Error (Adrenaline Series Book 5) (6 page)

Moving my pen faster, I add a few more waves to the hair.

“Is that supposed to be me?” Azura questions, flopping down across from me. “Because if so, I think you're over exaggerating how good I look.”

I stop doodling and look up at her. “That's not possible.” The second she blushes I drop the pen. Slowly I extend my hand to grab hers. “Hi...”

She links her fingers with mine. “Hi...”

Yeah, not the most thrilling conversation, but what do you want from me. Something about her just kinda turns my brain to mush. Hasn't that happened to you before?

“How was work?”

Azura shrugs as she opens her menu. “It was work. How was the shop?”

“It was the shop,” I echo her response.

After a brief look at the menu she darts her head up. “You eat a lot?”

“Not as much as I used too,” I sigh. “But yeah. Enough.”

“Then I'll have whatever you're having.”

“Good. We're having squirrel nut nachos.”

Her eyes enlarge. Her jaw drops. Her fingers tighten. The sight of all three causes me to erupt into laughter, which is followed with her own laughter and mumbled complaints about what a dick move that was. At the end of it all she says, “Don't make me regret trusting you.”

“Hard for you to trust?”

“Is it hard for you?”

The air in the restaurant seems to undulate taking my emotions with it. Uncomfortable, I whisper out, “Could you blame me if it was?”

Azura offers me a soft smile with a hand squeeze. “No. I couldn't.”

Before I get the chance to say anything else, the waitress comes to take our order. Once she's gone, instead of returning to the intense conversation that was on the horizon, I switch focus.

“So you like my drawing?”

“Yeah. It's really good. I didn't know you could draw.”

“I used to do it all the time. Most of the tattoos Triple D has I designed.”

“Oh yeah? Which one is your favorite?”

“Easy,” I announce and extend my arm.

Azura's eyes fall on the heart shape, which is made to look like the organ with its veins and valves. There are pulse lines coming out of it to make the letter M.

“It represents our mom. She was the heartbeat of the McCoys. There wasn't any sacrifice too big or too small to save one of us.”

“How'd she die?”

With a crooked smile I look away from the tatt. “Giving birth to Merrick.”

See what I mean about never being too big or too small?

Azura's fingers slowly drag themselves up and down my inner arm. “Tell me, what do you miss most about her?”

“Aside from her pancakes?” The remark makes us both smile. “When I was little, it didn't matter what I drew, she used to put it on the fridge and display it like it was worth a million fucking bucks. Ya know, even back then we were all the same. It was hard to tell who was who, but Mom knew. She knew the little things that made us different. She knew it mattered more to me to have my picture on the fridge than it did to Drew or Daniel. I needed that pride. I needed to know something, anything made me special.”

The strokes on my arm get even lighter. “Everything about you is special, Destin.”

My face twitches a smile. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Swallowing the anxiety from feeling too much too fast, I joke, “And to think you haven't even seen me naked yet.”

With a giggle she rolls her eyes and pops my arm.

“So filming? That's your thing?”

“More or less,” she answers. “I would do it more if I could find a job that paid me too, but for now underground extreme sports pay just enough to keep the dream alive.”

Make a note for me to ask some friends who might be able to help her with that.

“What lead you to film?”

All of sudden the warm smile that was gracing her beautiful face disappears. Prepared to take it all back, to run the other direction, to slip in a dirty joke to ease away the tension, I'm stopped when she explains, “I never wanna forget again.”

Perplexed by the comment I merely tilt my head.

“My mom married Angela's dad when we were four almost five. I don't remember anything before that point. I don't even remember them dating. I don't remember anything about my real dad or what she was like before she got remarried. I don't remember anything about the house we left. My mom doesn't have old photos or videos or anything that captured those special milestones for me. It's like one day I just existed in a new life without an old one. So, when I could I started taking pictures of everything. Recording moments I knew people would wanna watch again and again. Eventually it lead me to wanna do film. Documentaries. Anything to record something memorable. Before I knew it though, I fell in love with recording extreme activities. Getting to be there when they do that ollie over a chair or the first time they do a kickflip over a flight of stairs or grind down an escalator-”

“That's a thing?” I bark out in shock.

She giggles and pushes her hair behind her ear. “It is. My point is, I like capturing those kinds of actions and awe moments. There's nothing better than grabbing those memories, those accomplishments on camera for someone to relive years from now.”

Our plates of hot wings and fries are delivered at a perfect time. The sad yet excited glow to her face is confusing to the point I'm terrified I might say the wrong thing.

You know, I don't have as many memories with my mom as I wished I did, but at least I have someone. I have bits from my early childhood, I can't imagine what it's like to have none. I also can't imagine what it's like to walk the halls of my house and not see my photo with my so called family.

