"She's not ready yet." Tamarah, Andy's twenty-five-year-old girlfriend, tells me as I open the creaky metal screen door for her.
I must have caught her in the middle of moving in. I heard Andy mention it to my dad not too long ago at one of our biker meetings.
"I can wait." I glance around the miniature size living room that's barely big enough to hold the seventies-styled two-seater couch and Andy's recliner.
I'm not sure how they're going to fit Tamarah in here. Andy and Ollie's place is bursting at the seams with just the two of them.
As Tee pulls her box braids up out of her face and secures them with a bright yellow scrunchie, I ask, "Is Andy here?"
"No." I can hear the sass in Tee's voice as her hand plops itself in her hip. Her rich ocher skin is dewy with sweat on this oddly warm fall day. "He is conveniently swamped at work." She rolls her chestnut eyes before squatting next to the box she brought in.
I cringe, knowing it's partly my fault. I begged for today off so that I could take Ollie to the festival. She's been so excited all week to go, and I have to admit, so am I. With our work schedules, our hang-out times have been severely cut down.
"Do you need a hand? I ask. It's the least I can do after stealing Andy away from her.
"No." She quickly waves me off with bright red manicured nails. "This was the last box. Ollie was helping up until about an hour ago when she started getting ready."
An hour? Ollie's usually one of those ready in five-minute girls.
"Tee?" Ollie's wary voice drifts down the hall.
Tee's head pops up from scrummaging through her box of what looks like memorabilia.
"I need help." Soon follows before Tee rises to her feet and disappears down the hall.
I haven't had to wait on a girl since Becca and I broke up. A sigh escapes my lips before I cross the living room and flop down in the overstuffed brown recliner and pull my phone out of my pocket.
I start scrolling through my social media apps and soon find myself on Becca's profile. Hundreds of gorgeous selfies of her litter my screen while soft voices fill the hall across from me. I can't quite make out what Ollie and Tee are talking about, but I'm too lost in stalking Becca anyway.
"Ready?" Ollie's voice forces my attention up from my phone.
Holy shit.
I have to pick my jaw off the floor when I see her in a pair of weathered, tight, grey jeans and an off-the-shoulder lace bralette. I don't think I've ever seen Ollie show this much skin, even when she's surfing. The most shocking part is her makeup. Ollie's never worn makeup. With only a gruff dad to raise her, she's never really been into pretty frilly things.
"You're going to freeze your ass off." That is the only thing I can manage to say as I try to shake off the thoughts of how pretty she looks.
Ollie's shoulders drop before she rolls her eyes. "I'm going to wear a jacket." She holds up a thin jean jacket. It won't even block the wind, much less guard her against road rash if we crash.
"You're going to need something heavier than that." I push up from the recliner and pocket my phone.
"Wear my jacket." Tee offers and pulls it off the padded kitchen chair she draped it over.
"I can't wear that, Tee." Ollie eyes the jacket with a mermaid stitched into the back. It's a jacket that our motorcycle club members give to their girlfriends when they start getting serious, like a promise ring for our biker babes. It's a jacket that I was saving up to get for Becca right before I caught her in bed with Creed.
"Oh sure you can." Tee shoves the jacket at her and takes the jean one out of Ollie's hand. Ollie reluctantly puts it on.
It looks good on her. I know when Andy gave Tee one, Ollie mentioned once that she was looking forward to the day a pirate makes her a siren. I guess she means Korbin when he gets patched. I doubt that ass will ever get his head out of his own butt long enough to jacket her.
"Ready?" I gesture to the door.
Ollie nods before grabbing her wallet out of her purse and stuffing it in an inner pocket of Tee's jacket. We quickly tell Tee bye and head to the drive where my pride and joy is parked in the gravel weed-infested driveway.
Once I make sure mine and Ollie's helmets are secured, I hop onto my bike. Ollie slips on behind me and squeezes her thighs around me, letting me know she's ready to go. Her hand gently rests on my hips as the bike kicks up a few loose pieces of gravel before we turn onto the street. It's a long drive to the rural part of Mer Harbor, and when we get on the turnpike, I let it rip. The wind whistles past us. I can feel Ollie jittering with excitement. She loves being on the back of a bike as much as I do. It isn't until I feel her grip on my hips lighten that I slow it down. I hate when she lets go, but it's her favorite thing to do on rides.
Glancing back in my mirror, I see Ollie's hands raise and spread like wings as she tilts her head back. The breeze whips her golden curls around in an angelic hurricane. If she took off flying, I wouldn't be shocked.
It's like staring at a piece of art in a gallery but also scaring the shit out of me. "Hang on!" I snap at her over my shoulder. One misjudged jerk, and she'll go tumbling off the back.
Thankfully, she hears me. Her hands drop down and wrap tightly around my waist as she curls into me. It takes us about an hour and a half to get to the crowded fairgrounds, but we make it to the field filled with parked cars just as the sun is setting. The sky is painted in orange, pink, and purple hues. Nightfall will make this haunted event even more enjoyable.
Not too far away, large tents and lights call to us, as screams of joy mingle with the sounds of carnival music. Even the air is filled with the smell of greasy food, beckoning us to come closer and get lost in the world of amusement.
I get off the bike after Ollie and put the helmets away, but before I can even ask what she wants to do first. She takes my hand and starts dragging me off toward the crowd.
"There's the carnival with a crap ton of rides, games, and food." Ollie starts listing the festival activities and glances up at me, probably waiting to see which one tickles my fancy.
As we weave through people, a large crooked sign catches my eye. "Hay Maze" and "Haunted Hayride" are hand-painted onto it with arrows pointing the way.
"Any of those sound fine, though we might want to do rides before we eat. Unless we are wanting to give people a vomit shower."
