by Vivian Lux
I felt a tightness in my stomach. "Your, uh, crash?"
"Came by the name honestly."
I wanted to know more, but didn't know how to ask. Instead I stepped towards him. Wondering where I was finding this boldness, I touched the handlebars. "I've never been on a motorcycle before."
His blue eyes twinkled. "I figured that. High time you tried it, don't you think?"
Ingrid gasped audibly.
I stammered a moment. "There is no helmet," I protested.
"Don't you trust me?"
I hedged. He had saved me last night. I had been drunk to the point of helplessness and he had been nothing but a gentleman, no matter how menacing he looked now. "Sure, I trust you," I smiled, "it's everyone else I'm worried about."
He snorted. "Shut up and get on the back."
What could I do? Ingrid was watching, and Crash was waiting expectantly. Fear beat loudly in my ears as I swung my leg around the back of the seat and settled myself across the metal death wish. I felt unstable, like a kid just learning to ride a bike and when he shifted, I squawked slightly and flung myself forward, pressing my breasts into his back and wrapping my arms tightly around his waist.
"There we go." I could hear the lascivious grin in his voice, and it made me blush almost as much as the feel of the bike seat pressing between my legs did.
He kicked the bike to life, and I blushed harder to feel those vibrations travel through me. I squirmed a little, trying to find some position that wouldn't send tingles directly through my body. As we surged forward, I gave an involuntary scream. The feeling of speed, without metal walls between my surroundings, and me, made me gasp. Even though in my head I knew we were only going about five miles an hour, it felt like we were hurtling at the speed of light. The slight balm in the air was gone, and my face was met with the full chill of winter, blowing back my hair and immediately chapping my lips. "Fuck!" I shouted involuntarily, "it's cold!"
"You'll get used to it," he shouted back over his shoulder, and nudged his speed a little higher swinging into the lane. I felt, rather than saw, Ingrid stare at our backs. I was too afraid to let go of him and wave goodbye.
I squeaked again and clutched him even tighter, but deep down inside of myself a small thrill began to grow. It was nice to have an excuse to hold him so close. His body was warm and hard underneath the buttery soft smell of his leathers. I felt that same attraction, and repulsion that I felt last night magnified tenfold. My body was responding to the bike as much as it was responding to him.
It was magic.
Chapter 21
Case
Case stood up from behind the desk and stretched slightly. Just like Bruce had promised, the pill business was insanely lucrative. A week's worth of work had landed him a pretty solid little network of distributors. He found he preferred working with college girls; little innocent fresh-faced businesswomen, desperate for money to keep funding the lives they were used to at home. With the holidays arriving, he was having a field day with college-aged customers needing to score before they were sentenced to a month with their families, and his new little network of go-getters was working out nicely. Most of them were fiercely in awe of the huge bearded blond biker and scrambled to get him the best price they could.
And a few of them had let him fuck them. That was a bonus.
It was a good distraction, after all. The good weather had lasted one single day. Just one freakishly warm day, enough to cause rampant flooding through the area, and now they were back to the flat, gray skies and freezing temperatures of a normal December. Once again he found himself pacing the clubhouse, waiting for the weather to break.
Winter sucked.
But at least today was going to be interesting. J. was off with Emmy, helping her younger brother move out of the awful house they grew up in, and getting him settled in Philadelphia.
And then later, that little brother was coming by to start the dirty, thankless job of prospecting for the Sons of Steel.
"Been a while since we had a new face around here," Case noted carefully to Teach, as the older man stepped into the office. Bringing new people into his inner circle always made Case nervous.
"Go big or go the fuck home, huh?" Teach replied, leafing through a pile of orders for the shop. He was being deliberately noncommittal. They all knew Emmy's brother Andy, and knew he was a good kid. He had fought hard and well that night when the Sons of Steel had taken on Emmy's rich asshole of a fiancé. He had jumped in to defend his sister without any fear for his own safety. That was the kind of loyalty to the club looked for.
