RYAN'S POV
I tossed and turned for a while, but I couldn't find sleep. Which isn't a super rare occurrence, it is still annoying though.
I hate insomnia.
I look at my clock which says that it is 2:32. Damn.
I decide I am going to go get all of our bikes from the ally and then take mine out on a joy ride. Maybe go fighting or something. I'm not sure.
I decide to get dressed in some baggy black pants, and tight and cropped long sleeve black t-shirt. I also decide that I don't want to do my hair, so I throw a black baseball cap on top of my hair which I left down. I then put on some white shoes and decide to call it good enough.
Since it is Los Angeles and it is also the very early morning, I put a gun in the waistband of my pants and put some knives in my bra and in my shoe.
After I finish getting ready, I sneak out of the house, not making a single sound because one of the things that I was hyper focused on when Arlo was teaching us about fighting and being assassins. I am actually known for how stealthy I can be, among other things.
Arlo never forced my brothers and I to do anything. He actually wanted to keep us away from the mafia and whatever, but I had insisted on being trained to protect myself. When my brothers saw me training, they also joined. I found freedom in fighting and everything like that so I learned as much as I could. Rudy was the same way. Rico most just learned self-defense, and after he did learn about that, he ended up learning from one of the mafia's best hackers about computers and hacking.
Once I make it through the front door, I decide I wanted to run like my life was depending on it, so I run the thirty-minute walk to the motorcycles. I see all of them were left untouched.
Good.
I go to Rudy's bike first to bring it home, because he would flip his shit if something had ever happened to his bike. That is his pride and joy. I hop on the bike and take it back to the house. Then I repeat the process with Rico's bike. I park them both in the driveway, not under any trees because lord know I would be dead if any bird shit ended up on their bikes.
I then run to get my bike and when I get there, I see it was left untouched. I throw my helmet on and take off so quickly I feel like I am flying for a moment.
I pull on to a freeway which has absolutely no cars right now and reach about 160 mph. I throw my hands into the air and tilt my head back, just enjoying the moment. I take some breaths and feel tears stream down my face. Not the sad tears. But also, not happy tears. Tears that you have when you finally feel free after a while.
I decide now will be a great time to try out some tricks since the highway is empty.
I prepare myself to pull a wheelie, and I do just that. In fact, the wheelie goes at such an angle that the back of my bike touches the highway ground and spark fly all around me. I put both of the wheels back on the ground and think what else I could do. I then decide to surf my bike.
I make sure that the speed of my bike goes at a normal speed, and that it is nice and steady, and by normal speed I mean slightly slower than I was going which is like 140 mph. I then hoist myself up so that my hands are on the handlebars and my feet are in my seat. I am basically crouching. Slowly, so very slowly, I ease myself so that I am standing completely on my bike. If you think about it, it's basically a balance beam that moves and you can control where it goes based on how you lean your weight on it.
I throw my arms out once again and let myself feel the air that surrounds me move because I made it move.
I then hear a sports car behind me. I turn around to see two headlights coming up behind me super quickly, it looks like they are trying to catch up to me. I put my hand on my gun, but don't draw it because I have a feeling this guy doesn't mean any harm.
And let me tell you, I am so proud of myself for not acting on instinct and pulling my gun out because the guy driving the car is my brother.
Like damn. Sir, did you know you were breaking the law? I say that as I am very clearly going over the speed limit while surfing my bike.
Alessandro signals for me to pull over, so I decide to sit on my bike properly and pull over in the middle of the highway because nobody is here to run into me.
He gets out of his matte black Audi R8, which is a gorgeous car by the way, and looks livid.
I flip up my visor so I can talk to him. "Hey big bro. Did you know you were severely going over the speed limit back there. You would have definitely gotten in trouble with the po-" I was caught off by the angry stare which I can only say is from an overprotective brother.
"Get off the bike." His voice is rough, and you can hear the anger he is trying to hold back.
I dramatically get off my bike with my hands in the air, then once my feet are on the ground, I take off my helmet slowly and put it on the seat of my bike. The next thing I do is take the keys out of the ignition and through them onto the ground dramatically as if I was getting arrested by the cop. I turn around with my hands still in the air to see a very unimpressed Alessandro looking at me.
I put my hands down and looks at him very seriously, "You know, you would have definitely been arrested if one of the police saw how fast you were going."
He looks at me, keeping a blank expression. Then to my bike, then to the keys on the ground. And once more. "Where did you say you learned to ride?"
I blink. Was not expecting that one. "We told you we have some friends." I decide in the moment to elaborate on the answer when I see the glare that he throws my way. "We never know each other's names. Everyone had code names." I finish with a shrug.
True. But also, false.
He bends down to retrieve my keys and then dangles them in front of my face. "I am keeping these."
Flabbergasted.
That is the only way to explain how I am feeling.
"I'm sorry, what!? Why!?" I practically yell.
"Well one, you snuck out. Two, that trick was super dangerous and put your life in danger." He says in a tone that is matter of fact as well as no more argument.
