Dirty Friends (Beautiful Friends #1)

by Paige Steele

  “Thanks, Coop, but really I’m fine. Go back to your party.”

  Ryan and Cooper are two people I can never stay mad at. I tried once to stay mad for a week, and it only lasted two days. They both showed up at my house talking to me until I answered them back.

  He reaches forward and pulls me into another hug. Staying in the embrace, for just a couple minutes more, makes me want this, a guy who gives a shit. But not with Cooper, no that would just be weird. Then he kisses me on the top of the head, before he turns, walking out the door slowly and closing it behind him as he smiles back at me. Grrrr, he’s a brat. He knew I’d forgive him. I lock up and head up to bed.

  Cooper

  ANOTHER TWO WEEKS PASS BY. Ryan and I are heading to another race tomorrow. Getting things ready all day Saturday is on our agenda. We both have our bikes out in Ryan’s driveway; we are going to wash them up making them shine. Yes, I know what you are thinking…we’re just going to ride in the dirt but they need to sparkle until they hit the track. It’s a hot day today. The temps have been staying around ninety-two for about a week now, and there isn’t a break coming anytime soon.

  “Hey, dickhead, get the shit out of the garage and we will start getting these babies shiny.” We both treat our bikes like they are our most prized possessions, which they are. We don’t want anything to happen to them.

  “Call me a dickhead again and you’ll be missing a couple front teeth there, buddy.”

  Laughing out loud Ryan turns to me and says, “Oh ok…jackass, you make me laugh.”

  Chuckling back at him. “And you, my friend, are a brave man.”

  I head to the shelf that contains all the cleaning supplies, pulling out the Simple Green and some rags. Walking back to the bikes that are already up on their stands, I set everything on the cement. The hoses are lying next to the buckets of soapy water.

  “Have you talked to Peanut, today?” I want to know if she’s going with us or not. I know she has some stuff to get done, but I was still hoping she was gonna come watch.

  “I left her a message to come over or call one of us.”

  “I just thought she’d like to come tomorrow.”

  “I’m sure she will. Unless she’s got stuff to do with or for her mom.”

  We stand there talking and spraying off the bikes when Ansley walks over. I barely hear her walk up, the country music is blasting through the speakers from the garage. She caught my eye, wearing a black bikini top and little hot pink shorts that cover up her bottoms. Her long blonde hair is thrown up on top of her head, sporting a crazy messy look. I can’t figure out why the hell I care what she’s wearing lately, but I’ve started to notice, more and more, that I don’t like her showing so much skin in front of others.

  “Well, what do we have here? My two best friends doing manual labor?” She speaks while pulling her sunglasses down, looking over the rim at us. I can’t help but laugh at her while turning and spraying the hose at her feet. She immediately screams.

  “That’s freaking piss warm water.”

  Both Ryan and I start laughing at her as she’s jumping up and down then begins running away. Of course, that just encourages me to do it again.

  “Here I was coming over to tell you guys I was going to come with you tomorrow, but now, well, I don’t know,” she says, while trying to hold a straight face and crossing her arms in front of her. She fails miserably.

  “Peanut, come here and I’ll protect you.” Ryan always wants to be the hero. He stands there with his arms wide open. So, what do I do? I turn the hose on him.

  “Oh, buddy, you just made the worst mistake,” he says, while removing his tank.

  He’s soaked and I know he’ll retaliate. I’m ready, armed with my hose and taking cover behind my bike. Ansley runs and hides behind him and his bike. Before I know it, we are having a water fight and we’re all drenched. Once we all call a truce, Ansley starts removing her shorts and lays them on the cement driveway to dry. I remove my tank, as well, throwing it next to her shorts. She stands there in her tiny bikini, looking at me as I glance over at her. What the hell is wrong with me…?

  Ryan goes to grab her a towel, while she sits on one of the buckets that she flipped over. I start drying my bike off and spraying it with the Simple Green.

  “Why exactly do you spray it with that green crap?”

  “Well, sweetheart, it makes it sparkle. Look at her, isn’t she beautiful?”

