Heavy Hogs MC

by Elias Taylor

  At an hour to midnight, Tristen wandered over to where the boombox was blaring, and a crowd of bikers were getting rowdy.

  A twist of worry spiked his gut when he saw Kayla. She wasn’t just a little too tipsy anymore. She was wasted. She kept laughing too loud at whatever anyone said, and she was very unsteady on her feet.

  The blare of the music as well as the flickering and smoke from the bonfire seemed to be disorienting her. And she continued to take huge gulps of the punch.

  Tristen knew in his gut that she had been unaware of the alcohol. He just knew it.

  A surge of anger coursed through him. Why hadn’t anyone else picked up on how much she was drinking? They all knew Kayla. If anyone had thought about it for five seconds, they would have realized that Kayla never drank or stayed late at these events, and her drunken state tonight was suspect.

  Then again, maybe that was part of the problem. Everyone knew of Kayla, but she wasn’t super close with anyone in the club. They all just thought this was funny. Quiet and serious Kayla getting drunk was a laugh to them.

  Tristen wondered if he should intervene. It wasn’t like he was the boss of Kayla, and she might get mad if he pulled her away.

  Then again, Kayla was going to be upset no matter what the next morning, given the hangover she was guaranteed to wake up with.

  Kayla whirled in an attempt to dance and ended up colliding with Tim, a biker who was about twenty-two. Tim was a few years younger and was thrilled to grab the beautiful Kayla Carpenter around the waist.

  “Woops,” Kayla said.

  Her stumble had sloshed half of her punch out of the cup.

  “Lemme grab you some more,” Tim slurred.

  Tristen gritted his teeth as Tim thrust another full cup into Kayla’s hand. Tim was an idiot and not sober himself. The guy was young, but he should know better. No matter what, Tristen was going to pass a word onto the club leaders to give Tim a talking to on the subject of endangering and taking advantage of women.

  “Oh my god, I love this song!” Kayla shrieked.

  Before Tristen knew it, Kayla had launched herself up onto the picnic table and started to dance to the pop song. Everyone else cheered and clapped.

  She was actually a pretty good dancer. Something had happened to her jacket, so she was just in a cropped tank top and her high-waisted jeans. Her hips swayed and writhed in sensual figure eights, and the firelight flickered over her bare shoulders.

  Tim ogled her in open admiration, but Tristen rolled his eyes. Kayla had a great body, there was no doubt about that, but there was nothing exciting about a girl who was so drunk she had lost a part of herself. There was nothing wrong with dancing on tables, but Tristen knew it was something Kayla would never do. It wasn’t her style.

  Kayla lurched for a moment, and Tristen panicked. He was certain she was about to fall off the table. Then she regained her balance and continued to dance.

  It was time to put a stop to this. Tristen made a beeline for the table.

  He wasn’t sure what he was going to do, but he knew he needed to help out a friend.

  Chapter Five: Juice

  Kayla tasted fruit juice and smoke. And something else that she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

  She tipped her head back as she whirled atop the picnic table and marvelled at the inky black of the sky.

  She didn’t understand how it was dark already. She didn’t know when her parents had disappeared. It felt like only an hour had passed, but everyone was acting like it was so much later. The flickering from the bonfire was making her head spin.

  And she didn’t know why she was so hot and thirsty. She had been heating up all night, and nothing seemed to help, no matter how much of the fruit juice she chugged.

  In the very back of her mind, Kayla realized that maybe she wouldn’t feel so heated if she stopped dancing. But for some reason, that practical thought wasn’t having any actual effect on her actions.

  At least she was having fun. Kayla couldn’t remember the last time she had gotten this excited about a song, or when she had ever danced with such reckless abandon.

  She was aware of the crowd of bikers, many of whom she didn’t know very well, laughing and clapping, but Kayla didn’t care about them. At that moment, she only cared about how good it felt to let go of her over-analyzing and just feel the rhythm of a song.

