Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
LEXI
THEN
T oday was the first Saturday that I’ve had off in months and the one thing I wanted to do was sleep in and stay in my pajamas for most of the day, but Jay decided this morning was the one time he would wake up early. My sleep-in was ruined by the loud sound of Jay’s stereo coming from the garage. I tried to muffle out the noise by pulling my pillow out from under my head and holding it on top of me, but it felt as though the music was making the house shake from the volume.
I kicked off my blanket and threw my pillow on the floor, knowing that there was no way I would fall back asleep with the music going. We lived in a double story house and on the second level were the three bedrooms occupied by our dad, Jay and I, then we had the one bathroom we shared upstairs. I stood by my bedroom window and pulled the blinds open to look out at the white garage that sat on the right side of our house. I couldn’t see any other bikes or cars in the driveway so I knew Jay was alone down there.
“Jayden!” I yelled over the noise once I entered the garage, but he still couldn’t hear me over the music. I saw him standing with his back to me, bopping his head to the song as he pulled tools out of the cupboard. I walked over to him and pushed his shoulder to get his attention.
“Jay, seriously, can you turn the music off? Some of us are still trying to sleep.”
He turned to face me and rolled his eyes before looking down at his watch to check the time. “It’s almost midday, Lex. I’ll turn it down a bit but I’m not going to turn it off. Besides, I’m heading out soon anyway.” He turned around and started turning the volume back up, looking at me and smirking as he raised it one click at a time.
“Asshole,” I muttered under my breath as I went to walk back out of the garage towards my room. But as I reached the end of Jay’s bike, another two black bikes pulled up the driveway. One of them stopped right in front of where I was standing. The rider kicked the stand down with his black boot before pulling off the all-black helmet shielding his dark brown hair and green eyes.
“Good morning, Lexi. I like your outfit choice today,” Ryan said as he ran his hand through his messy hair before placing his helmet on the handlebar and stepping off the bike. I felt Ryan’s eyes drift down my body, which made me realize that when I ran down here to yell at my brother, I had completely forgotten I went to bed only wearing an oversized t-shirt without any pants. I felt my cheeks go red with embarrassment as I pulled on the hem of the oversized tee, hoping I could somehow make it long enough to at least cover my red underwear. I kept one hand holding down the hem of my shirt and used the other to raise my middle finger at Ryan which made him laugh at me before looking behind me towards my brother.
“Ready to go, Jay?” Ryan called out as he stood next to his bike. I watched as the other rider got off his bike and came to stand next to Ryan, but his eyes also went straight to the hem of my shirt. Now I really was wishing I didn’t come down here at all, or at least remembered to put on a pair of pants.
“Baby Davis, now I understand why Jay is telling everyone to back off his sister. Red suits you.” He leaned on the side of the garage with one arm above his head and winked in my direction. I had seen him around a few times since Jay joined the Vipers a month ago, but I still didn’t know his name. He had deep brown eyes that were almost black and long brown hair that was thrown up into a bun at the back of his head. You could tell from his flirty attitude that he knew he was attractive and I bet most girls would fall for his pickup lines. But my eyes were focused on Ryan. I watched as he narrowed his eyes towards the other guy and his jaw clenched. The other guy had also noticed and he laughed as he put his two hands in the air in surrender and stepped away from me. He took two steps closer to the garage, leaning against the door frame as Jay finished packing up the tools that were scattered across the workbench.
“Yeah man, ready to go.” Jay grabbed his leather Viper cut off the bench and slid it on over his black shirt. “Get on your bike, Haz.” Ryan pushed him towards his bike. The name was familiar; I’d heard Jay mention Haz before. He was Ryan’s best friend and a newer member of the Vipers. It seemed Ryan and Haz were Jay’s closest friends since joining the Vipers and even though I was against the club, I couldn’t help but notice how happy Jay had been lately and most of that was coming from his new friendships.
“Where are you guys going?” I asked, directing my question at Jay who was turning his bike on in the garage. Next to Jay’s bike was one of our dad’s old bikes, still in the same spot with the same cover protecting it from the layers of dust building up over time. He spent months after the accident fixing it up and repairing the broken parts and we would always find him in the garage sitting on the bike as he dreamt of riding again.
“Nowhere important. I’ll probably crash at the clubhouse tonight. Are you going to be okay here on your own?”
I knew I wasn’t completely on my own because Dad was home too, but he mostly kept to himself which made the house feel empty when Jay wasn’t there. He’d slept at the clubhouse only one other night since joining the Vipers and I knew that meant he’d be out late and I tried not to think about what sort of trouble he was getting himself into. I followed Jay as he reversed down the driveway to meet Haz and Ryan who were already on the street and waiting for him.
“Be careful please,” I said to Jay as he looked up to me with a smirk on his face. He winked at me and sped off with Haz right behind him.
“I’ve got his back, Lexi.” Ryan gave a soft nod in my direction as he picked up his foot and followed the other two boys down the street. I watched as all three bikes disappeared around the corner and the sound of engines slowly faded, leaving the street silent and empty.