Ride For Me (The North Shore Crew #1)

by VR Baucke

  “You suck,” Kimmie muttered.

  The only sound that escaped from me was a snort as I tried to keep my snickering in check. Kimmie wasn’t a prude, but she was most definitely more reserved than I was. And while she was forthcoming with telling me intimate details, she still found it a bit awkward to be so open, depending on the subject.

  “Right, movie or series binge?” Kimmie demanded.

  “Movie!”

  “Okay, how about Beau-”

  “And we watched Beauty and the Beast last time,” I cut her off. “Yes, it’s good but we need something a bit more badass today.”

  “Amen to that.”

  I smirked. “Mmhmm! Anything Hemsworth or Gerard Butler—I don’t care which one.”

  “I thought you’d never ask,” Kimmie said breathlessly and swooned against the back of the couch.

  Double checking that my phone was on silent, I set my glass down and crawled over to the TV. From that moment on, I did not want to be disturbed by anything other than hearing my glass refilling and letting my eyes feast on gorgeous, non-dickhead, men.

  TEN

  LIL

  GERARD DIDN’T FAIL to deliver all our hopes and dreams, and as the movie finished, Kimmie’s stomach let out a loud, angry growl.

  All of a sudden, I was famished! Like, needed food right now before I ate my own arm famished. Who was I kidding; I would totally eat Kimmie’s arm first!

  “I’m ordering pizza before you lose an arm,” I announced and fumbled with my phone.

  She did a double-take my way. “What does ordering pizza have to do with my arm?”

  “Taste,” I shot back and, ignoring the awaiting messages, dialled for delivery. I tapped my thigh impatiently while the call connected.

  “‘BBQ Meat Lovers and Chicken Fajita?” I mouthed at Kimmie.

  She widened her eyes and nodded. I smiled at her smirk then turned my attention to the voice in my ear as soon as he answered, stressing how urgent our order was; limbs practically hung in the balance!

  “Gah, he had better be pronto. I hate waiting,” I growled.

  Kimmie tittered. “You’ve always been impatient, Lil. Even when we were little, you were a demanding little shit.”

  “Hey!” I yelled and slapped her leg.

  Our laughter was halted by a knock at my door.

  “No fucken way! That has got to be the quickest pizza delivery known to man!” she breathed when my eyes locked with hers.

  We jumped to our feet and stampeded towards the front door, slamming into each other and shrieking hysterically in a drunken stupor. Swinging the door open, the smile dropped from my face and was quickly replaced with a frown deep enough to leave permanent lines.

  “What are you doing here?” I huffed.

  “Nice to see you too, Lil Bean,” Mace deadpanned and folded his arms across his wide chest.

  “We were expecting the pizza man, and we’re raaavenous,” Kimmie purred and gave him a flirty wink.

  A grin split his face. “For you, ladies, I’ll be God if you ask me to. But I’ll settle for playing pizza boy,” he chuckled and flexed his biceps unnecessarily before muscling his way past us into the house.

  “Looks like my timing is impeccable since there’s delicious, fatty food on its way.”

  I scoffed extra loud. “And just why are you here? You know you’re welcome anytime, of course, but there’s usually a reason for you to grace us with your presence.” I raised one brow and waited.

  Narrowing his eyes, he replied in a dry tone. “You didn’t read my text, did you?”

  “Nope.”

  I picked up my phone and saw he had, indeed, given me fair warning of his impending visit.

  M: *rolling eyes* What’s that dipshit done now? He came home major pissed!

  10 minutes later;

  M: It must be bad if you’re ignoring me…

  6 minutes later;

  M: On my way. You can’t snob me in person!

  I re-read Mace’s messages out loud, royally taking the piss by using a high-pitched and needy tone. By the end of the fourth read-through, Kimmie and I were crying with laughter. Our tears flowed harder when Mace wore the most ridiculous look of indignation on his face. He shook his head while frowning between the two of us.

  “How much have you two loons had to drink already?”

  Kimmie and I looked at each other.

  “Two?” I asked.

  “At least… three?”

  “No, definitely not three!”

  “Two then” Kimmie announced with confidence.

  “Glasses?” Mace questioned.

