The Biker's Fate Chapter 513

Flash

Present Day…

I walked into the house just as my younger brother, Jamie, jogged down the stairs. "Hey."

"Hey, Flash," he said. "How's your bike?"

I chuckled. "It's runnin'. Dad's gonna need to help me with the fine tuning."

I was restoring a 1974 Harley-Davidson Shovelhead and it had been in rough shape when I found it. Luckily, my dad could fix anything and had taught us all to do the same, so working on it had been more fun than pain. But now I just needed Dad's magical powers to get it sounding right. It was currently sitting in the club garage just begging for road time.

"Flash?" Dad bellowed from upstairs. "That you?"

"Yeah, Pop."

"Gotta make a run to Freddie's for your mom. Need to look at the bike later."

"Sure," I said. "She doin' okay?"

"Cold's kickin' her ass," he said. "And she doesn't want to stay the fuck in bed." He turned his head and yelled the last bit toward their bedroom.

"Sod off!" she yelled back, followed by coughing.

My mother was British. High-class all the way… until she wasn't. She could swear better than any of us, but it never sounded wrong with her English accent.

Dad grinned. "Love you too, Sunshine."

He pulled his long hair back and continued down the stairs.

"You takin' your bike or the truck?" I asked. "I'll tag along if you're in the cage."

"'Course, bud," Dad said. "I'll grab my keys. Jamie, make sure your mother stays put."

"Fuck me," he grumbled, dragging ass back up the stairs. "I should get hazard pay."

Dad and I shared a chuckle, then he swapped keys, and we headed out to his truck. Truth be told, my brother was a mama's boy through and through.

"You hear from Tate yet?" Dad asked as we drove.

"No."

Tate had gone off to college, first undergraduate, then graduate, then she pretty much ghosted me, and I could really only blame myself. But that was a story for another day, and certainly not one I was gonna share with my pops.

"She still pissed at you?" Dad asked as he pulled into the parking lot.

"Why would you think she was pissed at me?" I frowned. "I could be pissed at her."

He slid into a parking space and faced me. "Oh, yeah? What'd she do to make you pissed at her?"

"Nothing." I sighed. "I'm pretty sure I fucked up."

"You wanna fix it?"

"I think I kinda left it a little too long," I admitted.

Dad smiled. "Bud, you two have been joined at the hip since you met. You weathered all that Madison drama and came out on the other side."

I'm not sure we did weather the Madison shit. I'd pulled my grades up, barely, but Tate had started to pull away from me, particularly after high school graduation, and I wasn't entirely sure why. "Yeah."

"I'd start by apologizin' if you haven't already."

I pinched the bridge of my nose and nodded. "Yeah."

"Lecture over," Dad said.

"Thanks."

We climbed out of the truck and headed inside. Our local Fred Meyer was your one-stop shop for pretty much everything and my parents usually found one reason or another to come in practically every day.

"Divide and conquer?" I asked as Dad grabbed a cart.

"Yeah, you wanna go grab the cold shit your mom likes? Those daytime, nighttime packs. Meet you by the beer in ten?"

I nodded and made my way to the correct aisle, finding it somewhat picked through.

Shit. No packs.

I probably stood in front of the cold remedies for a good four minutes before deciding to grab one of everything on the shelf.

As I turned to leave the aisle, I saw a flash of red hair and knew instantly it had to be Tate. No one had her incredible locks, not to mention the fact, no one moved as quickly as she did… at all times.

Tate

Goddammit all to hell.

Of course I couldn't avoid him forever. Fuck my life. I practically ran down the aisle two rows away from Flash, hoping to God he didn't see me. Jesus, I was not prepared for him today.

"Hey, sweetheart," a deep voice said.

I let out a squeak and raised my head, just as I was about to slam into one of my favorite humans. My dad's friend (and Flash's dad), Hatch, smiled at me from behind a shopping cart filled to the brim. Lordy, the man was in his sixties and still hot as hell.

Double shit.

"Oh! Hi, Hatch." I glanced around, readying myself for a hasty retreat if Flash should show his face. "Um, how are you?"

"I'm good. You good?"

"Ah, sure, yes. I'm great. I'm just, um, in a hurr—"

"Tate."

Flash's deep voice settled over me like frosting melting on a warm cinnamon roll. I closed my eyes and tried not to swear out loud as I pasted on a smile and turned to face my nemesis. "Hi, Flash."

"You're here."

"I am," I confirmed.

"When did you get home?" he asked.

"Not long ago," I said.

I saw hurt cover his face, and it was like a dagger to my heart, but he adjusted his expression almost as quickly and smiled. "Welcome home."

"Thanks." I pointed to nowhere in particular. "Um, I really need to go. So, ah, sorry. Good to see you both."

I scurried away but didn't miss the sound of Flash saying, "Chicken" under his breath.

Damn him.

Flash

"You find the shit?" Dad asked.

I nodded distractedly, my mind still on Tate. She'd changed. Not so much that people would notice, but to me, it was more than I liked. She was fuckin' gorgeous. She was always pretty, but she'd filled out and grown up, and had a new ability to hide her feelings a little better. But I could tell I'd freaked her out and I hated that because she'd done something she'd never done before. She'd run away from me. However amusing her adorable ass strutting down the aisle might have been, the ramifications of her actions meant she was afraid of me and that both saddened me and pissed me off.

"Flash."

"Yeah?" I answered, still looking at the empty space Tate had just occupied.

"Parker."

"What?" I snapped, facing my father who raised an eyebrow at me. "Sorry," I grumbled.

"What the fuck did you do to Tate?"

I scowled. "I'm not entirely sure," I admitted. "But I plan to find out."

"Then let's pay for this shit so you can do that."

I nodded and we made our way to the checkouts. We passed the flower aisle, and Dad snagged a dozen roses on our way out.

A woman in a scooter glanced at him, then the flowers and tsked. "How bad were you?"

"Oh, no, ma'am, she's just that good," Dad replied, and I bit back a laugh.

The woman let out a quiet squeak and flushed as we continued on our way. The checkout gods smiled on us, and we were able to get out of the store relatively quickly, which meant my confrontation with one Tate Burke was eminent.