Biker Class (30 page)

What
in the
hell
just happened?

Jake walked back to his
girlfriend,
looking
the most awkward she'd ever seen him look. Jake's heart was racing, his cheeks
red, and he was internally freaking out. He'd never
once
, in his entire
life, stopped himself from... well... (
wasn't
it
obvious?)
with
a girl. He
was
practically having
to do breathing exercises to calm himself down. Melanie's
chest was heaving as her eyes darted around, trying to register what had just
happened.

"Well..." Jake finally spoke, his voice cracking, scratching
the back of his neck, "...uh, we're safe now!"

Lawson's bike revved as he leaned against it on the side of the road,
playing around with the gas as he pulled out his cell phone. He'd given the two
lovers about three hours to, well,
do
what they had to do,
then
his plan was to text Jake. He needed to see how it
went, after all... and congratulate the newest member of his gang of
brotherhood. His G-Strider rumbled against his back as he readjusted his
position, his fingers quickly flying across the keypad of his phone.

To: Jake

Call: 555-0666

Hey

Lawson didn't have to say anything besides that. Jake knew
exactly
what he wanted to know.

To: Lawson

Call back: 555-4231

All right, b4 you go Ape-shit, let me explain.

For a moment, Lawson simply stared at the message, not daring to
comprehend it. There was
no way
, it just
could not
be true, that
he saw what he saw in the high school highway, and
it
didn't happen! It
just couldn't be. But,
the more he stared at Jake's message
,
he knew it was
. There was no way that his protégé
would already be trying to calm him down before they even started a
conversation if he knew he did do—or
didn't
do—something
that would make him upset.

The biker didn't respond for about five minutes, trying to calm his
temper so he wouldn't break the phone's keys. He just got a new one. His anger
boiled, his shoulders shaking, as he cried out in frustration and fury. Lawson,
not knowing what else to
do,
walked to nearby tree and
kicked the trunk with all of his might. The thing hadn't been very large to
begin with, so the pitiful thing doubled over, trunk split. He stared at it
mercilessly. That's what people looked like when he was finished with them,
too.

To: Jake

Call: 555-0666

Go ahead Cooper. Give me some
God damn
excuse
why you didn't do it this time!

Just typing the words made him angrier. His phone quickly buzzed with
a message from his 'student' that was seriously starting to disappoint him.
That coward probably already had his page-long excuse typed and ready-to-send.

To: Lawson

Call back: 555-4231

We were so close. But... a teacher caught us right before it got
really serious. After that, the opportunity was
kinda
gone ya know?

Well, Lawson had a ready-to-send reply typed up already, too. Two
could play at that game.

To: Jake

Call: 555-0666

No such thing as a gone opportunity. Push her against a wall and
finish it!

To: Lawson

Call back: 555-4231

Police.

To: Jake

Call: 555-0666

I don't care about no freakin' police no more! This is gettin' stupid!
It's been 3 months Jake!

It was a couple of minutes before Jake responded to that. Lawson
smirked. He knew
he was right
,
this
was getting ridiculous
.
All of this trouble over
something that could be accomplished with a push against the wall or on the
bed, and about five minutes of time.
Then, BAM, he's in. Why is it
taking so damn long?

To: Lawson

Call back: 555-4231

I know. But if I'm puttin' so much effort in this, I want it to be
good. That means she's
gotta
do it too.

That
was
true. Sex was always better when both contributed. But
it wasn't that important. It's not like the two would continue a relationship afterward
or anything. She was basically a toy needed for one game, and then she'd get
thrown aside for a shiny new one. He knew how Jake rolled: exactly the way he'd
taught him to.

To: Jake

Call: 555-0666

Why you so determined she does it too?

It was true! Sure, it was a preference, but not a necessity.

To: Lawson

Call: 555-4231

If it's my initiation sex, I want it to be
good :
]

Lawson left it at that, but he still wasn't happy with this. Not one
bit. If Jake thought he was off the hook that easily, he was wrong.
Dead
wrong.

Rod and Rage sat in their usual places, nervously glancing from each
other, to the fire, then sneak a peek at Lawson, before their uneasy eyes
returned to the fire again. The biking boss was sitting there,
stock still
, ankle resting on one knee, twirling a stick of
unlit Mary Jane around in his fingers. If you were stupid enough to look long
enough at his eyes, you could see the reflection of the bonfire in them, waving
and spitting out sparks. His dark, cold eyes were like undisturbed water or
polished glass. Any reflection in them was clear and unmoved. They were eerily
glassy... not moving from the roaring fire. He was thinking.

