Someone coughs and she pulls away. She sits back down and looks at her lap. I place my finger under her chin. I lift her head so she is holding her head up.
The waitress takes her note pad out of her apron. “What do you guys want to drink?”
“Dr. Pepper,” Alisha says.
I tell the waitress I want a beer. I’ll only have one because I’m driving. The waitress walks away, and I pick the menu up. Alisha does the same.
The waitress comes back with our drinks. “You guys ready to order?”
“Yes, please,” Alisha says politely. “I will have a half a rack of ribs, a side salad, and cheese fries for the appetizer.”
I can’t stop the grin on my face. I have that girl trained. Because she has been living with me and I’ve been feeding her, she doesn’t shy away from food, and damn, can she pack it away.
The waitress stares at Alisha in disbelief.
“I will have the ten-ounce steak with a side of shrimp and a baked potato. I will have the wings as a side.” I hand her my menu.
Alisha does the same.
“I will put it right in,” she says and then walks away.
The waitress brings our appetizers out and I dig in. I love food, and I eat a lot of it. I can’t bring myself to care if I gain weight or not. Going without food for so long made me realize how much I love it, and I am going to enjoy it. And one thing about Jordan is, no matter how much I eat, he is constantly trying to shove more food in my face.
Sitting across from him, I can’t help but admire him. He’s so good-looking and at times I still can’t believe he is here in front of me.
I have spent a lot of time with him since he rescued me and I’ve never felt so close and attached to someone in my entire life.
I have also never felt so safe with someone. His presence alone I find comforting. The way he moves, the way he looks at me, the way he touches me. I used to constantly worry if someone was going to bust into my bedroom and do horrible things to me. My father threatened me so many times that that would happen to me by his drug dealer.
I had my first kiss earlier today. I can’t believe it. My first kiss at twenty-one years old, and it was with someone I care about. My Jordan, who is sitting in front of me, staring at me intently. He’s always staring at me.
I want to experience so many things, and when I think of experiencing them, I want to do them with Jordan. After we eat, we’re going to a bar and I’m getting trashed. I’m letting loose, and I’m going to have fun. I’m going to live my life to the fullest now. I want to laugh every single day, I want to play pranks, I want to swim and go skinny-dipping, and I want to go to the mall and go get my hair done. I want to cry tears of joy. I want to fall sleep every single night in Jordan’s arms because that’s the one place I always want to be. I want to get married. I want to have kids. I want to have every single experience there is to have in life. Most of all, I want to love and I want the unconditional love people have in fairytales.
He winks at me like he knows what I’m thinking. Maybe life isn’t that scary at all if he’s in it.
We arrive in front of the bar, which I can tell is a total biker bar because of the lines of bikes outside. Jordan pulls to a stop by six motorcycles that are off by themselves. He climbs off first and then lifts me off the bike.
Tucking me tightly into his side, he wraps his arm around my back and places his hand on my hip. He looks around the parking lot, alert, ready for anything.
“What’s the matter?” I can’t help but ask.
He winks at me, but his grip doesn’t ease up. He taps me on the hip, and I walk forward, not even budging an inch from him. Beside the front door, a group of men stare at us as we walk inside. I look up at Jordan, who is staring at a man in the middle.
“Lane, man, how are you?”
The man who I am assuming is Lane moves forward. He raises his hand for Jordan to take. Jordan puts his hand in his, and Lane looks at me. He’s very good-looking in a rugged kind of way.
“This yours?” Lane asks.
“Sure is.” Jordan taps my hip,
Lane nods.
“How’s your daughter?” Jordan asks next.
A smile breaks across the rugged man’s face. “She’s doing a lot better, man.”
“We are heading inside. See you later.” Jordan nods at him again.
I smile and wave. Lane returns my smile. The two other men beside Lane nod at me.
“He was nice,” I tell Jordan.
He busts out laughing. “Baby, if you only knew,” he tells me and then opens the door to the bar, the conversation halted.
Inside, I’m hit with the smell of smoke and some other unknown things I probably don’t want to know about.