Joyride

by DD Prince

“We’re gonna head home. Things are simmered for a minute. Some shit went down. We’re goin’ home. We’re all gonna be watchful. You’ll have a prospect on you at all times for the foreseeable, but we’ve gotta get back to life.”

  I blinked again, dumbstruck.

  “Let’s go pack.”

  I got to my feet, feeling a bit zombie-like. He grabbed my hand and we headed back toward our room. When we were inside, he grabbed his Duffle bag, which I’d already packed and zipped up the day before yesterday, figuring as soon as he was back, I’d throw it at him.

  He tossed it on the bed and then grabbed my bags from the floor by the bed and put them on the bed.

  “Go grab your stuff from the bathroom,” he ordered and started piling my shoes from the floor into my bag. Haphazardly, as if it didn’t matter how he packed them.

  I glared at him, arms folded across my chest.

  “Put my stuff down. I can do my own packing. You’re putting shoes on top of clean clothes.”

  His eyes moved to me.

  His expression was hard. It’d been sort of hard even back in the TV room, but now we were alone and face to face, and fuck him.

  “My stuff from the bathroom already in here?” he asked, gesturing to his bag.

  “I packed it the day before yesterday.”

  He pursed his lips.

  “In case you showed up. So, I could throw it at you.”

  He raised his eyebrows.

  “Give me five minutes to get ready and then you can drop me off.”

  “Drop you off?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’ll be stayin’ at your place with you,” he said.

  I felt my face go screwy. “No, you won’t.”

  “My place burnt down. I’m not stayin’ at Ella’s when you’ve got your own place. This way, you’re safe at night, too.”

  “No.”

  “No?”

  “No. if you give a shit enough, feel free to ask a prospect to drive by once in a while, but I’m having an alarm system put in my apartment when I get home and there’s already one at the salon. I’ll accept your help with a prospect during the day for now, since you got me into this, but that’s all.”

  “Jenna, what the fuck are you goin’ on about?”

  “You can’t be serious,” I informed him.

  He made to make a move toward me. I put my hand up, warning him to stay back.

  “Sit down a sec. Talk to me,” he invited. He sat down and patted the bed beside him.

  “Nope. Done talking.”

  “You’re done talking?”

  “Done with all of it, Rider. Just done.”

  I held my face stoic. He wasn’t going to get any more emotion from me. I’d been publicly numb since the hospital the other day. I was going through the motions with his sister, but when I was alone, I was a mess. I was all tapped out on emotion right now.

  Okay, actually, I was lying to myself. I was fighting back the emotion. And him, after leaving me alone for two days without even a text after how we left things? That was going to make it easier.

  Or was it?

  I didn’t like how he was looking at me. It was threatening to crack my armor. He’d been gone 48 hours, and while the first 24, I’d been wallowing, the past 24? Fortifying my armor.

  There was a knock on the door.

  He glared.

  “Answer that,” I said, snidely.

  He huffed and went to it.

  Spencer was there. “I’m heading out now. I got Jojo. I’ll see you when we get there. You’re staying with your girl, I take it?”

  “Wait,” I called.

  Rider opened the door wider and Spencer leaned in and looked at me.

  “Hey, Jenna,” he said.

  “Hey. Can I get a ride back with you?” I asked.

  Spencer’s eyebrows furrowed. “Somethin’ change with your plans?” He was asking Rider, not me.

  Rider’s expression was like stone.

  “My plans,” I corrected.

  “I don’t fuckin’ think so,” Rider glared at me warningly.

  “It’s not up to you,” I snapped. “Spencer?”

  Spencer just stood there.

  “Can I get a ride with you, Spencer?”

  “No. You can’t,” Rider answered for him.

  Spencer just stood there, looking uncomfortable.

  “I asked Spencer!” I spat.

  “Sorry, Jenna. Ride’s not cool with it, I can’t.”

  Fuck. Now he has to go and stop trying to stir shit. I would’ve thought he’d be all over this one.

  “Fine. Fuck.” I threw my hand up in the air and stormed to the bathroom and slammed the door. I gathered all my stuff and went back out. Spencer had gone and Rider had his back against the door, his arms folded, his eyes on his feet.

