Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
RYAN
THEN
T he Vipers would use any excuse to throw a party at the clubhouse and most weekends we didn’t even need an excuse. But when we had something to celebrate, the parties were even more over the top. Tonight was going to be one of our biggest parties yet because it was Jay and Lexi’s twenty-first birthday. The Davis family had always been a vital part of this club and everyone got on board with wanting to celebrate the twins. Haz and I had been planning this party for two weeks and Bella intervened when she realized we hadn’t made it ‘girly’ enough to include Lexi.
We were standing in the clubhouse trying to hang the banners and streamers on the roof when we heard the bike pull up and Bella headed straight outside to greet Lexi. Lexi was wearing a casual pair of denim shorts with a black singlet, because Bella insisted she had to help Lexi get ready for the party. She had taken over my room and set up a makeup station and even put a few dress options out on my bed. All of which I said no to for two reasons: one is that they were all way too revealing and none of the boys would keep their eyes off her, and second, I wouldn’t be able to keep my eyes off her.
Bella pulled Lexi through the clubhouse and straight into my room without any of us even getting a chance to say hello to her. Jay just shrugged as Haz passed him a beer. While the girls got ready, the club all met in the meeting room for our weekly meeting.
“We need to talk about the Horsemen. They have undercut us and have started trying to take over some of the business here in Haven Cove. They need to be reminded that this is our town and they aren’t welcome here.” My dad sat at the end of the table in the President’s seat as we all mumbled in agreement. “Sol’s Jewelry has just taken us off their security detail and I want to remind them of why we are their best option.”
Local businesses hired us for protection and security and Sol’s was one of our biggest deals in town. Whether it be a small store in town that just needed someone to monitor it at night to ensure no one tried to break in, or transport trucks who were moving expensive high ticket items that would hire us to ride alongside them to ensure their cargo is safe. Losing Sol’s to the Horsemen was just the beginning and the only way to stop them was to show Sol that the Horsemen couldn’t keep his store and stock safe, and we needed to do that by robbing it ourselves.
“Are we actually stealing anything or just breaking a few windows and displays?” Jay asked from beside me as we sat towards the end of the table.
“Whatever you need to do to make it believable, son,” my dad answered us and everyone nodded in agreement.
“What if one of the Horsemen is there at the store?” Jay asked as he leaned back on his chair so the front two feet were off the floor.
“Then you take them out. Jay and Ry, can you handle this tonight?”
“Not tonight, Dad. We’re throwing the party for Jay and Lexi tonight.” I put my elbows up on the table and pointed my thumb in the direction of the clubhouse lounge where all the decorations were hanging. There was no way he could have forgotten the twins' birthday after walking through there.
“Exactly why tonight is perfect: you’ll have an alibi. Meeting adjourned. Let's go and drink some beer, boys. Jay, happy birthday, kid.” All of the group broke out into a cheer and gave Jay a hug on the way out. As we walked through the doors, Lexi and Bella walked out of my room.
“Holy shit,” I said, louder than planned and I wasn’t the only one staring at her. Lexi had her blonde hair curled in perfect waves and Bella had put dark makeup on her eyes and a gloss on her lips that made me want to walk over and kiss her in front of everyone. Not to mention the dress; she picked one of the ones I said no to earlier and I knew I was right. It was tight and black, it just covered her ass and the high heels she had on made her legs look even longer.
* * *
A n hour later the party was in full swing and everyone was dancing, drinking and enjoying celebrating the twins and even Scotty made an appearance; it was the first time he had been back to the clubhouse since his accident. I was sitting on the brown leather couch with Haz and Jay by my side when Lexi and Bella came over to join us. Haz stood from his spot to let Lexi sit down and I made a mental note to thank him for that later. She was now sitting close enough that our knees were rubbing together and I was using all of my self control not to pull her onto my lap and kiss her in front of everyone. Jay was talking to Bella so I took the opportunity to lean closer to her and run my hand up her thigh. I felt her leg stiffen at my touch and the slight raise of goosebumps on her skin. I could hear her breathing quicken as my hand moved higher and higher until one finger slipped under the hem of her dress and she quickly stood.
“I’m just going to the bathroom, be right back.” She walked quickly down the hallway and I made up my own excuse to follow her, which made Haz laugh under his breath because he knew exactly where I was going.
I walked down the hallway towards the bathroom when I felt a hand grab my arm and pull me into my bedroom. The door closed behind me and Lexi pushed me up against the door.
“What the hell was that?” she asked in an angry tone. I could still see her chest rising with her fast breathing.
“Did you really expect me not to touch you when you look like that? Come on.” I tilted my head down to look into her eyes as she rolled them.
“I wanted you to touch me but just not in front of Jay.”
