Ridge Creek (17 page)

What the?

Jesus.  She’s gunna make me cry again.  Family?

“Why do you keep telling me that I am family?”  I ask,
hoping not to offend her, but unable to accept her statement without clarifying
it.

It is at that precise moment the Petit Fours arrive.  The
waiter slides a large serving tray covered in various delicious slices and
mini-cakes onto the center of the table.  He then places a small sandwich plate
in front of each of us as well as a small fork and a small spoon.

“Thank you Joshua,” Ellen says as she begins to push her
chair away from the table.  “I must go check on things out the back.  Your
dinner is on the house, please enjoy your dessert.”

Standing to leave, I resign myself to the fact that she is
not going to answer my question so I waste no time in thanking her for her
hospitality instead.

“Thank you for a delicious meal and your wonderful company,”
I announce cordially.

Smiling, she nods to Luke and Emma and then surprises me by
leaning over and pressing her lips close to my ear.  In a barely audible
whisper I hear the words, “Because you are.  You just do not realize it yet.”

She then places a soft hand on my shoulder, gives it a
squeeze, straightens, turns and heads toward the back of restaurant.   I watch
as she goes, stopping occasionally to greet a patron and ask them how their
meal was.  It is only after I finally watch her disappear through the swinging
doors at the rear of the room that I finally shift my attention back to Emma
and Luke.  Both of whom are staring at me with knowing grins and sparkly eyes.

“What?” I ask innocently.

“She likes you,” Luke murmurs.  “She’s looking for a new
daughter-in-law.  She hates the other one.”

Jesus.

One Punch

Feeling the bed shift behind me, I struggle to open my
eyes.  Squinting painfully, I focus across the dimly lit room to check the time
on my new IPod player that is now sitting on Jake’s tallboy.  Finding out that
it’s just after eight in the morning and it’s also Sunday, I close my eyes and
snuggle deeper into my pillow.   In a muffled voice, I talk into my pillow,
“Piss off Emma.  Luke kept me up late last night trying to prove his point,” I
lift one hand and make quotation marks in the air, “and I need a sleep in to
recover.”

I feel the movement behind me stop abruptly.  Then in a
deep, scratchy, tired voice, “You’ve got to be fuckin’ shittin’ me.”

Fuck!

Jake.

Instantly alert, I snap my eyes open and bolt upright,
turning my body to face him in the greyness of the room.  “Jake…” I blurt
loudly as my eyes come to rest on his face.  My mind quickly registers that he
looks tired.  He’s got a few days stubble growing on his face and his eyes are
puffy and swollen. 

He starts shaking his head and raises a hand to scratch the
stubble on his chin.  “Fuck.  I haven’t slept for two fuckin’ days and now I
gotta go beat the shit outta my best friend?” 

Huh?

He wants to go and beat up Luke?  What the hell for?  Last I
heard playing pool wasn’t a punishable offense.

Fuck!

That can only mean one thing.  He thinks I
slept
with
Luke.  And now he wants to beat shit out of him.  That in itself speaks
volumes.  Maybe I
was
a bit off track with reasoning for his knock back
the other night.

The words, “Oh my God,” roll breathily from my lips as I
stare openmouthed at him.  My brain sliding into a mini freeze as I register
that Jake may be interested in me.

“I asked that fucker to keep you entertained last night and
this is what happened?  Even after I told him to keep his fuckin’ hands off
you?  I’m out the door for five fuckin’ minutes and he gets in there?  Fuck.”

Blinking rapidly I stare dumbfounded as Jake continues to
rub his chin and shake his head tiredly.  He
so
has the wrong idea about
last night. 

Jesus Christ.

“Mother fucker,” he continues to mumble as he suddenly
pushes off the bed.  His abrupt movement snaps me back into action and I feel
my brain unfreeze.

Yay, Jake likes me!

Another breathy, “Jake,” whooshes out of my mouth before I
finally register that he is on the move.  He’s already halfway across the room
and I still haven’t had a chance to defend Luke or clarify the situation.  I’m
an idiot.  Instead of acting like a sixteen year old and getting all excited, I
should have nipped this in the bud straight up.

“Jake!” I yell a lot more loudly, flying into a panic. 
Ignoring me he grabs for the door handle without hesitation. 

