Page 12 of The Biker's Brother

“Yes. There’s a private airfield right over there.” Brand said nothing. “You wouldn’t know this, but there’s a grand resort close by. Perhaps the last truly great resort in the world. The Greenbrier.” She sighed.

He smirked at the windshield. ‘He wouldn’t know this.’ Indeed.

His mother’s family had taken one of the luxury “cottages” for Christmas every other year when he was growing up. They flew their company’s jet to the private airfield she’d mentioned. He’d played golf in the annual Sam Snead Pro-Am every year of his adult life. Except for the last, when he’d been busy learning his way around Austin and a motorcycle club legacy.

“Where are we going?”

“Not the Greenbrier,” he said, pretending reverse snobbery. “We have a reservation for the night at a little out-of-the-way cabin. After this, we’ll stay where we find a vacancy if it’s convenient and I think it’s safe.”

She eyed the camping equipment in the back of the SUV.

“I’m not especially big on camping.”

“Really? I never would have guessed that.”

“You making fun of me?”

He looked over at her. When her eyes got stormy, as they were then, the violet seemed to overtake the blue so much that they appeared almost purple. Exotic. To say the least.

“No. I’m not making fun of you. Liking camping or not liking camping isn’t important in the grand scheme of things.”

Slowly her lips spread into a smile. “The grand scheme of things?”

“You never heard the expression before?”

“Of course. I guess… I just didn’t expect to hear it from you.”

“Why’s that?”

She was sorry she’d gone down that path because she didn’t see a way out without being insulting. So she changed the subject.

“It’s beautiful this time of year.”

He smirked to let her know that she hadn’t gotten the diversion past him.

“Yeah,” was all he said.

He pulled into a roadside stop that had used frequently spaced short signs to advertise for the past five miles.

“I’ll get food to go. You stay in the car.”

She shook her head vigorously. “I can’t stay in the car. I need to go to the bathroom.”

“You can hold it until we get where we’re going for the night.”

“No, I cannot! What is the matter with you?”

He watched a spark fire behind her eyes that hadn’t been there before, almost like it was spontaneously rekindling from ash.

“What’s the matter with me? Didn’t you go before we left New York?”

“Yes. I went before we left New York. But I don’t have a bladder the size of a basketball. I’m a woman.”

When he raised his hand to reach toward the passenger side visor, she flinched. And not just a little. He’d been planning to retrieve a burner phone he’d stashed there, but seeing her reaction, he jerked his hand back.

She pressed herself back into the seat looking like she hoped to melt into it and disappear.

He stared for a few beats before quietly saying, “I’m sorry if I startled you. I was reaching for something I left under the visor.”