Glory

by Ana Jolene

  Seven nodded enthusiastically at my suggestion and I turned to look at Hastie. I knew the moment when he was game. The dark glint in his eyes gave it away. Smiling as I sucked on the straw of my slushie, I grabbed a few different packages and piled them on the counter by the cashier. As Hastie pulled out his wallet again, I grabbed a couple of extra lighters that would be useful later.

  As we came back out, Lucky’s eyes went wide as he took in the stash in Hastie’s arms. “Wow, I had no clue we’d be lighting it up tonight. I’m game, but we can’t do it here.”

  “I know just the place,” Hastie chimed. “Come on.” He placed the fireworks all in a backpack, which I then strapped to my back before hopping onto the Harley. As the beast purred, ready to rock n’ roll, we were stalled by Seven.

  “I’m not riding with you again,” she said as she tossed Lucky a dark look.

  “Aw, babe. Didn’t like it the first time? I promise it won’t hurt so much now.”

  Seven rolled her eyes at Lucky’s mocking tone. “Hurry,” Hastie called out impatiently. “I wanna do this.”

  “Ugh! Fine.” Seven threw her legs over the white Harley.

  “Brace yourself, baby,” Lucky taunted as he peeled out of the gas station. Seven’s cry of distress was an echo in the wind, followed by our peals of laughter.

  SIX

  Magical Things

  Hastie

  Eyes shielded by a pair of shades, the only source of light stemmed from my headlights, making it quite difficult to see farther than my thirty degree spread. Yet it didn’t really matter. I knew these roads better than myself.

  Between my legs, the engine purred like a content lion. I pushed it harder, hearing Indy’s squeals of excitement and feeling the way her arms tightened around me as we kicked up speed. I couldn’t have created a more perfect moment than this.

  In no time, we reached the destination I had in mind. For once, I mentally cursed the speed of my Harley. Lucky dismounted but left the headlights of his bike on, maintaining a wash of light that allowed us to see through the darkness. This was the perfect place for lighting fireworks—a large, open area with flat pavement and no foliage but for the wheat field a few feet away. Swinging my leg off the bike, I took the bag of fireworks from Indy and began to open the packages. Indy held the flashlight over me, allowing me to see what I was doing.

  While I did this, Lucky took that opportunity to further tease Seven. “Harleys can be too much to handle for some people.”

  Seven’s voice barely held her irritation in check. “Oh, I can handle the Harley just fine. It’s you I can’t stand.”

  “Maybe you’re not as tough as you think you are.”

  “You think because you ride a motorcycle and can grow facial hair that you’re tough? Oh honey, you’re delusional.”

  “And what about you? What makes you think you can be a bitch to everyone?”

  I rolled my eyes at their bickering. By the tone of Seven’s voice, she was reaching her breaking point. “I don’t have anything to prove to you.” Turning to Indy, she said, “We’re going to need another way back because there is no way I’ll be riding with that asshole again.”

  “Fine with me.” Lucky leaned in, deliberately invading her personal space. “Won’t lie though, the way you pushed your tits into my back was hot as hell.”

  “Unfortunately for you that’s the closest you’ll ever get to my tits again.”

  “Is that a challenge?” A dangerous glint shone in Lucky’s blue eyes. “Bet you five bucks I can get you to take your top off.”

  “Not gonna happen.”

  Lucky grinned. “Come on. I dare you.”

  “What are you twelve?”

  “More like sixteen.” He winked. “I got hard the moment you straddled my bike.” For a long moment, they simply stared at each other. Seven looked like she was just seconds from exploding. Just when I thought to intervene, Lucky’s voice tore through the night. “Unless, that is, you’re hiding the fact that your nipples are hard.”

  Laughter exploded from my mouth before I could help it. Indy didn’t bother stifling hers. It was a loud, echoing sound in the dead of the night.

  Seven’s eyes were like shards of ice as she glared in our direction. “All right, smartass.” She gripped the bottom of her shirt. “Since you so kindly asked. Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve flashed someone right, Indy?” Indy stiffened over me.

