Breed Me On The Bike

THEY'RE IMPOSING

CORA

“I will get the money,” I say. “I do not care how long it takes. You can put interest on it or give me a payment schedule. Send me a number every month, and I will pay it. What you cannot do is take me to a clubhouse like I am a box you picked up from a counter.”

Knox studies me. “You think this is a payment plan?”

“I think this is my body and my life, and you do not get either one because my father cannot manage a ledger.”

Rhett whistles low. “She is mean. I like her.”

“You do not know me.”

“I am getting there.”

West’s mouth almost moves. Almost a smile, but not quite.

“I have heard about you,” I say. If they can stand there knowing about my Target run, they can hear this too. “All four of you. People do not say your names like you are reasonable men.”

“We are not,” Nash says.

“Then why would I go with you?”

Knox answers without raising his voice. “Because the debt is already signed. Your father already spent what he spent. Standing in this lot and arguing does not change the numbers or the papers.”

“Then show me the paper.”

Rhett looks delighted again. “She wants documents.”

“Yes. I want the documents. I want the number. I want to know what he used and what you think I am worth. Then I want you to look me in the eye and tell me there is no other way besides me walking off with four men I met ten minutes ago.”

West speaks before Knox can answer. “There is another way.”

My eyes snap to him. “What?”

“You come to the club tonight,” he says. “You look at the number yourself. You stop doing this in a parking lot in your work clothes while your father watches through the glass.”

I do not look back at the shop, but I can feel Dad’s gaze on me anyway.

“And if I do not come?”

Knox’s gaze does not shift. “Then we will come get you.”

He says it matter-of-factly, as if he is telling me what time the shop closes.

The lot goes quiet except for a bus passing on the street.

Rhett rocks back on his heels. “See, that is the part where most girls get smart.”

“I am smart. I am not dumb.”

“You are loud,” Nash says. “Different skill.”

I stare at him. “Do you all practice being like this, or does it come naturally?”

“Natural,” Rhett says at the same time Nash says, “Practice.”

West looks down, and that almost-smile appears for half a second.

I hate that my stomach reacts to it. I hate that any part of this feels like anything except panic. I came out here to shut a door. I did not come out here to notice Rhett’s rings, the way Knox never wastes words, or the fact that West’s voice is the only one that does not scrape against my nerves.

“I can pay,” I say again.

Knox shakes his head once. “No.”

“You have not given me a chance.”

“This is not a chance conversation.”

“Then what is it?”

Rhett answers easily. “Collection.”

I fold my arms so they cannot see my hands shaking. “Then collect money.”

“We already told you,” Nash says. “That is not the collateral he put down.”

“I did not agree to be collateral.”

Knox’s voice stays calm. “He did.”

I want to scream, but I do not. I keep my chin up because if I drop it, they will think I am done, and I am not done.

“I have a job. I had a wedding in two weeks that was a lie, and I am having a very long day. So if one of you could stop looking at me like I am already packed, that would be great.”

Rhett’s grin fades just enough to look real. “That is a lot of sentence for one breath.”

West’s eyes move over my face and settle briefly on the tear track I never wiped away. He does not mention it.

I like him a little for that, and I do not want to.

Knox looks past me toward the shop before returning his attention to me.

“Tonight.”

“I did not say yes.”

“You do not have to say yes,” Nash says. “You have to show up.”

“And if I show up and I still say I will pay?”

Rhett leans a hip against his bike. “Then you can say it where we can hear you better.”

“That is not an answer.”

“It is the only one you are getting in this lot,” Knox says.

I open my mouth to argue again, but the next sentence never makes it out.

Heat suddenly gathers at my back. Someone is too close, close enough that I can feel his presence without being touched.

Then a body settles behind mine.

I turn and find West standing there.

The other three remain where they are, watching us.

West’s hand comes around my side, not grabbing me, just close enough to slide a card between my fingers. His mouth is near my ear when he speaks.

“If you really think you can pay,” he says quietly, keeping the words between us, “come to the clubhouse tonight, Cora.”

The card is thick and black, with no cute logo. An address I do not recognize is printed across it, along with a time in small white lettering.

I turn my head, and he is close enough that I catch his breath.

“And if I come,” I say just as quietly, “I am coming to write a check, not to stay.”

West’s eyes drop briefly to my mouth before lifting back to mine.

“Wear something you can walk in.”

Then he steps away and returns to his bike like he did not just invade my space and leave my pulse racing.

Rhett looks at West, then back at me, and his grin returns at full force.

“He is the nice one. Trust me.”

“There is nothing nice about this,” I say.

Nash starts his bike immediately, and the engine fills the lot.

“You will find out,” he says.

Knox puts on his helmet and looks at me one last time.

“Tonight, Cora.”

He says my name like he has been saying it longer than an afternoon.

Rhett winks as he swings a leg over his bike. “Try not to pack the cake topper.”

My mouth falls open. “How do you—”

He is already chuckling when the engine drowns me out.

Four bikes pull out in a line. Knox first. Nash second. Rhett third, because of course. West brings up the rear, and he does not look back.

I stand in the heat with the card cutting into my fingers and the glass of my father’s shop at my back.

I should throw the card into the gutter. I should call someone. I should run.

Instead, I look down at the black card again.

Iron Dominion. Tonight.

I wipe the tear from my cheek with my wrist, square my shoulders, and say to the empty lot, “I am going to pay you, no matter what it costs.”