Page 9 of Break Away (Riot MC Next Generation #2)

Chapter seven

Worth Everything

Alexandra

I struggled to concentrate on my microbiology notes. The moment Rafferty asked to kiss me, I knew it would dominate my thoughts for the rest of the afternoon…but did I refrain?

No.

Would I do it all over again?

Definitely.

Hands down that had to be the best kiss ever. It was leaps and bounds different from when we were teenagers.

Thank heavens, he ended it though. My hormones had taken over my brain and I was more than ready to blow off my test and hand Rafferty my v-card.

My phone chimed with a text from Jasmine.

In case my brother doesn’t tell you, I’m glad you’re okay. Sorry I didn’t text sooner, I didn’t hear about it until this morning.

I was dying to call her, but considering this involved her brother, there was no way I could talk to Jasmine about my nerves. Rather than call her, I sent her a quick text to say thank you.

Next, I pulled up my text thread with Simone.

Do you have a minute to talk?

Simone called me five minutes later. “What’s up, Lex?”

I didn’t know how to beat around the bush about things, so I spit it out. “Rafferty asked me to give him a shot.”

Simone took a moment. “Okay, you’re gonna have to back up because not that long ago - you know like Bike Week, back in March - the Atlantic Ocean wouldn’t put enough distance between you two.”

I sighed. Then I ran down everything that had happened from the accident, to Rafferty being the one to take me home, both of us learning we were available, to the nightmare I had.

“I imagine a crash like that was traumatic, but I get the feeling there’s more to this.”

My lips twisted to the side. “Porter made unwanted advances on me in the backseat. I resisted, he got aggressive, and after I insisted on it, Ines pulled into a rest area. Not long after we got back on the road the accident happened, and Brantley blamed me for it to my face today.”

“What a shithead,” Simone hissed.

A hint of a smile tugged at my lips. “Yeah, so anyway, should I go there with Rafferty?”

She laughed. “Do you even have to ask?”

“Well… yeah. I mean, if we mess this up, what then? It’ll be too much to see him around with—”

“And there you go.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“If you don’t take the risk, it’ll still be painful to see him at the clubhouse or around your dad. Hell, it’ll probably be worse, because you’ll never know what could have been. So, if you two are down with long distance, then yeah, you should give him his shot.”

I took a deep breath. “Promise not to judge me?”

Her tone became affronted. “Honey, I would never.”

“So, Brantley was here, Rafferty went to the bathroom, and Brantley said a bunch of nasty shit which made me angry and I blurted out that I’m a virgin.”

“Okay,” she drawled.

“I thought you wouldn’t judge.”

“I’m not judging, I just don’t see how this ties in.”

I nodded. “Sorry. Rafferty heard me, he says this isn’t about my virginity, but he wants to be my first.”

Simone made a low ‘aww’ sound. “I’m gonna have to brush my teeth after this, you two are too sweet!”

I couldn’t hold back a short growl. “This isn’t funny, Mony.”

“I know. I’m sorry… but you gotta do what your heart tells you here. You care about him - that hasn’t changed, no matter what either of you say. The first time sucks, but the way Rafferty is about you - there’s no way he won’t do everything he can to take care of you and make it more bearable.”

Her words about ‘the way Raffery is about me’ were puzzling, but I wouldn’t let myself contemplate that any further.

“Yeah,” I whispered.

“Not to gloat or give you an earworm, but… it’s about damn time.”

“Oh, my God, stop it!” I said with a laugh.

“Nope. This makes my day.”

I shook my head. “Please don’t tell anyone about my status.”

“Never - you know that.”

I heard the cry of her baby, Felicity. “I’ll let you go, you’re a great friend and you’ve been a huge help, Simone. I miss you and can’t wait to see your little girl again!”

“It was no problem, and I’ll be back in Jacksonville in a few weeks…but you’ll probably still be in Gainesville.”

“I’ll do my best to make it up there. Take care,” I said, and ended the call.

With my phone in hand, I pulled up the contact for Ines’s Mom. It went straight to voicemail. I left a message asking how Ines was doing, and asked her to text or call me when she had time.

