Wreck My World

by Victoria Ashley

  Before anyone can open their mouths to speak, I rush out the door and down the hall, needing to escape. My head is a complete mess. I quickly straddle my bike and take off, swerving to avoid hitting a truck passing me.

  My heart is pounding so hard right now that my chest physically hurts. But I keep riding fast anyway, wanting to get as far away from Easton as I possibly can.

  I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but it’s like I’m more drawn to him now than I ever was in the past, and I can’t handle that right now. It’s utterly impossible to not look at him. I’m slowly unraveling.

  Once I start to believe I’ve put some distance between us, I look over to see Easton’s Ducati heading right for me, as if he’s coming to block me off.

  He’s not wearing a helmet, which instantly has me stopping so that he will. The thought of him crashing because of me has a sick feeling rolling inside the pit of my belly.

  “Are you stupid?” I jump off my bike and throw my helmet at him in anger, before shoving him. “Don’t ever get on that bike again without wearing one of these. Ever. Do you hear me?” My voice is so panicked all he can do is jump off his bike and throw his arms around me to comfort me.

  He holds me for a minute, before finally speaking against my ear. “You don’t need to worry about me, Kota. I get by just fine without my helmet when I need to.”

  I shove him away from me, angry at the thought of him driving without protection. People die every day from motorcycle accidents. I can’t lose him. “Easton, you could get yourself killed.”

  “And you could’ve gotten yourself killed the night you tried taking off on your bike drunk!” he yells at me. “The thought fucking scared me to death. Do you not get that?” He cups my face and forces me to look up at him. “I can’t fucking lose you. Not ever. Do you understand that? Do you?” He yells louder when I don’t respond.

  “Yes,” I say softly, looking into his eyes to see just how worried he truly looks. “I understand.”

  “Good.” He runs his thumb over my bottom lip, as if it’s a natural thing to do. “If you promise me you’ll never take off on your bike again drunk or angry, I will promise to always wear my helmet for you. Deal?”

  “Deal.” Before I can even make sense of what I’m doing, my hands are running through his messy brown hair as if I have the right to touch him this way.

  But I don’t.

  So, I pull my hands away and take a step back, before I can do anything else stupid. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I did that,” I say, walking back over to my bike.

  “Dammit.” He growls, picking up my helmet, and then grabs my waist to stop me from straddling my bike. He places my hand to his chest, allowing me to feel that it’s beating just as fast as mine is right now. “Don’t be sorry for touching me, or wanting to touch me. Ever.”

  He hands me my helmet and backs away. I watch as he straddles his bike, before running his hands through his hair and tugging on it. “Now, let’s slowly ride back to the shop and take a moment to breathe. You’re gonna need some energy for after work, so you need to chill out.”

  “Why?”

  He revs his engine and grins over at me. “Because you’re still helping me wash my baby. You didn’t think you were getting out of that, did you?”

  “I was hoping you were joking,” I mumble. “But I suppose since you did sort of let me drive it…”

  “Yeah… sort of is right.”

  With that he takes off, and I do too.

  The whole ride back to the shop all I can think about is how good it felt to touch his hair, with no cares in the world of who might be watching.

  If it felt that good just running my hands through his hair, I can’t even begin to imagine how good it must feel to run my hands over his entire body. I have no doubt that my body would overheat and burst into flames.

  And I thought getting through the workday was hard before this…

  Dakota

  FOURTEEN YEARS AGO…

  I’m sitting in my room, listening to music, when I look out the window to see Easton walking his dirt bike through the front lawn. I can’t help but smile now that he’s here.

  I’ve been bored the entire day because all Quinn wants to do is play with her new camera she got for her eleventh birthday last week and Roman has been too busy riding his skateboard to even know I exist.

  It’s like I’m talking to myself around here and it’s so annoying. Everyone is always too busy to play.

  But now Easton is here, and I know he’ll make time for me, because he always does. He may be twelve and me only ten, but I’m pretty sure he’s my best friend.

  Smiling, I rush out of my room and down the stairs, past mom, who is cooking dinner in the kitchen.

  “Whoa! Slow down before you fall and break your neck, young lady.” Mom yells from in front of the stove, before poking her head around the corner. “What has you running around like a wild child?”

  “Easton’s here! Can I go outside and play with him?”

  I already know the answer will be yes, because she always says yes when Easton is here. “Just stay close to Easton and listen for dinner. I’ll set Easton’s spot so he can join us.”

  “Yes, mother. We’re probably not leaving anyway. He walked his dirt bike here.”

  Before she can say anything else to slow me down, I rush out the front door and around the house to where Easton has his bike in the garage.

  “Hey, Kota,” he says without even looking to see that it’s me.

  “How did you know it was me?”

  He lets out a small laugh, before smiling big at me. “Because I can always count on you to keep me company while I work on my bike. I like it.”

  I take a seat on the old bucket Dad keeps in the garage and watch as Easton goes through the toolbox. “How long before you’re done with your bike?”

  “I think I’m pretty close to being done,” he says excitedly. “It’ll be my first running dirt bike. How cool is that?”

