Rachel took her eyes briefly off the road to see his head turned toward her. “Sorry, Tate and Greer are both vindictive a-holes.”
“Tell me something I don’t know. Tate’s still mad over a girl dumping him in high school because he thinks she dumped him for me.”
“She did. He had saved his money to rent a limo to take them to prom. He hadn’t slept with her. He had planned a big night only to find out you had beat him to sleeping with her.”
“She told me he had broken up with her.”
“She lied,” Rachel informed him.
Cash remained silent the rest of the drive.
When Rachel glanced over again he was sleeping. His vitality was so overwhelming it was easy to look over the fact he was still healing from an almost fatal accident. Instinctively, she reached out to touch his arm but then drew back. She didn’t want to wake him needlessly.
Her hands gripped the steering wheel. The powers that had helped save his life were gone. She had prayed they would come back to no avail. She had used everything she had to bring him back. However, it was a decision she didn’t regret; she only wished she had it now so she could help with the pain he attempted to keep hidden from everyone.
Cash took his loss of strength as a weakness while she saw it a completely different way. Even without her help, he would have lived. Cash was a survivor who didn’t give up easily; his recuperation was a testament to that fact. He had proven the doctors wrong about his walking. Now he forced himself not to limp in front of others, but when he thought no one was observing him, he moved slower and with a slight limp. Rachel knew he wouldn’t stop until nothing other than the scars from his accident remained to remind him of his brush with death.
Cash woke as she parked at the packed motorcycle swap meet.
“Looks like every biker in three states is here,” he remarked, stretching as he closed the car door.
Rachel gazed at the rough looking crowd of men and women walking around, examining the motorcycles on display. Several were for sale and some were just being shown off by their owners.
She moved closer to Cash’s side as they walked through the heavy crowd.
“Nervous?”
“I really don’t know what to think,” Rachel admitted, coming to a stop next to him as he paused in front of one bike. Its gleaming chrome and appearance attracted Rachel, and she didn’t know a thing about bikes. Cash, on the other hand, moved along to other motorcycles.
“Are you just browsing or looking for one in particular?” Rachel asked.
“I have a couple I’ve been thinking about, but I haven’t made my mind up yet.” He stopped at one black monster that was huge to Rachel, but when he sat on it, he took the machine over. It suited him.
He climbed off and then took a step back, looking it over. “Sit on it.”
“What?” Rachel cleared her voice.
“Sit on the bike,” Cash repeated.
Rachel tentatively climbed on the back of the bike, sitting there self-consciously as he took out his phone and took a picture. She climbed off.
“Why did you take a picture?” she snapped.
“So I would have something to remember the day I bought my bike,” he said, taking several more before putting his phone back in his pocket.
Rachel watched as he bought the bike. She noticed the surprise of the seller when Cash paid him in full for it.
“You’re not going to test drive it?” Rachel asked.
“No, I drove it yesterday when I was here with the brothers but couldn’t make up my mind. I just needed to see one more thing before I decided to buy it.”
“What?”
“You on the back of it,” Cash stated.
He set up the delivery and then moved her to where a large crowd was standing, watching several motorcycles racing. On the opposite side of the track, Rachel saw Sex Piston and her crew cheering.
The motorcycles were flying by so fast Rachel couldn’t see the riders’ faces. However, after the race, Rachel saw Stud take his trophy while moving away from the woman in a short red dress, who was trying to give him a bottle of champagne.
“What’s he doing? He’s going to fall off the stage if he isn’t careful.”
“I have no idea,” Cash answered as the woman finally managed to hand the bottle to the runner up.
“Want a hot dog?”
“Yes.” Rachel’s mouth watered as they drew closer to the hot dog stand.
Cash bought them each one and a bottled water. They walked and ate as they looked over the different types of bikes. Rachel had never been interested in motorcycles before, but she listened as Cash showed her the different brands.
As they walked, whenever they neared Sex Piston and her friends, he managed to nudge her in another direction.
“You don’t want to congratulate Stud?”
“Not if it means having to talk to those bitches.”
“They’re not that bad.”
“Yes they are,” Cash countered.