"Stay away from her, Stag" was all she said as she tried to walk past me into the clubhouse.
"Going to need a bit more than that, Doc," I chuckled, knowing exactly who and what she was talking about. Why are we repeating last night all the fuck over again?
"The girl, Nala. Stay away from her," she stopped by the open door. Anyone inside would be able to hear her, closing the gap, she came towards me instead. Giving her the privacy on attempting to tell me what to do with my life.
"Sorry?" Standing up, I towered over her small frame. "What makes you think you can tell me what to do?"
"Listen, that girl has a lot going on in her life, and she doesn't need you dragging her into this mess of a life. You should never have brought her here last night, Stag".
"It ain't that bad," shrugging my shoulders and sucking in my cigarette smoke. It was all I knew. This life that my Uncle had given me, it was all I had. Don't get me wrong I knew it wasn't a great life, but it was as stable as it was ever going to be. We didn't take shit from anyone, but at the same time, we didn't deal with the evil shit that the other clubs and gangs did. We kept the peace in the streets of our town. Stopped an all-out war with others. Sometimes blood got split, like today, but it was not an everyday occurrence.
"She is too young for you, Stag. Now you listen, and you listen to me good. Leave her alone she is way to god damned young and innocent for you to stick your size twelves into her life. She needs to deal with her own demons before you bring a whole new load down on her, and trust me, she will find out about that soon enough, I am sure".
"What the hell do you mean by that doc?"
"It's not my story to tell," looking down, she was avoiding eye contact at all costs. What did she know?
"Doc, in the nicest way, what I get up to in my life outside of this club ain't got fuck all to do with you, hell what I do in this club has got nothing to do with you either. So, get back in your place and be Daryl's old lady and keep your fucking nose out of my shit".
"Watch who you're calling old, I'm only five years older than you!” at that statement, I couldn't help but smirk at her.
"Doc,", sighing I took a deep drag from my cigarette. Biting the inside of my lip before blowing the smoke out.
"You're going to destroy her," throwing my middle finger and rolling my eyes as she added, "Or she will ruin you! Either way, it will not go the way you think it will".
"Doc," I repeated my warning, feeling the anger in me deflate a little.
"You're not like the other guys in this crew, Ash, you and I both know that. If circumstances were any different, you wouldn't even be in the state, let alone in this crew"
She was pushing my buttons, and she knew it.
"Ash, you need to really think about what you're doing with her. I have a feeling that what we know about what the mother of her's has done, well, that is probably just the tip of the ice burg,"
So she thought that too?
Damn.
"Your Uncle would want you to be careful, not just for her sake but for yours as well."
The trouble with her warning, though, is that I didn't think, hell, I knew that I couldn't stay away from Peaches now, even if I wanted to.
Pulling into the high school parking lot, I knew that my instinct had to be right. She had to have gone to school this morning. That stupid small ass car was still parked at the back of the lot, exactly where I had left it last night. The pastel blue color was shining like bird shit amongst the sea of the other privileged teenagers' cars. Motherfuckers.
A bell sounded inside of the building, sending shivers down my spine. You would never be able to pay me enough money to go back to high school. Not that I ever went when I was supposed to either, but ya' know.
Bursting open, the doors let out a sea of students. My eyes scanned the crowd, but there was no sign of her pale red hair.
Screeching tires pulled my attention back to the lot to see the same god damned white Range Rover park across Peaches blue one car, blocking it in. The mother was here.
The sight of her car alone made me want to crash into the fucking thing, then when the woman stepped out, my blood began to boil. Her mom, with the same shade of light red hair that would have given it away if I hadn't known exactly who she was anyway. However, unlike her natural beauty of a daughter, she had a face that looked like it was full of that plastic shit and a fuck tone of makeup on top of that. Why the hell women felt the need to do that to themselves was something I don't think I would ever understand. I guess some people would think the same about the ink that covered my skin.
Turning back to the entrance, my eyes stopped dead on her, Peaches. She was with that friend of hers, the one with the wicked attitude.
Harley came storming out of the school at the exact same moment, coming straight for me. Great.
"What are you doing here?" His nervous eyes bounced around the student body around us. The cousin I had spent every weekend with was nothing like what I was these days. No, he was a god damned teacher. He had made something of himself, outside of the MC. The very same MC he vowed to never have anything to do with, ever again. Yet, for some reason, he had moved back to this town.
"I'm not here for you," pulling out a cigarette, I pressed it against my lips, but one look from him and a roll of my eyes, I dropped it back into the packet. No smoking on school property.
"Ash?" Swallowing nervously, as one of his colleagues threw me a dirty look, "Look, you can tell my dad that I am not interested, still."
