Page 6 of Fly's Path

That thought is definitely not helping. Insult her. Do whatever you need to do to ditch her.

“Here, you need to try this.” She breaks off a piece and lifts the fork to my lips.

Why is every one of her movements seemingly in slow motion? This is total insanity. You’re hunting drug dealers. This isn’t the time to meet a woman.

“Open up.” She nudges my lip with the cake.

Her grin melts through every one of my defenses. I open my mouth while locking eyes with her. A single bite of cake shouldn’t feel this intimate. It’s like our souls are introducing themselves to each other.

The pull to touch her, to learn more about her, overwhelms every sensible thought my brain has ever had.

She inches the fork away. “Good, right?”

No idea. My brain can only process one thing, and that’s you. “Yes.”

“Do you want to talk about whatever it was that was stressing you out?”

The only thing I want to talk about is you. “What’s your name?”

“Lola.”

“Lola.” I taste her name on my tongue and am lost. “You really shouldn’t talk to strangers.”

“But you aren’t a stranger. We’ve had cake together. And when you tell me your name, I think we’re going to be friends.”

Vandal almost slips out of my mouth. Lying to her…it isn’t an option. “My friends call me Van.” Which is actually the truth and fits in with my cover story.

“Why?” She tips her head to the side so she can check under the table.

“That’s a story for another day.”

“Fair enough. But I should tell you, patience isn’t something I have a lot of.”

That I can believe. “What are some of your other good qualities?”

***

Lola sets the fork down on the empty cake plate. It rings out like a timer going off, telling me that this little bit of perfection is over.

We can’t sit here all day smiling and talking.

But I don’t want her to walk away, even though I need her to.

Love at first sight isn’t a real thing. It can’t be.

The innocence and sweetness of Lola doesn’t match at all with the biker I really am. It’s better to part ways now. To let this be a single, fleeting moment in time. A good memory among the filth I’ve been surrounded by.

A perfect…pure memory. “I should walk you back to your dorm, so you don’t get lost.”

Lola doesn’t react for a long moment.

Maybe she can sense just what I am or what I’m pretending to be.

“You should. It’s a long walk and I wouldn’t want to get lost and end up living in the library.”

“No. The only word that should come out of your mouth when a total stranger offers to walk you home is no.”

Her little button nose wrinkles as she smiles. “It’s a good thing we’re already friends.” Lola stands up and holds out a hand to me.