(unedited)
Bikers, Chains and Bad Boys: Chapter 9
I'd spent the last two days constantly looking over my shoulder, afraid they were following me. Afraid I was being watched. It was exhausting. I was attempting to focus on my work, trying to think of anything but those guys coming after me. My arm throbbed again, as if I needed a reminder that it was there. I sighed, grimacing as I pulled away the gauze to clean it up and redress it.
I heard Dad in the kitchen as I made my way down the stairs. When I rounded the corner and stepped in, I saw Dad seated at the table munching on a piece of coffee cake. "Hey, Dad. How was your night?" He swallowed and sipped his drink.
"Not too bad. How have you been, sweetheart? We don't get to talk much these days." I sighed, taking a seat next to him.
"I know, I'm sorry, Dad. I've been decent, I guess. Are you off work Friday?" I made my way to the fridge to grab a bottle of water.
"Unfortunately, I'm not, honey. Two other people in my department already scheduled it off, so I'm out of luck." He polished off his piece of cake, slurped down the rest of his drink and stood to put them in the sink.
"Well, I'm going to talk to Andy to see if I can switch days with someone so I can at least take you out to lunch for your birthday."
"You don't have to do that, hon."
"I want to, Dad." He stopped next to me.
"Have a good day at work." I smiled and kissed him on the cheek.
"Night, Dad." He headed for the door to the hallway that led to his bedroom and I headed out the door to work.
"Harley, come here when you're done with that bike!" Andy called from his office. I finished tightening the nuts on the tire I was changing. Grabbing the keys, I wheeled it to a spot outside the door, propped it on its stand and made my way to the small room we used as a lobby.
"Brodney Thomas." I read off the work order in my hand. My eyes caught the man who stood up and made his way to me. It was the bartender. I bit my lips to hide a smile and raised a brow at him. "No wonder you go by Brody."
"Oh, ha-ha." He laughed sarcastically and pulled a face at me, snatching the keys out of my hand.
"Nice bike!" I called, a smile slipping on my face. I chuckled when he ignored me and made my way back through the shop floor to Andy's office, knocking on the door a few times.
"You called?" He motioned with his hand for me to come in and close the door. I took a seat in the chair across from him.
"I got compliments on your work on the blue bike from a couple days ago." I raised my brows in surprise as I remembered who rode away on that back a few nights ago. "They've requested that you, and only you, work on their bike from now on. They said it's never ridden smoother the whole time they've owned it." I got nervous at first, but I felt a little pride swell within me at the last part.
"Really?" I didn't know what to think.
"Congratulations, you've got your first lifer." He chuckled at my confused expression and explained that a lifer was just a loyal lifetime customer. I smiled. "You should be proud of yourself. He's a difficult man to please and you seem to have passed with flying colors."
"Thanks." I said. I stood when I thought that was all he had to say.
"Hold up." I stopped, turning to face him at the door. "Will you go pick up lunch?" I rolled my eyes playfully, heaving a huge sigh as if it was such a chore.
"What do ya'll want?" He handed me a piece of paper and a hundred-dollar bill and told me to gather orders. "Hey, now. I'm no waitr-"
"Go." He chuckled, turning back to his computer. I smiled and headed back out to get the rest of the orders.
"Fourteen fifty-three." The cashier told the small man at the front of the line. I was four people back, waiting to pay for lunch. My hands were turning red from the handles digging in and one in particular was digging quite painfully into the wound on my arm. I grimaced as I tried to move it off the bandage without my hands, to no avail. I sighed, giving up. "Next!"
I moved forward a fraction of a step and let my eyes roam around the quaint little diner. It was nice. Red booths lined the walls, black tables and chairs filling in the center and red stools sat underneath the counter. It was classy for a small town. Andy said it was one of the best diners around.
"Next!" I shuffled forward absently, my eyes drifting outside as one of my arms slumped to my side, bag handles falling around my wrist. My eyes caught onto something outside and my breath caught in my chest. Fuck. Snake and Dave were outside, leaning against their bikes and watching me. Watching me. What the fuck? My heart started thumping in my chest. I watched as Dave pulled a cigarette to his smirking lips and winked at me. My stomach churned.
"I can help someone over here!" I sighed a little in relief, hurrying to the next register and practically shoving the bill and money in her face. I waited anxiously for the change, never taking my eyes off the men. When she finally handed it back to me, I scrunched it in my hands, dropping a few coins in the process but I didn't care. I just shoved it in my pocket and turned on my heel. The faster I got out of here, the faster I could get back to the shop and away from them. When I got outside, though, they were gone. I relaxed a fraction and took a deep breath, making my way back toward the shop.
