On The Devil, We Ride

4

"Err... shall we give you guys a minute, or..." Fowler asked, snapping me out of it. Both Jace and I barked, "no" at the same time, not breaking eye contact with eachother. The guys all smirked and some rolled their eyes. Joe took his sunglasses off and brushed his sandy hair back that was starting to grey.

"Well if you girls are finished catching up, we've got business to attend to. Jimmy, why don't you show Brooke what you've been working on? Jace can fill you in on the details later." He announced before making his way towards the main building. I noticed straight away that the grunts turned and headed back to the garage instantly, while the rest made their way inside the main office. The grunts mainly worked in the garage and did small runs for the club's side businesses; they were only ever called in if the club had a job that needed more people working on it. Those who had a chair overlooked everything, from the legit business to the extracurricular activities. Chairs were typically handed down to the next member of the family, or they were earned by length of service or deeds that were deemed noble enough to earn a chair.

"Nice to see you home, Brooke." Joe stopped beside me and said, giving me a wink that reminded me all too much of the wink Jace used to give me that would turn my legs to jelly.

"Thanks Joe." I replied humbly as the rest of the group followed Joe inside, Jace only deliberating for a moment before shaking his head and following them. I let out a long breath that I didn't even realise I was holding, physically relaxing. "You holding up, B?" Jimmy shot me a sympathetic look. He was the only one that knew everything about what went down between me and Jace. Everyone else only knew that we had a messy break-up, but didn't know the ins and outs of it as far as I was aware. Not even my mom knew.

"I'm fine. So what is it you've been working on?" Jimmy gave me a coy smile before throwing his arm around my shoulders and guiding me towards the back of the garage. We stopped in front of a large shape covered by a tarpaulin, making me frown at him.

"Close your eyes, and no peaking!" He said excitedly. I rolled my eyes at him, but did as he said and closed them. I heard shuffling before he said "ok, open them." I gasped as my eyes settled on the old red '69 mustang, the only thing of value I owned. The car was my dad's pride and joy other than his bike. I remembered the many trips my dad and I used to take in the mustang before he died, some of the fondest childhood memories I had.

"Ta-da!" He raised his arms out and beamed at me. "I can't believe you kept this!" I slowly walked around the car, running my hand along the smooth paint work.

"Fixed her up too. She runs a treat." He added, following me as I assessed every inch of the car. I stopped at the drivers' side door, then glanced at Jimmy. "Got the keys?" I gave him an excited grin as he smirked back at me. "In the visor." He nodded towards it, and I excitedly opened the door to climb in and got the keys. I turned the engine on, listening to the purr and grinning like an idiot.

"Want to come for a ride?" I offered, giving him a daring look. He nodded before jogging around the car and getting into the passenger side, then we raced off out of the garage.

"So how does it feel being back?" Jimmy asked me before taking a swig of his bottle of beer. After I'd got a key cut and returned Debbie's back to her, we'd stopped off to pick up some burgers and a six pack before parking up on the ridge and climbing on the hood of the car. The sun was just starting to set as we chowed down, leaving the sky a beautiful wash of orange.

"It's like everything is exactly the same, yet completely different at the same time. Get what I mean?" I replied then popped another fry in my mouth.

"Ever thought maybe it's you that's different?" He flashed me a grin and nudged my shoulder with his. I shoved him back, letting out a small laugh.

"Yeah, probably." I agreed, screwing my now empty paper bag into a ball. We sat in a comfortable silence for a little longer before Jimmy spoke up again.

"So I know you only just got back, but what better way to celebrate than coming with me to the club tonight?" He turned and have me a cryptic smile.

"Ugh, seriously? You guys are still doing that?" I scoffed. Jace and I had snuck into our fair few Friday night events at the club, and I'd seen more than any 13 year old should see.

"Come on, hurry up!" Jace rasped, grabbing my hand and yanking me after him. We crept along the busy yard, ducking low between the cars so we wouldn't get caught. He stopped abruptly while I kept going and let out a curse before hooking an arm around my waist and pulling me back into his chest. I let out a shaky breath as the warmth of his chest seeped through my thin t-shirt. Jace had been my best friend since before I could remember, having grown up together around the club. Our dads co-owned the club, and we would often get curious and snoop about to see what the adults kept hiding us away from. The older we got, the more I started to get strange feelings around him. They had started a week before when we were both messing around in his room, having a play fight after he teased me mercilessly about my new glasses. Due to his size he had overpowered me, pinning me to the floor with a hand on either wrist, his torso weighing down on me. A strange feeling stirred in my stomach as he stared down at me, his signature smirk on his face.

"Gotcha." He breathed, not moving from on top of me. Any other time we wrestled I would writhe around underneath him, clawing at him until he let me go. This time I couldn't even bring myself to move. Goose bumps pricked my skin as the strange feeling in my stomach spread to my chest. My cheeks began to grow hot, and the room suddenly felt too small.

"Are you blushing?" His smirk widened as his blue eyes studied my face. His long blonde locks fell forward over his forehead, brushing my cheeks.

"No, of course not." I scoffed, pushing him off me and scrambling away from him. He sat there with a Cheshire grin on his face, eying me as I grabbed my hoodie and stalked out of the door.

"Ready to make a run for it?" He breathed into my ear, making a shiver run down my spine. I nodded, then he released me and took my hand again before sprinting over to the half open door. We weaved between people, most of them too busy laughing or drinking to notice us. Jace led us to a little alcove in the corner of the large room, where I noticed some cushions had already been stuffed into it. "This wasn't a spur of the moment plan, was it?" I raised an eyebrow at him, receiving a cheeky grin back. He pushed me into the small space, throwing his bag down by my feet. "I'll be back in a sec." He announced before disappearing into the crowd. I waited nervously for him, looking out wildly at the people stood around to make sure none of them spotted me. Jace returned moments later with 2 beers in his hand and a victorious look on his face.

"Where the hell did you get that?" I stared wide eyed at his outstretched hand holding a cold beer bottle.

"Half these people are too damn drunk or stupid to notice they're gone. Hurry up and take it." He barked, making me quickly take it and set it down on the concrete floor in front of me. He nudged me over a little, squeezing his 16 year old form between me and the wall.

"Cheers." He smiled at me and held his bottle out for me to clink with mine before taking a swig. We drank in silence, watching different events going on. In the ring, two of the club's members were fighting bare knuckled and over in the other corner bets were going on while one of the women rode a mechanical bull. Jace and I watched in silent awe as some fights broke out, there were people playing pool, and in one area there was a woman straddling a man on his chair, her tongue down his throat. I felt a blush rise to my cheeks and quickly looked away. Jace smirked as he spotted what I had seen, then looked down and winked at me. My heart fluttered at the simple gesture, making me silently curse myself. Why the hell was I feeling like this around him suddenly? I didn't understand, all I knew is I wanted it to stop.

"Like what you see?" He whispered in my ear. I knew straight away that I had gone bright red, so to mask it I shoved him. "Jerk." I barked. He let out a chuckle, taking another swig of beer. I watched the way his Adams apple bobbed as he swallowed gulps of beer out of the corner of my eye. Watching something so simple should not have got my pulse racing, and I quickly blamed it on the atmosphere.

"Come on, B. It's gonna be fun." Jimmy whined, nudging my arm. I rolled my eyes at him and let out a dramatic sigh.

"Fiiiine." I strung the word out longer than necessary, earning a beaming smile from Jimmy. We climbed back into the car and headed back towards the club.