The other two just sat there, still as posts, too, not wanting to move
too much and force for Lawson's dark orbs to land upon them. They glanced at
each other, and it was as clear as their leader's eyes what they were thinking:
Where in THE HELL was Jake? And why was he acting stupid enough to get
Lawson pissed at him?
Lawson definitely was someone who you did
not
want to have a grudge against you. Jake had been around long enough to know
better than to do what he was doing: basically ditching them.
'Them' being mostly Lawson.
It was never good when you
didn't show up for about the sixth time in a row.

"Where is he?" Lawson whispered eerily. He was the only
sound for what seemed like miles, besides the ocean and the fire. The birds and
insects weren't even making noise, as if they were afraid of the man, too.
"I sent him three texts three hours ago, one every hour, so he couldn't
use the excuse that he doesn't have his phone with him." Rod and Rage
exchanged another understated fearful look, knowing the exact answer. Jake knew
what he was doing wrong, and he was doing it on purpose. That much was obvious.

"I... I don't think he's comin', man," Rod said quietly in
that deep voice of his, cautiously.

"No
shit
, Sherlock," Lawson whispered, which sounded
even worse than him yelling. It always sounded scarier when a yeller whispered.
"I don't like this. I don't like it one bit, guys."

Rage took this as a signal that it was appropriate for him to speak.
"Where—where do you think he is?"

His unnaturally sharp eyes narrowed, still punishing the fire with
their icy and glassy glare. "I know exactly where he is. And so do both of
you." Without even exchanging looks, they all thought one word:
Melanie
.
"This is getting...
out of hand
," the dangerous biker chose
his words carefully. "I was worried this would happen from the start, but
I thought I'd taught him well enough. Apparently not."

Lawson's words were clear and cut, which they always were when he was
too angry to even yell. He was always the scariest when he was like this.
Everything around him always became inhumanely quiet, afraid the smallest
movement or sound would set off the ticking time bomb.

"So, he's... he's
not
going to screw the virgin?"
Rage clarified, trying to sort out this seemingly confusing situation inside of
his red head.

Lawson's eyes snapped to Rage, and he could instantly feel the eyes of
evil on him. Lawson's eyes were almost black, like there were no whites in them
at all. Everything reflected in them. "
Nope
," he hissed, his
eyes burning a hole in the fire once again. "He's too...
scared
.
I've been able to tell being around him lately. He isn't the Jake we were
dealing with three months ago. He's gone
soft
."

Rod shook his head like it was a shame, and Rage stared at the sand
below, scattered with pieces of broken beer bottles and stubbed-out cigarettes,
not knowing what to think.

"You mean it's like one a those stupid movies where the bad boy
falls for the bitch?" Rage stated the obvious, red brows pulled together,
trying to comprehend what was taking place right under his red nose.

"
Yes
, you stupid ginger!" Lawson exclaimed, making
the two
shrink
back. "I think we've already
established that!"

A hurting silence ensued the comment. Rage was biting the inside of
his cheek, staring at the sand with an intensity that suggested he thought it
unlocked the secrets of the universe. Rod spoke up, gathering up his courage.

"Want us to talk some sense into 'im?" the baby-faced man
asked.

"That won't help, damn it," Lawson whispered again, the fire
dying ever so slightly, like his glare was killing it.

"
No
, man. I mean,
talk
some sense into 'im,"
Rod said again, popping his knuckles with a smirk.
He pounded
and grinded his fist into his palm.

Even though that's all Lawson wanted to do, he was wise enough to know
that beating him up would only make things worse. He shook his head. "No,
no, Rod.
I'll
take care of that much." Rod nodded in a satisfied
way, knowing that Lawson would do more damage than he could.

Just then, a buzz silenced all of them. It was Lawson's phone. They
all watched it like it was the last lifeline in existence. Lawson's dark eyes
swiped across the message quickly, then he cried out in fury, throwing the
phone at an unsuspecting Rod. The large man barely caught it before it hit the
sand and rolled into the fire.

"
Read it! Out loud!
" he bared his teeth so much that
it was painful.

