Faith: Biker Romance (The Virtues Book 2) (5 page)

I slammed the truck door shut and walked toward Eddie and the motorcycle. My heart seemed to beat in time with the music blaring from the machine. I grabbed the back of his shoulders and swung my leg over. No thoughts filled my head. The drums and the smile—that was all there was.

Eddie turned back to me. “So what kind of bad did you want to get into, Faith?”

“All kinds. Just get moving.”

Before Eddie hit the throttle, I had no idea what to expect. My parents had never let me near anything dangerous, go figure. Some friends from church had dirt bikes and ATVs, but I was never allowed to ride or drive one. I didn’t know how they’d agreed to even let me have a bike growing up.

The first thing I felt was the vibration. It was intense, and not unlike the pulsating shower head I had grown to love over the years. Eddie twisted his hand back, bringing the dormant beast to life. The sheer volume alone was enough to make me grab onto him for safety. The vibration crescendoed along with my heart rate.

Eddie pressed down on a pedal with his foot, and I felt the motorcycle lurch forward a touch. I grabbed him, recognizing that our bodies had never been so close. It made me squeeze just a little tighter.

He turned and spoke to me. “Afraid?”

“Absolutely not!” My words erupted from inside me, from inside a place of joy. “Excited, anxious, but not afraid.” To prove it, I leaned forward and laid a kiss on his cheek. Something about Eddie made me bolder than I’d ever been before. Everything I
said
I wanted to do, he actually did. He was fearless, and in grabbing my hand, he’d forced me into fearlessness with him.

And then he pulled back on the throttle, unleashing the motorcycle on the world.

I closed my eyes to feel the evening air on my face. My senses came alive. The rushing wind in my ears, the thumping engine beneath me, and the smell of the pines lining the highway all swept over me like a delicious wave. If my heart relaxed from being away from the suffocating environment of my home, it was equally excited by the new prospects everywhere around us.

As the hair metal blasted from the speaker in front of Eddie, I took in Colorado Springs like never before. Our bodies shifted from side to side through the turns. I held on tight when he hit the throttle and launched us forward. I had no idea where Eddie was taking us, but I really didn’t care. I didn’t even care about the ten o’clock curfew hanging over my head. It was the last thing on my mind.

When Eddie pulled the bike to the side of the road, Colorado Springs was lit up with artificial light laid out beneath us to our right. He kicked out the stand and leaned the bike against it. I got off and stood beside him. The city was gorgeous, and we took the sight in without speaking for a few minutes.

“This is just about the farthest from home I’ve been.” When Eddie heard me say that, I thought his jaw would fall into the dirt.

“Are you kidding me?” After I shook my head, he said, “I can’t believe that. You’ve got a whole hell of a lot of catching up to do, Faith.”

I laughed. “I agree. Let’s just say that the family motto is ‘kept and cloistered.’ ”

He leaned on the guardrail and looked back at me. “Well, what’s first on the list?”

It didn't take me long to answer. It was something I’d thought about for almost a month. A smile crept onto my face that I just couldn't hide. I had no idea what Eddie would think, but something told me that he would be more than on board.

I said it like it was a secret spoken for the first time, “I want to do something dangerous. Something
illegal.
”

He sat straight up, as if my words offended him to the core. “Faith, excuse me, but what kind of guy do you think I am? You think ‘Danger’ is my middle name?” The sarcasm was strong in this one. “I think we are completely on the wrong page, here.”

“Shut up. You may have my parents fooled, but I know better. I am sick of Bible study Eddie. He’s boring and dull like all the other boys in that stale room. I want this Eddie: the one with a motorcycle. The one willing to let me really
live.
”

I spoke from the heart, letting out all those raging emotions and hormones that had been building and building for years. Eddie was the man who could help me do it. He could be the one to break me out of the prison I’d grown up in.

He stood up, seeming to change before me. The smile fell away, his eyes hardened, and his muscles danced beneath his skin.

Eddie got in my face. I stood my ground, despite my raging heart. I met his gaze, despite the fear I felt.

“You want dangerous? I can do dangerous. Illegal? You got it. But the real question is, does a prissy little city girl raised in the church know anything about illegal? Is your idea of dangerous making prank phone calls to the neighbors? Because if that’s the case, I’ll have you home at nine fifty-nine on the dot. I’m not wasting my time on some wannabe who caught a glimpse of a real man on ‘Dallas.’ Are you just looking for a thrill, Faith? Are you looking for a full page in your diary before you touch yourself and go to sleep in your pretty, white, four-poster bed?”

His words resonated through me like the vibration of the motorcycle. I closed my eyes and let them flow in my ears. I knew what he was doing, and it was working. He knew he had the entirety of the power in our relationship, and he was teasing me with it. Teasing my pathetic request and teasing my thin resolve. I hated to admit it, but he was also turning me on.

The power he had over me was radiant. It filled my body and made me lean just a little closer to him. I could feel his breath against my skin, and the kiss on the cheek seemed so childish compared to what I was aching for.

When I opened my eyes, his lips were just an inch from mine. “You want danger?”

“Yes,” I whispered, trying to keep my voice from shaking. My heart fought inside my chest, yearning to burst free.

“You want me?”

“Mmhm.” I couldn’t even open my mouth anymore. It was dry against my attempt to swallow. He was digging inside to my deepest and darkest desires. There was no resistance or wall I could hide behind.

