Bejewelled

Ch 4

He’d been woken up by Grey, it was still early and he’d barely had 4 hours' sleep, but apparently they had found her, and she was just a few blocks from his house. He’d rubbed his tired grainy eyes and got out of bed to go and deal with her, and was probably not getting any sleep today.

Dressed in jeans and a shirt, he pulled on his boots and got his dirt bike from the garage. There was no point in using his truck, she would out manoeuvre it in a heartbeat. So, it had to be him on his bike. There were no police bikes here in town, all patrol cars or four-wheel drives.

No one here was going to catch her without a bike, and though he, Grey and Manny all had bikes, he was the only one off duty right now, and they knew that he would want to do this himself. Though they thought it would just be funny to watch the two of them go toe to toe over her stupid actions last night, more ammunition for them to shoot at him on a regular basis.

Pulled his helmet on and kicked the bike over to go out and get her and haul her ass in.

There she was just sitting on her bike, in her black leathers, at least she dressed the part and wore good protective gear when she rode. A part of him was happy about that, he too would normally do so but didn’t have the inclination right, that minute. Too tired and too damned cranky with her. Just wanted to get this over with. So she could go back to wherever the hell she’d come from.

She sat and watched him, and he just knew she was waiting on him. The boys had either told her he was coming or she had guessed they’d put a call into him, which she thought, he didn’t particularly care. Pulled out onto the road and headed right for him, stared him down as he did her.

The more that he had to chase her the angrier he got, his jaw ached from being clenched so damn tightly, and he was not all happy with himself that he’d mislead Senior Sergeant Bentley about the police barricade, it didn’t feel right either. He’d told him only part of the truth. The man was his father’s closest friend, so he had understood his need to contain the woman.

Gabe had told his Senior Sergeant that Cinda was here in town and that he’d seen her and spoken to her, all of which was true. That he knew she had no intentions of calling in on his parents, which was going to break his mother’s heart, which also was true it would, so he wanted to make sure that she did visit them even if by force, not the truth. He wanted to rip her a new one for her behaviour was all. Itched to tear strips off of this woman.

The Senior Sergeant had frowned but nodded and agreed on the proviso that if a call came in the boys were to leave him and Cinda and were to attend to actual policing duties. That he was on his own, also stipulated that no traffic jams were to be caused by this

Gabe had said there wouldn’t be and there wasn’t going to be as far as he was concerned. He knew this was going to be just between the two of them, it was how it always was, when they came across each other, not something that had happened in the past four years though.

He now realised that the woman hadn’t actually been trying to get away from him at all, again just toying with him, wanted this herself. He was now sitting alone out here in the bush staring at her, as she was him, in all likelihood just what she wanted.

It seemed her quiet, shy nature from when she’d been a teenager was gone and now here was a woman that was fully tormentative and argumentative, could hold her own and stand up and speak her mind.

She was not going to shy away from this challenge she had started.

He couldn’t see her with that damned helmet on, her eyes were hidden behind that black visor or hers, and it bothered him, but he could feel that she was staring at him just as hard as he was her.

Got off his bike and pulled his helmet off, banged it onto the handle bars of his dirt bike and stalked his way over to her, stopped a metre away and watched her pull her helmet off, saw the way she ran her long fingers through her hair and tussled it about, allowed it to drape down over her shoulders and frame her beautiful face all before even looking up at him. Knew it was being done on purpose, was not expecting to see blood red lipstick on those plump lips or her face fully made up to make her look ten times more beautiful than she normally was.

The damned woman had been expecting this little showdown, it seemed, and had come fully prepared to annoy him even more. His jaw remained tight as her jewel green eyes lifted up to his finally. Actually, caught some of the dappled sunlight and literally sparkled up at him, as she sat on her bike and stared at him with a hard, indifferent look that clearly matched his right now.

Yelling at her did not work, he watched that hard indifferent look turn to full amusement right before his very eyes, and didn’t understand why. He was literally tearing strips off of her for her reckless behaviour.

