Authors: K.A. Merikan
At that point, Ryder was
positive that this woman had no heart beating in her chest. He turned around
and rushed inside the building, looking for the towering figure of his father.
Even in a crowd so thick, Wolver was easy to spot due to his impressive height,
and Ryder promptly made his way through the lounge, all the way to the
kitchenette, where Dad was talking to a very flushed Axe, who seemed to stand
upright only thanks to the two girls at his sides.
“Jed’s out racing again.
He’s doing it in town, as if there were no other fucking roads out there!”
yelled Ryder through the music. His brain was itching with the need to mount
his bike and go. Grab that idiot by the nape and lock him in the basement for a
whole day, until he was sober enough to realize how stupid he’d been. “He’s
still on probation!”
Axe waved his hand.
“Give the guy a break, nothing’s gonna happen! Let him live a little.”
But Ryder’s father
wasn’t that dismissive. “I’ll get Ripper. This is fucking bullshit. I knew we
shouldn’t have helped him steal that Honda.”
Ryder nodded and quickly
made his way outside. He tried to run past Jess so that she wouldn’t notice,
but of course she did. She even yelled after him. He was intent on pretending
that he couldn’t hear her through all the noise, but the insistent sound of her
light, fit body running toward him in high heels was like the noose tightening
around Ryder’s neck.
He turned to face her
with a smile he hoped was carefree. “Be right back, babe.”
“Ryder! What’s
happening? I need to know!” she yelled, but Ripper and Wolver were already
mounting their bikes by Ryder’s side.
“Let’s go!” Wolver put
on his helmet and revved the engine.
“See you later,” called
out Ryder and mounted his bike, glad to have been saved by the others. His
focus was now completely on Jed. He couldn’t believe that they’d talked a mere
half an hour ago, and the idiot was already going for unnecessary risk. Racing
was fine, but sober, not in a state where one could take cigarette burns
without pain.
The three of them
stormed through the open gate and into the road, cutting off the way of an
approaching car, which honked at them. The guy had to be a clueless moron. No
one in their right mind would beep at a group of Coffin Nails if he knew who
they were.
Only on the road Ryder
realized he forgot to put on a helmet, but there was no time for that now. He
quickly passed his father and led the two other men toward the place Dana had indicated.
The owner of the gas station nearby never reported the illegal racing that
sometimes took place there because he earned a lot on the alcohol he got to
sell, but once in a while a “concerned citizen” would call the police about
gang activity, and people would be arrested. That was seriously the last thing
Jed needed right now.
They were approaching,
and already Ryder could see a small crowd and a few people on bikes under a
lone streetlight.
Ryder tried to call out
to them, but the noise of engines was too loud. Ryder’s stomach clenched when
he thought that he couldn’t possibly catch up to Jed once he started. Jed had
always had an irrational obsession with sport bikes, and a race was just
another excuse for showing off his Honda.
“Fuck!” he growled into
the air, but it seemed that the group of spectators and contestants already
realized they had been caught red-handed, as no one started the race.
Ryder parked his Harley
by a group of other motorbikes and cars on the side of the road and didn’t even
look back to Ripper and Wolver as he pushed his way through the crowd.
A big guy sitting across
an orange motorcycle laughed loud enough for Ryder to hear him. “Mommy came to
pick you up? Is it a school night?”
Ryder wanted to punch
the idiot into the ground as soon as he was done with his stupid brother, but
Jed was right next to the guy, so he got to act first, jumping off his bike
with his jaw set.
“You wanna try me,
motherfucker?” Jed yelled, and pushed the guy so hard he fell off his
motorcycle. With the last bits of instinct, the guy grabbed Jed’s cut, and
pulled him down to the ground, but he didn’t account for the motorcycle between
them falling and crushing his leg with a loud crunch as Jed’s whole body weight
thumped on top of it. The man howled in pain, his eyes bulged, and he took a
swing at Jed despite being under the machine. The scream howled in Ryder’s ears
as he watched Jed’s fist smash against the fucker’s face again and again,
coming up bloodied, and it was only the scream of one of the women that pushed
him into action.
Ryder pulled Jed away
hard and kneeled next to the injured challenger. As soon as Ryder touched the
bloodied nose, the man let out a shriek and sobbed, twisting his face from the
pain. All of a sudden, his hand went up to grab Ryder’s arm when Ripper and
some bystander hauled the bike off.
