I thought he would laugh at me, but he nodded instead.
“Here I was, thinking you were a spoiled brat. With the house you live in, I mean. But you’re not. You’re a troublemaker, aren’t you?”
I blushed. I was the furthest thing from it…though I planned to be trouble for his friends, if they’d had anything to do with Angela’s death.
He got on the bike, motioning for me to join him. I felt the same thrill that I had when climbing on the night before.
I wrapped my arms around his waist, my heart pounding at the direct contact with his body.
The world looked a lot different from the back of a motorbike, especially when my arms were around Tyler.
Everything was more exciting. The wind blew my hair back, and I laughed more easily.
Before I knew it, we arrived at the empty lot where the races would begin. My eyes went round. I was way out of my depth, again.
The crowd was bigger and even rowdier than the one I’d been with at the party. Only a finite number of people could fit in a house, after all. The lot was around the size of five, maybe six football fields.
The smell of exhaust hung heavy in the air, and there was music coming from just about every car. People were even dancing here and there.
I was overwhelmed, but it was exciting. It was so new to me.
Ordinarily, I wouldn’t have come here on a dare. But, with Tyler, I felt protected. I felt sort of cool, too, since he seemed very popular.
“I had no idea this went on here!” I called out, as we drove slowly through the crowd.
Many of the people we passed smiled, waved and called Tyler’s name. He nodded to them, like the benevolent King.
He had the same effect on everyone else that he had on me, I supposed.
Then, we parked the bike, and I saw exactly how similar some of them felt.
At least a half dozen girls flew to Tyler’s side like he was a magnet. They giggled, wrapped their arms around him, and asked him if he wanted a good luck kiss.
I rolled my eyes, feeling like a third wheel. Or the eighth, considering the number of girls around us.
I didn’t belong here. Why did he bring me, if he was going to spend the night flirting with other girls?
I looked them up and down. They were all pretty, in their way. And more like him than I was. A little rough, a little loud. Their clothes were tighter than mine, and they wore more makeup.
I wouldn’t normally compare myself to girls like them since they weren’t the type I hung out with. But, now I was feeling like I came up short.
“Hey, Drake!”
Tyler waved at a guy who had just pulled up on his own bike. “Come on,” he said to me, “let me introduce you.”
At least I was being introduced to someone. I hadn’t learned the names of any of the girls who’d been hanging off of Tyler like jewelry.
Then again, he didn’t invite any of them to talk with Drake, either.
We walked over to him, and I got a bad feeling right off the bat.
He wasn’t bad looking, though he was nowhere near as gorgeous as Tyler. He was rougher, too. Much more so.
He was smoking a cigarette when we approached, and he bumped fists with Tyler. Then he looked at me, and his eyes widened.
“Drake, this is Trinity.”
It took him a moment to recover. “Trinity, hey.”
I thought he might try to shake my hand, or fist bump or something.
But he didn’t. I was okay with that, I realized, since I didn’t want him to touch me.
I figured out pretty quickly where he and Tyler differed.
Tyler was dangerous, a “bad boy.” I got the idea he could get into trouble if he wanted to. I also had the feeling he’d slept with every one of the girls I’d just seen hanging on him.
There was something about the way they treated him. Overly familiar is how I’d describe it.
But he had manners. He might have ogled my butt, and even had the nerve to let me know he did, but there was a sweetness to him as well.
Something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. And he definitely didn’t hock up giant phlegm balls and spit them on the ground.
Drake’s language was coarser, too. He was vulgar, plain and simple. I didn’t want to be near him, but he seemed close to Tyler, and I didn’t want to be rude.
I tried to stand upwind of his smoke, as I didn’t need my clothes and hair reeking.
“What do you think about the race?” Drake asked.
Tyler shrugged, “Come on. No contest.”
“I don’t know, man. I heard the fucker races dirty as shit,” Drake said, spitting on the ground again.
I turned, so neither of them would see the look of disgust I couldn’t conceal. How was Tyler friends with this pig?
“He’s never raced me,” Tyler pointed out. “I’m not worried about it.”
“Be careful, is all I’m sayin.’ Guys have gotten hurt bad with him. He ran Brett Mann off the road that one time. Poor bastard broke a leg, arm, and a shit ton of ribs. His bike was totaled, too.”
I looked at Tyler, not wanting to speak up, but now I was nervous for him.
A dirty rider? I didn’t want to think of Tyler being broken up like the Brett guy Drake described.
This was more serious than I’d imagined.
“I’ll be fine. You should worry about yourself, dude.”
The two of them started talking about another race, one taking place before Tyler’s.
I got the idea that this was a sort of “opening act,” and that Tyler’s race was the main event. I felt a little proud, being there with him.
He really was as popular as he seemed. My status rose just by being with him.
