He laughs as he rolls his eyes. “Why don’t you just change your number? It’s gonna keep on and you know it.”

“I swear you are the smartest out of all of us.”

“This is true,” Jayden says with a nod before opening his laptop. When another text comes through, I go to ignore it but then I see it’s from Claire.

Claire: So, practice was canceled. People couldn’t stay, so yeah, sucks, I guess I’m gonna go study.

Quickly, I type back.

Me: Wanna hang with me for a bit? I gotta go change my phone number.

Claire: Why?

Me: Cause everyone won’t leave me alone.

Claire: Oh. Okay. Yeah. Do I want to ask why?

Me: I’ll tell ya when I get there. I’ll be over in a bit.

Claire: Okay. I’ll be waiting outside.

Me: Great.

Standing up, I tuck my phone in my pocket and reach for my helmet then Jayden’s. “I’m taking your helmet.”

“Why?”

“For Claire. I’ll order her one, but right now I need yours.”

“Whatevs.”

“Hey, I’m gonna text ya in a bit and then make yourself disappear.”

“No way!” he complains but I settle him with a look.

“Would you like to share a room with another freshman instead?”

“You’re an asshole, dude. I got homework.”

“Go upstairs. You’ll be fine. See ya.”

I don’t want to be an ass and kick my brother out of his room, but I also don’t want to be feeling Claire up in front of him. Do I even get to feel her up? Hmm. That’s something I need to ask about. Going out to where my bike is parked, I put my helmet on and slowly mount my black with silver chrome Star Bolt that my dad got me when I graduated. Jayden got a car, and usually we trade off whenever we feel the need to. I love riding my bike, though. It’s probably my third favorite thing to do after hockey and sex. Putting Claire’s helmet under the bungee cables that are on the back, I start the bike up, the roar of it vibrating underneath me before I slowly back up and then hit the gas to go.

I see her after taking the turn on her street. She’s sitting on the bench, and when she sees me, her eyebrow comes up. She stands when I reach her, throwing my helmet up.

“Hey there, gorgeous, wanna go for a ride?”

With a wide grin on her face, she shakes her head. “Oooowwweeee, my uncle would say you are big trouble with a capital B and T.”

I laugh, climbing off my bike. “Good thing I’m not trying to date your uncle then.”

“I know you are big trouble, though,” she says with a grin, stopping in front of me.

Raising my brow, I smile as I nod my head back to the bike. “Does that mean you’re not gonna go for a ride with me?”

“Oh, hell no, it doesn’t. I’m riding.”

“Awesome,” I say as I grin widely before taking the helmet off the back. I wait as she ties her hair at the back of her head, and then I slowly put the helmet on her head. It goes on easy since Jayden’s head is massive compared to Claire’s. “I’ll order you a helmet tonight when I get back.”

“Sounds good to me,” she says before mounting the bike, and I decide she looks damn good on the back of my bike. Unlike other girls, she doesn’t dress up. She’s wearing Bellevue sweatpants and a large, purple Assassins sweatshirt. I’m beginning to think that’s all the girl owns, and I don’t care one bit. I love it. I like that she’s comfortable around me in barely anything and naked.

I get on in front of her, and she waits till the bike roars to put her hands around my waist. “Have you ridden on the back of a bike before?”

“Nope, this is my first time.”

“Awesome, get ready then,” I say and we’re off. It’s a beautiful night. Clear and cool, and as I drive toward the Verizon store, I’m glad to have Claire on the back, holding me tight. Once we’re there, I park the bike and get off, helping her next. She removes the helmet, and when she looks at me, she’s grinning.

“That was amazing.”

“Yeah, it’s a wonderful night,” I say, really pleased that she loved it. Usually it scares girls.

“Yeah, it is,” she agrees as she hands me her helmet. “Why are we here?”

“’Cause my phone won’t stop blowing up. I’m gonna change my number to get away from it. The people I want to call me will have my number, and that’s it.”

She smiles as I thread my fingers with hers. “So what you’re saying is you’re changing your number to get away from all the girls who are contacting you?”

“Exactly. Of course, except for you, my mom, and my sister.”

“Aw, how sweet,” she says, leaning against me, and I like the glow that’s on her face.

Kissing her nose, I smile before saying, “Remind me to call my mom, though. She’ll be here in two point three seconds if she can’t get ahold of me.”

“Will do,” she promises and then we head inside.

After changing my number, I call my mom right away and then hurry off the call before she has me on the phone all damn night. Once we’re on the bike and heading down the streets of Bellevue, I decide that I don’t want to go back to the house. It’s too nice out, and knowing my luck, Jayden won’t have left the room. So instead, I head toward the park outside of the college. Usually I go running there, but today I just want to sit on my bike with the prettiest girl ever.

Parking near the pond, I shut the bike off then pull my helmet off before standing up and looking back at her. “Figured we can enjoy the night.”

“Sounds good to me, but the grass is wet, isn’t it?”

Going over to the grass, I find it is. “Shit, yeah, and I didn’t bring a blanket. We can head back.”

She shakes her head. “No, we’re good, come sit down but face me.”

“I love the way you think,” I admit, heading toward her and doing what she asks.

She grins as she hands me the helmet and I lay it on the ground before folding my arms on her knees, laying my head on my arms, looking up at her. “So why did they cancel practice?”

She rolls her eyes. “’Cause they’re dumb. Apparently half the damn team couldn’t practice. But all us new girls were there, so why not start on us so we can be up to date, ya know? I told Skylar I have a bad feeling about this. I hate when people are all kinds of screwed up.”