"But he's so fucking young!" Case couldn't help but remark.
"You started even younger."
Case laughed. "I was just fixing your bikes. You guys may be a bunch of dumb fucks, but you knew better than to let a fourteen-year-old kid into club business."
Teach gave a small laugh that turned into a coughing fit. "Andy is eighteen, not fourteen," he finally managed to get out.
That coughing again. Case pressed his lips together, wanting to ask about it, but Teach deliberately sipped a bottle of water and looked away. Clearly there was nothing to be said.
Eighteen years old, he thought instead. Hunter was only two years younger than that. That meant in two years, Hunter would be old enough to prospect for the club.
He opened his mouth, but before he had a chance to continue, they both heard the noise of a truck with the bad muffler pull into their lot.
"Sounds like he's here…" Teach rasped. He turned and headed out of the office and through the rolltop doors of the garage to greet the new arrivals.
Case hung back slightly, watching from the doorway as the small black man clasped the forearm of the tall, skinny white kid. "We're gonna need to bulk that fucker up," Case muttered to himself.
J. was hanging back with Emmy, the two of them silently watching with their hands clasped. Case couldn't help but feel a slight pang of jealousy. Emmy's family was shit, but she still had her brother right here.
It wasn't fair.
He pushed those thoughts away quickly as Teach brought Andy into the garage. The kid was trying his hardest to look cool and composed, but Case could see his excitement about being around all of the bikes and grinned. He remembered feeling the exact same way. It was enough to spur him forward.
"We meet again!" Case held out his hand.
Andy grasped it eagerly. He was tall, but Case was taller and the kid had to crane his neck to be able to look him in the eye. "Case, right?" he grinned widely. "Nice to see you without a bunch of blood and mud on your face."
Case laugh and decided he liked him immediately. "I'm sorry you can't see me at my best right now," he grinned and Andy laughed again.
"I like a good fight as much of anybody, but that situation was a bit fucked."
"Just a bit," Case nodded. He clapped Andy on the shoulder. "You sure about this? You actually want to join this group of raggedy assholes?"
Andy laughed nervously, and then his face went serious. "Pretty much." He swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down his skinny neck. "You saw it yourself. My own family sucks. Since I met you guys, I've been counting down the days until my eighteenth birthday, when I could get the fuck out of there and they couldn't do anything about bringing me back. The only normal family member I have is Em, and she likes you guys. So I figure that's good enough for me."
The resigned heartbreak in his voice sounded all-too-familiar. "It's a dirty, thankless job. You know that, right?"
"I'm good at putting up with bad situations," Andy smiled with a slow grin.
"And it's open-ended too. Could take thirty days, could take three years, all depends on when we think you're ready."
Andy set down his bedroll and spread his hands. "So long as I get to play with your scooters, I'll be your slave forever."
"You may live to regret saying that," Case laughed as Teach walked up to the two of them.
"Basically it boils down to this. I'm young. I'm the ri
ght demographic for your…business. I know how to ride and I can take a punch."
"Well said," Teach nodded. "Case, can you please show him the bunkhouse?"
Case pointed to the plywood walls of the makeshift bunkhouse. "Ever hung drywall before?" he asked Andy.
"Um..."
Case grinned wickedly. "I think I just found the first of your prospecting duties. These are way too thin for all the fucking that goes on around here. I'm tired of hearing your sister and J. go at it."
Andy looked repulsed.
"Yeah that's pretty much my reaction, too. You're going to be building some actual fucking walls for us. How's that sound?"
"Sounds…great!"
"Good answer. Go grab yourself a cot."
Chapter 22
Lexi
"It's just so, anticlimactic, you know?" Ingrid was picking her way along the slippery pavement, still stubbornly clinging to her impractical heels. "That was my last final, where are the balloons? Where's the party? It's just...over." She tossed her hair. "And now I get to go back to my apartment and pack to go home. Woo."