Rod scrambled to straighten the phone to where it's screen was
readable. "It—it says, 'Busy. My bad. See ya sometime.'"

"
Busy
?" Lawson repeated incredulously. "He isn't
'busy' with anything! If he was 'busy' the way he should be, he'd be one of us
and this whole thing would be done with!"

"'See ya sometime'? What the hell does that mean?" the black
man demanded.

"He's not
gonna
do it," Lawson
seemed to realize all at once. "I can do whatever I want to him, and it's
not gonna change a thing. When Jake sets his mind to it, that's it. There's no
coming back." He then shot out of his chair with surprising speed for
someone who'd been motionless for the past few hours. "But," he
chuckled, a little insanely, "that's just it! Jakey boy seems to have
forgotten that when
I
get my mind on something...
I
don't stop
'til it's done." A cold, calculating smile that was shockingly demonic
spread across his dirty face, revealing a row of yellow and equally as dirty
teeth.

"What're you gonna do, man?" Rage finally spoke up from what
felt like hours of silence.

Lawson shook his head, laughing in a mentally unstable way. It was
like he hadn't even heard what the fire-head had said. "I'll show him. Hit
where it hurts the most." He was staring off into the night.

"You mean...?" Rod asked, wincing, glancing down at his
pants and then back up. Lawson didn't even exert the energy to roll his eyes.

All he said was eight words, making it clearly evident what he was
about to do.

"If he won't get it done,
I will
."

Lawson trudged through the thick sand of the beach towards his bike as
fast as he could, his nostrils flaring like a pissed off bull... which in a
sense, he was. The cool beach breeze swirled around him, as if trying to push
him backwards, but he didn't care at all. He had something that needed to get
done.
As in,
now
.
He felt a tug on his arm,
pulling him backwards; the exact
opposite
of where he
wanted
to
be going, which made him more furious. His dark eyes met a pair of green ones.

"Whoa. Are you sure this is such a good idea, man?" Rage
questioned, his eyes looking back and forth between Lawson's and the ground.
The angry one jerked his arm out of the red head's grip easily, snorting.

"Are you kidding me? Who's freakin' side are you on, dude?"

Rage's eyes didn't meet Lawson's as he replied. "Yours! You
just... you
gotta
think about this thing before you do
it! What you're talkin' about... it's different than gettin' some drugs off of
somebody or purse-snatchin', Lawson! This is...
different
."

"No, it ain't," he spat. "Jake obviously isn't gonna do
anything. Somebody has to!"

"Why? Who cares if there's one more virgin in the world?"

"Why do
you
care if there's one less?"

"I don't!" the fire head yelled, fists clenching by his
sides. "I care about what—what's gonna happen to
you
! Raping
someone is serious, dude! You're gonna be in some
serious
shit after
this..."

"She won't talk," Lawson rolled his midnight-black eyes.

"She won't have to," Rage countered, trying to catch the
man's eyes. "People will be able to tell. Knowing you, you'll rough her
up. Hurt her maybe. And on the small chance that people won't notice, Jake
will. And he'll know exactly who did it."

"I ain't scared of that little blonde chicken shit."

"He'll be out for
blood
," he cautioned. "You
know how Jake is when he's
majorly
pissed. You taught him everything he
knows, after all. And if
he
doesn't get you, the police will. And I'd
like to see you see your way out of a rape trial. In court, it
ain't
like marijuana possession. It's a top
felony
.
You'd get locked up for life. You want that?"

Lawson just stared at Rage, his chest heaving up and down in anger.
Unfortunately, he had a point. But his mind was clouded with anger, obscuring
the little common sense that he possessed in the first place. He shook his
head, hissing,
"
Just
watch me
."

Lawson strode quickly to his motorcycle, hopping on before anyone
could stop him. He whipped his head to face Rage, and Rod, who was walking up
the sandy hill towards him, too. His merciless eyes swept across both of their
faces before he spoke. "If either of you want to get behind me, do it. If
not..." his eyes flashed a warning, "stay out of my way."

Rod and Rage exchanged looks, before Rod marched up to Lawson's bike
and nodded his large head. He flexed his
muscles,
making the skull on his arm open it's mouth. He smiled a devious grin, but it
was almost half-hearted. "I'm right behind you, bro." Lawson was too
caught up in what he was doing to notice how Rod's smile faded when he looked
away. "But one problem, man." The man on the G-Strider rolled his
eyes.