  I turned to look at her. “You’ve flashed someone?” I couldn’t hide my shock.

  “One time,” she bit off.

  My fingers fumbled. “Sorry I missed that.”

  Indy booted me with her foot, causing me to drop the firework I held in my hand. I grinned.

  Lucky leaned back on his bike, looking bored. “Let’s see ’em,” he called out.

  I managed to set up the last of the fireworks when Seven said, “Not unless Indy does it with me too.”

  “What?” I laughed out loud at the horror in her voice. “No way!”

  “I’d like that,” I chimed in with a shameless smile. Anything to see that gorgeous bod of hers revealed.

  “I’m sure you would,” Indy sneered, glaring at her best friend as if she had every intention of killing her. God, even annoyed she was hot. I was starting to see why Lucky enjoyed pissing women off. He enjoyed them feisty. Claws ‘n’ all.

  “Stop stalling,” Lucky hollered. “Dump ’em out!”

  In the corner of my eyes, Seven was pulling her top off, but my eyes were wholly focused on Indy. As her arm twisted to slip out of her shirt, a red lacy bra was revealed, cupping perfect breasts. I drew my hand over my mouth.

  Holy hell. Indy was one sexy woman. Her long hair ran down one shoulder, a temptation that made my fingers itch to touch it. More skin was revealed in slow increments, causing my heartbeat to quicken. It glowed against the midnight sky, looking delicious and—

  Lightning quick, Indy darted towards the wheat field, laughing hysterically as Seven followed her.

  “Hey,” I yelled, running after her into the wheat field. “Where the hell are you guys going?” A glance at Lucky told me he was just as confused as I was.

  The crops came up to mid-shoulder height, which meant that it totally engulfed Indy’s smaller size. Her laughter could be heard a few feet away, but I couldn’t see amongst the wheat crops and the veil of darkness without a flashlight. The beams of the headlights only shone so far.

  Glancing back at the bikes, I saw Lucky standing there, hands on his hips. A considerably smaller shadow—Seven—approached him. She was laughing as she circled Lucky.

  But where the hell was Indy? I called her name into the darkness. “Come on, baby. Where are you?”

  A heavy force landed on me. Caught by surprise, the impact sent me sprawling forward. Indy’s squeal had me readjusting mid-fall so that my back hit the dirt below us. “Oof!”

  The crops gave beneath our weight, feeling surprisingly comfortable. Laughter pealed from Indy’s lips, her hair a mass of disarray around her face. She was still in her bra, her shirt gripped tightly in her small fist. I could feel the warmth of her body against mine. This close, our breaths mingled. “Why’d you run?”

  She giggled, the sound doing crazy things to me that even I didn’t understand. “That was what we did last time.”

  “You two are a pair of teases, you know that? Did the guy chase you like I did?”

  Indy shook her head, the tendrils of her hair falling into my face as it brushed against my nose. She smelled of sunshine and strawberries. “No, he was too drunk to walk.” Her accompanying smile was the brightest I’d ever seen it. It transformed her entire face. Indy leaned in and the motion pressed her breasts up against me. I was tempted to kiss her then and lose myself in her taste.

  Just then, a loud, gunshot-like sound erupted in the sky. Indy’s body jerked from the reverberation. “What was that?” Crackling followed next. From the sounds, Lucky must have started setting off the fireworks.

  My gaze went sk
yward and yup, there it was, a flurry of colors and sparks against the black sky. “Shh, it’s okay.” I patted Indy’s lower back with a palm. “Look.”

  Indy shifted so that she was also gazing up at the sky, never minding the fact that she was still only wearing a lacy bra. “Wow,” she breathed. “Amazing.”

  To be honest, the fireworks were shit. I hadn’t done the best of jobs since I was distracted with the arguing. And then learning of Indy’s hobby of flashing her tits had disintegrated the last of my concentration.

  At that reminder, the image of her taking off her top replayed in my head. Then it reformed to her straddling my Harley with her tight jeans, motorcycle boots, and just that red lacy bra. Fuck, I’d pay to see that come to real life.

