Chapter 37

37

KANNON

I tried to convince Merritt we could hire an Uber or a taxi to take us to the airport but she insisted Lucia take us.

“Why do you not understand the Mini Cooper isn’t actually a whole car?” I asked. “Babe, please.”

Merritt stopped packing and walked into my arms with a big cheesy grin. “Are you scared?”

She was teasing, but we both knew I was. Her friend either had a death wish or was legally blind.

“I’m terrified. I don’t know who gave that woman a driver’s license, but they need their heads checked. How many wrecks has she gotten in?”

“I think only one and it wasn’t her fault,” she replied.

“Bullshit.”

“Seriously!” Merritt protested, her laughter dying down. “She got rear-ended at a stop sign.”

I peered down at her. “Yeah? Are we sure she didn’t back into someone?”

Merritt swatted my chest, grinning. “Stop it. You’re just trying to wriggle out of this.”

“Absolutely. Can you blame me?”

“Not really.” She leaned up to press a soft kiss to my lips. “But we’re still going with Lucia.”

So that was that. I sighed. “At least my life insurance is paid up.”

“So what did you think of Miami?” she asked.

“It was good. Warm. It’s different from what I’m used to, but I liked it.”

Merritt smiled, her eyes scanning my face as if looking for more than just my words. “Glad to hear that. Would you come back?”

“With you? Anytime,” I said, meaning every word. This trip, despite my reservations about the transportation, had shown me a side of Merritt I had not known before.

Merritt got a text. “Lucia is here.”

“Heaven help us.”

She swatted my ass and we headed down to the street. There was a part of me hoping Lucia may have bought a new car between the time she picked us up at the airport and that moment.

No such luck.

She sat in her deathtrap of a car and waved at us.

“You can sit in the front,” Merritt offered.

I looked at the seat and shook my head. “No thanks.”

“There’s more room.”

“And it just puts me in a front row seat to whatever disaster there might be. If she thought Dominique grabbing the wheel was bad, she’s not going to like what I do. It’s better for everyone if I put my ass in the back.”

Merritt smiled. “Okay. Suit yourself.”

She gave me a quick kiss. Once again, I crammed myself into the backseat and said a quiet prayer. I didn’t bother with the seatbelt. For one, I didn’t think I could reach for it. And two, if there was a wreck, I honestly didn’t think my body was going anywhere. I was in this thing for better or for worse.

Lucia revved the engine, a sound oddly akin to a senior dog growling in its sleep. “Ready to rock?”

“No,” I said sullenly.

Merritt giggled and buckled up. I made a mental note to write a thank-you note to whoever invented airbags—though I doubted they would be enough in this matchbox car.

As Lucia maneuvered out of the parking lot, each turn was accompanied by the ominous creaking of the Mini’s suspension. It sounded suspiciously like she was navigating a pirate ship rather than a car. Merritt caught my eye in the rearview mirror, her smile as bright as the Florida sun.

“We’re just stopping for gas, then straight to the airport,” Lucia announced over the sound of some pop song playing through the car’s battered speakers.

Merritt chatted animatedly with Lucia about plans for future trips, about coming back to Miami, and where she was going to take me next.

Lucia whipped into the parking lot of the gas station, practically on two wheels. I grimaced as the car jerked to the right between the pumps that suddenly felt way too narrow despite the size of the tiny car.

Merritt turned to look at me. “Want anything from inside?”

“A helmet?”

She laughed. “You’ll be fine.”

Lucia was already filling up the car.

“I feel like a jackass for letting her pump the gas,” I muttered. “If I was a guy and I saw me sitting in the backseat while a woman pumped the gas, I’d call him out.”

“Lucia is a very capable woman. She doesn’t need you to pump her gas. Screw whoever has a problem with that. Besides, you’d probably fall out trying to get out of the car right now, giving her an extra job of hauling you back inside.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Fair point. You might have to grease me up to slide me out.”

Just then, Lucia finished up, hopped back into the driver’s seat, and slammed the door with more force than seemed necessary. “Alrighty, off to the airport we go!”

The car sputtered to life once more and we were off, darting out of the gas station like she was leaving the pit lane of a racetrack.”

The road to the airport wasn’t long, but with Lucia’s driving, it felt more like a roller coaster than a car ride. Every sharp turn and sudden stop sent my heart into my throat. I clung to the seat, secretly praying for our safe arrival and promising to never skip a Sunday mass again if we made it in one piece.

Merritt seemed unfazed by Lucia’s aggressive maneuvers. As we approached the airport, the traffic thickened, and Lucia’s patience seemed to thin. She wove through cars with a precision that was almost terrifying, earning honks and more than a few angry shouts.

“Trust me, I’ve got this,” Lucia yelled back at one particularly irate driver.

We finally pulled up to the departure drop-off area. I nearly kissed the ground after prying myself from the backseat.

My knees wobbled a bit when I stood up, and I wasn’t sure if it was because I’d been crammed in like cargo or if my brain had been rattled on those turns. Probably both.