Suddenly, I was grabbed from the right, bags sliding from my hands to the ground. I was slammed into the brick wall behind me and I groaned, my head stinging from the contact. That probably drew blood. My breath caught in my throat, my eyes falling on Dave, Snake behind him.
"Miss me, darlin'?" He sneered in my face, His breath fanned across my face and I cringed, trying to melt myself into the wall. He grabbed my face in one of his big hands, squeezing tightly and dragging my face back to him. I spit at him. His eyes flashed and he slammed my head back into the wall. "I asked you a question."
He glared at me and I glared back, heart beating wildly. His hand touched my side and I tried to pull away from it, but he shoved himself against me, holding me still. "What'd you do to get Reaper protection, huh?" I didn't understand what he was talking about. Chalking it up to him being fucking nuts, I tried to push against him, but he let go of my face and grabbed both my arms, pushing them against the wall. "Did you fuck all of 'em?"
He let go of my bandaged arm, thankfully, pushing his forearm against my chest and throat, He started sliding his hand up under my shirt. My skin crawled at his touch. He was breathing in my face, hand sliding further and further up my shirt. My stomach started churning and my chest filled with something heavy, breaths coming in quick pants. "Well, it's my turn now." He growled.
His hand was just about to make it to the bottom of my bra when Snake said something, catching his attention. It was enough, though. I pulled my knee up as fast and as hard as I could. He gasped, letting go of me and stumbling back into Snake, clutching at his groin. I didn't wait a second longer. I grabbed the bags and sprinted back to the shop.
"Bout time. What took you so long?" Paul grumbled.
"Long line." I muttered. I sat the food down on a bench and made quick work of laying the boxes out. "Sorry," I told one of them when they opened theirs to find a mess of a sandwich and fries. "One of the bags slipped out of my hand."
I put Andy's change on his desk and made my way back to the floor, starting on my next bike. I had a box of food waiting for me, but there was no way I was going to be able to stomach any food right now.
I tried to keep myself busy, but the skin on my stomach was still crawling at the thought of him touching me. Lucky. I thought. Next time I might not be.
"So, I hear you got your first lifer." Jeb said, coming up next to me. I smiled at him.
"Appears so." I checked the service order for the bike I had. Just a maintenance and safety check. I made quick work of it, trying to distract my mind.
"Congrats. I remember when I got my first lifer." He continued.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah," He chuckled. "but it was just Mrs. Linnes from down the street. She just liked looking at me." I couldn't help the smile that came upon my face.
"Of course." I laughed. I continued to work quietly as he sat and ate his food.
Out of the blue, my neck began to tingle uncomfortably as if someone was looking at me and I tried to shake the feeling off. Finishing the bike, I walked it out front and propped it in a spot and took a second to look around. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary, so I began making my way back inside to return the customer's keys when I saw something out of the corner of my eye. My eyes caught at something in the park in the middle of the square, under a tree. There they were, sitting right under the tree. Watching me, again. I felt my heart start to thump wildly in my chest when I realized they'd probably been watching me the whole time. They had a direct line of sight to where I was working. I drew in a shaky breath and made my way quickly back inside, returned the keys and made myself busy stocking parts on the shelves near the back, out of view of the garage door.
I didn't understand why they were targeting me. I didn't think they knew who I was because I was never introduced to anyone in Dad's old club. I knew Mom had family members in it, but she never told me who and I never really wanted to know. My hand was shaking as I went to set a box on the shelf above my head. I took a deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart. Thoughts were spinning through my head faster than I could keep up with.
"Hey." I jumped as Tyson spoke up next to me. I smiled at him. "You okay?" My heart constricted for a second when I thought that he could know about what's been happening, but he couldn't possibly know. None of the guys have seen anything happen.
"Yeah," I swallowed hard, remembering what happened at lunch. "I'm fine." I nodded as if to reassure myself. "How are you?" I went back to stocking things on the shelf, absentmindedly.
"You looked like something was up when you got back with lunch today." He said. I made a face and waved him off.
"No, I'm good." I smiled, but I wasn't sure it was convincing. He looked at me for a few more seconds and I took care to relax my face and looked at him expectantly. He sighed and grabbed a box of parts from the floor and beginning to stock them on the shelf with me.
"So, I was wondering," He started. I look at him out of the corner of my eye. "are you busy ton-"
"Hey, Harley," Corey came up on the other side of me. "You busy tonight?" He didn't really give me a second to respond. "I noticed you didn't eat lunch, so I was wondering if you wanted to grab a bite to eat later after work." He looked at me expectantly, albeit a little nervous.
