Edge of Ashes (Sons of Ash Motorcycle Club) (7 page)

“Have fun with your practice!” Glenn yells
as the door shuts him out.

“Kari-” Anna begins.

“Kitchen now!” I shout at her. Then I turn
to Adam as he scrambles to put on his clothes. He hands me my panties and
blouse. “We need to talk,” I begin, but later.”

“Got it,” he says as he passes me my bra.
“Nice to meet your sister though.”

I give him a dark look. “Don’t even start.”

He holds his hands in front of himself in a
defensive gesture. “Not even thinking anything.” He says as he opens the front
door to leave. With him gone I can focus on my little sister’s visit.

“Thought you were done with biker types,”
my sister says as I enter the kitchen.

“He’s not a…a biker type.”

“What? He sure looked like it. So now
you’re dating wanna be bikers? Pathetic much?”

“He’s not a biker type because he’s an
actual biker. He’s the VP for Sons of Ash.”

“Moving up in the world,” She replies. “What
happened to your precious Shadow?”

“He became one. Has it really been that
long since we talked?”

When Shadow and I got serious about each
other I pretty much alienated my family; well the ones who were still talking
to me at least. I love my little sis but we just do not see eye to eye on
anything. She’s younger than me, shallow and sarcastic and a little hard to
swallow.

“So what’s this new biker guy like?” Anna
asks.

I quell my first instinct which is to just
shut her up and tune her out. “He’s different…he’s not the usual biker type.
He’s educated, intelligent, and he has plans for the future. He’s going
places…”

At least I think he is if he can survive
the civil war that’s brewing in his club.

“Ran into Jenny the other day.” Anna begins.
“What’d you do to her anyway? She’s practically turned your name into a four
letter word.”

“My name is a four letter word Anna.”

“You know what I mean!”

“Yeah…I guess I do. We just got into a
misunderstanding. She’ll come back. We’ve been best friends since before
kindergarten. Nothing comes between us for very long.”

“Don’t you mean
no one
comes between
you for very long?”

“How long did you two talk?” I ask, getting
a little ticked off.

“Not long at all but she still managed to
tell how you stole her boyfriend right out from under her.”

“Maybe you should have talked to my
boyfriend then ‘cause that’s not how it went down at all.” I reply. Time to
steer the conversation to neutral ground. “So what’s up with you these days?” I
ask her.

We kill most of the afternoon catching up
and by the time dinner rolls around I discover I actually missed my kid sister;
more than I ever thought I would. But when Adam shows up to take me for a ride
on his bike I am more than ready to get out of the house. Anna is a talker and
it can be pretty tiresome just keeping up with her. While I’m not too keen on
riding with Adam I can’t think of a better reason to bail on my sister at
dinner time.

“You can have anything in the fridge,” I
call back over my shoulder as I shut the door. I don’t hear her response but
I’m sure she heard me.

“So what’s the occasion?” I ask as I get up
on Adam’s bike.

“Does there need to be one?” He asks.

“For you…it helps.”

“After the bit with your sister this
morning I kinda figured you needed a break. She is a talker.”

“And you had to wait
this
long
before coming to my rescue? Some white knight you are…” I look pointedly at my
watch for emphasis.

“Sorry, had club business to attend to,
then there is that little pesky thing called work that some people have to do.”

“Alright, shut it. Are we going to ride or
not?”

For an answer he just shoves his helmet on
his head and twists the throttle. It’s almost enough to make my teeth rattle as
I shove my own helmet down over my ears. This is going to do wonders for my
hairdo.

I have no idea where we’re going and I
really don’t care. It is fun to be on the back of a motorcycle again; it’s been
a long time. A little while back I even considered getting a small motorcycle
of my own. I even had one picked out. I decided I would go the next morning and
get it but that night we had a victim of a horrific accident brought into the
ER and he was severely mangled. He lost control of his bike and hit the back of
a parked car doing fifty. He flew forty feet before landing in the roadway
where his legs were run over by car that was unable to avoid him. We worked on
him for close to an hour before the doctor called it. That cured me real fast
of my desire to get a bike of my own. I knew if I had my own I’d be too tempted
to ride it all the time and it would just be a matter of time before I had my
own accident. It’s been over six months since that little ER incident and this
is the first time I have been on a bike.

Being on a motorcycle is an exhilarating
experience. I remember my first time like it was yesterday. I remember looking
down at the yellow stripes on the asphalt zipping by just inches below my feet.
I was so close to the road it was scary. At the same time the crisp, cool bite
of the wintry air through my leather jacket was like a strong cup of coffee. I
love riding in the rain too. Just looking out through my helmet as the rain
soaked the world around me yet I kept dry. Being in the elements on a bike and
so close to nature without the steel cage of my car was absolutely thrilling!

As Adam and I wind our way along the
coastal route from San Francisco to Half Moon Bay I recapture those feelings
again and my heart lifts in my chest. I forget about my argument with my best
friend and the fight at the club last week and the only thing in my mind is the
freedom of the road on the back of a bike.

