Knuckles (Dragon Riders MC #4) - Savannah Rylan Page 0,5

yet. Yeah—I—dude, would you just—Link!”

Even I jumped at how harsh his voice sounded.

“I’m on my bike now, about to head out. But I need your permission on something before I leave.”

I waited on bated breath to see if this Link, the almighty God of permission, approved of me heading out with Justin.

Which I assumed was what he was calling about in the first place.

3

Knuckles

The phone rang in my helmet from the built-in Bluetooth headset as Simone wiggled her way behind me.

“What?” Link answered.

Oh, boy. “Link?”

He paused. “Knuckles?”

“Yeah, it’s Knuckles.”

Simone said something to me, but I put my finger up, getting her to hush for a second.

“Please tell me you’re on that ride right now and you've got a flat or something.”

I blinked. “Uh huh. Yeah, look. I’ve kinda run into an issue.”

“So, you haven’t left yet.”

“No, I haven’t left yet.”

“Are you fucking kidding me right now?”

I sighed. “Yeah, I—”

“The hell is holding you up so badly? Something wrong with your bike?”

“Dude, would you just—”

He kept going, though. “Do you need help packing? Someone gotta put on your boots? Would you tell me why the fuck—”

“Link!”

Simone jumped behind me and that worried me. Simone had been many things throughout the course of her childhood, but jumpy had never been one of them. Even with our rough upbringing, she always took things head-on and without a second thought.

I was curious to know what made her so jumpy.

“You better have a damn good reason why you haven’t left yet,” he hissed.

I shook my head. “I’m on my bike now, about to head out. But I need your permission on something before I leave.”

“So, there is something we need to talk about.” I didn’t respond, so Link continued. “Come by the bar, but after we talk? You get on the road. Got it?”

“You got it.”

I hung up the phone and cranked up the engine before I eased down the driveway. And when Simone wrapped her arms around me and clung to my body, I had to swallow hard just to see straight. Damn it, that girl had always been a little cutie pie. When we were younger, she adored those bouncing pigtails. And when she became an angry, rebellious teenager? It was short shorts and too much makeup all the way. Gave a pubescent teenage boy quite a sight over the years. But nothing compared to her now.

A fully-grown woman with legs so long they could wrap around any brute and lull him to sleep.

I tried to take it easy on the road until I felt Simone’s grip loosen. Usually, that was the sign that someone had grown comfortable back there. But her grip never did loosen up at all. She kept a tight squeeze on me right up until I eased into the parking lot of the Iron Horse. And even then, I had to peel her away from me so I could get off my bike. I wasn’t sure if she clung to me out of fear or something else, but every time I caught a glimpse of her eyes, there was a passing worry behind them I couldn’t decrypt.

Simone had always been good at putting up fronts.

So, the fact that hers was currently cracking meant something really wasn’t right.

I knew this was a bad idea, though. Bringing her along. I mean even though I knew Link would eventually okay it after some talking, I knew she’d be nothing but a distraction. We had so much to catch up on. So many years had passed us by since the last time we saw one another. But I also knew I couldn't leave her behind. Not with her dealing with, well, whatever she was dealing with. She was genuinely afraid, and I’d only ever seen Simone scared like that of one person in my life.

Our foster mother.

Nevertheless, I had always taken care of her. And I always would. Hell, the reason why I bought that dilapidated piece of shit to spruce up one day was because it had enough space for both myself and her. And I figured if she ever found her way back home, she’d need a place to stay. I had a savings account I dumped money into just to hand over to her one day, should this lifestyle take me too soon. And in my will? Everything I had was to be given to her.

From sunup to sundown, I’d made a promise to her when we were little to always take care of her.

And I took that very seriously.

Growing