The Biker in Lace

Chapter 11.

The sun was still cautious of the grey sky, when an all too familiar voice calls out to Lacy. Lacy’s head felt like it was stuffed with cotton wool as she lifts her head from her pillow, at first confused as to where she was. Her thoughts still foggy with sleep, unwillingly she makes her way to the tent entrance, to unzip the zipper for the i***t friend of a friend.

“What do you want, Bradley?” She asks her shoulder slouching and her voice groggy.

“I brought coffee as a peace offer.” Bradley says as he steps into the tent. “Wow, you look… you look…” He struggles to find the right words to describe Lacy’s early-morning-just-woke-up-look. Her hear is halfway pulled from the braid she always makes before bed, her clothes askew and he can swear he saw a bit of drool in the corner of her mouth. After a big yawn and stretching of her arms she turns to Bradley with a flat look, just as he snaps a picture. “You look really beautiful so early in the morning.” He finishes his sentence sarcastically. He has to admit to himself if it was still dark outside, he might have just turned around and run screaming. Lacy ignores his comment and with aloud groan she falls back on her sleeping bag. “Josh phoned he is on his way back.” Bradley says a bit uncomfortable as he never encountered a non-retaliating Lacy. He waits for her sassy comeback or a feisty comment, but nothing, she did not even register that he took a photo.

“Great, wake me when he is here.” Lacy’s muffled croak comes from the pillow she dropped her face in.

“Hey, are you okay?” Bradley asks confused, as he does not know what to do in this situation, never had this happen before.

“Just peachy.” Lacy croaks again, leaving Bradley speechless and baffled. Slowly he turns around to leave the tent just as Lacy instantly jumps up from her sleeping bag. “Oh, my… Oh, my… dammit!” Lacy murmurs as she triples on one spot, her bottom lip caught between her teeth, flicking her hands up and down.

“Do you need to pee?” Bradley makes the only assumption he could think of. It sure look like she is about to pee in her pants.

“Oh, my I have your bloody name on my body. Oh, shoot!” Lacy continues to freak out. “and yeah I need to pee.” She says as she suddenly comes to a halt, then sprints past a now chuckling Bradley. Bradley could not help himself and his chuckling turns into full blown laughter. The Lacy he knows is now awake and awkwardly honest as always. Bradley is still laughing when Josh stops his bike next to his tent. The traces of a long sleepless night visible on his features, but it make way for a curious look towards the hysterical laughing Bradley.

“What happened?” Josh asks baffled, he hasn’t seen Bradley laughing this hard in a while.

“Lacy… she… she looked… so… so funny.” Bradley chokes out between the laughter as he hands Josh the coffee he bought for Lacy. He tries to calm himself, but every time he thinks of the dishevelled looking Lacy, his laughter starts up again. The picture of a scare crow comes to mind. All Josh could do was look at Bradley with eyebrows raised and a shake of the head. Josh looks quite normal this morning as he washed his hair and wore his everyday clothing except for the piercings and the tattoo sleeves. There is no need to pretend anymore so why bother. “Look.” Bradley attracts Josh’s attention to the picture on his phone causing both of them to haul in laughter. Josh hadn’t say anything about what he was told the night before and Bradley respected his friends silence about it, but that does not mean he is not worried about him. “Are you okay?” He questions when both of their laughter calms down.

“Yeah, overwhelmed, but okay.” Josh answers truthfully as he watches Lacy return from the bathrooms. Her once wayward hair is now loose and over one shoulder as she combs it with her fingers. She looks deep in thought as she walks in their direction, oblivious to all around her. Josh could not help but to notice all the men around their tents staring at his best friend in admiration. He likes the fact that both Lacy and Mary are oblivious to their beauty it is better to be oblivious then over confident and narcissistic. Josh shifts his attention back to Bradley the exact moment Bradley’s eyes catch Lacy walking towards them. His eyes transfixed on her and again Bradley realise how beautiful she is and for the first time he actually feels guilty that he never saw her for who she actually is. Clearing his throat Josh catches Bradley’s attention to which Bradley’s captivated look instantly dissolves. “Beautiful, isn’t she?” Josh teases.

“What..? Who..?” Bradley feigns ignorance, not willing to admit his true observation. The question that he might have some feelings for her passes through the back of his mind, but he quickly shrugs it off and focuses back on Josh.

“Yeah, bud. Whatever.” Josh says with clear disbelieve in his voice while he shakes his head and pat Bradley’s shoulder.

*_*

After Lacy joined them in Josh’s tent, Josh tells them about everything he learnt the previous night. He talked about what Mrs. Cavanagh told him and showed them the letters that were in the gift that Mrs. Cavanagh gave him. The letters explained a lot about why his father took him away from his mother and it also gave his mother’s absence ever since. After he read the first letter he could not put it down and he felt glad that he eventually decided to open the gift. He found most of his answers in them, but hearing his father’s side would have helped. “What are you going to do now?” Lacy asks as she holds Josh’s hand in hers, concern written on her face as she looks at him with worry in her eyes.