  “Bottles!” I cheered and threw up my hands. My exclamation ended on a hiccup.

  “Oh shit! You two are trouble,” he declared through an amused chuckle and rubbed his hands together. “What’s the occasion?”

  Kimmie scoffed. “Your cousin is the occasion.”

  I whacked her hard on the arm, shocked that she had blabbed so quickly. Mace’s face immediately darkened and he began to apologise profusely for giving out my address.

  “It’s fine,” I sassed, well and truly not wanting to rehash things. “I don’t want to down-buzz right now.”

  Mace held up his palms and motioned them in a placating gesture. Kimmie and I were still heckling Mace when we heard a car pull up outside. We all knew what that meant and the three of us did a happy dance on the spot before I swung the door wide for the second time in fifteen minutes.

  The pizza man stood with his arm extended in a pre-knock stance. He froze to the spot when Kimmie and I rushed through the doorway and mobbed him. The poor guy all but shat himself. Mace chuckled behind us before finally putting the delivery boy out of his misery.

  “Sorry, mate, my girls are ravenous right now.” He gave the guy a wink that insinuated so much more than hunger. The guy paled slightly and took a step back.

  Relieving the pizza man of his burden, Mace hustled Kimmie and I inside while holding the pizzas above his head. We turned our attention to the unreachable goods, jumping up and down in a hungered frenzy. Mace’s composure was cracking with our relentless assault on his arms—and other parts of his body. The top box had become unstable during the scuffle and tilted precariously before plummeting towards the floor.

  “Noooo,” I yelled.

  My clouded reactions made my actions seem way more epic than they were as I completed another of my signature slow motion dives. I had to save the stuffed crust circle of amazingness from impending doom.

  Kimmie cheered and gave me a celebratory high-five as we laughed our way into the living room again, settling cross-legged on the floor in a circle with Mace.

  “You two are fucking brutal,” he chuckled, flicking an accusatory finger between the both of us.

  “What can I say,” I shrugged, “a girl’s gotta eat. Don’t get in the way of a woman and her food!” I grinned behind my hand, hiding my pizza smeared teeth.

  “So, Lil told me all about her personal encounter with the sinfully hot Batman,” Kimmie piped up.

  She was messing with me and we both knew it. Her sweet demeanour wasn’t enough to disguise the glint of mischief in her eyes.

  Mace choked a little and grunted to clear the blockage.

  “Was it really that bad?” Concern etched onto his gathered brows. Seeing my pursed lips, he added, “All I know is that he arrived home—leaving half the rubber from his tires on the driveway—and was in a right bitch of a mood. Got all up in my face as soon as he saw me. We’re both lucky not to be sporting black eyes right now. Plus, I’m certain he broke the front door off the hinges with the force he threw it open, just like a goddamn hormonal teenager!”

  That last comment lightened the mood and I felt a giggle bubble up.

  “No, not that encounter.” Kimmie burst in exasperation. “I’m talking about that of the sex-u-al kind that happened last weekend.”

  I gasped and threw a crust at her. “Bitch! Shut your mouth!”

  Mace’s lau
ghter boomed around us. “Oh, I thought you were referring to their sex-u-al deviousness on your bench—also that night.”

  It was Kimmie’s turn to gasp and savagely slam her pizza slice into the box.

  “Lil! You didn’t!”

  I glared daggers at Mace as he held his stomach and guffawed like it was the funniest damn thing since ever!

  “One of these days I’m gonna cut your balls off in your sleep, Mason!”

  “Lil Bean, you’re too easy,” he wheezed in laughter.

  “You suck! Both of you. As of this second, I’m in the market for new best friends.”

  Kimmie giggled, quickly forgetting her snit with me for corrupting her parent’s kitchen bench.

  Once Mace had finally pulled himself together, he turned serious again and I felt the weight of his words land heavily on my chest.

  “Seriously, Lil, was his behaviour really that bad?”

  “Well...” I waved the pizza in the air between us. “It wasn’t pleasant,” I concluded in a matter-of-fact way. “And are you okay, by the way?” I added as an afterthought to his well-being.