"Uh," I looked at Tyson. He frowned at the parts in his hands, his brows pulled together. "Sure, buddy." He continued stocking the shelf in front of us, his face relaxing a bit. I looked back at Corey. "The diner?" His eyes were shining a little a small smile graced his boyish face.
"Yeah," He said. "I'll meet you there, say around six-ish?" I nodded and he smiled, sauntering away. Tyson finished up his box of parts and mumbled something about needing to do something and walked away. I blew out a heavy breath and continued to stock the shelves until the boxes were all empty. I broke them down and heaved them onto my hip to take them to the dumpster out back.
I'd stayed over after work to help Andy unload a delivery and told him I'd put it away for him so he could go out to dinner with Mickey in exchange for getting tomorrow off to take Dad out for his birthday. He'd thanked me with a firm slap on the back and handed me a set of keys, reminding me to lock up when I left.
I'd gotten lost in thought putting everything away and when my eyes caught what time it was on the clock, I choked. I hurriedly locked all the doors and set the alarm, foregoing my bike and took off through the park and down the street to the diner. Yanking the door open, I searched the booths frantically before spotting Corey in a booth on the other side of the diner. I made my way to him, slumping down across from him.
"Sorry." I sighed. "I stayed over to put a delivery away for Andy and got sidetracked," He smiled, waving a hand at me.
"It's not like you're late or anything." He chuckled. He was right. He had said six-ish and it was only five past six, but I still felt bad. He waved at the waitress and she headed to us.
"Hey, sweets. What can I get for ya tonight?" She had a lilt in her voice I couldn't place. She was average height, with paler skin and curly red hair. She smiled sweetly as she looked at me, brows raised, waiting.
"Uh, I'll have a lemonade to drink, please." She wrote it down and looked at Corey. He smiled.
"Coke, please." She sauntered away. We ordered our food when she brought our drinks out and sat in amiable silence. I twirled my straw wrapper while we waited. Peeking at Corey from under my lashes, I noticed how far away he looked, lost in his thoughts. His brows were pulled together, and he held a nervous energy around himself.
The food finally arrived and, suddenly starving, I grabbed the burger, took a huge, unladylike bite and began to chew.
"I like boys." He blurted. My eyes widened, cheeks full and he stared at me as silence settled around us. After a few seconds, he heaved a sigh. "Finally." He said. "It's good to finally get that off my chest."
I finished chewing my bite slowly and swallowed. I wasn't sure what to say. It looked like it took a good amount of courage for him to say that out loud. I look down at my plate and set my burger down, thinking for a second as I took a sip of my lemonade. I cleared my throat.
"Me, too." I said casually, popping a fry in my mouth. He stared at me and I paused, thinking I said something wrong. Suddenly, he laughed, and I relaxed, smiling and chuckling with him. The tension melted away from his shoulders and the nervous energy around him dissolved.
We ate for a few minutes in silence, just enjoying the food. "Thanks," He said, smiling gratefully at me. "I really needed to tell someone, and I didn't know if I could tell the guys, yet."
"No problem." I said, smiling at him. "I'm here anytime you need to talk." He thanked me and we continued our dinner, conversing amicably.
The bell above the door rang and my eyes swung to it to see who came in. My breath caught for a second and my eyes followed them as they made their way to a booth on the other side of the diner. Something must have shown on my face because Corey turned to look at what I was staring at. When he turned back, his brows were furrowed in confusion.
"You know those guys?" I brought my eyes back to his, forcing a smile.
"Nah." I said, shaking my head. He looked at me as if he didn't believe me but left it alone. The waitress came by with the bill and I tossed some money on the table. "Dinner's on me." I smiled at him, again. He thanked me, only after arguing that I shouldn't since he was the one who invited me out, but I'd insisted.
When we made our way outside, I realized I'd left my bike at the garage and my stomach clenched at the thought of having to walk all the way back to the shop to get it with Snake and Dave following me around.
"Where's your bike?" Corey asked me, straddling his.
"I left it at the shop. Just figured I'd walk here, but now I'm regretting it." I laughed halfheartedly.
"Well, hop on." He said, gesturing behind him. "I can drop you at the shop."
I thanked him as he dropped me off, grateful that I didn't have to walk now that the sun was going down. I straddled my bike and waved as he pulled away. When I went to start my bike to leave, though, it wouldn't start. I furrowed my brows and tried it again. Nothing. I sighed as I stepped away from it and bent down to look around.
My jaw clenched as I noticed the puddle underneath of it. I stood and glared at nothing, knowing that they were responsible for doing this. It's one thing to mess with me, but you don't go around messing with people's bikes.
Sighing in resignation, I unlocked the garage and pulled the bike inside. I hoped Andy wouldn't mind. I set the alarm again and turned on some music as I got to work.
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