We finish unpacking and everyone leaves. The guys are staying in with the Burnt Kings mother chapter for the weekend before heading back home, which means we probably won’t see them too much over the next few days. We don’t mind since it’ll give us some time to settle in our new apartment and get to know the area.
The guys all leave and the only people left are Tank and momma. Momma is riding back home with Tank tonight instead of staying like the rest of the men so they’re staying behind a little bit longer. Momma brings out a bottle of wine and we both just stare at her.
“Come on,” she says. “You’re both eighteen and this is a reason to celebrate. Tank and I decided to leave early tomorrow morning instead of now so we could spend some time with just the four of us. We won’t be able to come up here and see you as much as the rest of the guys so we want to make the time we have left together count.”
I understand that. Momma opens the bottle and pours a small glass for the three of us while Tank grabs a beer, and we just hang out all night. They leave in the morning and we’re all crying. I know they’re only a car ride away from us, but this feels like a turning point in our lives. Livy and I start unpacking our boxes and rearranging the apartment a little bit. She’s been texting someone all day, and I hope it’s Loki. I’m secretly rooting for them to get together.
“Who are you texting?” I ask.
“Oh. A guy that I met on the Emory future students site. He just invited us to a fraternity party. Do you wanna go?” she responds.
I’m not sure what to say, but she looks so hopeful that I can’t help but agree. Besides, Loki is at the clubhouse and this may be the only time we can go out without him being up our asses. We finish unpacking all the boxes before getting ready and, like always, Livy picks out my outfit. She has me in this black leather vest that I bought a long time ago but never wear and paired it with some skinny jeans so you can see my tattoo. She definitely was going for the sexy biker chick look. We get in the car and drive to the party, and I’m getting a little nervous.
“You sure about this?” I ask as we pull up.
“Yea, girl. This may be our only night to have fun once Loki gets settled in the new clubhouse,” she says.
I laugh because I know she’s right. He’s going to be up our asses as soon as the school year starts when he isn’t doing things for the club. Neither one of us will have a chance to meet anybody with him around. We find a parking spot and meet up with the guy that Livy was texting. He’s a very well dressed, clean-cut looking guy with these cute glasses on. He’s slim but not muscular, and he exudes confidence.
“Hey girl!” he yells. “You ready to be my wing-woman? I need to catch a man tonight.”
I laugh and he turns to me.
“Who is this sexy, biker bitch? Girl, you are beautiful,” he exclaims.
“I’m Harley,” I say.
“Oh, a biker name too. That is so freakin’ cool. My name is Brandon,” he gushes. His energy is so captivating, and I can totally see how him and Livy linked up.
“Guess what’s even cooler,” says Livy. “She actually rides a motorcycle, too.”
“Bitch, shut up!” he yells.
He grabs both of our hands and walks through the living room and into the kitchen. He starts mixing up alcohol and juices and hands us each a cup. He holds his cup up and cheers with us.
“Bottoms up, bitches!” he yells.
We laugh and toss back our drinks and stand in the kitchen talking to each other. I tell Brandon about growing up with the club, and he’s super fascinated. He tells us about how he’s studying political science at Emory and how he’s hoping to get into law school. He tells us that he came out when he graduated and was disowned by his parents. Now, I see why Livy was attracted to him as a friend. Here’s another person that momma is going to adopt because I know she’s a sucker for a parental sob story, and as soon as she finds out that his parents disowned him, she’ll take him in.
At this point, the night has gone on and we’re all pretty drunk. We may have to call Loki to get us because I’m not sure either one of us could drive right now, and Brandon definitely can’t drive. That’s going to be one hell of a conversation. He’ll probably never let us out of his sight after we call him. We had just taken a round of tequila shots when someone comes running into the kitchen.
“Cops!” he yells.
Everybody starts scattering and Brandon grabs our hands and starts running. As soon as we step out of the house, there are blue lights everywhere and the police are blocking all the entrances. Nobody gets arrested, but they do make sure everybody has a ride home. It seems like they’re used to breaking up parties like these. I look down at my phone and realize it’s dead, and then ask Livy about her phone.
“Mine is dead too,” she says.
“Mine too,” says Brandon.
Damn. How are we going to get in touch with Loki? I knew I should’ve texted him where we were going, but I didn’t want him stopping us or telling us to wait for him to come with us.
“Harley?” I hear a voice say.
I look at Brandon and Livy and they both shake their heads. It wasn’t them, and who here would know my name? The voice calls my name again and I look in the direction the voice is coming from. There’s a bright light in my face so I can’t see, and I’m drunk so my filter is out the window at this point.
“Turn that shit off, dude. Nobody can see a goddam thing with you shining that thing in my face,” I say with an attitude. The voice laughs and the flashlight gets turned off.
“Still have a potty mouth I see,” he says and my mouth drops open when I see who it is.
It’s Steve. It’s fucking Steve with a police uniform on busting up this party, and he is sexy as fuck. I mean, he was attractive in high school but his voice is a little deeper and he’s filled out muscle-wise. Damn.
He laughs. “Well, thank you.”
