Biker Class (31 page)

Read Biker Class Online

Authors: Ella Laroche

Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Genre Fiction, #Coming of Age, #Romance, #Contemporary, #New Adult & College, #Teen & Young Adult

BOOK: Biker Class
8.6Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

"I'm serious!"

"Well I'm not talking about that, Melanie! Can you not even kiss
me?" he demanded. It felt awkward saying this, but he'd been trying to
avoid it. She made him say it!

"I don't think that's the best idea. I mean, my mom isn't here
and we could easily get—"

"Melanie, for the
billionth
time, I am
not
going to
make you do anything you don't want to do. Why can't you just believe me?"
Jake moaned. He was getting a little aggravated here! "Just sit on the
freakin' bed with me! I'm not going to molest you!" Melanie was a little
taken aback by his outburst, but gently sat beside him, hands twisting in her
lap. He put an arm around her shoulders, but did nothing else. A moment of
silenced passed between them. Suddenly, Jake whispered, "Oh my God, Melanie,
look! You're still alive!"

"Shut up!" she laughed, playfully
hitting his chest.
Which was rock hard.
Ugh
.

"We could watch a movie or something," he suggested lightly,
playing with a strand of her soft hair. Melanie shrugged in agreement, scooting
back further on her bed to where she was leaning against the pillows
comfortably. She grabbed the TV remote off of her bedside table and quickly
switched it on. It took a couple of channel flips for Melanie to realize that Jake
was still sitting on the end of the bed, sitting awkwardly.

"C'mon, Jake," Melanie grinned, patting the space beside
her. He turned to look at her. "'You
gonna
leave
me all cold and alone over here'?" she quoted him.

"'I don't know if that's the best idea'," he feigned panic,
his voice octaves higher, like a girl's. Melanie laughed at this impersonation.

"I do
not
sound like that."

"You
so
do," he continued in that girly tone, batting
his eyelashes.

"No, seriously, come on," she said,
without a trace of a smile, patting the spot beside her.
He rolled
his eyes with a smirk and scooted further up, until they were right beside one
another. "You okay with HBO?"

"Sounds fine to me," he yawned. Melanie typed in the
appropriate channel numbers, and it seemed that a movie was just starting. She
hit the 'info' button to see what it was.
Live Free or Die Hard
it read.
"
That
is a good movie," Jake nodded in approval.

"Doesn't this have Bruce Willis?"

"
Anything
that has Bruce Willis is awesome," Jake
said in a 'duh' tone. "That means there's lots of fighting and
explosions."

Melanie rolled her eyes at his boy-ness and turned up the volume a
little bit. But just as the opening credits were beginning, a rumbling was
heard. Melanie's brows pulled together. "It's not supposed to rain today,
is it?"

"That's not thunder," Jake stiffened beside her, but she
didn't notice.

"Is it in the movie, then?" she wondered. Melanie almost
jumped when she saw that he was in front of her window. She didn't even
remember feeling him get up! He was staring down at the circular driveway. Melanie's
eyebrows furrowed. "Jake? What is it?" His fists were clenching and
unclenching at his sides, sending a surge of panic through her body. He rounded
on her, staring at her with so much intensity that it was frightening.

"
Stay.
here
,
" he hissed
quietly, anger burning in his eyes. Melanie got off of her bed and tried to
peer out of her window to see what the big problem was, but Jake blocked her
way. Fright surged through her body again at the mere
look
of him. His
eyes were dark, his fists were clenched,
he
was
staring at her with something that was almost a
glare
. This was the
exact Jake that had been in her nightmares.

"W-what is it, Jake?" she stuttered. This felt just like
when she'd met him. He cornered her against the bed, making Melanie fall back
onto it. She quickly scrambled away from him, fear evident in her eyes.

"
Look at me
, Melanie!" he barked. "Don't, under
any circumstances, leave this room. Don't even look out your window!" Jake
rounded and jammed her curtains shut. She was so confused! One minute they were
lying down peacefully, the next he's yelling at her to not move.

"Tell me what's wrong, Jake!"

"Don't move!" he repeated dangerously, heading towards her
door. Melanie hopped off of the bed and grabbed his arm. He looked back at her
with a glare that made her feel like
he
was dangerous, but she didn't
waver.

