Morose ✔️

19

The sun was shining down at us, reflecting on the tiny lake to crate a magical image I wished I brought a camera to capture, as Helix sat behind me on his motorcycle. My hands were gripping the steering wheel, his hands over mine, and his warm breath tickled my neck as he leaned closer. "Put your heel down," he whispered, "slowly."

I swallowed. Slowly, I put my heel down, the bike jolted forward half a meter, and I lifted my foot, my heart running wild inside my chest. Helix chuckled behind me.

"It's not dangerous," he said, "I'm right here, my feet are on the ground, and I know this bike like the back of my hand, it won't just tip over."

He lifted his legs off the ground, and I panicked, opening my mouth to tell him to stop messing around, but the bike stood still for a long time, before slowly tilting towards one side. "See," he whispered to my ear as he set his feet down again, "if we tip, I've got plenty of time to haul you out of the way."

"You're a prick," I muttered, steadying my gaze forward down the dirt road.

"And you like me," he taunted, kissing the soft space between my neck and my shoulder.

His touch made my spine chill, in a very good way, and I bit my lip before slowly trying to put my heel down again. Slowly, carefully, like the gas pedal on my car, I thought, staring forward into the endless line of trees.

The bike slowly moved forward, Helix's feet moved with it, walking with it, until we had enough speed for him to pull his legs up to the support. His hands tightened around mine, as if to reassure me, before he slowly let go and put his arms around my waist. We were going forward at a considerable speed, and I felt an odd sense of freedom as I was in total control of the scary, two-wheeled beast.

"You're a natural." The soft, sensual words vibrated all the way down to my abdomen. I struggled to figure out how I could move my fingers to the brakes on the handle, but Helix let go of my waist and put his large hands over mine again, stretching his fingers out to stop, turning the steering in the process, so we were facing the cabin again. I couldn't see it, which made my stomach flutter a bit with pride. I pressed my heel down again, slowly, and we drove back to the cabin, my laugh sitting loosely on my tongue as he helped me stop outside the front door.

"It wasn't as bad as I thought," I said as he climbed off. "But I prefer to sit behind you."

He grinned at me, holding out a hand to help me off, and pulled me in close once I had both feet safely on the dirt. He said, "I like that too, especially when we're going a bit fast and you hold on tighter."

I shoved his shoulder playfully, pulling the helmet off my head and turned towards the glimmering lake. It was so peaceful, so magical, almost, that I forgot everything else except the two of us and the place we were in. I hadn't even checked my phone all day, not even sure if it had any battery left, and I was... content.

A while later, I was sitting by the dining table inside the cabin with him, our dinner was eaten— a very tasty pizza that Helix made over a fire outside— and we were playing cards. He wanted to do strip-poker, but I managed to shut down the ridiculous suggestion by telling him I didn't know how to play poker, so he took the challenge to teach me.

We'd been through the regular five-card version, and he was currently shuffling the cards to teach me another version I recognized from tournaments on TV, with two cards each, and several cards on the table. It was a lot of fun, honestly, and as I saw my first two cards were two queens, I wondered if I could win a round without his help. The cards on the table were a ten, a six and a nine, so unless he had another queen, I could get one more and have three of a kind.