Ride Free Read Free

hellhole once and for all. Outside the store, though, there was no trace of her. She’d disappeared from sight.
     
    Alejandro popped the case into his saddlebag and swung his leg over the bike. He still had a month in this godforsaken town, and it wouldn’t be the last chance he had to make amends. He just wished he hadn’t bumped into her like that, completely by accident, as if he’d never intended on going to see her. As if he hadn’t agonized over what he would say since the moment he received his assignment to go to Arroyo Flats.
     
    It was ridiculous how unsettled he felt. He’d been balls-deep in a drug-and alien-smuggling trade that meant a lifetime in prison if he was ever caught, and he barely broke a sweat when federal agents paid his shop surprise visits. The club hadn’t been in Arroyo Flats ten minutes before the local boys in blue had shown up with their version of a welcome wagon, and he and his brothers had rolled their eyes the entire time at the cops’ threats. He wasn’t easily fazed.
     
    But the thought of facing Ali for a long-overdue apology twisted him in knots. No big deal. You just need to go say a few words to a girl you used to know, that’s all. But Ali wasn’t just some girl he used to know, no matter how hard he tried to convince himself. The look in her eyes had echoed the cramping in his gut that told him exactly what a big deal it was. Now it was time to face what he’d avoided all this time and explain why he broke his promise ten summers ago.
     

 
    CHAPTER FOUR
     
    Trembling in the front seat of her pickup, Ali steadied herself against the steering wheel, taking slow, deep breaths. She’d gotten the hell out of the Valero as fast as she could but immediately realized that driving while on the verge of a panic attack was a bad idea. She swung the truck around the corner and threw it into park, gasping for air. 
     
    She’d been warned. Cristina had told her last week that Alejandro and the Padre Knights were headed to Arroyo Flats. She’d also made it clear that her cousin and his crew were into some serious criminal activity that Ali would be better off not even knowing about.
     
    At least her best friend had done her the courtesy of giving her that heads-up. Cristina broke all the rules of Latino family loyalty when it came to Ali. It was Cristina who’d apologized for Alejandro when he never called, who stayed with Ali while she cried herself sick after he’d gone on the road. It was Cristina’s words that had soothed her all those nights she came home from some boring date with a “good catch” and yearned for the only man who had ever made her feel alive. There’s someone better for you out there. Forget him, mamita.
     
    And Ali had tried, God knows she’d tried.
     
    “He’s my cousin and I love him, but don’t do it, Ali,” Cristina had warned her the other night on the phone when she’d casually mentioned getting in touch with Alejandro. “You don’t need Alejandro’s explanation or his apology. He can’t be anything to you now but a memory. You have Bobby now, and he loves you. Forget Alejandro.”
     
    Ali’s engagement to Bobby had brought an end to the years of bickering with her parents. Her mother and father were over the moon that she’d finally settled down with a guy from a good Texas family after her string of less-than-impressive suitors. With Bobby by her side, she was finally a daughter they could stop worrying about, a daughter to make them both proud. In her rational brain, Ali knew Cristina was right.
     
    Her rational brain, though, wasn’t responsible for the pounding in her chest or the tightness in her throat. She hadn’t been prepared to bump into Alejandro today. She hadn’t expected her body to react to his proximity when she edged past him in line. She hadn’t been prepared for the look in his eyes, the predatory hunger of a man who wanted to devour her whole. And she sure as hell hadn’t expected a freight train