Ride or Die Read online

  “Woah, slow down. I agreed to go to the BBQ. Let’s take baby steps,” I tell her. Her grin widens. We get another text from Minx with the address for the BBQ and her telling us to be there around seven. That gives us over an hour to get ready.

  “We were going to get you laid even if we were going dancing.” I fight a smile and shake my head at her.

  “I’m going to get ready,” I say, standing and walking to my room.

  “Oh! Let me pick out your outfit!” She jumps and runs ahead of me to my room. She is going to be the death of me. When I walk into my room, she’s digging through my dresser, trying to find jeans I’m sure. She pulls out my nicest pair. When I wear them, they look damn near painted on. Plus, they make my ass look nice. I usually skip wearing panties with these jeans.

  She goes to dig through my closet, but changes her mind and leaves the room. I’m sure she remembered I don’t have many sexy tops. She comes back a couple of minutes later with a black racerback flowy tank top. It has thin spaghetti straps and I’ll probably have to ditch a bra tonight. It’s the perfect top to show off my tattoo of chamomile flowers on my shoulder. It always gets mistaken for daisies, but that never bothers me. They are similar to daisies, only smaller.

  “Those jeans . . . ” She points to the ones she laid out on my bed. “And this shirt.”

  “Got it.” I smile at her. “Can I at least pick my own shoes?”

  Emma shrugs at me. “Yeah, sure. I’m going to go get ready. See you in a few!”

  With that, she leaves me to finish getting ready on my own. I get changed into the outfit Emma picked for me and go to my bathroom to work on my hair and makeup. I decide to do beach wave curls in my hair. For my makeup, I choose a simple, natural look for my eyeshadow and use my favorite mascara to make my eyelashes longer and fuller. For my lips, I use a deepened burgundy matte liquid lipstick. It’s one of my favorites. After I’m finished with my hair and makeup, I put on some socks and grab my black cowboy boots out of my closet, putting them on before going to Emma’s room.

  “You almost ready, Em?” I ask as I walk into her room. She’s about to respond but stops as soon as she looks at me.

  “Holy shit, Cali! You are rockin’ that outfit! I did good,” Emma boasts.

  “Yeah, you did good. I feel pretty sexy right now,” I tell her and she beams at me.

  “You are sexy as hell. You’re definitely getting laid tonight.”

  I laugh at her. I want to get into dating again, but I’m not sure I’m ready to jump into having sex. Emma hurries to finish getting ready and we leave. On our way there, I become apprehensive. We pull up to the house and there are some cars but bikes are everywhere. The whole MC must be here.

  “Minx said we can walk around to the back of the house,” I tell Emma once we’re out of her car.

  “You ready,” she asks me. Her voice is laced with excitement.

  “As I’ll ever be. Let’s go find Minx and Riv,” I respond. We walk around to the back of the house. The place is crowded with people. There are a bunch of guys wearing the Savage Menaces cuts and a bunch of women scantily dressed. Those must be who Minx refers to as cut bunnies. She’s told me a little about them, but not much.

  As we’re standing there searching for Minx and Rivet, one of the bikers walks over to us. At least, I’m pretty sure he’s a biker. He has a cut on, but he is way too pretty to be a biker. He’s about 5’10”. I’m not sure what color hair he has because he’s wearing a hat, backward. It says Hollywood in old English letters. His eyes are blue, like the ocean. They remind me so much of Ryan’s. Only his have kind of a greenish-blue to them where Ryan’s are a deep blue. His eyes always reminded me of the color of the deep sea and there was always more to him than you could see on the surface. Shit, I do not need to be thinking about him right now.

  “Well, hello, ladies,” he greets us with a sexy smirk. His eyes move down my body and back up again. Heat rises in my cheeks. It’s been a while since I’ve recognized a guy appreciate my appearance. It’s definitely a confidence booster. “I’ve never seen you ladies at a Menace party. You here with anyone?”

  “We’re supposed to be meeting Minx and Rivet,” Emma tells him and his eyes move to her. I glance at his cut and confirm his name is Hollywood.

  “Ah, gotcha. I heard Minx tellin’ her ol’ man she had friends coming. I’ll take you to her. Follow me.” Emma makes googly eyes, motioning toward Hollywood. I’m sure she saw him checking me out and she’ll probably try to get me to make a move on him.