Told him she was just having fun, and asking him if he recalled what fun was, of course he bloody did. She was just plain reckless and breaking the law at every opportunity was all. This was not fun, it was serious and she knew it.

He tried to calm himself down, ran a hand through his dark hair and breathed in deeply to contain his temper somewhat, folded his arms across his chest when she claimed it was his doing this little trip into the bush. She was the one to ride in here on her bike. There was no way she knew she was getting away from him out here. She’d brought him in here on purpose, hell she’d stopped and waited for him to catch up and get off his bike.

This was not his doing but hers, all those double meanings to her words “Because Gabriel, you wanted this. A little fun! A bike chase and a private strip down.” Were not lost on him, throwing that one moment from their past right at him.

“I should bloody well arrest you, Lucinda, and you know it.” He snapped, right at her, his jaw was once again ticking like crazy, the woman. It seemed knew how to hit home.

Actually, had the hide to dare him to do it, she knew bloody well he couldn’t, stalked away from her all the way back to his bike to leave, but then, spun on his heel and stalked right over to her, his anger unchecked, he wanted to arrest her and bloody couldn’t and she was lording it over him.

Playing the only card, she knew he wouldn’t touch, pointed a finger at her. “It would kill mother if I did and you know it, this is the only warning that you will get. Next time I will arrest you regardless. Do you understand me?’ He grated out, allowing her to see all his anger, no longer cared to rein it in.

She had to be brought under control. Saw her look right at him and stepped that little bit closer to him, got right in her face. Saw her eyes move to that finger and wondered if it was a good idea to get that close to the girl.

Then her eyes just fell away from him, dropped down to the ground. Finally, he had gotten through to her, it was about bloody time. But then those eyes turned back up to him, and his heart hammered inside his chest, as they looked up at him from beneath her long lashes, a full pout on her red lips, looked sad to him even. He nearly apologised to the woman instantly for making her upset, but then those three words fell from her mouth, “Yes big brother.” And a gasp of shock rocked through him. How stupid could he have been, to think she’d been upset by his words.

How bloody stupid of him to fall into that roll. He’d never acknowledged her as his sister, well, only ever once, and they’d regretted it ever since. Heard her sneer right up at him as he realised just what had happened. He had been playing the big brother card and she’d known it before he had.

Turned and stormed away from Cinda, completely furious at himself. He was not her brother. Would never be her brother. Yanked his helmet on and kicked his bike over and got the hell out of there. Had to get away from the woman, she was nothing but a green-eyed piece of trouble.

Trouble that would haunt him for ever in all likelihood. Hit the bush tracks at full speed on his dirt bike to vent his own anger at his own stupidity for falling into her stupid trap, so easily. The woman needed to get the hell out of his town and stay the hell away from him. The only problem with that was, her being away hurt his mother, who doted on the girl. Loved her like her own daughter, he hated that fact. He hated having to hear every little detail about the woman after she put in a call to his mother, and she did love to talk about Cinda and was so very proud of her.

It killed his mother that she wasn’t here, that she lived in the city six hours away and rarely came home. Rarely came home because of her own son, not that his mother knew that. Hell no, he’d never told his mother anything and he knew neither had Cinda, for his mother would have come and skinned him alive.

They were both keeping it from her, their secret. A secret that was just between the two of them. Although his friends suspected something, they had no facts about the situation. Were just guessing mostly. Weren’t wrong but he wasn’t going to tell them that.

A very large part of him wished he could take it all back, but once words were spoken, that was it. They were out and couldn’t be taken back. No matter how much one regretted it. Now his words were all that was between them, they would never go away, and neither would the hurt from them, on either side. It was too late to fix it. They just had to try and live with it. He’d moved on himself. Who knew what she did? Hardly ever came home anymore, not in the past four years when he was around, that was for sure.

Wondered what would happen now. Would she just up and leave? Half the town knew she was here now, it was going to get back to not just his mother but his father as well. Damned woman, if she left without even saying hello to his mother, he was going to write a report and send out an alert to pick her up, she was not getting out of this town without saying hello to the one person in the world that loved her unconditionally.

Headed for his parents' house, had to know if she’d dropped by or not.