I looked at Drake again. Why did he seem familiar to me? Not physically—I’d remember a charmer like him. It was his name that rang a bell.
It was unusual. And I’d heard it before. From Angela.
No way was she was involved with him. She wouldn’t have given him the time of day. He was disgusting.
And he recognized me. I couldn’t mistake the look on his face when I walked up with Tyler.
He knew me…or, rather, Angela.
Maybe this Drake guy would come in handy, after all.
Chapter 8 - Tyler
I could tell that Trinity didn’t feel like she fit in, and I kept an eye on her while I was talking with Drake.
She didn’t seem to like him very much. The way she was looking around reminded me of a scared rabbit.
Every time he cursed or spat, she looked like she might throw up. I’d have to tell her about the way her every thought showed up on her face.
She might want to work on that if she ever wanted to play poker.
“Come on. I’ll get you a drink,” I said, taking her arm, and we walked over to one of the kegs. “Beer?”
She shrugged. “Sure, unless you have some white wine around here,” she said with a wink.
“No, I think the wine keg kicked already,” I said, handing her a red cup full of beer.
Then I walked her around, telling her about the people and the different bikes and cars.
She seemed interested enough—not spy interested, just polite.
“How long have you been racing with this gang?”
“A couple of years. I was already racing for fun before that, but then I found out I could make money at it.”
“How do you get paid for this?”
“People lay down bets. I make a percentage of the take.”
“Wow. A whole world, and I had no idea about any of it.”
She shook her head, looking around. She wasn’t disapproving, though. She was amazed.
For some reason, having her with me made me feel good. I didn’t have to be a tough guy around her.
I’d been a tough guy for a long time, since I was a kid really, and I learned to be. With Gigi and Sabina, I could be myself.
And now, with Trinity as well.
“Where are you racing??
?? she asked.
I took her a little further out, to where the road leading from the field started.
I pointed straight down the road. “See that railroad bridge, way off there? That’s the finish line.”
“Wait,” she turned to me, and I could tell she was confused by the route. “There are cars on the street right now.”
“Yeah. So?”
“Will they be there when it’s time to race?”
“I guess so. Someone usually is.”
“So…” she looked again. “You race while people are driving around?”
“Right.” I didn’t quite get her point.
She frowned. “I thought you did it on, like, a deserted road. Something safer.”
I laughed. “There’s nothing safe about it.”
She looked worried, and it made me feel good that she cared. Still, I felt sorta sorry for her.
I dropped the macho act and softened up. “Listen, it’s not that big a deal. I’ve done it a million times.”
“It’s not just you. It’s the people in the cars. It’s your choice to race. If you get hurt, that’s your choice. But what if they end up getting hurt, too? That wasn’t their choice.”
“I didn’t know you would feel like that, or else I wouldn’t have asked you to come.”
I couldn’t help feeling a little pissed off. She was so judgmental…a typical rich girl.
But I hadn’t thought about it that way before, not the way she put it. I had never seen a random person get hurt before.
Usually, if they saw us coming, they would pull over before we got to them. Trinity had a point, though. What if someone got hurt?
“Besides,” she said, “the police are going to be after you if you do enough of this. I can’t believe you don’t have a problem with them already!”
I bit back a laugh. She had no idea about the sort of trouble I had with the police.
I knew her father must not tell her anything about his job if she was so surprised by the races.
He didn’t bring his work home with him, I guessed.
I wondered if she would spend another minute with me if she knew how much her old man hated my guts.
“The police already have a problem with us,” I said. It was the nicest way I could think of to say it.
She got my meaning. “Oh…” she looked away.
Even in the darkness, with only the lights from the cars and bikes, I saw the way she blushed.
Was she embarrassed? Did she feel guilty?
Whatever she felt, she was beautiful when she blushed like that. I looked at her, thinking again about how much she turned me on.
She was dressed casually, not like she did for the party. She still looked just as good. Tight jeans, nice boots. A tight sweater with a jacket over top.
The jeans hugged her hips and ass, showing off her long legs. I wondered how it would feel to have those legs wrapped around me.
Out of nowhere, I had the urge to kiss her. I’d been wanting to kiss her since that first moment on the ground with her.
Her lips were just as full and shiny now as they were then. I wanted to suck them, bite them. Make her moan.
I cleared my throat and tried to think of something else before a raging hard-on took over.
“Are you worried about me?”
She smirked, and folded her arms over herself. “No.”
“No?”
She looked serious. She glanced at me and smirked again. “You have enough people worried about you already, don’t you?”
I was confused until I saw where her eyes went after she said that.
The girls.
I managed not to laugh at her jealousy. “You mean those other girls? The ones we saw before?”
“I saw them. You wore them.”
I looked away before she saw my smile. “Don’t worry about them. They don’t matter.”