  Kayla shrieked and swung her hips back and forth in a dance move she didn’t even think she knew how to do. She swayed dangerously to one side and felt her body tipping, but right at the last minute, she found her balance and saved herself. Her dancing was very rusty if she was having this much trouble staying upright.

  She turned and grinned. Right below her was Tristen Knox.

  Handsome and funny, Kayla should have been avoiding him like the plague. He was way too charming to be good for her.

  And yet, all Kayla wanted was to get closer to him.

  To her delight, he reached up and tapped her knee.

  “Hey, maybe hop down from there,” he said.

  His tone was low and even, a stark contrast from the shrieks and guffaws coming from everyone else at the party.

  “No,” Kayla said. She tossed Tristen a mischievous grin and pulled her leg away from his hand. “I like it up here!”

  The song hit its final chorus, and Kayla threw her arms out and whirled in a dizzying circle. Her face was flushed all over, and one strap of her tank top was slipping down over her shoulder, but Kayla didn’t care. She felt amazing. She felt like the coolest girl at the party. She wondered if Tristen thought she was the coolest girl at the party, and the idea made her giggle.

  When she completed the circle, she was looking down at Tristen. He was still there, gazing up at her.

  “Why don’t you come up here and join me?” Kayla asked.

  She tossed her long hair over one shoulder and gave him a sultry smile. She had no idea where her boldness was coming from, but she went with it. She even extended her hand towards Tristen.

  “Come have some fun,” Kayla said.

  Tristen took her hand, but he didn’t step up onto the table. Instead he tugged gently so she had to lean down towards him. Kayla crouched down. The song was ending anyway, but she was sure the next one would be just as good for dancing.

  While Tristen edged closer towards her, Kayla grabbed her drink from where it sat on the edge of the table. She was so thirsty.

  “Kayla,” Tristen whispered.

  Kayla’s heart started to flutter. His mouth was mere inches from her cheek. It struck her that they had never been this close. Maybe Tristen was feeling just as bold as she was tonight.

  Her glee waned at his next words.

  “You’re drunk,” Tristen said. “I think you should come down now.”

  Kayla scoffed and rolled her eyes. She tugged her hand out of his, but she remained crouching. Standing back up seemed a little daunting at the moment.

  “You’re crazy, I am not drunk,” she hissed. “I haven’t had anything to drink.”

  Even as she denied it, Kayla noticed the world was spinning. Her words came out slurred, no matter how much she tried to focus. She squinted down at her drink, then looked up in alarm at Tristen.

  The edges of his mouth were twitching oddly. Kayla realized he was holding back a chuckle as he raised his eyebrows.

  “What’s so funny?” Kayla asked.

  Her voice didn’t even sound like her own. It sounded like the girls in the bar bathrooms at two in the morning, who needed their friends’ to hold their hair back for them. Panic started to rise in Kayla’s chest.

  “That punch is for adults only,” Tristen said. “And you’ve been drinking it like water.”

  “Oh my god,” Kayla whimpered.

  Kayla felt a blush of embarrassment spread across her entire face. The reality of her situation dawned on her, and the truth made her sick to her stomach. Or rather, the hard liquor in the punch she had been chugging was making her stomach heave.

&nbs
p; She was such an idiot. It wasn’t fruit juice in her cup, it was jungle juice. Strong jungle juice. Bikers didn’t make it any other way. Even though she never stayed late at these parties, Kayla should have known that. She was an adult. She was a twenty-five-year-old career woman, not a high school girl at her first party.

  It had seriously tasted just like Kool-Aid. Why had Kayla not even questioned what was in it? It’s not like she lived under a rock. The sweeter and fruitier a drink, the easier it was to hide the liquor. She knew that.

  She knew all that, and she had still thrown back cup after cup.

  Kayla blanched as she tried to remember just how much she had consumed. Three cups? Four? Even more than that?