“Serves you right, piece
of shit!” Jed yelled, and spat their way, but Ryder could see from the corner
of his eye that Wolver had a lock on him.
“Cops!” someone yelled,
and like a stampede of wild horses, the crowd began to disperse to their cars
and bikes, or even just ran, creating a chaos beyond anything Ryder needed
right now.
He screamed out,
furious, and punched the asphalt, wincing when the hard surface clashed with
bone. “Fuck. Fucking fuck! Jed!” he growled, looking at the vehicles rushing
back toward the clubhouse. It was just the injured racer and them now.
The headlights of the
police car blinded him for a moment, but then he looked at Jed, who still struggled
with their father, like a tiger kept away from its prey. Ryder took a deep
breath when his eyes met Wolver’s, silently asking him to keep the crazy idiot
back. His heart raced, his stomach crawled with nausea, but the one thing he
kept thinking about was that Jed was on probation.
“Let’s go!” Jed yelled
at him, but even his speed-hazed mind had to know that wasn’t an option the
moment a policeman ordered them to go down to the ground as his partner rushed
over to the injured man, already calling an ambulance.
Ryder kneeled and raised
his hands, wet with the guy’s blood. He was lucky to have touched it already
and be covered with evidence. “It was an accident,” he yelled, looking at the
cop, who stopped talking for a moment, before resuming the conversation with
the emergency services operator.
Ryder closed his eyes,
taking deep, calm breaths. It had been an accident, and he couldn’t have Jed
sent to prison. Not with his attitude problems. Not with that pretty face. He
shuddered and looked up at the second cop, who approached him with his gun
pointed at Ryder’s head.
“It was me,” said Ryder
loud and clear, even though his voice shook at the end. He couldn’t believe
this was happening. The policeman stopped trying to get all the others to the
ground and focused all his attention on Ryder.
Jed’s voice tore through
the air. “What the fuck? No, that’s—”
Wolver silenced him by
putting a lock on Jed again, but a cop instantly told him to back away.
“Ryder, this is
bullshit,” Jed whined, hyperventilating so loudly Ryder was almost in physical
pain about not being able to go over and help him calm down. But just as he
thought that, the cop pushed him down and pulled his hands back, locking them
in cuffs that were far too tight for Ryder’s wrists.
“I’ll be fine Jed. It
was an accident. Everyone can see.”
“Yeah, right,” muttered
the cop, pulling Ryder into a kneeling position yet again.
Ryder looked over to Jed
before casting a long, punishing glance at the victim. It was a gaze that
promised a long, very painful death if he as much as dared to suggest Ryder was
lying.
Jed pulled his lips into
his mouth, red-faced and exasperated. “Don’t do this,” he hissed as his body
began to tremble.
Ryder shook his head at
Jed, covered with sweat but oddly calm at the same time now that he’d
confessed. The world spun around him, and he felt isolated lying there in
cuffs. It would be better for Jed this way. Ryder had a chance to slip out of
this with a slap on the wrist, whereas Jed would have violated his probation.
Everything would be fine. Ryder tried to calm down, inhaling the scent of
asphalt even though what he really wanted was to be able to smash the cops’
faces and leave.
He startled when
Ripper’s towering presence collapsed to the asphalt like a log. Wolver blinked
and rushed over to his friend’s side. “Get an ambulance!”
“He’s putting on a
show,” said the cop who kneeled next to the mewling victim, but the other
policeman had more sense in him and quickly joined Wolver by Ripper’s body.
“What’s going on?”
yelled Ryder, trying to get to his knees, only to face the barrel of a gun
pointed at his head.
“Stay down!”
Ryder’s chest was
exploding as he watched the other cop franticly perform CPR, but the longer he
watched the more rage flew through his veins. The idiot was pumping his hands
below the breastbone, effectively massaging Ripper’s stomach, not his heart!
“Uncuff me, I need to
take a look at him!”
“The ambulance is on its
way already. Calm down, we’ve got this under control,“ said the policeman who
held Ryder at gunpoint. The weapon was ready to shoot, and Ryder became
increasingly frantic as Ripper’s weirdly twisted face came into view.
“Please, this is my
friend. I’ve been trained for this!” he screamed, gulping at air yet not
willing to risk being another fatality of this carnage. Instead, he tried to
instruct the other cop. “The heart’s higher. You need to move your hands!”
