The air was still balmy from the hot day and my boots may have been a bit warm, but they were cool as fuck so I didn't care.
I hurried out onto the street, taking the sidewalk past the few houses down this way and hurrying my pace as I came up on my neighbour Axel's house. The guy was a serious perv and it felt like running the gauntlet every time I passed his porch where he liked to sit and drink whenever he wasn't working. And working was a loose term really as he was a member of the Harlequin Crew and I was pretty sure his day job included drug running and beating people up. Whatever else he was, that fact alone made him untouchable and kinda terrifying, so mostly I just tried to avoid him noticing me.
"Looking good, sweet thing," Axel called as I drew closer to his house and I looked up to find him leaning over the railing which lined his porch, smoking a joint as standard and smirking at me in a way that made my skin crawl. His hair was a badly dyed shitty brown and slicked sideways to hide his bald spot and he had a ton of shitty old tattoos on every piece of exposed skin which had bled and faded since he’d gotten them done. His eyes slid down to my bare legs in a way that made me wish for pants and he licked his lips as he took the joint from his mouth.
"Hi, Mr Phillips," I said, hunching my shoulders and trying to appear younger than I was. He never used to look at me like that before I got boobs.
I upped my pace, but of course he didn't take the hint.
"You out with Luther's boy tonight?" he called.
Luther Harlequin was the leader of their gang and the reason people in this town went to bed afraid of their own shadow at night. He also happened to be Fox's dad and Maverick's adopted dad which meant I was also loosely associated with his crew. But like, seriously loosely. I ran with my boys and none of us associated with the actual gang. Still, Axel seemed to think that made us...friends? I didn't know and I didn't fucking want to. He was like forty something and a total creep.
"Yeah," I replied, making it to the edge of his porch and spotting Maverick's bike parked up beneath the streetlight at the far end of the road.
"Well, keep it tight, sugar plum. Maybe I'll see you on your way home and you can come in for a beer?" Axel suggested like that wasn't weird as fuck and I just shrugged.
"See you later," I muttered, breaking into a jog as I set my gaze on Maverick and tried to forget about the creeper king.
Rick was leaning against the seat of his black motorcycle, his arms folded over his broad chest and a grin on his face that he was trying to hide in an attempt to look cool. He did that a lot recently, like smiling was going to be outlawed soon and he needed to try and lock it down.
I upped my pace as I ran at him and his grin broke free of its restraint as he stood up and opened his arms to me.
I leapt into them, wrapping my legs around his waist as he lifted me up, using the position to scrub my hands through his perfectly styled hair and fuck it up good and proper.
"Stop it, Rogue, you fucking asshole," he cursed, switching his grip on me to try and drag me off again and I laughed as he wrestled with me and my weight made the two of us fall over.
Maverick took the brunt of the hit, landing on his back in the road and I punched him in the chest, laughing wildly and leaping to my feet as he tried to catch me. The shitbag would have me in a headlock before I knew it if I didn't escape fast.
I hopped onto his bike, started the engine and grinned at him as I pointed at the seat behind me.
"I'm driving tonight, hop on Tonto," I said as he got to his feet and dusted off the ass of his black jeans.
"No chance in hell," he growled, stalking over and holding his fist out to me while he tried to fix his black hair with the other hand.
"Oh, come on, Rick, I don't have a bike or a car or anything. Give a girl a break."
"No." He nudged me with his fist and I groaned as I held mine out too, bouncing it in time with his and settling on paper as I revealed a flat hand.
Maverick went with scissors of course and laughed his ass off.
"How do you win every damn time?" I growled.
"Get in the bitch seat and let's go," he commanded as he grabbed my hips and dragged me backwards so that there was room for him to take the spot in front of me.
"Hey guys!" Clive called as he jogged over like he'd been invited or something. "Where are we heading?"
"I tell you what, dude," Maverick said, a cruel little smirk tugging at his lips. "If you can keep up with us then feel free to join."
He climbed onto the bike and I dutifully wrapped my arms around his waist as I scooted closer to him.
Clive called out some protest as Maverick revved the engine, pouring smoke over him like a douchebag before dropping the clutch and the bike tore away down the street with the two of us laughing like assholes. I would have felt bad if it had been absolutely anyone else, but that guy just couldn't take a hint. Me and my boys didn't need anyone else and we sure as fuck didn't want anyone either. It was the five of us against the world and that was how it was always going to be.
We sped through the familiar streets of Sunset Cove, taking the road that curved around the cliff and into the upper quarter where the rich folk liked to spend way too much money on shit that wasn't worth it and pretend that the lower quarter where the people like us lived didn't even exist.
I turned my head towards the sea as I looked out over the water where the full moon was peeking out between the clouds and shining off of the waves where they raced towards the golden sand.
I tipped my head back as I enjoyed the ride, tugging the chocolate bar from my back pocket and tearing it open with my teeth before taking a big bite. I reached around Maverick and pressed a chunk between his lips too, snatching my fingers back as he bit them playfully.
Maverick finally pulled up beside some fancy new hotel that had just gotten a fresh white paint job and had a sign out front saying it was opening next week.
"Here we are, beautiful," he announced as he cut the engine, all cocky swagger and smouldering looks that made my heart beat harder than the ride had.
Shit, he was getting really nice to look at these days, and I wasn't the only girl who had noticed either. Last week Eloise Rochester had been all over him when we were surfing and I'd had to punch her in the eye to remind her that the boys were mine. She'd told me that I was a deluded bitch and that none of them were my boyfriends, which may have been true, but it still didn't mean she could come and start hanging around with us.
Rick offered me his hand and pulled me off of the bike before shoving me aside to ruin the sweet gesture so that he could lift the saddle and pull a couple of cans of spray paint out of the storage compartment.
"So you saw this beautifully fresh white wall and thought, do I know a delinquent girl who might enjoy ruining it? And then landed right on me?" I teased.
"Damn straight I did," he agreed. "Pink or orange?"
"Pink is really more your colour," I said, winking at him as I snagged the orange and he shrugged as he turned to look up at the wall. "Are the other guys meeting us here?" I asked, wondering if we should wait for them to show before we started.
"Err, nah, I just thought of this kinda last minute. Fox had something with his dad tonight and you know he can't say no to Luther anyway. And...to be honest, I just didn't invite JJ and Chase." Maverick didn't look at me while he said that and I frowned but then shrugged it off. It wasn't like we always had to hang out in a group, we just usually did.