“I never said they did. I’m just saying, you have plenty of people to worry about you. That’s all.”
“So you’re not jealous or anything?”
She whirled on me. “No. Don’t be ridiculous.” Her eyes said something else though. She was jealous. Boiling with it.
That was all I needed to know. I didn’t care who was watching or what would happen before I did it. I took her by her tiny waist and pulled her to me.
She didn’t try to pull away. I leaned in, needing to finally kiss her.
She tasted just as good as I knew she would. She was surprised at first and didn’t kiss me back.
But it didn’t take long before she responded. Her arms wrapped around my neck, and I bent her back over my arm.
I couldn’t believe what she did to me. It felt like my lips were on fire, then my whole body. I wanted more of her.
I wished we were alone. I would have laid her down and taken her.
It only lasted a minute, though it felt longer. By the time we separated, we were both breathless. Her face was flushed and she was breathing heavily. So was I.
“Wow,” she whispered. “That was unexpected.”
“Was it?”
She took a deep breath, shaking her head. “No.” Then she smiled...and I smiled back.
“I gotta go.”
Good thing, or we might have gone farther. She made me wanna skip the race, throw her over the back of my bike and take her somewhere private.
I wanted her more than I’d ever wanted anyone, so much it made my dick hurt.
She walked with me to my bike, and I reminded myself why I needed to race to begin with.
I needed the money. I needed to win.
I couldn’t remember exactly when I started racing. I had always liked to go fast, and it seemed like a no-brainer.
I got to ride fast and make money from it. A lot of money.
Eventually, my motives changed and I did it not so much because I loved it as because I needed the cash for Gigi.
It was kind of a thrill, too. The threat of getting hurt, or being arrested. I never thought of myself as an adrenaline junkie, but I might have been, just a little.
I sat down, testing the grips. Trinity watched, and when I looked, I saw she was biting her lip.
“You okay? You’re sure you’re not worried?”
She shot me a look. “I’m sure. Just…be careful, anyway. Okay?”
“I’m always careful.”
“I doubt it. Good luck.”
I grinned and pulled away to the starting line.
She followed with the crowd. I felt her eyes on me and wished again that I could take her somewhere right away. I would have to wait until after the race.
Good thing it would be over so fast.
Then, Marco pulled up next to me. I forgot about Trinity for a minute when I saw him.
He was tough, and like Drake warned me, he was a dirty racer. I wasn’t worried. I’d be so far ahead of him, he wouldn’t get the chance to do anything shady.
One of the girls from the club stood in front of us, raising her arm. I got ready to go, almost holding my breath.
Then her arm dropped, and we were off.
It was an easy road, totally flat and wide. I was way ahead of him without even trying. Being a mechanic helped—I knew how to get my bike to fly.
I tried to focus, but all I could think about was what I wanted to do to Trinity after the race. I wanted to make her scream my name.
I wanted to see how many times I could make her come. I wanted to see her body, touch her curves and explode inside her.
I’d bend her over and do her from behind, so I could see that ass while I pounded her.
I was glad to see the finish line coming up. Cars, buildings and lights all passed by in a blur.
The bridge was just up ahead. I glanced in my mirror and didn’t see Marco anywhere. This was a piece of cake.
Something in the back of my mind wondered if it was too much easy, but I was going too fast to do anything about it.
It was like he wasn’t trying. Weird...
I
looked ahead, to the bridge and I squinted. There were two people right there and... they seemed busy. Not just enjoying the race, but trying to accomplish something.
It took me a second to realize they were there waiting for me to pass underneath. Something from the bridge suddenly fell from it, right above where I was ahead.
Shit!
Without thinking of the consequences, I swerved to avoid it but was going too fast to control the bike.
I screamed and clenched my jaw as it skidded out from under me with a loud noise. Everything was spinning so fast around me.
I slid across the ground with the bike on one of my legs before I let go, the bike sliding in one direction, my body sliding the other way.
It was worse than my scariest nightmares. I had seen crashes before, in my dreams and in real life, but nothing came close to the sheer terror I was experiencing.
I felt my body shutting down, unable to feel any pain, like it was numb to it. Was it the end?
I thought of Gigi, and for a split second wondered what she would do without me. My God...no, please!
Then I came to a stop, and everything went black.
Continued in Rough Rider 2:
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Bad Boy/MMA/Mafia Romance:
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Wrong Behavior: Living on the Edge
Fighter: Crush my Heart
Kissed by the Don: In Bed with the Mafia
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Sinful Encounter: Rescued by the Billionaire
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Captivated by Him: Now and Forever
Owned by the Billionaire: Forever Yours
Dirty Secrets: The Billionaire’s Secret
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Falling for the Billionaire: His Protection
The Setup: The Dark Billionaire