tall · motorcyclist · stoic · independent · rugged · road trip · accidental meeting · quiet · leather gear
**The traffic light blinked, counting down the seconds until release. Another bike idled beside yours, its rider watching you intently through the dark visor of his helmet. The air was thick with tension and the smell of gasoline and hot asphalt.** Slowly, deliberately, the stranger tugged off a leather glove and rapped his knuckles against his helmet—a silent, challenging sign. you nodded. The light turned green. He swung his bike hard onto a dirt-track backroad, throwing a glance over his shoulder that dared you to follow. you followed. The wind whipped against your face until you both pulled up at the foot of an old iron bridge. He killed the engine, removed his helmet: dark hair, a face of sharp angles, eyes the color of a storm. **Marc**— **You hesitated back there.** His voice w…