  Kayla felt her eyes go bigger and bigger as she replayed the last few hours. Or what she could remember from the last few hours. She hadn’t lost all her inhibitions, alcohol had just blurred all her common sense.

  She was up on a table, for crying out loud. How had she not suspect her judgment was impaired?

  The other bikers were going to be talking about what an awful dancer Kayla was for weeks to come. Her parents might even hear about it.

  Kayla wanted to cry. She didn’t know what to do next. She wanted water, but she had no idea where to get it. She supposed she had to get home, but she couldn’t drive. And she wouldn’t be able to show her face at another party. It was mortifying.

  Alcohol made her stupid. She couldn’t even figure out how to get off the table without causing a scene. The faces of everyone except for Tristen were becoming blurry and out of focus.

  Kayla wobbled and took a step, only for her foot to land on nothing but air. Kayla pinwheeled her arms and gasped as she started to fall off the table.

  In the millisecond during her fall, Kayla accepted the fact that she was that girl. She was going to become the laughing stock of the party. For months, maybe even years, everyone in the biker club was going to talk about how Kayla Carpenter had made a fool of herself because she was too clueless to realize that the punch was spiked.

  As she fell in her drunken state, Kayla figured the best she could hope for was to hit her head so she could be unconscious for the rest of this awful night.

  Then her torso collided with Tristen’s wide chest. She felt his strong arms snake around her waist before guiding her gently to the ground.

  Kayla blinked up at him. This was still embarrassing. But also, she would be lying if she were to say she had never thought what it would be like to be held by Tristen Knox. She knew nothing would ever happen between them, it was just an idle crush. And if she did want to pursue something with him, this would not be the ideal starting point.

  Even so, she was glad it was him catching her and not one of the other biker guys. She would never be able to look Tristen in the eye after this scene, but at least she sort of trusted him. She knew him better than the other bikers anyway.

  Too bad he was going to be steering clear from her for the foreseeable future. He was probably so turned off by her overdrinking. He was embarrassed for her, that’s why he had tried to get her off the table.

  Kayla’s feet found the ground, but she was still unsteady. Tristen kept one arm around her shoulders. Kayla knew she should be ashamed at what a mess she was, but mostly she was grateful for his help.

  Then she registered the flash of a camera. Kayla whipped her head around to look at Tim as he hooted with ecstasy.

  “Yo, I got that whole fall on film!” Tim cried. “That was hilarious, I’m definitely posting this on my Instagram story.”

  Tim held up his phone and started to replay a video for his buddies. Everyone crowded around and laughed. They were drunk too, Kayla realized. Their laughter wasn’t real, it was amplified by the alcohol.

  The shadows from the fire flickered over Tim’s face, making him look like some villain in a children’s fairy tale.

  In an instant, Kayla’s drunken stupor was momentarily drowned out by a wave of fury. She pushed Tristen’s arms aside and glared daggers at Tim.

  “Delete that,” Kayla said. “Delete it now.”

  She didn’t have the patience or the finesse to say please or try coaxing; she just knew that she needed that video to be erased from Tim’s phone.

  Kayla had seen firsthand what a dubious social media presence could do to someone’s career. She had helped out during hiring season at the firm, and in this day and age, the Facebook and Instagram accounts were perused right after a resume. Companies wanted to make sure that the person they hired was sensible enough to keep private things off the internet. Anyone who was lackadaisical or sloppy on social media was not going to be a good accountant. Drunk photos or inappropriate outfits were a major red flag.

  Kayla looked at Tim with fear radiating from her every pore. He could destroy her entire career, all her carefully laid plans, with one tap of his finger.

  “No way,” Tim said with a cocky grin. “My followers love my party content.”

  Kayla heard Tristen snort behind her at Tim’s mention of his “followers,” but she saw nothing funny in the situation.