  Laughing at me she says “Umm…Coop, it’s a bike. But yes, it looks great.”

  “It’s not just a bike. She’s my baby.”

  She starts laughing out loud when Ryan comes out. I roll up the towel, snapping it in her direction. It makes a loud noise, scaring the crap out of her; she almost falls off the bucket. I drop the towel quickly and grab her. I would feel horrible if she’d fallen off and gotten hurt.

  “Nice save, dickhead,” Ryan says as he walks back out. My hands are still on Ansley when I stand up. I’m holding on to her and don’t even realize it. She’s looking up at me as I quickly put my hands to my sides.

  Clearing my throat, I agree with Ryan and get back to my bike. She takes one of the towels that he put down on the grass in the front lawn and spreads it out. She sits down and lies back. There is no way I’m going to be able to concentrate on my bike when she’s laying there in a teeny, tiny bikini. I really needed to get a grip. I don’t like her like that, and yet I’m noticing things about her that I haven’t before. Like, did you know that her bikini top fits her perfectly? While her bottoms sit really low on her hips and her stomach is really flat. Also, she’s getting really tan this summer. Her legs go on forever. Thank God for my black sunglasses, so neither Ryan nor she can see my eyes traveling up and down her body. Seriously, what the hell?

  “We need to leave around five thirty tomorrow morning, you still coming?”

  Nodding her head while laying back, she answers Ryan’s question. She pulls one knee up and starts tapping her foot to the music.

  “You both can sleep over tonight if you want. Ans, it might be easier than you waking up your mom early in the morning. We’ll need to make sure everything’s in the truck tonight and load the bikes in the trailer once my dad gets home. I’ll order a pizza and we can watch a movie.”

  Ansley yells out that she’s picking out the movie, and I tell Ryan I’m paying for the pizza. So, it is settled we are all going to stay over at his house. I know my parents don’t give a shit what I do, but it’s funny because let’s face it, how many mothers would let their daughter stay over at a guy’s house? Ansley’s mom trusts us and I will never break that trust. It doesn’t matter how much I’m noticing about her daughter. The night comes before I know it and we’re all sitting down to watch the movie and have pizza. His parents sit in the kitchen having a slice themselves, before Ryan’s dad goes in his home office to get some work done. He owns his own construction company. He’s looking over plans and doing paper work, like he does most nights; while his mom is upstairs doing whatever moms do at night. I’m really not sure, mine is never home. We all climb on the sectional couch, getting comfortable. I reach for a piece of pizza first and eat half of it before either one of them even take a bite.

  “So, what movie are we watching, Peanut?”

  She rolls her eyes, wanting to smack Ryan, I can tell. “I picked The Town starring Ben Affleck, Blake Lively and Chris Cooper. It looks good, and of course, Ben’s not bad to look at.”

  “Well, Blake’s a hottie so I’m okay with it, how about you, Coop?”

  “Umm…I’d say I’m okay with the pick, too,” I say, laughing at the way Ryan wiggles his eyebrows. He’s always trying to get Ansley going.

  “You two never think with your head, do you?”

  “Well, as a matter of fact, I was just thinking with my head.” I can’t help it, she left that one wide open.

  “Oh, my God. You’re so gross. That isn’t what I meant. I was talking about the head on your shoulders.”

  Both Rya
n and I shrug our shoulders at each other and chuckle. The movie starts as we all settle in on the couch. Ansley manages to stay awake for all of about an hour, before she’s sound asleep next to me. Ryan and I finish watching it then we picked up the soda cans and the pizza box.

  “I’ll grab Peanut and put her in the spare room, then I’ll take the couch.”

  “I’ll get ya a blanket and pillow, Coop.”

  I bend over and scoop her right up. She leans into me. Once I walk in the room, I lay her on the bed very carefully, so I won’t wake her. I pull the blanket up and over her, kissing her cheek. Her eyes flutter open while I’m still bent over her. Staring right into mine, she smiles and falls back to sleep. I have a feeling she’s going to invade my dreams tonight.

