Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
LEXI
THEN
I heard someone clear their throat from the doorway of my bedroom. I looked up from my laptop and raised my brows as I saw my brother leaning against the door frame with a smile that took over his whole face. He ran one of his hands through his messy blonde hair and pulled at the bottom of his leather cut.
“Notice anything different?” he asked as he continued to play with his cut. I looked him up and down and everything looked the same from what I could tell. He was wearing the same baggy denim jeans and black shirt as he always wears and the same Viper cut I’ve gotten used to seeing over the last four months since he joined the club.
He rubbed a hand over the right side of his chest, where I saw the patch that said ‘Viper’ stitched into his cut. But then I noticed the space underneath it was now empty. It used to have a patch stitched there that said ‘prospect’. If he no longer had the patch, then that meant he wasn’t a prospect anymore and he had worked his way into being a full member of the club.
“Jay, when did that happen?” I jumped up from my bed because I knew how important it was to him to get into the club and now I understood the huge smile on his face. I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tightly.
“Just this morning. They called me into the meeting room and Haz asked me to remove my cut and no joke, Lex, I thought I was done for. But then Ryan cut off my prospect badge and gave it back to me.” His face was beaming with excitement as he told me how it happened. It would have even meant more to him having Ryan be the one to remove the prospect badge because they had become best friends. Ryan, Haz and Jay were inseparable and where one went, the other two were close behind.
Ryan and I have been secretly hooking up for the last three weeks. He would pick me up from work and we would spend hours up at Cove Point until it got dark. Jay hadn’t mentioned anything about me not being home, but he had been so distracted with the club that he hadn’t really been home himself. Ryan and I knew we needed to tell Jay soon, but we weren’t sure how he was going to take it.
“The boys are going to come over for a barbecue tonight. Dad said he was going to cook up some steaks and Preston is going to bring the beers.” Jay’s phone rang as he spoke and he reached into his back pocket to grab it out. After he answered, his eyes flicked to me. “Might want to get changed, Lex. They’ll be here in an hour.” He pushed my head softly and walked down the hallway and closed his bedroom door behind him as he spoke to the person on the other end of the phone.
I looked down at my current outfit which consisted of black leggings and a baggy oversize shirt that was most likely pretty Jay’s. I walked over to my wardrobe to try and find something to wear, trying to think of something that was going to impress Ryan. The thought of seeing him again made my stomach fill with butterflies. I found a white singlet vest and a black mini skirt. The skirt was shorter than I would usually wear but I loved this outfit. Since we were just going to be in my backyard, I paired the outfit with a casual pair of sandals. I didn’t have enough time to wash my hair so I pulled it into a slick-back ponytail.
I heard the loud bikes arriving as I was just about finished getting ready and walked over to look out my bedroom window as ten bikes pulled into our driveway one after another. My eyes instantly went to one particular bike as Ryan took off his helmet and greeted Jay with a small personalized handshake. I kept watching them both as they walked into the backyard with the other Vipers following behind. My dad walked over to Preston, his best friend and I watched as the two embraced each other in a hug. It was the first time in a very long time I had seen my dad wearing his leather cut and I could see how happy it made him to have the Vipers around at his house.
I walked downstairs and out the back door to where everyone was gathered. Just as I stepped onto the balcony, I felt someone reach out and grab my hand and my body was pulled in their direction.
“Oh, finally another girl. There is way too much testosterone here,” Bella, Ryan’s sister said to me as she pulled me into a soft hug. I heard a loud whistle and looked behind me to find Haz with two fingers in his mouth as he whistled again.
“Looking good, baby Davis,” Haz yelled, his hands cupping either side of his mouth. Ryan was standing next to him and he reached out a hand to hit Haz’s arm but his eyes were locked on me. He brought his beer bottle up to his mouth and took a sip, his gaze never leaving me.
“Please tell me you have something to drink other than beer?” Bella’s question took my attention away from Ryan and I looped my arm through hers and led her into the kitchen.
“How does a margarita sound?” I asked as I looked through the alcohol options in the cupboard. Jay and I turned twenty-one in two weeks and Dad had always been pretty lenient about letting us drink, so we always seemed to have a few bottles of spirits as well as a fridge full of beer.
“A margarita sounds perfect. I’ll do the salt.” Bella grabbed two glasses from the cupboard and began lining the rim with salt while I poured the tequila into the cocktail mixer with the rest of the ingredients and began shaking it before pouring the mixture into the two cocktail glasses.
Bella and I made our way outside and sat on the two white deck chairs as we watched the boys all being loud and playing drinking games, the smell of cigarettes and barbecue filling the air.
* * *
A s the night got later and everyone had consumed plenty of food and alcohol, the louder everyone and the music got. One of my favorite songs came on over the speaker and I couldn’t help but start to sing along. Bella noticed and dragged me away from the chair I was sitting in and towards an empty space on the deck, insisting we dance. As we danced, there were a few other Vipers and their girlfriends or wives who decided to join in, and before we knew it the small area turned into a dance floor. As I was dancing I could feel the warm bodies surrounding me as we all moved to the music and suddenly I felt a large rough hand grab my hip from behind as it pulled me back against a hard chest.
“I haven’t been able to take my eyes off you all night,” Ryan whispered in my ear as he stood behind me. His voice sent a shiver through my body and I could feel the goosebumps as they appeared on my arms as he ran his hand down my arm. I looked around the backyard and couldn’t see Jay around, which must have been why Ryan chose now to approach me.
We continued to move our bodies along with the music until he moved his hands back to my arms and pulled me around to face him. His hand moved to my lower back and pulled me closer to his chest. I raised both my arms up to his neck and connected my hands at the back of his neck. I moved my fingers through his hair and he rested his forehead on mine as our bodies continued to move in sync.
When the song finished, I grabbed his hand and led him through the group of people and pulled him around the corner so we were hidden in the darkness. The second we were alone he put both his hands on the side of my face and lifted my face up to his so he could kiss me. It wasn’t a soft kiss; this one was full of hunger and desire. We continued to kiss as his hands ran over my body and reached down to my thighs so he could pick me up. I wrapped both legs around his waist as my back leaned against the side of the house and only Ryan’s hands were holding off the ground.
“We should probably head back before someone notices we’re gone,” I tried to say between kisses but he shook his head, ignoring me as he moved his mouth down to my neck. “Ry,” I said but ended up moaning and I felt his smirk against my neck as he knew how he was affecting me.
“Yo Ryan, are you here?” a voice called out from the distance. Ryan stopped kissing my neck but he kept my legs tight around his waist, not letting me back on the ground.
I turned my head to the sound of the voice and noticed Haz walking towards us. Ryan reluctantly let go of my legs and let me stand on the ground as he ran his hands through my hair, trying to help me look like I hadn’t just been pressed against a wall.
“Shit, my bad.” Haz laughed when he saw Ryan and I standing there. “Baby Davis.” He nodded at me as I walked past him. His smirk was telling me he knew exactly what he just walked into.
Ryan walked over to Haz and put his arm around his shoulder as they walked back towards the party. I stayed back a few steps so no one saw us re-enter the backyard together, but I could still hear them in front of me.
“Lexi Davis? I can’t say I’m surprised, Ry, but does Jay know?” I heard Haz ask.
“Jay doesn’t know. I’ll tell him but not tonight, so keep your mouth shut,” Ryan replied as they both reached into the outdoor fridge for another beer.