Loving Voorhees, Part One (14 Days of Love and Lust Bikers & Mobsters)

Prologue

Wesley

It was the thrill that got to me every time.

The anticipation of getting caught, and the need to keep going anyway.

Maybe it was sheer stupidity, or maybe I was just an adrenaline junkie with a bit of a felon complex, but bathing in the shadows of darkness, shrouded in black from head to toe, made me feel invincible.

The cold metal glinted off an overhead streetlight as I whipped out my trusty Slim Jim from my pocket, mouth salivating over the shiny Nero Black Maserati Ghibli sitting in the driveway just waiting to be boosted.

There was a few grand waiting for me back at the shop if I could pull this off, so I wasn’t about to turn around and lose out on a good paycheck. It wasn’t an honest way to earn a living, but it sure paid the bills, since Pops wouldn’t fucking give me shit when I asked for it.

“Alright, pretty lady, be nice for Daddy,” I cooed, gently fingering the shimmering paint job that glittered and twinkled in the over-cast light. I’d never driven a car this expensive before, but I hadn’t boosted one either.

There was a first time for everything.

The red light blinked inside, almost like it was goading me on, taunting me to try to take it. I’d disabled complex alarms before, faster than most. But I was also young and stupid, and felt invincible when I wasn’t even close.

I was either seriously fucked, or about to be the richest bastard in Reno.

The metal scraped against the glass, moving fast but coming in a bit shaky. What I didn’t anticipate was how touchy she would be, because immediately the alarm sounded, scaring the fuck out of me.

With the reaction of a striking cobra, I fidgeted with the metal, hoping to hook the door just right in order to pop it open and get in before being detected.

That’s when the airbags deployed inside, whipping out the side of the door frame with a bang so loud, it sounded like a fucking gunshot. Immediately, I was on the ground, my heart thundering inside my chest like I was on a never-ending hamster wheel.

“Fuck!” I yelled, just as the front door swung open, and someone came rushing outside.

“Who’s there?” a young female voice cried out, searching the darkness for me.

I didn’t know what compelled me to look up, or why my heart was suddenly inside my throat, but the girl who blinked back at me from behind those wide, way too big for her face, glasses, took my goddamn breath away.

Thin from head to toe, her gorgeous ebony hair with a strange red tint, dangled behind her back in a long ponytail, a stark contrast to the flawless, tan-kissed skin that was barely covered by her short jammies and low hanging tank top.

She was probably about my age, maybe a grade younger, but the fact that she was outside in the middle of winter, protecting her parents’ car like it was hers to defend, made me even more attracted to her.

She pushed up her glasses; those round, chocolate-colored eyes bore into me like I was the worst person in the world.

“What on earth are you doing?” Her nose scrunched in anger in the most adorable way, showing off a spattering of freckles most girls would kill for.

If she thought she was being menacing, she was far from it.

“I’m just out for a stroll,” I said casually, though my heart was pumping wildly in my chest, knowing my time was too limited for chit-chat.

“You’re a thief, aren’t you?”

She looked at the metal sticking out of the car window and the extended airbags, then suddenly backed toward the door, eyes already panicking. “I’m calling the police.”

“I’m leaving,” I told her, holding up my hands in surrender, even though she had nothing to hit me with. “You don’t have to do that.”

She stared at me strangely, head slightly tilting as a manly voice shouted from somewhere behind her, “What the hell is going on out there?”

We shared a look. The kind that wished for mercy but was only met with wrath and rage. Should her father find me out here, I’d be cooked, and this wasn’t my first offense. If the cops came, I’d be locked up for sure this time.

She didn’t have to save me that night, or let me go, but she did.

“It’s nothing, Daddy.”

And it was in that moment that I fell in love for the first time in my life.

She waved me off with her hands, giving me the few seconds I needed to escape and flee into the darkness. It was the two minutes of mercy I desperately needed—two minutes to get as far away from that car as I could.

Two minutes that weren’t long enough…

I barely made it around the corner before the red and blue lights hit me, and I was knocked to the ground so hard that all the wind whooshed out of my lungs in a single breath.

“Fuck,” I gritted out, barely able to catch my breath.

“Don’t move!” A familiar face appeared above me, gun trained, ready to fire if I made the wrong decision.

Then it slightly wavered, and you could hear the deflation in his tone. “Goddamn it, Wesley. Not again.” His disappointment spoke volumes about how he really felt about me.

He grabbed me by my collar, forcing me to my feet. “I should’ve known it would be you. Goddamn it! You’re not even old enough to fucking drive,” he growled, whispering so only I could hear him.

“But I do it so well, Pops.”

My dad looked at his partner and shrugged. “This is my bad seed.”

“Are we booking him?” his partner, Officer Mossimo, questioned.

“For what?” I challenged, though I somehow knew they already knew what I was running from.

“Breaking and entering.”

“What did I enter?”

Technicalities were a criminal’s best friend.

“Someone matching your description was seen trying to boost a car up the street,” my father informed me.

“Well, damn. Sucks to be them.”

The second I tried to move, my father’s grip tightened. “This isn’t funny, Wesley. This isn’t some kind of game. You’re one bad decision away from ending up in juvie. Do you want that?”

I shrugged. “If I end up in juvie, at least you won’t have to pretend to like me in front of your friends anymore.” My gaze darted toward Officer Mossimo, who shifted uncomfortably.