“I want to meet her. So I guess that is where we start.” Josh answers truthfully with a half-smile on his face. He appreciates his friends being there for him and knows he can count on them through anything. He still has not told them about the clause in his father’s will and testament, but after talking to Mr. Cavanagh again this morning he suggested Josh keep it to himself for now in any case. Bradley sits quietly as he listens to everything Josh says. He can only imagine what it must take from Josh to want to meet his mother. “So, what happened here?” Josh skilfully changes the subject as he would like the destruction for a while until he can meet with Clive.

Bradley instantly looks guilty as he looks away from Josh rubbing the back of his neck. “What did you do?” Lacy and Josh ask in unison, the looks on their faces say that they know he did something stupid again.

“I… uhm… mighta… sorta… uhm punched someone.” Bradley confesses ashamed. Instantly Lacy’s head jerks up, she really hopes he did not punch Clive. Clive might just think it was over her and then she would have to ask Bradley on a date and then… oh heavens she does not want to think about it.

“What? Who?” Josh asks shocked, he knows Bradley gets really aggressive sometimes, but he would never just punch someone if they did not deserve it.

“I was not really thinking and I was so furious about the tattoos, I acted before I thought.” Bradley says, still feeling a bit ashamed he avoids looking Josh in the eyes

“What tattoos?” Josh asks still confused. Neither of them told him about the tattoos Vince ruined.

“That stupid piece of…” Bradley starts to get worked up again just by thinking of it. “Let’s just say Vince deserves way more than just a punch.” Bradley calmly says after he took a few deep breaths. No need to get worked up about it again. He could have sworn he heard Lacy exhale loudly at the mention of Vince’s name, but chose to ignore it.

“Yeah, I agree. That little bastard needs payback.” Lacy says looking down at her tattoo. That i***t really did scare her once perfect clavicle.

“Okay, okay. I would like to agree with the two of you, but I am a little out of the loop right now.” Josh says as he looks at his friends with question in his eyes.

“This, this is what is wrong with it.” Bradley says with anger as he pulls his shirt over his head to show his tattoo to Josh as what he sees as the meanest thing anyone ever did to him. His action catches Lacy unprepared as she gawks at his torso again. ‘Man this guy has abs.’

Instantly Josh’s laughter fills the tent as he reads Lacy’s name on his friend’s peck. Bradley is clearly unhappy with the reaction Josh has to his bruised ego as he bites down on his teeth, gnawing his jaw. “It’s really not that funny.” Lacy says with a flat unamused tone.

“It’s spot on. It’s exactly what happens. You thrive when she is miserable and miserable when she is happy. So hence it describes you to a T.” Josh still says laughing, finding it hilarious that a person that does not even know them at all can be so right in judging them.

“Yeah, real nice next you going to tell me exactly the same.” Lacy says still unamused as she shows her tattoo to Josh. They are both really unimpressed with the i***t and their best friend at this moment.

“Oh, this is classic.” Josh says as he starts to laugh again, without saying a word Lacy stands from her seat and walk to the tent exit.

“And you call yourself a friend.” She says over her shoulder, disappointed that Josh sides with the stupid i***t. Even Bradley’s idiocy is more than welcome at this stage. She really despises Vince right now. “I’m scared for life!” She shouts dramatically just to show she is not really mad at Josh.

Can I ask you something?” Josh asks Bradley after a few minutes of silence. Bradley still stares at the exit where Lacy disappeared. “She does have a great butt doesn’t she?” He teases when Bradley does not respond to his first question.

“Yeah… What? No!” Bradley quickly tries to cover up his mistake, but Josh is already rolling on the floor with laughter. “You’re an idiot.” Bradley responds flatly with a disheartened sigh.

“I’m not the i***t, mate. Maybe your father did you a favour.” Josh continues to tease.

“Oh, man.” Bradley stands up from his seating position to leave the tent. He really does not want to think about his so called marriage to Lacy or their tattoos or why he started to see her as a woman.

“Wait, I’m sorry. I just could not help it. You were just so far from reality when she left, you did not even hear me speak to you.” Josh stops Bradley from leaving.

“Okay, fine. What did you want?” Bradley sits down again, looking like a spoiled brat not getting his way. His arms folded over his chest and his cheeks slightly puffed. He isn’t really mad at Josh he just has a lot on his mind and does not know how to fix any of it.

“Would you be mad at me if I asked Mary out on a date?” Josh asks a bit nervous, rubbing the back of his neck. He finally decided to take the plunge and see where it would end up. After the kiss they shared the night before he could not stop thinking about her until he finally opened the first letter in the gift. Nothing could be worse then what he had to go through yesterday and it does not help he lives in fear of making a mistake.