  If anyone from her firm saw that video, there would be consequences. The firm was a small, family business, she could very well get fired for indecent behavior. Even if she didn’t get fired, there would be a warning, and the judgment would follow her. The promotions would stop. The older managers would tell themselves that’s what came from promoting a young woman. You got party girls in the office. They would tell Kayla they had moved her up too soon. She wasn’t ready for too much responsibility if getting wasted on the weekend was how she handled the additional stress.

  And if she tried to switch firms or apply for another job, that video would just be another detriment. Applying for a job was difficult enough. Some industries were so competitive, any little thing could knock you out of the race. And that video wasn’t a little thing. It indicated a major lack of judgment and indiscretion on Kayla’s part.

  Who wanted the girl chugging jungle juice and dancing on a table to do their taxes?

  The internet was forever. Even if Tim didn’t tag her, she couldn’t rest easy. She would never be able to forget that video of her acting like an idiot was out there. Sooner or later, things like that caught up to people. They always did.

  Tears pricked at Kayla’s eyes as she lunged forward.

  “Delete it now,” Kayla said. “I’m serious.”

  Tristen grabbed her arm.

  “Whoah, calm down,” he said.

  “I will not calm down,” Kayla said. “It’s not OK, I want him to delete it.”

  “Jeez, I was just starting to think you were kinda chill,” Tim said. “Don’t get all prudish and uptight again, have another drink.”

  Kayla tried to escape Tristen’s grip so she could claw Tim’s eyes out, but Tristen held her with firm hands.

  Tim turned, and Kayla twisted once more in Tristen’s arms.

  “Let me go,” Kayla hissed. “He can not post that, I have to stop him.”

  “Ok, I admire your tenacity, but Tim is, like, three times your size,” Tristen said. “How exactly are you going to take him?”

  Kayla wanted to scream in frustration. Tristen had a point, she knew, but in her addled state, she couldn’t plan the best course of action. She just knew she had to get that video off Tim’s phone. It could never see the light of day.

  “Please, please let me go,” Kayla said. “I’m begging you.”

  Tristen didn’t release Kayla, and she felt herself sway on her feet again. She didn’t know how much longer she could hold it together. She had never drank this much, she didn’t know how her body would continue to react to the liquor.

  Tristen’s face softened.

  “Please,” Kayla said.

  Chapter Six: Favor

  Tristen was positive that the last thing Kayla needed to do was pick a fight with Tim. She looked like she could barely stay standing, much less wrestle a phone away from a big biker.

  “Let me just get you some water,
ok?” Tristen asked.

  Kayla pressed her lips together and stomped her foot. She was pissed off. Tristen felt bad for her, but he also had to admit she was kind of cute when she was mad. Her cheeks were bright red, and her dark eyebrows were furrowed in an expression that made Tristen glad she was furious at Tim and not him.

  Tim was being a world-class jerk, but Tristen didn’t quite get what the problem was. Everyone had embarrassing photos online. It wasn’t like she was naked. Yes, she was drunk, but she wasn’t a bad dancer. In different circumstances, he might have taken her up on her invitation to join her.

  He was glad she off the table though. It was so clear that she had been clueless about the alcohol content in the punch. Tristen had wanted to laugh at first, but when he saw Kayla’s reaction of mortification and anger, he had started to feel bad. He wished he had figured out a way to let her know about the punch earlier.

  “I don’t want water,” Kayla said. “Let go of me.”

  Tristen knew that if he released his grip around her waist, Kayla was either going to fall over or charge after Tim, or some combination of both.

  “Hey, I know you don’t feel great, but this really isn’t a big deal,” Tristen said. “Let’s just sit down.”

  He started to guide Kayla towards a bench on the other side of the bonfire, on the outskirts of the party.

  “No,” Kayla said.

  She stood stock-still and made her knees go limp, essentially turning herself into deadweight.

  “Stop telling me what to do,” she said.

  “It’s just a dumb video,” Tristen said.

  Kayla turned her blazing eyes on Tristen with such ferocity that he leaned back.

  “It is not just a video,” Kayla said. “It’s a liability that could ruin my entire career.”