Ace Of Spades (Complete Raw First Draft, Unedited)

Thirty: Despise

As usual, Clyde was at the shop already when I got there, everything set up, ready to go. He was leaning against the bench as I went in, smiling down at his phone.

"Hey," he greeted me when I came in, glancing up for a second.

"Morning," I replied. "What are you grinning about?"

"Just Bonnie, being a dork," he replied, slipping his phone in his jacket pocket, then shrugged it off and dumped it in the office.

"So..." he clapped his hands together, then hesitated for a moment, glancing up. "Are you all good?"

"Good?" I repeated, not sure what he was getting at.

"Yeah," he went on. "Apparently you and your dad were going at it last night."

"Jeez," I swore. "Did anyone not hear that?"

Clyde shrugged, fiddling with a socket wrench.

"I don't know if anyone actually heard what was said," he assured me, "Axe sounded pissed, apparently, Jack texted me this morning. I thought I should check up on you."

I was starting to understand where Jenna was coming from, when she said that she'd hate everyone knowing your business. I had really hoped Clyde wouldn't hear about this, but it was a small town, and we were a tight knit group, so I shouldn't have been surprised that he knew. At least it was only my closest mate.

"He didn't like that I was there," I told him with a shrug.

"But you're there a lot," Clyde pointed out. "It's not like you're a kid, and you aren't getting involved with any of their shit..."

Clyde trailed off, picking up on my hesitation.

"Or not." He tilted his head, cocking an eyebrow.

I shrugged.

"Are you in some sort of trouble, or something, man?" He glanced outside, setting down the socket wrench, focusing his full attention on me. "You need me to do something?"

I grinned, shaking my head. It was so typical of Clyde to jump straight to my defense without even knowing why he was defending me. I loved that about him.

"I'm not in trouble," I assured him. "Axe found out I asked Beast for a favor, and that I did one for him."

"And... by favor, you don't mean getting down on your knees in some alley somewhere-"

"Fuck, no!" I replied, recoiling, and he smirked. "How many times did you say you got dropped on your head as a baby, again?"

He shrugged.

"A few. But you know I don't judge people for that," he responded. "Twenty bucks is twenty bucks-"

I punched him in the shoulder to shut him up and he laughed.

"But, really," he continued, picking up the socket wrench again. "What kind of a favor is it that you had to ask Beast?"

"You know," I shrugged, trying to evade the question.

"If you can borrow his sexy chopper to pick up chicks?" Clyde joked and I laughed, shrugging again.

"Something like that."

"Really, dude," Clyde was looking at me expectantly, wearing his stern older brother face again. "What's so bad that you can even tell me?"

I hesitated a second longer, but I knew I couldn't avoid this. He'd figure it out, which would make it even worse that I didn't tell him. I just knew that he'd hate what I'd done, despite my reasons. I needed Clyde in my corner, more than anyone.