Free Weightless by Kandi Steiner Page A

black helmet.
    “I’m not too far from here,” he said, nodding up the street. “Just follow me and flash your lights if I’m going too fast. Cool?”
    “Cool,” I replied, but it barely croaked out. I smiled to try to cover the weakness in my voice. For a moment, I thought Rhodes crooked the tiniest smile, but he pulled the helmet the rest of the way down and I couldn’t be sure.
    I threw my bag in my trunk and slipped in behind the steering wheel, my knuckles turning white from the ferocious grip I had on it. I was going to Rhodes’ house. His house . I tried to breathe steadily, but I was pretty sure I sounded more like a horse than anything.
    Deep breaths, Natalie. Deep breaths.
    Yeah. Easier said than done.

 
     
    We pulled into a small apartment complex less than ten minutes later. His place was in the exact opposite direction of my house from the club and even though I was only a half hour from home, it seemed like I was in a different country.
    When I stepped out of the Rover, I locked the doors and stared up at the chipping blue paint on the wood-paneled building. The upper apartments had small balconies that I could see some residents sitting on. They were staring at me like I didn’t belong, their eyes hard and cold. I crossed my arms over my chest and walked to Rhodes just as he hopped off his bike. Surprisingly, he started pushing it up on the sidewalk toward the building.
    “Don’t you need to park that?”
    “I am,” he responded simply. I didn’t understand until he unlocked the bottom floor apartment door on the back right side of the building, pushed the bike inside, and leaned it up on the kickstand just inside the small foyer at the entrance. He was parking it — just not outside.
    It was dark inside the apartment and when Rhodes flicked on the light, I blinked my eyes until they adjusted. It was small, that was for sure, but I was surprised by how it looked on the inside. It was clean, nice. Simple — but nice. We were standing in the small foyer with basic, white-tiled floor. It led right into a living room with beige Berber carpet and one dark brown leather couch facing a flat screen mounted on the far wall. There was an entertainment center filled with cookbooks and movies and a simple coffee table — wood with a glass center. There were no photos, no paintings, no quote embellishments — just a clean white wall, furniture, and the TV.
    I followed Rhodes further into the space as he stashed his helmet in the hall closet and caught a view of the kitchen. It was pretty large, considering the size of the apartment as a whole, and it looked like Rhodes had renovated it from the original setting. The countertops looked like new granite and he had installed a hanging rack above the stove to hang pots, pans, and utensils. The sink had a fancy faucet that looked like something Christina would want installed in our kitchen. All the appliances were a dark gray and seemed brand new and there was one cabinet above the fridge that had the cabinet doors removed. The shelves housed at least a dozen more cookbooks. And one lone apron hung on a small hook just beside the pantry.
    Rhodes ran a hand through his still-damp hair as he watched me look around. “You want something to drink?”
    My eyes found his but dropped a little to note the way his shirt was still sticking to his abdomen. “Just water is fine.”
    He nodded, stepping into the kitchen long enough to grab a glass and fill it with ice and water from the fridge. Setting it down on the counter in front of me, he lifted a thumb and pointed to the room down the hall behind him. “I just need to shower real quick. You can too, if you want.”
    I swallowed hard, my eyes practically bulging from my head. And for the first time — Rhodes laughed.
    Well, he chuckled.
    “I meant when I’m done, Natalie.”
    “I know,” I said quickly. I totally didn’t know. “I will. When you’re done. I have extra clothes.” Why did I say that?
    He