  “Are you even listening to me?” Indy asked, as she sat up to put her top back on.

  Uh, shit. “No.”

  She slapped my arm, but came to lie down beside me again. I tucked my arm behind my head and allowed her to lay hers on my chest while Lucky and Seven continued to let the fireworks rip. “I said, I haven’t had this much fun in ages,” she whispered.

  I smiled against the top of her head. “I haven’t either.”

  “I feel like I’ve known you forever, but I don’t actually know much about you.”

  “Not much to tell.”

  “Come on, you’ve got to have a story.”

  I really didn’t. I wasn’t much of a complex guy to be honest. But if it meant getting to lie here with her for longer, I’d endure. “Fine, ask your questions.”

  Indy sat up and turned to face me, her wide eyes dark. I sat up too. I didn’t know what it was that I had done, but if I could find out what it was that made her so happy, I’d do it again. “What’s your real name?” she whispered.

  “Ian Haste.”

  She grinned as if that was a trick question. “I didn’t think you’d really tell me your first name.”

  “Why wouldn’t I?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe it’s just that badass bikers like yourself don’t like telling others of their business. People tend to think that knowing your real name has some kind of power over them.”

  “No one’s got power over me but myself.”

  I love her smile right then. “Those are good words to live by.”

  “Damn straight they are. I don’t let anyone rule me but me.”

  “Next question?” she prompted and I nodded slowly. “If you weren’t part of Glory MC, what would you be doing?”

  The question took me aback. Glory MC was all that I was. As long as I had the club and could ride, there wasn’t much to complain about. “Hard to say. Before I was in the club, I told you before that I raced cars. You’ve seen with your own eyes that I ain’t half bad.”

  The sparkle in her eyes was back. “That was fun.”

  “Sure as hell was. I loved it. I loved cars as a kid growing up. And then I discovered Harley-Davidson.”

  Her lips were warm to the touch where I gently caressed it. “And you fell in love,” she said softly against my thumb.

  My eyes shot to hers, locking on. The intensity there held me entranced. Not even the fireworks lighting up the sky were enough for me to glance away from her eyes in that moment. “Yeah,” I admitted softly, never realizing it before but she had translated it perfectly. “I did fall in love.”

  Smiling, Indy turned so that she was again pressed up against me, both of us facing the sky. For a long moment, we just watched the night become disturbed by bright, shooting sparks. Whoever said that man always ruined nature was wrong. Tonight, against a blacked out sky, not even the stars could compete with the vibrant lights that made this night so special.

  Very few things mattered to me anymore since the flares. There were even fewer people I would do anything for. The club and its members held the number one place for a while, but the sweet innocence of Indy’s questions were beginning to change that in my mind.

  Indy had brought color back into my life. I wouldn’t forget it.

  “Hastie?” Her voice was a soft whisper in the wind as she tilted her head back to face me. “I have one more question.”

  “What is it?” I answered without looking at her, not daring to take my sights off the sky.

  “What’s the most magical thing you’ve seen with your own eyes?”

  At that, my eyes darted to her, seeking hers. The question surprised me with its thought-provoking deepness. How could anyone answer that?

  “This,” I lied, facing the sky once again. I didn’t like lying to her face. “These fireworks lighting up the blacked out sky.”

  Her voice was soft, but I could tell she was smiling. “Yeah. This is pretty magical.”

  I immediately felt guilty for lying to her, but I wasn’t ready to reveal to her that the most magical thing I had seen was her, sitting across from me in the tight space of her Chevelle after having won that race.

  In that moment, I felt like she was seeing me for the very first time. I wanted to say something, to tell her that she looked utterly breathtaking. But I swallowed my words and clamped my jaw down tight, not wanting to ruin the moment and have her retreat from me again. Since that moment, I craved her like a drug. I couldn’t tell her that now though for fear that she might pull away again. One day, maybe though, I’d be good enough to show her.

  SEVEN

  Paradise Lost

  Indy

  “I was starting to think you guys got lost,” Seven said when we approached them.

  “Or were fucking in the field,” Lucky chimed in.

