A Biker's Tale

Chapter 3 - How To Mend A Broken Heart

Rick Castle looks at his Triumph motorcycle, the one he used all thru college as his primary means of transportation. He and Kyra had even used it for a trip to Atlantic City when he finally got some money from one of his early novels and decided to celebrate. The bike had been a gift from his mother Martha. It was a reward for graduating from high school and getting a partial scholarship to NYU. But Rick would need to work part time to cover the rest of his tuition and other expenses. It meant commuting between home, job, and school, and the subway proved too untimely, too awkward and cumbersome to fit the timing of his work, school, home routine.

So Martha had purchased for him a motorcycle that had been offered from one of her wealthy producers. It seems the man had also bought the bike for his son's use during college. But after a while, the son lost interest in it and told his father a small car better fit his needs. So the father bought his son a VW Beetle and the motorcycle stood dormant in the garage. It was two years old but had barely 600 miles on it. Martha got it for a ridiculously low price, the father just wanting to get rid of it and free up space in the garage.

Rick had learned to ride from his friends who owned bikes. They had taught him and he used their bikes when they were available. Rick had even driven a friend's bike for the motorcycle driving test for his bike license. He also learned to care for those bikes by helping his friends with maintenance and repairs. So the bike gifted by his mother had been useful during college and allowed Rick not to take the subway for transportation to and from work, school and home. It was also convenient as he could weave in and out of traffic to get to where he was headed, something you could not do in a car. Rick also loved the fact that when Kyra was his passenger, she had to hang on tight to him from the back as they rode. Rick had even made some of the rides scarier than it should be so that Kyra would hold on to him tighter as he drove.

When Rick broke up with Kyra, he put the bike in storage. It held too many memories for him to simply sell it outright, so he stashed it. When finally he was a millionaire from his writings and purchased his Hampton summer home, he moved it there. He had decided that one day he would take that dream motorcycle trip he had on his bucket list. Castle had fantasized about a bike safari on the ALCAN (Alaskan-Canadian) highway to Fairbanks and back. Now with his latest Nikki novel delivered, he had some time till the next novel was due. He could now make that motor trip having ended his 'research' with Beckett.

He needed to get away from it all. He required time to heal his broken heart, the one that Kate had so callously trampled. The last three years with her, she had paraded different men before him showing that she would not be one of his conquests. So he had watch her as she rekindled a past relationship with Sorensen, broke that off, and then took up with Demming, only to breakup with Tom and then hookup with Josh. During those relationships, he had remained hopeful that he would get his chance with Kate. He had thought they were growing closer and that one day she would see in him those feelings he had for her, but it was not to be.

There was no way he could ever be with her, not after witnessing Josh coming out of her bedroom that one morning with a smug look on his face. That look had clearly been a sign from Josh to him. Josh was clearly marking his territory with Kate and wanted Rick to know it. With that look Josh sent Rick a message that he was not going anywhere with Kate, at least as far as Josh was concerned. Still Castle had continued to be hopeful.

It turns out that perhaps it was wishful thinking on his part and after three years of following her, Rick was now done following Kate. Rick needed to forget her and move on with his life. He had been drinking while here, not to excess, but enough to dull the emotional pain he is feeling. His current routine had made him forget to call his daughter regularly, as he normally did, so he makes a mental note to call her later. Rick takes a last shot of the whiskey he had been drinking and then puts away the bottle.

Castle pulls a folder from his File Cabinet labeled, Motor Trip. Rick had done some planning on the matter. It had seemed more like acting out a fantasy than an actual work in progress. He had planned the trip from NYC, thru Chicago, and mid west northern states, into Canada, thru Yukon Territory to Fairbanks using the ALCAN part of the way. The trip had a window of opportunity as it needed to be in the summer months, from May to August, to avoid the cold weather and snow. If the trip took up took too long, the return trip could be very iffy. Should that happen, he planned to ship his bike back from Fairbanks to NYC, and then do a train ride back to the city.

