Pedal to the Metal

by Stephanie Nichole

  After he hangs up the phone he walks around the desk and pulls me into a rough hug. "Jagger. It's been too long. It's good to see you again little brother."

  "You too" I tell him while hugging him back.

  He pulls back and holds me at arm’s length distance "Vegas has been good to you. Why didn't you tell me you'd be here today?"

  I rub my hand over my face "Didn't know to be honest. I just got off work and packed up what I wanted to bring."

  "Well, either way it's good to have you back," Axell says with his goofy smile on his face. "Sadie will be happy that she took care of the room yesterday."

  "Yeah, about that. She didn't have to do that. I could have taken care of it myself."

  He waves his hand as if swatting the thought away. "You know Sadie." Sadie was a permanent fixture in our family, had been since Axell and she met in high school and started dating. Sadie had become like a mother to all of us and I was sure she still was to Jovi. She had managed to put herself through college and graduate and was now a full-time nurse. She was the best thing that had ever happened to Axell.

  "Okay, as much as I hate to break up the brother bonding I'm starving," Bowie interrupts and Axell laughs then suggest we head over to JamesTown, our families bar on the back side of the building. We make our way over and take a seat at the bar, Bowie goes behind the bar and grabs us all beer then pops his head inside the back door and asks for three burgers and fries.

  We mostly eat in silence with exception of a curious question from one of my brothers. My thoughts keep drifting to the last time I was in this bar. It had been after Harlyn and even though I wasn't old enough to drink I was hammered. I had started a bar fight and I would have gotten arrested if Bowie hadn't taken the fall for me and while Ace drove me home. Two days after I had packed up and left. Las Vegas was close enough and big enough that I could forget my past and hide out. Being back here though reminded me of how much I had missed this place I called home.

  We continued to hang around the bar. My brothers filled me in on the things I had missed out on. Apparently, the James brothers still ruled the racing world, Ryce Whitten and the rich brats from Santa Monica tried every week but never beat us, Farrah Parrish now worked as a bartender at JamesTown and had a thing going on with Connor Hart, who was from our side of town. Farrah had always been different from the rest of the Santa Monica brats. She had paved her own path and that wasn't allowed apparently.

  Bowie told me that Duke Parrish had lived up to his expectation. He sometimes still came to the races with his nose in the air like he was superior to the rest of us. He was going to be a lawyer once he finished college and he had already placed a ring on Kasha Kendrick's hand. I really wasn't that surprised or interested in Duke however, I was curious about Londynn, Farrah's younger sister. She was the most intriguing to me, when I had left she had only been fourteen, but she had already been gorgeous. With her honey colored hair and dark hazel eyes that looked like stars were dancing in them, she had still believed in the magic of the world.

  "So, you told me about the rest of the Parrish family, what about Londynn?" I asked trying to seem as uninterested as possible.

  Bowie chuckled and gave Axell a knowing look. "That's right you had always been the most curious about the baby of the family," Bowie says laughing way too hard.

  "It's not like that, I was just curious." Bowie could be exhausting at time. I look over at Axell I get a sense of sadness in his eyes but I'm not sure why.

  Axell clears his throat "Well she kind of did what you'd expect. As soon as she was old enough to date she became Ryce's girlfriend."

  "Not that his punk ass deserves her," Bowie chimes in.

  "She's been away for three months according to Farrah and the relationship with Ryce is questionable," Axell says before falling silent. After a few minutes of silence Axell checks his watch and says, "We should get going we gotta get to the races and close the shop." Bowie is already in the shop helping cleanup for the day when Axell places his hand on my shoulder to stop me "Jagger, Londynn is vulnerable right now so it's best to stay clear."

  I feel my brows knit together in confusion. I didn't know why he was telling me to stay clear. I had no intention of going after her. Even at fourteen Londynn deserved a one woman type of a guy and I wasn't him. I would never be that guy again, not after Harlyn. Everything for me now when it came to women was no strings attached sex, just about the release. Something told me that Londynn wasn't that type of girl. "I wasn't planning on getting near her. Unless the woman is Harlyn, I don't give a damn," I said walking away from Axell and heading to my car. I didn't want anymore brotherly advice today.

