The Do-Over (The Rooftop Crew #5) - Piper Rayne Page 0,20
Envy later if you guys want to hang out.”
“We won’t.” He waves and she pretends to pout, lingering by her door. Knox turns toward me. “Ready?”
I grab my purse on the way over to him. He waits for me before shutting the apartment door and locking it.
“Oh, I forgot.” He digs his hand into his pocket and retrieves a key on a keychain with a big K in pink rhinestones. “Here’s your key.”
“Thanks.”
“Yeah, the selection of keychains sucked, and I knew if I didn’t put one on it, I’d lose it.”
“Ahh,” Rian says, but when Knox and I look over our shoulders, she covers her mouth with her hand and waves off an apology for eavesdropping.
“Bye, Rian,” Knox says.
“Bye you two. Have a great night.” She waves and gives a thumbs-up as if this is a date.
Rian’s definitely the romantic of the group, and I see why Knox would want to bring her as a fake girlfriend. She’s got that innocent girl-next-door thing going.
Knox doesn’t say anything but presses the elevator button. The entire situation feels like when you go on a date and your parents are watching from the porch until you’re driving away.
The elevator doors shut. Knox’s scent from the apartment lingers here now too. Thankfully it’s only a few short floors before the doors open and he motions for me to exit first. He’s such a gentleman. I want to ask him what happened with him and Leilani, but I have to remember it’s none of my business.
Outside the apartment, by the curb, are three motorcycles.
“Middle one is mine,” he says. “That’s Jax’s, and that’s Dylan’s.”
“All three of you ride?”
He nods. “We all learned at the same time. Got our licenses the same day. A long time ago.”
He takes the helmets off the bike and helps me with mine first. It feels kind of like I’m a bobblehead. Then he puts on his own and straddles the bike.
He glances at me then at the back of the bike. “Just hold on to me. I’ll go slow at first. Lean into the turns, not away. I promise you’ll be fine.”
I climb on behind him, but I’m trying to keep my distance.
He laughs. “You need to move closer to me.”
I inch up a little and lightly wrap my arms around his waist.
He tugs me and my ass slides along the leather. “Closer.”
He situates me so that my crotch is right up against his ass and my hands are locked around his middle. His leather jacket is soft, and I can’t help but wonder if Leilani was ever in this position. Then I mentally reprimand myself because of course she was. But she was probably able to inch her fingers up under the hem of his leather jacket and feel his abs.
“Good?” he asks.
I nod.
He starts the bike and moves out of the spot by walking his bike backward. I startle as he accelerates forward, but I’m surprised by how much I trust him. After a few turns, I really get the hang of being a passenger on a motorcycle, and I’m just starting to enjoy it when we pull up outside a house I don’t recognize.
Knox tells me to hang out by the bike while he climbs the broken cement steps up to a house I can’t believe Leilani would hang out at. Two shutters with chipped paint hang cockeyed. The front door has a giant wooden plank over where it looks like glass broke. Beer bottles and liquor bottles line the railings of the covered porch.
I glance around the neighborhood. Most of the houses aren’t in the best shape and are in need of a little tender loving care, but none of them look like they need to be demolished like this one.
Knox knocks and a woman wearing lingerie opens the door. What the hell happened to you, Leilani?
I’m not sure what she says, but a guy comes to the door, glancing at me and back at Knox.
Do these people know that Knox is a police officer? The way he stands on the porch with his legs spread wide and both arms crossed gives the persona of someone you don’t want to mess with. The man is talking to Knox, but his gaze keeps straying to me. If I have to hear one more time that I look like Leilani, I might throw up.
Knox shakes the guy’s hand, and the man hangs around the door while Knox walks down the stairs.