by C L Green
Smiling, she nods to Luke and Emma and then surprises me by leaning over and pressing her lips close to my ear. In a barely audible whisper I hear the words, “Because you are. You just do not realize it yet.”
She then places a soft hand on my shoulder, gives it a squeeze, straightens, turns and heads toward the back of restaurant. I watch as she goes, stopping occasionally to greet a patron and ask them how their meal was. It is only after I finally watch her disappear through the swinging doors at the rear of the room that I finally shift my attention back to Emma and Luke. Both of whom are staring at me with knowing grins and sparkly eyes.
“What?” I ask innocently.
“She likes you,” Luke murmurs. “She’s looking for a new daughter-in-law. She hates the other one.”
Jesus.
Chapter Ten
One Punch
Feeling the bed shift behind me, I struggle to open my eyes. Squinting painfully, I focus across the dimly lit room to check the time on my new IPod player that is now sitting on Jake’s tallboy. Finding out that it’s just after eight in the morning and it’s also Sunday, I close my eyes and snuggle deeper into my pillow. In a muffled voice, I talk into my pillow, “Piss off Emma. Luke kept me up late last night trying to prove his point,” I lift one hand and make quotation marks in the air, “and I need a sleep in to recover.”
I feel the movement behind me stop abruptly. Then in a deep, scratchy, tired voice, “You’ve got to be fuckin’ shittin’ me.”
Fuck!
Jake.
Instantly alert, I snap my eyes open and bolt upright, turning my body to face him in the greyness of the room. “Jake…” I blurt loudly as my eyes come to rest on his face. My mind quickly registers that he looks tired. He’s got a few days stubble growing on his face and his eyes are puffy and swollen.
He starts shaking his head and raises a hand to scratch the stubble on his chin. “Fuck. I haven’t slept for two fuckin’ days and now I gotta go beat the shit outta my best friend?”
Huh?
He wants to go and beat up Luke? What the hell for? Last I heard playing pool wasn’t a punishable offense.
Fuck!
That can only mean one thing. He thinks I slept with Luke. And now he wants to beat shit out of him. That in itself speaks volumes. Maybe I was a bit off track with reasoning for his knock back the other night.
The words, “Oh my God,” roll breathily from my lips as I stare openmouthed at him. My brain sliding into a mini freeze as I register that Jake may be interested in me.
“I asked that fucker to keep you entertained last night and this is what happened? Even after I told him to keep his fuckin’ hands off you? I’m out the door for five fuckin’ minutes and he gets in there? Fuck.”
Blinking rapidly I stare dumbfounded as Jake continues to rub his chin and shake his head tiredly. He so has the wrong idea about last night.
Jesus Christ.
“Mother fucker,” he continues to mumble as he suddenly pushes off the bed. His abrupt movement snaps me back into action and I feel my brain unfreeze.
Yay, Jake likes me!
Another breathy, “Jake,” whooshes out of my mouth before I finally register that he is on the move. He’s already halfway across the room and I still haven’t had a chance to defend Luke or clarify the situation. I’m an idiot. Instead of acting like a sixteen year old and getting all excited, I should have nipped this in the bud straight up.
“Jake!” I yell a lot more loudly, flying into a panic. Ignoring me he grabs for the door handle without hesitation.
“No!” I yell again as he swings the door open. “It’s not what you think…” I blurt out as I watch him leave the room without a backwards glance.
Holy shit!
Throwing the covers back, I launch from the bed, ready to hit the ground running. Unfortunately this does not go to plan and I find my feet tangled in the bed sheet. With a squeal and then a loud thud, I am hurled forward onto the floor. My forehead connects with the hard floor and I am dazed for a few moments as pain shoots along my back and through my shoulder.
Fuck!
Wincing, I take a few moments to shake the confusion from my brain. Rubbing my forehead, I then untangle my feet from the sheet and jump up from the floor, all thoughts of pain gone. I have to find Jake and stop him doing what he thinks he needs to do.
Setting off at speed, I race through the door and down the hall. I then start weaving my way through the rooms to the communal room where I am sure I will now find Jake, fuming over this whole misunderstanding.