“Why would I be? You know I only saw her as a friend.” Bradley asks confused as to why Josh would think differently.

“I just wanted to be sure you would not mind. I know that she had a crush on you and that you never felt the same, but I never really know when you like someone. It is not like you really dated anyone. So I thought just maybe you would mind and then…” Josh starts to babble like he always does when uncomfortable or nervous.

“Josh, it is fine.” Bradley stops him with a chuckle, realising that Josh’s rambling was not out of vein. “I’m just glad that you finally talks to me about this. When you and Lacy spoke, you kinda ignored me.”

“Sorry, man.” Josh apologises for the way they ignored Bradley inside the SUV. “Lacy knew about it even without me saying anything.”

Bradley pulls Josh in for a man-hug like they always do when they accept each other’s apologies. “So do you think you are ready to meet your mother?” Bradley changes the subject, really not in the mood to think about the Cavanagh sisters for longer than necessary.

“I think so.” Josh answers truthfully, with a bit of excitement. “It’s long overdue. I always just thought she never wanted me or that she died, you know. After I read all her letters I realised that if I had a child out there I would want to meet them and just like her I would want to tell them my side of the story. I have so many questions, but more for my dad then her.” Josh ends, his voice turning a bit sad at the end. After what happened and the information he got he is caught in a duel with his emotions. How could the man he loved as a dad do this to his son?

*_*

“Lacy.” A female voice calls out to Lacy as she steps out from the tent where she just finished getting ready for the day ahead. She was just on her way over to the boys again.

“Amy.” She greets the girl calling out to her.

“Can we talk?” Amy asks nodding in the direction of Lacy’s tent, for privacy.

“Yeah, come in.” Lacy invites a bit confused as to why Amy would want to speak to her.

“What are your intentions with Clive?” Amy gets straight to the point just as Lacy closes the tent flap.

“What do you mean?” Lacy asks her face chiselled in confusion.

“Clive is like my brother. I don’t want him hurt and since you are married I can tell it is bound to happen.” Amy says her demeanour changing into a threatening stance. Her voice has a hint of superiority just like Ethan’s the night before.

“If he is hurt about what he saw last night it is his own problem. He is the one that did not want to listen so that is on him, not me.” Lacy defends. Amy eyes green eyes glinting with an unknown emotion Lacy could not place.

“What happened last night?” Amy is curious as she has no idea what Lacy is talking about. She came here to protect Clive and now she might be too late already.

“It does not matter. Like you said I am married, he needs to stay away.” Lacy did not want to go over the events of last night with someone she did not know and frankly after the way Clive treated her last night she did not feel the need to feel sorry for him. The more space there is between them the better.

Lacy sits deep in thought while Amy silently observes the slightly older girl. “He likes you, you know?” Amy says quietly. “I saw it when you guys left the tent last night. The way he looked at you when you left, was…ugh.” Amy sighs as she struggles to find the right words. “I never saw him looking at any one like that before.”

“I don’t know what to do Amy.” Lacy says as she looks at a fray of her jean shorts, trying to find answers for herself while she speaks. “I am beyond furious with him right now. I’ll admit I do like him, but I don’t know if it is romantic or just as a person. I have to think about Josh too and how he is doing right now.”

“Please, just keep in mind that he is vulnerable too.” Amy replies as she can’t help but feel badly for the way she spoke to Lacy earlier. She can see that Lacy is torn about what she feels right now.

“I know Amy, but my first priority is my friend. I did not lead Clive on and after the night I had I do not have the energy to even think about it.” Lacy sighs, wishing that Amy would just leave her alone and that she can forget about all the events since they left their club house.

“What was so bad about last night?” Amy asks curiously as she looks at the tiredness displayed on Lacy’s face.

“This.” Lacy simply stated as she moves her shirt so Amy can see the tattoo. “Thanks to Vince I have part of my body maimed and I have a sneaking suspicion Clive knew about it.”

“I still think it suits you guys perfectly.” Josh says, shrugging his shoulders as he enters the tent with Bradley following him.

“Oh, shut up!” The two enemies shout unamused in unison, making Amy gasping for air as she holds her stomach in laughter.

“Hey, I’m allowed to give my own damned opinion.” Josh says with fake mortification. “Hey, Amy do you know where I can find my brother? Boy, it feels weird saying that.” Josh shakes his head as he thinks of how much his life changed in just a few hours.

“Uhm, yeah, I’m not sure.” Amy says now completely sober from her laughing fit. “I think he might still be sleeping. He got really drunk last night.”

“Hey, Lacy what did you do to the poor guy?” Bradley asks as he remembers Clive came to see her last night. “Surely it wasn’t your wits that had the poor guy turning to the bottle.”