“What’s the matter, Kannon?” Lucia asked, grinning. “Can’t handle a little Miami heat?”

“Heat, my ass,” I muttered, stretching out my legs. “I’m just happy to be alive.”

We said our goodbyes and made our way into the airport. It was chaos. I didn’t know what was going on, but the lines for security were stretched out good and long. I was less than impressed.

“Kannon, can we talk about something before we get home?” Merritt asked as we stood in line.

I didn’t like the sound of that. “Sure,” I said cautiously. “What’s up?”

She hesitated, fiddling with the strap of her purse. “It’s about your riding.”

My jaw tightened instinctively. This wasn’t the first time she’d brought it up, and I already knew where it was going. She was not the first person who had an opinion about my riding either. “What about it?”

“I’ve been thinking,” she said as if she was actually scared to tell me what was on her mind.

“Yeah?”

“It scares me to think about you getting hurt. You’re not flying solo anymore, Kannon. You’ve got me now, and it would give me so much peace of mind if you didn’t ride so hard. I don’t want to lose you. I don’t know what I would do if I got a phone call that you were hurt or worse.”

There it was. The thing I’d been dreading ever since we started this whole thing between us. She didn’t get it. She didn’t understand what riding meant to me. How it wasn’t just a hobby or a way to kill time. It was my escape, my sanity, my lifeline when everything else felt like it was falling apart.

I crossed my arms, already feeling my defenses rise. “I’m not choosing between you and riding, Merritt.”

Her eyes widened, and she blinked like I’d just slapped her. “That isn’t what I was asking.”

“It sure sounds like it is,” I shot back.

She held up her hands, trying to backtrack. “I’m not trying to take anything away from you, Kannon. I’m just asking you to be careful. That’s all. The way you feel about Lucia’s driving is how I worry about the way you ride.”

“I’ve never put you in danger.”

“Not me— you . You took that tumble the other day and you got really lucky.”

“That was nothing.”

“It wasn’t nothing and you know it.” She reached down and grabbed my hand. The irritated knuckles and scabbed areas on my healing hands were apparent. “You were torn up. I don’t want to think about what a serious accident would do to you. Like my mind literally goes blank with fear.”

I knew she was saying it because she was concerned, but all I heard was how she wanted to change me, to clip my wings, and keep me grounded. She’d been gone ten years and now she thought she could tell me how to live?

“You don’t get it,” I said, shaking my head. “Riding isn’t just something I do, Merritt. It’s part of who I am. Why would you ask me to change that?”

“I’m not asking you to change,” she insisted, her voice rising slightly. “I’m asking you to think about me. About us. If something happened to you?—”

“Nothing’s going to happen to me,” I cut her off, my voice sharper than I intended.

She flinched, and guilt twisted in my gut, but I couldn’t stop. We moved forward in the security line, the tension crackling between us like a live wire.

“We’ve been together a whole five minutes and you’re already trying to change me,” I said.

“It’s not about changing you. It’s about wanting you around, wanting us to have a future. Can’t you see that?”

I rubbed my face, feeling frustration and exhaustion washing over me. The moving line brought us closer to the front, closer to the security scanners where everything got exposed, much like how I felt in that moment.

Merritt kicked off her shoes and started to toss her things in the bin. I did the same.

“Sir, step over here,” a TSA agent called, snapping me out of my thoughts.

Great . Another “random” screening. I muttered something under my breath and stepped out of line, handing over my ID and ticket. The agent motioned me toward the body scanner. The whole thing felt like an inconvenience I didn’t have the patience for right then.

“Arms up,” the agent instructed.

I complied but my irritation was simmering just beneath the surface. When the scanner beeped, they pulled me aside for a pat-down and the lid on my temper finally came off.

“This is the second time this trip,” I said, my voice tight. “You guys seriously don’t have anything better to do? You didn’t find shit the first time and you’re not going to find shit this time.”

“Sir, this is standard procedure,” the agent said, his tone as bland as his expression.

“It’s bullshit,” I snapped. “You guys just love wasting people’s time. Fucking pervs feeling people up all damn day.”

“Kannon,” Merritt called from the line, her voice laced with warning. “Just relax, okay? It’ll be fine.”

My blood was boiling and telling me to relax didn’t help. The agent’s calm indifference only made it worse. I stepped closer, my voice dropping low. “What’s your fucking problem, man? You get a kick out of this or something?”

The guy didn’t even blink. He just waved over another agent, who motioned for me to follow him.

“Sir, you need to come with us.”

“What the fuck now?” I asked. “You’re gonna double team me now?”

Merritt watched helplessly as I was led away to a small room—an interrogation room. It was cold and sterile, with harsh fluorescent lighting that buzzed faintly in the silence. They left me in there for what felt like an eternity, the anger still churning in my chest. My fists clenched and unclenched as I paced the small space, the walls closing in on me.

This wasn’t just about the TSA or the stupid security line. Everyone was trying to put me in a cage that day.

Fuck that and fuck them.