Rick would use a combination of KOA (Kamp Grounds Of America) sites, free public camping sites, such as National parks, BLM sites and the likes, and hotels, on his way to and from Fairbanks. He had even looked at towing a mobile storage cart made just for him to carry some of his gear. Rick had come up with a unique design for one: the cover of which opened up and extended to make an elevated platform for a one man tent. The tent also custom made for the unit. That allowed him safe elevated sleeping, free from rains and crawling wild life. It also took mere minutes to set up the one man tent as it easily popped out from the trailer cover for camping. This instead of needing to assemble a camping tent on the ground, which could have its base wet during rain events and difficult at night to setup. Although during his trip the region was in 24/7 daylight. This storage/tent unit made setup fast and easy.

The trailer was large enough to carry camp cooking gear, spare parts and tools, extra gas in bladders, as well as the pop up tent. For his extra clothing and food he would use bike saddles on the side rails of his rear rack to which an additional storage pack could be attached on top of that rack. He would carry minimum cash, use his credit cards primarily, or EBT's on his cell if that was available. For backup, he would bring travelers checks.

He had taken to reading personal stories of other bikers who had completed the trip, so Rick felt confident about what he was getting into; reading the personal accounts had provided lessons learned for his trip. Rick would bring his Triumph to the shop tomorrow to have them check it out for his planned trip. Castle was sure the trip would remove all thoughts and longing for Beckett from his system,… or so he had hoped!

Back At the 12th

Kate was at her desk going over the autopsy report on their latest homicide victim. She had read the same line over and over again, finding it hard to concentrate. Her mind had been on Castle, as it had been in the past days. She still had no word back from Martha to confirm her anxiety on Rick. When she had first met Castle, knowing of his reputation as a playboy, she had avoided being a conquest. This despite her attraction to him. Aside from being tall and handsome, his intellect and quick wit had drawn her to him. But she was not about to foster that attraction. She continued to ignore him, his many innuendo's, and her growing physical attraction for him. He had been an annoying boyish man, a nine-year old on a sugar rush, and her ever present tag-a-long.

Then something happened to soften her heart towards him. It was when she met his daughter and saw the affectionate and caring relationship he had with Alexis. She also saw how much he cared for his mother, despite how they acted in front of her. Their feigned annoyance with one another was just their way of showing their love for each other. Kate now saw that the handsome rich playboy author of his public image was far from his actual character when in the presence of family and friends.

But she had been hurt when Castle took up with Ellie Monroe, and then Natalie Rose when she had come on to him. Kate saw how, despite their breakup, Kyra Blaine still had fond memories and affections for him. What surprised Kate the most was that Kyra was a real woman, and it made her realize that Rick could appeal to a genuine woman; and not just to the plastic air head blondes he supposedly had dated and bedded.

But she was still in denial of those feelings for Rick when he had invited her to his Hampton home for a Memorial Day Weekend. She had put him off on the invite. By the time she had reconsidered and decided to take him up on the offer, she had been replaced by Gina, his ex-wife number two.

She had broken it off with Demming in hopes the weekend would be the start of a relationship with Rick. But he had rejected her so painfully with Gina. Stung by what had happened with ,Kate was still getting over that hurt when she met Josh. Tall, dark, handsome, and a surgeon, no less, who wore bike leathers and drove a Harley; Josh had just enough of the bad boy in him to fuel her libido. She had gone for bad boys in her high school and college days. She recalls Rogan O'Leary from her college days and how that was such a dangerous but exciting liaison. Rogan had been great in bed and Josh had reminded her of him, especially after that first night with Josh when they had slept together. Josh was just the right balm to cure her aching heart and her attraction was instant and intense.

But as their union continued, her thoughts were often of Rick, even after sharing a night with Josh. One night after they had sex, she lay in bed next to Josh still in her glow from their physical intimacy. Then Rick came to her mind. She had wondered if Rick was as good in bed as Josh? Whether Rick lived up to his image of the Playboy lover! She had been so turned on by those thoughts of Rick that in the morning when they both were awake, she immediately jumped Josh. She had ridden him lustfully. Josh was happy to accommodate her, but surprised at how feisty she had been that morning.

Oh denial and longing….. thy name be Kate! But now…. she may have lost Castle. The man she had taken for granted that would always be there for her. Kate knew that if Martha confirmed her suspicions, Kate needed to find a way to bring Rick back into her life. She now would have to be the one who came to Rick and convince him of her true feelings for him. It would have been so much easier had she admitted her feelings for him in the first place. But pride, her idea of not being another Castle conquest, had played heavily on her to not reveal those affections. Now she regretted giving into her pride.