  He waved off my concern and circled his hand, impatient for me to spill the beans. With a sigh, I set my pizza down and talked, sparing him no detail.

  Mace re-positioned himself two clicks to the left so he could lean against the front of an armchair as he listened. Sprinkles of cussing came from him as I relayed the entire story from start to finish. I finished with a question, hoping he could shed light on the situation.

  “So, what’s up with him hating on the world, with the whole dark and broody badass thing he’s got going on?”

  I could see Mace waging an internal battle, wanting to tell me what I wanted to know while not crossing the line of family privacy. He came to a decision and looked at me frankly.

  “Lil, Gage has had an extremely rough time in the last few years, and he’s a changed man from what he went through. The tats and piercings were his way of dealing with the shit that broke him. He came up here for a fresh start, to get away from all the wallowing that was drowning him back in The Bay. It’s not my place to give you the finer details, and I bet my left nut there’s more to the story than I know about, but I assure you, he’s a great guy. He just holds his cards very close to his chest. It’s going to take time—and getting to know him—before you’ll fully be able to see, and understand, that.”

  I looked at my hands and grumbled, “I’m hesitant to get to know him after this morning’s effed up fiasco.”

  “Lil,” Mace’s tone was soft. It had me lifting my downcast gaze to meet his. “He reacted like that because you inadvertently touched on a subject that he doesn’t ever want to talk about. I also know that he is incredibly confused about how he feels about you, though he hasn’t told me in so many words,” he added wryly. “I know him well enough to read between the lines. Gage’s way to shut out the feelings is to be an asshole. And believe it or not, it means he actually cares.” Mace hesitated, but decided to forge on cautiously. “You know, Lil, I don’t want to drag up the past, but I totally get why you would be guarded towards a guy that you hardly know...”

  His blue depths held sadness and his expression softened further, now full of affection as he searched my eyes with his. I felt myself smiling back at him in equal adoration. Mace understood how much my previous relationship destroyed me; he was one of the ones who fought hardest for me. He was right though, everyone had baggage and it wasn’t fair on Gage for me to expect to know all about his past while keeping my own hidden.

  As Mace’s advice sunk in, I felt the slump in my spine as guilt spread through me. I’d totally jumped to conclusions, yet again, about Gage.

  “You’ll need to speak to him sooner or later because he’s one of us now, and we’ll be seeing a lot more of his handsome face in the future,” Kimmie tentatively advised, leaning against my shoulder.

  Looking between both of their expectant faces, I couldn’t conjure up a legitimate excuse as to why I shouldn’t at least try to make amends with Gage, apart from the obvious fact that both of our encounters thus far had ended in total train wrecks.

  “Maybe, yes, no... Hell, I don’t know right now!” Locking stares with Mace, I turned my insecurities into sass. “But one thing’s for sure, he’s not allowed back at my house until he’s got his attitude in check.”

  Always one to want the last word, Mace barked out a laugh and shook his head.

  “You’ll be waiting until hell thaws from a deep freeze for that, Lil.”

  ELEVEN

  LIL

  FOR THE LIFE of me, I couldn’t fathom how Mace put up with our crap. As much as he looked bored to death, and no matter how many exasperated looks he cast in our direction, I knew he secretly thrived on the fact that he was privy to our girl talk. You know the kind that involved lots of juicy gossip that wouldn’t be uttered around the guys.

  Mace pretended to be all scandalised and shocked, but there were occasions when his guard totally fell off the wagon and he immersed himself in the conversation as much as Kimmie and I did. Those moments were the best.

  Mace and Mickey had been mates since Kindergarten, so I knew Mace well growing up. We’d been good friends, but our relationship reached new depths during periods of personal crises that could never have been battled alone. We had pulled each other through those times by equal amounts of sheer willpower, determination and outright stubbornness. I battled to get him through the lowest time in his life, and he returned the favour to pull me through the darkest time in mine. Needless to say, Mace and I were connected in a way that only the strongest relationships are bound by. We trusted each other with our lives, literally. For that, I would always cherish him deeper than mere friendship. I loved him as hard as one could without wanting someone intimately.

