That Biker Thing

Hayden Belmont

"What are you talking about?" I squinted at Nadine, the girlfriend of our club's president.

The empty glass she held in her hand reflected bright light from the lamp next to us.

"Exactly what I said. You aren't coming with us to the trip," the words left her mouth cold as ice. She didn't have a shred of regret or pity in her voice.

We were in the 'living room' of the house, it was almost dark and cold breezes started chilling my skin. Nadine, however, seemed unaffected by it. What else would you expect from the 'Queen of Ice'?

I sucked air in through my teeth. "Why? Just tell me."

She sighed. "We had a vote on it. The majority decided they didn't want a cop's daughter to tag along."

My mouth flew open. Does everyone still think that?! "Ex- cop! My father retired from service two years before I joined the Night Axes! That has nothing to do with me now. We aren't even in contact anymore!"

Nadine looked me in the eye and for once I saw humanity in her cold blue eyes. "I'm really sorry, Hayden. There's nothing I can do about it."

I sighed for a reply. "It's fine. Thanks though, Nadine."

She nodded and left.
Are they ever going to accept me?

_______

I lay on my bed in my room. At the biker club house, there were rooms for each member. We weren't that large a group, and besides, the building was huge.

As I gazed at the white paint on the ceiling, I heard a knock at my door. Before I could tell the person to go away, he comes in.

"Hey, Hay. How are you doing?" Ryland asks.

I put a hand on my forehead in tension. "Oh, Ry. Everything is falling apart. I really thought I had this cop thing behind me, but it's not gonna leave me, is it?"

He sat next to me on the bed and ran his fingers through my dark brown hair. His touch felt comforting. But there was nothing he could do to make me forget entirely.

"You're talking about the new trip Boss wants us to take?"

"What else?" I reply, "Nobody here is going to accept my 'lineage', as they call it."

Ryland's bright green eyes looked right through mine. "What happened this time?"

I sat up and raised my hands into the air. Only to let them fall to my thighs with a thud. "They took a vote to decide if I was going to come along or not. They would never do that for anyone else!"

"It was probably for the best."

"What do you mean?" I asked. Really, what did he mean by that? From the moment I arrived at the Night Axes, only two people accepted me. The Boss- Jake Marshall, and Ryland.

"Blood can't be changed. Feelings and impressions sure can."  That's what Jake said as he recruited me into his biker group.

Ryland let out a long sigh, choosing his words carefully, "Hay, what I meant is if you did go along even though we didn't want you to, you could face serious sabotage."

"These guys would have it out for you. You haven't quite won their trust yet."

"What more do I have to do?! Rescue Dave from a burning building? Save Maya from getting electrocuted? Push Lola out of the way so she won't get smashed by a falling tree?" I added, "Cause I've done ALL of those things!"

"I'm sorry, Hay..."

"Wait. What did you say?" I ask.

He blinked, "'I'm sorry, Hay'?"

I analysed his sentence before I spoke again. "You said 'we'."

"What?"

"You said 'We didn't want you on the trip'." Then I put two and two together. "You voted for me to stay behind, didn't you?"

I could feel him getting tensed. I knew Ryland. We had been together for two years. If any person could guess what he was thinking just by looking at his face, it would be me.

"Ryland," I said calmly, "Did you vote for me to stay behind?"

His eyes gazed into mine for what seemed like an eternity. Then he confessed, "I did."

Immediately I stood up and walked a few feet away from him. He'd betrayed me. Ryland. Stupid Ryland Evans who I loved once upon a time.

"At least listen to why I did it!" he stood up along with me.

"What's there to explain? You knew how much this meant to me, how much this jacket means to me," I said as I pointed to the black piece of leather that hung in my closet.

"I know, Hay, but-"

"Don't. Please don't call me that anymore. I'm Hayden to you now."

Ryland took in a deep breath. A swift wind blew in through the open window in my room and made his dirty blond hair flap in the cool breeze.

"I didn't want you getting hurt. But my vote wasn't the deciding one. Your case barely made seven votes."

I clapped my hands together. "Well, thank you for bringing that to my attention!"

I moved closer to the window, still facing him so he could see just how much he hurt me.
"I thought I could count on you, Ryland. I would have lost even with you on my side. But it hurts that you didn't choose me. I would have been fine with staying behind if I had known that you at least tried to fight for me."

"Hayden, it didn't matter whose side I picked because I was going to stay with you. I promised you I'd stay by your side no matter what, and I intended to honour that promise by ditching the trip and keeping you company," he said. I could tell he was being honest.

I was almost going to forget everything and hug him until I found a loophole. "If it didn't matter, why didn't you pick my side?"

He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it after a second. Bending his head down to look at the floor, he stayed silent. I understood he didn't intend for me to find out.

"Leave."

"Hayden..." he pleaded.

I shook my head. "Leave. Now." I pointed to the door as tears welled up in my eyes.

Ryland took one last look at me and walked to the door. He put his hand on the doorknob and took a deep breath.

Turning around, he shrugged his shoulders and said, "I love you, Hayden." The sincerity in his eyes made me cry.

A single tear made its way down my cheek before I hastily wiped it off. I gestured my hand for him to go away.

Every urge I had to cry and let it out and just hug Ryland, I suppressed. This might not be a big deal but I needed to know that I could count on him.

"Is this really worth ending us over?" He asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I chose my next words carefully. "Ryland, I need to be with someone who'll have my back no matter what. This proves that you don't."

Ryland gave me a sorry smile and left.

No matter how much I wanted to forget this and move on, I couldn't. Trust means something to me. And it belonged to someone who would stand up for me.

Ryland wasn't that person.