“Oh, I’ll have the same as them,” Micky says in a daze, still unable to peel his eyes away from her.
She chuckles lightly and writes in her little notebook before walking away. With no surprise Micky’s eyes follow her, or more like her ass until she disappears out the back through to the kitchen.
Even though she isn’t in sight anymore Micky is frozen and has lost all interest in why we are here.
I reach across the table and snap my fingers in his face.
“Hey, sorry. Did you see her?” he asks stupidly, then turns to Oak, “Please tell me you’re not hitting that? Is she the reason you’re here? Oh God, I think I’m in love,” he babbles on.
I lean back and rest my arm across the back of the booth. Oak laughs at him and for a split second I hope he hasn’t got a thing going with Flo the waitress because I’d hate to see the look on Micky’s face if he hears he doesn’t have a chance with her.
“It’s ok Mick, you have her. She and no one else is why I’m here. My uncle died a few months ago. I didn’t find out until his lawyer found me to say he’s left me everything.”
The only family I’ve met of Oak’s, apart from his parents, is his Uncle Mitch and he only visited once a year, if that.
“What’s everything?” Micky asks.
“A house, land, trucks, you have to see it to believe it.”
“So that’s why you wanted us out here?” I ask.
“Yeah, I need some help fixing it up so I can sell it.”
It’s a good thing I’m not working, it means I have ample amounts of time to help my friend out.
Maybe I can get Michael to ride out and help, it would keep him out of the bars and out of trouble for a while.
Flo comes back over with our coffee and I gulp it down in two mouthfuls, relishing the burn down my throat. She pours me another and throws Micky her own flirty smile before swaying her hips and moving on to a family who just came through the door.
“So are you guys in?” Oak asks.
“Sure,” I say.
“I’m in, especially if we get to eat here and she’s working,” Micky says, nodding towards Flo.
Flo soon brings our orders over and no surprise Micky follows her back to the counter and eats there while she busies herself pretending to work when her boss comes out of the kitchen.
I didn’t realize how hungry I was until the eggs hit my stomach, come to think of it, I can’t remember the last time I ate.
“How have you been? Have you found any work yet?” Oak asks, snapping me back to the present.
I look at my friend and feel an ounce of jealousy towards him. We left the Marines at the same time and while I’ve found it more difficult to let go of the routines that came from training and the way we were trained to be, Oak seems to be letting it go more easily. His hair has already grown out, near enough touching the top of his ears. Whereas I still wear the buzz cut. It feels familiar and to be honest I feel like it is who I am now and at the moment I have to hold on to that before I slip completely.
“I’m ok, still haven’t got any work yet so my time is yours,” I smile. He can see through the forced action though so I carry on and change the direction of where he wants to head, “What did your uncle do with all that land? Did he run a business from there that you could take over?”
“Nah, it all looks abandoned. Only the kitchen in the main house looks lived in. I don’t have the first clue what he did there, whenever he used to visit he would only talk with my dad. I find it strange he left anything to me,” Oak admits.
“However close you were, you were still family.”
He nods and returns to his food. It doesn’t take long for us to finish eating and to have drained the coffee pot dry before we are throwing money on the table and making to leave.
“Hey, Mick. You coming?” Oak calls out when it begins to look like Micky has forgotten who he was here with in the first place.
He holds his hand up telling us he will be two minutes without turning to face us so we go to wait outside.
Feeling more revived after three cups of coffee and my first real meal in days I yank the door open a little harder than usual. Little did I know that at the same time as I was opening the door I didn’t see someone was going to push it open from the other side. Before I knew what had happened a bundle of blonde haired curls were tangled in my arms. What I saw when the curls stood on her own and righted herself was the purest form of natural beauty a man could lay eyes on. She took one step back and opened the closeness between us somewhat. Her eyes are so green, it instantly reminds me of blades of fresh grass shining brilliantly in the summer sun. When they look back at me I see embarrassment as well as the bright red blush creeping along her prominent cheekbones.
I’m so transfixed on her I barely hear her speaking until she puts her hand on my arm and repeats herself.
“I’m so sorry, are you okay?” she asks.
I look down at her hand, it is warm against my skin and it feels good. She quickly pulls away when I don’t answer and I watch her look to Oak standing behind me. Great, she must think I’m some sort of mute or something.
“I’m fine, it was my fault,” I quickly shoot out, “Are you okay?”
Her eyes widen when I speak and I can’t help smiling.
“I’m cool, no harm done,” she smiles back.
She is more slender than the waitress who served us and the one Micky currently has giggling behind us. Her wrists are covered in bangles and they tinkle as she stores her keys in her purse. When she looks back to me she is still smiling and I find I am too.
“Ray! This is the third time you’ve been late this week, am I gonna have to fire you again?”
I turn around to find the cook from the kitchen yelling at her, he must own the place too.
Her face slightly scrunches up and she shrugs her shoulders.
“I have to go,” she murmurs.
I’m unable to move. I don’t want to move. I could stand here all day.
