Authors: Stella White
“Goodbye,
Buck,
” I said.
“Goodbye, Tara.” He sighed and gave me a push toward the door.
Now that he wasn’t holding me, I felt something missing. I wanted to run back into his arms and just run away.
An overpowering
thought started running through my head; I thought this would be the last time I would see him.
I turned to look at him while I walked out the door. He smiled at me. It wasn’t his
regular
smile; it felt like he trying to say ‘goodbye and thanks for the
memories.'
I steeled
myself
and rode home. I could do little to hide my tears anymore, and they flowed freely.
6.
I tried to take my mind off the events that were unfolding. I wanted to get on my motorcycle and join in on the chaos that was probably ensuing. Then I would see my mother, lying in bed, barely able to move.
I knew where I
was needed,
and it wasn’t in a
warzone
. Buck could handle himself; I just had to stay
positive
. I waited by the phone, expecting a phone call at any moment; one that would never come.
“You look nervous, Tara,” my mother said.
“
There’s a lot going
on right now,” I replied.
“What’s keeping you inside? You used to like going for rides when you were like this, before. Is it something that Buck did?”
I wondered if I should tell her the truth.
“No, momma, it’s nothing. Just get back to sleep,” I said in a vain attempt at assuaging her curiosity.
“I’m not stupid, Tara. You could just tell me that Buck is
off
doing something crazy, like beating up a rival gang.”
I wondered how she knew, and my open mouth and gasps did nothing but prove her point.
“How did you know?” I asked.
“You know I was your father’s wife,” she said, “There’s a reason there weren’t any other motorcycle clubs around when you were growing up. And, I was there for most of them. Why aren’t you with Buck right now?”
“He sent me home, he didn’t want me there,” I said honestly.
“He didn’t want you there because he couldn’t stand the possibility of you getting’ hurt, Tara.”
I knew what she was saying was the truth. Buck
really
did love
me,
and I just seemed to slap him in the face every time he showed it.
“
I gotta
go, Momma,” I said as I ran to the closet and threw on my jacket.
“Take the shotgun with you,” she said, “I won’t need it.”
I did as I
was told
, and lumbered out with the
shotgun
in tow. My heart raced as I knew that was I had planned on doing was incredibly crazy. I also was scared of what Buck would do if we
actually
survived this.
I rode as fast as I could; I didn’t
really
know where. But, the place that was most famous for settling disputes was the old quarry. I wondered what I would do when I got there. Sometimes it’s best
not to know
.
7.
I was still half a mile
out,
and I could hear engines in the distance. The roaring thunder of motorcycles gathered in mass. It was impossible to make that sound any other way.
Rounding the corner, I saw Buck and the gang standing in a stalemate on the north side, while Connor and his gang were lined up on the south side.
I
could see
the two men yelling at each other, but couldn’t make out what they were saying over all the noise.
I cut a path through the bikers, heading straight for Buck, coming to a screeching halt just in front of him.
He looked at me with rage.
“What the hell are you doing here,” he shouted.
“Why the hell wouldn’t I be here,” I shouted in response.
“Because I need to know you’ll be okay, get the hell home, now!”
“I’m not leaving your side, not until this is all through,” I said.
I took my place next to him, lifting the shotgun under my arm. Connor looked over at the two of us and laughed.
“I guess you guys
really
do
love each other,” he said.
I looked up at Buck
who
didn’t change his expression in the slightest.
“I won’t ever leave my man,” I shouted.
Buck leaned over and pulled me in for a hug. I forgot how strong he
was;
it felt like he would break me in half with the force of it. I didn’t want him to stop, and I don’t think he wanted to either.
“Buck, I thought you loved me,” I heard a screeching woman’s voice say.
Looking over, I saw that Gracie had decided to come. I wanted to put her in her place, but I didn’t
want
to be the person pulling the trigger first.
“Gracie, you better crawl back into whatever hole you just crawled out of,” I shouted, only for Buck to throw his hand
over
my mouth.
“I can speak for myself, Tara,” he said.
He took a
couple of
steps forward. The lights of the other cycles were near
blinding,
and I couldn’t make out anyone’s face behind Connor and Gracie.