  “Sorry I didn’t call you the past two days,” he said softly. “A lot of shit was fuckin’ with my head.”

  I started tossing my stuff into the bag and didn’t reply.

  Unfortunately for me, he kept going.

  “I had a lot of shit to deal with on top of that. We got a lot done with the Jackals. Things aren’t 100% clear, but we worked hard to get to where you and Jojo don’t have to be locked down, just watched. I should’ve called you, though.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” I said.

  “It does. I took some time to think, too. After the blow-up before I left. About us.” He took a step toward me. “Being away from you for two days, I know I want us. I know it down to my fuckin’ bones, gorgeous. I’m sorry I didn’t call, but a lot was fuckin’ with me. My head’s clear now. And I want you.”

  “No!” That came out as if it was an angry, tortured sound that had been ripped out of me.

  Shit.

  He winced.

  “No.” I steadied my voice. “You left me after that scene for two days without even a text and…”

  “Did you text me, Jenna? Or are you being hypocritical here?” he demanded.

  I ignored him and kept talking “It gave me a lot of time to think, too, and I’ve decided I’m sticking by what I said when you left me here two days ago. I’m still done. Just done, Rider. If you don’t wanna drive me home, let your brother bring me. Avoid hours of awkwardness stuck in a car together when there’s nothing left to say. Let it go. You’re you. I’m me. And I know I’m done. This isn’t a game. This is me saying we’re over. We’re finished.”

  He sucked on his teeth a second, looking supremely pissed. He lifted his phone out of his pocket. “Spence.”

  I stood there.

  “Drive Jenna home?”

  All the air left my lungs. I was going to have to fight hard to stop myself from collapsing to my knees.

  “Yeah,” he added and ended the call, grabbed his Duffle bag, then turned away and left, slamming the door.

  Done.

  Okay.

  I took a big breath.

  So, he was done, too.

  Well, good.

  17

  On the way home, with Spencer and Jojo in Spencer’s pickup truck, I was informed that Rider, Deacon, and Edge had all been sent the video of Jet’s rape and murder. It was videotaped. All of it. The men in it, wearing masks.f

  I didn’t allow that to permeate. I didn’t know if that played a role in him not calling me for two days, but I couldn’t let it get to me. I had to push it out of my head, not think about how horrible it would’ve been for them, particularly for Edge, to have seen that.

  Spencer was more than informative about other stuff, too.

  Deacon had a gut wound; he’d been stabbed by Ella’s Uncle Willie. A bunch of Wyld Jackals were in jail, including their second in command, for crack, meth, and weapons charges.

  A couple Wyld Jackals had died. Details on how or by whose hand was not offered. I didn’t ask. Neither did Jojo.

  Deacon and Ella had reportedly gone away for a few days for a getaway and were probably back by now.

  Spence told us he’d wiped out
on his bike during some Jackals drama and was still feeling a bit sore from it.

  Apparently, Blow had even taken a bullet to the belly at some stage before Shelly was beat up, so he’d been sporting that injury that day at Rider’s mother’s house.

  I’d missed a whole lot of drama. I still didn’t really understand where this rivalry had even started. I didn’t want to ask. Didn’t want to know. Even when it was happening all around me. Rider had been keeping me in the dark, majorly.

  “They have shit on us, we have shit on them. So, we’re at a stalemate. We’re hoping for peace for a bit,” Spence said, but then added. “But, we’ll see. You girls be vigilant, you hear me?”

  I was looking forward to being on the other side of this thing.

  Jojo had asked why I was riding with them and Spencer had muttered that me and Rider had ‘had a fight’.

  “You okay?” She looked over her shoulder at me in the back seat.

  I nodded and looked out the window.

  I didn’t say much. Spencer and Jojo picked over all sorts of details of the feud and about their mother the whole way home, talking about how the Valentine boys had done some sort of intervention with her, with even Spencer attending and trying to talk sense into her about her association with the Jackals and how she’d gotten hurt a couple days later. Rider hadn’t told me about that, either, and that was before we were apart, before we’d gone to the cabin for our overnight.