"Dude, I. Am. Not. Here. For. You"
"Then why are you on school property, Ashby?"
Keeping my lips closed, my eyes wandered back to her at the exact moment she looked at me. Blue and green eyes connecting for a solid ten seconds before she walked away, straight to the white Range Rover blocking in her stupidly small car.
"Ashby?" He was becoming impatient with me being here and not giving him any answers as to why I was at his precious little school.
"Calm down there, cus', or you're going to end up all stressed out and lose that beautiful head of hair you have."
When he stayed silent, a smirk took over my face.
"Explain" was all he said, just one fucking word.
"Seriously, Har'?"
"You can't just turn up here, like this"
"Well, looks like I can and have"
"Seriously, Ash, go. Now" gritting his teeth, eyes narrowing at me.
"See yah 'round Har'" turning my back to him and throwing a leg over my bike, my eyes cast back over at her, again.
What is wrong with me? Fuck sake.
Not liking what I was seeing one bit. I couldn't stop myself from going straight to her, ripping her away from that mother who was spewing acid-filled words at Peaches. Well, not on my fucking watch.
And now, well now I was driving around with this girl, this woman on the back of my hog.
Fucking Peaches was taking over every god damned thought I was having, and now she was on the back of my bike.
What the fuck.
We rode around in what felt like circles for a while before he pulled over, right outside of the same diner we had eaten at last night. I could almost taste those pancakes, making my mouth water a little.
"You okay?" Standing on unsteady legs, I nodded in response to his question. Not trusting any words to come out of my mouth right now. That bike ride had been one of the scariest moments of my life. How did people find this fun?
"Peaches?"
"I'm fine."
At this, he scoffed, "I may be a motherfucking biker Peaches, but even I know when a woman says that they're fine, they fucking ain't."
"You swear too much," I tell him, pulling the black helmet off my head. Hair sticking in every direction, I'm sure.
"Fucking sue me."
Unable to stop the smile on my lips as he laughed at me.
"You hungry?" He asked, seeing me glance over at the diner again.
"No," shaking my head, "I need to get my car."
"You wanna go back?"
"She wouldn't have stuck around" I knew that she wouldn't, and I also knew that she was not driving around looking for me either. Everything in me wanted to go home and find out what is going on with the whole Brandon issue. They were all delusional. It was over, and no matter what anyone else's opinion was, that would not change.
"You going home?"
"No," the word was out of my mouth before I even really registered his question. Where the hell was, I going to go?
"Clubhouse?"
"No, I am…. Claire's parents are letting me stay" lies. Even if they wanted me too, there was no room to swing a god damned cat in their two-bedroom apartment. Her brother, Luke, already slept on the couch as it was.
"Right," his eyes watched every movement I made. He knew I was lying but didn't say a word. Those knowing blue eyes just burned into me, almost daring me to tell him that it was a lie.
"Get on."
When I hesitated, he laughed, "You didn't like it?"
"It was fine," wincing at the word he hated, I swallowed an invisible lump in my throat. "But I am not getting on one again in a rush" the entire ride, all I could think about was crashing and dying. How did he ride this thing for fun?
The laugh that fell from his lips was so loud, and as people crossed the street to avoid us, I glared up at him.
"Get the fuck on"
"No"
"What are you going to do, fly back to the high school?"
"No, I can walk," I mean, it might take me a little while, but I managed to get to school this morning just fine.
His eyes ran the length of my body, sending shivers down my spine at the same time as flames began to erupt in my chest.
"Yeah, not going to happen" The way he was looking at me, it was as though I was something to eat, and I liked it. Unlike when anyone else had ever looked at me like, well, actually, no one had ever looked at me the way he just had. Ever.
"Excuse you?"
"You ain't walking around with that on," he pointed at my short cheer skirt. "Alone."
"It's still daylight."
"Get the fuck on, before I fucking do it myself."
He wouldn't, would he?
When he made a move towards me, my hands shot up in surrender. Fine.
I swear he was driving faster now that he knew I had been a little freaked out. Okay, that was a lie, I was more than a little freaked out. If my mom had not have been standing right there when he came over back in the school lot, I probably would have refused to get on the damned thing in the first place.
Taking a sharp corner, the bike went low on one side, and I couldn't help but scream out in panic, and I swear this man just laughed at me because of it. Jerk.
Finally, pulling up back outside of the high school, my car was one of the only ones left in the lot. Everyone had left, apart from the football team and the cheerleaders. Who would no doubt be getting ready for tonight's game. One that I would be avoiding at all costs.
The biggest question, though, where the hell was, I going to go?