  Ansley

  The next day comes way, way, way too early. I jump up when the alarm on my phone goes off at five o’clock. Ugh, I stand and stretch. I barely remember the movie or how I got to the room last night. I think it was Coop who brought me to bed. I walk downstairs and grab my bag, heading to the bathroom. The door isn’t shut all the way, so I just walk in.

  “Holy shit, Ryan! Shut the door next time.” I screech and turn to walk out. He stands there in his boxer briefs laughing.

  He comes out smirking and walks in my direction. “Sorry, Peanut, didn’t mean to scare ya.”

  “Haven’t you ever heard of shutting the door when you go to the bathroom?”

  “I don’t need to, it’s my bathroom.”

  “Well, when you have guests over, you may want to.”

  “Oh, please, it’s not like you haven’t walked in on me changing before.”

  “Yes, Ding Dong, but that was when we were fourteen and you had underwear on. You were just changing your shorts.”

  “Yeah, I have a ding dong, what about it?” He starts laughing.

  “Ugh, I’m going to take a shower.” I huff and walk off. Sometimes it is a lost cause to have a conversation with him.

  I hop in and out, as quickly as possible, since I know we need to be on the road around five thirty or quarter to six. Stepping out of the shower, I wrap my hair up in a towel. Taking another towel, I dry off, tuck it around me, and then brush my teeth. Dropping the towel from around my body, I rub lotion all over then throw on the bra and undies set I brought. I brush out my hair and take my blow dryer out. Bending over, I flip my hair forward. I am trying to bring some order to this mop of mine. I don’t hear the knock on the door when in walks Cooper.

  “Umm, Peanut, you need to wear more than that to the race, or Ryan and I will be in a lot of fights today, instead of racing.”

  He scares the shit out of me, causing me to drop the blow dryer right out of my hand. “Oh, my Lord, Coop, you just gave me a heart attack.” Then, it dawns on me I’m standing there in my tiny boy short undies and lace bra. I quickly grab my towel as he stands there smiling.

  “Get out, Coop.”

  “I have to go to the bathroom. I didn’t expect to walk in and see you bent over wearing that. I’m assuming you are wearing something over that?”

  “Duh, of course, let me throw on my clothes. I’ll be right out.”

  I have learned two important lessons this morning. One…knock even if the door is slightly shut but still not shut all the way and two…lock the door, no matter what. I quickly dress and then put my hair up. I know it’s going to be another hot day and I’m not looking forward to it stuck to the back of my neck with sweat. After throwing on some mascara and lip-gloss. I walk out. Really, I don’t need a bunch of make-up streaking down my face either, after the humidity kicks in. Heading to the kitchen, I drop my bag and grab a cup of coffee.

  Both boys are already waiting on me. Mr. Evans is outside double checking that we have everything. We walk out and I jump in the back seat with Cooper, while Ryan rides up front with his dad. I put my head back and close my eyes. It’s way too early in the morning for this. But I really want to see the boys race. So I sip my coffee and start to come to life.

  “Peanut, you ready to see me kick Coop’s ass today?”

  “Yes…I want to see that.” I look over at Cooper smiling at him. He’s squinting his eyes at me.

  “Well, it didn’t happen last time, slow poke. So bring it.”

  “Oh, I intend to.” We all start laughing, including Mr. Evans.

  We arrived at about six forty five. They need to sign-up, then get everything unloaded and set up before the riders’ meeting at eight a.m. sharp. When Mr. Evans and the boys come back from signing up, they start taking everything out of the back of the truck that they’ll need. They already have the tent up and have unloaded the bikes by the time seven fifteen rolls around. I grab the chairs they brought and put them under the tent and out of the direct sun. It’s already close to eighty degrees, so I know it won’t be long before it’ll be ninety again.

  “Hey, boys, you better start getting your gear on. The meeting’s going to start in about a half hour.” Mr. Evans keeps track of the time and them.

  Just like that, the boys are pulling their stuff out of their bags and their shirts over their heads. They are both easy on the eyes. Their arms are muscular but not bulky and their abs, well let’s just say…you can count to six on each of them. Lord, I have to look away, and just as I do, Coop looks my way and Ryan drops his shorts.

