GINA

 

There was nothing like the feeling of riding a chopper. Hair flowing behind you. Wind brushing against your face. The rumble of the engine underneath your seat. The buildings zooming by you with nothing but the open road in front of you.

Of course, it didn’t hurt that I was riding with a stud like Dorian. I would have been the talk of the town if this were back in high school. Every girl would have been jealous that I had the chance to wrap my hands around his tight body. Hell, I could hardly believe it myself that I was riding with him through town now.

I was so distracted riding with Dorian that I didn’t realize where he was taking me. We left the center of the city where most of the buildings and shops were and headed toward the outskirts. The road wasn’t paved and there weren’t many streetlights to show the way. Dorian kept driving until we arrived at an open acre of field.

He pulled the bike to a halt and hopped off. I slowly got off the ride as I examined my surroundings.

There was a large farmhouse in the distance. I immediately heard the livestock. Around the wooden fencing, all of the animals were calmly grazing underneath the moon of the peaceful night.

“A farm,” I said. “You took me to a farm.”

“You seem surprised.”

“I am… a little bit.”

“Where did you think I was taking you?”

He smirked like a mischievous schoolboy. If he were a few years younger, I would have mistaken him for some unruly teenager who was up to no good with how young his face looked. It was hard not to be distracted with all of the fantasies I had of him back when we were in high school.

“I don’t know,” I said with a shrug. “I can’t remember the last time I’ve ever been to a farm.”

“Ivory has a lot of nice farmland. We don’t get much of our crops from the other cities. My parents used to run a farm just like this.”

Dorian walked forward and leaned over the low, wooden fencing as he stared off into the distance. I took the place next to him as I watched some of the cattle grazing.

“You grew up on a farm?” I asked.

“Sure did. That’s how I was raised. My dad would wake me up before the crack of dawn to get to work. I’d do what I could, feeding the animals, tilling the soil, all of that stuff, before I’d head off to school.”

“That must have been tiring. Working a farm and then having to go to school.”

“Mom and dad took it easy on me when I got to high school. I told ‘em I couldn’t keep it up with wrestling and football practice. But I did what I could. I was always working.”

Just a quick glance at the hard muscles on Dorian’s arms was enough to prove he was telling the truth. He either spent all of his time on the farm or in the gym with a physique like his.

“What happened to your family’s farm?” I asked. “They still have it?”

“My parents sold the land as soon as they wanted to retire. It was too much work for them and I wasn’t interested in keeping it going.”

“Were they upset?”

Dorian shook his head.

“My parents always told me to do what I wanted to do. They told me only I knew what was best for me. They trusted me to do what was right.”

Dorian’s eyes were lost in some memory as he kept staring off into the distance. I didn’t think much about coming to a farm but just enjoying Dorian’s company was enough to make me appreciate my strange surroundings.

“It’s nice out here,” I said. “It’s quiet and peaceful. You sure the people who own this farm don’t mind us out here?”

“As long as we’re not on their property, they won’t do anything.”

He started chuckling to himself suddenly.

“What’s so funny?” I asked.

“I’ve gotten into my fair share of trouble on farms. Back in high school, me and my buddy Logan used to come out on weekends.”

The smile on Dorian’s face was so wide, like I’d never seen it before. His white teeth made his grin that much more charming.

“Logan would get one of his dad’s bottles of booze and we’d head out to one of the farms in his station wagon, just me and him. We’d get drunk and we’d get stupid.”

“Everybody gets stupid when they’re drunk.”

“Not like us. We were teenagers. I didn’t know how to handle my liquor but Logan did. He was twice my size. A big man. It was nothing to him.”

I couldn’t help but smile at Dorian’s enthusiasm as he continued.

“One night, Logan and I got really plastered. We were looking out in the field, just like this. We saw all the cattle just standing there asleep. Logan had the bright idea to tip one of the cows over.”

“I didn’t think people actually did that…”

“Me neither. I thought it was a dumb idea. But I was drunk, so that wasn’t enough to stop me.”

“Wait. Please don’t tell me…”

“He dared me,” he said with a shrug. “So I hopped the fence. Those cows are a lot bigger when you’re standing right next to ‘em. I put my shoulder against it and next thing you know…”

Dorian burst into so much laughter that he could barely keep talking.

“…The cow didn’t budge an inch! I ended up with just a face full of mud.”

“Definitely not one of your brighter ideas.”

“It sure wasn’t. But… I had a good time.”

The smile on Dorian’s face slowly disappeared. He kept staring off into the distance like his thoughts were still lost to whatever was on his mind.

“I loved that guy,” he said. “I was closer to Logan than anybody. Even Tracy. She was always telling me to stop hanging out with him but I didn’t. She eventually learned how to put up with him. Until after high school when she left me, that is…”

“…What happened to Logan?”

Dorian sighed a deep breath through his nose, his jaw clenched. I kept staring at him but he wasn’t looking back at me. I couldn’t tell what kind of a mood he was in.

“Logan was my left tackle,” he said. “I was the star quarterback on the team but I was nothing without Logan. He was the one who protected me. He was the one who helped me win all those games.”

“State title. I remember. It was in the paper.”

“He was the best lineman I could have ever asked for. I got all of the glory but Logan deserved most of it. He never cared about being celebrated by everybody.”

“Do you still talk to Logan?”

Dorian shook his head.

