Edge of Ashes (Sons of Ash Motorcycle Club) (4 page)

“You okay man?” He asks Michael.

“Do I look okay to you?” Michael asks
bitterly.

“Naw, you look like shit but you got balls,
standing up to Shadow and his gang. You really got balls man.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure they’ve been crushed
along with just about everything else. But thanks for the help anyway.”

“No worries man.”

Adam turns to me as sirens split the night
air. “You hurt?” He asks me, his face a mask of concern.

“No, it’s everybody’s blood but mine.”

“Your knees.”

“Well, I did get a little scraped but it’s
nothing. Thanks for bailing out me and Michael.”

“You and Michael?” He asks. His concerned
smile is starting to turn down.

“Yeah that was my date that you just
rescued back there.” I reply.

Adam seems truly surprised. “I didn’t know
he was with you. If I’d have known that I’d have just let it go and driven on
past.”

Shocked, I search his face for signs that
he’s just joking but he looks completely serious so I decide to just let it go.

“I can’t believe you just took on three
bikers. What happened to your crew?”

“I’d love to stay and chat but those sirens
sound awfully close.”

He turns back to his bike but Michael
intercepts him. “Thanks man. I don’t know what we’d have done if you hadn’t
come by. I don’t know how I can repay you. But-”

“Stay away from my old lady. That’s how you
can repay me.”

“Excuse me?” Michael looks at him confused.
“You’re the second person that’s called her an old lady. How young does a woman
have to be to be…to just be a young woman?”

“It’s a biker term Michael.” I explain.
“When a biker refers to a woman as his old lady it means he has claimed her as
his own and she’s off limits to the other bikers.”

“What a terrible thing to call an
attractive young woman,” Michael says.

“Just stay away.” Adam repeats.

“Why should I?” Michael asks defiantly.

“She’s bad news bro. That guy who kicked
your ass was her boyfriend. He’ll be back for more and if you’re around you’re
just gonna get hurt. You heard the saying before, if you can’t stand the heat
stay out of the kitchen right?”

Michael nods.

“Well I’m here to tell you I can stand the
heat so I’m staying in the kitchen.”

“So you’re a chef then,” Michael replies
with a sly smile.

“No I’m a-”

“Baker then.” Michael says interrupting
Adam. “It’s kind of a step down from a chef but whatever keeps you in the kitchen
right? Or maybe you’re just a short order cook at Mac Donald’s?”

“For the love of god, it has nothing to do
with cooking, chefs, or kitchens man so let it drop will ya?”

Adam is clearly getting frustrated by Michael’s
little word play. I should probably intervene here but I’m kinda enjoying the
battle of wits in front of me now. Suddenly three police cruisers round the
corner down at the end of the street.

“And that’s my cue to leave,” Adam
announces, and without another word he hops on his Harley and drives off.

I grab Michael’s arm and tug him towards a
waiting cab. “Come on, if you want to go to the hospital I’ll go with you.”

He gently extracts his arm from mine. “Look
Kari, I think I’m going to chalk this one up as a huge mistake and learn my
lesson from it. You’re too entangled with the biker world for my tastes. I
enjoyed spending time with you but…”

He trails off and turns to go. I let him.
After tonight it would just be too weird, too strained to be dating him. I get
into another cab and go home alone once again. It has been a fun night up until
the point where it wasn’t a fun night anymore. I have this feeling that things
are going to get really ugly with Shadow back in town and thinking I’m still his
old lady. And then there’s Adam who has also staked a claim on me as well and I
don’t like that either. He couldn’t have just intervened and then just walked
away. Oh no, he had to claim me and try to humiliate my date as well; par for
the course when it comes to the outlaw biker element.

 It doesn’t really hit me until I’m
safe at home and washing the blood out of my clothes. Not only does it appear
that my ex from hell is back in town but he managed to find me. Now I’m not
sure he was looking for me, but he still managed to show up and ruin a
perfectly good evening. What’s even weirder is that Adam also showed up and just
in time to play hero to me and Michael. It’s a good thing for Michael too
because he was getting a serious ass kicking. I just hope his face isn’t too
swollen and black and blue the next time I see him or guilt is gonna kill me.
Not that it was entirely my fault, but somehow it sure feels that way.

It’s nearly four by the time I venture out
to find something to eat. I’m just sitting down to a pleasant meal at Barney’s
Gourmet Hamburgers when Mr. Unpleasant takes the seat opposite me.

The curly fry I’d just popped into my mouth
pops back out as my jaw drops into my lap.

“What the hell?” I exclaim.

“And a great big hello to as well love.”
Adam replies, eying my fries.

“W-what are y-you doing h-here?” I stammer.

