The 6 Greatest Errors of All Time | ?

XXIII. ruby & gold

He couldn't glance behind him to check on me, so instead he focused on getting to the next stoplight. As soon as the bike came to a stop with one of his leg on the brakes, he twisted his body around and held me upright by the shoulders.

"Hey, snap out of it," The man angled my head to look him in the eyes. "I can't have you dying on the road."

"It'd be easier that way." I murmured back. I straightened up and pushed his hands away. My eyes fluttered open as I eyed him with a conscious stance. "It's been almost two hours, Pierce. My ass' numb and my fingers all fell off one by one at each intersection like breadcrumbs."

"Must be nice. My back's about to break from someone transferring all their weight onto it."

"That's why I proposed to just let me be on the road." I yawned while fixing the position of my helmet.

He scoffed, then proceeded to flick the helmet on my head. "Cause instead of one broken back why not have two while we're at it? Everything's better in pairs."

"Unlike you who's single."

"You're one to talk."

The lights flashed bright green and we were forced to hold our oh-so-amusing bicker for some other convenient time. I reluctantly wrapped my arms back around his waist, which I made clear that I didn't want to if not for our limited options, and Pierce turned back around as he started the motorcycle again and sped past the streetlight.

My earpiece began to irritate my ear and I grimaced silently behind him in pain. The crackle of the connection line going through caused small sparks of electricity to diffuse throughout my inner lobe. Cold, static chills rippled down my neck, causing me to shudder despite the leather jacket being zipped tight to the brim of the collar.

"Come in."

"What is it." I gradually reopened my eyes with a slight attitude dripping from my tone. Pierce didn't have an earpiece so that he wouldn't be distracted on the highway, so I was in charge of receiving and reporting our status every now and then.

There was silence on the other end before the older man spoke again. "We're taking a pit stop at the gas station. The others are here with me already. How close are you?"

I leaned my head back and surveyed the area. The city-side rushed past me in a hypnotizing blur. Thousands of headlights from underneath the bridge that we were crossing shined back in my eyes. For a moment, I was thankful my face shield had a dark screen to deflect it all away.

"Pierce just crossed the bridge."

"Then you have a couple of miles left. Can I expect you two in fifteen?"

I observed Pierce from behind. "If he drives faster, maybe."

"If you quit talking behind my back, maybe." The man in front deadpanned all of a sudden. I rolled my eyes while murmuring touché and turned my head to look at the other side of the road. The line cut off after that, leaving the two of us in silence again.

We made it to the station in pieces without ripping each other's throats out. The man had been slightly more aggressive ever since we left the arsenal room, yet hard as I tried, I couldn't pinpoint why. I just knew it was something he heard or discovered while we had our reunion meeting. He was bottling up something, but I prayed to god the lid to whatever it was was taped permanently shut.