"Jake, tell me! I want to know the reason why I can't even leave
my own house! This is ridiculous! What's going on? Who's down there?"

"You want to know? Fine! Lawson and Rod and Rage are down there, Melanie!
And they aren't just
stopping by
to say
hello
!" Jake
informed her, fuming. "They're here because they have a problem with
something
I'm
doing. You need to stay up here for your own safety, okay?
Don't move a damn muscle
."

Before she could object any further, Jake rushed out her bedroom door
and slammed it in her face.

Chapter Thirty: Confrontation

Everything was slow. Dark. It was like the sun was scared, too, and
decided to hide. The clouds shrouded it, as if they were protecting it. The
floor creaked with every step that was taken. Vision seemed blurry, surreal,
almost not there. Things seemed to have, all of a sudden, taken a turn for the
worst.

Jake stared unseeingly ahead, anger almost making him unresponsive to
anything else. He zoned in on the stairs in front of him and went down them
slowly, aware, staring at the door all the while. The door: the only thing
standing in between Lawson and him. His dark blue eyes narrowed the nearer he
approached, reaching for the knob, twisting it without a second thought, and
pulling the door open.

There stood the man himself, playing disinterestedly with a stray
string hanging off of the edge of his leather vest. At hearing the door open,
he glanced up but kept his head tilted downward. A dirty smirk pulled at the
edges of his mouth, but he kept his voice low.

"Hello, Jakey boy."

A low growl erupted from deep in Jake's throat. "
What
do
you
want
?" he seethed.

"Oh, I want a lot of things," Lawson shrugged nonchalantly,
as if they were talking about the weather. "I want a garage full of the
rarest bikes on the West coast, I want a new leather vest, I'm pretty fond of
that jacket you're wearing..." he reached forward to touch the jacket, but
Jake pulled away hastily, "...I want someone in my gang who
shows up
when
they're supposed to..." his voice was increasing in volume with every word
he said, "... and you know something else that wouldn't be bad?" The
dirty man glanced upstairs, his eyes swimming. Lawson smiled, yellow teeth and
all. "A pretty little virgin."

Instantly, Jake was upon him. Their noses were a centimeter apart, Jake's
eyes staring mercilessly into Lawson's intimidated ones. His voice was so
threatening, so angry, so
vile
that it was hard to believe he was
whispering. "If you so much as
touch
her, I'll kick your ass SO
hard that my
FOOT
will be sticking out of your dirty mouth."

"Oh, come now, Jake," Lawson tisked, eyes as calm as could
be. "Don't be like that. Me and the boys just wanna have a little
fun!"

"I thought she was 'my chick to bang'," Jake rolled his eyes
furiously, the thought making a shiver of revolting hate slither up his spine.
Lawson shook his head.

"That's right, Jake.
Was
. But you, being the little
chicken shit that you are, softened up and struck out. Your time is up,"
he whispered, eyes dancing with devilish glee. "Now it's
my
turn."

Jake's mind raced with a speed it never had before. Seeing as, even
though he was a great fighter, he was clearly outnumbered, physical
confrontation was the last thing that would work in his favor. In a mere
second, he quickly decided to go with the mental approach. Most of the time,
reasoning with Lawson wasn't impossible. He liked making bets, making deals. It
was alcohol, or a drug, or gambling to him. He was addicted.

"It's only been a couple of months, man,"
Jake
said suddenly, calmer, although it was just a front. Inside, he was as angry as
a bull surrounded by red walls. "That isn't nearly enough
time—"

"It's almost been
three months
, you moron! Three!"
Lawson exclaimed. "That should plenty of time!
Especially
if you're one of us.
What the hell, man? I've seen you break down a
self-respectin' girl in an hour!"

"But they weren't
virgins
," Jake hissed. "Have
you ever done a virgin?" Lawson didn't respond, looking at the ground, his
silence proud but resentful. "That's what I thought," he nodded.
"You don't know what they're like.
They don't know the
passion, the
want
, so usually
,
they don't
really want it
. Not as bad, anyways. Do you see what I'm getting at
here?"

"No," Lawson said shortly. "And I don't care. Screw her
and get it over with, or
I will
." Lawson tried to maneuver around
the blonde, but Jake's arm quickly stopped him. The biking leader glared at it
as if he was trying to burn a hole through it with his eyes, then his fixed
stare turned to Jake. The boy had never seen him at his absolute worst, and he
was about to.