You could see the reluctance in my father’s eyes. The bitter resentment he had for me since he found out my mother cheated on him right around my conception. Am I his biological child? Who knows? But he sure treated me like the bastard son he’d made me out to be.

“That’s not fair.”

“Neither is your assumption that I have something to do with the attempted Grand Theft Maserati up the street.”

My father’s glare intensified. “I never said it was a Maserati, Wesley.”

“Fuck.”

He immediately started fishing out his cuffs.

“Dad, come on. I’m your son. Are you really going to arrest me?”

The cuffs were placed on me before I could protest.

“Guess that answers my question.”

“I can’t keep covering for you, Wesley. You gotta learn your lessons sometime.” I met his glare with too much hostility. His eyes darkened, anger building to the point of eruption.

“I didn’t even do anything!” I protested, trying to wiggle out of my cuffs as they pushed me toward the squad car.

“Third time's a charm,” my father argued, his voice gruff and void of any emotion.

The last thing I saw before they locked me away and threw away the key was the girl standing on her porch as we drove past. Her terrified eyes met mine through the tinted glass, her attempt to save me thwarted by my own flesh and blood.

At least she tried.

I’ll be forever indebted to her for that.

I’ll never forget the sound those heavy doors made as they closed me in. The emptiness and finality of the lock clicking, the shame and abandonment that ran through me, knowing it was my own dad who put me there.

I deserved it, I’ll give him that, but I didn’t think he had it in him. Not really.

God, that first night was torturous. I stared up at the ceiling for what seemed like hours, listening to the sounds filtering in from other cells.

There were taunts coming from some of the more seasoned delinquents, pretending to be rougher than they really were.

We were in juvie, not prison. This place was like a hotel in a lot of ways.

They tried to make it comfortable. A nice bed with a semi-soft mattress, a metal toilet and sink.

A little desk you could sit at and make your own.

It wasn’t the most ideal place to spend a few months of my life, but that’s what the judge sentenced me to.

I wanted to make the best of it, but some of the other inmates weren’t making it easy for me.

“Move, or I’ll make you move!” a loud, obnoxious voice hollered from above me just as I started to dig into my breakfast.

“Excuse me?” I challenged.

The kid was a little older than me and built like a tank. He was at least six five already and too muscular for a teenager.

“I said, get the fuck up before I throw you to the ground.”

He had a couple of buddies with him, both snickering behind him like brainless lackeys.

“I’ll get up when I finish my food,” I informed him.

Within seconds, his hand was slamming onto the table beside me, my food jumping a few feet in the air.

“Motherfucker, I said move.”

Before I could react, two kids came up behind me, squaring up to the bigger dude.

“Knock it off, JP. Leave the poor kid alone,” a kid with huge scars all over his face demanded.

“Shut up, Scarface. This is between me and Fresh Meat.”

The other kid moved in further. “Now we’re standing between you and Fresh Meat, so back the fuck off.”

The JP guy looked between us and sneered. “This isn’t over, Frazier. You know how I feel about you fucking intervening.”

“And now you know you can’t. Go back to your corner before I call the fucking guards.”

He glanced toward the door where two-armed guards stood there watching us attentively before backing down. “This isn’t over, Freshie. See you in the showers.”

He was gone without warning, retreating to some darkened corner on the other side of the room. “Fuck, that was a little too easy,” I grumbled. “Thanks, I guess.”

The two guys took the seats in front of and beside me.

“If you let them walk all over you, you’ll be their punching bag the entire time you’re here,” the one with the scar told me. “So, what’s your name, kid? I’m Rich and this is Eddie. Whatcha in for?”

“Attempted grand theft auto, and my name’s Wesley, but my friends call me Wes.”

“They got you on an attempt?” Eddie asked in strange awe. “Damn, who the hell did you piss off?”

“My dad. He’s a cop.”

They both hissed in mock sympathy. “Damn, that sucks.”

“In his defense, it was my third offense. The first two I actually managed to boost the car. They just didn’t catch me all the other times.”

“Do you even have a license?” Eddie questioned.

I mocked him with fake laughter. “Not now.” There was a long pause before any of us spoke again. “What about you two? What are you guys in for?”

Rich slapped Eddie on the back. “His uncle talked us into boosting some cars for him. We got caught. Now his uncle denies having anything to do with it.”

“Who’s your uncle?”

Eddie shrugged. “He owns a shop in Sun Valley called Hell on Wheels. Ever heard of it?”

I nodded. “That’s who was going to pay me to boost the Maserati.”

Eddie chuckled. “Sounds like Uncle Lyle. He’s a liar and a thief, but he will pay you if you get the car to him in the time he wants.”

“Yeah, this wasn’t my first boost.”

“Well, for what it’s worth, it probably won’t be your last either.” He smirked. “Hell, from where I stand, I feel like we have a lot in common. So, if you’re looking for protection around here. You got it. Consider us your new friends.”

My eyes flipped from one boy to the next. “Sounds good.” It’s dismissive and a bit lack luster in acceptance, but had I known that I would be meeting my two best friends that day, I probably would’ve been a little more excited.

Eddie and Rich got me through juvie. Hell, they got me through it the second time when we decided to steal a fucking car from a bar parking lot and take it on a joyride, only to get chased by the cops and end up in a ditch a few minutes later.

I just wish I had them with me when I got sent to prison. Maybe if they had been there, I wouldn’t have gotten jumped or missed out on snagging the only girl who ever meant something to me.