Forgiving the Bad Boy (on hold)

Chapter 10

“I’m going to take you for a quick ride around the outskirts of town before we head to my place, okay?” He says, speaking over the wind without looking back at me.

I nodded my head, then realised he couldn’t see me and shouted a ‘yes’ and ‘as long as you don’t leave me there to follow a trail of roses that lead back home’, recalling the lyrics of one of his bands song. As soft as the sound was, and as hard as it was to hear with the wind rushing around us, I could still hear him laughing. Or maybe that was just me imagining his laugh as I felt his chest rumble beneath my hands.

I watched the waves rolling into the shore as we drove around the outskirts, the sun-setting behind us. It seemed so romantic and, for a second, I thought about having a relationship with Kaiden. Wait—what the heck? Kaiden is a friend. I tell myself. Nothing more, nothing less. Just a friend. My head and heart seemed to be having a hard time coming to terms with this, but I ignored it.

“Hey! Can you see the dolphins?” Kaiden suddenly said, bringing me out of my thoughts. I stared in awe at the dolphins jumping out, and then diving back into the water. They looked so graceful and at peace. I wondered what it would be like to be able to stay underwater for long periods of time. It seemed like something that would be pretty cool; watching the sea life. I didn’t let my thoughts become known, though. I didn’t want to come across as weird. Kaiden obviously didn’t mind.

“How cool would it be to live underwater?” He said as he came to a stop near a bench.

“Pretty awesome.” I nodded to him, wondering why we had stopped.

He hopped off the bike and then proceeded to lift me off and I didn’t miss the tingles that I felt as his hands made contact with my hips.

Kaiden must have seen me shiver as well as he began to take his black leather jacket off.

“Hey, no. I’m fine.” I told him, shaking my head while he pushed his jacket towards me. “Seriously.”

“Meghan.” He said sternly. “Please, just take it. I would rather have you wear this and know you don’t have a chance of dying of hypothermia, then have you not wear it and pass out on me from the cold.”

“But what about you?” I ask, with a slightly pouted lip. Oh, God. Now I was pouting? Could I get anymore stupid?

Kaiden made an ‘Aha!’ sound as he strode over to a big tree that was close to us and pulled another leather jacket out from a large hole that was in it.

I raised my eyebrows at him. “Seriously? What if a squirrel or chipmunk or something peed on it or something?”

He laughed. “First of all, this isn’t the right tree for them so it wouldn’t be possible. Second of all, what kind of person pees on their house?”

“Yeah, but we aren’t talking about people are we? Who knows what squirrels and chipmunks pee on for a living...”

Kaiden just rolled his eyes and replied with a mumbled, “You’re weird.”

“I know,” I sang. “But you like me anyway.” Laughing I turned away.

“Yeah, I do.” He replied coming up behind me and taking my hand.

“Where are we going?” I asked as he lead me down a sand dune and down along the beach. The dolphins were still there, though farther away now. Kaiden just chuckled in acknowledgement to my question, but didn’t answer. Fine, be a party pooper. I thought to myself scowling at Kaiden’s back. A very muscled back, might I add. I sighed and pouted. Tease.

A few minutes later Kaiden suddenly stopped, causing me to bump into his back. I would’ve fallen, but with the awesome reflexes he inherited in that moment, he caught me.