His words were so slow that they sounded like separate sentences.
"
Move.
Your.
Arm.
"

The scariest thing was how much Jake's words matched Lawson's. "
Make.
Me.
"

It all happened so fast.

And Melanie had a perfect view of it.

She peeked out of her curtain, her heart thumping so hard that it was
all she could hear. There were the four bikers, their bikes to the side grass,
forgotten. Rod and Rage were standing back, arms crossed, watching, waiting for
orders. Lawson and Jake were
face to face
, muttering
things to each other, spitting on the ground at each other's feet, pushing each
other in the shoulder.

Suddenly, Lawson tried to get around him and go into the house, but Jake's
arm stopped him. They shared lethal looks of pure hatred,
then
Lawson said something. Jake returned it.
Then, BAM.
It
was chaos.

Melanie gasped as Lawson sent a flying fist into Jake's stomach. She
held her breath as Jake went down on one knee for only a second, holding his
stomach, his eyes shut tight in pain. But he was quickly
back
up, sending a head blow to Lawson's left ear. Lawson crumbled for a moment,
hands over his ear, a
head-splitting
ringing filling
his dirty ears. He winced as he glared at Jake, as if saying, 'oh, you've done
it now'.

Then it was an endless array of flying kicks, fists, pushes, yelling,
and Melanie screamed. At first glance, it would appear Jake was losing, but
whenever he got a hit in on Lawson, Lawson stayed down longer. Then Jake took a
horribly hard kick to the side, and he went down.

That was it. She couldn't stand there any longer and watch him get
hurt. She had to do something! As fast as she could, Melanie ran out of her
doorway, down the stairs, down the foyer, and out the door.

"STOP! STOP IT!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, tears
of fear for herself and for Jake running down her face. The brawl was so heated
that they didn't hear her. But Rage and Rod stood straighter, more still, at
her presence. "STOP! QUIT IT! STOP HITTING HIM!" Melanie yelled
shrilly, launching herself into the middle of them. She didn't know how she did
it, but she ended up having a hand on each of their chests, holding them apart.
They took in one another's appearance.

Breathing heavily, they surveyed each other with warning eyes. Lawson
was putting most of his weight on one leg, it looked like his left ear was
swelling, and he was bleeding somewhere in his mouth. Jake, however, was
clutching his stomach, slightly hunched over, with a busted lip and forehead
bleeding.

Then their eyes turned to Melanie. Lawson looked as if he was staring
at a plate of delicious fudge on the other side of a thin piece of glass. Jake
looked unbelievably pissed... and, she couldn't believe it,
scared
. All
it took was one look at Lawson and Jake had Melanie, pushing her behind him. He
turned to her with blazing fury and
..
.
fear
.

"
What
the
fuck
are you doing out here?" he
hissed. "I thought I told you to
stay locked in your room
!"

Melanie was so confused. Unfortunately, she still didn't realize that
this fight was about her, so she had just assumed that he wanted her upstairs
so she wouldn't get hurt. Not that she was the delicious meal kept from being
eaten. Well, until now.

"You—you were getting hurt!" Melanie stumbled over her
words. "I couldn't—I couldn't just watch and not do anything!"

"Better me than you!" Jake yelled. Melanie's eyebrows pulled
together.

"What? Jake, what are you talking about?"

Lawson began laughing, finding the small crack in Jake's plan that
could break them. He kept laughing, almost maniacally, making Melanie look over
her boyfriend's shoulder in fear, and
a look of sickly guilt
overwhelm
Jake's face.

"Oh!" Lawson laughed, almost clutching his stomach. His
smirk was so big that his face looked like it would break from the stress.
"Oh, Jake, you devil you!" Melanie looked back and forth between Jake
and Lawson, eyebrows knitted. What was going on? "You
didn't
!"
he gasped in fake concern. Jake's head remained down, his back facing the man.
"You didn't tell her, did you, Jakey?"

"Melanie, go back inside," he whispered desperately, putting
his hands on her shoulders, trying to push her back towards the door.

"Oh, Melanie, you didn't know," Lawson shook his head,
shaking with laughter.

"Jake, what is he talking about?" she stopped him.

"It's nothing," he said quickly.