I took the opening to grip her face in my hands and bring her lips to mine. I walked her backwards until she fell down on my bed and I held myself above her by leaning on my elbows. We both fought for dominance as our hands explored each other’s bodies and our mouths left kisses and bites over each other’s skin. I felt her fingers grip onto the hem of my shirt and as she pulled it up to my chest, I moved my arms to help her pull it over my head and she threw it to the floor before rubbing her hands down my back and pulling me closer to her. I put my hand under her and flipped us over so she was sitting on top of me. My hands reached for the zipper on the side of her dress as I slid it down to make the dress fall to her hips. Just as I reached up to undo the clasp of her bra, the bedroom door flew open.
“What the fuck is this?” Jay yelled from the now open bedroom door. His face was red and had his fist clenched beside him. Lexi quickly stood up off me and pulled her dress back up before running a hand through her hair that was messy from my hands. She walked up to Jay to try and calm him, but he pushed her to the side and made his way to me. I was standing up off the bed but was still shirtless with my zipper undone when he reached me. He didn’t say a word to me. Instead, he pulled his fist back before connecting it with my jaw.
I let him hit me because I knew I deserved his anger. I should have told him the first time I kissed Lexi, but I didn’t, and I wished he hadn’t found out about us like this. He hit me a few more times and I could hear Lexi crying and asking him to stop.
“Boys, that’s enough!” I heard my dad say sternly from the hallway. “You know where you need to be right now, so go and do it.” He walked out of the room and left Jay, Lexi and I standing there looking at each other as Haz and Bella stood in the hallway watching the scene in the bedroom.
“Are you okay?” Lexi reached out and rubbed her hand over my cheek as my tongue swiped across my bottom lip to taste the blood coming from the cut.
“I’m fine, I have to go though. I’m sorry.” I stood from the floor and grabbed my shirt and cut and walked outside to catch up to Jay. He was already sitting on his bike by the time I got outside and I slid on my cut before getting on my bike next to him.
Jay and I rode to Sol’s in silence. He didn’t want to speak to me at the clubhouse but we needed to speak to each other and try and clear this up before we walked into this job because we needed to have each other’s backs and if we didn’t this could all end terribly.
“Jay, wait a second.” I grabbed his elbow as he walked in front of me and pulled him into a quiet corner of the street.
“How long, Ryan? How long have you been fucking my sister behind my back?” he yelled as he pushed me against the wall of a brick building, keeping his hand against my chest.
“It’s not like that, Jay.” I tried to push his hand off my chest but he didn’t budge. “We’ve been hanging out for a few weeks and I know I should have told you as soon as it happened but we didn’t want to piss you off. I like her and she likes me too. I know that’s weird for you but I don’t want to stop seeing her.” He dropped his hand and I pulled at the hem of my shirt to smooth it back out.
“So if I asked you not to go near my sister, you wouldn’t listen? You’d pick her over me?”
“Honestly, Jay, if you made me pick between you then you aren’t my best friend. I know it’s soon but I’ve never felt like this about a girl before. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you but I don’t want to lose either of you.”
His shoulders relaxed at my confession. “I get why you didn’t tell me. I hate you for it but I get it. I don’t think I would’ve told you if I hooked up with Bella.” I hated the thought of him and Bella but then I realized how hypocritical that would be.
“Anyone tell you that you have a mean left hook? You didn’t need to hit me so hard.” I laughed and rubbed my jaw where he punched me earlier.
“You’re lucky I didn’t punch you harder. If you hurt her, Ryan, I’ll do a lot worse than punch you in the face. Let’s get this job done so we can go back to the party.”
We walked back around the corner and pulled our black hoods up over our heads. We were wearing all black and removed our cuts so that we had no ties to this robbery. Right now, everyone thought we were at the party so we needed to do this without anyone spotting us or it would ruin our alibi.
There was one member of the Horsemen standing near the entrance to Sol’s. Jay and I looked to each other to come up with a plan. The best part about working with your best friend is that you can have a whole conversation with no words. We just looked at each other and Jay pulled his gun out of the back of his jeans and snuck around the corner before pressing his gun to the side of the man’s head and holding him still. He raised his gun and hit the man over the head hard enough that he got knocked unconscious and fell to the ground.
Jay and I entered Sol’s and walked straight over to where the security camera sat on the roof and I stood on one of the counters in the blind spot of the camera to put duct tape over it so no one would be able to see who broke in. Jay and I started wrecking the place by pushing over the display stands and smashing the glass counters and throwing the jewelry over the shop floor. We found this effective enough that we didn’t need to actually steal any items.
Once the place was destroyed, we headed back outside and came face to face with another Horsemen, Silas Gray. He reached for his gun but Jay and I knocked him to the ground and his gun slid into the gutter. I leant over him as he tried to throw a punch, but I blocked it and threw one back which landed on his jaw. Jay pulled me up off him and we both ran to our bikes. Silas retrieved his gun from the gutter and tried to shoot us. Jay and I ducked down as we tried to dodge the bullets. We got to our bikes and kicked the stand up and turned them on. We quickly drove out of the street and back towards the clubhouse.