With my heart racing, I finally reach the communal room. Blurting, “He didn’t sleep with me,” as I come through the doorway, I jolt to a stop. The room is empty.
Where is he?
It is then that I hear the sounds of Harley pipes out the front of the shop and I realize I am too late. He’s already on his bike.
Shit!
Racing across the communal room, I fly through the door to the shop and start weaving my way through the piles of stock to the front of the shop. As I approach the front door, I see Jake flicking up the foot stand on his bike and pulling away.
“Jake!” I yell again. Either he doesn’t hear me over the roar of his bike or he chooses to ignore me because, without a glance back towards the shop, he roars out onto the street and takes off.
I finally make it to the front door only to find it locked.
Of course it’s locked, it’s Sunday.
Frantically fiddling with the locks, I finally manage to work out how to undo the lock and throw myself through the door and out on the street. It is then that I realize I am too late. Jake has disappeared and all I can hear is the sound of Harley pipes fading into the distance.
Shit.
Instantly deciding that I can’t just give up, I race back into the shop. After all they have both done for me, I can’t let this happen. Luke is the closest person I have to a friend besides Emma right now, and Jake… I’m still unsure how to define what I feel for him, but I know it’s more than friendship.
Weaving back through the stockpiles, I silently curse the disorder and mayhem that is Luke and Zane’s Harley Shop. Vowing that I definitely need to clean up around here, I make it to the back of the shop, push through the door and start running.
Flying through the communal room, I race through the adjoining rooms and head straight for Emma’s room. Slamming her door open, I hear Jambo screech in shock at the noise. “Quiet, bird!” I yell and with a small miracle, he appears to take me seriously. He shuts his beak and stares at me quietly from the perch in his cage, clearly offended.
I look across to see Emma laying on her front with her arms and legs spread out. She looks dead to the world and is still snoring. How she has managed to sleep soundly through me slamming open her bedroom door and then her parrot screeching at me, I don’t know.
Racing over to her, I grab her hand and start dragging her off the bed as I start yelling, “Get up! Emergency! Emergency! Red alert! Wake up!”
I watch as her eyes fly open in shock and then she squints groggily at me. “What the fuck Ari?”
By this stage I have dragged her almost fully off of the edge of her bed. My mind briefly registers that she is butt naked as I yell, “Get up! I need you to drive me somewhere. I need you to do that race car driver impersonation you do and get me somewhere fast. You need to dress. Right now!” I screech as I finally achieve me goal and drag her off her bed. Landing awkwardly she hits the floor with an, “Oof.”
“Jesus Christ Arianna. Where’s the fuckin’ fire?” She grumbles as she drags herself to a sitting position and runs her hand through her hair. My mind takes a little pause as I briefly consider how wrong it is to drag your best friend out of bed while she is nude. It then fires back up as I remember why I am doing this so I don’t even bother to wait to help her up. Yelling, “Luke’s house!” I run for the door and head back towards my room to find my phone. I need to ring Luke and warn him that Jake is on the way.<
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Heading straight to the tallboy in my room, I grab my new IPhone from its dock and quickly find Luke’s number in my contacts. Hitting send, it rings three times before I hear his deep husky voice answer. “Yeah?”
“It’s me, Arianna? Are you awake?” I blurt out quickly.
“I know it’s you Arianna, the phone tells me so. And yes, I’m awake. Now.” I hear him grumble in a gravelly, I’ve just woken up voice.
I note the sarcasm but continue anyway, “What’s your address?” I ask as I start making my way back to Emma’s room.
“Why?” He asks groggily as I hear him yawn loudly into the phone.
“Just give me your fucking address right now!” I screech into the phone as I arrive back at Emma’s room to find her gone. Spinning around frantically, I hear the toilet flush down the hall and so I start jogging towards the noise. She is exiting the toilet, as I get there.
She now has a shiny, pale pink, satin dressing gown on and I watch as she waves her car keys at me. She still looks half asleep, and she’s only wearing a dressing gown, but I don’t care. Nothing matters right now except that I have to get to Luke and Jake.
Grabbing her hand I start dragging her down the hall and back towards the communal room. “Fuck you’re a grumpy bitch first thing in the morning,” Luke rumbles in my ear. “Are you still pissed off that I was right about being able whip your ass at pool last night?”
