Free The Heart Knows What the Heart Wants by Lori L. Clark Page B

inside his coat before zipping it up. Satisfied that he was sufficiently bundled, he went out to where his bike was parked and strapped on his helmet.
    He straddled the bike, pressed start, and the small cycle rumbled to life. He slowly let out the clutch and headed into Red Vale. Before he knew it, he found himself parked in his aunt's driveway. He climbed from the bike and trudged up the sidewalk toward the front porch. He dug inside his wallet for the spare key he kept there.
    The light was on in the parlor, so Shane stuck his head in to say hello to his aunt. He found her asleep. Chili Dog stirred beneath the blankets and crawled out to greet him. Shane gently nudged Neona awake.
    She blinked up at him and rubbed her eyes. "I must've fallen asleep." She yawned.
    "Really? I thought you always slept with your chin on your chest," he teased.
    "Aren't you the comedian tonight," she said. She reached for the book she'd been reading and pulled it back into her lap. "What are you doing here?"
    As he shrugged out of his coat, he told her, "It seemed like a great night for a motorcycle ride."
    "For an Eskimo, maybe," she scoffed. She watched him through worried eyes. "You okay?"
    Shane gave her a weary smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just figured since I'm going up to Hannibal with Star in the morning, I'd spend the night here. You don't mind, do you?"
    "Of course I don't mind. You're always welcome to stay, you know that, Shane," she said. "You can sleep upstairs in my room. Right after you take Chili Dog out to potty."
    Shane kissed Neona's cheek. "I can do that. See you tomorrow," he told her. He patted his leg and called to the dog, "Come on, Chili Dog, let's go outside." The small dog jumped off the bed, stretched, and darted toward the front door.
    Shane had stayed with Neona after the accident while his injuries healed. His leg had slowly gotten better, and most days the limp was barely noticeable. The memory demons that continued to invade his brain from time to time hadn't gone away completely, though they had become less frequent as the months passed. Getting off the chemicals had helped a lot with the nightmares.
    Shane knew the room at the end of the hall was the one reserved for long term guests, and he assumed that's where Star was sleeping. He went inside Neona's room at the top of the stairs and didn't bother to turn on the light. The dim glow from the streetlight outside the windows filtered through the curtains, and once his eyes adjusted to the darkened room, he sat down on the bed and tugged off his boots.
    Stripped of his clothes, he climbed between the cold sheets and breathed in their soothing lavender scent.
    The odor of raw gas was strong, sucking the air from his lungs. He felt woozy, and something was wrong with his leg. He knew he had to get away from the fumes, but every time he tried to move, excruciating pain shot through the entire right side of his body.
    With blurry vision, he tried to find something tangible to focus on. He twisted his head toward the empty passenger seat. Hadn't Lila been with him? Where was she? "Lila?" he groaned. He sputtered and gagged: the pain from his leg, along with the gasoline fumes were making him nauseated.
    Red and blue lights rotated, reflecting on the wet pavement. The sound of crunching metal had been deafening. Fragments of glass were scattered everywhere. Where the hell was Lila?
    "Shane? Can you hear me?" the disembodied voice asked him. "We're going to get you out, son, hang in there."
    He blacked out, and when he came to, he was being extricated from the twisted wreckage. He screamed in agony, begging for someone to do something to make the unbearable pain stop. When he caught sight of his shredded, blood soaked jeans and the mangled mess that was his right leg, he wanted to die.
    He was nearly incoherent, but not so out of it that he missed the sheet-covered body in the middle of the highway. "Lila..." he cried out. No, God no. There has to be some mistake.