by Addison Jane
“You mean she looks like an amazing young woman ready to take on the world,” Skylar added, stepping around my uncle and pulling Emma and me into her body.
I forced a smile but focused on Uncle Leo. “Where is he?” I asked, not beating around the bush. “He promised.”
His smile faulted, turning to a frown. “He’s doing his best, but sometimes the universe doesn’t work with us, Meyah.”
“No surprises there,” Mom muttered behind me, and I stood a little straighter. We were getting along okay since our talk. But I could tell there were still things she wasn’t telling me, and I wondered whether she was just keeping her opinions to herself because she was scared I’d walk away again and maybe this time not come home.
“It was out of his hands,” Uncle Leo growled, his eyes looking over my shoulder at Mom.
I wanted to say it was okay, that I knew he was probably trying his best, but that shit happens. But instead, I was just angry and disappointed. He made me a promise. He told me he would be here for me. Knowing how hard this was going to be. Knowing I really didn’t want to go in the first place. He couldn’t even call me, tell me he couldn’t make it?
He’d dumped me at my mom’s that morning and ran, disappeared to God only knows where.
I knew we hadn’t talked about what exactly was going on between us, but I thought he at least respected me more than that. I thought that maybe he understood how much this meant to me—how much having him here meant to me.
At that moment, I made a choice. “Let’s go,” I said firmly, walking forward. Skylar, Emma, and Uncle Leo all stepping out of the way as I powered down the pathway.
This was my moment, probably the last one I’d have before I left school and all these kids behind. A few months ago, I would have been happy to finish school hoping that my graduating class would forget about me and that I’d be a passing memory in their lives.
But now?
Now I was determined to make sure they didn’t forget me.
I wasn’t going to let their last memories of me be ones where I walked down the hall with my eyes on the floor, or where kids pointed and laughed in the hallway when Nick stuck a ‘kick me’ sign to my back.
Nope.
I was going to be the girl who came back from all of that with her head held high.
I was going to be the girl who pulled up to the prom on the back of a motorcycle, her family surrounding her, and her middle finger held up firmly in the air.
My body was aching, and I was feeling a little dizzy trying to concentrate my best on just making it to Athens. I was fucking late. But I was so damn fucking determined to make it to Meyah that I’d bought a cheap ass fucking suit a couple of cities back. I changed in the car a few minutes before we hit the clubhouse, jumped out of the car and onto my bike, and turned around heading back to town, hoping like fucking hell she’d hear me out when I told her why I’d been so damn late.
The last thing I needed right now was to wreck my bike.
Especially after the last three days I’d had.
There were still a million fucking thoughts running through my head. Things that made me fucking happy, things that were going to change, and things that could throw us into a fucking shitstorm. All stuff I was willing to risk if it meant having Romeo’s back.
I had my family back together, and if someone was going to come for them, they would have to face me first. Years ago, I made choices, weak choices, which resulted in me losing the people who meant the most to me. I wouldn’t make that mistake again.
I had nothing to lose by fighting for them and everything to fucking gain. And I had a clubhouse of dangerous motherfuckers at my back.
I dare you to try and take them from me.
It all kind of passed in a blur like I was on autopilot. I made it through Huntsville and out the other side. I’d just past the road to the clubhouse and was a few minutes from Athens when I heard the sharp sound of police sirens come up behind me.
“Motherfucker,” I cursed, assuming it was Deacon or one of his boys ready to just throw up my middle finger and continue on my way. But instead, I pulled to the side, thinking maybe I could get a fucking police escort into town and really make a stir.
Groaning in annoyance, I eased my ride down through the gears and used all the muscles in my tired body to pull her off to the side. I took a deep breath as I swung my leg over my bike and stretched out my limbs, pulling off my helmet and shaking my head as I fought to stay alert.
Heavy boots crunched the gravel at the side of the road. I looked up, squinting toward the headlights, and trying to make out a face as a police officer I didn’t recognize walked the few feet between my bike and his car.
“License and registration?” he asked with no emotion, his voice gravelly and raw.
I studied him as I pulled my wallet out of my back pocket where I stored my ID and documents. He was an older man, late fifties most likely. His top lip was covered by a gray bushy mustache which matched the streaks in the front of his hair.
“You new around here?” I enquired, opening my wallet and searching for my license.
He didn’t reply. Instead, moving his hand to his waist and tapping the baton that hung at his side. My body tightened, and an uncomfortable feeling ran through me, one that had my senses, which were lazy and tired, suddenly very alert.
I handed over my shit and leaned back against my bike trying to seem like this was just a casual stop, but my muscles were tensed, ready for a fight. It only heightened when he slipped the baton from its holder after tucking my ID in his front pocket.
“You have a tail light out,” he pointed out, stepping closer and nodding to the back of my bike.
I frowned, my eyes following his indication. “I didn’t—”
Smash.
The end of his baton went through my rear light.
I watched it happen.
