by Rebel Hart
“Pizza’s here!” Hannah exclaimed.
“Wow, that was fast.”
She snickered. “Dani, you’ve been unpacking for over an hour now.”
I paused. “I have?”
“Yep! And I think you've been thinking about Mr. Hunk of ManMeat a little too much, too.”
I rolled my eyes. “You would think that.”
“Tell me you weren’t.”
I shook my head. “No, actually, I wasn’t. Because the last thing I need is distractions.”
“I mean, you could have a good time with him and then he wouldn't be a distraction any longer.”
“You know good and well that man only wants one thing from me. And it’s not something I’m willing to give to him. Whether I knew him or not.”
“Now you’re just being dramatic.”
I stored my suitcase under my bed. “No, Hannah. I’m being serious. I’m still a virgin, okay? There’s nothing wrong with that. I’m sure as hell not sharing my body with a man I don’t know who is only going to take what he wants before leaving. Got it?”
Her eyebrows rose. “Wow, you cursed.”
“Because I’m serious, and I want you to drop the topic.”
She placed the pizza on her bed. “Consider it dropped.”
“Now, if you want to have something to go with this pizza, help me with that red suitcase of mine.”
“Why? What’s in it?”
“Why don’t you hand it to me and we can see?”
She shrugged as she set the pizza down, then walked over to the suitcase leaning against the wall. The second she picked it up, her eyes ignited. I smiled brightly as she carried it over to me. I carefully unzipped the hardened case and flipped open the top. My pride and joy from last year. A present my father got me specifically for dorm living.
“You brought the TV back,” Hannah said.
I nodded. “I brought the TV back.”
“Here, we can use my dresser as a little mount since it’s already over on this side of the room.”
“That’s what I was thinking. Because putting its back toward the window won’t cast that awful glare we had last year.”
“I’ll shove the dresser over and you hook it up. I’m terrible with shit like that.”
I nodded. “Sounds good. I need to dig out all the cables, anyway.”
Hannah groaned. “Do we have the DVD player, too?”
I pulled out the Roku stick. “Oh, no. We’ve got something much better.”
“I fucking love your parents. And the fact that you’re an only child.”
I shrugged. Sure, maybe my parents did spoil me. Between my mother’s successful interior design business and my father’s pharmaceutical work, they were more than comfortable. But I didn’t consider myself spoiled. Sure, they treated me to things every now and again. I didn’t let that get in the way of the important things, though. Like school, and making very good grades. Studying for tests was always a priority, and I had a life plan laid out that didn’t include any sort of money my parents always talked about throwing at me once I graduated.
Hannah sighed. “All right. Ready when you are.”
“When I tell you to, I need you to rattle off the password for this wifi so I can make sure everything hooks up well.”
“I can do that.”
I heaved the television up. “Good.”
I heard Hannah munching on pizza as the smell of that hot honey filled the air. It was very distracting, but it only made me work quicker. I got the television hooked up with power and slipped the Roku stick into the HDMI port. I checked to make sure the power worked, and before I knew it the Roku was prompting me to sign into the wifi.
“All right. Password time.”
Hannah swallowed hard before she cleared her throat.
“Capital U-lowercase o-Capital M, 9-3-4-1, underscore-lowercase c-Capital O-lowercase m.”
I typed it in. “Well, that was complex. Let’s see if it works.”
I watched the loading screen as the Roku did its thinking. I’d brought the DVD player just in case we needed it. But I hoped the internet was strong enough for something like this. I murmured to myself, saying a little prayer for our pizza and movie night. And when the home screen for the Roku popped up, I threw my fists into the air.
“Victory is ours!”
Hannah clapped her hands. “Now get over here and help me eat this food. And grab me a soda, would you?”
I tossed her the remote. “Find something you want to watch.”
“Just not a chick flick. I want something funny tonight. Something that’ll make us laugh so hard we’re scared of throwing our pizza back up.”
I opened the fridge. “I hear Trevor Noah’s new standup is hysterical.”
“Oh, Trevor Noah it is, then.”
I plucked us both a soda from the mini-fridge, then hopped onto Hannah’s bed. And as I poured that hot honey over my first slice of pizza, I drew in a deep breath. This was it. We had a week before classes started, then we’d be well on our way to tackling our second year of college. It felt good, no longer being a freshman, a stranger on campus, always questioning things. Registration had been easier this time around. Moving in had been a breeze. Sort of. And now, I got to spend quality time with my best friend for an entire week before classes dragged us to opposite ends of campus.
Hannah guffawed. “Oh, my God. My stomach. It hurts.”
I had to stop eating pizza in order to take deep breaths. My gosh, this standup special really was hysterical. It almost made it hard to eat.
Almost.
We stuffed ourselves stupid with pizza as the comedy show wound down. And just as we started throwing things into our small trash cans, I heard loud music rolling down the hallway. The walls thudded. Lights went off. And as I saw the soft glow of ethereal colors from underneath the doorway, my eyes slid over to Hannah.
“You know what that means,” I said.
