Scandalous Love

13. | James

We stopped when we reached the spot nearest to the coast. I parked the bike up on the hill and set Riley's helmet down on the handlebars before the two of us sat down on the grass beside each other in the dark.

It was the one spot in this town which actually looked far from nasty. The waters simmered over here and you could view the entirety of North Side up here.

It tended to be the one place I would turn to when I was in need of an escape and it had been my spot ever since Dad left.

He and I tended to come up here whenever I was having one of my temper tantrums as a kid and he would teach me some boxing skills until the early hours of the morning. It was the one way I could get the feelings of anger out of my system, and after he left, I turned to coming up here on my own merit via Dad's old bike.

Mum had been adamant on getting rid of it and selling it for the money because we truly needed it, but Dad's bike was something I never wanted or intended to let her get rid of. That along with his camera.

Riley was already seemingly tired. As we sat on the grass together, she was slowly drifting asleep, no matter how hard she tried to fight it.

She may have been wide awake on the drive here and she had listened to my instructions when I told her to let go and be free with her arms in the air. It was pretty cute listening to her giggles and squeals while we drove down the path but it must have been the thrill and excitement of it all that fuelled such a reaction.

Now that we were resting, it was clear she was in need of desperate sleep, and I wasn't going to be the person who would force her to stay up for much longer.

"It's nice here," she whispers from where she was sat across from me. "The stars seem so close from here," she continues.

I look at her as there was a shimmering glint in her eyes while she spoke softly. She looks up at the skies for a moment before shuffling over towards me, curving her legs up by her side into a triangular fold while she moves her head to rest on top of my lap, closing her eyes shut.

"They remind me of Mum," she whispers a couple seconds later.

I soften at the sound of her words and I move my hand to her hair where I begin to stroke through her locks slowly but subtly, like she was the most precious thing in the world.

I don't respond to what she had said, but instead the two of us stay put in the quietude of the night, remaining close to each other and not leaving one another's sides.

As she slowly begun to drift off to sleep, I smile at her, wanting to make sure she was comfortable. To stop her from stirring every few seconds, I lean down and plant the lightest kiss on her forehead, rubbing her arms gently to which a small smile follows up creeping onto the corners of her face.

"Night, princess," I whisper to her before she murmurs a response back.

"I'm not a princess..."

I chuckle, shaking my head, cradling her in my arms. "You're my princess."

. . .

The following morning, much to my surprise I woke up with Riley laying on top of my body, my arms wrapped securely around her while her head rested against the crook of my neck.

With the daylight shining in my eyes as we lay before the sunrise, I mumble into Riley's ear a few times in the attempts of waking her up. She stirs shortly after, beginning to move around as she was positioned above me before she raises her head, her eyes fluttering open to look at me.

She moves her arms to wrap around my neck while she glanced down into my eyes before biting her lip, looking around us. "What time is it?" she mumbles while I rubbed her back up and down, my hands stroking her spine through my leather jacket she continued to wear.

"We need to start heading back," I tell her softly before she sighs, lowering her head again to rest by my neck in its original position.

It was still extremely early, probably around 5 a.m. but we still had a second day of Cotillion to attend to. And as much as it wouldn't have effected me much if I was to miss it, I knew Ri would be the one to get into a hell of a lot more trouble than I would have.

"Ri," I probe, shaking her a little which makes her laugh lightly under her breath. "We really should get going. I don't want you to be late," I say to her, rolling us both over so I had her pinned to the ground instead while I hovered over the top of her.

She looks up at me with a teasing smirk, her arms still flung around my neck which pulled me down so I hovered above her by just the slightest. "But I don't care if I'm late. I'll get told off. Big deal," she mumbles, shrugging it off, only for me to roll my eyes.

"It is a big deal," I tell her sternly, looking her in the eyes. "I'm not letting you get told off, okay?" I say, making her roll her eyes at me before I crawl off of her and stand myself up before extending my hand to her to help her stand up herself.

I make my way over to the motorbike, setting and standing it up straight before Riley begrudgingly follows my lead, only to stand in front of the bike and scoff, raising an eyebrow. She folds her arms across her chest and I look up at her with a grin on my face, waiting to hear what her problem was this time around.

"Budge up," she laughs, making me raise an eyebrow further, gesturing to the space behind me. "No," she groans.

"What are you on about?"

"I want to be at the front. I want to control it," she says, making me laugh on the inside.

"Ri, the fact you just said you want to 'control' it shows you shouldn't be trusted to 'control' it," I tease her, making her roll her eyes before her feisty side comes out when she moves forwards and uses all her strength to get me to loosen my grip on the handlebars and let go.

"I'm at the front this time," she states. "You can wear the helmet."

She places the helmet in my hands by force, making me chuckle as I shuffle backwards, allowing her to take charge for the time being. I couldn't lie, I was pretty curious to see how this was going to go exactly.

I put the helmet on my head just to please her and I do up the strap as she positions herself in front of me, gripping the bars. I worm my arms around her to reach the handlebars myself as I place my hands on top of hers tightly.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" I ask her, just to make sure we weren't both going to get killed.

She adjusts the mirrors on the side, looking at my reflection through the glass before she nods her head reassuringly. "Let's drive this thing," she repeats her saying from last night, making me smirk, shaking my head.

I allow my hands to drift down towards her hips where they settle, ready for her to start the drive while my chin rested above her shoulder, holding her close to me as her hair blew in the wind.