  “Eeeeeek! Y’all made it,” Minx screeches when she sees us. Her and Rivet give us each a hug. “Raze, babe, this is Cali and Emma. They work at A Novel Bunch. Well, Cali owns it.”

  Raze lifts his chin at us in a greeting. “Nice to meet you.”

  “Yeah, you too,” I respond. I turn back to Minx. “So, who’s house is this? It looks nice.”

  “It is nice. It’s Buster and Shade’s house. They’re part of the club, or more so an extension of the club. Them and two other guys don’t ride bikes, they’re street racers. We call them the Savage Riders,” Minx explains to me. Those names sound so familiar, but I can’t place where I’ve heard them from. Hollywood is standing a few feet away talking to Raze and another guy. Every once in a while, he steals a glance at me.

  Minx nudges me with her elbow, causing me to jump. She chuckles. “He’s single in case you’re interested.”

  “Oh, she’s interested,” Emma says, popping up on the other side of me. I roll my eyes at her. “She needs to get laid. Ask her how long it’s been since she got laid last.”

  “Emma, would you leave it alone. I agreed to try dating. I’m not ready for sex,” I tell her, getting a little irritated.

  “Bad break up?” Minx asks me.

  “Something like that.” I don’t want to get into this here.

  “I’m going to grab a drink. Would any of you ladies like something?” Hollywood asks all of us.

  “I’ll take a beer,” Minx tells him.

  “Make it two, please,” I respond.

  “Me too!” Emma and Rivet say at the same time. Emma watches Hollywood walk away.

  “You should hit that,” she says to me as soon as he’s out of earshot.

  I laugh. “If you think he’s so hot, why don’t you?”

  “Because it’s not me he’s interested in or I totally would.” She sighs.

  “There are a lot of hot, single guys here, Em,” Rivet tells her. “One, if not more, will be interested in you, no doubt. The night is still young.”

  “Oh, yes. I like the way you think!” Emma playfully bumps her hip against Rivet and they laugh.

  “Come on, let’s go scope out the guys,” Rivet says as she links arms with Em and they walk away. I watch the guy standing next to Raze watch Rivet. He’s wearing an irritated expression.

  “Who’s the guy standing next to Raze?” I whisper to Minx.

  She rolls her eyes and says, “That’s Saint. He and Riv have a thing for each other, but neither will admit it or make the first move.”

  My eyes move around at all the people. I didn’t want Ryan consuming my thoughts, but I can’t help it. It’s been years since he left, but it still hurts like it happened yesterday. The look on my face must give something away because when I turn back to Minx, she’s giving me a sympathetic look.

  “Do you want to talk about whatever has you twisted up?” she asks me.

  “I’ll bring y’all your drinks when Hollywood gets back if y’all want to go sit and talk,” Raze offers.

  “Yeah, that would be nice,” I say, answering both of them. Minx leads me to an empty picnic table not too far from where the bonfire is set up. I glance around one more time like I’m expecting to see him, which would be impossible. I turn back to Minx and tell her about Ryan, finding her easy to open up to.

  5

  Buster

  Everyone from the clubhouse showed up and then some. All the brothers, cut bunnies, and some hang-arounds. It
’s a little weird having everyone here instead of being at the clubhouse but it’s gonna be fun regardless. Some of the brothers thought it’d be a great idea to have a beer pong competition. We invested in some beer pong tables for occasions like this. I recruited Clutch to help me get them from the basement. When we get them outside, it looks like the number of people here has multiplied. Luckily, our closest neighbor is across the street and they’re pretty cool.

  “Man, hurry up and get those set up! I’m ready to get this party goin’,” Shade shouts at us.

  “Shut the fuck up. If you were in such a hurry, you should’ve gone and got them,” I shoot back. Shade flips me off. We set up two tables about halfway between the house and the bonfire, not wanting to be too far from the house when we need more beer.

  “We playing teams or singles,” I ask Shade.

  “Teams. Sketch and I are first on one table,” he says.

  “I’m gonna go grab some cups and beer,” Clutch says after getting his table set up. I nod in response.