“After graduation, Logan and I enlisted together. We joined the Marines because shit, why not? We worked together so well on the football team, why wouldn’t it work in the Marines?

“We went through basic together. I got promoted the same as him. He was in my company on every tour I did. He was always there.”

Dorian’s throat shifted as he swallowed.

“One day, we were out on a routine patrol. Logan and the boys were all laughing as we were moving down the road. Same old shit. It’s dangerous but you get used to it. Nothing ever happened. Not until that day…

“They came out of nowhere. Boys weren’t paying attention and ran over a mine. They flanked us at every angle. We put up a fight as best as we could. Logan… He…”

Dorian paused. His eyes glazed over. I kept staring at him. I wanted to tell him to stop but I didn’t want to interrupt him either.

“He got hit… The motherfucker got hit and he still had the energy to push me down so nobody else got hit.

“We radioed for backup and by the time it finally arrived, they were practically swarming on us. My CO told us to get the fuck out of there. Logan could barely walk out though because his leg was all fucked up. I tried to pick him up. I used all my fucking strength but I still had trouble lifting him. To this day, he’s still the biggest man I’ve ever known. Bigger than Brawn even.

“They said to leave him behind. They said to just leave him behind or they would leave me with him.”

Dorian dropped his head and stared at the ground, his eyes unblinking.

“I’ll never forget the look Logan gave me,” he said. “He was always smiling. Ever since I met him. But when I looked down into his eyes at that moment, all I saw was fear. For the first time in my life, I saw that Logan was afraid. And it scared the shit out of me.

“I kept trying to drag him but then he did something.”

“…What did he do?”

“He let go of me. He let himself fall to the floor. I kept screaming at him. I was begging him to get back up but he shook his head because he knew he couldn’t get out.

“The whole time, my CO was yelling at me because I was gonna get us all killed.”

Dorian tilted his head back up and shook it.

“I shouldn’t have left him,” he said. “I should have stayed there with him.”

“Dorian… You didn’t have a choice. It wasn’t your fault.”

“It’s not my fault but I could have done something about it.”

I didn’t know Dorian very well. He was always seemed so calm and confident. But right now, he looked like he could explode at any moment.

I hesitantly reached a hand out and put it on his arm to calm him. He finally turned back toward me and smiled softly.

“That’s why I left,” he said. “That’s when I decided I didn’t want to do it anymore and came back to Ivory. They let me go.”

“Nobody blames you for that. I can’t imagine what it’s like to lose a friend out there.”

“It’s the worst feeling in the world…”

He laughed to himself and shook his head.

“That’s why I came back here,” he said. “That’s why I went through the fire academy. That’s why I joined the Reapers.”

“Why is that?”

“Because there are people like my CO who are always following orders. The chief at the station just chewed my ass out for not going by the book. But the Reapers… They’re different.”

“They’re different, all right. A lot of people don’t like the clubs in this town.”

“But they do a lot of good, too. When the people in Ivory need something, they don’t go to the cops, they come to the Reapers. We’re no angels. I can admit that. But we always do what’s right. Sometimes you just get tired of following orders. Does it really matter what you do as long as it’s the right thing to do?”

I wasn’t sure what to think about Dorian.

I’d always admired him from afar. He was the most popular guy in high school. Star quarterback. The town’s hero who was going to go on and make Ivory proud.

As I looked into his eyes, I saw the real him. The him that nobody ever got a chance to see. And I couldn’t fight the feelings I had for him. It wasn’t just a desire because of how attractive he was. No, I saw just how vulnerable he was. I wanted to be there for him.

“Dorian… Why are you telling me all of this?”

“…I don’t know,” he said with a chuckle. “I just figured I would be honest with you. You’re not like anybody else I’ve ever met. All of the other girls who look at me just see the patch and bend over for me.”

“Who says I’m not like them?” I said, raising an eyebrow at him.

“Maybe you are. But I know you’re more than that. Otherwise, you wouldn’t still be in a place like Ivory.”

“Yeah… There’s something about this town. It’s like it’s a part of me.”

“Then you understand why I want to do everything for a place like this.”

Dorian stood up straight and moved closer to me. I didn’t resist when he put a hand on my chin. I closed my eyes and let his lips linger on mine. The feeling of his tongue dancing into my mouth made me feel like a schoolgirl. The luckiest schoolgirl in the entire world.

He tugged his lips away from mine and smiled down at me. I looked up at him, trying and again failing miserably to hide my blushing cheeks.

“Every girl in high school would be so jealous of me right now,” I said.

“Is that right?” he said, snickering. “I guess there were a lot of girls who were into me. But I don’t care about them anymore.”

He put his hands on my arms and sighed through his nose and looked off into the distance.

“I have to go,” he said. “I’ve got a shift at the fire station.”

“A shift at the fire station? It’s already late.”

“That’s why they call it the graveyard shift.”

He smiled softly at me.

Dorian wasn’t the first club member I’d ever been with but none of them had the same demeanor as him. He was so calm, despite everything he just told me.

“I’d like to see you again,” he said.

“I’d like that.”

“Let me take you back.”

“It is starting to get a bit cold out.”

“…I’m sure I can think of a way to keep you warm.”

I got on his bike and wrapped my arms around him. With the warm breeze blowing through my hair, I enjoyed the feeling of being with Dorian as we headed back to the center of town.