  ****

  As I pull up to the street that we'd be using to race tonight I spot my brothers cars, Axell's black 1970 Chevy Chevelle, Ace's royal blue Dodge Challenger Hellcat and Bowie's black 1968 Ford Mustang Fastback. I pull in next to Bowie, as I get out I spot Ace and Jovi leaning next to the wall smoking a cigarette. I walk up yanking the cigarette from Jovi's mouth "I don't think so."

  Jovi looks up at me with his wide innocent eyes, he's tall now at least 6'1" with messy chocolate brown hair that's a little too long on the top, he's far too skinny though, I’d have to fix that, start hitting the weights with him. "Jagger?" his voice no longer held that pre-puberty squeak to it, now it's deep and husky that seems to be a family trait. I pull him into a hug, when I pull back I tell him "I never want to see you smoke anything ever again, am I clear?"

  "Yeah, I just figured since Ace does.," he trails off with a shrug.

  Looking over at my next to youngest brother, Ace, he's grown up too. He's eye level with me at 6'3". His body resembles the rest of ours, all muscle. The top of his chocolate brown hair is also a little too long, but I guess it’s, so he can pull it up and style it the way he does, the sides are short to the head. His ears have big black gauges. A piercing on the left side of his lip and neck full of tattoos are the first things I notice. Looking down his arms I see those are also covered in colorful ink, now it all makes sense as to why he owns a tattoo shop. "Yeah, well Ace was always a rebel without a cause," I say pulling Ace into a hug while yanking the cigarette from his mouth too.

  "Never without a Cause, all for the ladies. Ladies love a rebel," he says winking his baby blue eyes that are lined with a ridiculous amount eyeliner and eyelashes that are so dark and thick, that most girls have to buy. I chuckle at his comment and he whispers into my ear "Good to see you. Welcome home."

  "Thanks man," I tell him just as a gorgeous, petite brunette saunter up to Ace. She's just his type in her tiny black dress and over the knee the black leather boots with at least six-inch heels and a rather large set of breasts that couldn’t be real. She must be short without those because she barely comes to the middle of Ace's chest. Her dark grey eyes are lined with just as much eyeliner as his and her long dark hair hangs down to the small of her back. Her nose is pierced, and I wonder if Ace is the one who did it.

  Ace kisses her on the cheek and motions towards me "Kynlee this is my older brother Jagger. Jagger this is my friend Kynlee."

  I extended my hand out to shake hers. "Nice to meet you Kynlee, although I'm not sure what you see in this brother of mine. Clearly, you can do better." I love Ace but if he's referring to a girl as hot as Kynlee as just a friend then he doesn't deserve her.

  She laughs tossing her hair over her shoulder "I like you already." When she smiles her cold exterior automatically warms up. She should definitely be smiling more like that, but I have the feeling Ace doesn't give her a whole lot of reason for these smiles. All of our thoughts and conversations come to a halt as Ryce Whitten pulls up in his canary yellow Porsche 911 but it's not because of the car or him, it's because of the volume of his music. It's ridiculous. I can barely hear myself think so I'm not quite sure how he managed to drive all the way down here.

  As he gets out he smirks in my direction, cocky little son of a bitch that he is. He loses every time he races but still acts like he's the
best because of the amount of money he has in his trust fund. I see Ace ball his hand into a fist and I know that if I make one move he's got my back, but I didn't come back to fight so I turn around in the other direction. I'm not going to let that rich brat cause me any trouble. He's still just pissed that Harlyn never even looked his direction. He had tried on multiple attempts, but she had never even batted an eyelash, it was just another reason why I loved her. I hear a girl squeal in delight and glance back over my shoulder to see Ryce with his face buried in Jessica Mann's neck. She's barely clothed and by the way his hands all over here I wonder if he's going to take her right there on top of the hood of his car. I see movement out of the corner of my eye and notice the head of honey colored hair and long legs moving away from the scene with Ryce. I haven't seen her face, but I know its Londynn.

