Heavy Hogs MC

by Elias Taylor

  Mel nodded. This is what she had missed the most. The past few weeks she had longed to process the massive milestone with her friend.

  “It was nice,” Mel said. “Really, I felt ready, and he was so –”

  “Ok, remember it’s my brother,” Christina said. “I definitely don’t want details, just want to make sure you’re ok with it.”

  Mel laughed. She was glad that Christina was enduring this massive revelation with her characteristic sense of humor.

  “I haven’t even been able to think about it that much,” Mel said. “Just because I’ve been so engrossed with the secrecy and the guilt.”

  “Well, stop feeling guilty,” Christina said. “Despite how it ended, it’s good that you had a positive experience for your first time.”

  Mel hadn’t thought about it that way, but Christina had a point.

  “Yeah,” Mel said. “I think I’ll always be grateful for that.”

  The two friends spent the night chatting like they hadn’t in weeks. Christina was full of ideas about how Mel could avoid Tripp for the rest of the summer, and Mel was happy to agree to any and all friend activities.

  At the end of the night, Mel still felt heartbroken, but she could glimpse the light at the end of the tunnel. With Christina’s help, she was on her way towards healing.

  Chapter Twenty-Two: Bastard

  Tripp paced in a tight circle around his living room. He had been back in Lyndon for a whole day. He knew what he had to do. It was just difficult taking that first step.

  He couldn’t go to New York. He was going to turn Wayne’s offer down. He had to stay in California, even if there was only the slightest chance of getting Mel back.

  Knowing what he had to do was not the same as actually doing it.

  He stared at his phone. It was wrong to delay the inevitable. He had to call Wayne and break the news. He had to pass on the one chance he might ever get to design his own custom bikes.

  It didn’t hurt as much as he thought it might. Compared to the pain he felt every time Mel sent another one of his calls to voicemail, this was nothing.

  Small comfort indeed.

  Tripp grabbed his phone and hit Wayne’s number. Wayne picked up on the second ring.

  “Hey, Tripp, what’s up?”

  “Hi, I’ve been thinking,” Tripp said.

  He had figured it was best to just say it outright.

  “I can’t go to New York,” Tripp said. “I’ve got stuff here in California that needs to be taken care of. And I’m really sorry because I appreciate everything you’ve done, but my mind is made up.”

  Wayne was silent on the other end. Tripp prayed that he wouldn’t yell or curse at him. Tripp knew that Wayne was a busy guy, and Tripp had pretty much just wasted his time.

  “Alright, I won’t pretend this isn’t a twist,” Wayne said. “But I’ve got contacts on both coasts, would LA work for you?”

  Tripp thought he had heard it wrong. He stood with his mouth open for a second.

  “Y-Yes,” Tripp said. “LA would be perfect.”

  “Alright, there’s a possible shop I heard about,” Wayne said. “Let me make a few calls, and then I’ll get back to you.”

  “Thank you,” Tripp said.

  “Hey, it’s not the city that makes a business venture succeed, it’s the talent,” Wayne said. “And you have got the talent.”

  They said goodbye and hung up the phone. Tripp could not believe this stroke of good fortune. Now if only he could have the same luck with Mel.

  Once he explained to her how he felt and what he would do to be with her, Tripp felt that he had a shot. Nothing would undo the words that were said on the night of their fight, but Tripp had to try.

  The trouble was getting Mel to listen. She had continued to ignore his calls, and Tripp was making a concerted effort to only call once or twice a day.

  Tripp sat down on his couch with a massive sigh. He was going to have to get creative.

  He hadn’t wanted to resort to this, but times were desperate. He scrolled through his phone until he reached Christina’s number.

  He was going to have to be sneaky with his sister, something Tripp didn’t exactly excel at. Christina had always been the coy wild-child, and Tripp had been more straight-forward. Even so, he would try to get some information on Christina about her weekend plans. If they involved Mel, he would have to show up. He didn’t want to ambush Mel like this, but he had no other choice.