“It’s true!” Jed yelled,
keeping his hands behind his head and struggling to breathe. “He’s got a
certificate in first aid.”
The cop giving CPR was
trembling himself, and while Ryder was pretty sure the guy completed some kind
of course related to this, his nerves were getting the best of him. “Let him do
it, Andy! For fuck’s sake!”
Andy gritted his teeth
so hard Ryder could hear it, but he uncuffed Ryder’s hands not-too-gently and
put the safety on his gun.
Ryder didn’t waste any
time and crawled over to Ripper’s unconscious body, immediately getting into
motion. With no breath to be felt, he quickly put Ripper’s head into the
correct position and ushered the shocked cop to help him. Soon enough, they got
into the rhythm of breaths and chest compressions. It felt like ages, but
Ripper finally got back to breathing on his own, and Ryder put him in the
correct position, all the time monitoring his state.
He could hardly pay any
attention to Jed, and it was only when the ambulance finally arrived that their
gazes met again. The guilt in Jed’s eyes was so intense Ryder could feel it on
his own skin, but for the stunt Jed pulled, Ryder was not about to pat him on
the back. Especially since he was getting cuffed again as soon as the paramedic
took over caring for Ripper.
“I’m sorry,” Jed uttered
from the ground as Ryder got escorted to the police car, but Ryder wouldn’t
even look at him. It was time for Jed to learn about consequences.
Ryder picked up his cell
phone, wallet, and a few loose items off the tray and nodded at the cop behind
the counter, Officer Jefferson. The two of them went to the same high school,
and even though neither of them felt it was appropriate to socialize apart from
the moments they were forced to, a string of camaraderie was still there.
“See you soon,” muttered
Ryder with a smirk, and Jefferson shook his bald head, though his mouth also
curved slightly.
“I sure hope not.”
Ryder raised his hand
good-bye and walked outside, escorted by one of the policemen who arrested him.
He was lucky the bail wasn’t that high, and so he would wait for the trial
while sipping beer and supporting the club. It was especially important now,
with Ripper bound to his sickbed after the stroke. The doctors were optimistic
about him getting better, but for that he needed peace and quiet.
Responsibility for the prez’s attack weighed heavily on Ryder’s heart even if
he wasn’t the actual cause of it.
Two cars waited outside,
and Ryder could already smell trouble in the air. Jed stood by his beat-up
silver Toyota on the left, and Jess sat on a bench by her car on the right. It
didn’t look like they were speaking to each other. As Ryder made his way
closer, Jess got up, and Jed gave him a short wave.
Ryder greeted them with
a tight smile as he walked down the concrete stairs. The way he had played this
moment out in his mind, Jed was the only one here, and Ryder could tell him
frankly what he thought of his behavior. Maybe he could have finally talked
some sense into him.
Jed had always been
ruthless, but as they grew older, their ways started parting, with Ryder eager
to rise in the ranks, and Jed getting increasingly out of control every time he
had fun. He’d even talk about going Nomad, as if that was a way for him to
relinquish all responsibility to his family. Everyone needed some kind of
structure in their lives, however limited by just the outlaw lifestyle. Ripper had
talked to Ryder many times about the shortcomings of their chapter in
comparison to others, and Ryder was increasingly feeling like they were both an
embarrassment and a failure. Worst of all, they were all failing themselves.
But with Jess here, he
would not deliver the hard talk, not wanting to scold Jed in public, so he just
waved at him and turned toward his girlfriend. He was surprised to see her here
after what he’d heard of her reaction to his arrest.
“Hi, babes.”
Jess shook her head.
“Just get in the car so we can talk.”
Jed took a few steps
toward them, and his closeness made goosebumps explode all over Ryder’s skin.
It was a crisp January morning, and Jed was wearing shades, probably to hide
just how hungover he was.
“I came to give you a
ride, so you can pick up your bike from the club.” Jed put his hands in his
pockets as if everything were all right, but his wavy mane didn’t look like it
had seen a brush in a few days.
Ryder sighed and put his
arm around Jess, who flinched away and got into the driver’s seat. Of course
she was pissed off. If he were in her place, he’d be furious, too.
“I need to do something
first,” Ryder told Jed with a wink and nod at the car. “We’ll see each other at
the club, okay?”