“She needs to get past, man. You’re in her way,” Oak chuckles in my ear.
I can feel my face burn from my stupidity and I quickly move to the side, she slips past me and quickly dumps her bag behind the counter.
Oak pushes me through the door and Micky follows us out soon after.
“I’m in love,” he says, wistfully.
“You only just met her,” I point out.
“I don’t know, you were looking at the blonde the same way. Maybe they put something in the coffee out here?” Oak laughs.
“Shut up man, I doubt I’ll ever see her again.”
“I’m seeing Flo again, I’m taking her out tonight,” Micky grins.
“Christ, you can’t stop yourself.”
Before anyone else has something to say I rev my bike and impatiently wait on Oak to show us the way to the old Johnson place that he’s inherited.
The further we ride out of town, the more I feel a sense of calm wash over me. No heavy traffic to weave in and out of. The only noise you can hear is the roar of our bikes on the open road. The longer we ride following Oak, the less I think about life. My mind becomes an empty void leaving only myself, my bike and the road beneath my wheels.
The road into the Old Johnson place is secluded and when it comes into view an exciting numbness runs through me. The next part of my life has no decisions to be made and I am looking forward to it.
My first impression is that there is more work to be done than Oak let on and it makes the whole thing more appealing to me.
Oak parks his bike up by the house and Micky and I follow suit.
“This is it,” Oak tells us, holding his arms out pointing everywhere.
“I hope you guys are ready to get your hands dirty,” he grins, as we take it all in.
I smile, slowly nodding my head. I’m more than ready to be out of touch for a while.
CHAPTER THREE
Michael
I stretch my hand that has been curled round the hand
le of my bike for the last two hours and the stinging pain brings my hand back to life. The cuts and grazes chaff against my riding gloves and reminds me that my brother will have disappointment written all over his face as soon as he sees them.
I haven’t seen Mark since the night at the bar where he got all up in my business preaching to find control and then went and done the opposite right before my eyes. That was a couple of weeks ago.
I’ve always seen my brother as a machine. Nothing has ever been able to touch him and if anyone got that close he would strike out and take the problem down, just like the night in the bar. I know he wants revenge for our parents and I’m willing to wait for him to find the strength to follow through with it. He’s on a mission to be a better person and as many times as I’ve tried to tell him he’s a good man, he won’t hear any of it. He left me a note where to find him for the next few weeks and wrote he hoped I would come out and see him. After what happened last night, I think it’s a good idea to get away for a while and what better to lay low then in the middle nowhere.
From the directions Mark left me I find the old Johnson place easy enough and I ride through the gate that’s half hanging off. I see my brother and his friends getting ready to leave.
I stay on my bike and keep the engine going. Quickly taking a look around while Mark walks towards me I’m surprised at the size of the place. The main house is set back from the gate and surrounding it are outbuildings that I first mistook for barns.
“You came,” Mark smiles, looking genuinely pleased I am here.
He comes closer and his smile fades when he sees the bruises around my eye and jaw and is replaced with the disappointment I knew to expect.
“It’s really not what you think,” I tell him.
“We’re just off to get something to eat in town, do you want to come with us?” he asks, not probing any further into the bruises covering my face.
“Sure.”
I could do with something to eat. I watch him walk back to his bike and wait for them to pass me before I follow them back onto the road.
If I had known the ride would be another forty minutes I would have stayed back at the house and got my head down. My ass is numb and my hand is killing me let alone my eye that is dying to close.
The only part of the ride that gets me through is the contrasting scenery around us, different from being at home. The roads are wide and completely empty.
The diner sits on the edge of town so I’m not sure how the rest of town looks. At the moment, I couldn’t give a shit.
After we’ve all parked up I go to follow the guys into the diner but Mark pulls my arm and stops in front of me.
“What happened to you?” he asks, pointing to my face, “I haven’t seen you this battered since we were kids.”
“This is what I got for trying to control myself and walking away,” I tell him.
He takes a step back in shock when he hears the honesty in my voice and I hate the look of regret that soon follows.
“Don’t act like I never listen,” I spit.
“I’m just surprised you let them get that close.”
“I didn’t have much choice, in the time I wasted trying to control myself two more of his friends joined the party. Don’t look so worried though big brother, with a little help from the beer bottle I was drinking from and my blade I fucked them up more than they did me.”
If I wasn’t mistaken I could swear I saw warm pride flash in his eyes.
“Is that why you’re here now? You need somewhere to lay low?”
“I prefer to think of it as visiting my brother but if that’s what it looks like, I’m not going to contradict it,” I shrug.
“At least I get to keep an eye on you out here,” he smiles, and pulls me into a hug.
His reaction isn’t what I was expecting at all. Where is the lecture about fighting? When I ask him this, he replies, “You tried walking away, what you did was in self-defence. If anyone asks, you were with me last night helping us at the Johnson place.”
“Thanks brother.”
I slap him on the back and he releases me. I follow behind him into the diner to find Micky and Oak already sitting at a table but what I find interesting is Micky has a chick perched on his lap eating up every word he is whispering in her ear.