“Address. Now, Luke,” I grind out as I drag Emma along beside me. We are now crossing the communal room and heading for the shop front. “I don’t have time to explain.”
Muttering under his breath, Luke gives me his street address. “I’ll be there shortly,” I announce as I hit the end button on my phone and finish the call.
Hitting the door to the shopfront, I drag Emma through and we start winding through the stockpiles again. “Fucking hell this is a mess,” I mutter as Emma follows me wordlessly shaking her head and yawning. A look of clear amusement on her face.
We make it to the front door. I fiddle with the locks again and work out a way to lock the door as I slam it behind us. I take half a heat beat to register that we are now officially locked out but I don’t care. Bigger things are afoot.
Dragging Emma to her car, I watch as she beeps the door locks open and I jump in the passenger seat. Grabbing for Emma’s GPS, I start typing in Luke’s address as she rounds the car and gets in. Starting the car, she grins crazily at me and announces, “Your fucking nuts you know?”
Ignoring her statement, I set the GPS off as Emma pulls from the kerb. The GPS advises it’s only going to take five minutes to get to Luke’s house.
“Fuck!” I yell again as Emma guns the motor and starts to drive with her rapid gear shifting, madwoman style. Following the directions, she hits the traffic lights and runs them even though they are red.
Hell yeah!
I knew there was a reason I got her to drive. I probably would have stopped for the lights. She is much better at this being badass than I am.
“I have no idea what is going on but this shit is fun!” She squeals as she slams through the gears. “Is there gunna be a shootout or something when we get there? Or an explosion of some sort? Now that would be cool.” She continues speaking rapidly. She’s pumped and clearly excited.
Lost deep in my own thoughts I start picturing that Jake has already arrived at Luke’s house. I then picture Jake pounding his fist into Luke’s face. Horrified that I have caused this, I stare at the GPS and watch the small colored dot that is our car as we fly along the road, wishing we were there already. Realizing I haven’t answered Emma’s question about explosions, I look up just in time to see her visibly blanche.
“Shit, it’s not Giotti is it?” She mumbles softly
Well that wiped the happy right out of her…
“No, nothing like that. It has nothing to do with my past. There won’t be any shoot-outs or explosions either. There may be a fistfight though,” I mumble unhappily as I swing my attention back to the GPS.
Three minutes to go.
The estimated time of arrival is shortening quickly as we fly along. This is because of the speed at which Emma is flying through the small country township and quickly exiting to the outskirts where Luke lives.
“A fistfight!” She chirps again, her happy restored. Seemingly satisfied that this has nothing to do with Tony so it can’t be all that bad. “That’d be cool too. Two men, pounding on each other. Sweat dripping from their bodies, bloodied lips and the like. Hell yeah! Who’s gunna be punching on?”
“Jake and Luke,” I mumble again as I start scrubbing at my face with the palm of my hands. “There’s been a misunderstanding. Jake appeared in my room this morning. I thought it was you. I said something about Luke and last night and he got the wrong idea.”
I watch as she raises her eyebrows in a confused look. “Bloody hell woman. Why didn’t you set him straight?” She quickly gears down, takes a fast corner and slams back up through the gears again.
“I didn’t get a chance to. I was too busy musing over the fact that he was so upset about it that he got the jump on me. He was on his bike and gone before I could stop him.”
One minute.
“Well that’s a pickle,” she chuckles, seemingly unconcerned about the whole situation. “I love your work Arianna. Waking up on a Sunday morning to see two very hot biker boys punch on over a woman. I love it! Hot! Hot! Hot! Can’t wait.” I stare at her dumbfounded that she is clearly enjoying this so much. Slamming through the gears as we finally enter Luke’s street she continues, “This could even be better than what I was dreaming about doing to Zane last night. That particular fantasy involved handcuffs and a blindfold but this, this could be hotter. You are legend. I couldn’t have dreamed up a better start to a day…”
“There’s his bike!” I yell as I cut her off mid rant. The fact that my best friend is so excited about a fistfight between two men, we may need to discuss later. Now is not the time.