  Chapter 3

  Londynn

  When we first arrived at the races I scanned the area for Ryce, but I didn't see him anywhere, but I was bound to run into him. I still didn't know what to do about our situation. I knew regardless of who he was hooking up with he'd end up doing what his parents wanted. Ryce always only cared about money first, if he didn't do as they wished he'd be cut off. As I was walking, searching for Farrah who was probably somewhere with Connor I saw some of the James brothers, Ace who I knew better than most since we were almost the same age. We'd kissed once, mostly because he was helping me prove a point to Ryce which lasted all of two hours. Then there was the youngest James boy, Jovi, he was like fifteen now, but you could already see the resemblance between them all. Of course, Kynlee, who scared me a little to be honest, was next to Ace as always. They would never call themselves official, but they were definitely something. Kynlee was gorgeous, but she had this attitude that made all the girls a little scared. However, none of them were what really caught my attention. No, the one that caught my attention was the one standing in all black. That had to be Jagger, I hadn't seen him since I was fourteen but even back then he was too good looking for his own good, obviously that hadn't changed. He was at least 6'4" and all muscle. You could actually see the muscles that defined his back through the simple black tee he had on. His hair was chocolate brown and cut similar to Ace's but instead of pulling it up and towards a side, Jagger's was just pulled up. It was thick. It made me want to run my fingers through it. When he moved his arms, I could see a tattoo on the inside of his right bicep and another tattoo on inside of his left forearm. His tanned skin made me wonder if he had moved to a place that had a beach and if he spent a lot of time there.

  Music. Music that was so loud that everyone else fell and quiet took over my thoughts. Looking over my shoulder I noticed Ryce's canary yellow Porsche heading this way. I fell behind some other people in the crowd. As he parked I noticed movement from across the street again, looking up I noticed Jagger had turned towards Ryce with a look of disdain on his face. His bronze colored eyes were narrowed in a glare in Ryce's direction. I also noticed that even though Jagger and Ryce were close to the same age that Ryce had a baby face compared to Jagger. Maybe, it was Jagger's trimmed beard or the way his amber eyes held a pain no one could understand. Ryce smirked at Jagger and I held my breath as I waited to see if anything would happen between them, but Jagger just turned back around shaking his head. I was studying Jagger again when I heard a loud squeal come from the direction of Ryce.

  Ryce had grabbed Jessica Mann, a fake busty blonde that had a reputation. Ryce currently had her sitting on the hood of the car with her legs wrapped around his waist, his face was buried in her neck and his hands were...well everywhere. It was a disgusting sight to witness but something I needed to see. Farrah had asked me what I wanted with Ryce and at the time I didn't know but after this I had an answer. I wanted nothing, absolutely nothing from or to do with Ryce. I would never be able to look at him like the boy I had fell in love with once upon a time. The trust we had once shared was shattered for me. He clearly hadn't spent any time missing me the past three months but then again, I hadn't expected him to. The last time I had seen him flashed back into my mind.

  We were at the street races just like every other Friday night. Ryce was being distant every time I searched those brown eyes I had come to love for answers I only ended up with more questions. Once we parked he got out throwing his arm around me and pulling me close. To the audience in front of us we were the perfect couple, but it was just the appearance. I was depressed, and I was pretty sure Ryce was cheating. I had just turned nineteen and Ryce was twenty-three. When our parents first introduced us, I had been fifteen and the fact that Ryce Whitten wanted to date me made me feel like I was on cloud nine.

  Ryce was the typical California rich boy. Six feet with six pack abs and sun bleached blonde hair with chocolate brown eyes and one of those smiles that made girls weak in the knees. Any girl my age would have felt special when with him because he had that way of making you feel that way. As if you were the only girl in the room but I had been young and naive and missed the looks he gave other girls. He said he loved me and I believed him. Ryce would buy me expensive things and take me to fancy restaurants and I had always believed that was a show of love but not anymore. I knew better now. It was just for appearance.