Even with the shades,
the scowl on Jed’s face was obvious. “Brothers are more important,” he
muttered, and walked off to his car without glancing back. He slammed the door
shut and started the engine.
Ryder shook his head. Hadn’t
he just shown Jed how important he was by taking the blame for his stupid
stunt? This here was the summary of their current relationship if Ryder ever
saw one.
Jess gave Ryder an
expectant look from the car, and he slid into the seat next to her. “Thanks for
coming,” he said softly, looking at her face, which was pretty even with a
scowl.
“Can you explain to me
how exactly you got arrested?” Jess started the car. Her long curly hair was
tied back into a bun, like she usually wore it at home or when working out. “No
one in the club would tell me anything.”
Ryder cleared his
throat. “It’s nothing, babes. An accident. The guy fell over, and the bike fell
on him, that’s all.”
“You got arrested for
another man’s bike falling on him?”
“I might have punched
him a little too hard, but that’s nothing. He’ll stick to the story we tell
him.”
“What if he doesn’t? Why
did you punch him in the first place?” Jess slapped his arm.
Ryder did not want to
tell her why the guy had been punched, so he just shrugged. “Club business. I
might have executed it better.”
“Are you sure this is
the end of it?” Jess took a deep breath, seeming more agitated over this than
what it was worth.
“It’ll be fine,” he
said, leaning back into the seat. He gently squeezed her shoulder and massaged
it back and forth, sensing the frail structure of her bones. “This kind of
stuff happens all the time. I didn’t do it intentionally, and really, he was
the one to pull on the bike.”
Jess squeezed the wheel
so hard her knuckles went white. “You told me you wouldn’t be doing any more
time! I can’t have this kind of bullshit right now. You told me you weren’t
like the other guys.”
Ryder tried to pull her
closer, but she pushed his arm away, refusing to even look at him, so he did as
she wanted and crossed his arms on his chest. She clearly had a very idealised
image of their life together. Yes, Ryder was more careful than the other guys,
but if the club needed him to do something that could put him in danger of
serving time, he would do it, no questions asked. Anyone would do so for their
family.
“Babes, I never said
that. I said that I’m not gonna get into trouble like an idiot. You know who I
am and what I do, don’t you?”
Jess took a shaky
breath. “You want me to drop you off at the club for your bike?” she asked,
ignoring his question.
He shook his head at her
and once again tried to take a hold of her hand. She squeezed it back this
time, and he couldn’t help comparing it to Jed’s big hand he’d examined on that
unlucky evening. His had been all rough skin and those alarming burn marks.
“Yeah, maybe that would
be a good thing. I need a ride,” he said and gently kissed her knuckles. “I’m
sorry I made you worry, but it’s gonna be fine.”
“I have a night shift
tonight, but I’ll see you tomorrow,” Jess muttered as the car approached the
compound of gray buildings and garages that constituted the clubhouse.
Ryder smiled at her and
touched his hair. It needed a thorough wash after two nights in a cell. “Sure
thing. We could order something to eat.”
Jess leaned over and
gave him a smooch as she parked in front of the fence. “Be good.” She finally
smiled, and it immediately made Ryder’s heart lighter.
He leaned in and gave
her a chaste kiss before leaving the car and making his way to the compound.
Grease, their prospect, greeted him at the gate with a wide smile. “Look who’s
here!” he said, patting Ryder hard on the back. He was younger than all the
patched members, a fact that he tried to cover up with a sparse blond beard.
Ryder grinned and nodded
at the buildings. “Is my brother here?”
Grease closed the gate
and trailed behind him with a small limp that he got after getting his foot
shot a few months back. He was lucky to still have it. “No, I’m pretty sure
he’s at the gym.”
“Of course he is,” said
Ryder with a shake of his head. It was typical of Jed to get mad like a little
kid. It was Ryder who should be angry at him for what he did to the racer guy.
“Shame, I told him to wait for me here,” he said as they approached the
entrance to the building.
Ryder scowled at the
mess of broken and intact bottles, remains of food, and cigarette butts
littering the asphalt. Didn’t they have hangarounds to deal with this kind of
shit, or was it now so out of control that there was no one around to get shit
done?