“No!” I yell again as he swings the door open.  “It’s not
what you think…” I blurt out as I watch him leave the room without a backwards
glance. 

Holy shit!

Throwing the covers back, I launch from the bed, ready to
hit the ground running.  Unfortunately this does not go to plan and I find my
feet tangled in the bed sheet.  With a squeal and then a loud thud, I am hurled
forward onto the floor.  My forehead connects with the hard floor and I am
dazed for a few moments as pain shoots along my back and through my shoulder.

Fuck!

Wincing, I take a few moments to shake the confusion from my
brain.  Rubbing my forehead, I then untangle my feet from the sheet and jump up
from the floor, all thoughts of pain gone.  I
have
to find Jake and stop
him doing what he thinks he needs to do.  

Setting off at speed, I race through the door and down the
hall.  I then start weaving my way through the rooms to the communal room where
I am sure I will now find Jake, fuming over this whole misunderstanding.

With my heart racing, I finally reach the communal room.  
Blurting, “He didn’t sleep with me,” as I come through the doorway, I jolt to a
stop.  The room is empty.

Where is he?

It is then that I hear the sounds of Harley pipes out the
front of the shop and I realize I am too late.  He’s already on his bike.

Shit!

Racing across the communal room, I fly through the door to
the shop and start weaving my way through the piles of stock to the front of
the shop.  As I approach the front door, I see Jake flicking up the foot stand
on his bike and pulling away.

“Jake!” I yell again.  Either he doesn’t hear me over the
roar of his bike or he chooses to ignore me because, without a glance back
towards the shop, he roars out onto the street and takes off.

I finally make it to the front door only to find it locked. 

Of course it’s locked, it’s Sunday.

Frantically fiddling with the locks, I finally manage to
work out how to undo the lock and throw myself through the door and out on the
street.  It is then that I realize I
am
too late.   Jake has disappeared
and all I can hear is the sound of Harley pipes fading into the distance.

Shit.

Instantly deciding that I can’t just give up, I race back
into the shop.  After all they have both done for me, I can’t let this happen. 
Luke is the closest person I have to a friend besides Emma right now, and
Jake…  I’m still unsure how to define what I feel for him, but I know it’s more
than friendship.

Weaving back through the stockpiles, I silently curse the
disorder and mayhem that is Luke and Zane’s Harley Shop.  Vowing that I
definitely need to clean up around here, I make it to the back of the shop,
push through the door and start running.

Flying through the communal room, I race through the
adjoining rooms and head straight for Emma’s room.  Slamming her door open, I
hear Jambo screech in shock at the noise.  “Quiet, bird!” I yell and with a
small miracle, he appears to take me seriously.  He shuts his beak and stares
at me quietly from the perch in his cage, clearly offended.

I look across to see Emma laying on her front with her arms
and legs spread out.  She looks dead to the world and is still snoring.  How
she has managed to sleep soundly through me slamming open her bedroom door and
then her parrot screeching at me, I don’t know.

Racing over to her, I grab her hand and start dragging her
off the bed as I start yelling, “Get up!  Emergency!  Emergency!  Red alert! 
Wake up!” 

I watch as her eyes fly open in shock and then she squints
groggily at me.  “What the fuck Ari?”

By this stage I have dragged her almost fully off of the
edge of her bed.  My mind briefly registers that she is butt naked as I yell,
“Get up!  I need you to drive me somewhere.  I need you to do that race car
driver impersonation you do and get me somewhere fast. You need to dress. 
Right
now!
” I screech as I finally achieve me goal and drag her off her bed.  
Landing awkwardly she hits the floor with an, “Oof.”

“
Jesus Christ
Arianna.  Where’s the fuckin’ fire?”
She grumbles as she drags herself to a sitting position and runs her hand
through her hair.  My mind takes a little pause as I briefly consider how wrong
it is to drag your best friend out of bed while she is nude.  It then fires
back up as I remember why I am doing this so I don’t even bother to wait to help
her up.  Yelling, “Luke’s house!” I run for the door and head back towards my
room to find my phone.  I need to ring Luke and warn him that Jake is on the
way.