"What
now
?" he demanded.

"You don't know where she lives," Rod said obviously.

Lawson's devious grin disappeared in a flash. He cursed repeatedly,
punching the handlebars of his bike in frustration. "Crap!
Shit shit
shit
! You're right." Unknown to the other two, Rage smirked to himself
behind their preoccupied backs. Suddenly, Lawson's hung head popped up. His
eyes were bright, but
not
in a good way. "Wait a damn minute here!
Rod, didn't you say that you had to pick up Jake and Melanie on the side of the
road a couple of weeks ago?"

Rod's eyes shifted. "Uh, yeah...? What's that got to do with
anythin'?"

"Jake made you drive to the middle of nowhere and let them off,
didn't he?"

"Well, yeah."

"That little..." he trailed off, shaking his head, laughing
that unstable chuckle again. "He didn't want you to see where she lived!
Oh, that little genius chicken shit." He muttered a couple of things that
were unintelligible, but were no doubt horrible. His eyes rose to the two,
glinting. "If he had to haul his bike back with him, it couldn't have been
far. Her place
has
to be somewhere near there. That's where we'll start
looking."

Rod hopped on his bike and pulled up by Lawson. "Sounds good,
man."

They both looked back at Rage, who was standing there in the sand,
alone. Lawson
rose
his brows. "So, what's it
gonna be, Rage? You coming or are you gonna be like Jake and stand by yourself
with no backup?" The ginger's eyes snapped back and forth between the two.
Silence. Finally, he groaned and rolled his eyes. "Fine! Let me go get my
ride." He muttered, "
Damn
."

It wasn't too long before Rage pulled up beside both of them, until
they were in a perfect row. Lawson grinned in a way that would send shivers
down the spine of anyone passing. "Lead the way, Rod."

Ms. Hart stuck her head into Melanie's room, smiling. "Well, you
two, I'm off."

Melanie grinned in encouragement, but then frowned. "Wait... Mom,
isn't that dinner party that you were saying Leanne was throwing tonight,
too?"

Her mother looked at the floor for a fraction of second, shuffling her
feet. "Uh, yeah."

"Oh my God, Mom! Are you going to her party?" her daughter
questioned, raising her brows in surprise. With all that's happened between
Leanne and her mother's best friend, Rosie, Melanie figured that Ms. Hart would
be avoiding her like The Plague. Jake looked up from an advanced chemistry book
that Melanie had practically forced into his hands as busy-work, this talk of
his possible-new
step mother
catching his attention.

"Maybe..." she trailed off guiltily, shrugging in a heavy
way.

"Is Rosie not going to be upset with you?" Melanie demanded.

"That's the thing," Ms. Hart shrugged, "Rosie's coming
with me."

Melanie almost couldn't believe it. "
Really
? I thought she
hated Leanne."

Melanie's mother spared her a frustrated glance, tilting her head
towards Jake in a
'don't-talk-badly-about-his-father's-girlfriend-in-front-of-him' way. Her
daughter rolled her eyes exasperatedly.

"Well, sweetie, they don't... exactly...
get along
, but I
wouldn't say
hate
..."

"I hate her, too, Ms. Hart," Jake mentioned dully, not
looking up from the book, turning a page.

Melanie's mom blinked. "Oh, okay, then! Well, I'm off! I bet
she'll be trying to out-do my party. Well, we'll just see about that..."
She turned to leave, but then backed up and caught Melanie's eye. She held up
two fingers and pointed them towards her eyes, then directed them towards Melanie
and up and down Jake. Ms. Hart
rose
her eyebrows and Melanie
nodded vigorously, clearly understanding the message. She flushed as her mother
gave her one final nod, then left.

Both of them listened to her heels clack down the hall, down the
staircase, and they heard the door close. They both sighed and relaxed, Jake shutting
the book loudly and smirking at Melanie. She raised her eyebrows in a
'why-are-you-looking-at-me-like-that?' way. He spoke.

"Your mom still doesn't trust me," he stated like a fact.
Because it was.

"It's not
you
really," Melanie comforted him, rolling
her eyes at her mother's behavior. "It's the male species
altogether."

Jake smirked his signature smug smile that couldn't be copied.
"But it's me, too."

