The Scarred Wife's Racing Five

Chapter Eighteen

POV Holly

“It’s not that I’m worried, but I’m worried.” Noah grumbled as he looked through his paperwork.

“Then why are you letting me go?” I huffed. After we had that heart-to-heart last week, nothing has changed. He’s still…well Noah, and I’m now working for him. That’s it.

I told him I wanted to get my phone today and take Sawyer up on his offer to drive me there after I got my first paycheck. He was fine with it…initially. Now he’s acting all weird. “It’s not like I have the right to stop you.” He mumbled.

I shifted in my seat across from his desk. “You’re right. You don’t have the right to stop me. It’s not like we are dating or anything.”

He froze for a split second before he continued to type something on his computer. “Have fun.” He continued, and I felt a wall come up between us again. Foot meet mouth.

“Noah, that’s not what I meant.” I hurriedly tried to fix this, but he chuckled and shook his head.

“If it was anyone else I would be concerned, but Sawyer is different. I’m more worried about whatever you are running from and refuse to tell me about. I can’t look out for something if I don’t know what it is. Same goes for Sawyer.”

I stood to my feet and rubbed my hands on my grey leggings. “I think I heard someone at the front. I’ll go check them in before I leave.” I raced out of his office and tried my best to clear my head as I checked in one of Noah’s customers for the day. Why did my heart race when he said that Sawyer was different? Was that…hope? No, no. I can’t have my cake and eat it too. I need to just focus.

“Hey Holly. Ready to head out?” I looked up from the report I had started for Mr.Smith, and saw Sawyer in a light blue t-shirt, crisp black jeans and a pair of new balance trainers. It was different from the doctor version of him, but I liked it. It was more laid back and…relaxing. “Holly?”

I jumped slightly when he called my name again and scrambled to my feet. “Sorry about that. Y-yes, I’m ready to go.”

He raised a brow as I made it around the desk. Noah was already chatting with Mr.Smith, so I just left the form at the front desk and hoped he would notice where I had left it. These customers weren’t the type who appreciated some random girl cutting in on their conversation with the owner.

Sawyer raised his arm towards me and I blushed, grabbing it gently with one hand. We headed out to the parking lot and stopped at a Harley CVO. “What do you think?” Sawyer asked. I stared at the beautiful paint job and flawless attention to detail on the leather stitching.

“What do I think?” I looked back up at Sawyer, and he had pulled on a leather jacket. “This is amazing. Not going to lie. Are we going to ride on this?”

He laughed and nodded. “At least you are honest. I thought this would be more fun than just taking a drive. It will take about an hour to get to the city.” He held out a helmet for me and I eagerly grabbed it. I’ve never been able to ride a motorcycle before, but I’m surely going to enjoy this. “Ready?”

I nodded and pulled the helmet over my head. He laughed and helped me tighten the strap under my chin before pulling on his own helmet. Then a voice rang through the padding. “We can talk freely. A friend of mine helped me set up a Bluetooth mic on my helmets so I could communicate with the passenger and vice versa.”

I winced at the thought while the Harley roared to life. He climbed on first then turned to look at me. I hesitated after hearing his words about other passengers. Was I jealous? No way. I already have Noah. We might not have done anything yet, but I think it’s an unspoken rule that his friends are off limits. But he did say that Sawyer was fine. But I don’t think he was talking about flirting with him!

“Holly? Are you alright?” Sawyer asked, and I shook my head before quickly climbing on behind him. I wrapped my arms around his waist and tucked my head between his shoulder blades. Was his back always this large and warm?

“I’m fine. I was just wondering how many passengers you needed to talk with.”

He was silent as we moved onto the main road. The bike shot forward like a bullet, and I held onto him tightly. “So far, you are the first to ride. I tried to have someone else ride with me a while back, but she didn’t want to get her hair messy. So, I usually use the Bluetooth connection to communicate with my friends when we ride together instead.” I heard the disdain in his voice for that woman and my curiosity piqued.

“Wow. She seems like she’d be high maintenance.”

“You have no idea. Enough about her though. I’m going to enjoy the woman holding onto my waist. Want to listen to some music?”

I nodded quickly, and he laughed before pressing a button on the entertainment system. A lively jazz band played through the speakers and I looked at the blur of trees flying by. The cool air kept me on my toes. Every few songs, Sawyer’s voice would come over the speaker to ask me simple questions like my favorite color or band, then he’d respond to mine like his favorite food and when he started racing.

We ended up laughing through most of the trip and enjoying the amazing soundtrack in the background. When we finally made it to the mall, he waited for me to get off, then cut the engine. After slipping off his helmet, he turned to help me with mine. As we walked toward the mall, his hand slipped into mine and I jerked away quicker than I should have.

He chuckled lightly, but he didn’t respond to the action. “Anything specific do you need for your phone?” He asked.

It took me a minute to catch up to him and I decided to ignore the hand-holding incident if he was. “Um…no. I just need something that can call and text. I’m not really interested in games or anything.” Not like I had the time when I was struggling every day to stay above water to use my phone for anything else but a phone.

“Sounds good to me.” We headed for a large store full of different versions of phones and tablets. Sawyer grabbed a tag from one of the stands and handed it to the clerk. “Please wrap this up for me.” He said with a clear tone. He pressed his card against a reader and the clerk smiled once the payment went through.

I glanced down at the price tag and almost fainted. “Man, getting an upgrade like this must be nice.” I mumbled.

He chuckled as the clerk handed him the bag. “Oh? Well, let me know how it goes then.” He said before handing the bag to me.

I stared at the sleek black bag then looked back up at him. “This isn’t for me.”

He smiled and pulled my hand out to take it. “It definitely is.”

After I had a solid grasp of the thousand dollar phone, he tucked his hands in his pockets and waltzed out of the store. “Lucky. Why can’t my boyfriend be that generous?”

“He just bought the most expensive phone in the store and gave it away like it was candy.”

“Who is that girl? She doesn’t look like she’s worth such a gift or boyfriend.”

I bit my lip as the murmurs got louder. The clerk from earlier walked up to me and smiled. “Is there anything else you need?” She asked.

“No, thank you.” I huffed. Then, I raced after him and pulled him out of the walkway. He raised a brow as I pushed the bag into his chest. “You need to take this back. I’m not worth something like this.” I said, mirroring the same words I’d heard in the store.

“You know the best thing about being the one who gives the present?” He asked, not at all making a move to take the phone back.

“W-What?” I whispered, pressing the bag further into his chest.

“I get to choose who it is worth giving it to. Today, I chose you.”