6. Shane #2
She stormed into Gran’s last night, shouting about how my guard dog humiliated her in front of some punk named Jordan. I didn’t even know she had a boyfriend to be honest, but I’m not mad that Gabe took care of it.
“Fuck that guy.” His phone buzzes. Lifting it, he responds to a text and grins.
“How’d you know about this Jordan kid and Ash anyway?”
He shrugs. “Word travels.”
“Hmm. Why’s your dad wanna talk to us?”
“No clue,” he says just as his bedroom door opens.
Jon stalks in and closes the door behind him. “Oh good. You’re here.”
Gabe sits up.
“What’s up?” I ask, turning to face him.
He crosses his arms over his chest, and the leather on his cut crinkles as he moves. “Your mother and I want to offer you two the apartment above the garage. It’s nothing special, but it’d be a place of your own where we could still keep a close eye on you.”
“Dad, we just graduated, you don’t need to keep an eye on us.”
“Do I look stupid? You two couldn’t stay outta trouble if your life depended on it, and I have a club to hand down. So, yeah. I need to keep an eye on you.”
Gabe rolls his eyes.
Jon glares. “Don’t roll your eyes at me. I’m perfectly aware that my son got his ass kicked at fight night last week.”
He turns that dirty look to me, and I quickly drop my eyes to the ground. I take it Jon knows I was there too.
He clears his throat, his expression softening. “Also, I spoke with the other guys. We’re willing to let you both prospect this year if you can prove you’re responsible enough to do so.”
I stand from the desk. “You’re serious?”
Jon nods.
We haven’t really talked about it, but the club usually doesn’t take new recruits under twenty-one unless you’re a member’s kid.
They want to be able to watch us, and who better to do that than your own dad.
Since mine was thrown out, I just assumed I wouldn’t be eligible to be a prospect at eighteen.
I shake my head, “But my dad—”
Stone-faced, Jon says, “Adam made his choice, you didn’t. As far as I’m concerned, you’re one of ours.”
I stare at him with wide eyes as he claps me on the back before leaving the room. The moment the door shuts, my lips spread to a wide grin.
It takes me no time at all to pack up my room at Gran’s, but Colette has updates she wants to make to the apartment so we can’t move in until the end of summer. It’s not that I don’t love it at Gran’s, but I’m more than ready to be out on my own.
Especially with my sister and her friends hanging around here every day.
The warm July sun beats down on the pavement in front of the house as I sit on the swing with a cigarette between my lips.
The door creaks as Ash steps outside, followed by her bitchy friend. I don’t know what the girl’s problem is, but she glares at me every time she’s here like she’d like to claw out my eyes.
The screen door snaps closed, and Ash prances toward me like she’s going to sit on the swing. Instead she plucks the cigarette from my mouth and stubs it out. “That’s disgusting.”
“And you’re a shit! What the fuck do you want?” I ask as she plops down beside me.
“You know smoking’s bad for you, and it makes you smell like shit,” her friend says with a curled lip as she slides onto the railing.
“I smell great, and I don’t give a shit if it’s bad for me.”
Ash side-eyes me.
“Shut up! Why are you out here? Don’t you have better shit to do?”
“Than hang out with you? Definitely. But we want to go to the beach.”
“Okay?”
“Okay. Well, Gran won’t let me drive us there by ourselves.”
I groan. “Not my problem.”
She clasps her hands together in front of her, her eyes growing to saucers. “Come on! Please.”
“No. I’m not your babysitter.”
She practically whines as she says, “I know, but it’s so hot out!”
I scoff. “Go get in the lake then.”
She glares at me and gets up, grumbling as she stomps away. “What the hell good are you anyway?”
“You’re a dick,” her friend says, jumping down from the railing.
Ash isn’t my fucking responsibility. I shouldn’t feel a bit bad for saying no, but I do anyway. With an exaggerated sigh, I say, “Fine. Get your shit, and we’ll go.”
My sister flips around and squeals, launching toward me. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”
As she gets close, I put out a hand. “Don’t fucking hug me.”