  He clicked on the contact and listened to the phone ring. Christina picked up in a heartbeat and didn’t even bother to say hello.

  “You bastard,” Christina said.

  “What?” Tripp asked.

  “I just spent the night with Mel,” Christina said. “Remember, the girl you just spent the past month screwing over?”

  Tripp’s stomach dropped. Christina knew. She knew everything, and she was definitely not on his side. That was alright. Tripp wasn’t really on his own side either.

  “Is she with you?” Tripp asked.

  He could hear the desperation in his voice, but he didn’t care.

  “No, she’s at home crying her eyes out and putting herself in a chick-flick-induced coma,” Christina said. “All the while insisting that it’s not your fault, you were so kind and good, she’s the one who got ahead of herself.”

  Tripp wanted to drive right over to Mel’s place. He wanted to wipe away her tears and tell her that he did care, she wasn’t the only one. The thought of her being in pain made him want to scream. She didn’t have to be sad. She wouldn’t be sad anymore, not if he had anything to say about that.

  “I have to talk to her,” Tripp said.

  “Yeah, that’s not happening,” Christina said. “She fell hard, Tripp, and she needs separation so she can heal.”

  “She said all that?” Tripp asked.

  “She told me everything, you asshole,” Christina said. “I’m her best friend.”

  Tripp didn’t blame Mel for confessing to Christina. She must have been a wreck these past few days, and with no one else to talk to, of course she had sought comfort from Christina. Even as Christina tore him apart, Tripp was grateful that his sister had been there for Mel. Whatever else she was, Christina was a fierce and loyal friend, no one could deny that.

  With her ferocity, Christina was going to be a roadblock. She was clearly in full protective mode, and if Tripp wanted Mel, he was going to have to get through Christina. Or convince Christina to let him in. If he could just get Christina to believe that he truly loved Mel, he knew she would step aside.

  “Christina, I do care about her,” Tripp said. “I need to talk to her so I can explain, you have to help me.”

  At least this way, Tripp wouldn’t have to trick Christina into offering her aid.

  “I’m not going to help you, you idiot,” Christina said. “I’m going to cut up all your leather biker jackets with scissors, and then I’m going to leave a really bad Yelp review on your stupid shop when it opens up in New York.”

  “I’m not moving to New York,” Tripp said. “It was an option, but Mel misunderstood, I was never going to go, I want to stay with her.”

  Christina was silent. It was a very rare occasion when Christina Charles was stunned into silence. Tripp might have laughed if he wasn’t so desperate for her help.

  “But the custom bikes, it’s your dream,” Christina said.

  “And I talked to the investor, I can do it in LA with Mel,” Tripp said. “Even if he wasn’t willing to do it in LA, I still wouldn’t leave.”

  “Tripp, you had better not mess with her,” Christina said. “Mel is the sweetest person in the world, she doesn’t deserve to be jerked around or led on.”

  “I promise I’m not messing around,” Tripp said. “I really care about her, and I need your help to get her back.”

  Once again, there was silence on the other end. Tripp prayed it indicated that Christina was giving his plight serious thought, and not just seething with anger.
r />   “I swear, if you hurt her again,” Christina hissed.

  “You can destroy me in whatever revenge you see fit,” Tripp said. “You can cut out my entrails and burn them in a bonfire, whatever you want. It just won’t happen, because I’m never going to hurt her ever.”

  “Hm,” Christina said.

  Tripp didn’t like how pleased she sounded over the idea of burning up his entrails, but he gave her the time to mull everything he had said over.

  “I just need your help getting to Mel so I can talk with her,” Tripp said.

  Christina took a deep breath and exhaled so loudly, Tripp could hear it over the phone. He held his breath as he waited for her response.

  “Ok,” Christina said. “So what are we talking about here?”

  Chapter Twenty-Three: LA

  Mel had once heard that after a relationship ended, it took half the time you had been together to get over a guy. So since she and Tripp had been involved for a month, after two weeks, Mel should have been over him.

