Biker Class (32 page)

"I'm
so
sorry, Melanie," he whispered over and over
again in her ear.

She didn't
answer,
she just kept a tight grip
around his neck. She made the mistake of looking up at Lawson, and his face was
clouded with complete and utter fury. His fists were clenched at his sides,
knuckles white.

"Enough of that shit!" Lawson bellowed, looking like a
rabies-infected dog
who
wanted to rip someone's throat
out. "Turn around and face me, Cooper! For once in your miserable life, be
a fuckin' man!"

Jake slowly released Melanie, trying to hide the anger in his
eyes
as he looked her in hers. "Go inside," he
whispered to her softly, but forcefully.

"But, you can't just—"

"I
can
, and I will. Go inside and lock the—"

"If you don't hurry up and face me, Jake, I'll screw her right
here and now and
make you watch
!"

"
What
?" Melanie squeaked.

"That's why I'm here, baby," he sneered, furiously staring
her down like he could eat her, "your precious Jakey here is too much of a
piece of chicken shit to do it... so
I'm about to
."

Melanie screamed and ran inside as fast as she could, slamming the
door loudly behind her and locking every lock that was on that thing. She
watched through the window beside the door, Lawson trying to chase after her,
but Jake holding him off. They began punching each other again, the two in a
seemingly endless battle as both seemed to refuse to lose. For the next ten
minutes, they fought to the death, bleeding and swollen, black and blue,
stepping back from each other finally. Both could barely stand, afraid to get
on any knees. It was certain the other would attack the first one who went
down.

"Hey, Lawson, I thought you said you were
gonna
take care of him," Rod cut in quietly, tired of standing around when it
was clear that Jake refused to lose.

"Yeah," Rage agreed. He'd been opposed to this from the
beginning, but was trying desperately not to get involved in something that
wasn't his fight. For one, it wasn't really his business, and
two,
Lawson could kick anyone's ass. He'd never lost a
fight, but now he was about to collapse, and the other one was still standing.
"Dude, this is pointless. Who cares if the virgin gets screwed? Can't we
just leave?"

"NO!" he screamed, rounding on them. He was a scary sight,
covered in blood, lip and right eye swollen, left ear red, yellow teeth stained
red. "I'm gonna get the fuckin' girl if it's the last thing I do! And
nobody is
gonna
stop me! Not you, not Rod, not Jake,
not nobody!" His eyes were insane as he turned back to Jake. "Ya hear
me, Jake? You
ain't
gonna stop me. I'm
gonna
finish you off. You know, I never liked you much
anyways. You always wanted me gone. You wanted this gang for yourself! Oh,
shit, man... you'll never get it. I'll show you what it's like to lose
something you love."

"What?" Jake asked breathlessly. "
That's
what
this is all about?"

"Of course it is!" he screamed. "You disrespect my
authority, you laugh with Rod and Rage behind my back, you never listen to me
or obey me, you beat me in that stupid belching contest, and now you won't even
go through with a freakin' bet! It's obvious that you wanna take over!"

"Lawson, we don't
laugh
at you behind your back,"
Rage shook his head.

"YES, YOU DO! I KNOW YOU DO!" he yelled insanely. "And Jake
leads all you guys! If he's gone, everything's solved." He grinned,
showing bloody and yellow teeth. "And plus, that's a fine little piece of
hot womanhood you got there, Jakey. It won't only be fun to screw her just to
let you watch, but I
wanna
a piece a 'dat," he
laughed, turning to Rod and Rage like they would laugh, too, but they didn't.
Their faces were stone cold. He coughed awkwardly and turned back around to Jake,
who was looking the angriest yet.

Jake was shaking with fury, but part of it was his body reacting to
all of the pain it was in, mentally and physically.

"Lawson, I don't think—"

"Shut
up
, Rage!" the man exploded.

Then something happened that no one saw coming.

Rage punched him out.

Lawson crumbled to the ground, look of complete pain, but no regret,
on his face. He
laid
there, motionless. They couldn't
even tell if he was breathing. Jake stared at Rage in surprise, as did Rod.

"Did—did you just...
what
the
hell
?" the
blonde sputtered.

Rage was breathing heavily, staring down at the motionless man.
"You guys have
no idea
how long I've been wanting to do that."

They all stared at Lawson's body, lying there, bloody and bruised.
After what seemed like an hour of silence, but was really just a few minutes,
Rod spoke.

"He... dead?"

Rage disinterestedly poked Lawson's body with his foot. He sighed,
almost in a sad way. "Naw. I just knocked him out. Hit him right in the
head."

"Thank God," Jake breathed, dropping to his knees in much
needed relief. He turned at hearing Melanie rush out, leaning down to the
ground and hugging him to her.

"Are you okay?" she demanded, backing up so she could get a
good look at him. She gasped loudly. "Oh, Jake! Oh my god..." She
hastily took his hand and led him inside with her. "We have
got
to
get you cleaned up. Oh god, your head is bleeding!"

He laughed heavily. "Melanie, I'll be fine. I've gotten in worse
fights than this."

"I don't care," she said worriedly. "Come on."

Jake turned to Rod and Rage. He motioned uncertainly between them.
"Are... are
we
cool?"

Rod and Rage exchanged a look, looked at Jake, and then to Melanie.
They looked at one another again, as if affirming something, then they replied.
Rod grinned, "Yeah, we cool, man."

As if reading each other's mind, they all glanced down to Lawson. Jake
voiced all of their thoughts. "Well... what are we gonna do with
him?"

Rod shrugged. "I'll put him on the back of my bike and we'll ride
him back to the beach. We'll come back and get his bike later."

"But what are you going to do when he wakes up?" Melanie
asked.

All of the guys looked at one another. "We'll just tell him that
he got wasted at a bar and got in a fight with someone. He's an angry
drunk."