  I had once been captivated by Ryce Whitten, I had given him everything I had and all I got in return was a front seat to him having sex with some random girl. When he finally realized I was standing there, frozen like an idiot he had followed me outside and I told me it as my fault that he cheated. I was a prude and cold and he had to cheat because I didn't put out enough. That was three months ago and here I am now frozen watching this scene with Jessica unfold until I realize that I can walk away. There's no one to stop me so that's what I do. I turn around and start to walk away when Creed calls my name from across the street. My eyes must give something away because Creed looks around until he spots Ryce who is already moving towards me. I try to cross the street discreetly, but I hear Ryce's voice call my name.

  I consider trying to walk faster but I know that will do no good. I've been spotted, Creed gives me an apologetic look but it's not really his fault. I was the one who thought I could get away with avoiding him all night. I'm not too far away from Ace, Jovi and Jagger who Creed is standing with since they live by each other. They've practically grown up together. Before I turn around to face Ryce I notice that Jagger has fully turned around along with everyone else to see what's going on. Instantly, I feel my anxiety kick in.

  ****

  Jagger

  I had no reason to feel protective over Londynn Parrish, but I didn't trust guys like Ryce Whitten. They were used to getting what they wanted and if they didn't then usually their angry side came out. Sometimes their angry side required someone else to step in. As I turned around my eyes instantly locked on Londynn's hazel eyes. They no longer held those stars, the world had stolen those dancing stars, the girl in front of me didn't look like the girl who believed in magic anymore. This girl looked broken. I should know, I carried that same look a lot of the time but just before she turned around to face Ryce I saw her walls come back up. She might be hurt but I doubted few people knew about it.

  Ryce spoke first "Londynn I didn't know you were back."

  Londynn crosses her arms over her chest and raises her nose in the air while she meets his eyes. "Well, I don't suppose you would since we haven't spoken in three months. You've clearly been...busy."

  Ryce takes a step towards her but she matches it by taking a step back. "Come on sweetie it's not like that."

  Londynn throws her hand up to stop him. "Save it Ryce. I used to believe you but not anymore."

  "Londynn, we need to talk," Ryce says but his tone is condescending, like he's trying to talk to a toddler.

  Londynn shakes her head "I think your tongue needs some rest," she says before turning around towards us where Farrah, Connor, Bowie, Axell and Sadie now stand as well.

  Ryce quickly closes the distance between them and yanks her arm, pulling her back toward
s him. "Don't walk away from me Londynn!" He yells at her and I see her flinch and instantly I'm moving.

  I hear footsteps behind me and I don't even have to look back to know Ace is right behind me, probably Bowie too. They both love to get in someone's face. I stop not too far from Londynn and Ryce. Ryce glares at me over Londynn's head and I can hear her whispering she's sorry and to please let her go. Hearing Londynn's voice sound so broken did it for me, I cleared my throat and said, "Let her go."

  "Keep your ass out of it Jagger or I'll hand it to you," he says trying to sound threatening.

  I chuckle "That's funny Ryce because I can't remember you ever handing me my ass but if you think you can then come on." I motion for him to come at me. "Let her go and show me what you got."

  "Fuck this!" He says pushing Londynn back with enough force to send her tall, lean body falling into my chest. Luckily, I catch her just as Bowie steps around me and punches Ryce square in the jaw knocking Ryce a few steps back. Instantly, Ryce's friends around him ready to try to take us on but I hear footsteps behind us and I see Axell and Connor have also joined us. This could get bloody really quickly so I lean down to whisper in Londynn's ear but suddenly the sweet smell coming of her skin hits me. Daisies feel my nose but it's not overpowering it's subtle, it's nice. I swallow trying to get my thoughts back on track. "Are you okay?" I ask her, and I notice how the tickle of my breath causes goosebumps to cover her arms. She simply nods her head yes. Knowing that she's okay I place my hand on her waist and guide her behind my back where she must see Farrah because I hear her retreating to where the rest of the girls are at.