Wylde Ride

Chapter 13: Misunderstood and Beaten

Warning: Tissues may be required

"Oh my god, Riley!" I squealed into his shoulder as I clung to him. "When did you get back? I mean I knew you were back, you were texting me but you didn't tell me when. What are you doing here? How did you know it was safe? Was it horrible? Oh my god, you didn't get hurt did you?" I hopped down, my hands and eyes running over him in swift motions, checking for injuries. I was talking a mile a minute and I didn't give a damn. Riley laughed and grabbed my hands.

"Slow down Lee-Lee. We have plenty of time to catch up. I took a week of leave." I was so excited and had so much to tell him. I'd been keeping Scott a secret, knowing how incredibly overprotective Riley was of me. I think he thought that since my dad wasn't around to threaten my boyfriends, the duty fell to him. It was kind of amusing actually, since Riley was, well, kind of scrawny. If you looked up beanpole in the dictionary I'm pretty sure there's a picture of him there. Speaking of Scott, he was probably wondering what the heck was going on.

"Scott," I called as I turned to introduce him to Riley. I froze when I realized we were alone. No. No, no, no. Oh my god. What the fuck had I done? What the fuck do I do now?

"Lee-Lee, you looking for that guy you were with?" Riley's soft voice and his hand on my shoulder jolted me out of paralysis. "Cause he took off." Kicking off my heels, I ran for my bike.

"Lee-Lee, where the hell are you going? What's going on? Who was that guy?" Riley called as he followed me at a walk. I didn't have time to explain, so he needed to catch up on the fly. I had to fix this. I could only imagine what was going through Scott's head when he saw me throw myself at Riley like that. How could I have been so stupid? I had just been so excited. It had been a year and a half since I'd seen him.

"He's the guy I'm in love with!" I hollered back to him, slamming my helmet on and jumping onto the bike, grateful I had put the keys with the bike earlier in the day.

I heard Riley's "Oh, fuck," as he ran toward the bike and hopped on the back. I took off in a roar. I'd yell at him later for not wearing a helmet, the idiot. Right now, I had more important things on my mind than Riley.

"Hey!" Riley shouted above the wind whistling by as I speed towards Scott's house. I'd never been invited there, but that didn't mean I hadn't looked it up and maybe driven by once or twice. "You got some explaining to do!" I rolled my eyes at him and shook my head. Did he really expect me to explain while tearing down the highway on my bike?

"Later!" I screamed, hoping he heard me. He must have since silence fell, giving me time to beat myself up some more. I had closed myself off after my father died, not wanting to get hurt again. I'd gone a little crazy. Then the Academy found me, gave me a purpose again. I'd repaid them by being too difficult for teams to work with. But then they brought me here, and I'd laid eyes Scott and...Oh god, I'd really fucked this up. I'd known he had issues with confidence and self esteem. I'd been working to do something about it, to help him see the incredible guy I saw every time I looked at him.

I was a total moron.

I tore into the drive and was confronted with an issue I hadn't thought about. The gate. Shit, shit, shit! I turned to Riley.

"Tell me you have your phone," I said in a rush. He nodded and handed it over. My fingers flew as I shot off a text.

Lesia: Lacey! It's Lesia, let me in! Please!

I could only hope she was actually there, but I had spotted Blaze's Harley through the gate, so I was pretty sure she was. Sure enough, a minute later the gate swung open. I tore down the drive, barely stopping the bike before I was jumping off. Lacey was running down the front steps of the house, eyes wide and glasses barely hanging on.