I grinned. Everything was making me grin this week. I was still coming down off of the incredible high of riding with Crash on that perfect day. "We should celebrate. You and I."
"You're done too?"
I rolled my eyes. "I was done this morning. Way to pay attention."
"I'm sorry!" Her blue eyes were so wide with shock I had to laugh again. "I was so wrapped up in that bullshit Bio final that I totally forgot! Yes, celebrate. Come back to my apartment with me, I have something new to try."
The way she said that made my ears prick up. "New?"
She gave a Cheshire cat smile. "Just follow me, Delaney."
So I did. We walked up to Spring Garden and to my surprise, she turned instead of right. "You live in the Loft District?"
"Right over there," she pointed at a beautiful, old stone building. I felt a flutter in my chest, the same one I always have when I am confronted with nice things. Like someone is going to catch me and yell at me not to touch them.
"Your parents got you an apartment here?"
She shook her head as she watched the light, "Nope, they left it up to me. I wasn't going to be staying in their house, that's for sure. They laughed at me for thinking I could afford it, but who's laughing now?
Her heels clicked as we crossed the street and I felt another flutter in my belly. She pushed the door open and we both gasped when we hit the warmth of the lobby. "It got too cold too fucking fast," she complained.
But I didn't hear her. I was too busy looking around at the marble lobby and wondering how the fuck Ingrid could afford a place like this. I had to bite my tongue several times to keep from prying. I still didn't know her well enough to just blurt out my incredulity.
She stabbed the elevator button with a manicured fingernail. Her usual several designer handbags hung from her shoulders. Slow realization was starting to replace that flutter in my belly, which made me even more reluctant to ask how she afforded this place.
I decided I didn't want to know.
Her place was on the sixth floor, facing towards the Art Museum. It was bright and girly and bigger that the first floor of my parents' house. She dropped her bags in a heap on the floor. "What a stressful week," she sighed as she blew air out of the side of her mouth.
I stepped onto the polished wood floor and looked at the bank of windows and out onto the cars circling Eakins Oval in front of the Art Museum and the iconic front steps. "This is a hell of a nice location, Ingrid."
She moved around behind me. "I dunno, I wanted to be on Rittenhouse Square, but this was closer to school. I don't know if I'm going to stay though, it's Deadsville at night.
"How do you..." I bit the question back again. I knew it wasn't legal, however she afforded it. "How much time is left on your lease?" I asked instead.
"August. Seems a long way off, but it'll go quick." She kicked off her heels and flopped onto the white couch. "Sit down, you're making me nervous."
I was nervous. But I sat obediently. "Are you going to tell me about you and Crash, or am I going to have to beat it out of you?"
I looked down at the bright purple carpet. I knew she was expecting me to tell her we had slept together the other day. I knew she was waiting for all the salacious details.
After the ride, he had dropped me off near my car. "I want to see you again," he had said with that crooked grin. My body was still vibrating, both from the bike and from being near him. "Got some shit going on, but I'll call you soon, that okay?"
"That's okay," I had breathed. And then he had kissed me. And I had felt like the world had dropped away. It was a kiss so forceful, so urgent, that it should have burned away all of my reluctance and regrets.
It should have been enough.
That night I had laid in my bed and berated myself. You need to move on, Lexi, I told myself over and over again. You need to move on, let go of this. You're never going to see Casey again. Stop living in the past.
But when I fell asleep, my dreams were still stuck. Now my memories of Casey's lips on mine were mingled with the all too recent memory of Crash's lips in the same place. I had let my hands wander downwards, losing myself in a new fantasy.
Five years had given me time to develop from childish love into full-blown desire. Casey would be twenty-two now, a full-grown man. And I was a full-grown woman I couldn't help but note, as my fingers traced the heaviness of my breasts and the curve of my hips. I had filled out from the skinny little girl I had been, but then he would have filled out too. The thought made me clench my hand between my thighs.