"But won't he—?"

"No, he shouldn't remember anythin'," Rage shook his head.
"I hit him in the head real hard.
Enough to knock him
out.
I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't remember his own name!"

"But what if he
does
remember?" Jake clarified,
wiping a drop of blood off of his eyebrow before it ran down into his eye.

"Then..." Rod looked to Rage for help.

"We'll tell him he was hallucinating. That none of it even
happened."

"You think he'll buy it?"

"Why wouldn't he?"

Jake sat on the kitchen counter, watching Melanie as she wet a
wash rag
with warm water and squeezed it out into the sink.
She glanced at the clock on the microwave across the room. "We have to
hurry up and get you clean. My mom is supposed to be home in thirty minutes and
she
can't
see you like this."

"Hey, look, Melanie... I'm so sorry—"

"Yes, I know. You've only told me about a hundred times since
we've gotten inside and your friends left."

"I know, but I should have told you about the bet earlier. Guess
I was just scared you were gonna run off."

"Well," she grinned, but there was something behind it.
"I didn't. I wanted to, but I didn't." Jake hid how much that hurt.
He let out the pain through pretending his cuts and bruises were hurting.

"Nah ah ah!" Melanie shook her head. "Put that ice back
on your knee, mister. You're getting better. And soon."

"Yes, ma'am," he smirked. Jake moved the bag of ice he'd put
on the counter beside him back to his knee. Melanie walked over with the rag in
hand and stared sadly at the
blood stain
on his shirt
right under his neck. She pulled down the neckline of his white shirt, but it
strained the material and made him wince.

"Okay, this isn't working," she said. "Take it
off." Jake
rose
his eyebrows. She rolled her
eyes, laughing. "I can't reach the cut with your shirt's neckline."

"Oh, I know," he grinned. "I'd just... always pictured
this moment differently."

"Oh, shut up!" she laughed, hitting his arm. He gasped
sharply and Melanie jumped. "Oh! Sorry! Sorry!"

"It's fine," he muttered, trying to smile, but it came off
as more of a grimace.

"Okay, c'mon," she told him, reaching to the bottom of his
shirt and starting to pull upwards. He slowly and carefully
rose
his arms. As the shirt reached his shoulders, he slowly pulled his arms out of
the
arm holes
and dropped them to his sides, wincing
all the while. Melanie pulled it off of his head and folded it, placing it on
the counter beside them. She balled up the rag and slowly approached the wound,
biting her lip. It wasn't just a small little cut. She didn't know how Lawson
had managed to gash him this much, but he had. "This will sting just a
little bit," she warned.

"Great," he muttered sarcastically.

The rag softly came in contact with the cut and Jake bit his lip,
holding in the cry of pain. It stung like
hell
. Melanie dabbed it
lightly, and it hurt a little less every time. It wasn't long before it was
clean and she covered it with an extra large
band aid
.

"A
band aid
will have to do for
now," she smiled. "But put a bandage on it as soon as you can,
okay?"

"Will do, nurse," he grinned smugly. "Hey... I think I
may have a really bad gash on my leg. But you can't reach it by rolling up my
pants..."

"Oh, Jake, shut up!" Melanie laughed, cheeks red. He winked
harmlessly at her. As Melanie rinsed out the rag and applied some alcohol to
it, Jake looked around the kitchen nonchalantly. While he was glancing around, Melanie
took a peek at him through her hair. She had really tried not to look
earlier... but when you're inches from it, it's hard not
to
.
He had abs. And biceps. And pretty much everything. Ugh.

She took a deep breath and walked back over to him, addressing the
nasty cut on his forehead now. She pulled his hair out of the way, dabbing it
gently. He winced and muttered a few words she wouldn't care to repeat, but she
didn't blame him at all. Jake eventually adjusted to the pain and watched her
face as she cleaned the cut. She wouldn't make eye contact with him, but that
gave him plenty of time to study her face. Long, dark lashes, chocolate eyes
with a gold ring around the pupils, full lips... this so wasn't fair. He was in
too much of
a
'I-respect-you-and-your-physical-contact-restrictions' situation to try and
sneak a kiss in. Plus, his lip was still bleeding. That'd be gross.

She finished and squeezed out the rag, hiding it in the drawer next to
the sink. Her mom didn't need to see a bloody rag and have questions. When she
was done, she leaned against the counter next to him, sighing deeply. Jake put
a comforting hand on her shoulder, rubbing circles with his thumb.

"I need to tell you something," she finally said. Jake's
heart sank as he realized she was frowning. "Tonight was... yeah. And
..
. I think that... maybe it'd be best if we—"

"If we
what
?" Jake asked quickly. There was no way.
No way he'd just given an arm and a leg—literally
!—
for
a girl who was about to dump him. No way.

"Well... if
I
had—had a little space... for a
while," she finished quietly, staring ahead.

"What?" Jake choked out.

"I am
not
breaking up with you," Melanie said
quickly, turning to him. "That's the last thing I want to do. Just... your
friends... and tonight... and I think for both of us it'd be best if we took a
little break. For my safety and yours, and all of this drama has been going on
since we started tutoring... and I think it's stressed us out way too much
lately... and I think we just need to take a little space. Do you know what I
mean?"

Yes. And no. He understood where she was coming from, but this didn't
faze him much. He was used to illegal drugs, alcohol, bars, fighting... but
she
wasn't. That was the point. This was probably some go-see-a-shrink material
right here for a small town girl.
Especially for a goody-goody
like Melanie.

"Jake?"

Oh, right. He hadn't answered yet.

"Melanie..." he began, then saw her face. She was looking at
him with the utmost hopefulness, almost a puppy dog pout. "I... I get what
you're saying. To be clear, you're... NOT breaking up with me?"