Chapter 11
“You know you don’t have to do this?” Dior said when I entered the garage.
He was in there with my father, Keem, and Mo, chopping it up while I finished getting ready. I lifted my chin higher to look up at him when we came body to body. My arms went around his waist as he pinched my chin. His locs were wavy, and I loved that crinkle fry look on my man.
“I know, but I want to. I’m bringing home that money,” I assured him. It had been a long time since I was in a race, but I was fiending for an opportunity to push my bike to its limits. This was going to give me the burst of freedom and adrenaline that I was craving.
Dior sighed with a quick nod. He released me only to pull a jewelry box from his back pocket. “This is for you. I want you to wear it tonight.”
He opened it up to reveal a beautiful CCB chain that was dainty and girly. My eyes teared up when he walked behind me to place it around my neck. The diamonds were cold against my sternum, but I welcomed the feeling. Once the necklace was on me, he placed his lips by my ear.
“There is a tracker on this if there is ever an emergency. All you have to do is hit this button here, and I will be on the way to you.” He showed me where the tiny emergency button was on the back side of the chain. “Press it.”
I did as I was told, and the phone of every man in the garage started to scream this obnoxious ringtone.
I realized they all would know where to find me in case of an emergency, and that was so assuring.
I swallowed my bubbling emotions to look at Dior.
I motioned for him to give me a kiss, and he did.
“That’s why I’m about to win this fucking race. No one does it better than CCB.”
He winked at me with a proud smile. “Damn right. Real cutthroat shit. Let’s ride out.”
I was racing against five other women today, all from various biker clubs in the state, but Dior said most people were rooting for Lauren or Lady Fox amongst FBA.
She was the ol’lady for their president and a very good rider.
We’d grown up together from grade school, up until we graduated high school, because her father was a member of CCB.
He was exiled, though, for stealing back when we were teenagers.
I was sure it would feel like a personal victory to beat the daughter of the man who embarrassed her father.
I knew she was my only competition for real, and I was looking forward to beating her.
Anybody that was against my father was against me.
I understood that now, and since respect was earned, my only goal was to get mine.
I saw dirty stares from the women because, obviously, if you were going to go for any president, it would be Quadior.
He was a catch, but he was selective. Bourgeois even when it came to his women, and yet I was his choice. I loved that for me, but these hos hated it. There was one other girl in particular who kept giving me the stank face. I paid it no mind as we lined up at the starting line.
I glanced over at Dior to see him standing proudly in place.
He winked at me with a grin that almost shifted my focus to him.
But the sound of revving engines brought me back to the present.
I released a breath and got into position.
I didn’t inhale again until it was time to take off.
I shot off like lightning, headed straight down Main Street.
The path for the race was secured by cars blocking any intersections we were supposed to go through.
I saw Lauren gaining on me in my rearview, but there was a right turn coming up.
Instead of slowing down, I increased my speed to hit it.
I was halfway down the road when I noticed the way Lauren and the other girl who was mugging me began to try boxing me in.
I increased my speed, but they kept gaining on me.
I was so focused on them I didn’t notice they were leading me in a new direction until it was time to turn.
I nearly went tumbling, feeling the heat of the road as I came close to the ground.
However, I regained control and lifted back up again.
We all went left while the rest of the girls in the race continued down Main Street headed toward Prosper Ave.
My gut was screaming at me that something wasn’t right.
I knew without a doubt that they were leading me into a trap.
There was traffic in this direction, yet we were zipping through lanes, ignoring any and all traffic patterns.
I saw the sign saying we were headed for the interstate and slowed down enough to hit the emergency button on my necklace.
I didn’t know if Quadior suspected something like this could happen or what, but I was thankful for his readiness.
I exhaled a sigh of relief knowing help was on the way.
Soon as we got on the interstate, they blocked me on both sides again.
I got an uneasy feeling when I saw a black van shoot ahead of us.
There was no way I was going down without a fight.
I slowed down, then swerved to the left to get away from them.
It worked, but only for a minute before they were back on me.
At the same time, they pulled guns from their waists and pointed at my tires. Thinking quickly, I veered to the left and bumped into Lauren. There was a car to her left that she nearly crashed into, but at least she dropped the gun. Pow! The other girl took a shot and missed by the grace of God.
I saw two 18-wheelers up ahead and raced to squeeze between them.
I slowed down so that I was cruising right in the middle.
It felt like I could catch my breath, but only for a second because I heard someone coming up behind me.
I shot off once again and nearly pissed myself when I saw a sea of bikes up ahead.
My heart only slowed down when I saw Dior come up on the side of me.
He nodded his head forward, and I understood he wanted me to follow him.
He took the lead with me right behind him.
I heard more bikes behind me and realized CCB was boxing me in the middle because not all the bikes belonged to us.
I was still being pursued with full force.
Up ahead, Drez gave a signal, and the formation shifted.
I didn’t know them all, but I understood we were about to get off on the next exit.
Qua still led the way, and since I trusted him with my life, I made sure I kept my eyes on him.
All the bikes racing off the exit sounded like a plague of locusts hitting the city, and no one let up off the gas.
Two bikes closed in on me, and I almost panicked until I realized it was my father and Keem. Both had their guns drawn. Keem lifted his visor with his eyes trained on me. “When we get to the clubhouse, pull inside the garage. We’re going to close you inside. Stay low; it might rain.”
My heart fell into my stomach. That meant they were prepared for a shoot-out. I nodded to let him know I understood. We were about a block away from the clubhouse, and I saw more bikes racing toward us from the opposite direction. The orange paraphernalia told me who it was.
The clubhouse appeared in the distance, and I focused on the open floor inside when I saw the garage door lifting.
I raced inside, like I was instructed, and skidded to a stop inside.
My father pulled in beside me as the door began to lower.
Before it could hit the ground, bullets started to fly from out front.
I was tackled to the floor and covered by my father, as it did more than rain outside.
It sounded like a fucking thunderstorm, and I was worried about Quadior, my brother, and the others.
For a while, all I heard were my labored breaths and gunshots before the sound of tires peeling off filled the air.
My father didn’t move until there was nothing but silence.
I didn’t realize I was crying until he lifted off me, and I released the breath I was holding.
My tears were hot on my cheeks when I lifted on my knees.
Before I could even move an inch, the door at the side of the garage was snatched open, and my man filled it completely.
He raced across the room to me. Kneeling in front of me, he checked me for injuries while I did the same for him. “Thank God,” he whispered when he was certain that I was whole. We fell into one another’s arms, and I felt him rubbing small circles on my back when the sobs came.
That was so unexpected and proof that Emir still wasn’t ready to let go. “Is Keem okay?” I asked through my cries.
He nodded. “Yeah. He got grazed on his ear, but he’s fine.”
“His ear?” I shrieked because that was a little too close to being a headshot.
“Shh, shh.” Dior started to shush me. “Calm down, it’s all good. We’re all good, mama.” I allowed my eyes to drift close as he tightened his grip on me. He kissed my third eye, and for a second, I allowed tomorrow’s problems to be their own, because today was heavy enough.