Page 95 of Shade
“I know you saw that interaction.” She motions to the house. “While Roan will never admit it, he’s in love with that girl but still fucks around.”
“And Tiller?” Just as I ask that, Tiller jumps off the boulder on the BMX into the water but right into a group of girls.
He stands up in the shallow ends and screams, “Greased the landing!”
Willa sighs. “No girl wouldeverdate him. Well, she might, then she’d come to her senses pretty quick. Don’t get me wrong, I love Tiller, but he’s just an asshole. If there’s a picture in the dictionary, it’s him. It’s not an act; he’s just a plain asshole.”
“Noted.” And then I dare to ask, “What about Shade?”
God Goddamn. I’m one-tracked, aren’t I?
As you can see, or maybe you can’t because there are a lot of people around the pool and bar area, but Shade’s nowhere in sight. Believe me, I’ve been watching like a sniper, waiting for him to emerge.
“No, Shade doesn’t have a girlfriend. They’re all single in that sense.”
“So the X Fighters. . . do they all compete on that tour?”
Look at me changing subjects like a seasoned pro.
“Yeah, for now. Roan’s been hanging out with the motocross crowd a lot. He’s training for the Erzberg enduro, but I don’t know if he’s going to continue with the enduro circuit or not. All depends on sponsorships and if he can work it around the freestyle riding they do,” Willa tells me, lifting her water glass to her lips. “Tiller, he’s strictly freestyle. He hates the political side of the sport and refuses to conform. The only reason he does X Fighters is that they’re in a contract for the three of them to compete this year or else he wouldn’t be doing it.”
“And Shade?”
“Shade. . . he can do everything Roan and Tiller can on a bike, but ten times better. There are people who are gifted, and some are talented. Shade’s without a doubtgifted. He can race anything, perform any trick out there with his signature Shade flare. I don’t know that he’ll ever shy away from freestyle since converting to it. It gives him room to show his personality whereas motocross is more about endurance. He can do it, sure, but he likes to put on a show.”
You can see that just from his body art. Out of the three brothers, hell, everyone I know, the ink on his body gives away his personality. I don’t have a single tattoo. Not one, but I can see the appeal. With Shade, it’s a roadmap of his soul splashed across his body. There are gnarly ones, like his back tattoo with the skull wearing sunglasses, then the more reflective ones, the icons of the sport consuming his life, reminders of his dad. . . . It’s art.
Roan approaches the table and smiles at me, mischievous blue eyes lit by what’s in his cup. “Want a drink?”
I swallow, nervously, and look to Willa. “Can I drink?”
She laughs. “I don’t care what you do. Just get them from point A to point B and don’t have sex with Shade. Get drunk but keep your legs closed.”
Tiller chooses then to appear too. “What about me?”
“No sleeping withanyof them.”
“That’s a stupid fuckin’ rule, Willz.” Tiller hands me a drink, and Willa immediately slaps it away. “Here. Try this.”
I jump, startled, but no one else seems to be when it splashes to the concrete at my feet, the plastic cup bouncing away. “What?
“Donoteat or drink anything he hands you. Ever.”
Tiller laughs, almost manically.
They’re talking around me, conversations and jokes shared, but I don’t hear anything. I’m too busy looking around the party, wondering where the fuck Shade is. It’s getting late and I wonder if maybe he just went to bed.
Then it happens.
Is your heart pounding? Does your throat tighten like mine?
It’s like the air around me changes, a breeze blows by and I sigh.
People whistle, a shift in the crowd occurs and the party kicks up a notch. Women who were once sticking dangling legs in the pool are on their feet, fixing their hair and pushing up their tits.
And then I see him gravitating toward the pool, no shirt on.
No.