  I began to tune them out, but I knew Jojo was coming to our town, staying a couple of days. They were starting at Ella’s house, and then possibly moving into a new place, then she’d be leaving in a few days to go to New York, where she was going to stay with a friend for a bit. She said she’d be taking a semester away from school to get her head together.

  Deke was reportedly having their Sioux Falls house put up for sale after “That shit Shelly pulled” according to Spencer. I didn’t ask questions. Because, again, it all had nothing to do with me. Spencer told Jojo their dad was looking at two potential rental houses in my parents and Ella’s neighborhood so that they could grab something for now until figuring out their longer terms plans for living arrangements and a clubhouse.

  When Spencer pulled in to the parking lot behind my salon, Jojo gave me a big smile, as we got out. I saw Bronto’s little car there.

  “Can’t wait to see your place and your salon!”

  “Salon’s closed,” I said. It was dark out, after eight o’clock. “But, come up and I’ll show you my apartment.”

  Bronto had been assigned to me, Spencer informed me, saying that Pippa had let him in to wait.

  Spencer, insisting on carrying my bags, had a look of concern on his face as we climbed the stairs.

  “You’re real pissed at him, aren’t ya?” he asked, as we climbed the stairs.

  “Nope. Just done,” I said, and kept walking.

  “Done?” Spencer asked, looking angry.

  “Shh,” I said, pointing at Jojo.

  He looked strangely at me and then at his sister.

  Jojo missed the exchange and was commenting about loving my terrace. I introduced her to Pippa, who grabbed me and gave me a huge hug. And then her eyes met mine and she winced. My heart must’ve been on my sleeve. I had to put it away.

  Pippa tried to turn it into a hangout thing, offering to order Chinese food or pizza and wanting Spencer and Jojo to stay, but I made a face and Jojo caught it.

  “Jenna probably needs a quiet night after all the excitement. And I need to get to see Dad and Deacon. I haven’t seen them in days and need to get all the news on where everything’s at, so… raincheck? Maybe I’ll pop in to the salon in the next day or two before I head to The Big Apple and you girls can make me pretty?”

  “Like you need help,” I muttered.

  Jojo beamed at me and then gave me a hug, whispering, “Thanks for becoming one of my best friends in a matter of a week. I’m sorry you and Ride are in a fight. I’ll see you before I go. Okay?”

  I nodded, holding back tears. “You are so in my girl posse no matter what happened with him and me. Okay?”

  “Happened? You guys are gonna be okay.” She gave me an alarmed look.

  I shrugged. “I’m dying for a bubble bath so I’m just gonna…” I jerked my thumb toward my bedroom. “Thanks for the lift, Spencer.”

  “Yeah, sure, Blue Eyes. Any time.” He ruffled my hair and headed toward the door. “Later, Sunshine,” he said to Pippa. She wrinkled her nose up at him and stuck out her tongue. He snickered, amber eyes sparkling mischievously, and left.

  What was that about?

  I watched him and Jojo go. Bronto was sitting on the couch and I saw Walter White and Jesse Pinkman frozen on my screen. Paused.

  “You guys continued without me?” I accused.

  “No,” Pip defended. “I fell asleep during the last one and a half and you two kept going, so we’re re-watching so I can catch up. We were gonna wait for you after that. Go get your bubble bath and then we’ll watch the next one.”

  “Honestly, I just wanna crawl into my own bed and sleep after too many nights away from it. If you guys wanna keep going, I guess you can…”

  “No. We’ll wait.” Bronto said.

  “If we can’t wait, we’ll re-watch with you tomorrow,” Pippa amended.

  I gave them a half-smile and wearily wandered into my room, dragging the bags that had been dropped by my door in with me.

  I closed my door and put my back against it. I reached behind my back and twisted the lock on the doorknob. I needed privacy. I needed to shut everything else out.

  My room. My home. Above my salon. For now, at least. My bed. I threw myself on it and cried like a baby. All over my $1700.00 pure white duvet.