She grinned. “Yep. It means decorating is going to be left until tomorrow. Because the first dorm party of the semester is already under way!”
She raced for her closet and started sifting through her clothes. The music grew closer. And closer. Until the loud music was all my brain registered. I had just enough time to put up a few music posters to offset the twinkling lights Hannah had already strung up on her end. Then I changed my pizza-covered T-shirt and slipped out of my tennis shoes. Hannah changed her outfit four separate times, giving me even more time to unpack the rest of my shirts and jam my underwear into a drawer in my dresser.
After she was done, she swung our room door open.
“Welcome to campus, guys. Woo hoo!”
A random voice filled our room before a string of fake flowers descended around my head.
“These. Are so. Cute,” Hannah yelled.
“Whenever you’re ready, there’s drinks and some snacks. Come enjoy yourselves!”
I nodded. “Thanks!”
I walked over to the window and peeked down. I saw students piling into the dorm as music started pulsing below us. Each floor of the dorm was gearing up for their own party, hosting a level-by-level concoction of drinks, snacks, dancing, and decorations. Strobe lights quickly filled the room. I peeked out into the hallway and saw Hannah with her hands in the air, already dancing with a drink in her hand, enjoying her ‘not freshman’ status.
“Come on! What are you waiting for!?” she yelled.
Rearranging the flowers around my neck, I started for the hallway, ready to make a new memory, usher in the new college year, and hopefully shake that massive brute of a man from my mind long enough to get some sleep tonight.
4
Max
“Hey, got a smoke?”
I rolled my eyes as Benji rode up on his rust bucket of a bike.
“No, I don’t.”
“Ah, come on, Max. You always have a pack on you.”
“And I’m not giving you a single one.”
Benji snickered as he parked h
is bike next to me. Most men didn’t dare do that. Not when I was at the helm. But he was my cousin, and he was an idiot. Booksmart, sure. But certainly not street smart. He didn’t understand how this game worked. How things were played. And as the guys smoked their cigarettes and shot the shit, I gazed across the street. At that damn dorm building.
For the second day in a row.
“He’s already rubbing shoulders with some girl, you know.”
Rupert’s voice piped up behind me and Benji snickered.
“Shouldn’t shock me one bit. What floor is she on?”
I licked my lips. “Top floor.”
“Wanna know a secret?”
“No.”
“You’re really going to like this secret, though.”
“No.”
Rupert smacked my upper arm with his hand. “Listen to the boy for once.”
Benji snickered. “I’m not a damn boy. I’m older than you guys were when you pledged this damn crew.”
I gritted my teeth. “Watch your mouth.”
Benji shrugged. “Whatever. That’s my dorm, too.”
Rupert barked with laughter. “Of course it is.”
I slowly looked over at Benji as a sly smile crossed his face.
“That’s your what?”
He grinned. “That’s my dorm. I’m on the third floor.”
I pointed to the girl’s building. “That one.”
He nodded. “Yep.”
“You’re in that dorm.”
“Uh huh.”
“On the third floor.”
He grinned. “Yes, siree. And you don’t know what you’re missing, either. College girls are where it’s at. They know how to have a good time, they know how to keep their feelings in check, and they’re always wanting to try new things.”
Rupert elbowed me. “You hear that? New things.”
“And biker guys are always new things to girls like them.”
I sighed. “You’re not a biker guy.”
Benji waved his hand in the air. “When I graduate, I will be. I’ll be so fraught with knowledge on business and shit like that you’ll have no choice.”
Rupert paused. “The fuck is ‘fraught’?”
I rolled my eyes. “Shut up, you two.”
I felt the guys staring at me as I watched across the road. All night I’d thought of that girl. Those eyes of hers kept me awake. That ass of hers kept my fingertips tingling. I didn’t know what it was about her. Possibly her clumsiness. Possibly the innocence in her eyes. I could almost smell virgins. They had it written all over their faces. And it was cute when one pretended to be tough.
Even cuter when they pretended not to be interested in me.
Daddy’s girl.
The waver of her voice as she called out her name yesterday stuck with me. How nervous she had been, yet the fight she put up. It was admirable. The strength she thought she possessed made me grin. I pulled my pack of cigarettes out from the inside pocket of my leather jacket and slipped one out of the sleeve. I heard someone already strike up a match to hold to my face when Benji’s voice piped up.
And his complaining blew out the flame in front of me.
“The fuck? I knew you had cigs on you. Give me one.”
I glared at him. “No.”
“Dude.”
“Benj.”
“I’ll just go get my own, then.”
I nodded. “You do that.”
Another match struck up and I stuck the cigarette between my lips. I sucked on it until the damn thing lit, staring Benji down the entire time. No way I’d let this fucker pledge us. He had better things coming with his life. He was destined for more than we were. He deserved a nicer life than this one provided.
I mean, I could only clean up a motorcycle gang so much.
“Whatever,” Benji murmured.
Rupert nudged me. “Can I get one of those?”
I handed him the pack and my cousin scoffed.
“Yeah. Great. Rub it in my face, you little fucker.”