  “I don’t know. I think it’s pretty cool, but Dad says I’m too young to have one. He says I’ll probably hurt myself.”

  “Maybe,” he says, while pulling something off his bike and looking it over. “I think you’re too young for one too, but I can take you for a ride on mine when I get it running.”

  I smile so big at the idea of getting to ride on Easton’s dirt bike that my cheeks hurt. “Really?”

  “I promise. How about this?” He stops what he’s doing to look at me. He’s all dirty, and even his hair has dirt and grease in it. He’s the cutest boy I’ve ever seen. “If you help me finish my bike, I’ll let you be the first person to get a ride on it. I’ll teach you everything you need to know about working on bikes. Would you like that?”

  “You can teach me that stuff?” I ask in wonder. “I thought only boys could work on bikes.”

  “Heck no!” He waves me over to join him. “Girls can do anything a boy can do, Kota. Don’t believe what others tell you. They can be so stupid.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Would I ever lie to you?”

  I shake my head. “I don’t think so.”

  “I wouldn’t, because you mean too much to me.”

  My heart pounds faster. “I’m glad you’re here, Easton.”

  He smiles and hands me some kind of tool. “Me too.”

  It takes me a little while before I start to understand the things Easton is showing me, but I’m pretty sure I’m doing a good job, because he keeps smiling.

  Even when I mess up and drop the tools, he just laughs and helps me. Easton may just be the best teacher ever. Even better than the teachers I have at school, because even they get mad at me sometimes when I don’t understand at first.

  I think I’m going to like this whole working on dirt bikes thing…

  I hate that we have to stop working on Easton’s bike, because I’m having so much fun learning the things he knows, but when Mom calls us for dinner, I know we have to go inside.
/>   “Hey, dude. I didn’t even know you were in garage.” Roman takes a seat at the table and pats the chair beside him. “Sit here.”

  “I’ve already set up his spot next to me,” Quinn argues. “He sat next to you last time. Not fair.”

  There are three chairs on each side of the table. I don’t get why Roman and Quinn are always fighting over who gets to sit next to Easton. They could both sit next to him, but I don’t think they like to share him. That’s why I never sit next to him.

  “Kids.” My dad’s voice is deep. It’s always deep when he’s annoyed with us. “Don’t fight over Easton. He’ll sit next to Quinn since that’s where she set up his plate. If you want to sit next to him too then you can just have him sit in the middle.”

  Roman rolls his eyes but doesn’t say anything. He knows better than to argue with Dad, because last time he took his skateboard away for a whole week. I’m pretty sure he cried. “Forget it. I’ll just sit on the other side of the table.”

  “Come on, Kota,” Easton says, ignoring my brother and sister fighting over him. “We need to wash our hands before dinner.”

  I follow Easton into the kitchen and he grabs the dish soap and squeezes some into my hands before he turns on the faucet water. The grease is hard to get off, so he helps me scrub it all off, before he washes his own hands.

  We’re in the middle of eating dinner when my dad smiles over at me from the side of the table he always sits at. “Did you learn a lot from Easton today? I noticed you guys working on his dirt bike.”

  “Yes!” I say excitedly, while spinning my spaghetti around my fork. “I think I want to work in your shop someday. Can I?”

  “You’re a girl,” Roman complains. “Girls don’t work on motorcycles.”

  “She can if she wants to,” Easton points out. “I’m going to teach her everything she needs to know. She’ll be better than the boys.”

  My dad just laughs and digs into his food. “We’ll see. You’ve still got a long time before you’re old enough.”

  We’re all eating and talking, but I notice when Quinn moves her chair closer to Easton’s, and for some reason I don’t like it. She keeps smiling at him and taking his picture, as if he’s her boyfriend, even though Roman told her he’s not.

  Easton is a grade ahead of her in school, and I notice a lot of girls turn red when he’s around. Just like Quinn is right now. I’m not sure what that means, but I don’t like it.

  I huff and go back to eating my dinner before it gets cold. I don’t want to think about other girls wanting to play with Easton.

  Once we’re done eating, Easton and Roman help Mom with the dishes, while me and Quinn wipe off the dinner table and chairs.

  “Pretty soon I’ll be old enough to date, and Roman won’t be able to tell me I can’t have Easton as my boyfriend anymore. He’s so annoying.”

  “Maybe Easton doesn’t want to be your boyfriend.” I know it’s mean of me to say, but I did anyway. “He never said he wanted to be.”

  “Shut up, Dakota. He never said he didn’t want to be. You’re just young and don’t understand how it works yet.”

  “You’re only a year older than me, Quinn.” I shove the chair against the table and move on to the next one. “You shouldn’t date until you’re sixteen. That’s what Dad always says.”

  “Yeah, well, Blake is twelve and she has a boyfriend. So, when I’m twelve I can have a boyfriend too. Easton is here all the time and I think he’d make the perfect boyfriend.”

  “Whatever. I’m going to my room to listen to music.” I stomp my way into the kitchen and toss the rag into the sink.

  My mom gives me a stern look. “Don’t just toss that dirty rag into the sink and stomp away, young lady. Rinse it out and hang it over the faucet.”

