Chapter 13
“Now spill.” He whispers, demanding.
“About what?”
“What’s going on in there?” He taps my head.
“It just makes me think of them.” I nod towards where the bike is parked. “And I think I’ve ridden like twice with Z, since Dad died.”
“What? Why?”
“It was something I always did with Dad.” I shrug again. “No one else. It just felt broken after…”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine.” I shrug, getting up off the bed and walking over into my closet, grabbing out the box I keep the wallet stored in.
Eli looks at me questioning as I walk it back over.
“It’s his wallet.”
His eyes widen.
“He kept this picture in there.” Opening the wallet and pulling out the photo. “I love everything about it.”
“It definitely captured the essence of your family.” He laughs.
Z and Zeke are in the back, wrestling down to the ground. Mom’s looking at Dad in shock, but there’s also a smile on her face. Because Dad’s sitting on the bike, it’s clear the bike is rolling as his feet hovering over the ground, and there I am, strapped to his chest.
“I feel like I saw him do that the first time I ever went over there.”
“Yeah, apparently, when he strapped me to his chest and rolled around in front of the house, it was like instantly out. Mom said it wasn’t a normal thing. It was just when I was struggling to fall asleep that the bike always calmed me.”
“Somehow riding with a 3-month-old strapped to his chest sums him up perfectly.”
“Actually, now that I think about it.” Needing to change the subject.
He tilts his head curiously.
“I rode once with someone else.”
“Who?”
“You.”
“No, I would remember that?”
“Yeah. Not a surprise that you don’t. You were wasted.”
“The beginning of the year party?”
“Yeah. And we actually ran from the cops as well. Which is kind of funny if you think about it. We’ve run from the cops every time we’ve ridden together.”
“What?” he looks at me, confused but also chuckling.
“Yeah, I assumed you didn’t remember any of it, hence why I never brought it up before.”
“And it was the first time we kissed.”
“What does running from the cops and us kissing have to do with each other? Wait, we never kiss…” he trails off, as if he’s putting things together. “Why do I feel like you’re right?”
“Because I am.” Pausing and shaking my head. “Do you remember now?”
“No, why would we kiss then? We hated each other. And you were like, what? 14?”
“Because you wouldn’t shut the fuck up.”
“What?”
* * *
10 years earlier
“Leave me alone.” I mumble as I push past the large jock blocking my way down the hall.
“What’s the matter?” He laughs, stepping closer.
“Parker, back off.” Comes from behind him. I know the voice, and as much as I hate everything about it, it brings me a sense of relief.
“What?” Parker turns around, looking at him. “We’re just having some fun here, aren’t we?”
“No, we’re not.” Shoving past him and walking towards Eli. “Thank you.”
“No problem, Sketch.” His words slur together.
“Oh, and you were doing so well just now.” Just shaking my head as I look up at him. “Why are you at a high school party, anyway? You already graduated?”
“Cause, Sketch, I’m what you’d call a classic case of failure to launch.”
“What?”
“Everyone else has plans; they have shit going on. Zeke and Loch are touring; Z’s already off at college.” He stops, looking at me again.
“Stop with the self-pity shit.” I shake my head. “Grow up and do something then.”
“You say that like it’s so easy to do.”
“It is. What do you want to do?”
“I — I don’t know.”
“Then you should probably figure that out first.”
“It’s easy to say when you have years left to figure it out.” I can smell the liquor coming from him.
“What do you want to do?” I ask him again.
“I don’t have the luxury to just decide to do one thing and have it work out. My parents aren —”
“Really?” I laugh, shaking my head. “My dad likes you more than he likes us most of the time.”
He smirks, shaking his head, not being able to deny it.
“You know it’s true. I mean, fuck, you practically still live at our house even after they left.”
“I got my own place.” He mumbles out.
I can’t help but laugh now. “Yeah, and even the day you moved out, they told you to come back if you needed to. They have kept your room exactly as you left it.”
He says nothing, only nodding his head.
“You wanna do something, talk to Ash.”
“I can’t do that. I can’t ask them for more when they’ve given me everything already.”
“That’s your prerogative.” Turning away from him, I pause and glance back. “Ya know, if they didn’t want you to succeed, they wouldn’t have put as much effort into it to begin with.”
“Shit,” muttering to myself as I leave the group in the backyard, after I watched Eli drop his keys next to his bike for the third time and then stumble in a failed attempt to pick them back up.
Snatching them off the ground just out of his grip, I look at him and shake my head, kicking a foot over the seat.
“You’re not driving.” He snaps at me, still annoyed about our earlier conversation.
“You’re not either.”
“It’s my fucking bike.”
“And I have the fucking keys.” I mimic him.
“You’ve been drinking.” He deadpans.
“And you’re so fucking drunk you can’t even stand up straight. Hell, I’m not even sure you can stay on the bike.”
He stomps his feet as if he were a toddler for a second, while muttering something like he can stay on the fucking bike, before rolling his eyes and agreeing.
Almost as if it’s some clairvoyant shit, I know the flashing lights are coming around the corner.
“Hurry up, get on!” I shout.
It seems as if seeing the lights sober him up. He reaches into the saddlebag, grabbing a helmet and shoving it in my direction. He kicks over behind me as the bike roars to life.
“Tuck the plate up?”
“Done.”
* * *
The gravel crunches under the tires as we close the distance, swearing to myself as I see the light shining from the garage’s open door, my dad’s silhouette stopping, turning, and looking at us as we approach.
As soon as he realizes I’m driving, I see the look on his face change.
“What’d you do?” he’s shouting before the engine even turns off.
