Pointing my beer at the clubhouse, I answer, “Up there. Why’s that?”
Shaking her head, she takes another drink. “No reason.”
“Yo! Beast, this fucker thinks he can take you in the ring!” Hannibal points at the pretty boy who greeted us here when we first got into Westbeach all those years ago.
I laugh. “What’s your name?”
“Travis.”
Nodding my head and raising my bottle up to the rim, I laugh again. “Yeah, I don’t feel like creating another funeral. Not tonight anyway.”
Strike one.
Meadow stands from her seat, balancing herself on the rim.
I stand quickly, taking her arm into my hand. “Wow, you okay?”
She smiles. God, that fucking smile is killing me. “Yeah, I’m a little drunk. I’ll get one of the girls to take me home.”
“I’ll take you,” I answer, standing from the log I was sitting on. The eyes I can feel boring into the side of my head don’t go unnoticed. All the boys will be wondering what the fuck has gotten into me.
“It’s okay, really. I’m sure… well, I hope… one of them is still sober. Although, that’s highly unlikely.”
“Yeah, so let me take you.”
She points to my bottle. “You’ve been drinking, too!”
“I’ve had two beers. Beer doesn’t get me drunk.”
“All right then,” she answers. “I’ll just get my bag.” She walks off to pick up her bag and I’m still watching her when Hella and Hannibal step up to me, shoving me in the arm.
“I’ll take you,” Hella mocks, taking a drink of his beer.
“Fuck off, Hella,” I laugh, shaking my head. “I’m just making sure she gets home safe.” That’s a lie, I’m making sure drummer boy doesn’t take her home. I know he’s been drinking water the whole night and I noticed he’s been watching Meadow carefully. Don’t fucking like it, and I don’t know why.
Throwing her handbag over her shoulder, she breathes out. “I’m ready. Wait! You’re on a bike?”
We begin walking to our line of bikes when I chuckle. “Yeah, it’s fine. Just hold onto me tight and lean into the corners.”
“Okay,” her eyes lighting up like Christmas. Handing her my helmet, I laugh.
“You excited?” My gut was wrong. I thought she may have been scared.
Her cheeks flush out as she unlocks the helmet. “A little.”
Fuck! She’s cute as shit. Damn.
“Where do you stay?”
She rambles off her address and directions about how to get there.
Swinging my leg over, I kick start my bike to life and look over my shoulder, ready to tell her how to get on, that’s until she’s already swinging her leg over and sitting comfortably behind me. Shaking my head, I grasp onto her from behind me and pull her arms forward, wrapping them around my torso. Her chest stiffens up against my back for a second before she relaxes and we pull out of the high iron gates.
My brain is fuzzy from the alcohol speeding through it at electrifying pulses but I can’t wipe the grin off my face. Clutching onto Beast’s torso a little too tightly, I smile as the wind gushes past me, whipping my hair back. This is the first time I’ve ever been on a bike, and I gotta say, I’ve been missing out. The freedom, just you, these two wheels and the air of nothingness surrounding you. I have definitely been missing out.
Beast pulls off down my street before pulling into my apartment beside the beach. I don’t own the bungalow, but it’s beautiful and it’s mine so that’s all I care about right now. He pulls down into our underground parking, the loud pulsing engine of his Harley vibrating and echoing through the walls. The sound is deafening. Yet, I can’t help but smile. I must be very drunk.
Unclipping the helmet and fluffing up my hair, I pass it back to him. “Thank you for the ride.”
He takes it, not moving off his bike. I try not to look too deep into his eyes, because every time I do, I feel like he knows my deepest and darkest secrets. Like the guard I surrounded myself in means nothing with him standing in front of it because it’s as if he sees past it. That’s probably because he knows such deep things about me, and it doesn’t bother me one bit. Also, having his massive tight body beneath my fingertips rose some unknown feelings in the pit of my stomach. I’m not ready to explore those yet, but I know how dangerously close I am getting to being burned.
“No problem. Want me to walk you up?”
I shake my head, trying to talk my brain into behaving itself. Beast is sexy, that’s a given. He has this dark, dangerous, brooding, swag about him. I’m not sure how else to explain it but I feel something toward him that I’ve never felt. Again, that’s probably because we share such a deep memory together.