“Gracie, you know what we did. We weren’t
nothin’
more than a good afternoon. Just tell your brother you’re
done,
and this whole feud can come to an end.”
Gracie started laughing.
“You think we were just some afternoon fun? I thought we were something more than that. My brother is going to kick your ass,” she said.
“Connor, can you control that woman? I don’t think she speaks for you,” Buck said.
Connor rubbed his forehead and clenched his teeth.
“Gracie, shut the hell up. We’re
tryin’
to hash this out without people getting’ killed and you’re just
makin’
things worse,” Connor said.
“You’re
takin’
his side, instead of your
own
sister,” Gracie said, “what the hell is wrong with you, Connor?”
Connor turned and gave her a good smack
across
the cheek.
“You heard me, Gracie. Stop talking,” he said.
Gracie panicked. She started pounding her fists
into
Connor’s chest, but he didn’t budge. She cried and wailed, then collapsed to her knees a crying mess.
“Connor, I got no beef with you or your gang. I just want us all to walk out of here and forget any of this happened,” Buck said.
Connor thought for a moment, looking
to
his sister crying on the ground. I could see his embarrassment at having her by his side.
“Gracie, get up,” Connor said.
He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her from the loose gravel. She didn’t resist, and just seemed to have lost all interest in what was happening.
Connor pulled her back and sat her on his motorcycle. She sat without a sound, motionless. Then Connor turned back to
Buck and me
.
“Buck, I got nothing against you. I was just
tryin’
to do right by my sister. When you said you were
gettin’
married
to Tara,
I thought you were joking. I had a feeling you were just saying
that ‘cause
you didn’t want to end up with Gracie. I don’t blame you; if she weren’t family, things would have been different.
“Get outta here, Buck,” Connor said.
He backed up and eased back on his cycle, and kicked it started.
“You got a hell of a girl there,” Connor Added.
“I
really
do,” Buck said.
Buck turned and started walking back towards me. I was glad things ended so easily and without a fight. Then again, I did miss watching Buck get ornery.
“I’m the only one you should ever love,” shouted Gracie, then she turned her gaze toward me, “he would love me if you were dead!”
Gracie held up a revolver, taking aim straight at me. I started to
duck,
and I felt everything start to move incredibly slowly. I looked at Buck, who had a horrified expression.
I could remember the first time I saw him. He wasn’t as big then, but he was scrappy. I wondered if he ever thought about me when we were younger. There are worse ways to die; I wouldn’t be able to dodge at this distance.
I closed my eyes as I heard the shot, and I waited for the pain that would follow, but it never came.
I opened my eyes a second later to see Buck hovering over me. Blood poured from an open wound in his shoulder. I stared into his big eyes and
he
in mine.
“I love you,” Buck said.
“Don’t die,” I squeaked out.
“Ugh, it’s just a shoulder shot,” he replied, “I didn’t like that tattoo
anyway
.”
He collapsed on top of me. I didn’t realize how much he
really
weighed until then.
8.
Everything was a blur for the rest of that night. We ended up at a hospital where he got his shoulder sewn shut. I stayed with him the whole
time,
and we exchanged knowing glances.
He wasn’t the man I remembered at all. I wanted to hold him and never let him go. I knew he would always be there to protect me, and that was a feeling I never wanted to lose.
Connor turned in his
own
sister for what she’d done. I think he knew that if Buck decided to come after her, she wouldn’t have made it far. Connor even visited him in the hospital to make amends.
The next morning the hospital released Buck. He
was built
like a tank, and it would’ve taken a lot more to do
him in
.
I met him out front with his motorcycle, the old hand me down he received from
father
. With his arm still in a
sling,
he hopped on the cycle.
“I think I’ll take the lead on this one, Buck. You can’t brake with only one arm,” I said.
“This is my
bike;
I’m the only one in this saddle,” he said.
I cocked and eye, the same look my mother gave me a million times. It always worked
on
my father when he was alive, and it
looked
like it might just work with Buck.
He let out a drawn out sigh and scooted to the back seat of the bike. I hopped into the driver
seat,
and he threw his arm around my stomach.