Heading straight to the tallboy in my room, I grab my new
IPhone from its dock and quickly find Luke’s number in my contacts.  Hitting
send, it rings three times before I hear his deep husky voice answer.  “Yeah?”

“It’s me, Arianna?  Are you awake?” I blurt out quickly.

“I know it’s you Arianna, the phone tells me so.  And yes,
I’m awake. 
Now.
” I hear him grumble in a gravelly, I’ve just woken up
voice.

I note the sarcasm but continue anyway, “What’s your
address?” I ask as I start making my way back to Emma’s room. 

“Why?” He asks groggily as I hear him yawn loudly into the
phone.

“Just give me your fucking address
right now!
” I
screech into the phone as I arrive back at Emma’s room to find her gone. 
Spinning around frantically, I hear the toilet flush down the hall and so I
start jogging towards the noise.  She is exiting the toilet, as I get there.

She now has a shiny, pale pink, satin dressing gown on and I
watch as she waves her car keys at me.  She still looks half asleep, and she’s
only wearing a dressing gown, but I don’t care.  Nothing matters right now
except that I have to get to Luke and Jake. 

Grabbing her hand I start dragging her down the hall and
back towards the communal room.  “Fuck
you’re
a grumpy bitch first thing
in the morning,” Luke rumbles in my ear.  “Are you still pissed off that I was
right about being able whip your ass at pool last night?”

“Address. 
Now,
Luke,” I grind out as I drag Emma
along beside me.  We are now crossing the communal room and heading for the
shop front. “I don’t have time to explain.”

Muttering under his breath, Luke gives me his street
address.  “I’ll be there shortly,” I announce as I hit the end button on my
phone and finish the call.

Hitting the door to the shopfront, I drag Emma through and
we start winding through the stockpiles again.  “Fucking hell this is a mess,”
I mutter as Emma follows me wordlessly shaking her head and yawning.  A look of
clear amusement on her face. 

We make it to the front door.  I fiddle with the locks again
and work out a way to lock the door as I slam it behind us.  I take half a heat
beat to register that we are now officially locked out but I don’t care. 
Bigger things are afoot.

Dragging Emma to her car, I watch as she beeps the door
locks open and I jump in the passenger seat.  Grabbing for Emma’s GPS, I start
typing in Luke’s address as she rounds the car and gets in.  Starting the car,
she grins crazily at me and announces, “Your fucking nuts you know?”

Ignoring her statement, I set the GPS off as Emma pulls from
the kerb.  The GPS advises it’s only going to take five minutes to get to
Luke’s house. 

“Fuck!” I yell again as Emma guns the motor and starts to
drive with her rapid gear shifting, madwoman style.  Following the directions,
she hits the traffic lights and runs them even though they are red.

Hell yeah!

I knew there was a reason I got her to drive.  I probably
would have stopped for the lights.  She is much better at this being badass
than I am.

“I have no idea what is going on but this shit is
fun!”
She
squeals as she slams through the gears.  “Is there gunna be a shootout or
something when we get there?  Or an explosion of some sort?  Now that would be
cool.
”
She continues speaking rapidly.  She’s pumped and clearly excited.

Lost deep in my own thoughts I start picturing that Jake has
already arrived at Luke’s house.  I then picture Jake pounding his fist into
Luke’s face.  Horrified that I have caused this, I stare at the GPS and watch
the small colored dot that is our car as we fly along the road, wishing we were
there already.  Realizing I haven’t answered Emma’s question about explosions,
I look up just in time to see her visibly blanche. 

“Shit, it’s not Giotti is it?”  She mumbles softly

Well that wiped the happy right out of her…

“No, nothing like that.  It has nothing to do with my past. 
There won’t be any shoot-outs or explosions either.  There may be a fistfight
though,” I mumble unhappily as I swing my attention back to the GPS.

Three minutes to go.

The estimated time of arrival is shortening quickly as we
fly along.  This is because of the speed at which Emma is flying through the
small country township and quickly exiting to the outskirts where Luke lives.

“A fistfight!” She chirps again, her happy restored. 
Seemingly satisfied that this has nothing to do with Tony so it can’t be all
that bad.  “That’d be cool too.   Two men, pounding on each other.  Sweat
dripping from their bodies, bloodied lips and the like.  Hell yeah!  Who’s
gunna be punching on?”