guys can talk aboutit while we’re out. They can keep you company. That way, it won’t just be you and Carter.”
He looks down at me like he’s going to argue, but he doesn’t speak. Alex is obviously out for the count and at home resting. Zeke is covering the Attic because of our appointment today, and even though Carter is here, I’d feel better if someone else stayed with them. I’m sure everything is fine, and nothing bad will happen if we’re gone for an hour or two, but now that Damien isn’t going out with us, I’d feel better if he was surrounded.
“Okay,” he says plainly, but he looks like he’s in pain. His jaw is clenched, and the vein in his neck starts to pulse.
Leaving suddenly feels like a horrible idea.
“Vike!” Grease yells towards the truck. “¡Mueve el culo para acá!”
“We don’t have to go shopping today, baby. It’s okay,” I whisper, but he doesn’t let me back out.
“No. No, you deserve to be able to go out and have fun. I’ll be okay. I just…” He swallows harshly. “I wasn’t expecting to see the bike…”
“You know you don’t have to ride it today, right? I mean, it’s the first week of December. I’m sure he doesn’t expect you to get on that thing.” I chuckle softly, trying to lighten his mood, but I don’t think it works.
“Yeah, I know,” he says softly and grabs my hand. “Let me get you in the car.” He pulls me away, not even giving me the chance to say goodbye to Grease. First, he was instructed to let me go somewhere without him, and obviously, seeing the Harley really spooked him. I can’t just leave.
We walk back into the garage, and he opens the back hatch to let Daisy jump inside before storming off and pulling me with him. Even though for a moment it seemed like he couldn’t get me away from them fast enough, his demeanor has done acomplete one-eighty. He stops abruptly beside the driver’s side door and turns around to face me with his lips in a thin line.
“Promise me you’ll keep your phone on you,” he demands desperately.
“Damien—”
“Promise me,” he cuts me off. I don’t want to go anymore, not with him being this upset. This was something we were supposed to do together—something that would make us both happy. Now he’s distraught, and he can’t even come with me so I can make it better?
“I promise,” I say anyway, hoping that if he really needed me to stay, he would ask.
“Use the card, too. Don’t use cash.”
Disappointment rolls over me, and I hate it. I’m not disappointed in him, but at the same time, I can’t put a finger onwhat. I want to be here for him. I want to make all of the bad feelings go away, but I know that at some point, Ihaveto let him do it on his own. Do I wantthisto be that moment? No. But it’s also not my choice, either.
“I won’t,” I whisper. He leans down to rest his forehead against mine, and it breaks me when I feel him tremble.