Revving her engine loudly, Emma slams back down through the gears as I stare at the bike that is now getting closer and closer at an alarmingly fast rate. Grabbing hold of the arm rest next to me, I stare in horror at the bike and yelp at Emma, “Slow the fuck down!”
Laughing like a madwoman, Emma ignores me as she continues her fast approach before finally hitting the brakes and skidding to a stop a few meters behind Jake’s bike. I briefly thank the Gods she didn’t underestimate her stopping skills and hit his bike. I don’t know that much about bikers but one fact I do know from reading books and watching Sons Of Anarchy is that you don’t fuck with a man’s bike. That could have ended badly.
Still focusing on the bike, we both rock forward in our seats from the abrupt stop. Emma is still laughing.
Crazy bitch.
Flicking her a quick annoyed glance, I click my seat belt lock open and grab for the car door. Flinging it open, my feet have barely hit the ground when I look up at the house and freeze. Standing on the front verandah, holding coffee mugs and staring at us are Luke and Jake. They both have huge shit eating grins on their faces.
And they both look fine. With the small exception that Luke is holding a bag of frozen peas to his jaw with one hand while he holds his coffee cup with the other.
Staring openmouthed at the two of them looking so cheerful, I realize two things. One, I’m too late, Jake’s already planted one on Luke. Two, it seems to be over.
Is that really it?
More to the point, is that all I’m worth? One poxy punch? What the hell? One little tap and then they have coffee? I don’t exactly call that beating the shit out of your friend. Is Jake a big pussy biker or something?
Confused, I stall and slump back into the car seat. Perhaps I read him wrong again?
It’s then that I hear mumbling behind me. She seems to be cursing inaudibly before she finally speaks up to announce. “Well that’s just fucking disappointing. All that excitement and this is what we arrive to find. They look fine t
o me. Jesus Arianna, you had me going there, I thought something big was going down. Fuck it. Fantasy blown. Goddamn woman.”
Turning my head to look at her I shrug. “I think I overreacted.”
“Well, yeah.” She agrees as she looks back up towards the house. “Oh well, it’s still funny and it’s been an exciting drive. And I still have the back-up amusement of watching your face as you finally realise that you’ve locked yourself out of the Harley shop and you’re only wearing a singlet and undies.”
What the fuck?
“And there it is…” she swings her eyes back to me, a huge grin on her face.
Oh my god.
“Yep, priceless love. The boys are enjoying the view too.” Then just to top it off, she adds, “Lucky I managed to get my dressing gown on before you dragged me out the door, yeah?”
Holy shit.
Not only am I hanging out the side of a car with barely any clothes on, but Emma is butt naked under that dressing gown. Jolting back to life, I swing my feet back in the car and slam the door.
Emma starts laughing.
Loudly.
Swinging my attention back to the boys on the verandah I see they are still grinning broadly. I watch as Luke mumbles something before he heads back inside. Jake stays standing on the verandah staring at me, still highly amused.
“Well, it’s clear he’s got coffee so I’m going in,” Emma announces and I hear her door click as she starts to get out the car.
“Don’t fucking leave me here on my own,” I snap angrily. “You need to take me home.”
“Sorry love, we can’t get in. With that in mind, I’m gunna have some coffee while you talk to Jake. You need to explain this morning and get some keys. I’ll be back after my coffee, unless of course you want Jake to give you a ride back on his bike. By the looks of it, I reckon he’d be happy to take you back, but you might get a bit cold…” She chuckles to herself, shuts the door and sashays off in her dressing gown.
Fuck.
I suppose she’s right. What choices do I have?
It is then that I see movement on the verandah again and watch as Luke hands Jake a hoody and a pair of tracksuit pants. Clothes in hand, Jake starts wandering over towards the car. Greeting Emma with a quick grin and a chin nod, he passes her by and walks straight to the driver’s side door. Opening the door slowly, he slides into the driver’s seat awkwardly as he struggles to fit into the seat. Tossing the clothes to me, he sets his coffee cup on the dashboard and then leans down to fiddle with the seat adjusters. Pushing the seat back as far as it will go, he then reclines the top half backwards so he can fit in. Deciding he has given himself enough space, he swings his legs in and shuts the door behind him.