Gritting my teeth as he pulled the baton back and slipped it into his belt, his eyes watching me the entire time with still no emotion crossing his face. Not a smug smirk, not a grin that told me he was proud of himself, or even any sign of anger or annoyance which was usually the police’s reason to try and be all up in our shit.
Motherfucker was baiting me.
Rolling my shoulders, I tried to remind myself I needed to keep my cool, but honestly, after the bullshit I’d dealt with over the last day, I was not sure how possible it was going to be. Shit like the prison guards who looked at me as if I was scum. The visitors who were seeing their own family who looked at me in the same way—being treated like the shit on someone’s shoe while Matt, the club lawyer, was asked if he wanted coffee, or food, perhaps a more comfortable chair. All because he might not be on their side, but because he had a job that’s somewhat respectable.
They didn’t fucking know me, or what we did for the community. No.
I was ready to fucking kill someone. I didn’t give a flying fuck who it was. And this guy had just put himself on my shit list.
“Well, that was original,” I said dryly, raising my chin and folding my arms across my chest. “Can I help you with something, or you always salty this late at night?”
Still no fucking change in his face. Not one fucking show of emotion.
I was starting to wonder if he even could.
“I’m gonna run your details. Don’t move,” he commanded as he turned on his heel and walked back to his car.
Instantly, I was pulling my cell phone from my pocket and hit Op’s number.
It rang twice.
“You get in all right?” Op asked when he answered.
I kept my eyes glued on the asshole in the car. He was doing a lot of typing on his little computer, but he wasn’t talking to anyone or calling in my details. “I’m a few miles from the town on the main road. Haven’t even made it to the fucking school, yet. Some new cop has pulled me over, put his baton through my tail light,” I told him simply and shortly.
“Fuck,” Op curses. “I’ll send Blizz.
Don’t lose your shit before he gets there.”
I tapped my foot on the asphalt as I waited for fuckface to do his shit, and it was probably less than four minutes before I heard the roar of two motorcycles coming down the road.
The officer’s ears perked up, too, and for the first time, I caught a frown crease his brow.
Interesting.
Blizzard and Dice slowed down and pulled their bikes to a stop on the opposite side of the road switching them off and hurrying across to me. There was no doubt I could handle my own shit but having my brothers at my back made me feel a little more relaxed, but not any less fucking annoyed.
“You should have got Levi to ride with you,” Blizzard scolded as he stepped around my bike, examining the broken tail light and the glass which was scattered on the ground. Levi had turned off at the clubhouse like I’d told him to, not seeing the point in making him ride all the way to Athens with me. I was embarrassed enough he’d seen me dressed like this.
Blizzard slipped his phone from his pocket and turned his back to the police car. He took several photos of the evidence, something I hadn’t thought of, making me feel even more thankful for having them there.
Blizzard knew his shit.
He knew his rights—as a member of the club, it was a good idea to read up on them. Many members of law enforcement didn’t believe we had any because we were criminals, and they would try to get away with anything to get us locked up.
“Nice suit,” Dice prodded with a grin, standing off to the side with his arms folded across his chest.
I held up my middle finger, too tired to deal with his smart fucking mouth.
When a door slammed shut, both Blizzard and Dice moved around to stand beside me as Officer Fuckhead approached. He didn’t speak as he held out my shit along with two tickets.
I scanned them.
One for the broken tail light and the other…
“Driving too slow? Are you fucking with me?” I snapped, slapping the ticket against my hand.
Blizzard pressed his hand against my chest when I stepped forward.
Officer Twatnose reached for his gun, and it felt fucking good to know that Mr. No Emotions could actually sense and feel fear.
“I can’t say I’ve seen you around here,” Blizzard remarked, putting himself in front of me. Blizzard was an intimidating guy when he needed to be. Especially, when he felt like his family was being threatened. He stood at least four inches taller than the officer and was a lot broader, and with the lights of the police car casting dark shadows across his face, I was surprised not to see some pee trickle down the asshole’s leg. “You new in town, sir?”
Officer Shithead huffed and turned away. “Mind your own business,” he retorted as he strolled back to his police car like he didn’t have a care in the world.
“This is our town. So I consider it our business,” Blizzard hollered as the guy went to climb into his cruiser. The warning was there, and it was clear as fucking day. He’d started something the club would have no problem finishing if that were how it had to be. We didn’t go out of our way to fuck with the police or piss them off. The club kept the surrounding towns and cities reasonably safe keeping small time gangs and their toxic drugs out of the streets.
This guy, though, he had a fucking thorn in his ass, and he was looking for someone to take it out on.
He paused, looking back at the three of us, back to that blank, emotionless face that honestly gave me the creeps. “We’ll see.”
The three of us stood in silence as he started his car and pulled away whipping the car in a U-turn back the other direction.
“Who the fuck was that?” Dice asked with a frown as we watched the car disappear toward Athens.
I could tell Blizzard was agitated, his fists clenched at his sides. “I think we need to go and visit our friend, Deacon,” he declared, rolling his shoulders back. “I think you should go to the clubhouse, get some rest.”