“Are you-” He starts to ask, then just
reaches across the table and snatches a curly fry from my plate and pops it
into his mouth which causes me to look at his lips.

It’s a bad move, ‘cause if I’m going to
stay angry at him I’m going to have to refrain from doing some things, and
looking and fantasizing about his mouth is one of those things.

He catches me staring and touches his mouth
self-consciously with his thumb.

“I’m sorry do I got something on my face?”
He asks.

“Yeah, it’s your face so if you could just politely
remove it we can all breathe a little easier.”

“Well you’re all full of piss and vinegar
today aren’t you?” He replies sarcasticly.

“No this is me reacting normally to your
presence; get used to it.”

“Wow…and you’re not even going to thank me
for saving you and your leach last night? That’s cold Kari, even for you that’s
cold.”

“Get used to the temperature because it’s
not going to warm up anytime soon.” I reply.

The more I look at Adam the more I’m attracted
to him; especially when he’s not talking. The verbal thing kind of ruins it for
me. And as I gaze into his eyes I realize just how badly I want a relationship
with a good guy. For some reason unbeknownst to me I always pick bad boys, as
evidenced by my last relationship of two years. I want Adam to be different;
but different in certain ways. Of course I want a man that can protect and take
care of me and that’s probably part of the bad boy outlaw biker attraction. If
I’m dating a biker I certainly won’t have to worry about my safety.

A part of me wonders why I always end up
with men who view me as their personal property; I mean what’s up with that?
Does that mean I have this latent submission fantasy thing going on that I’m
not consciously aware of? Do I really want to be dominated by men? Come on,
Doormat
after all is not my middle name and that’s why it really gets me when
bikers refer to their girlfriends and wives as their old Ladies. I know that
the women consider it a great honor, but how many of them are nurses? I suspect
most of them have career paths that begin and end with being Mrs. Biker Old
Lady.

My eyes come to rest on Adam’s mouth and
even though he is talking it’s really not registering. I am lost in the sensual
movement of his full dark lips framing his perfect white teeth. Every once in a
while I get a flash of tongue and suddenly I’m wondering what his would feel
like on my skin. Will it send chills up and down my spine or just feel like a
wet piece of meat? Suddenly I can’t wait to find out.

Then I remember Friday night when he showed
up in my ER after being nearly butt shot. Every curve of his ass is burned into
my brain. OMG! I just about forgot the near face full I got when he turned
around to give me the full Monty. Actually his wasn’t even near full. It was
just up real close and real personal and I can still smell that heavy masculine
scent of his that just permeates the air around him.

“Are you gonna eat that thing or are you
just going to sit there playing with it?”

I jump as the sound of his voice finally
penetrates my ever present self- obsession. I quickly extract the long slender
dill pickle from my mouth and drop it on the tray in shock. I do hope I was
just sliding in in my mouth or sliding it out and not both actions in some kind
of repetitive fashion.

I grab several fingers full of curly fries
and jam them into my mouth so I can spare myself the embarrassment of speaking.

“Oh now that’s cute, but it still won’t
erase the image of the pickle from my mind. Do I dare ask what it is you were
thinking just then?”

I look up from my food but I can’t seem to
make my eyes move up past his chest. Of course I’m not complaining or anything.
He’s got a fabulous chest. In fact he’s just mister fabulous all around; except
for his biker attitude. I can’t help but wonder if he knows the effect he has
on women. I say
women
because I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one here
that has fallen under his spell.

“So who was that guy who tuned up your date
last night?” Adam suddenly asks.

I have this idea he already knows the
answer to the question so I should probably answer truthfully.

“He’s my ex. I actually thought he long
since disappeared, it’s been so long since I’ve seen him. He’s a member of the
Cycle Demo-”

“Psycho Demons,” He says, finishing my
sentence. Yeah I saw the cut. Next time I find that guy I’m gonna take his cut
for a trophy. I think I’ll have it made into the seat on my bike; appropriate
don’t you think?”

“What are you doing here Adam? I said I
don’t date bikers anymore. I don’t know how I can make it any clearer to you.”

“I know what you said Kari, and I also know
what your body’s been saying so at this point I just don’t know who to listen
to.”

“Try listening to the verbal cues. It’ll
keep you out of jail!”

“How’s your friend by the way?” He asks out
of the blue.

Suddenly I’m pissed all over again. “Oh my
god, how can you be asking that? See, every time you open that mouth of yours
you just piss me off.”

“I can think of several things I can do
with my open mouth and none of them will end up with you being pissed
afterwards. Well, I have heard of girls losing control and pissing during their
orgasms but I get the idea you’re way too tightly wound to let that sort of
thing happen.”

