Chapter 5: Q & A - Lala

Exactly five minutes to seven my phone goes off like yesterday, letting me know Spin is outside. I headed out, and waved at Meme for the second day in a row! I climb into the car and recline the seat as he tells me, “morning, beautiful. Starbucks”? I nodded without even looking at him. I’m clearly not a morning person!

Today he orders my drink for me and doesn’t sip it when he hands it to me. I give him my weak thanks, and as we start to drive he says, “you okay”?

“Yes”, I say immediately, then pout! “No”, I admit! I’m kind of bothered by something the girls said to me in the locker room!

“So which is it, Loyalty?”, he asks.

“No”, I told him. “Why were you in jail”? He raises his brows at the question and takes a deep breath before sipping his coffee… Talk about buying yourself time to answer a question. “Well”?

“I murdered my father”, he says, without looking at me.

“How long were you in jail for that? I mean, you’re not that old”, I told him.

“I was given five years, and I was out in a little over three”, he says and still hasn’t looked at me. “He was abusing my mother and she took her life because of it, so I took his. And because it was considered a domestic situation, I was given a shorter sentence than what’s typical for the crime”.

“So you murder your father and inherit his gang? How’s that work?” I asked him.

“There is a code us bikers live by. My father violated that code and by that same code my actions were considered justified”, he says. “That and I had already been running the crew for a few years at that point”!

“For a bunch of bikers, you’re hardly ever on them”, I say quietly.

“It’s cold and wet, we’re not reckless”, he says.

“Was all of your money earned illegally?” I asked.

“No”, he says. “Most of it is more legitimate than what the community around us would like to believe. I own the mechanic's shop, the diner, the pub, the apartment complex that used to be a rundown hotel, and I even own that laundromat in town. All legitimate businesses”. He’s quiet for a while and as we pull up to the school he says, “I want to take care of you. Provide for you like a man is supposed to. I know this is overwhelming, so come to a barbecue on Friday at the house so you can meet my crew and see how we live”!

“I was going to go to a sleepover with Meme on Friday”, I told him.

He chuckles and says, “hasn't going places with Meme gotten you into enough trouble”?! When I roll my eyes at him he says, “fine, invite Meme along and sleep at my house instead”!

“You’d let me bring Meme?” I stated, obviously shocked.

“If it means you’ll come willingly with an open mind, and try to enjoy yourself”, he says with a shrug.

“I’ll ask her and let you know later”, I told him as I opened the car door. He gets out and meets me at the front of the car where he takes hold of my hand and walks me to the school building door. Meme and his crew are waiting. He turns me to face him and full-on-the-mouth kisses my lips today before walking off. When I look back, I notice the back of his leather jacket says King, whereas Gabe’s jacket says, Prince.

When I turn back to the school doors, Meme links arms with me and Gabe throws his arm over my shoulder and says, “morning, Lollipop”. I roll my eyes at him, but he doesn’t care. Meme finds my discomfort hilarious! Today goes by about the same as yesterday with the guys passing my stuff to the next one, who takes me to the next class. They sit next to me and block anyone but Meme from having contact with me. It’s almost isolating!

At lunch, Gabe is online behind me again. I know I have enough for lunch today, but I don’t want to be embarrassed by how low my account balance is, so I pushed him to go in front of me. He does, and waits for my lunch to be rung up! He grabs my tray and the lunch lady glares between the two of us. “What?” I ask her as Gabe raises a brow at her.

She looks at Gabe who is shaking his head no, before looking at me and saying, “nothing”! She prints my receipt and puts it down before Gabe walks off with the tray, receipt, and all. 

When we sit down, I sip my juice as I pick up the receipt and nearly choke! Gabe taps my back, and Meme says, “what happened? You’re as white as a ghost”.

“I have to go back to the register. Something is wrong. My account has over fifty dollars in it from someone named Spencer Hart, I dunno anyone by that name”, I told her as I stood up. Gabe grabs hold of my arm and forces me to sit back down. That’s when the connection sinks in and I glare at him, “Gabe isn’t your last name Hart”? He had a guilty look on his face. “What did you do G”?

“Me? I did nothing”, he says defensively. Even Meme isn’t buying it as she crosses her arms over her chest and glares at him with me. “Okay, so I might have given Spin your student ID number and he funded your lunch account. The lunch lady was shocked because the same card that funded your lunch account also funds mine, except I set my own account up and he set yours up last night. Sorry”!

“So who is Spencer Hart and why would he fund your lunch account too?”, asks Meme.

“Well, Spencer is my brother, who you guys know as Spin! Since our parents are both dead, he has custody of me and funds my lunch account”, he admits before staring down into his lunch tray.

“And you what? Babysit his girlfriend?” Meme continues.

“I don’t babysit Lala. I dunno what’s going on with you and Spin, I just know he wants you. He wants you like no other because I’ve never seen him chase after a woman before. He doesn’t want Lala for a fling, he really does want Lala as his queen”, he says. “If he gets his way, she’s gonna be my sister and my queen. I’d give my life for her under the code”!

“Okay, I’m gonna really need to see this code book you all keep talking about”, I told him as I turned to start eating. “And you could have just told me! Spin is your brother”?

“I mean shit Lala, he’s gonna kill me”, he says. “Don’t tell him you know I’m his brother, please? He’s the king, and even though I’m blood, he’s supposed to treat us all equally”!

