by Tia Siren
“What is this?” I asked.
“I don’t think I should say, but all you should know is that I put a stop to it,” he replied.
“Really Axel, I need to know,” I pleaded.
He sighed and leaned against the door.
“Some of the crew was taking bets on who would sleep with you first,” he said.
I turned back to the page and felt disgusted to look at it. I started ripping the page into smaller and smaller pieces out of rage.
“What the hell!?” I screamed.
He didn’t say anything. I walked over to him and pounded on his chest. He barely moved, and just accepted whatever punishment I could dole out.
“I told you, I put a stop to it,” he said.
“How,” I asked, with tears starting to form behind my eyes.
“Didn’t you see all the bruises on the guys last night at the bar? Why else do you think that most of the guys left you alone? I made them scared to even get close,” he said.
I wiped a tear from my cheek.
“You didn’t have to do that,” I said.
“I didn’t have to, but I wanted to.”
“Why did you want to?” I asked.
“Because you deserve better than those creeps,” he replied.
“Are you saying you did it because I should have been with you?” I asked.
He didn’t say anything, but I could see from the look in his eye that he wanted to say yes.
“Just take me home,” I managed. I didn’t have the strength to fight anymore. I just needed to sleep in a regular bed and feel at least somewhat refreshed before tomorrow.
He passed me the helmet from the previous day, and I stuffed my head into it.
I didn’t say a word the entire ride, neither did he. I preferred it that way. Before long I was sitting in my motel room, wishing that I could relive the past two days. I just wanted to be back home, snuggled in my pajamas, eating ice cream and forgetting the world.
7.
“Are you serious?” she asked over the phone.
“I already tore up the page, but they were seriously taking bets about who would sleep with me first,” I replied.
“I’m glad you’re only there for the weekend; you must have the patience of a saint to still be there for your mother.”
“I know,” I replied, “I’m not going to stay here a minute longer than I have to.”
“But, you still slept with Axel, right?” she asked.
“I really don’t know what else to tell you, Joyce. It just kinda happened,” I said, trying my best to reassure my friend that I wasn’t some kind of pervert.
“Okay, that’s seriously creepy. This guy is going to be your brother in law, tomorrow. And, somehow you’ve already slept with him?”
I gave pause for a minute and just exhaled into the phone.
“Okay, I know that you disapprove, but he’s gorgeous, and he is amazing in other places as well. What am I supposed to do,” I asked, pleading for an answer that I know she didn’t have.
“Hellen, you’re just getting out of a relationship with Mark, I’m sure this is all stemming from that. Maybe you just need to get out of there and back to some kind of normal life,” she said.
“But, I don’t want that. I want to spend more time with him. I want to sneak off and go for a ride with him, maybe end it with something fun for the both of us,” I said.
“After tomorrow, that won’t be possible.”
“I know,” I sighed, “I know.”
“Then end it now, before it becomes more of a problem,” she said.
I knew she was right, but I just didn’t want to do anything about it. I wanted to just let things go and see where it took me, like the open road the other day let me feel. I wanted that freedom, and now it was being taken away.
“Why is it that I find a great guy, and it turns out my mother is marrying his dad?” I asked.
“That’s quite a mess.”
“Alright,” I said, “I’m going to take care of this.”
“Good, then come home, we are all missing you at the hospital! See you soon, Hellen!”
I clicked off the phone and lied back in bed. My mother would be marrying the father of the one man I was interested in right now.
I wondered why I was really that interested in him. He was gorgeous, yes, but he had about as much personality as a belt sander.
I really didn’t want to think about it right this minute. It was getting late, and I had to be up early to help with the wedding.
I would have to make the decision tomorrow.
8.
I met at the small chapel after a long shower and plenty of time spent deep in thought. I wanted to ask my mother for advice, but I knew what she’d say. There were things that you just shouldn’t tell your mother, and I was pretty sure this was near the top of the list.
I went about helping them decorate the chapel with some streamers and simple decorations. After about an hour the only thing that could be heard outside was a steady stream of motorcycles buzzing about.
I popped my head out the door and joined a couple of the other bride’s maids as they watched the club circle the chapel. This would be the third time my mother had married at this church, and I hoped that it would be the last.
Then I saw Duke and Axel riding down the road, both of them wearing well-fitted suits. Duke looked funny in his, with his heavy stomach pushing the pants down a little lower than they should. Axel, on the other hand, wore his well.
It was hard to take my eyes off him. I think he could tell because he shot me more than a few looks while people lined up for wedding photos.
My mother looked fantastic in her dress. She was long past the days of wearing white, but the color still suited her. I wondered if I would look the same in a similar dress. But, at the rate things were going in my life, it might never happen.
I did my best to keep my eyes down during the wedding. But, it was hard to not look out at the gathered crowd of bikers. The bruised and bandaged bunch that Axel had roughed up sat towards the back. I tried to avoid their gaze the most but found it hard to do.
I still couldn’t reconcile my feelings for how Axel had handled the situation just a couple days ago. I wondered if it was good of him to handle those men in such a way.
