Page 23 of Ronen (Sweet Alps Legacy #1)

Chapter Sixteen

Mason

Nothing like sitting on a side road in the dark, waiting for a speeder to go by, to really add to my miserable mood. The only good thing about the situation was that my ankle was healed, the boot was off, and the doctor had cleared me to return to duty.

As a thank you to my team for covering for me while I’d been stuck at home, and for them checking on me, most days showing up with something to feed me with, I had taken some of the night shifts for the next couple of weeks.

Goddess, you’re all in your feelings , my dragon huffed.

I know I am, okay, just let me wallow for a minute, will ya?

Ronen had snuck out in the dead of night almost two weeks ago, and I still didn’t know how I felt about it.

Honestly, it had hurt my feelings, even if I was having a hard time admitting it.

It wasn’t even like I had expected him to stay or even be there in the morning, not really.

But waking up to an empty house, with no note or anything, had left me with an aching hole in my chest I hadn’t been prepared for.

Plenty of dates–not that what had happened between us could be called a date–had left my bed before morning. None of them affected me the way Ronen leaving had. And I was still processing it all.

I hadn’t seen him since he had slunk away like a thief, not even at the library.

Instead of taking my returned books inside and replenishing my stock, I dropped them in the outside drop box after hours.

I had plenty to read at home, and Amazon delivered.

I didn’t need to go to the library. Even if I did miss the place.

I’d just need to go when Ronen wasn’t working if I wanted to go inside.

Hell, maybe I would finally break down and buy a Kindle and just read eBooks. Then I wouldn’t have to see him at all. I bet I could hoard a shit ton of digital books and wouldn’t have to worry about running out of room on my shelves.

Cowardly, maybe, but I just wasn’t ready to see him yet. Wasn’t ready for him to look at me like nothing had happened between us, when everything had changed.

Besides the fact that we were fated, Ronen and I in bed together had been…explosive. Hands down, it was the best sex I’d ever had in my life.

My phone buzzed with a text and I thumbed over it, seeing it was from my papa.

Papa: Just checking on you. The ankle is healed? You didn’t muck it up by not following the doctor’s orders.

Me: That would be your husband that doesn’t do what he’s told. I’m the good son, remember?

Papa: *Laughing emoji* Ah, yes, I remember now. The good son that rebroke his arm one summer. Three times, if memory serves me.

Me: I don’t recall that.

Papa: Just like your father, selective memory. You’re good, Mason? No exciting news to share.

Me: What did Connor tell you?

Papa: He just said that things were progressing with that librarian you have a crush on.

Me: A crush? I’m not in junior high.

Papa: Well you go on about him like you are.

Me: Things are…complicated with him. Papa, I’m actually working tonight. I need to go. I’ll call you later this week.

Papa: Love you. Be safe.

Me: Always. Love you and dad.

My fingers flew over my phone as I typed a text to my brother.

Me: Asshole!

It took him all of two seconds to respond.

Connor: What did I do?

Me: What did you tell the ‘rents?

Connor: Ohhhh. That.

Me: Yeah, ohhhhh. That.

Connor: I just said you were making progress getting him to like you. I did NOT tell them you are fated.

Me: You’d better keep your big fat trap shut!

Connor: How’s that going btw?

Me: He came over the night I broke my ankle. Words were said. It got heated. Then it got a different kind of heated. I passed out. He left.

Connor: And?? You can’t say things got more heated and leave me hanging! I’m living vicariously through you. I need more. And he left? Like just left?

Me: He was gone when I woke up. And I’ve kinda been avoiding him ever since.

Connor: Mason!!

Me: What? I was pissed, okay? And hurt. There’s just a lot to figure out.

I heard the roar of the motorcycle well before it whizzed by me, knowing before it flew past me that it was a Harley. Nothing else sounded like that; like a deep throated, fast paced vibration of power. The motorcycle screamed past me in a blur of black and chrome.

Me: Gotta go! Speeder!

Flipping my lights and siren, I made sure there wasn’t any traffic coming before pulling out behind him.

This road was off the highway, not far from my place, and didn’t see a ton of traffic this time of night.

Still, no one needed to be going that fast, especially on a motorcycle.

Damn fool was going to get himself killed.

It took me a minute to catch up to him, my foot pushing the accelerator up to ninety. I was about to call for backup, when the rider tossed a look at me over his shoulder, flipping the visor of his helmet up, before quickly slamming it down.

“Mother fuck!”