“Hell no,” I snorted, shaking my head and following Blizzard as he headed for his bike. “Has no one told you I’m late for a fucking ball?”
“You’re gonna fall asleep while you’re riding, and then where will we fucking be?” Blizzard warned as he climbed on his bike.
“Does this face look like it gives a shit?”
He reached for his key taking a deep breath before he turned it. “No. Your face looks fucking destroyed, and the bags under your eyes don’t scream fucking princess, they scream walking dead. You think Leo’s gonna be impressed when you try to get you and the girl home and end up in a fucking ditch?”
Blizzard took this shit seriously. He made sure brothers never rode while they were impaired, and he enforced that shit heavily. Not a lot of people understand just how dangerous motorcycles can be. That’s something I think a lot of us take for granted every day—the fact we have nothing around us to protect us. If we come off, whether we survive is between us, the road, and fucking God.
“We’ll call someone to come get us,” I huffed, knowing he wasn’t going to let me go unless I swore to be safe.
I wanted to go with them. Not happy to just leave him and Dice to deal with this shit on their own. Office Douche Canoe may not have said the words, but he wasn’t there as like a casual ‘torment the local bikers’ traffic stop.
There was something going on.
I could fucking feel it.
But I’d made a promise to Meyah. One I was already fucking late for and felt like a total fucking asshole. So that came first.
I could trust my brothers to get the information they needed, that went without question.
Blizzard eyed me carefully. “Fine. We’ll ride to the school with you and head off from there, but you wreck before that, and I’m leaving you on the side of the road to bleed out and think about how right I was.”
My prom entrance was everything I wanted it to be… well, almost.
I tried not to let it get me down even though my heart was a little torn.
Strangely, what gave me the boost I needed was when Nick pulled up in some expensive looking Ferrari stepping out like he was worth a million dollars. I had to give it to him, he had confidence. He was a cocky fucking asshole, but man could the kid bounce back when he was pushed down. Watching him walk up the stairs—not bothering to offer his hand to his date and help her navigate the staircase in her floor length gown—it made me all that much more determined to stand tall and do this shit. I wasn’t going to spend the whole night watching him have fun and enjoy himself while I sat in the corner pouting about a boy.
That’s all Ham was, just another fucking boy.
One that held the strings to my heart, but a boy nonetheless.
People stared as the boys all pulled up to the curb where the red carpet started. Like bodyguards, they all climbed off and walked Emma and me to the door, much to our amusement. Some people were absolutely horrified, pulling their children a little closer to them just in case one of the boys decided to try and snatch them up off the street. It literally made me laugh.
I got it, I really did. These guys, they were intimidating, and honestly, when they were in public, you rarely caught a glimpse of them smiling. I was really close to asking Uncle Leo if it was like a game they played where they weren’t allowed to crack a grin in public just in case people thought they weren’t hard ass bikers anymore.
These people knew nothing about them.
They assumed they were dangerous—I knew just how dangerous they could be. Uncle Leo thought he protected me from most of it, but I’d had that gun held to my head, I’d had to run while Hadley shot the man who was threatening to take me away. I’d seen the aftermath of the clubhouse when it was attacked. I’d seen the bloodstains inside and out on the street, the ammunition and stray bullet holes in the walls. It scared the hell out of me, and I wasn’t about to pretend that it didn’t. But the thing I also knew that these people and their judgmental eyes didn’t, was exactly how far these men would go to make sure not one innocent per
son was hurt. I’d seen firsthand just how far they’d go to protect their family or even just make the people they love happy.
I’d seen these muscular men with their tattoos, their permanent glares, and intimidating presence sitting at a table with a Disney Princess teacup in their hands and their pinkie fingers in the air.
Why?
Because as I was beginning to learn they had nothing to fucking prove.
A lesson I could take from their book.
Emma and I wandered about for a little bit stopping to talk to a couple of her friends from other classes. I was surprised by the number of people who nodded or said hello as they passed by us. It was confusing until Emma rolled her eyes.
“Remember how I said everyone wanted to be your best friend now?”
I did remember, but I didn’t think she was serious.
“Meyah!”
I frowned, spinning around and looking for who was calling my name, the sweet tone one that I easily recognized. Asha and Callie weaved through the crowd toward us, their boyfriends on their tails, joking and laughing as they sipped punch and aimlessly followed their girlfriends.
I didn’t miss the way both their eyes circled around me as if they were searching for something—or someone. I wanted to sink away.
But the look on Callie’s face instantly brightened, and she looked me up and down and whistled loudly. “Hot damn,” she crowed with a grin. “I don’t understand why you don’t show off your body more often.”
My cheeks burned, and I rolled my eyes because I was horrible at taking a damn compliment.
“Come on,” Asha called over the music grabbing my hand and pulling me toward the dance floor. “I think we need to show you off and let all these guys here see what they’re missing out on.”
Callie clicked her fingers in the air. “Yes!”
I followed along, but I knew what they were trying to do. Part of me was thankful for this distraction, part just damn embarrassed.