When my mom and Duke finally said ‘I do’ I felt a wave of relief. My brain cleared enough for me to realize what I had to do, and it had to be done today. I needed to tell Axel that I couldn’t see him anymore.
I found him by the snack table during the reception; talking in the back with a few of his buddies. He made me swoon, seeing him in his suit. At the same time, he looked out of place wearing something so formal amidst the band of leather-clad bikers.
“Axel,” I said.
He shooed his friends away, and I slowly walked up beside him.
“It’s over, Hellen,” he said.
I wasn’t expecting him to say anything so quickly.
“I’m going to be the next leader of this club,” he added.
“While I agree with you, how would that have anything to do with us?”
“Your mom is my step-mom. If I showed up anywhere with you, nearby I would get a lot of looks. People would start asking questions that I don’t think I could answer,” he said.
I nodded. At least we were both on the same page, but with severely different reasons. Still, I needed to let him know my own feelings.
“Thank you,” I said.
He gave me a quizzical look, and I continued.
“You protected me from all the guys that would have probably done far worse,” I said, “it’s too bad I didn’t meet you sooner.”
He guzzled down the last of his beer and set the glass on the table. Then he reached out and pulled me in for a hug.
His warm embrace left me dumbfounded, and I wished, again, that it wouldn’t end.
“Come visit, sometime,” he said.
I nodded and strained to hold back a couple of tears.
I needed to get out of here as soon as possible.
9.
“Did you have a safe flight, sweetie?” my mom asked over the phone.
“Yeah, mom; I slept through the whole thing,” I replied.
I had left before the reception ended. My mom was sad to see me go, but she understood I had a life to return to. I wished her all the best and gave her one long hug before I left. I even got another bear hug from Duke; he was almost as emotional as my mom was, but he expressed it very differently.
“So tell me, will you come visit me soon?” she asked.
“Mom, I barely even got home,” I laughed.
“Oh, I know. But considering it was near three years since I saw you last, I should hope you’d come back for the holidays this year,” she said.
“Okay, mom. I’ll be back this year for the holidays. I promise,” I said.
A knock startled me at the front door; followed by the jingling of keys unlocking the lock. Joyce and her kids ran in and started attacking me with hugs; they were really sweet kids.
“Mom, I’ll have to call you back. I have company,” I said.
I clicked the receiver after we said our goodbyes and turned to Joyce, how looked about as tired as I expected her to be.
“How long have you been back,” she asked.
“I just walked through the door about ten minutes ago,” I replied.
Joyce walked over to the window and looked down at the street.
“Did you get a load of the package out front? It has your name on it,” she said.
I stepped to the window; a confused look plastered over my face. Looking down, there was a package, still wrapped up and waiting.
“That’s for me? You shouldn’t have,” I said, making my way for the door.
“I didn’t,” she replied, “secret admirer? Maybe Mark wants to win you back.”
I bolted down the stairs; my curiosity giving me chills as I walked. I started forming all sorts of crazy theories, but none were as crazy as the truth.
A card sat perched on top and read as follows:
“Hellen,
“Maybe this will give you a taste of freedom from your cage, From Axel.”
I ripped at the paper to discover the gorgeous bike I had seen in his shop, shiny and new. It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen, and it was apparently all mine.
“I didn’t know you liked to ride,” Joyce said.
“To quote you; you gotta keep an open mind,” I said.
I threw a leg over the seat, and it felt comfortable. Then I realized there was a slight problem; I didn’t know how to ride … yet.
*****
THE END
MOTORCYCLE Romance – Outlaw Bad Boy Biker
1
Jennifer Walters groaned as her six-year-old son leapt atop her. She was in bed, and after opening one eye and squinting at her alarm clock, she saw it wasn’t even seven in the morning. In fact, it wasn’t even six thirty.
“What are you doing up so early?” Jennifer asked the little boy. His name was Jaxson, and he had the same blonde hair his mother did though his green eyes were his father's. That man was long gone, out of the picture and out of the state. It was just Jen and Jaxson, together in Arizona, in a small town named Harrisburg. It was dusty and hot, and Jennifer owned a small bar right at the end of the main drag, a place called Chuck’s, the name inherited by the man she had bought it from. Chuck’s was the local biker hang out, and there were plenty of bikers in and around Harrisburg.
“It’s not early, is it?”
“Six twenty is pretty early,” Jennifer groaned. “Go back to bed.”
“I don’t want to; I’m too excited about school.”
Jaxson was in first grade, and he loved it. He was bright and was already reading far beyond his level.
“Why? You go five times a week. How could you be excited?”
“Today is Chris’ birthday, and he’s bringing in cupcakes,” the little boy said with a huge grin.
“You got me up so early because you’re excited about cupcakes?”
“I guess so,” Jaxson said.
“Do you know how late I worked?”
“Yeah, you didn't pick me up until two in the morning. I woke up as we were driving home.”
On nights that Jennifer worked, which was most of them, an older woman named Barbara, who lived down the street, watched Jaxson. After leaving the bar, Jennifer would swing by and pick him up. Being a single mother was tough, but Jennifer wouldn’t have her life any other way. Jaxson’s dad had been an asshole, one of those tough guys Jen always found herself chasing after, and when she had gotten pregnant, he had disappeared. She was better off without him.