"Well one," I mock his tone, "My house, my rules. Two, that isn't even the most dangerous trick I know. And you didn't even see the trick before that."
He raises an eyebrow. "What was the trick before that?"
"It doesn't matter, just give me keys back!" I try to jump and get the keys, but he just holds them over his head. Curse the boy sand getting all the tall genes.
We bicker and argue for a while longer before we hear police sirens. we look at each other in panic before I take him moment of weakness to snatch the keys from him.
"Yo we gotta get the absolute fuck out of here." I speak while putting my helmet on. "Race?" I question him. I see him nod and then get into his car. I hop on my bike and start my ignition while he starts his. I quickly count down on my fingers as the sirens get closer. When all my fingers are down, I zoom off.
Obviously, I can't show off all of my moves, because you know showing him how easy it is for me to win would one hundred percent lead him on to me being a famous street racer.
However, I do reach just under 200 mph while Alessandro is just behind me the whole time. The cops are quickly lost because most of them are too scared to try to catch up and go as fast as we are going.
When we get back to the house, the sunrise is starting to appear.
I park my bike next to both of my brothers' bikes. I take off my helmet and quickly pocket my keys so he can't take them again. I turn towards him and grin. "See? Wasn't that fun? Some classic sibling bonding time is what I would call it."
He rolls his eyes, and I can see a smile quirk his lips up a little bit. "Yeah, whatever. Just don't sneak out again."
I roll my eyes, deliberately not agreeing with what he said. "I told you I didn't sneak out. I just walked out of my own house."
"I don't care. In my books, you snuck out."
I scoff. "Whatever."
"Watch that fucking attitude Ryan!" I hear him yell from behind me. The only response he gets is my middle finger high above my head and pointed behind me, towards him. "Ryan!" He yells again but I am able to slip into the house before he can say much more.
I guess it is kinda nice to have some biological family that is older than me look out for me.
I decide to make everyone eggs with some fried potatoes and bacon. Then, I take out tortillas and set them on the table.
Make your own breakfast burritos is some of the boys favorites. I also take out a ton of different salsas all ranging from how spicy they are.
Suddenly, I hear my brothers walking downstairs. I turn to look at them from the kitchen and see they looks terrible. I laugh at their messed up hair and tired faces. Rudy flips me off and Rico comes to hug me. I engulf him in a hug and sway us back and forth.
In a sing-songy voice I say, "Good morning Rico!"
Mocking me, Rudy says in a sing-songy voice, "Shut the fuck up, Ryan!"
Before we can continue bickering, Alessandro walks into the house. I wave to him and then proceed to sit down and eat my food while my brothers are acting like it is the last meal they are ever going to be allowed to have in their life. Our older brother also gets some food.
"We are leaving today around noon to New York, where our house is." He speaks up as I am working on cleaning the dishes. I just nod my head and continue working.
♤♡◇♧
The private plane was huge. Even though I have been on one, I haven't been on one as large as the plane we were just on.
The whole plane ride was awkward though. Like, awkwardly silent. Alessio and Alessandro were working on their phones or laptops, but they were glanving at us so often i wonder if they acrually got any work done. Rico was napping with his head on my lap. Rudy was glaring at everything in sight so much that I had to force him to do some work for the legal business. And I was going over some designs for the new fashion line that was going to be coming out soon.
However, once we landed, we all sat in the same car where it was even more awkward. It was an hour long car ride from the airport to the house everyone lives at.
30 minutes in, I decide to ask the question that has been nagging me.
"Are our bikes going he to shipped over to New York from Los Angeles? Because my bike is my baby, my pride and joy. I need it." I say that last part a little bit dramatically.
Alessandro looks over at me and his lips tilt up a little bit. "Yeah, the bikes are already at home." He reaches into his pocket and takes out a familiar set of keys. My keys. "But you aren't aloud to drive it." I stare at him dumbfounded.
Son of a bitch thinks I only have one set of keys.
Before I could retaliate, Rico starts to laugh. "Ry, what did you do?" His laugh sends Rudy into laughter as well while I scowl at both of them.
"Apparently, I can't go on joy rides at three in the morning."
"That is not why." Alessandro says. "You snuck out and then proceeded to put your life in danger on your 'joy ride'."
"As I said before, it is my house, therefor, walking through the front door of my house is not sneaking out." I reply in a tone that says 'duh'.
"And what about the dangerous tricks you were preforming?" He raises an eyebrow.
I turn towards my younger brothers and ask them, "Is surfing really that dangerous?" The question causes them to burst into laughter.
"Dude that is like one of the most dangerous things you could have done." Rico says while laughing.
I roll my eyes.
Rudy questions, "How fast were you going?"
"I wasn't even going that fast!" I start to grow defensive. "I was going a normal speed for a highway with nobody else on it. I even slowed down like 20 miles per hour then what I was doing originally!"
"You were going 160 mph originally!?" Alessandro looks mad but I'm not scared at all. However the questions sends Rico into even more laughter, so much that he has to lean against me to stabilize himself.
But before I could say anything, Alessio interrupts. "We're here."
I look up to see my new supposed 'home'.