I was pretty sure that was my mate whipping down the highway at breakneck speed on a death machine. How he even managed to turn around to look at me and flip his visor up and down, while keeping control of the bike at the speed it was going, was a miracle.

Ronen flipped his blinker on, the bike slowing down in front of me. I slowed my own speed, not wanting to run up on him, because it took a minute for the bike’s speed to diminish. He gradually pulled to the side of the road, kicked the stand down, and casually pulled off his helmet.

Slamming my door, I stomped up to him and yelled, “Are you trying to kill yourself?”

Ronen tossed me a crooked grin, fluffing his wild hair up with one hand where his helmet had smashed it down. At least he was wearing a helmet.

He was dressed in black from head to toe, reminding me of how his dad usually dressed. Boots, leather pants, leather jacket, helmet. Hell, even the bike was black .

And fucking hell if he didn’t look good straddling that bike, tight leather encasing him from head to toe, his body relaxed.

Sexy , my dragon breathed, and I had to agree.

Ronen Sinclair was about the sexiest thing on two legs I had seen in a very, very long time.

And he was mine, even if he didn’t realize it yet.

“I hadn’t even hit a hundred yet,” Ronen scoffed. “Relax, Sheriff, I know how to handle myself and my bike.” He held out his hand, his helmet balanced on one thigh. “Just give me the ticket, Mason.”

“Ticket?” I huffed, “You’ll be lucky if I don’t arrest you for reckless driving.”

He gave a nonchalant shrug. “Technically, you could. But do you really want to have to deal with my cousin this time of night? Because you know she’d wake up every judge in this town to get me a bail hearing.

Rory is like a rabid beast when it comes to family.

And, I’m the baby of the family,” he winked–winked!

–“so you’d likely have the entire Sinclair clan up your ass.

We’re a protective bunch. Do you really want that? Make good choices.”

Make good choices? Was he fucking kidding me right now? I wasn’t the one acting like a speed demon on a death machine.

Cocking my head to one side, I ground out, “Did you just threaten me?”

“Just with the truth,” he gave me a full-blown smile, this one larger and brighter than he had used on Mrs. Everett that day in the library, and for a second, I forgot my name. Forgot to breathe. Forgot this man had fucked my brains out, and then left me, without so much as a single word .

Sure, he’d tossed me his sexy, little crooked grin once or twice, but this? I had thought seeing his smile that first time, in the library, had bowled me over. But he hadn’t even been trying hard that day.

Because this smile? This smile was in a completely different league.

Ronen Sinclair’s smile was lethal. And by the mischievous gleam shining in his green eyes, he knew it.

“You have met Rory, right?” He was still talking but all I saw were his lips moving. No sound was making its way into my ears.

My eyes were locked on his full, pink lips, the perfect bow shape of them. Remembering the way they felt beneath mine. The way he tasted.

I was fixated on his straight, white teeth, and that smile that made him look…radiant. Breathtaking. Beautiful.

Shaking myself from the spell of his smile, I muttered, “What? Oh, yeah, I know Rory. She’s…”

My brain searched for an adequate word to describe Rory Sinclair without insulting Ronen’s cousin and I came up with absolutely nothing.

“Fierce?” Ronen helpfully supplied. “Savage? Kick ass lawyer?”

Rolling my eyes, mainly because all of those described her, I held out my hand. “License, registration, and proof of insurance. Please.”

Ronen swung one slender leg over the bike, and I couldn’t help but remember how those legs had felt straddling my hips as I buried my dick into his tight heat. All the blood in my body rushed straight to my cock, making my jeans uncomfortable .

He stopped digging in the seat compartment, giving me a knowing look, like he had read my thoughts. Keeping my face bland, I waited while he dug out his registration. Handing it to me, along with his license and proof of insurance from his wallet.

I pointed a finger at him. “Sit. Wait. Do not move,” I commanded, and he leaned against the bike, splaying his arms out in a ‘who me? I’m not going anywhere’ gesture.

While I waited for his information to pull up, and checked in with dispatch, I had time to observe my mate.

He was such a contradiction, a study in opposites, like there were two sides to Ronen.

It didn’t feel like he was putting on a persona when he was at the library, or even now, flying down the highway at breakneck speed.

No, it felt like this was exactly who Ronen was. Two sides of very different coins, yet both sides were him.

I would bet money that only a handful of people got to see this side of Ronen. This wild, reckless, uninhibited, and surprisingly, just a bit playful side.