“Shut up, Bradley.” Lacy groaned at him, wishing the day was already over even though it just started.

“What did you kiss the poor guy and make him run for the beer tent or was it seeing your face in the moonlight that did it?” He continues without even listening to her.

“Well, I don’t know Bradley. I don’t see you drunk off your butt now do I?” Lacy shoots back as she glares at Bradley and his big mouth.

“Then it had to be the moonlight on your pale skin that made you look like a ghost.” Bradley teases as he chuckles at his own joke.

“So, let me get this straight, kissing me is not that bad?” She asks as she smirks at him knowing he dug his own hole with that one.

“Believe me, babe, when I kiss you, you will know it and after that you will not want to kiss anyone else. Yesterday’s pecks were hardly anything to go by.” Bradley returns her smirk arrogantly as he winks at her.

“Hello mister arrogant, nice of you to show up.” Lacy sarcastic comment triggers an amused laugh from Amy.

“I never knew watching two people interact could be so amusing.” She whispers to Josh standing next to him, her eyes flickering from Lacy to Bradley as she waits in great anticipation for the next round of words.

“It’s not arrogance, it’s a fact. Is that the best you got?” Bradley says daring Lacy to come up with a better remark when he sees Lacy backing off after Amy’s comment. Unlike her he does not notice the comment and thinks she is backing off because she is losing the battle.

“No, Bradley. I got plenty more, but unlike you I don’t want to fight in front of people that barely know me. I would much rather let them see the real me then the bad person you make me.” Lacy says in a hushed tone. She really wants Amy to like her, because she has the feeling that she would become a big part of her life from now on.

“Bad? You and I have two different meanings to the word bad, Lacy.” Bradley says with a mocking laugh. “I rather call it the unfake person you are.”

“Unfake is not a word.” Josh says to Bradly with a sigh, feeling a bit bored.

“Yes, Josh we know.” They say in unison, looking at Josh then back to each other again.

“Again, I am not fake!” Lacy shouts. “It’s not my fault you don’t accept me as I am and it is not my fault your brain is too small to understand that a person does not come out of a cookie cutter. I am my own person and I am sure as hell not the same as all the other bimbo’s you have falling at your feet.” Lacy takes a step closer to Bradley showing him that she will not back off again.

“Believe me I don’t want you to ‘fall at my feet’.” Bradley makes bunny ears when he badly mimics Lacy’s high pitched voice.

“No, Bradley you would not, because I am not a mindless, coward, Barbie doll that would heed to your every whim. Face it Bradley, you only hate me because I am not following you around like a lost puppy. That’s why you think I am fake and that’s why you…” Lacy gets cut off as Bradley again cuts her of with his lips to hers, but this time it is different as he does not wait for her to respond before plunging his tongue into her mouth. This time she does not faint either. The shock quickly gets replaced with something she can only compare with electric shock. Bradley’s hands were so quickly around her she did not notice him pulling her closer. The one minute she was telling Bradley exactly what she was thinking and the next she tasted the toothpaste he used that morning. The feeling of shock came immediately and then before she could pull away a spark started from her lips, spreading through her body, leaving her paralysed. At first Bradley thought she fainted again as he felt her body go limp for a second before she responded to his kiss. Lacy keeps telling herself, she is only reacting this way to make a point. What the point is however, alludes her mind as it gets clouded and for a moment it feels empty and without thought.

“Uhm… Well, this is new.” Josh says to Amy as he looks at the two kissing with big eyes. He is used to the normal fighting, but never did he ever think it would turn out like this. He knows about the previous kisses, but this, this is different. “For some reason since yesterday he seems to think kissing her will shut her up.” The reaction he saw on both of their faces told a very different story to what he knows they would say afterwards. For years he thought that maybe it is just like everyone thought, just an act, but from first-hand experience he learned that the hate truly ran deeper than many saw. Now he knows that the hate is only clouding something that could be more then friendship.

The rage Bradley started the kiss with slowly stilled. The once urgent and domineering kiss turned into a tender kiss as Bradley moves one of his hands from Lacy’s back and placing it softly on her cheek, the other still pulling her close to him. The kiss itself slowed down and was not forceful anymore. With every move Bradley made Lacy’s body responded automatically, as if it had a mind of its own. Her eyes closed on their own accord, her hands slowly found a resting place around his neck and her fingers found their way to the back of his neck stroking the stubble his hair left. Feeling the roughness of his hair scraping her finger tips she softly moaned unwillingly. Then Bradley stops the kiss that left them both breathless, with his forehead pressed to hers he silently stands with closed eyes trying to catch his breath, then without notice he lets her go stepping away from her he opens his eyes. “That was a kiss from me.” He says as he walks out of the tent leaving the three baffled people to their own demise.