  She wasn’t. Two weeks had passed, and even with Christina’s support, Mel didn’t feel much better.

  Besides, she and Tripp may have only been romantically involved for a month, but they went back farther than that. All the way back to her early childhood.

  The truth was, her heart was still as mutilated as it had been the day after the fight. If it was even possible for her to heal, she couldn’t know, because every time Tripp called or texted, it just reopened her wounds.

  She had gone back to work, and as she finished up her morning shift at the coffee shop, she didn’t even want to get her back from the bag and check her phone. Serving coffee was a welcome distraction, but she was positive there would be several missed calls from Tripp waiting for her on her phone.

  Mel sighed. She had to face reality at some point.

  “I’m clocking out,” she said to Mary Beth.

  Mary Beth smiled and waved from her place at the cash register.

  That was another silver lining. Mary Beth had loved her dress and had a great time at the gala. She had taken a bunch of photos, and they all made Mel smile. Even in her pride though, there was a shimmer of pain. Tripp had loved that dress too. He would have adored all the pictures from the big night.

  In the back, Mel untied her white apron. she had spilled an entire latte on it earlier, and it definitely needed washing. It was strange to think that in only a few weeks, she wouldn’t need to wash her aprons all the time anymore. Her clothes wouldn’t smell like espresso beans. Mel inhaled the comforting scent of hot coffee. She was going to miss that when she was off in LA.

  Shaking off her premature nostalgia, Mel grabbed her bag. To her surprise, there were no new calls from Tripp.

  Mel blinked. She thought it would feel good to not hear from Tripp for a while, but when actually confronted with blankness, she was miffed. So he was already over her, was he?

  Mel groaned. She was acting like an immature idiot. She had to move on and cease the wallowing in self-pity.

  She was never falling in love again. She didn’t even know if she would be capable of falling in love again.

  Mel headed out onto the sidewalk. It was a scorching hot day, and after the short walk to her parked car, a sheen of sweat broke out on her forehead. It was probably the last truly hot day of the summer. The summer’s final blaze of heat, as her dad would say.

  As she settled into her seat and blasted the AC, her phone rang. Mel rolled her eyes. Of course it wasn’t over. Tripp was still calling.

  She was about to send the call to voicemail when she saw the name.

  Christina.

  Mel raised her eyebrows. Not Tripp, but still strange. Christina rarely called, she was much more of a texter.

  “Hello?” Mel asked.

  “Mel, thank God you picked up.”

  Christina’s voice was strained. She sounded exasperated.

  “What’s up?” Mel asked.

  “My car broke down, it’s such a piece of junk,” Christina said. “I need you to come pick me up.”

  Christina had been complaining about her car for months, and from the sounds of it, she was about to have a mental break.

  “Of course, I just got off work,” Mel said. “Where are you?”

  “So, I’m in LA,” Christina said. “I wanted to do a little shopping, and I know it’s a long ride, do you think you could still make it?”

  Mel sighed and glanced at the clock. She had planned on doing some research in order to register for classes this afternoon, but there was no way she could get to LA and back before dinner.

  It didn’t matter though. This is what friends were for. Besides, while LA felt like a whole other world from Lyndon, it really wasn’t that far. Maybe she and Christina could even treat themselves to a nice dinner out on the town.

  “Yeah,” Mel said. “I’ll head out now.”

  “You’re an absolute lifesaver,” Christina said. “I’ll text you over the address.”

  Ten minutes later, Mel was on the highway, headed towards a random auto shop in LA. She wondered what Christina had been shopping for. It was actually unlike Christina to just go on a random trip without inviting Mel and about five other people along for the ride.

  Mel shrugged. She was sure Christina had her reasons.

  Besides, picking up Christina in LA was the least Mel could do after everything Christina had done for her the last few weeks. It would have been fully within Christina’s rights to hold a grudge or fly into a fury at Mel over what she had done with Tripp. Mel wouldn’t have blamed Christina for acting cold or needing some time away to process everything.