She rolls her eyes, but a bright smile stays plastered to her face as she bounces on the balls of her feet before the two of them run inside.
They come back less than ten minutes later in their swimsuits with beach bags slung over their shoulders.
It’s only a twenty-minute drive from Ravens Ridge to the coast. When Ash and I were little, Gran would take us there anytime we came to visit.
Ash loved it.
We’d spend the day letting the waves knock us over and building sandcastles, just being kids.
Ash lets her friend sit up front. When she props her bare feet up on the dash, I narrow my eyes at her.
She grumbles something under her breath before putting them down.
The rest of the drive Ash rambles on about something while I stare out the windshield, trying to convince myself not to jump out of the moving vehicle.
When we pull into the parking lot, Ash hops out and runs around to the back of the truck to grab the chairs out of the bed. Nik climbs out and adjusts the little white triangles of her bathing suit through the sheer thing she’s wearing over it.
I don’t realize I’m staring until she clears her throat, and I look up to see she’s making a face at me.
“Do you have a problem?”
“What?”
“You were staring. Do you have something you’d like to say?”
I rear back. “Uh…”
“Have you never seen tits before?”
“Are you always this bitchy?”
She doesn’t miss a beat when she says, “Yeah.”
I have to bite my bottom lip so I don’t smile.
“Especially to people I don’t like.”
“And what the fuck did I do to you?”
“You’re an asshole.”
“Okay?”
“Well, I don’t like assholes, so put your eyes back in your head.” She slams the truck door, and I grind my molars.
I shot a text to the guys before heading this way. Theo and a few of the others are already here. There’s exactly jack shit to do in Ravens Ridge, so most everyone spends their weekend at the beach in the summer anyway.
After setting up a beach blanket and a cooler, I kick back and try to close my eyes when Theo and Ali flop down next to me. She’s been following him around for a few weeks. I’m not sure if they’re together, but I doubt it.
He’s still hung up on JT’s sister who moved away last year.
Ali and I messed around a while back until she got tired of me being an asshole. She’s alright, I guess. Kind of clingy but cute.
“Why’d you come if you’re just gonna sit over here and brood all day?” She tosses her long dark hair over her shoulder and pushes out her tits.
I shoot her a look. “Not my choice.”
Her brows pinch, but I look away.
My eyes scan the crowded beach before landing on a wave of pink hair blowing in the breeze.
She’s on her belly, feet kicked up behind her. Her little white bikini bottoms are too small to begin with but because they’re scrunched up, most of her perfect pale ass is on display and covered in a light dusting of sand.
Fuck. Don’t look at your sister’s friend. You fucking creep.
She flips her hair over her shoulder, letting it flow down her back as she turns back to laugh at something Ash says.
When she says something else, Nik flips over and sits up. Her tits spill from the sides of the triangle top.
Holy shit.
I thought her ass was perfect in those bottoms, but those fucking tits. I turn back to Theo to keep from staring, but I can’t keep my attention from straying to her out of the corner of my eye as she lifts her pink heart sunglasses and perches them on the top of her head.
“Hard not to stare, huh?” he asks, chuckling.
I pretend to be confused.
“Yeah… She’s been friends with Akers since kindergarten. Try having her in your house in teeny tiny pajamas.”
I’d rather not think about that. I might explode.
“Is she fucking your brother?” I don’t know why I’m asking, I don’t give a shit who she’s fucking.
He shakes his head. “They’re just friends. She’s kind of a basket case, not to mention she’s mean as hell. They call her Mantis for fuck’s sake.”
“And a slut,” Ali adds.
I don’t know why, but for some reason that comment really bothers me. I scowl at her. “Like you have any room to talk.”
She scoffs. “I only sleep with guys I’m dating.”
I quirk a brow. “We were never dating.”
She makes an annoyed huffing noise. “I’m just saying, she has a reputation.”
“Okay. Well, don’t. No one gives a shit what you have to say.”
Theo’s brows raise, and I stand, grab my cooler, and charge toward my sister. “I’ll be in the truck. You have an hour.”