  Mace, always the protective presence when around Kimmie and I, remained sober while us girls let our hair down. We reached the point in our drinking escapade where it was late and we were falling asleep; Kimmie was on the couch propped up by the oversized cushions, and me on the floor with my feet up on the couch where Mace was lounging. Seeing us shutting down for the night, he put on his authoritative hat and stated that play time was over and it was time to get our asses upstairs to bed.

  He handled our complaints like a champ, not caring that he had to help brush our hair or be bullied into helping remove or re-dress various items of our clothing. Kimmie managed to crawl up the stairs purely by willpower, fiercely declining Mace’s repetitive offers of assistance. She was driven by the fact she would be sleeping in Mickey’s bed tonight. I, however, was being a right pain in the butt and I knew it.

  Uncontrollable giggles overcame me as Mace tried to coax me upstairs with his serious face; brows drawn together and lips slightly pouted. Coming to the end of his patience, his command ramped up a notch by snagging my wrists and dragging me semi-upright. There, he scooped an arm behind my knees and lifted me into his arms.

  “Stop squirming, Lil Bean,” he growled.

  “Your tickly fingers are tickling me!”

  Mace snorted. “I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, you two are fucking trouble.” He chucked between grunts as he climbed the stairs, holding me tight to his chest.

  “You know you love it. I’m glad we’re entertaining you,” I slurred and rubbed his chest playfully. “And!” I shouted as I snapped to full alert, “I love you so hard because I’m such a horrible mess and, no matter what, you’re always there for me.”

  He nipped at my fingers when I poked at his face. “You know I love you, too. You’re the little sister I never had and I can’t help but sort out your sorry ass when you need it.”

  “Yeaaah,” I sighed. “I think I’m going to officially adopt you as my brother. You’re much more fun and helpful than the one I shared a womb with.” I contemplated my suggestion; it was a great idea.

  Mace scoffed. “You know he would do anything in the world for you, Lil. He’s crazy protective of you, if
you hadn’t noticed. He’s just got a diff-”

  “It’s official; I’m going to keep you!” I yelled, cutting him off then began combing his hair with my fingers, cooing at him like a cute puppy.

  In my distracted state, I hadn’t noticed we had made it to my bedroom. Next thing, I was sailing through the air and bounce-landing on the bed where Mace tossed me. I rolled to the edge where he sat and studied me intently. His features grew increasingly concerned the longer he stared. With a heavy sigh, he scrubbed a hand over his forehead and eyes.

  “Lil, it’s getting worse again.”

  I feigned obliviousness. “What is?”

  His light blue eyes swam with disquiet as he reached for my hand and caught my gaze again. The concern etched on his face made a pang of regret shoot through my heart.

  “Your drinking, Lil. It’s been increasing recently and it’s beginning to worry me again.”

  Dipping my head in shame, I knew he spoke the truth. I had felt the pull for a month or two now, I just tried to ignore it.

  The truth was, six years prior, I had been madly in love with the supposed love of my life. He was caring, treated me like a queen, was confident and smart, and had effortlessly worked his way into my heart. Mickey warned me copious times that Jono was no good, but I assured him that he was. Jono was what I considered ‘safe’. He wasn’t wild and destructive, and he brought out a tamer version of myself that I hadn’t recognised to begin with. At the time, I hadn’t realised that I should never have changed who I was in order to please someone else, especially a man who I was meant to spend my life with.

  I met him at the tender age of twenty, nine years his junior, but it felt like he was put on earth to make me happy. Our relationship rapidly went from non-existent to full blown within a few weeks and, despite not being able to get enough of each other at any given moment, I realised now that was mostly infatuation I felt—not being head over heels in love with him. It was as if I had been picked up in a whirlwind and all I had to do was ride it to see where it took me. Soon, Jono moved into my flat and met my parents, all the while enthusiastically making grand plans for our future. At the time I didn’t find it weird that he never brought me home to meet his parents; he had told me they had passed away in a car accident years earlier. He also claimed he was an only child with no other relatives in New Zealand. He was all alone, and that made me—stupidly—think he needed someone to care for him. Looking back, the issue lay in his love of top shelf spirits. He consumed them in large quantities on a nightly basis, and naturally I developed the habit too.