Shit. Did I say all that out loud? The older officer next to Steve just starts laughing.
“Girl, shut up,” Livy whispers.
“Are y’all drunk?” he asks with a smile. I just nod.
“All our phones are dead and we can’t call for a ride,” Brandon grouses.
“Hold on,” he says. He walks off and calls someone on his phone while we stand there waiting.
“So you’re Steve’s Harley?” the older officer says. I look at him confused as hell until Steve walks back up.
“Loki is coming to get you guys, and I’m going to wait here and keep an eye on you until he gets here,” he says.
“Fuck,” Livy says. She’s not lying. Loki is going to lecture the shit out of us when he gets here and I’m not sure I’m in the mood for it right now. I’m actually a little mad that he’s been talking to Steve behind my back and didn’t say anything. Steve walks up to me and just stand there, and I’m way too drunk for this conversation right now.
“How have you been?” he asks softly.
“I’ve been better,” I say sarcastically. He chuckles.
“Still feisty I see. I never got a chance to talk to you about what happened,” he starts and I cut him off.
“Loki told me the situation, but that doesn’t change the reason why you got into the situation to begin with,” I say. Man, the alcohol must be hitting me hard because I probably wouldn’t have said any of this if I was sober.
“I know that. You wouldn’t believe the shit I had to go through because of that decision, but it brought me here,” he tells me. I want to know more but I’m still mad at him for being so fickle.
“When Loki told me you were moving to Atlanta, I knew that I wanted to find you and to apologize. I’m so sorry for how much I hurt you. I gave us both hope for something special and then snatched it away because my father pressured me. I hope that we can at least be friends, and I promise that I’ll never let my father get in the way of our relationship again.”
Wow...that was powerful and I’m speechless. Thankfully, Loki pulls up and I walk as quickly
as I can to the car. I would say goodbye, but I’m afraid of what I’ll say if I open my mouth. Livy and Brandon quickly follow me and get in the back seat.
“Thanks for calling me man,” I hear Loki say.
“No problem,” he says. He leans over and looks at all of us.”It was nice to meet you two even though I didn’t catch your names.”
“I’m Livy and this is Brandon,” Livy blurts out.
“Well, it was nice to meet both of you and stay safe. I hope to see you again soon, Harley,” he says softly and walks over to the older police officer.
Loki drives off and starts to open his mouth.
“We know, Loki. We don’t need the lecture tonight, especially after the total mind fuck that Steve gave her,” Livy interrupts.
“What did he say?” Loki asks.
“I don’t want to talk about it right now,” I say softly. We make eye contact and he looks worried. He’s looking at me the way he did when all this went down.
“Well girlfriend,” Brandon says. “You need to talk about it. So what we’re gonna do is sexy biker over here is going to take us all to your apartment. We’re going to shower and get some fresh clothes on, and then we’ll go to bed to sleep off the alcohol. Tomorrow, we will wake up and dissect everything the cute copper said to you.”
I nod. That sounds like the perfect plan to me because I’m not really in the headspace to talk about this right now, and I’m still drunk.
“Wait a minute,” Loki says. “Who the fuck are you?”
“I’m Brandon,” he says with a wink.
“You’re not coming home with us,” Loki says.
“Yes he is,” says Livy. “Besides, we have an extra room in our apartment anyway.”
“That’s my room,” Loki argues.
“Not tonight, bruh,” she says. He hates when she calls him that. “Don’t think it didn’t escape my notice that you’ve been talking to Steve for a while now and didn’t even warn your best friend. I see where you’re loyalty lies...you’re not welcome in our home right now.”
Loki looks at me in the rearview for confirmation and I just look out the window. Livy’s right. He’s been in contact with Steve and they talk about me. He knows everything I went through...he was there. I need some distance from him right now. He sighs sadly and drives up to our apartment. We get out and go straight inside without a backward glance, shower, put some fresh clothes on, and go to sleep. This has been a long night.
Chapter 24 - Steve, 19 years old
I watch as Loki drives off with Harley and her friends, and I can’t help but think about how beautiful she was even if she was drunk. We’ve already cleared out most of the party, and some of the guys are ragging on me about Harley saying they wondered why I never hooked up with one of the women who run behind cops. Doug told me they’re like the police version of the club whores that motorcycle clubs have.
“Your girl is cute,” Doug says.
“She’s not my girl,” I say defensively.
“Kid,” he starts. “The sexual tension between you two is stifling. She forgot her friends were even sitting there when you were talking to her. All her focus was on you. You may actually have a chance with this girl, kid.”
That gets me excited until I get a call from Loki.
“What the fuck did you do to her Steve?” he yells through the phone. “She was damn near comatose when I dropped her off at her apartment.”
Now I’m panicking. “I didn’t do anything Loki. I just apologized to her and told her that I wanted to be friends, and I would never let my father interfere again.”
“That doesn’t sound too bad,” he sighs. “Maybe Brandon was right, and she just needs some sleep.” I feel a little bad for him because he sounds very stressed out, but then something else occurs to me as he talks.