Jennifer’s mother lived across the country and wasn’t able to visit much, and had no money to send to help when Jennifer had needed such a thing.
Buying Chuck’s had been a big gamble, but it had paid off. Jennifer hadn’t gone to college. She had worked in the dingy bar for a couple of years. And then, when she was twenty-three, Chuck retired and offered the bar to the few employees he had. Jennifer was the only one who expressed interest in buying it. She got a loan, and she did so. She wanted to make a better life for herself, and her son.
Twenty-three turned into twenty-four, and that gave way to twenty-five, and the bar stayed afloat, and she finally had a monetary cushion. She wasn’t living paycheck to paycheck.
But she did stay up late, and she was tired, and she felt as though she was missing out on Jaxson, particularly since he was in school until three, and she went to the bar at five, six times a week.
“Turn on the TV, but keep it low,” Jennifer groaned as her son cuddled up beside her. He searched for the remote, tossed amongst the blankets on the bed, found it, and turned on the TV that sat on a long dresser against one wall of the bedroom. A blue light flooded the dim room, and Jennifer groaned once more for good measure, before pulling her pillow over her head and going back to sleep.
When she awoke again, it was because her alarm was going off. Seven twenty, time to get her son ready for school. Cartoons were on the TV, but Jaxson was sleeping beside her.
“Get up,” she said, nudging her son.
“I’m tired now,”
“Mom’s are allowed to sell kids you know.”
After they had climbed out of bed, she made breakfast and got him dressed. He was at school by eight, and she was back home ten minutes later. She collapsed into bed and went back to sleep.
Jennifer rose again just after noon. Her cell was ringing. She searched for her shorts; her phone was still in the pocket, and she had taken them off just before getting back in bed. She found her phone and looked at the screen. A name was there, across it. Ryan.
Ryan was a nice guy. Maybe that was why she didn’t like him. He came into the bar sometimes, completely out of place among the blue jeans and leather. He always looked nice. He was a fit guy, a bit on the thinner side, and he wore khakis and polo shirts. His shoes were nice and shiny, and his arms bare of tattoos or scars. He was wholesome. He had a good job, he was an accountant at a company twenty miles to the east, in a much bigger town called Grove.
And he was interested in Jennifer. He hit on her whenever he came into the bar. In fact, she was pretty sure he only came in to see her. She wasn’t sure how he had come to find his way into Chuck’s the first time, but he had seen her behind the bar, and he had kept coming in. And he had kept asking her out. For over a year. She flirted with him, teased him; she found it fun. She was stringing him along, and she knew it. He was handsome, tall and dark, his skin tanned, his smile dazzling. It was just those khakis. She didn’t like those kind of guys. Something was wrong with her. She needed a good guy. She knew it. So maybe, she would give one a chance.
She answered her phone.
“Hello?”
“Oh, hey, it’s Ryan.” The man sounded surprised as if he hadn’t expected her to answer. Probably because she never usually did.
“I know, what’s u
p?” the young woman asked. She laid back against her pillows, holding the phone to her ear.
“What are you doing?” Ryan asked. Jennifer smiled to herself.
“Lying in bed. I’m not wearing pants.”
She giggled. She knew that would drive Ryan crazy, and she knew that was rude, but she liked messing with the man too much. She heard him gulp, and she found herself thinking it was cute how intimidated he was by her.
“Oh, I can let you go,” Ryan said.
“Why did you call?” she asked.
“I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me on Saturday. I have a work thing, down in Tempe. I know it’s a bit of a drive, but It’s a dinner. I’m uh, getting an award, and it’s a get dressed up sort of thing, and go have a free meal, and listen to boring people talk about boring accounting things, and I don’t know why I’m even bothering to ask you, because it’s starting to bore me just talking about it.”
“You’re getting an award?” Jennifer asked him.
“Yes,”
“Wow, I’ve never known anyone who got an award. What’s it for?”
“I’m the Arizona accountant of the year,” the nervous young man said.
“Ryan,” Jennifer said, “I will go with you.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, I can pick you up, uh, at three? We’ll be there by six then, and it starts at seven, but we can mingle, grab a drink or whatever.”
“Sounds great,” Jennifer said, and she hung up. She bit her lip as she stared at her ceiling. She wondered what she was doing. She needed a good man, a good guy. Someone who had a good job, and had to wear a tie to the office. That’s who Ryan was. She found herself feeling nervous suddenly, her stomach in a knot.
She stood up and took her tee shirt off. Then she unclipped her bra and let it fall to the floor before sliding her panties down to her feet and stepping out of them. She padded into her bathroom on bare feet, and stopped in front of the sink. If she backed up far enough, she could see most of her body, her face, her chest, her flat stomach. She was attractive. She always had been. She was the first girl in school to develop, and now, at twenty-five, her breasts were round and heavy. Her pubic hair was trimmed, a small strip above her pink slit. Her hair blonde and long, loose and framing her shoulders. Her lips were plump, and she had a small beauty mark above her lip on the right side. When she smiled, there was a dimple, just in her left cheek.