  Instead, Christina had been steady as a rock. Besides her initial mortification, she had been nothing but supportive. She just wanted Mel to be ok, and she never ran out of jokes about Tripp.

  Mel didn’t really know if all the ribbing about Tripp was helping, but she was just grateful Christina was able to tell jokes.

  At the end of the day, Christina had not abandoned Mel in her time of need. She hadn’t even considered walking away. Christina wasn’t built like that.

  So Mel wasn’t going to abandon Christina. She never would.

  Chapter Twenty-Four: Happy

  The address Christina had sent over was an auto shop. It wasn’t quite in the center of LA, but it was still close to the thick of things. Mel was afraid, as she pulled in, that it wasn’t open though. It had a nice store front with a fresh coat of paint, but there were no cars in the lot, and the windows were dark. There was a place over the door for a sign, but it hadn’t been hung up yet. How did Christina end up here?

  Mel stepped out of the car and scanned the area. She wondered if she should bring her pepper spray. Mel told herself it was better safe than sorry, as she pulled her purse over her shoulder and fished around inside until she had a firm grasp on the pink bottle of pepper spray.

  She headed toward the front door. Her worry picked up when she couldn’t see Christina’s car anywhere. Was her friend even here? Or had she given her the wrong address?

  Mel furrowed her brow with concern.

  “Chris?” she called out.

  No answer.

  When she was right outside the door, it opened. Mel gaped as Tripp walked out and stood before her.

  Some stupid part of her had missed the memo about the relationship being over, because that part rejoiced to see him there. He was so tall and sturdy and Tripp.

  The rest of her was a bit smarter. Mel turned on her heel and headed to the car. She didn’t know how or why he was here, but she didn’t appreciate being dragged out to a creepy auto shop.

  “Mel, wait,” Tripp said.

  In two long strides he was in front of her, blocking her path to the car.

  “I’m not going to New York,” he said.

  Mel huffed her breath in frustration and crossed her arms over her chest. She wondered if it would be too out of line to use the pepper spray on him.

  Then again, it was clear Tripp was
n’t going to give up on talking to her until he had his say. She was already all the way out here, she might as well get it over with.

  “You have to go to New York,” Mel said. “It’s your dream.”

  “I considered New York because it was the only option, and I thought there might be a way to make it work with us,” Tripp said. “But I turned it down, I can’t leave you.”

  Mel was flabbergasted. He couldn’t turn New York down. It was his dream.

  “You can’t –” she stammered. “I’m not –”

  “I can, and I did,” Tripp said. “Because you’re worth it, Mel.”

  Mel felt her entire body yearning for him. Could he be real? Was he really in front of her saying these things? Or was she suffering a hallucination from the heat?

  “And then Wayne said I could open the business here,” Tripp said. “Right here.”

  Mel looked at the auto shop with wide eyes as Tripp’s announcement sank in. She gazed at the shop behind him. It was big and in a good location. It probably had a lot of the equipment Tripp would need already installed. And there was a healthy population of bikers in the LA area. Mel wasn’t an expert investor, but it seemed like a smart business move.

  “Christina, she tricked me,” Mel said.

  The pieces were starting to fall into place. But Mel still didn’t understand. Why would Christina help Tripp find a way to talk to Mel? Christina had been adamant that her brother was a jerk. When had Christina changed her mind?

  “I asked for her help,” Tripp said. “Just to talk to you.”

  Mel nodded. She was still reeling at the revelations. She kept thinking it was a massive joke, and any minute he was going to say, just kidding, I am headed to New York. She wanted to believe him, but she was terrified.

  “It’s been hard,” Mel said.

  She hated herself for tearing up. Tripp was going to think she was a blubbering mess and way too much trouble.

  “I know, but it doesn’t have to be,” Tripp said. “I want things to be easy for you. For the both of us. I’m glad you told Christina too, it gives us a chance to feel like a real couple.”