  I do as I’m told, before walking past my brother and Easton, who both seem to be looking at me.

  Just as I’m about to walk up the steps, I feel a hand gently grab mine. “What’s wrong, Kota?”

  I shake my head. “I’m tired. I want to go to my room and listen to music.”

  “You don’t want to work on my bike anymore with me?”

  “I can take some pictures of you working on your bike if you want?” Quinn holds up her camera and smiles. “I don’t have any like that yet, and they’d look nice in a scrap book.”

  Easton keeps looking at me, waiting for me to answer him, even though Quinn is talking to him. “Kota?”

  “Maybe tomorrow.”

  “Okay, I’ll come back tomorrow and we can finish up. I don’t want to finish this without you now.”

  Before I can even say anything, Quinn is grabbing his hand and pulling him through the house.

  Ugh…

  Everyone in this house can be so annoying at times. I barely get a chance to hang out with Easton and I hate it.

  I wish we could just have one day to hang out without someone pulling him away, but I guess that’ll never happen.

  Not when your brother is his best friend and your sister wants him to be her boyfriend.

  Looks like I’ll always come last when it comes to Easton Crews…

  Easton

  The last thing I can do is concentrate when every damn time I look over at Dakota, that Reese guy is hanging close by, looking at her as if he wishes she were his.

  That’s not happening. Not ever.

  As long as I’m around, I better not see any guys put their hands on Dakota. The thought of another man’s hands on her perfect body has me chugging back another energy drink and working even harder than before to keep my mind distracted before I lose my shit.

  The only thing keeping me from exploding is the fact that Reese isn’t the type Dakota usually goes for, but what the hell do I know? A lot of things can change in three years. I’m just hoping her taste in guys doesn’t involve one of them.

  Working here is proving to be harder than I expected.

  I become hotter, the sweat pouring down faster, as I look across the room at the two of them. Being around her without being able to touch her is hard enough, but knowing that there’s another man wanting to touch her too, and can without judgement, really pisses me off.

  I’m still looking at Reese when he turns away from Dakota and notices me watching him. Instead of turning away, I make it as clear to him as possible that I’ll be watching his every move when it comes to her.

  He gives me a nervous look, but finishes his conversation with Dakota, before making his way back over to the project he’s been neglecting for the past twenty minutes.

  As soon as he’s no longer attached to her hip, I catch her looking my way every so often, just as she’s been doing since the second she stepped into the shop this morning.

  With the way everyone’s been so quiet around here all day, I have no doubt they’ve noticed us looking at each other too. I should give a shit what they all think, but I can’t seem to make myself.

  A part of me wants to believe that having Dakota as mine would be enough to ignore what everyone in this town thinks. That the dirty looks and judgement wouldn’t affect her, her family, or us.

  But I’m not stupid enough to believe that. So, when it comes to being around others, I need to control myself as much as possible.

  When it comes to being alone with Dakota—I’m not sure that’s a battle I can win, no matter how hard I fight.

  It’s nearly six now, and everyone including myself seems to be worn down, but I push past the exhaustion from being here since five this morning and finish my final project.

  Dakota has been done for a while now, so she’s been spending her time cleaning up and making sure no one else needs any help before she locks up for the day.

  “You sure you don’t want me to stick around until the doors are locked? I’ll stay back and help you clean up.”

  I flex my jaw over Reese’s offer to Dakota as I look him up and down, practically burning him with my glare. He doesn’t notice since he’s too busy paying attention to Dakota, but I can te
ll by the look on her face that she notices my displeasure.

  “I’m sure, Reese. I’ve got it, just like I do on most nights,” she answers him, but keeps her eyes on me as I stand up and yank my shirt off to wipe it over my face. “You can go now. I’ll just see you tomorrow.”

  As soon as I pull my shirt away from my face, I notice Reese looking in my direction with a small scowl.

  I offer him a cocky smirk and shove my shirt into the top of my back pocket, before I begin cleaning up my area.

  The Harley I was working on didn’t really need to be finished until tomorrow, but since I wasn’t ready to leave after we pushed everything out the door that needed to be done today, I used it as an excuse to stay longer and keep an eye on Dakota.

  It’s a good thing I did too, or else Dakota would’ve been left alone with pretty boy, doing who knows what.

  “You sure?” he pushes.

  “She’s sure.” I toss my dirty rag into the sink and look at him long and hard. “You can leave now.”

  He hesitates for a few short moments before saying goodbye to Dakota and taking off.

  He’s the last one to go other than me.

  “You can go too, you know. I can handle closing by myself. I have for years now.”

  I step up in her personal space and brush a loose strand of her hair behind her ear. “Oh, I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Oh yeah? And why is that?”

  “I’m following you home,” I answer immediately.

  I watch her throat bob up and down as she swallows and looks me over. “What for?”

  For some reason, I love that she seems nervous about me going to her house. It means she’s nervous to be alone with me, and I’m hoping with everything in me that it’s for the same reason I’m nervous to be alone with her.

  Because I want her and I’m afraid of losing control.

  “So you can help me wash my truck.” I flash her a playful smile. “I thought we already established that was happening. Don’t try and get out of it now. Not happening.”