“I won’t”, I promise. “Is that why your coat says, prince”?

“Any of us directly under the king are princes. Danny and Sal are also princes even though they’re older than Spin. And Cheeks is a prince and he’s the same age as Spin”, he explains.

“And the girls?”, asks Meme.

“ There’re no girls in the hog or the leadership of the crew”, he says. “So no, there are no princesses if that’s what you’re thinking. The women are called our old ladies, except for Spin’s girl”, he says, pointing to me. “She’s a queen”!

“What about that other thing you said I wasn’t?” I asked him.

“A broad?”, he says and I nod. “Those are females who like to ride but are unattached to any one man. They kind of sleep with any of the guys who don’t have girls just so they can catch a ride on our bikes when we do runs. It sounds a lot worse than it is because they’re taken care of like any other member of the crew. I mean, you saw them all hanging around the house”, he says to Meme, who shakes her head.

“I dunno if I wanna be your brother’s girl or your gang’s queen”, I tell him.

“Be honest with me for a second”, Gabe says to me as he pivots his body to face me. “Aside from my brother saving your life and what you’ve heard others say about him, forget that for a moment. Do you find yourself attracted to him”? I looked at Gabe thoughtfully for a second and blushed. “So what is it then”?

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“You’re attracted to my brother, what’s holding you back from being with him?”, he asks.

“The fact that he’s forcing me to”, I blurted out.

“It wouldn’t be forceful if you submitted to it”, he says.

“I’m not that type of girl”, I tell him.

He snorts out his laughter and says, “who would have thought Spin would be attracted to the girl with balls bigger than his”.

“It doesn’t bother you that your brother is chasing a girl the same age as you?” Meme asks.

“I mean, it’s surprising, but whatever makes him happy I guess”, he says. “Then again, Danny is thirty-two, and his wife just turned twenty-two, so it’s not all that uncommon for the guys of the crew to be with women way younger than they are”.

“How old is Spin?” I asked.

“Does a big age difference bother you my queen?”, he says. I shake my head and he adds, “then ask him yourself”! I roll my eyes and he says, “twenty-five”!

“Excuse me”, Meme spats out. “He does know she’s only seventeen, right”?

“Yeah”, he says. “He does! He doesn’t care. He still wants her”!

“Well shit bitch, looks like you're gonna be the new biker gang queen whether you like it or not”, Meme says.

“What if I wanna go to college?” I find myself asking, even though I haven’t applied anywhere because I wasn’t even considering going!

“Ask him”, he says before sipping his milk. “He’d probably pay for it if it made you happy”!

Meme lifts a brow at me and I just shake my head no. The bell rings, dismissing lunch and we head off to class. I stayed quiet for the rest of the day.

At practice, I bring up the idea of sleeping over at Spin’s to Meme, and she likes this idea way better than going to a slumber party with nothing but a bunch of prissy girly girls. I text Spin and he texts back that he’s happy to hear it but he’s tied up at work, so Gabe will take me home, and he’ll see me in the morning.

After practice, Gabe grabs my bag and helps me into the front of the SUV. “Hey Gabe, what if I wanted to learn how to drive a motorcycle?” I asked him.

He lifts a brow at me before turning his attention back to the road, “Spin would teach you. All of the other women can ride, we just prefer them on the back”!

“And if I wanted my own bike?” I asked.

“He’d probably build you a custom pink one for your tiny ass”, he says with a laugh.

“Is that what he does all day?” I asked curiously. 

“Nah, he likes to fix bikes and engines. But he’s been known to do a custom bike job from time to time and has customers who pay a decent dollar for those custom bikes”, he says. Gabe glances down at his phone and says, “Spin wants to know if he should wire me money to take you to Ready Coffee or Starbucks before I drop you off”!

I started to laugh, “no, I’m good today”!

We pull up in front of my house and my foster parents are home. They’re not paying attention when I get out of the car, and Gabe leaves as soon as I reach the door. I headed up to my room, put my laundry away from yesterday, and finished my homework before heading down to reheat dinner!

Maxine sits in the kitchen with me, and I ask her about the sleepover. She says she doesn’t have a problem with it and helps me with the dinner dishes. She also questions me about a rumor she heard about while at work at the hospital as a nurse, where most of the other parents of students from my school also work. It was about me dating a football player and having a very public breakup. I tell her the truth, and she tells me that I’m a smart and beautiful young woman and that she trusts and respects my decision. She also reminds me I’m almost eighteen and that this is normal for girls my age, and in the future not to hide it from her! I agree, but I don’t tell her about Spin. Despite what she just said, I doubt she’ll understand or respect this decision!

I headed up to my room and lay in bed to text Meme ***What if Gabe’s right?***

***about?***

***Spin***

***I dunno Lala wood it b such a bad thing to b the biker queen?***

I can’t answer that, I really don’t know. I most certainly don’t want the title! I shower and climb into bed, and my phone buzzes again.

***Good night Loyalty***

***gn Spencer*** I text him back, let’s see how he likes being called by his real name!

***Only you get to call me that my queen*** He says back!

I don’t know what comes over me when I respond back ***ditto my king***

***Sleep, I’ll see you in the morning***

I know I should feel heartbroken about the situation I’m in, but for some reason, the cage around my heart doesn’t feel so tight anymore! I plug my phone onto the charger, and cocoon myself in my blanket until I fall asleep.