"Is that my man
Ryder back from the other side?" Axe laughed and got up from his chair
when Ryder entered the dim lounge. It was around noon, and it looked like Axe
was going through beer number two already. Ryder hated to be a spoilsport, and
he loved a good party—a crazy venture now and then, he liked racing Jed when
they were both on their Harleys—but there had to be limits, or everything went
to shit. Just like you couldn’t eat fucking fast food every day if you wanted
to be fit.
Ryder gave Axe a tight
smile and looked around, fully expecting to see carnage after the things he
witnessed in the courtyard, but the lounge seemed surprisingly clean. Intact
bottles were stacked neatly on the countertop in the kitchenette, and full bags
of trash left in the corner, ready to go.
“So who’s the
Cinderella?” he asked, assuming it was a single person’s doing. If it were more
people, everything would be already in order, even after a party as big as the
last one.
“Me!” a small voice from
behind the kitchenette said. Jo, Jess’s little sister.
Ryder looked between
Axe, sitting there with his feet up, and the petite woman emerging from behind
the counter. There was a lot of family resemblance between the sisters. Slim,
with pretty, angular faces and naturally pale skin that Jess covered with spray
tan in winter. But while Jess was strong and very fit, Jo was a bit too skinny,
small-boobed, and frail. She was also disabled. An assault had left her without
an arm, and she had been living in the clubhouse since. The Coffin Nails gave
her protection, and in return, she helped out with whatever she was able to. Jo
was no slacker too. They’d often have to make sure she chilled out every now
and then.
“You have no one to help
you out? After we had a party for what, over a hundred people in total?” asked
Ryder with a frown.
Axe shrugged and flexed
his big body in the chair. “They were all gone by mid-day.”
“A lot of people didn’t
come back after the
incident
,” Jo said, approaching the table, and she
took Axe’s empty bottle.
Ryder sighed and kicked
Axe’s chair. He couldn’t believe this was how his new duties started. At times
like these he too imagined being a Nomad and just going from city to city
without all this bullshit on his shoulders. “Those two girls you fucked. You
have their numbers? They got what they wanted from you and drank our liquor.
Get them over here.”
Jo pushed some of her
long blonde hair behind her ear and sat down next to Axe, on the elbow rest.
She looked even smaller next to him. “I wouldn’t mind some help…”
Axe groaned and raised
his arms. “Okay, okay! I’ll tell them to come over or never show their faces
here again. Taking into account that there’s not much to do in this town, I’m
pretty sure they’ll come.”
Ryder nodded and looked
at Jo with a small smile. It had been six months since she moved in, and he was
happy to see her not fearing her own shadow anymore. “You need to tell him if
you need help next time. It wouldn’t hurt him to do some sweeping either.”
Jo smiled back and
nodded. “I will. But Axe always looks out for me.”
Axe raised his eyebrows
and smirked at Ryder. “See?”
Ryder shrugged. “Just
remember this is more work than the everyday housekeeping she does.” He nodded
at Axe’s phone for him to make the calls. With Ripper so ill, getting stuff in
order would be even more of a challenge.
Axe groaned but pulled
out his phone, and as he started talking, Ryder decided there was no more time
to waste. It was Jed’s turn now.
He mounted his bike and
drove to the club-owned gym in town. As Grease had suggested, both Jed’s bike
and car were there, bathing in the sparse winter sunlight. Ryder smiled at
Tower, who waved at him in greeting. The guy had been a hangaround for ages and
worked at the gym for the last two years. Still, Ripper had Brain and Mikey
doing a background check on the guy before they would vote on letting him
prospect. But the truth was that someone like Tower — big, intelligent, and
eager to work for the common good — would be a great addition to their ranks,
and Ryder considered the check a formality. He exchanged a few words with Tower
and then walked past the cardio room, where a group of women exercised on
stationary bikes and treadmills, all the way to the space filled with weight
machines, which was just as empty as he expected it to be at this hour.
Jed looked up at him
from the rowing machine he was using, moving his heavily tattooed arms back and
forth as if he were on a galley. His hair was tied back into a messy ponytail,
and he had no shirt on, just jogging bottoms.
Ryder leaned against the
doorframe and watched the strong muscles work under Jed’s golden skin. It was
club policy for the members to exercise at least four times a week, and even if
Jed could sometimes slack in other respects, this he was always more than eager
for.
“Hey,” said Ryder,
slowly walking into the room.
“Hey,” Jed answered
between one inhale and another. He didn’t look very pleased. “You done with
Jess?”