After dinner filled with comic book talk, we stroll into the parking lot and over to my bike where I offer her a helmet. Immediately she shakes her head. “No way.”

“Oh it's happening,” I insist.

Azura shakes her head rapidly. “No way. No-huh. No. Nope. Not gonna do it.” She attempts to hand me the helmet back. “No, Destin.”

I slowly offer her a crooked smile.

“Don't give me that look. No. Bikes are dangerous. And scary. And loud. And-”

My arms are around her with my forehead pressed against hers. “And amazing. I'll protect you.” Her big brown eyes plead with me. “I promise I'll always keep you safe.”

Innocently she whispers, “That's a big promise.”

“I know.”

Her bottom lip slips between her teeth.  Shaking away any final doubts she says, “Fine. Just this once.”

“It only takes one ride to fall in love.”

Azura softly asks, “With you or your bike?”

“I'm hoping both.”

She smiles sweetly and gives in. “Alright Destin McCoy. I'm all yours.”

God I fucking hope so.

Once we're both on my bike, I take us away from the diner, away from the lights and life of the busy city towards exactly what I promised to deliver. The curves in the roads cause Azura to grip me tighter. Her heart beat races against my back. Something about the amount of trust she has in me is soothing.

Rarely does anyone ever rely on me to do more than type on a keyboard. Hell even lately Madden's been second guessing if I can do that.

Off of the main winding road, we take a smaller two lane road until it leads us to the destination I planned. Parking my bike, I pull off my helmet just as the fall night wind kicks up.

Azura who is still gripping me tightly leans over my shoulder. “Can I take this off now?”

Chuckling, I nod and give her hands a pat to let go. As soon as we're both off with our helmets resting on my bike, I grab her hand, and pull her along the path until we reach the spot I'm dying to show her.

I wave my hand casually. “What do you think?”

She gives me a quick glance before she braces her hands on the railing of the bridge. “This is...this is incredible. Are those the city lights?”

“Yeah. Prettier from a distance aren't they?”

A small hum comes from her before she leans towards them. “They're beautiful.” Quickly her face turns towards me. “Can I take a picture?”

“Of course.”

Excited Azura pulls out her phone and snaps a few photos. Immediately after she insists we turn around and take a few selfies together.

Chicks and their selfies. I swear...

Once her appetite to capture this moment is satisfied she asks, “How do you know about this spot?”

My hands wrap around the railing. “Daniel found it.”

Madden didn't always want us mixed up with The Devil. Hell, he tried to avoid letting us get tangled with it at all, but eventually he knew it was a lost cause. Eventually he accepted us into it, used our skills to harness better deals and more money in hopes of keeping Merrick far away from the survival traits we had developed. Needless to say that failed too.

“When we first got our licenses, we took random long trips all over the state, just 'cause we could. Pissed Madden off severely, but we needed a getaway. Daniel found this place and it became our in town road trip spot.” I fold my hands together and rest my arms on the edge. “One time, while we were all here, avoiding the wrath of Mad Man Madden, Daniel convinced us all to get piercings. We argued for what felt like hours about what exactly to get. By the end of it, we decided we would all get something different, the first mark on our bodies of something to stand out.”

“So that's why you got a tongue piercing?”

“Nah,” I chuckle. “After that, at some point Drew let it slip what we had planned to do and Madden forbid us from doing it. So, the teen rebellion thing kicked in.”

She snickers. “I am not surprised it did...”

“Our dad was in and out of prison, so Madden basically was our father most of the time. We hated his rules. His stupid rules, but as we got older we realized he did it to try to protect us.”

“Protect you from what?”

More like who.

Instead of responding that way I move in closer. “Life. I'm learning we all do our best to protect the people we love in life.” With her eyes now latched onto mine I confess, “I haven't been here since Merrick died.”

Azura casually moves so our arms are touching. “Why'd you bring me?”

“Because you were brave enough to give me an escape when I needed it. I thought you deserved to see the one I used to have.”

Her fingers link with mine, but her face turns to look back out across the water. Silence settles between us and for the first time in months, instead of hearing the faint echoes from the voices of the dead, there's a sweet serenity of stillness. I grip her hand tighter, thankful for it.

Eventually Azura and I talk a little more about my old memories with Daniel, Merrick and Ben, each one more freeing than the last. I haven't talked much about them since their deaths. It turns out the weight of the silence has been causing my chest to feel like it's about concave. However, every time I remember something about them, share what they were once like out loud, it seems one of those boulders is lifted. It makes me wonder if I keep Azura around will the weight of it all one day fade or at the very least be easier to carry.