  “Well, it’s a good thing you two are modest.”

  “There’s no such thing as modesty around here, sweetheart,” Cooper yells over his shoulder at me.

  Looking around the grounds, I notice quite a few guys walking around with no shirts and their riding pants undone. Why did it take me so long to come to a race, exactly? I chuckle to myself. Ryan looks over at me, as well as Mr. Evans and Cooper.

  “What?” I look back with a shocked expression on my face.

  “Nothing, you were laughing out loud,” Ryan says, smirking at me like he knows what I’m thinking.

  “Just a funny thought I was having.”

  He drops it and I’m grateful. People watching at these events is going to be fun. The girls are also walking around half dressed. Some have on bikini tops, their jean shorts undone, and their bikini bottoms are peeking out in the front. While others think that it isn’t a day to wear a bra. Really, people, come on, when you are wearing just a tank top…a bra would be nice. There are quite a few hot messes, too. I don’t know what they were thinking when they left home. Do you not have a mirror? Did you get dressed in the dark? Wearing all the colors of the rainbow doesn’t make it match. I just love the girls that think they are so cool to wear boots on a ninety-degree day. You know the kind, they wear their short shorts with tank tops tied up in the front or back, and then they throw on a pair of Motocross boots. Like how stupid is that? Then you have the men…a lot of them wear jean shorts and work boots, with no shirts. For some, shirts should be a requirement. The riders walking by make it all worthwhile. Do you know most of them don’t wear shirts in between races or while they are just sitting around? It’s crazy. Having their pants undone too, letting their Calvin’s hang out is typical as well. Hot damn!

  “Enjoying the view, Ansley?”

  “Why would you say that, Coop?”

  “Just an observation. You have watched everyone walk by. Wrinkling up your nose at the ladies, scowling at the older men and smirking at the riders.”

  “Well, you might say the view is nice at times,” I say, laughing in his direction.

  “Time to suit up, boys. Riders’ meeting in five,” Mr. Evans shouted over to them, while checking over the bikes one last time.

  Both Ryan and Cooper start throwing on their jerseys and chest protectors. I sit in the chair as they walk over to the announcer’s tower. Tipping my head back and putting my feet up on the cooler to relax, I pull the music up on my phone and set it to my country play list.

  The first race is starting. They’re both racing in the same class, so there will be three races before I need to head over to the fence to watch them. They both look pretty sharp
in full gear, I notice as they stand there talking for a moment.

  We hear the announcer over the loud speaker state that the next class needs to be in the staging area. This meant that the guys needed to start heading down. Ryan’s dad walks over to them on their bikes right before they get ready to put on their helmets.

  “Ride smart, ride safe and keep it on two wheels, boys.”

  “Do good, guys. Show those other boys how to ride, would ya?” I said standing in between them both with my arms around their shoulders just as they go to kick start their bikes. As they head out away from where we have parked, Mr. Evan’s is walking behind the bikes to the start line as I start going over to the bleachers behind the fence. While I sit there waiting for their race to start, the starting gate drops from the race before them. I’m shocked at how they all come together in the first corner. It’s overwhelming seeing it in person. I’ve watched it on TV with the guys but this is crazy. Holy Shit! The gates for their race are full; I can see them on the line waiting for the race before theirs to end. As the last of the bikes cross the finish line, the thirty second board comes out. It is tipped sideways letting them know the gates are about to drop, and then it’s full throttle ahead.

  Covering my eyes, I look through my fingers to see them. I’m afraid I’ll see them crash and freak out. When all the bikes keep going after the first turn, I’m jumping up and down to see that they are toward the front. Mr. Evans comes up and stands next to me.

  “They are really good, aren’t they?”

  “Yes, they both have more talent on those bikes than I ever did.”

  “Oh, come on. Ryan tells us all the time, about your racing days.”

  “I guess, I could hold my own on the track, but both of these guys have natural talent. I never had that. I had to bust my ass weekend after weekend to be in the positions those two are in now.”

  “Yeah, they are both something, huh?”

  “Yep.”