warmer sweater and pulled a coat on, because I was riding on it with him.
The guys could take their own cars, but they rode with Jake instead. We were all coming back here tonight to sort out the beginning of our last semester.
“It’s cold,” Ian warned me as he checked my jacket and then looped the scarf so that it tucked in.
“Compared to Colorado? It’s practically balmy.” It was in the fifties. “I’ll be fine and don’t make me wait. Please?”
I’d been dying to get back on the bike. If my wrist was up to skiing, then I was damn well up to the bike.
He chuckled.
“You be really fucking careful with her,” Jake warned from where he stood by his yellow SUV.
“Really careful,” Archie stressed.
“Leave off, guys, he’s gonna drive like a little old man.” Coop winked at me.
I grinned as Ian tugged the helmet onto my head and then did up the strap. Only then did he straddle the bike and get it started. I hopped on behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist. The vibration of the bike rumbled through me. The smile on my face almost hurt as he walked us backward. Jake had already pulled out, but I could see all three of them staring at us.
“He’s going to follow us,” Ian said over his shoulder.
I laughed. “I know.”
Then we were off, and yeah, it was windy and a little cold, but it was perfect. Traffic was too heavy to really race along the roads, but I just soaked in the feeling of holding onto him, his hard abs flexing beneath my fingers and the strength in his back where I pressed against him.
The guys were right behind us, as promised, until they diverted to get the coffee. It was so weird to pull in and look at the school. It seemed…smaller somehow.
“Last semester, Angel,” Ian said as I climbed off the bike. “You ready?”
A giddiness swarmed through me. Maybe that was it.
“Yeah,” I said slowly and pulled off the helmet. “Four and half more months, and we are out of here.”
He glanced at the school, then at me as we turned to head over to Jake’s spot to store the helmets and grab our backpacks.
The guys weren’t quite there yet, but I reached for Ian’s hand as we walked and he clasped mine easily. Slanting a look down at me, he raised his eyebrows. “This is pretty close to a PDA,” he reminded me.
It was. That was true.
Pivoting, I glanced around the parking lot. It was filling up gradually. Familiar faces were grabbing their crap out of their cars and heading in the building. Rachel’s car appeared with the yellow SUV right behind it. We kept the PDAs off at school, we weren’t advertising. I’d been hearing enough crap from the exes and the gossips and more.
“You know what,” I said, glancing back to Ian and meeting his startling blue-eyed gaze, “I’m okay with it.”
“With…?”
I rose up on my tip toes and wrapped an arm around his neck. He dipped to meet me automatically, and his lips smoothed over mine. They were cool and chilly, but his mouth was hot, and I opened to him easily. We clung there for a long moment, just teasing each other, before I slowly lowered to stand on my feet again.
“Angel?”
“I don’t care who knows,” I said flatly. “You guys are my boyfriends. That’s all that matters.”
No more hiding.
It was us.
His smile grew slowly, and then he nodded. “Damn straight, we are.”
“Well fuck,” Jake said as he wrenched his door open and looked over at me. “You sure about this?”
I glanced from Archie’s bemused smirk to Coop’s genuine curiosity to Jake’s fiercely protective scowl.
“I’ve never been sure of anything more.”
They were mine.
I was going to fucking own it.
“Well bring it on,” Rachel said as she strolled up, and I grabbed a hug. She laughed against me. “I got your back.”
They all did.
We’d have each other’s.
“And look, I’m even happy to see these assholes.”
Laughter bubbled up through me. “Look, they even brought you coffee.”
“I could get used to this,” Rachel declared, winking at me. “Ready to kick some ass?”
“That’s my job,” Jake declared, and he wrapped an arm around me before pressing a kiss against my temple. He laced his fingers together with mine and stroked his thumb over the ring. “Shall we?”
“Let’s,” Coop said with a mock accent. “We should probably get video of the dropping jaws.”
“And the jealous looks,” Rachel said with a hum. “So many