  “Buster, team up?” Raze walks over to me. “Saint is chasin’ ass right now.”

  I laugh. He means Rivet’s ass and he’s always chasing’ after her. “Yeah, sure. I’ll go grab us some beers.”

  There’s conveniently a door from the backyard that goes directly to the garage which is where we have what we’ve dubbed the beer fridge. I grab two for me and two for Raze and head back outside. As I’m walking back to the tables, Minx is sitting at a picnic table talking to a girl I’ve never seen before. She has her back to me, but I catch a glimpse of daisies tattooed on her shoulder.

  “Hey, who’s Minx talking to,” I ask Raze, lifting my head in their direction.

  “I’m pretty sure she’s one of the girls who works at the bakery she’s always going to.” He shrugs. “I wasn’t paying much attention.”

  Something about the girl draws me to her. I want to get closer, see her face. I try to will her to turn around so I can when Lexus, one of the new cut bunnies, walks up, blocking my view. I say cut bunny, but she’s more of a tire biter. She’d rather fuck around with one of the Riders than the other brothers. She’s wearing a crop top with a deep v-neck showing off her too big fake tits, daisy dukes, and stripper heels.

  I fucked around with some girls like her when I first moved to Arizona. Trying to get over the heartbreak I caused myself. After I pulled my head out of my ass and got past that little phase, I started avoiding tire biters. Instead, I’d go out to bars and pick up chicks who had no idea who I was or what I did. It didn’t matter what a chick looked like, I always saw her face instead of theirs.

  “Hey, Buster,” Lexus draws out, undressing me with her eyes. “How’s it goin’?”

  “Lexus, go find some other poor soul to fuck with. We’re about to play a game and Buster doesn’t need the distraction,” Raze spits out at her. I fight back a laugh. If looks could kill, Lexus would have killed Raze. He’s such a fucking asshole to anyone who isn’t Minx. Just the way it should be. He fucking worships the ground she walks on— like she deserves.

  “Yeah, Lexus, I’m not interested,” I tell her. She scoffs and storms off. I turn to Raze. “These bitches don’t take no for an answer.”

  “Not even when you have an ol’ lady,” he says as a group of hang-arounds walks over to us.

  “Need some competition for beer pong?” one of the guys ask.

  “Yup, let’s do this,” Raze replies. The cups are already set up and ready to go. We give the hang-arounds first shot.

  Five games later, Raze and I finally lose to Hollywood and Tech. Those pretty boys are better than I expected they would be. Secretly, I was happy to lose. I was getting bored playing. Shade and Sketch lost three games ago and were watching, waiting for another turn. The sun is going down and it’s a perfect time to get the bonfire started.

  “Yo, Raze, wanna help get this bonfire goin’? It’s gonna be pretty big. I figure we could each light it from different sides to get it going.”

  “Yeah, sure. I’ll light this side,” he says, motioning to the side where Minx and her friend are. Only now, Rivet and another girl are with them.

  “You just want to be close to Minx,” I smirk at him.

  “Hell yeah, I do. I won’t deny that shit,” he tells me. “Plus, I saw some new hang around eyeing her. Even with her property patch on, motherfuckers still try to push their luck.”

  “He must have a death wish,” I laugh out. We each go to a side of the bonfire to light it. I get my side lit and walk over to the table Minx is sitting at when I see the two new girls walking away. I get a glimpse of the one I saw earlier and my heart skips a beat. I don’t know who she is, but something about her reminds me of Cali.

  “Hey Minx, tell me when you want to go back to the bakery,” I say, walking over to the table she’s sitting at. “I’ll relieve Mouse and go with y’all.”

  “Did you try the apple cake we brought?” Rivet asks me as I sit.

  “Yeah, it was fucking delicious,” I tell her.

  “She only makes it on Thursdays, but made it special for us today,” Minx explains to me.

  “You don’t have to wait until Thursday to go again. We can go whenever you want,” I tell her. Raze is giving me a questioning look and I grin.

  I need to find out if it’s the same girl who’s had my heart all these years. Even if she won’t talk to me, I need to know.

  6

  Cali

  “Wow, what a dick move.” I finished telling Minx about Ryan and how he ghosted me all those years ago. “Has he tried to reach out to you since he left?”

