Cursed

࿏ Chapter Seventeen ࿏

Hayden

Even though we've slept in way past lunchtime, I decide to cook a pancakes breakfast for Aurora. She deserves it after the way I treated her last night. Not only did I leave our bed to go get high but she took such good care of me without even the slightest interrogation about where I was or what I was doing. Even while I slept off the initial shock of what happened, she never once left my side. What did happen to me when I was out there? That thing looking back at me was out of my worst nightmare. I bet that shitty drug dealer knows something about this. I'll have to go back and ask him later tonight.

I'm in the middle of pouring the end of the pancake batter when two arms snake up and around my waist. Rory is awake and wearing one of my big t-shirts. It barely covers her ass and I couldn't be happier about it. I return her embrace and then move to pull out a chair for her at my kitchen table. She sits down and watches me flip the rest of the pancakes.

"Do pancakes and coffee sound good?"

"So good. I can't wait to eat, I'm starving."

How thoughtless of me to have just realized that neither of us has eaten in the last twenty-four hours. Other than that tight pussy of hers, which I would eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, if I had my way. I pour her coffee and we each ravage a stack of the gooey sweet cakes. After a few awkward glances over our coffee mugs I can tell that she's waiting for me to explain myself.

"I know you have a lot of questions about what happened last night."

"Hayden, you really scared me!"

"I know and I'm so sorry Ro. In fact I plan on spending the whole day making it up to you."

"I would love that. But I have to ask, do things like last night happen to you...often?"

"No, and I'm still not sure what happened. I need to find answers on my own and until then I'm not ready to talk about it. But I promise when I figure it out, you will be the first person I go too."

After we both finish our breakfast I tell her to get dressed while I roll us a joint. She comes back out in the clothes she was wearing from the night before.

"Is your car still parked at the Hideaway?"

"Yes and I bet I have a change of clothes in the trunk somewhere."

Girls are so funny with how they turn their cars into portable closets. I offer her the lit joint and we smoke while we finish getting ready. On the walk to the car I reach over and put her hand in mine and give her a squeeze.

"Thank you again for everything you did for me last night Ro. You saved my life."

"I don't know what I would do if anything bad happened to you."

"I love you."

"I love you too Hayden."

We walk hand-in-hand all the way to her car. The way I feel about her is so intense. I can't imagine living without it. I have to stop using drugs. I just have to. I can't lose her. Once we reach the car I get in the passenger side while she shovels through mounds of girly paraphernalia in the backseat.

"Perfect, I found something! Now close your eyes while I change back here."

"Isn't it a little silly to be modest after what we did last night?"

"Don't look!"

She blushes a deep red. Still feeling shy in front of me, she reaches her arm around the seat and puts her hand over my eyes. I wait patiently while I move her hand from my eyes to my mouth and cover her palm with kisses.

"Ok I'm dressed."

She climbs up to the driver's side. Instead of a yellow flowy sundress she's now wearing jeans and a white tank top with straps tied into little bows on top of each shoulder. I can't help but kiss the exposed skin where her neck meets her shoulder. I whisper in her ear and a visible shudder goes through her body.

"You look good enough to eat."

"Umm...so where are we going?"

"It's a surprise. Just follow the directions."

I grab her phone and put the address into her GPS. She diligently takes each turn as the phone instructs her too. We drive all the way to the opposite side of town. Right before we get to the highway the phone instructs her to turn left into Duke's Yamaha dealership. I point to a spot where she should park and tell her to wait in the car while I go into Duke's.

"What are we doing here?"

"You'll see."

All the employees know me and most of them find my presence in my uncle's shop to be less than pleasing.

"Hayden, what do you want?"

"Don't worry Justin, I'm not going to cause you any trouble. I just need the keys to the Ninja and I'll be out of your way."

"You better not crash it, like you did last time."

He rolls his eyes when I place my hand on my heart, sarcasm practically drips from my mouth as I swear to Jeusus Christ that I will be careful. I return outside with the keys and two helmets in my hand, ready for the adrenaline filled freedom that only a motorcycle ride can give me. Rory leans on the car as she watches me put my helmet on. I start the engine to the neon green motorcycle and ride over to her.

"There's no way I'm going to get on that motorcycle with you Hayden."

"Ro, I would never hurt you. Don't you trust me?"

She nervously kicks around the gravel in the dealership's parking lot. For a minute I think she's actually going to leave me and go back into the car. Just then Justin comes out of the shop with a bright pink helmet.

"Hayden, you grabbed the wrong helmet. Here's the right one for the lady."

Justin notices Rory's hesitation as she takes the pink one and I give him back the other.

"Don't worry, miss. Hayden may be a royal fuck up in most respects but on that motorcycle he actually knows a thing or two about handling it."

Wow I can't believe Justin actually said something nice about me. As if by some miracle his reassurances works and she puts on the pink helmet. I nod in gratitude to Justin as he helps her mount the back of the bike.

"When you feel my body leaning, you need to lean with it. Got it?"

"OK."

She grabs my waist for dear life as I start up the engine and pull out of the dealership parking lot onto the paved road.