I look down at the road passing just
beneath my feet and it looks like we’re flying along at the speed of a rocket.
Just when I’m at the pinnacle of happiness I see something that brings me
crashing down to earth; a shotgun. Adam has a shotgun attached to his bike by a
makeshift holster. Why is he carrying a shotgun and why didn’t I notice this
before? It makes me wonder what other weapons he is carrying and why he feels
the need to carry them today. I start to ask him about them but decide to
forget it. If there were any danger he probably wouldn’t have taken me for a
ride today. He probably always is armed just in case; kinda goes with the
territory I guess.

I take a deep breath and force myself to relax.
We’re perfectly safe here. Just as I’m beginning to feel relaxed again I hear a
strange sharp metallic ping somewhere down on the bike. I look down just in
time to see sparks fly and another sharp pinging sound.

“What the hell?”

I look back up just in time to see the
bikes right side view mirror explode into tiny glass fragments. I shut my eyes
automatically expecting to get a face full of glass before I remember my helmet
has a full face shield. I start to relax my iron grip around Adam’s waist when
all of a sudden the bike swerves to the left, then back to the right again.
Then it hits me. That wasn’t some random pebble that struck the bike’s mirror;
it was a bullet.

Suddenly I feel like I’m this giant fat
hippo creature with a neon bulls eye on my back that flashes shoot me in big
red letters. I twist my head around as our bike suddenly surges forward. I
barely manage to retain my grip on Adam. If I’d been any more relaxed I would
have just flipped over backwards and landed on my ass on the road below. Maybe
thirty feet behind us is another biker and he is surging forward trying to
close the gap between the bikes. Fortunately for us we’re on a winding road so
his chances for a clean shot are pretty limited. On the other hand if he’s on a
more powerful machine he’ll be shooting point blank in a matter of minutes.

Adam surges forward again and I’m nearly
deafened by the roar of the engine between our legs. I look ahead and take
small comfort in the fact that the road is one long spaghetti-like stretch of
pavement for as far as the eye can see. I look behind us again but the other
biker is lost behind the corner we just rounded. Adam taps on my knee. I turn
back around as he pulls the shotgun from its holster.

“Oh no you don’t. I’m not shooting anyone.”

He holds up the weapon clearly expecting me
to grab it. This time I yell as loud as I can manage.

“No!”

I shake my head vigorously for emphasis,
hoping he gets the point. He glances back at me. His eyes narrow and he mouths
something I can’t quite catch. I just can’t hear anything above the roar of the
Harley. Adam turns back around and leans into the next corner. I grab the cold
steel of the gun’s barrel. I guess I am going to shoot someone today. But first
I’m going to have to forget that I’m a trauma nurse that has dedicated her life
to helping others. I don’t decide who is good or who is bad, I just do my best
to be the best healer I can be for whoever comes through the doors of my ER. I
push that side of me deep down as far as I can shove it and study the gun in my
right hand. I have no idea what kind it is. It’s got a single barrel about two
feet long. It looks like it has been modified so that it can be held and shot
like a large handgun. I heft it in my hand trying to get a feel for the weapon.
I slip my finger in the trigger housing and turn around. Our assailant is back
in view and has closed the distance considerably.

I can feel bile rising in my throat as my
whole being is suffused with fear. I might die today. I’m barely twenty-six
years old and today may be the last day on earth for me.

“Well guess what Mr. Biker Guy, I’m not
ready to die yet.”

The second I point my weapon at the rapidly
approaching biker he immediately backs off. Maybe I won’t actually have to
shoot him. Unfortunately he isn’t hesitant for very long. The minute the road
straightens out in front of us he puts on a burst of speed and comes far too
close for comfort. One more time I can feel the bulls eye on my back throbbing.
At any moment I expect to feel the bite of hot lead.

“Fuck that!” I swear under my breath. I’m
not going down without a fight.

I do my best to aim and squeeze the trigger
and I watch belatedly as the modified shotgun goes flipping out of my hand and
lands on the road behind us.

“Dammit!”

The shotgun skitters across the roadway,
off to the side and then over a considerable drop off. I look up as our last
line of defense disappears over the cliff. Someone on the beach below is in for
a real surprise. I tap Adam on the shoulder and when he twists around I present
my empty hand as evidence to my clumsiness.

He doesn’t get and pantomimes shooting the
biker again. This time I reach around his shoulders so I can display both my
hands at once. His jerking head movements are my first indications of his
disapproval. I can almost hear the sting of profanity issuing from his
mouth.  I think he got the picture.

Suddenly my own head jerks forward,
bouncing off Adam’s back. The snapping motion on my neck is almost enough to
make me see stars.

“What the hell?”

Now I can hear a whistling noise coming
from somewhere in my helmet and it feels like there’s a new stream of air
caressing the top of my head. Confused, I reach up with my right hand and feel
around my helmet. My hand freezes as my finger finds a hole big enough to stick
my thumb in.

