Chapter 5

Cassandra walked around Isaac's bike, running her fingertips along the sleek red aluminum frame. Isaac grimaced. He'd have to make sure to get those fingerprints off when he got home. She came back over to stand by Isaac and knelt down to inspect the engine.

Cassandra gave a low whistle and glanced up at Isaac with a smile. "Very very nice. Yamaha?"

Isaac couldn't help but beam. He loved his bike. Jack didn't know what he was missing, cooped up in that big truck of his. "Yeah, FZ1. I just bought it a couple of weeks ago. You know something about bikes?"

She shook her head and stood back up. "Just a little. Sam, much to my mom's disapproval I might add, let's me help her out with hers sometimes. It gives us something to do together."

Isaac crossed his arms and glanced away uneasily, focusing on a large hawk wheeling around overhead. It wasn't that he still had any issues with Sam, but she was just a subject he'd prefer not hearing much about. "What makes you think I know Sam?" He asked finally, glancing at her with a raised eyebrow.

Cassandra rolled her eyes. "Please, if you know Jack then you know Sam. Why weren't you at the wedding? You are related to Jack right?"

Isaac nodded and chuckled. Way to go Jack. Jack and Sam, that actually made him feel better. He was glad they'd finally overcome their stubbornness. He alone knew how much Sam really meant to Jack. It was reassuring that Jack was living his life well, a life that Isaac had considered his before he had known the truth about himself. He wondered what the wedding had been like and then quickly banished those thoughts. That was not a road he belonged on. Be happy for them and move on. He looked at Cassandra and found himself imagining, what had she looked like at the wedding in a lovely satin gown, all made up. No, that was almost as bad.

He walked over and unhooked the helmet from the back of the bike and tossed it to Cassandra, trying not to look at her. He wasn't sure how he was going to explain this, or why he was going to. She caught the helmet and looked at him, trying to catch his attention. Seeing that he wasn't going to look at her, she grabbed his shoulder and forced him to look.

"You sure you're ok to drive? You don't look so good, Isaac," she said softly. She gave his arm what she meant to be a compassionate squeeze but was merely awkward for him.

"Maybe you should just go back," he replied.

Her face fell, and she withdrew her hand from his arm. "Maybe you should make up your mind. Did you want to talk or not?"

He slid onto the bike and stuck the keys in. He looked at her and motioned for her to get on behind him.

"Where's yours?" She asked, glancing curiously at the bike for another helmet.

"Don't really like 'em that much," he replied with a shrug.

"Ah," she said with a smirk. "You one of those guys who's too tough for helmets?"

Isaac tried to suppress a chuckle, this was still too weird. "Something like that."

Cassandra slid the helmet on and climbed on behind him. Her body spooned smoothly up against his, and she wrapped her arms tightly around his stomach.

Isaac's face went pale when he felts her body pressed against him and her arms around him. Maybe this wasn't a good idea after all. Damn it, since when are you this indecisive.

"You know, Sam's a hell of a lot tougher than you, and she wears a helmet," she said matter-of-factly.

Isaac just shook his head and kicked the bike into gear, speeding out of the parking lot. He quickly came to the exit where he was stopped at the checkpoint.

"What's the problem?" Isaac asked as a soldier approached him.

"You're both supposed to wearing helmets," he replied, gesturing to Isaac.

"Well, I've only got one, and I don't share well," Isaac replied. "Not really a people person like that."

The soldier shook his head and groaned. "Are you both cadets? I'm going to have to report you both."

Isaac frowned. "I'm not a cadet, and she didn't do anything."

"If she's a cadet she knows the rules and shouldn't have accepted a ride," the soldier replied.

"For God's sake," Isaac snapped.

The soldier eyed him curiously.

"Calm down. I don't need to get in trouble," Cassandra whispered into his ear, though he could barely make it out through the helmet.

"Can I see your ids please?" The soldier said, pulling an ink pen from his pocket.

"Yeah, fine," Isaac sighed. He pulled out his wallet and flipped through a few ids and then handed the selected one to the soldier.

"Yours too," he said, gesturing to Cassandra with his pen. He glanced at Isaac's id and then started writing on his clipboard. He quickly glanced back at the id and then at Isaac.

Isaac gave a superior smile. "That's it. Just forget you saw us, Soldier."

The soldier stepped back and started to raise his hand in a salute.

Isaac deftly grabbed the soldier's wrist. "Don't salute. Just go back over there to your little toll booth." He grabbed his id off the clipboard.

"Yes, Sir," the soldier said humbly and walked away.

"My hero," she teased and squeezed him tighter, eliciting a low moan from him.

He tried to move a little farther forward on the seat, to create some distance of at least a couple inches between them, but it didn't really work.

She asked as he began to drive away from the checkpoint. "What'd you show him?"

"Just my id," he replied.

"Well, not your cadet id. Since you apparently aren't a cadet. He seemed scared of you," she said uncertainly.

Isaac chuckled. "Yeah, sure, you bet… I, uh, mean, yes, it did appear that way."

"Well, as long as it makes sense to one of us," she muttered.