Idling my car on the street outside of the house, the place I called home. Well, once called home, now it didn't feel like it was my home anymore. I had been surprised to see my mom's car was not in the driveway when I pulled up a few moments ago. Where was she?
Maybe she expected me to turn up at the game back at the high school and cheer for the boy I had broken up with. Was she going to wait for me to show my face so she could confront me all over again? After the little performance Ashby had put on in the parking lot earlier, I also knew that I would be in for the third degree about why I knew one of the bikers from The Unholy Confessions. Not only that, but also why I had gotten on the back of his motorcycle and driven off, away from her.
Well, she would be sorely mistaken if she thought I was going anywhere near that place outside of school hours right now. We only had a few weeks left, and then I would be out of there anyway. Brandon was probably right beside her this very second. I could just imagine how it would go, the words that would be said about me, said to me if I was there. God.
Taking a deep breath and inching the car slowly up the driveway, my heart rate was accelerating. I was still suffering from the stupid pills' side effects that she had been lacing my food with. With the way, my luck was going, I was going to end up with a heart condition or something. I wouldn't be surprised.
This had to be a bad idea, to come here alone. Hell, to come here at all now did not feel like a good idea.
What if she came home?
What would I do?
Maybe I should leave and wait until she goes on one of her spa days. I am sure she is due on one this weekend with her girlfriends.
Claire would come, help me. Damn it, if she did, she would be questioning where I was going, where I was staying. I had never been able to lie to my best friend. She always saw straight through it. Claire was like an instant bullshit detector. Which was probably a reason why both my mom and Brandon didn't like her. I couldn't just lie to her and say I was still staying at the clubhouse. She knew I had stayed their last night though. Maybe that is what I should actually do, go back to the clubhouse. To Ashby.
The need to shower and a clean change of clothes was overwhelming. There was no way my stomach could take spending the entire weekend in this outfit if I had to wait for when I knew that mom was not going to come crashing in at any given moment. Taking a deep breath, my eyes kept scanning the street, expecting to see her white car coming towards me at any second.
All I saw was Mrs. Norton across the street watering her roses in her dressing gown, in her own little world, and completely unaware of anyone else.
She never did turn up, though, and as I packed after a long and hot shower, I couldn't help but feel a little sad about that thought. Where had she gone?
Stuffing clothes and a few belongings in a duffle bag that I wanted to keep, my eyes fell on the one and only snow globe I had from my Grandmother. The one with a happy family throwing snowballs at each other. She had given it to me a week before she was taken away from us. Memories of that pain had tears filling my eyes instantly. I miss you. Running my fingers over the glass orb, I couldn't stop myself from picking it up, wrapping it in one of my sweaters, and hiding it at the bottom of one of the bags.
Three duffle bags full of a few items I couldn't leave here. Just three bags were all I would have in the world because everything in me knew that there was no way I could come back to this house again.
Living with the woman who had been drugging my smoothies and god knows what else with appetite suppressants made me feel sick to the pit of my stomach. Even more, than they had made me feel.
Sucking in a shaky breath as my cell phone chimed on the desk as it charged, I ignored it. Knowing that it was likely Claire, checking in and wanting to meet up this weekend so we could talk in more detail about what had happened after she had left me at the hospital when mom had arrived. I couldn't think of anything I would rather do less. Well, there were many things actually, so I guess that was kind of a lie.
Slowly scanning the room that had been mine since the very day I had been born. That feeling of being lost felt even more significant than ever before, heavier almost.
Pulling my cell off the charger and sending a quick text back to Claire, I found myself once again sitting in my small car, with no idea where I was going to spend the night, let alone the rest of my life.
Anyone who says camping is fun has blatantly never slept in a car overnight. Well, sleeping may be an exaggeration because I had not managed to get even a minute of shut eye, and it was almost midnight.
For some reason, I'd had the bright idea to go back to the school and park at the back, where the teachers did, long after the game had ended, and the parking lot had emptied.
It was away from where people would be able to see me, and that seemed like a good idea at the time. There was no chance of anyone seeing me here If they happened to drive passed the school.
As long as I was gone before the Saturday GED test students came, no one would ever know I had been here.
However, the branches of the trees moving in the breeze were throwing shadows over my car. It felt like I was in a horror movie, and someone was going to jump out, holding a knife or something as soon as I closed my eyes.
Tugging my sweater closer to my chin, I couldn't help the shuddering breath that fell from my lips. I was cold, freezing cold. It was practically summer. It should not be feeling this cold, even if it was midnight.
Peaches: MC Romance (The Unholy Confessions Book 1) Page 8