Grabbing Hold (The Motorcycle Kid #1)

38. Seven Minutes in Heaven

"You want to tell me why you were staring at Ryder like you wanted to kill him?" asked Emma deviously, grabbing a seat next to her best friend. Kale let out a dry laugh, shaking his head.

"Trust me, Em, it's not your precious tyrant."

"Not mine," she quipped, leaning forward to grab a handful of chips from the bowl on the table. "But seriously. Did something happen when you two disappeared?"

She recalled the sullen look on Kale's face after he and Natalie had returned from the kitchen. They'd both been visibly upset, but whatever the reason, Nat had quickly shaken it off.

"Leave it alone, Emma. It's none of your business."

"Rude," commented Emma. "Pass the dip."

Kale cooperated, waiting patiently as she indulged in the sheer perfection of the combination that was chips and salsa. Sensing his hesitance, she let him sulk, instead letting her eyes land on the troublemaker who was slowly worming his way into her heart.

Ryder had never looked happier than he did in that moment. The guy was in his element as he played games with Brady, Dickson and the other boys. They'd split into teams earlier to play darts, cheering loudly as each dart landed on the board.

Across the room, Savannah and Natalie were rocking out on the karaoke machine, belting out an awful rendition of Bruno Mars' Locked Out of Heaven while Lizzie jammed out on air guitar.

"So, you gonna tell me?" asked Emma. Kale gave her a wry smile.

"I'll dish my secrets when you tell yours."

Emma swallowed guiltily. She knew he was talking about her earlier slipup on WhatsApp, when she'd accidentally mentioned her father's wedding, something she hadn't yet worked up the guts to talk to her oldest friend about.

Kale knew Emma very well. So well, in fact, that she might have hated him for telling her the truth about three things:

Number one, her father and her mother weren't getting back together.

Numero dos, Derek was marrying Audrey, whether she liked it or not.

And number three, probably the worst thing of all, Emma was just going to have to suck it up and deal with it.

So in her mind, she was at least somewhat justified in keeping what she'd learned to herself.

Kale shook his head, standing to his feet. He let a smile cross his face as he headed over to the dartboard, challenging Dickson to a round.

Emma rolled her eyes in mild annoyance, pulling out her phone to check the time. Getting up, she joined her friends in karaoke, hoping to shake off Kale's reaction. She owed her best friend the truth, and guilt wasn't going to let her ignore that.

Unfortunately for Kale, he was going to have to get in line.

An hour later, the entire gang was spread across Charlotte's living room floor in a circle, finishing up a heated game of UNO.

"UNOOOOO!!!" yelled Lizzie, dropping the card on top of the others and waving a hand in the air in celebration. Emma gave her a high five. "Yeah, baby!"

"Three in a row?" exclaimed an exasperated Josh. "Come on, Liz, give us a break."

"No can do, boys. Have to represent my gender, ain't that right, ladies?"

The females in the room burst out cheering.

Booyah, mouthed Emma to Ryder.

He smirked.