Page 96 of Rider Daddies
Corporate uniform is so last year. Why would I waste my life away in the office developing a hunchback when I can be out here in the sun making the most of my prime years?
I don’t expect a fucker like Tristan to understand my change in lifestyle.
“It might be hard for your self-righteous brain to believe, but I’mchoosingthis life, Tristan.”
“That’s what they want you to believe.”
Is he too up his own ass to understand where I’m coming from?
His face turns from yearning to angry, which concerns me. He might be small and skinny, a decade younger than everybody else here, but he has his wits about him.
It’s his only weapon.
“Back off from Lucia,” Tristan says to the entire club. He seems to have developed a backbone since our breakup. “When I return tomorrow night, I want Lucia handed over to me.”
“How about a tranquilizer,” jokes Ryder. “That way, you can have what you want in yourdreams.”
That rouses the audience, laughter filling the main club.
An empty glass sails through the air. Tristan sees it coming and dodges. The glass shatters against the door instead of his face, but the laughter continues all the same.
It’s a shame he has quick reaction times.
I’d like to see his reaction to bloodshed.
“If you fail to hand Lucia over to me tomorrow night, I will escalate things with the police.”
Silence has never felt so fucking quiet.
“Enjoy the rest of your evening.” Tristan turns around, managing to slip out the door before a second glass lands on his head.
Shame it didn’t crack his head open and kill him.
I watch the glass shatter against the door, my thoughts starting to wander.
Tristan can eat shit. Better yet, I’ll yank open his jaw myself and force him to eat his own feces.
That might make me sound like one of the bikers.
But I’m glad.
Glad that I’m not going back to California to live out a life I now know is based on lies.
But when I turn to the brothers and regard their cautious faces, I realize that things aren’t so simple.
If I don’t go with Tristan tomorrow night, I can wave goodbye to the Venom Vultures. To my sex life, but also to my freedom.
15
RYDER
I sipon coffee mindlessly like it’s a drug I don’t need.
I don’t need caffeinating, the same way Saint doesn’t need to light up another cigarette.
Adrenaline is already running through our bloodstreams at an all-time high.
Either we give Lucia over to Tristan, or we lose the clubhouse. I can hate that man until the cows come home, but it doesn’t change the facts. He might be a distasteful sleaze, but he’s resourceful and knows the right people. People who have the power to end us in a heartbeat.