"Oh, it's
everything
!" the rough biker boomed.
"Everything you thought you and Jakey boy here were."

"What does he mean 'thought'?" Melanie asked, but Jake was
still trying to push her back towards the door.

"It's not anything you need to worry about. He's
just—"

"Nothing to worry about? I beg to differ, Jakey," Lawson
smiled innocently at Melanie. "I'd be worried if someone was secretly
trying to screw me."

"
Excuse me
?" she was losing her breath, panicking at
the fact that Jake wasn't trying to deny it. She stood as still as she could,
resisting Jake's push. He stared into her eyes desperately, trying to make her
understand how much she needed to be protected. But she refused to move.

"Melanie, you don't understand, you HAVE to get inside—"

"I don't think I do," she breathed disbelievingly, yanking
his hands off of her shoulders. "
What
are they talking about, Jake?"
He was
silent,
staring at her with a look of defeat,
mouth trying to form words. "Is it true?" she whispered, throat
aching. "Were you just... just
pretending
this whole—?"

"
NO
, I was NOT pretending," he stopped her right
there, shaking her shoulders. "Don't you
dare
think that even for a
second."

"Yeah, Melanie," Lawson grinned. "He wasn't pretending.
He liked you so much that we decided to make a bet with him that he could screw
a virgin to make it into my little biking gang."

She was so hurt, so betrayed, so angry
at
him
and herself, so
embarrassed
, that she began to cry. And the fact that
she was crying in front of all of them made her even more embarrassed. Jake
went white.

"You... you... I kn-knew it fr-from the beginning!" she
spluttered, tears soaking her face. "I knew you were a b-bad person! I
knew
there
w-was s-something w-wrong with you!" Jake
was a loss for words. She let out in a heartbroken whisper, "
I trusted
you
. You... you
promised
you weren't going t-to—"

"Melanie, every word of that was true!" Jake finally found
his voice, looking her directly in her teary brown eyes. "I would
never
ever
force you into anything! You have to believe me!"

"I don't have to b-believe a s-single thing you s-say!" she
cried. "Why sh-should I? You've been lying to me f-for the past three
m-months!"

"No, I haven't!" Jake tried to get her to listen, not only
his heart,
but
his whole body aching. "I didn't
know you yet when the bet was made! Melanie, I promise you, the more I was
around you... the less of lie it became."

"Oh, whatever, Jake! You just w-wanna get
laid
!" The
word made her cry even harder.

"No, Melanie, no! I don't want to have sex with you at all!"
Melanie gasped and hit him on his already sore arm. He winced and spit out,
"Well, I
do
, but I wouldn't—" she hit him again
"—
Damn it
, Melanie! What do you want me to say?"

Lawson was having a laughing fit a few feet away. Melanie ignored him
and focused all of her anger on the culprit for her pain. "Nothing! I
don't want to h-hear a
single thing
you have to say, Jake!"

"Melanie, look at me!" Jake begged, putting both hands on
the sides of her face. "Why do you think they're here?"

"What the heck are you talking about
now
?" she rolled
her eyes, completely fed up.

"If things were going to way they were 'supposed' to, why do you
think Lawson is here?" he said slowly, looking deep into her eyes.
"Why else do you think we're fighting? Why do you think he brought back
up?" he asked, referring to Rod and Rage. "He's pissed because I'm
spending all of my time with you, avoiding them, and
..
.
not
screwing you."

Melanie was silent for a moment, sizing him up, trying to decide if he
was telling the truth. Her eyes shifted to Lawson, who was looking angry again
and no longer amused. His face was enough of an answer for her. For a few
seconds, Lawson and Melanie shared eye contact, and she felt his defiance, his
anger, and his
possessiveness
. She launched herself into Jake's arms, so
confused and mislead by all that had been revealed in the past few minutes. He
hugged her to him tightly, running his hand through her hair.

Other books

PRIMAL Unleashed (2) by Silkstone, Jack
Apocalypsis 1.07 Vision by Giordano, Mario
Candied Crime by Dorte Hummelshoj Jakobsen
6 Under The Final Moon by Hannah Jayne
Beyond Belief by Deborah E. Lipstadt
Black Sheep by Tabatha Vargo
Fallen Angels by Connie Dial
The Reluctant Earl by Joan Wolf
Silent Stalker by C. E. Lawrence