Grabbing Hold (The Motorcycle Kid #1)

5. Run-in, Part One

The drive back to the farmhouse was spent in amicable silence. Will tapped his fingers on the steering wheel to the cheesy pop song on the radio while Ryder tried not to hum under his breath. He pulled up in the driveway about ten minutes later, after stopping for roasted corn from an old lady on the side of Main Street. She'd dolloped a spoonful of butter on top, and Ryder ate eagerly as it mixed with the juicy, crispy kernels.

He stepped through the open front door and into the kitchen, where the smells of a million different dishes wafted into his nose, making him sigh in delight.

"Boy, whatchu' lookin' like you high on something for?"

The voice made Ryder open his eyes to see a jolly-looking dark-skinned woman grinning at him.

"Well, look at that, Tulesa! The boy plans to inhale the whole thing."

His grandmother, in the middle of icing a large cake and surrounded by several other people bustling around the large kitchen, laughed out loud. "If there's one thing that gets the males in this family, it's the food, Cassie girl. The food."

The woman, Cassie, Ryder supposed, gave him a good-natured slap on the back, before picking up a nearby bowl and packing it full of a little bit of everything in the kitchen. She handed it to him with a conspiratorial smile.

"Go on, boy. Eat and don't tell 'em Cassie gave it to you. Go on."

Ryder laughed. "Thanks, Cassie. It smells amazing in there."

Pleased, she smiled back at him. "Just wait till you taste everything tonight. Boy, will your taste buds explode." She was gushing now. "What's your name?"

"Ryder," he said warily.

"You Eileen's boy? You got your father's face, but you got your momma's eyes. That's all Eileen. Come to think of it, I haven't seen that girl in ages. How is she?"

A bitter taste filled Ryder's tongue when he heard his mother's name. For the first time in a while, he was upset with her. She'd kept an entire family away from him and Nick for their entire lives. For years, she'd let them believe that except for her, they were alone in the world.

He didn't know if he could forgive her for that.

"She's good," he finally responded. Cassie smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. Ryder avoided her thoughtful gaze. She could see right through him.

"Alrightey, then. You go eat up. That food doesn't sit well when it gets cold."

With that, she headed back into the kitchen with the rest of Ryder's aunts and his grandmother. He took the cue, grabbing a fork and heading up to his room.

In the afternoon light, he could just make out a large red and white striped tent in the distance, and it certainly hadn't been there the night before. He supposed a crew had worked through the night to set it up.

Pulling out his phone, he turned the data on with a grimace; this far out of town, the Wi-Fi was too weak to do any good. Almost immediately, messages started flooding in.

Yo, you settled?- Drew

We need to talk. - Paige

Hey, sweetheart. How are you settling in?- Mommy

Ordinarily, Ryder would have been absolutely mortified if anyone found out his mother's contact was saved in his phone as Mommy, but right then, he didn't care.

How long were you planning to keep them a secret?

He exited WhatsApp, scrolling sideways till he found Facebook. He'd kept a low social media profile since everything had happened, but that was hard to do when he'd been named Most Valuable Player three times in the last four seasons of varsity football. Before the incident, scouts had bombarded every single Marquette game just to watch Ryder play.