“You didn’t tell Harley that we speak to one another? I could tell by the surprised look in her eyes, and by Livy’s face. I can’t believe you didn’t tell her,” I say.
“I know, man,” he says. “I thought it was a good decision at first, but now I realize I should’ve told her so she would be prepared to see you. Now, they’re both pissed at me and kicked me out of their apartment.”
I look at Doug and he nods. “Well, our shift is over. The party was our last stop. Do you want to come by my place tonight so you can have someone to talk to tonight?”
“Yea, man. Text me the address,” he answers. “I can’t be at the clubhouse tonight.”
When we pull up to Doug’s house, Loki is already outside, leaning against his bike and texting like crazy. He’s probably texting Livy or Harley and trying to get back in their good graces.
“Hey man,” I say.
“Hey,” he mutters. “I need a beer.”
“Well,” Doug interrupts. “I may be able to help you out, boy. You can have a beer and both of you can complain about your woman problems.”
We go inside and sit in the living room while Doug brings out a few beers. He likes to drink local beers so he’s always got something different in his refrigerator. We each take a sip of our beers, and Doug starts the conversation.
“Ok boys,” he says while laughing. “What are you going to do about your woman issues?”
“You’re the last one that should be talking,” I mutter. He smacks me in the back of the head and Loki starts laughing.
“Now look, boys. I gave y’all these beers because I’m about to sit here and talk to you like men. If you want these girls, then you need to go after what you want. You can’t wait for them to be ready for you because then someone else will come in and sweep them off their feet. Trust me, I know from experience. My advice is to start friendships with them, but make your intentions known from the beginning so there’s no question about it. This is something I wish someone would’ve told me when I was your age. Now let’s get drunk, complain about our relationship problems, and pass out. Then you two can fix what you messed up tomorrow.”
He’s right. There really isn’t too much that we can do tonight. I still have Harley’s number, but I’ve been too much of a coward to actually text or call her. Besides, I wanted to apologize to her in person. Tomorrow, I’ll text her and see if she’s willing to go out with me.
Chapter 25 - Harley, 18 years old
The bright light in my apartment wakes me up, and my head is pounding like crazy. I will never take shots of tequila ever again. I slightly remember last night, and I’m hoping I just dreamed about Steve and didn’t show my ass in front of him for real. When I look at my phone, I see that I have a few text messages. Some of the messages are from Loki apologizing over and over again, and the other is from a number I don’t recognize.
I open up the messages, realize it’s Steve, and I groan. I wasn’t dreaming. I really did see Steve last night, and he asked to meet me for dinner tonight. My groan must’ve been loud as hell because Livy and Brandon bust through my door and get in the bed with me. We all look and feel like shit, and we’re all hungover. We lay there for a minute until Brandon opens his big mouth.
“So, why the hell was I trying to be a wingman for you two when you clearly have two hunks that are head over heels for you?” he asks. We both pick up pillows and hit him with them while he starts laughing.
“For real,” he continues. “Now, let’s get up and Papa Brandon will cook you guys breakfast and we can talk about your man issues.”
That actually sounds really nice. I know I just met Brandon, but he fits into our group like he’s been part of it the whole time. He cooks us breakfast while I tell him about the Steve situation in high school, the information he told me last night, and his request to meet for dinner tonight. Livy finally confesses her feelings for Loki, but she was really hurt he didn’t say anything about communicating with Steve. To be honest, I am too.
Brandon listens to us both patiently while he cooks, and asks a few questions for clarification before he tells us what he thinks.
“It seems to me like both of these guys have hurt
you a lot. As it concerns Steve, take it from someone who knows personally, it’s hard to stand up to a parental figure when you think you have no way out. My parents are rich, stuck up trust fund people who had my entire life planned out for me. They picked out the perfect college, the perfect job, and the perfect wife for me. The only problem is that I’m gay,” Brandon starts.
“Until I got into Emory, and was able to get scholarships and financial aid, I could step out on my own and be honest with my family. I had a feeling they would disown so I made sure that I was able to fend for myself if they did. It seems to me like your Steve did the same thing by moving here instead of staying in your charming little hometown full of dirty cops and badass bikers. It sounds like he left to grow up and become a better person just like you did.”
“As for Loki, Livy girl, that boy is head over heels for you. I understand why you’re both mad at him because it was obvious that he had been talking to Steve, and specifically, talking to Steve about you. Have these guys been stupid? Of course, because men are stupid as hell but we love them anyway. Just think about it, and if you can give them another chance, then I say to go out with those boys tonight,” he concludes.
I know I just met Brandon last night, but I can already tell he’ll become like family to us. He gave us sound advice without pushing us into a decision that neither of us may be ready or willing to make, and I’m pretty sure I’ve made my decision. I text Steve back and tell him I’ll meet him at the restaurant of his choice, and we decide to meet up with each other at seven o’clock tonight.
Brandon hangs out with us and then helps me get ready before heading back to his apartment. As soon as he leaves, Livy throws out the idea of him living with us next semester and I’m supportive of it but we need to see how the semester progresses. After Brandon leaves, I do some basic makeup on my face before heading to the restaurant.
Forgiveness Page 10