I blew smoke his way. “You wanna try that again?”
He waved his hand in his face and the guys chuckled at him.
“Can’t handle the smoke? Don’t ask for the cigarette.”
“College is where you’re needed, boy. Not here.”
“That rust bucket can’t keep up with us anyway.”
“You get laid with that rust bucket over there?”
Benji grumbled. “I hate you all.”
Rupert puffed on his cigarette. “So tell us more about these college girls you meet up with.”
Benji glared at him. “Why should I?”
“Because the man asked you a question,” I said.
All eyes were on me as my cousin shook his head.
“Girls like them, they don’t have sexual boundaries. They know how to have a good time. And there’s practically a party every damn night on campus somewhere. We had a party in our dorm last night. Multi-level. There’s been talk of another one striking up around nine. But I don’t know much about that.”
Rupert snickered. “Why not?”
Benji paused. “Because I’ve been walking around campus to familiarize myself with what my route is.”
Good for you. “Find out more about this party for me.”
“I’m not part of this crew, remember? You don’t get to give me orders.”
My eyes slowly fell to his and I narrowed them.
“Get me more information on this party I’m going to attend.”
My cousin grinned. “Trying to get some ass?”
“Just go,” Rupert said.
“All I’m saying is, this is the place to get it. Want me to check up on your girl for you?”
I puffed smoke in his face. “Just go.”
“Fine, whatever.”
Benji pushed off the sidewalk with the sputtering old rust bucket I’d told him not to buy. I told him it would suck down more money than it was worth and it still wouldn't ride like he wanted it to. But my cousin was always determined to prove me wrong. I told him he couldn't pledge this crew, but no matter what I did, he always tried. Showed up randomly and tried to ride with us. Tried getting himself into trouble just to show us he was capable of defending himself. I’d had to bail that asshole out of more bullshit in his life than I had the rest of this fucking crew. I used that mindset against him, though.
I told him he’d never get the grades in high school to go to college, and he did.
I told him he’d never get into a university, and he did.
I told him he’d never have the guts to do something no one else in this crew had done, and he did. He was the first one of us to go to school. To declare a degree. To make something of himself.
And if that’s what got him away from this place, I’d keep challenging him until it got him as far away from this family as possible.
“So you coming back for the party?” Rupert’s voice pulled me from my trance.
“Don’t know.”
“Oh, come on. You know you’re going to come back.”
I shrugged. “Got shit to do.”
“What kind of shit? Better than getting laid?”
The guys behind me agreed with him as I puffed at the last of my cigarette.
“We’ll see,” I said.
I let the butt fall from my lips before I smashed it into the ground with my boot.
“Oh, come on. You can tell us. You're coming back, aren’t you?”
I slowly looked over at Rupert and blew the last of the smoke I had in my lungs in his face.
“Shut up, Roop.”
He snickered. “I love pissing you off.”
I revved my engine before I sped off, watching Benji putter his way to his dorm with that awkward bike of his. He was a bit too big for it. Those wheels were a bit too flat. But even so, I saw how girls stared at him, licking their lips and running their eyes over him. To them, he was a prized treasure wrapped in leather, black denim, and cockiness. Which they seemed to en
joy.
Interesting.
No matter. There were other things to focus on before that party. And collecting our next job was one of those things. I rode down toward the main highway with the guys following me. And when our first opening came, we sped in the direction we needed to go. We turned onto the highway and weaved in and out of traffic. Horns honking. People cursing. Lights flashing.
It made me smile, feeling the wind wrapping around my body as the people of Ann Arbor cursed at us.
I thrust my hand into the air as we sped down the road. I twirled it around once, then gave the signal. I held up the number ‘two’ with my fingers, instructing the men to disperse, to go carry on with their days so I could do what needed to be done. It was time for us to get paid again. Time for us to bow down to the darkness we sold our souls to. I heard men darting to my left and right. I saw Rupert speed ahead of me and pop a wheelie before cruising past a police officer that flashed his lights.
“Better run, boy,” I murmured.
I settled in for the ride as I slowed down. I wanted to take this drive slowly, drink in the world around me. Because every job came with a risk I knew I had to take. As president of the Red Thorns motorcycle gang, it was my job to see to it that my men always went home. That they always came out of things alive. Even if it meant my own life in the process.
It came with the territory.
And it was a risk I was always willing to shoulder.
The Red Thorns had been through some shit in their history. My father had established the crew after parting ways with a particularly nasty gang that used to roam these parts. He was the only man in gang history to successfully leave. Before he left, he had to endure a serious amount of ridicule and physical pain, as they burned the crew tattoo right off his back with a brand from a bonfire.
I shivered every time I saw those scars on my father’s back.
He’d established the crew I headed up now. But he wasn’t a fan of me trying to clean them up. My father was a ruthless man. Angry at what his former crew did to him. What they put him through. What they’d expected of him. They’d turned him into a dark man, and the irony was that he thought he was doing this world a great deal of good. He had become the kind of man he’d tried to get away from, and he didn’t even realize it.