His lips were at my neck, and at the same time, his hands were pulling me to his body. Any strength I had disappeared as he grabbed my ass hard. A heat worse than any I’d ever known was swelling between my legs.

It didn’t help that I was pressed against his manhood. It didn’t help
at all.
His lips at my neck were flames. The flames only made me hotter as he pulled the fabric out of the way to kiss down to my shoulder.

“Oh my goodness,” I managed to squeak. I didn't want him to know I’d never been kissed. Not for real, anyway. Jacob had once stolen a kiss from me. It was hard on the lips and actually caused me to cut my inside lip on my teeth. I didn’t want Eddie to know how little experience I had.

I moaned as he slid the strap of my dress down my shoulder. Eddie’s teeth found the strap of my simple gray bra, pulling it from me and letting it snap down against my skin. He was killing me in the best possible way.

“So, you want danger?” As he spoke, his hand slid down the back of my church dress. “I can offer you danger. I think you need to feel the rush of stealing something.” I let out another breathy moan. His hand had found the bottom of the dress. Eddie slid it up as my heart raged on.

I didn’t want to stop him. I was afraid. It was all new to me, but there was no way I wanted him to stop, and I really didn’t want to be that wannabe. I wanted to be
his.

His hand worked its way up the back of my thigh, finding my matching gray panties waiting. He pulled his lips from my shoulder, smiling. “Oh, and it looks like you’ll have a place to hide the loot.” He squeezed my ass.

His words served to tease me more and more. When he slid the strap of my dress back to its original place, I thought I would die.

He must have seen the pained look on my face. “Time to go get dangerous, Faith.”

Eddie had fired the bike back up and we left the quietude of the foothills. We were heading back into Colorado Springs so that I could apparently go steal something. My mind raced the entire way down. I wondered if I could actually go through with it. I mean, it was what I wanted, but when I really thought about it, was it something I was capable of?

I didn't even know where he was taking me. Was I going to steal a wallet or a car?

We passed the display of a bank telling me that it was past nine already. I had no idea if he would keep up the squeaky clean image with my parents or throw caution to the wind and get me home who knows how long after ten.

Eddie slowed as we came down a street like the one where we’d first met. It had that small town feel with shop windows on either side. The sidewalks were bare, but cars were parked along the curbs.

My heart jumped harder than before at the thought that I was going to boost one of the parked cars. Part of me wanted to roll off of the bike and drag myself home, never to speak to Eddie again, but somehow I knew he’d never let me forget it. Another part of me wanted to dive in headfirst and show him I wasn’t the four-poster bed girl that he thought.

Ahead, the glowing sign of a convenience store came into view, and I realized that I was an idiot for thinking I’d have to steal a car. He pulled the motorcycle into the parking lot and shut it down.

“Time to shine, darlin’.”

I had sweat on my brow, and my nerves were firing frantically beneath my skin, but there was no way I could back out. Before Eddie had felt me up, I had no idea how I’d actually steal something, but he was right: the only place it could go was into my panties, or maybe my bra. It was just another chance for him to get me fired up.

I took the store in. The clerk was in partial view behind all the cigarette adverts in the window. The guy behind the counter had his head buried in Popular Mechanics. There were barely any cars on the street, and as far as I could see, no one else in the store.

I knew I shouldn't do it. I knew it was wrong. I also knew that 7-11 made plenty and wouldn’t miss a few candy bars. I also knew that if I didn’t do something to break out of my dry and dull life, I’d turn to dust.

I smiled at Eddie as he sat on his bike. “Any requests?”

“I’d love a Coke, actually.”

“A Coke? Come on. Why not request an encyclopedia or a rhino?” I had no idea how I would sneak out something that big, or
cold
, for that matter.

Eddie had a cheeky response, as usual. “Nope, just the Coke, thanks.”

I rolled my eyes and turned back to the store. The clerk was still occupied with the magazine.

It’s now or never.

Eddie had driven me ninety-nine percent of the way there. I had to walk the last one percent myself.

As I made my way to the door, I thought of my parents. I thought of how mad they’d be if they found out. It made me smile, and I pushed the door open. The clerk barely looked past the magazine. I looked away the second we made eye contact. I was screaming at myself inside my head.

Faith, be cool! Act natural.

I headed down an aisle, and when I looked back, he had turned his attention back to whatever article he was into. I headed back to the cooler, my hands smoothing down the front of my dress. My eyes were at the ceiling, looking for cameras that would have their electronic eye out for people just like myself. I didn’t spot any, allowing me to breathe a small sigh of relief.

I passed boxes of candy bars, wondering which one I’d try and get beneath my bra. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups were the best option. Everything else was much thicker, and I knew it would give me away.

I snagged one from the shelf, keeping my body away from the clerk. I bent forward, hiding myself from the clerk. I shoved the chocolate beneath my dress and shoved and pushed it into my bra.
 

I was still so turned on. The adrenaline rush was only getting me hotter. Eddie knew exactly what he was doing. Maybe kissing me and reaching beneath my dress was just preparation. Or maybe Eddie was just teasing me because it was fun, and because he knew he controlled me.

Even as he sat outside on the motorcycle, he was controlling me. He was like the gatekeeper into my id, that part of me that needed to break loose. He whistled at me, worked his way into my life, and now was pushing me to do what I desired most: something dangerous.

I stood in front of the cooler staring at the cans of Coke. God, it was going to be cold.