I finally felt like I was home.
*****
THE END
The College Rockstar – A College Rockstar Romance
Chapter one
He likened an angel in a heavenly chorus.
That is, whenever any random angel in a heavenly
chorus
decided to set aside the commonplace harp and pick up a wicked
hot
axe
in its place.
Cara Donahue sat at a quiet corner table at Night Grooves, a low-lit night club that formed the eastern border of the campus at Primswell University. She stared with wide eyes at the man who stood center stage at the crowded, compact club; the ebullient backdrop of a red scarlet curtain seeming a perfect accent to his ethereal show.
She listened enrapt as the
statuesque
man before her, a beautiful vision of flowing golden hair,
wide
azure eyes, bronzed chiseled features and—for an angel at least—a downright devilish smile, performed a rousing rock instrumental titled “Nightsong.”
"This is an original composition,” she whispered as an aside to her companion at the table, a petite blonde who rolled her blue eyes heavenward in response to this news.
“You don’t say?” sniffed Morgan Cleary, Cara’s roommate and partner in crime (well, as much crime as two relatively sedate English lit majors possibly could muster). “You’ve only told me that at least once during each of the eight consecutive evenings that we’ve spent here, hidden in the corner and drinking lukewarm beer while we drool profusely over the object of your desire.”
Cara shook her head.
“Ian so is not the object of my desire,” she mumbled these last words in
a low
abashed tone, even as her rebellious bespectacled eyes devoured the
sublime
vision of the angel with the guitar; an angel dressed tonight in a skin tight leather jumpsuit that accentuated every muscle of his
tall,
statuesque
form.
Not that she noticed.
“Look, I just love his music OK?” Cara insisted, turning briefly
to regard her smirking roommate as
she added, “Imagine one of our very own classmates, cutting a CD and touring the state with his
own
brand of classic rock—all before graduation! If only I could have the same luck with that
novel,
I’m trying to sell.”
She paused here. She then piled a small mound of chocolate covered peanuts unceremonious between her lips. “You would think that some big city—or, what the heck, even small city—publisher would jump all over a steampunk version of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, with some mild picaresque themes subtly intertwined.
No accounting for taste in the world of modern publishing, I guess.”
Morgan chuckled.
“It’ll
happen,
Sis.
And in the meantime, you’ll always have your tutoring job waiting for you at the student services building,” her roommate reminded her, nodding in the direction of the performer onstage. “And if you really are just an admirer of Ian McGovern’s music, then why are you shy about talking to him?”
Cara bit her lip.
“Well maybe I have yet to garner the courage to actually, you know, speak to him,” she admitted with an awkward shrug. “But I did manage to move up a couple of rows from the last show—so potentially, if he ever lifts his head from that blasted guitar at any point and time, we could indeed make eye contact.
Potentially.”
Just then the object of her—um—admiration did indeed raise his head from the blasted guitar; his full moist lips graced with a slight frown as he seemed to be trying to figure out just who was talking
through
his show.
“Oh drat it to blazes,” Cara released through gritted teeth, adding as she jumped from her seat and ran some skittish hands down the length of the basic black dress that covered her
Rubenesque
form, “We’ve been found out. Code red! Let’s go!”
Just then she realized she’d said these words out loud; intensifying her ire as she grabbed the hand of her
wide-eyed
friend and ran for the door—the tousled strands of her cocoa brown hair flying like a banner posted to note the moment of her complete and total humiliation.
She froze
before
the door of the club, her cheeks flushing red hot as she heard a round of deep melodic laughter erupt from the stage behind them; followed by the opening strings of a rhythmic mid-tempo rock tune whose title and theme she knew all too well.
“Baby
don’t
go,” Ian howled, his deep throaty voice and stirring guitar riffs still
searing
her senses—even as they drove her straight out the door. “Please don’t leave me behind you, craving your light and your love.”
“Cha,
very funny
dude,” she mumbled, adding as she and her stunned friend made fast tracks out the door, “All that I’m craving right now is cab fare. Or the timely arrival of a bus. Or a
friggin’
unicycle. You know, whatever works.”
What was not working, she decided quickly, was this entire disaster of an evening.