“Who’s she?” I ask Mark, before we reach the table.
“That’s Flo, they’ve been dating for the last couple of weeks. He swears he’s going to marry her and admits he loves the shit out of her already,” he replies.
I snort, who the hell wants to marry a chick they’ve known for two weeks? I have known Micky for as long as I can remember. He, Mark and Oak have been friends since I was a baby and with them being six years older than me, they always got stuck watching me whenever my mom let me out the house to play.
“Jesus man, you been fighting again?” Oak asks, standing to greet me.
Micky barely lifts his chin in my direction keeping his attention on the chick. A tremor of irritation flows through me at his ignorance until I catch pure light wiping the table down across the diner from us.
“Who is she?” I ask anyone who is listening, “No wonder you don’t mind being out here,” I add.
Locks of long, blonde hair falls down her back tied in band, she isn’t smiling but she looks happy. She’s beautiful.
I haven’t taken my eyes off of her but I still manage to catch the look that Oak gives Mark and Mark shake his head. Watching the waitress walking over to us digging around in her apron pocket for a pen stops me from jumping on them for answers.
“Hey guys, what can I get for you today?”
God damn, her voice is light and bounces around my ears like a musical tune. When she smiles I can barely breathe. She is like no other woman I’ve met. For starters, she isn’t drunk and begging for attention. Yeah, they’re the kind of chicks I like. Good time girls who never want to know my name. I get what I want between their legs and gives us both what we seek. After we’ve finished we go our separate ways. This girl though, I want to tell her my name, hell, I want to tell her every detail about me. Then I want to bend her over one of these tables and see if she is just as beautiful between her legs as her face is. Fuck that, I can already guess she is.
I watch her every movement and the moment Mark gives her his order, her face lights up. I shoot my eyes to my brother and find he looks softer as he asks for coffee and a burger special.
I should have known she was too good to be true, of course my brother has already set his sights on her.
When she looks to me I simply ask for coffee and she walks away.
I turn my chair to face Mark and immediately have to use the control he keeps trying to hammer into me.
“Is she yours?” I ask him.
“He wishes,” Oak snorts.
“She’s free then?”
I don’t look at Oak, I keep my eyes on Mark, waiting and watching every facial tick he has to decipher how it is. He remains quiet.
“All they do is smile at each other, it’s quite funny actually,” Oak adds.
I sit back in my chair and since Mark hasn’t said any different, I decide she’s fair game until my brother either pulls his head from his ass or she’s in my bed.
Sticking around here isn’t going to be as bad as I first thought it might be now. She radiates freshness and light, something that doesn’t normally get my attention but her pure beauty has captured me and I intend on delving into finding out more about her.
“Will you stop fuckin’ staring at her,” Mark snaps.
“She ain’t yours so why do you give a shit?” I retaliate.
Before he can argue back with me, a fat, greasy middle aged guy hollers from the kitchen hatch.
“Rayna, Flo, I can’t afford to fire you both today, so please get to work,” he yells.
Hearing names ignites something inside me. I wonder which one is her name and hearing someone so dirty in comparison to her hollering at her, I want to rip his
nasty lips off his face.
“Who does he think he’s yelling at?”
From what I can see, the diner is empty apart from us, what else is there for them to do until our food is ready.
“That’s Hank, he owns the place. Flo says he’s harmless and even though he constantly fires them he always takes them back cause no one else wants to work all the way out here. She doesn’t want me to say anything so just leave it,” Micky grunts.
“I take it that was Flo on your lap?”
Micky nods, grinning, “She’s going to be my wife one day.”
“Fuckin’ hell, what have I been missing out here?” I laugh.
Mark fills me in on what they have working on at the Johnson place while they wait for their food. According to Oak, if they fix it up good enough he will get top dollar when he sells it.
When Rayna, I think I just fell in love with that name, brings our orders over I give her my best smile and she returns hers. Mark sighs and shakes his head. If he weren’t such a pussy he wouldn’t have competition now.
I lose interest in their conversation until Micky mentions earning cash for throwing parties.
“What are you talking about?” I ask, suddenly interested.
Cash and parties are both something I love, put the two together and it has my full attention.
“I’ve been trying to convince Oak that we could earn big money if he used his land,” Micky tells me.
“How would you earn?”
Micky soon gets into it and tells me that with the amount of land Oak has around the back of the house he could charge people to use it. Not one big party but loads of mini parties, each group that turned up would have enough space to set up for the weekend. They would bring their own drinks and music, all Oak would have to provide is the land.”
“Sounds like a winner to me, people would pay for the privacy too. The amount of parties being cut short by the cops is rising, being out here they wouldn’t be bothering anyone, which means no cops,” I add.
“What do you think, Mark?”
Oak always refers to my brother in everything he does. It’s his land he shouldn’t have to ask Mark what he thinks.
Biker Born: The Lost Souls MC Series (The Lost Souls Series Book 4) Page 2