Ollie tilts her head in thought. "Tempting, but no. So rides first then?"
"Sure."
That puts an extra pep in her step as she pulls me toward the loud carnival music and the giant Ferris wheel that's poking over the crowd, like a hypnotic disc drawing the crowds into its mindless, fun-filled frolics.
When we get to the ticket booth, I pay for two wristbands. The paths to the rides are paved with vendors and games. Carnies call out to us, daring to try our hands at their rigged games.
"Aww." Ollie stops, tugging me back in the process, and coos at a stuffed bat hanging from one of the stalls. "He's so cute."
Her attention makes the attendant smile, probably thinking he's got us. "You can win it for you're pretty lady. You just have to hit nine rats in a row." He nods to the stand that has "Wack-A-Rat" in bold sickly-green written above it.
"How much for the balls?" My gaze drops to the perfectly stacked scruffed-up black balls sitting on the stand.
"Three for five bucks."
"Fifteen bucks!" I glance up at the massive flying rat with goofy vampire teeth. "I could probably buy that for you downtown for twenty, Ollie."
"Yeah, but you won't." She goes to reach for her wallet.
Damn it. This fucking thing is going to end up costing me a fortune.
I grumble under my breath and jerk my wallet out of my back pocket before digging the money out and slapping it on the stand.
The rats were still making the game look easy, but then the carny pushes a button, and the damn things start popping in and out of their holes.
Great.
I focus on one and get its timing down before hurdling the ball at it, knocking it down. One down, eight to go.
Ball after ball flies, each hitting a rat. With each toss, Ollie grows more and more excited, and the carny more frustrated. I'm determined not to spend more than fifteen on the ugly beast. With the last throw, I secure the win with a ping. The metal rat topples over, and the game stops.
"YES!" Ollie springs into the air and wraps her arms around my shoulders. As a reward for my victory, she plants a sweet kiss on my cheeks before turning her head to beam up at the bat.
Reluctantly, the carny pulls the bat down and hands it over to me. "We have a bigger one you can win in an all or noth-"
"No thank you." I quickly cut him off before Ollie gets the notion that she needs a bigger bat.
I place my hand on the small of Ollie's back to usher her away from the carny and his stand as fast as possible.
Ollie beams down at the giant bat and runs her hands over its black and orange checkered belly.
"I take it, you like it?" Seeing her so excited over a silly bat brings a smile to my face.
"I absolutely love him." Her arms wrap around the bat and squishes the stuffing out of it. Her pearly white smile turns up to me. The look on her face makes the fifteen bucks completely worth it.
Ollie loops her arm around mine as we stroll across the grassy field. We ride several fast adrenalin pump rides. Ollie screams and giggles her head off on each and every one while holding fast onto her bat.
When we've ridden every ride but one twice, Ollie's gaze turns to the Ferris wheel.
I glance at the ridiculously long line while my stomach grumbles. "That's a long wait Ollie. Can we let the line die down some and get something to eat?"
Ollie eyes the food stand, then the Ferris wheel once again. Reluctantly she nods and turns toward the food. I load up on corn dogs, funnel cake, and fries. One of many pit stops to the food stand I plan on making tonight.
Ollie and I grab a picnic table and start munching our food.
"Thanks for coming out with me tonight." Ollie gives me a small smile before going back to nibbling on her corn dog.
I quickly wipe the grease from the fries off my mouth. "Sure. I had a lot of fun. It's been a while since we got to hang out just the two of us."
Ollie nods in agreement as she watches people pass our table. Laughter fills the air as the sounds of wonky music drown the patrons into a senseless gaiety.
"It has, but that'll get better."
I still from taking a large bite out of my powdered sugar-covered funnel cake. "Why?"
"Ms. Newman's project." She reminds me of the daunting skeleton project that we have weighing down on us now.
"I figured whenever we have time off we'll need to get together to build the damn thing."
I groan, knowing she's right. It's not that I don't want to hang out with Ollie, but spending all my free time building a skeleton isn't how I want to do it.
"Calm down. I don't want you to get too excited over spending time with me." Ollie picks at the breading of her dog.
"You know I didn't mean it like that. I'd rather do something more entertaining like go for a ride." A ride on my motorcycle always tops the list. I love road trips with the gang. "Or watch a movie, party. The list can go on and on. You can't tell me you wouldn't want to do something else in your free time either." I raise a brow at her, knowing how easily she bores.
One of her infamous cheese-eating grin grows on her face. I know something's coming. Whatever reply she's got brewing in that brain of hers is more than likely going to make me regret suggesting she would instead do anything else too.
"I'd choose boning with you everyday over anything else, Zany."
And there it is.
A light chuckle escapes my lips as I shake my head, knowing she's just trying to be a shithead to get a reaction out of me. Just as I'm about to take a bite of my food, a loud wolf-call whistle catches my attention, making my head turn. My heart leaps into my throat, and I practically fall all over myself to stand.
Oh my God, she looks hot.
Hello, my pretties. I hope you enjoyed the 'not' date. I wanted to show it through Zane's view, but unfortunately, we missed out on some stuff by doing that in Ollie's view. Like when she asked for Tee's help, it was asking for help to do her eyeliner right and reassurance that her makeup looked good.
I may regret my decision on who's view I chose, but I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
I would love to hear your thoughts and would like to read what you think of Tee! Even though she's Andy's girlfriend, I'm hoping that she can be a big sister-like figure for Ollie. Being raised by a single dad, a gruff motorcycle club leader takes a toll on a young lady who needs that feminine influence.
I also made some changes to the character banners. So if you want, go check those out. Thanks for reading.
Till next time, stay healthy, happy, and safe. 💋