  ***

  I’d had my bubble bath. I’d gone out and watched one episode with them while making myself eat a slice of pizza. I hadn’t had much of an appetite the past 48 hours. Usually, I ate my feelings. Not this time. This felt different.

  Back in the kitchen, getting a drink, I got cornered by Pippa.

  “We have a lot of catching up to do, me ‘n’ you.”

  We sure did.

  She gave me a look and rolled her hand, urging me to get on with it.

  “I can’t tonight. I--- I can’t.” I choked up.

  Her brandy-colored eyes went wide, and she pulled me in for a hug. She’d never seen me cry.

  I stiffened. No. I wasn’t gonna do this. I wasn’t going to cry over him. I pulled back and got myself together.

  “Rider and I are finished. We’re done. I don’t wanna talk about any of it tonight.”

  Bronto was walking into the kitchen, looking remorseful for hearing that. Or remorseful at that news, I didn’t know which. I also didn’t care.

  I continued talking to Pip. “I just wanna go to bed early and then open the salon in the morning and get on with my life. I have to face my mother, too, eventually, and that won’t be pretty. Tonight, I just want a little bit of peace, to sleep in my own bed, and try to forget about the nightmare of the past week.

  “Okay,” Pippa said and gave my hand a squeeze. “When you’re ready, I’m here.”

  She was a good friend. The second-best friend I had.

  I slipped past Bronto and went to my room, shutting the door behind me. I pulled the duvet off, letting it drop to the carpet, and then crawled into my bed and turned out the light.

  ***

  Being pulled out of a deep sleep, I felt lips on my neck.

  It felt nice.

  “Jenna,” Rider said, softly.

  He was in my bed. With me.

  What?

  No.

  Hell no!

  I jolted awake and shoved him, and I must’ve been on the edge of my bed, because I started to fall. He reached for me and tried to catch me, and I teetered for a second, and then I fell anyway. I landed hard on the carpet. Fuck.

  Poetic.

  “You okay?” He was in a squat beside me, trying to help me up.
<
br />   “No! What the eff are you doing here?”

  “Goin’ to sleep,” he said.

  “Why are you trying to sleep here?”

  “We already went over this, gorgeous.”

  I was aghast. “Over this?”

  “The part where I said I was stayin’ with you to keep you safe at night. If my place hadn’t burnt down, we coulda stayed there. But since it did…”

  “What about the part where I said we were over?”

  “Jenna.”

  “Don’t Jenna me!”

  “Sorry. Not Jenna. Gorgeous.” He sounded amused.

  “I’m not joking.”

  “Baby?” He tried, teasingly.

  I flicked my lamp on and pointed to the door.

  “Get out.”

  He raised his eyebrows at me.

  “You’re naked!” I gasped.

  He smiled at me. A big smile.

  “Get the fuck out!” I pointed. “We’re over. You’re not welcome in my home, certainly not naked, and extra-certainly not welcome in my bed. So, go.”

  “You don’t want me to go,” he said cockily.

  “Go.”

  “You don’t want me to go.”

  “Oh. Then why am I telling you to go?”

  “Because you’re upset. Your head is fucked up and you’re tryin’ to push me away, like you told me you would, like I told you I’d deal with. I’m not goin’. I’ve missed you the last two nights. I wanna sleep beside you. You’re upset at me, so we don’t have to fuck, unless you think that’ll help you work out your anger?” He raised his eyebrows questioningly.

  I scowled at him.

  “Okay, then. But, I wanna wake up beside you. You’re still angry in the morning, feel free to dig those nails extra deep into my back when we fuck.”

  “Get out.”

  “Let’s get some sleep.”

  “Get out.”

  “Jenna, let’s---”

  “Get out, get out getoutgetoutgetout!” I was fuming. How dare he not take that seriously. How dare he!

  “Baby…” he tried, having the decency to look a little bit contrite.

  I saw his clothes on my carpet. I lifted his jeans up and whipped them at him. They missed and landed on the floor. I threw a button-down blue and grey flannel shirt at him. I’d never seen him wear this. It would go amazing with his eyes. Asshole. It hit him in the face. But he didn’t budge, and it floated to the rug.