“Oh my god...”

Suddenly I experience this unbelievably
powerful urge to just jump off the bike. Anything seems better than sitting
here with a bulls eye on my...my helmet. I can’t believe that guy just shot me
in my helmet. That projectile could have easily ricocheted around and then
brained me instead of just exiting and leaving me unharmed. As irrational as it
would be to just leap off a motorcycle at any speed it just seems like the next
logical step to avoiding the inevitable progression to death by being shot off
the back of a Harley Davidson motorcycle.

A sudden loud explosion next to my head
jars me back to our present predicament. I just about jump out of my skin as
four more explosions in rapid succession go off next to my left ear. I look
over and Adam is actually trying to shoot a giant handgun while driving the
bike. I twist my head around and it’s actually working. The other biker has
fallen way behind us and pretty soon is out of any realistic range of hitting
us. I experience a newfound respect for my kinda sort of biker boyfrie-. I
don’t know if I’m ready to call him that. He’s more like the biker I secretly
loathe but almost slept with in front of my sister and our paperboy kind of
guy; not boyfriend material…yet.

A sudden swerve of the bike nearly tosses
me onto the roadway. Adam stops shooting and turns his attention back to the
driving thing. It’s a good thing too because we’re getting into those hairpin
curves again. This should keep the other guy from being able to get a clear
shot off and it we can just make it to the next town we may just get out of
this one unscathed; well except for my helmet that just got itself murdered.

I have always had a strong stomach, and
it’s a good thing too because I’m beginning to feel a little nauseated from all
the leaning from side to side as we wind around the never ending coastal road
of Highway One. I hazard another look behind us but I can’t see our assailant
anywhere. Probably because there are still too many tight turns separating us.
We go around one more long bend and suddenly a gas station pops up just ahead,
followed by a sting of buildings; a town at last.

Adam slows down as we enter the town of
Cedars, population 807. As we head through town Adam seems to be looking for
something specific. His head wags from side to side and he slows even more. I
look behind again and see our friend the helmet murderer has just entered the
edge of town too. He’s got both hands on the bike so at least he’s stopped his
violent outbursts. Finally I can relax. I take a deep breath and let it out as
my arms relax their iron grip around Adams waist. Too bad for me the instant I
choose as my relaxation time is just the moment Adam chooses to make a hard
right down an alley. Abruptly my world is spinning topsy- turvy, round and
round just before my shoulder strikes the roadway, followed by my helmet,
followed by my losing consciousness.

“I think she’s coming around.” Declares a
female’s voice not far from me.

“No…she’s still out.” Says a familiar voice.
Must be Adam.

“Couldn’t she have waited till you stopped
before getting off? Asks the female.

“She doesn’t always do the logical thing.”
Adam replies.

“I can’t believe that guy nearly shot her
in the head.” The woman says.

“He’s the one who did it!” Announces Adam
in a strangely defensive tone.

“No one’s accusing…wait a minute,” says the
female. “It was you wasn’t it?”

“Do you know how hard it is to shoot behind
you and around another person while driving a motorcycle on curvy roads?”

“Oh my god you really did it then,” the
woman replies. “I was just teasing you.”

“Oh my god!” I sit up and open my eyes. “I
can’t believe you shot me!”

I do my best to shoot Adam a venomous
glare.

“Have I said how hard it is to shoot when
you’re steering a motorcycle?” Adam asks rhetorically. “Her big head was
bobbing around all over the place and I had to do something to keep that guy
from shooting her.”

“So your best idea was to just shoot me
instead?” I ask.

“Yes- I mean no. It was an accident.”

“Couldn’t you have given her your gun to
shoot?” Asks the woman.

“Like I’m gonna give her another gun after
what happened with the first one.” Adam says.

The woman turns to me and addresses me for
the first time. “What did you do to his gun?” She asks me.

“I kinda lost it.”

“Lost it?” The woman asks skeptically.

“Dropped it.” I clarify.

“And this is the woman of your dreams
Adam?” She asks him.

“I know it’s a stretch but-”

“A stretch?” She replies.

“A stretch?” I ask as I take a step back
away from the couch and Adam and his friend. “I think it’s high time I go home.
How long will it take a taxi to get here? Twenty minutes…half an hour?”

“An hour,” Adam replies.

“I’ll take her,” the woman offers.

“No thanks. I’m not getting back on another
motorcycle; no way.”

“Oh no honey, I’ve got a car. I can have
you home in an hour. And my name’s Tracy by the way.”

I regard her with a small smile. “Thank you
Tracy. I guess I will take that ride then.”

Ten minutes later were driving back down
Highway One, back the way we had frantically flown down while being shot at not
an hour ago. At least if that guy is still around he’s not going to be looking
for a car. I should be able to get home in one piece now.

“So your Adam’s old lady now?” Says my
chauffer as we pull out onto the highway.