“Gross! You really caused a huge problem between
me and Jenny. You had to let her think there was something going on between us
didn’t you?”

“Well there was cupcake. Your body was
screaming with desire! I’m surprised you couldn’t tell.”

“There was no desire! Just a little
annoyance and a lot of anger. I couldn’t wait to get you out of my ER.”

“Well you are right about that,” Adam
replied. “You couldn’t wait to get me out because your body was giving you away
and you couldn’t take it anymore.”

“You have such an overgrown sense of
self-importance you can’t see reality when it comes to women!”

I’ve had enough. I push the remainder of my
cold food away from me and look around for a waitress. I can’t see one
anywhere. I stand up.

“You ruined my lunch so you can pay for it
too.” I announce.

Without waiting for a reply I leave the
booth and exit the restaurant. I can’t believe how crazy this guy drives me;
it’s illogical. Rather than just get in my car and speed off I decide to just
take a nice long walk. There’s still hours left of daylight, and it’s probably
in the low seventies; perfect weather for a walk. Hopefully the exercise will
get my mind off Adam. By the time I walk down to the end of the business
section of Main Street I find myself thinking about Michael and wondering if
there is any chance for a second date; after he heals a bit more that is. With
more pleasant thoughts filling my head I turn around and decide to return to
the lot and retrieve my car.

On impulse I decide to call Jenny and test
the waters. Maybe she has calmed down enough to hear my side of the story. She
answers right away and that gives me some hope.

“Jenny, I’m so glad I caught you. For a
minute there I was afraid you wouldn’t answer.”

“I wasn’t going to but my thumb accidently
hit the little green button when I was looking to see who was calling me.”

“Oh…”

Pregnant pause…

“So…you called me for a reason I presume?”
Jenny asks.

“Oh yeah. I just wanted you to know there
is nothing at all going on between me and that Adam guy.”

“But you like bikers.”

“Do you not remember babysitting me after
it all came apart with my last biker boyfriend and how I swore never to fall
for another biker for as long as I live. Remember that pact we made to each
other?”

“Yeah yeah of course I remember it all and
on some level I knew you really didn’t have anything to do with Adam; it was
all him, but I got a little carried away. So you’re really not into him then?
You wouldn’t even give him the time of day right?”

“Yes… of course Jenny. He means nothing to
me.”

I can tell by the sound of her voice that
she is finally coming around and my best friend is back and it feels good.

“So what have you been up to? Have you
eaten yet? Maybe we can get a bite.”

“No I haven’t eaten yet,” I lie through my
teeth. “Let’s get a bite.”

“Bite of what?” Asks a male voice over my
shoulder.

I look up and the color drains from my face
as I turn around to face Adam once more. This can’t be happening to me. In his
hands he’s holding a small pink shopping bag. I realize belatedly that it’s
mine and I must have left it in the restaurant when I ran out.

“Who you talking to?” Adam asks, extending
the bag to me.

“Who is that?” I hear Jenny asking me.

“Who is that?” Adam asks.

“Is that another guy?” Jenny hollers.

“Are you talking to a guy?” Adam demands.

“It’s just some girl.” I reply.

“Just some girl?” Jenny huffs.

“You sure it’s a girl,” Adam replies. “It
sounds like a guy.”

“Are you talking to Adam again?” Jenny
accuses me.

“You’ve got another boyfriend?” Adam
alleges.

“How can I have another when I don’t even
have one in the first place? I ask, rapidly losing my patience.

“I wanna talk to him!” Adam demands as he
reaches for my phone.

“Lemme talk to that loser,” Jenny shouts in
my other ear.

I don’t resist as Adam takes the phone from
my hand. “Man, I am so gonna kick your ass!” Adam seethes into the phone.

“Keep your grubby paws off her!” My future
ex-best friend in the whole world demands.

I can’t believe this. I give Adam my
fiercest glare at my disposal and stick an index finger in each of my ears and
resort to childish gestures.

“La la la la…I can still hear you guys… la
la la…”

He gives me a look I can’t quite interpret
then turns his back to me and takes a couple steps in the opposite direction. I
do the same until I can’t hear either of them. I take a seat on the park bench
and decide to wait it out here.

Five minutes later Adam joins me and hands
me my phone back. “I don’t think she wants to be your friend anymore,” He
explains.

I put the phone to my ear. “So what now?” I
ask before I realize no one is on the other end of the line.

Thoroughly disgusted I pocket my phone. If
I don’t have jenny to talk to my phone is pretty useless. I don’t have a lot of
friends who call me on it. It’s mostly for talking to Jenny and for
emergencies.

“Thanks for ruining my life,” I say to
Adam.

“I fail to see how my entry into your
little circle of life can be so ruinous.” He exclaims.