  What the hell had happened? Left alone for ten minutes and suddenly they were finishing each other’s sentences. Hastie flipped off his best friend before craning his neck up to examine the sky. “Looks like it’s gonna rain,” he speculated.

  Lucky tilted his head up too. “Yeah, looks like. Let me clean up the duds and the rest of our shit so we can take off.”

  I nodded. “Good idea.”

  Within minutes, we were back on the bikes, ready to head out before the rain started to come down. I glanced up into the sky and saw the threatening display of lightning streaking through the sky like cracks in a mirror. Clouds billowed above us, dark and intimidating but the sky held the deluge of rain for the moment. There was just the presence of strong winds and the occasional booming sounds of thunder.

  “Hold tight,” Hastie hollered over his shoulder. I instinctively wrapped my arms around him. As the engine roared, I prepared for the rough ride. The roads were going to be tougher to see through with the oncoming storm. Not even our headlights were giving us enough visibility. When a crashing sound echoed through the skies, Hastie gunned it, racing against the threat of rain. Against the strong winds, my hair flew up in all different directions.

  I thought about what we would look like to someone else looking in: A girl with wild hair latched onto a badass biker as they straddled a beast of a machine, racing against the sky. It gave off the aura that we were carefree and reckless. Only I knew how deeply I wished for that to be true.

  In that moment, I got why Hastie loved to ride so much. Each time you straddled a Harley, you got this thrill of power. It was an exhilarating experience and you felt as if you were teetering on the edge of danger each time.

  Tonight had been amazing. I was thankful for the night that seemed so dark at first, but soon turned into a streak of color in my life. My mood had leveled out, making me hopeful that I was once again on the right path. I only wished this high could continue. I had had too many bad nights to make up for.

  Part of my elevated mood came when Hastie had answered my questions. I always figured he’d be the kind of guy who loved that touch of danger that racing would give him. I fell prey to that adrenaline rush myself. But Hastie’s words weren’t just a simple admittance of his love for motorcycles. It felt like a lot more.

  In some ways, I felt jealous. I wished I had something of my own that I loved with such a passion. Something that I couldn’t live without it. That Has
tie had found his passion in racing and Harley-Davidsons made me feel as if I hadn’t found passion of my own, hadn’t truly lived.

  It suddenly made me want to fight to exist. To learn and to explore, to find that one thing that made me feel alive just by doing it. Without even trying, Hastie was inspiring me to be greater.

  We slowed as we approached the building that Seven and I called home. Tiny droplets were starting to fall from the sky. In a rush, we parked the Harleys beneath a shelter to keep them dry in the rain and then dashed into the house as the deluge started to come down on us in sheets.

  “Stupid rain,” I muttered, as droplets ran down my face. It signaled the end to an amazing night and I cursed its presence. I didn’t want it to end yet. I examined Hastie and saw that only his hair was damp. His clothing beneath his jacket was dry.

  “Shit,” he laughed when he saw my hair. “Go wash up, baby. We’ll stay down here.”

  Seven was already stripping, removing the shirt that stuck to her skin with the moisture. “That’s twice in one night,” Lucky drawled as Seven’s black bra was revealed.

  Not bothering with a retort, Seven flipped him off and jogged up the steps to her bedroom. Lucky laughed, getting comfortable on the couch in the living room.

  “Go,” Hastie said as he slapped my ass. “We’ll wait down here.”

  Glaring over my shoulder at him, I rubbed at the sore spot while climbing the stairs. From below, Hastie shot me that lopsided smile. I tried not to return a dopey grin.

  Gathering some dry clothes from my bedroom, I locked myself in the bathroom and began to strip. As I did that, the bathtub filled with warm water. Once naked, I dipped a toe in the water, testing its temperature before submerging myself fully. You could never be too careful in post-flare conditions.

  The bubbles acted as a shield over my wet skin. I began to wash my hair and tried to ignore the memory that always floated to the surface every time I was in here. That way laid dragons. A dangerous area I didn’t know I could survive if put in that situation again. It was the darkest moment in my life—the time I tried to kill myself.