I wondered if he shaved or let his beard grow. I wondered if his hair was long or short. I wondered if it still was as silky as it was when he was sixteen.
My mind created the man in front of me, piecing him together from snatches of memory. Crash's strong arms. Casey's blue eyes. Casey's blond hair. Crash's forceful kisses.
"You're blushing, Delaney!"
Ingrid's delighted shriek brought me back into the room, my cheeks flaming furiously. "I am not!" I protested weakly.
"Bullshit. He take you back to his place? What's he like in bed? Oh my god, you're blushing harder! Ha!"
I looked down at my fluttering hands. "I don't know. He kissed me..." She squeaked. I held up my hands. "And that was it."
"I'll take it." She bounced to her feet. "And now we are going to chill because I am fucking wrecked. And you are going to tell me every single detail of that kiss." I gaped at her as she bounded into the other room and then reappeared with her fists closed.
"What's going on?"
She looked at her hands and grinned. "It's a surprise. New merchandise we need to test out."
"Uh."
"Stop making that face, Delaney. It's just a pill. Something to help us relax."
I stammered and was saved by the chime of my phone. I dove for it.
"You free tonight?" It was Crash.
"Yes!" I typed back quickly. I didn't want to take whatever Ingrid was offering. "I'm free right now, actually."
"Nice. Party tonight, wanna come?"
I hesitated for only a minute. "Where?"
"Clubhouse."
I sat back on my heels as my breath came out in a whoosh. "What's going on?" Ingrid demanded.
"Crash just invited me to a party at his clubhouse."
My ears rang for several seconds after Ingrid's shriek ended. She snatched my phone from my hands and scrolled back through the message. "Oh my god, a biker clubhouse? That is insane. Oh my god, you sure you only kissed him?"
"Yes!" I shouted, snatching my phone back. My heart was hammering in my throat.
"Are you going? Tell me you're going."
I looked at my phone, remembering the magic I had felt as I rode with Crash. It was too cold today to go for a ride. But maybe I could claim some of that magic in another way.
I made up my mind. "Can you pick me up?" I typed back.
C
hapter 23
Case
J. laughed. "I can promise you, it's not going to be like anything you see on TV."
Andy looked disappointed, and the rest of the club laughed along with J. at his petulant face.
"Thorn, you got some sort of wild imagination," Dr. D remarked.
"Poor little prickly prospect," Case chuckled. "Don't worry, you'll still get to have fun. I won't make you haul shit the entire night."
It was Crash who had christened Andy with his new name. The first night, when Andy had bitched about the uncomfortable bunks, Crash had declared him a "prickly little bastard." With the last name Hawthorne, his new name was decided.
Thorn headed back outside to the pickup truck that was loaded with cases and cases of beer and whiskey. It was party time. The Storm Riders from Albany were finally on their way, hauling their bikes down to winter in Florida. Case had had Thorn working sixteen-hour days on the new walls of the bunkhouse to get everything ready in time. The exhaustion, coupled with the disappointment of realizing that he wasn't going to be able to get shitfaced tonight had the thorny little prospect in a pretty foul mood.
The morning of the party, Crash stopped by in his pickup, then jumped down to help carry the supplies in.
"Beer, bourbon, and bullets," he had announced excitedly.
"What more could we ask for?" Case agreed. "And what about your other duties?"
Crash looked panicked. "Fuck man, I'm so sorry."
Case was surprised. "You struck out? This is unheard of."
Crash dismissed the idea with a wave of his hand. "I never strike out. I just, uh, forgot to look." A slow grin spread across his face. "Been kind busy thinkin' about my little redhead."
"No time to find a chick for your friend?"
"I will make it up to you." Crash promised.
Emmy came out into the parking lot to help carry the load. "Can you believe this shit?" Case asked her. "One job he has. 'Bring girls to the party,' and he flakes on me."
She thought for a second. "I can call Sammie if you want."