  I pause before answering her. That’s something both Emma and Bash asked when I told them about him. “No, he hasn’t.”

  She looks at me with sympathetic eyes and grabs my hand. Before she gets a chance to respond, Rivet and Emma are joining us again.

  “Have any luck?” Minx asks Emma.

  A huge smile breaks out across Em’s face. “There are so many hot guys!” Emma laughs out.

  “She had googly eyes for Clutch.” Rivet rolls her eyes but grins.

  “Which one is Clutch?” I ask them.

  “He’s at the second beer pong table. The only one wearing a grey shirt under his cut,” Rivet tells me. When I turn around, I get a glimpse of a black and blue hat. My mind instantly goes to Ryan and my heart skips a beat. My phone is vibrating in my pocket. I pull it out and Wren, one of my employees, is calling.

  “Hello?” I answer my phone.

  “Hey, Cali. I’m sorry for calling you, but I didn’t want to call my brother and I don’t have anyone else I can call,” Wren stutters out.

  “Oh, sweetie, it’s okay. What’s up?”

  “I, uh, was supposed to be meeting my boyfriend and he stood me up. I don’t have enough money for another Uber. Can you come and get me?” she pleads.

  “Of course. I have Emma with me, but tell me where you are and we’ll come and get you,” I say calmly. She tells me where she’s at and it isn’t far from us. I tell her we’ll be there in ten minutes and we hang up.

  “What’s going on?” Emma questions. Rivet and Minx look worried.

  “No time to explain, but Em, we gotta go. Minx, Riv, I’m sorry. I’ll text y’all later.” Emma and I head to the car.

  “Okay, I’m starting to freak out a bit. Can you please tell me what’s going on?” she asks as we reach her car.

  “Wren was stood up by her boyfriend. She didn’t want to call her brother.” I tell her where she’s at as she turns the car on. Wren is only a couple of years younger than us, but you wouldn’t guess by the way she acts. She’s quite a bit more mature than other girls her age.

  We get to the restaurant and she’s standing on the sidewalk. As soon as Emma pulls up to the curb and parks, I hop out.

  “Oh, Wren.” I wrap my arms around her. “Are you okay?”

  “I honestly don’t know.” She has tears in her eyes.

  “Come on,” I tell her, walking her to the car. “Yo
u can stay with us tonight.”

  We get in the car and none of us say anything the rest of the drive. Once we’re back at our apartment, Wren seems to relax. I get her settled in my room, letting her take my bed for the night and give her some chamomile tea to help calm her mind. I make up the couch for myself. Tonight was a lot of fun but I’ve been going non-stop since four this morning. I’m out as soon as my head hits the pillow.

  * * *

  I wake up the next morning and check my phone. I sigh in frustration. Seven o’clock. I’m so used to waking up at four, I struggle to sleep in on my late days and days off. Even when I don’t go to bed until late. I get up and go to the kitchen to make some coffee. As it’s finishing, Wren walks in.

  “Good morning.” I smile at her.

  “Mornin’,” she responds. She gives a small smile but there’s a sadness in her eyes.

  “I’m going to head into A Novel Bunch soon. Would you like to come with?” I pour us both a cup of coffee and grab creamer out of the fridge. White chocolate mocha, my favorite for brewing coffee at home.

  “Yeah, I’d like that. Mind if I borrow some clothes,” she asks.

  “Of course! Leggings or jeans?”

  “Leggings, please,” she laughs.

  “I’ll lay some out on my bed. I’m going to take a quick shower and dress, then we can go,” I tell her. She nods and I leave the kitchen. I lay out some leggings and an A Novel Bunch t-shirt for Wren, and grab some clothes for myself. I take a quick shower and get dressed within twenty minutes. When I walk back into the kitchen, Wren is leaning on the counter, staring at her phone with a blank stare. I clear my throat, announcing my presence. She jumps a little and gives me a shy smile.

  I smile back at her. “You ready to go?”

  “Yup!” She puts her phone in the side pocket of her leggings. It takes around twenty minutes for us to get to A Novel Bunch. Emma opened this morning with Madison. It’s still pretty early when we arrive and not busy yet. On Saturdays and Sundays, the morning rush is mid to late morning.