The Bad Boy with a Heart of Gold

✖ Chapter 13 ✖

My phone rang again while I followed Sawyer through the cars in the parking lot. I tore my eyes away from his back, fumbling with my bag and all the junk in it that didn't let me reach the ringing device. The bag slid from my shoulder and I failed to catch it. Everything clattered to the asphalt but at that moment I didn't care. All I cared was that my phone had stopped ringing. As I picked it up I hoped that it had been a call from Toni. That she was ringing to say that she was fine, that it had just been a really tasteless prank from her friend.

The phone slid a couple of times from my hands, whether by the nerves that rendered them trembly stumps, or by the nerves that coated them in sweat. A second try finally had me unlocking the phone to see that the call had come from the same number as before. Adam. Had something worse happened?

He picked up at the second tone. "Rory?" He didn't even wait for me to say yes when he continued, "I'm taking her to the ER. Do you know what could be wrong? Do you have any of her information-"

"I don't know!"

That called Sawyer's attention. He crouched in front of me and grabbed my phone. "Hello?" I blinked as he listened to the other guy on the line. "This is a family friend, I'm with Rory right now. What's going on?"

I shook my head slightly. A family friend my left butt cheek, but he was all the immediate assistance I had right now. I grabbed my shaky hands together and squeezed, hoping the pain would restore proper blood flow to them.

"Probably," Sawyer said to something as I pulled all my things back inside my tote bag. "Yeah, the one close to campus. See you there."

He hung up and gave me back my phone, which I stuffed in my bag.

"Thanks," I murmured, ignoring the hand I'd drawn earlier as he stuck it out to help me stand up. He sighed, but turned around and off we went. His motorbike loomed closer and I swallowed. I'd never got on one. This was crazy.

"I should grab an Uber," I said suddenly as my feet rooted to the ground.

He tossed me a look over his shoulder. "And wait until it's here?"

I pursed my lips. He was right, darn it.

I steeled my spine and asked, "What do I have to do?"

Confused, I watched as he dropped his backpack on the floor and unzipped his hoodie. He was wearing a black wife beater underneath that I noticed even past my addled mind.

"Here," he said, as he offered the hoodie to me. I blinked a few times at it and him. "Put it on."

"It's not cold, though."

Sawyer rolled his gun metal eyes and pushed the piece of fabric into my hands. "Just put it on, you'll thank me later."

I doubted it, but if it helped us get a moving I would just suck it up. I dropped my bag to put it on and zip it as he pulled out his sunglasses and keys. Then darkness descended upon me as he put his helmet on my head. I protested as a reflex, but he grabbed the helmet and pulled me closer to him.

"This is non-negotiable," he said, tapping the top of my head once for good measure. He swept a leg over the bike and sat with the same comfort a regular person had with sitting in a chair. He put his backpack backwards, against his chest, and patted the little seat behind him. "Hop on."

This was insane.

He was insane.

I was insane.

I held firmly onto my bag and approached. I doubted I could hop on. The bike suddenly seemed so tall and I was small and frozen by the worry that was gripping my lungs, preventing me from drawing enough oxygen to see things clearly. Surely this wasn't a big deal. People got on bikes every day and didn't die or maim themselves. I wasn't going to become a statistic, and I had more important things to focus on. Toni. The bean sized baby. Her stupid baby daddy.