I kill the motor, and Eli tumbles off the bike behind me. Dad gives me a stern look as I take the helmet off, grinning back at him.
Glancing down at his phone, which vibrates in his hand. “Shit.” He whispers to himself, shaking his head. “You 2 and the bike stay hidden.” He demands me as he walks over, pressing his hand onto the button which drops a piece of the floor, exposing the hidden room underneath the kitchen.
“Whoa,” Eli gasps as he looks down the ramp.
“Come on.” Dad shouts at us as he grips the handlebars, pulling the bike towards the opening.
It only takes a moment for us to maneuver the bike underground
“Stay quiet.” He demands before he moves back up the ramp and the door returns into place.
“How did I never know about this?” Eli asks, looking around wide-eyed.
“Because I just found out about it.”
“You did?”
“Yeah, apparently it was a preventative for when Mom was racing.”
Pulling out my phone, I turn the flashlight on so I can see better.
“Turn that shit off.” Dad shouts at us. “And shut up.”
I can hear the gravel crunching underneath the tires as the cars come to the house.
“God, I’m so stupid.” Comes from next to me.
“Shh.”
“Zeke’s off touring. Z’s in the dorms, and I’m just here becoming exactly like my old man.”
“Eli, shut up.” I whisper to him again, as I can see the red and blue lights flashing and lighting up the space we’re down in.
“Ash,” I’m assuming the cop calls out.
“Help you with anything?” Dad’s annoyed tone doesn’t surprise me.
“We had a couple of kids ride off from a party we busted up on a bike. You know anything about that?”
Dad laughs in response.
“I’m just a failure.” Eli whispers to himself.
“Shut the fuck up.” I hiss back at him.
“I have nothing.” He looks back at me, his voice a little louder this time, and I can see the sadness in his eyes.
Dad starts. “The boys graduated already. Zeke’s touring with his band, and Zane’s at college right now.”
“What about the other one?”
“Drew?” Dad laughs.
“I have nothing.” Eli mutters to himself.
“For fuck’s sake.” I scoff, looking at him. “Get it together.”
He looks back at me. As he opens his mouth again, I shake my head, wrapping my hand around the back of his neck and pulling him closer to me. Silencing him the best way I can think of at this moment without literally stuffing a sock in there.
His body relaxes for a moment as he lets my tongue slips just past his lips. His arm, almost out of instinct, coming around, snaking its way across my lower back, and pulling me in.
It all happens in a second, and then Dad finishes his sentence.
“Could you see Drew running from the cops? She’s 14.”
As if Dad saying my age out loud causes some sort of realization to happen in Eli’s brain, he pulls away from me, just looking down, stunned.
“They drove in this direction. Any idea why?”
“Cause they’re smart.”
“How so?”
“They drove towards the MC grounds, knowing that you guys would take the bait and assumed they belonged here. They probably took the trail around and circled back.”
A couple more words are shared between the cop and my dad before the flashing lights cease and gravel crunches into the distance..
When the door opens again, Dad’s looking at me, shaking his head.
Moving out from underneath the garage, Dad wears a look I can’t quite place as he looks between us.
“Eli, I need to talk to my daughter.”
He only calls me his daughter when he’s mad at me.
“Go sleep it off upstairs.” He tells Eli without taking his eyes off me.
He nods his head before stumbling through the door into the kitchen.
“Eli?” Mom calls after him. I hear her speaking to him, but I can’t hear what she’s saying.
“What were you thinking?” Dad asks, crossing his arms and leaning backward against Mom’s car.
Sighing, I roll my eyes. “I was thinking that I ran into him at the party. Saw him dropping his keys several times when trying to get on his bike, so I drove him home.”
“You ran from the cops?” He asks.
It’s almost comical of him to condemn me for running.
“I told you, if you run from the cops, you don’t get caught.”
“I didn’t get caught.”
He laughs, shaking his head. “Only because I covered for you.”
“Please, most people outrun them because they hide. That’s what I was doing.”
“Semantics.” He waves his hand back and forth. But his reaction tells me he knows I’m right. “How did the chase start?”
“I was telling him to get on the back; he was being fucking Eli and arguing with me about it. He finally caved, as the lights came around he got on. I knew he was the oldest one there, and they might try to pin it on him.”
“Can they identify you?”
“No,” shaking my head, “pushed the plate up and already had our helmets on by the time they were close enough.” He’s trying to keep himself from laughing now.
“I doubt they even saw us come in here. They just saw a bike, saw us coming in this direction, and assumed it belonged to the MC, and since we were coming from a high school party, most of them don’t even realize Z and Zeke graduated. ”
“You’re right, you should have seen his face when I said they were both out of the house.” He admits to me. Furrowing his brows, “Why was Eli at the party in the first place?”
“He’s having a hard time since Z left. I told him to come talk to you.”
Dad gives me a questioning look as I say it.
“Even when we were just hiding, he kept going on. Wouldn’t shut the fuck up. I had to stick my tongue down his throat to make him stop.”
“Drew,” Dad grimaces as he shakes his head before looking at me seriously. “I love how you feel like you can tell your mother and me everything. But sometimes it’s okay if you just lie to me.”
“Ash!” Mom squeals out with a smirk on her face as she walks towards us.
“What? I don’t care to hear about any of my kids being… intimate.”
It’s almost comical as the three of us all scrunch our noses in disgust as he says the word intimate.
“He’s in bad shape.” Mom tells us, shaking her head. “And he’s got like smeared…” she trails motioning to her face, making me laugh.
“Yeah, Drew was just telling me how she shoved her tongue down his throat.”
Mom stares at me, shocked.
“He wouldn’t shut up.” Defending myself.