She was silent for a moment before finally shrugging. "Yeah, it's
you, too." He smiled, but it wasn't a genuine one. Melanie caught his
expression and quickly explained. "I mean that as in, 'yeah, it's you...
and all of your leather jackets and bikes and girls and
..
.
stuff'
. Jake, it's not
you
personally. But
you've
had
to have known that you aren't exactly a parent's dream."

Jake smiled at that. He popped his jacket. "They
do
call
me A Parent's Worst Nightmare."

Melanie laughed. "Exactly. See, it's not you. It's your...
rep
."

Jake looked down at the closed chemistry book in his lap and quickly
moved it aside onto her mattress. He smiled innocently at her, patting the
space beside him on the edge of the bed. "You gonna leave me all cold and
alone over here, Hart?"

Melanie looked at him, the empty space beside him, and then
back
to him. She remembered:

Melanie nearly fainted from a crazed adrenaline rush when she felt
something unfamiliar. His tongue was slipping into her mouth. Her knees gave
out, but only but for a few seconds, before she forced herself to stand up
again and thrusts herself at him. She quickly slipped her tongue into his
mouth, her arms tightly winding around his neck. He impossibly deepened it,
making Melanie run her hands up through his hair longingly.

"Uh, yep!" she said shortly, reopening the book in her lap.
Her eyes raked the page, but she wasn't really reading. Melanie just needed
somewhere to look besides
him
, because she worried that he could all to
easily change her mind. Before she knew it, his hand was creeping over the top
of the book, pulling it down until it was discarded on her floor, his face
taking it's place.

"Oh, c'mon," Jake grinned toothily. "I'm bored. I need
entertainment."

Melanie kept her face calm despite the hard thumping in her chest.
"Well, there are plenty of books here to choose from. Go crazy."

Jake tried to keep himself from frowning like a child that was being
denied dessert before dinner. "I'm not really in the mood for reading, Hart."

"Well, that's just too bad then, isn't it?" Melanie smiled
toothily back, acting completely oblivious. Jake just rolled his eyes. He'd
always played games with girls before, but not where the girl was acting
resistant. This relationship was
so new
to him.

Jake bit his lip, looking down, thinking. He suddenly looked back up
at her, smiling in a way that made her hammering heart only thump more quickly.
"You sure we can't do anything? I know that
you're
bored, too, Melanie."
He used her first name vigorously, like he did when they'd first started
tutoring. She gave him a sparing look; not annoyed, but a little irked.

"
Jake
, no," she told him sternly.

"'No' what?"

"You
know
'no' what," Melanie sighed, raising her
right eyebrow. He huffed and sat back down on the end of her double bed,
pouting in an unfairly endearing way.

"God forbid I lay a finger on you," he mumbled unhappily,
slamming back against the pillows. Even though he'd muttered, she'd heard him
quite clearly.

"My mom trusts me, Jake. She had enough faith in me to leave us
alone for a couple of hours. I'm not betraying her trust like that.
It's—"

"God, Melanie, it's not like I was trying to get you to sleep
with me!" Jake exclaimed, a little ticked. "I was just thinking we
could...could..."

"
Could
what?"

"I don't know!" he groaned. "Just something!" Melanie
sighed heavily and got off of her stool, taking his hand and pulling him up to
where he was facing her.

"Sorry, Jake," she apologized, smiling tiredly. "I
just... think it'd be for the best if
right now
, we didn't... do
anything. Okay?" He sourly looked away from her. He'd thought once they'd
starting dating that it'd be easier to get her to... well,
kiss
him. It
was proving to be just as hard as when they were simple acquaintances.
"Hey! I've got an idea!" Jake still didn't look at her. "We...
we haven't gone next door in a while."

"Next door?" he questioned, wondering what that meant.
They'd never left her house to go to another.

"
I mean
," she laughed, pulling him off of her bed,
"in the next room! You know, the piano?"

He honestly couldn't believe that he was saying this, but it was the
truth. "I'm not really not in the mood to play right now. Sorry." Jake
looked a little apologetic, but his face was mostly clouded by sourness over
the fact he couldn't get her to freakin'
kiss him
.

She stuck out her bottom lip. "Ugh! So all we are going to do for
two hours is sit here and do nothing?"

"I can think of a couple of things we could—"

"
Jake
. No means no!"

He snorted. "That sounds like something out of Sex Ed.
class."