My backpack sat next to an armchair in the living room. I unzipped it to grab my laptop and headed back to the kitchen table where my notes were. The conversation with Simone had helped me more than I’d thought it would, since I was able to focus on my studies.

A knock sounded at the door and I glanced up at the microwave, surprised to see three hours had passed. Rafferty had mentioned bringing back food, so it was too early for it to be him, but maybe he’d changed his mind.

I opened the doorbell app on my phone, saw footage of someone dropping off a package and leaving.

Normally I would wait to grab the package, but the delivery reminded me of Friday evening when Ines told me she’d ordered her favorite perfume that was on sale and she didn’t want it sitting out in the sun.

I opened the door. As I straightened from grabbing the box, Porter moved in front of me from the right (which was out of range for the doorbell camera), as though he’d been waiting against the wall.

“Don’t freak out. I’m here to apologize,” he said, stepping forward.

I held up the box. “Stop right there, Porter.”

“Lexi, it’s almost ninety degrees out here. I got limited time since I’m on my lunch break.”

I wanted to tell him to stop calling me Lexi, but I shook my head instead. “No, you aren’t coming inside. You apologized. Now leave.”

“You don’t even know what I’m sorry for.”

I set the box on a nearby endtable. “It doesn’t matter, Porter. You told the cops that I was responsible for the accident. That’s going entirely too far.”

His head tilted just a touch. “That’s not what I said. Let me inside.”

I shook my head and pushed the door to close it.

“Typical stubborn bitch move. You should have listened, Lexi,” he said, then rushed toward me, grabbing my biceps and kicking the door closed behind him once he was inside.

I lunged backward, which freed my arms. My hope was that he’d move into the living room. If he did that, I could bolt out the door and run down the breezeway to the manager’s unit.

Unfortunately, Porter trudged closer to me and I had to switch my plan.

A na?ve part of me thought he just wanted to say sorry, but every instinctive alarm bell was going off in my head.

“Brantley tells me you’re a virgin.” He shook his head at himself. “How is that even possible? Your daddy’s a biker. I can’t imagine nobody’s gone there with a hot piece of ass like you.”

“Get out,” I said, my tone steely as hell.

He chuckled. “Sweetie, you haven’t even heard me out. I had to wait an hour for your ‘friend’ to leave.”

“How do you know that?”

He smirked. “I have my ways.”

I had slowly backed my way to the kitchen.

Rafferty’s dad had told me I needed a gun - now I wished I had listened. The small of my back hit the kitchen counter.

Dad had taught me that if I found myself in a bad situation, I’d likely only have one shot to fight back. Everything had happened so fast, I wasn’t sure what I could do to fight Porter. Then it hit me. If there was anything I’d learned from the Riot Ol’ Ladies, it was how to be dramatic.

I raised my voice loud enough so that the next door neighbors might hear me. “Get away from me, now! Stop!”

Confusion swam in his eyes. “What are you doing, Lexi?”

My gaze caught on the empty cake stand tucked away in the corner of the opposite counter. It reminded me of Ines and her marble rolling pin. When we first moved in together, she’d told me it was a weapon. I’d told her a rolling pin wouldn’t mean shit to an intruder. Then she’d made me hold it.

“That’s five pounds of dense weight I can wield at a motherfucker. Cave his head in, bust his lip, I don’t give a fuck.”

I’d never thought I would need to use it to save myself.

“I asked you a question,” Porter said, cutting into my thoughts.

“I told you to leave,” I shouted, as calmly as one could shout.

Advancing on me, he shook his head. “Hear me out. Please.”

I edged left along the counter toward the area where Ines kept her rolling pin.

“Get out, Porter,” I repeated.

He stopped advancing - finally!

“I never meant to tell the cop that you had anything to do with the crash.”

I gripped the edge of the counter and leaned back. “Intention doesn’t change what you did. Hell, Brantley said similar shit, it’s almost like you two planned to accuse me.”

He shook his head. “No, plenty of people would conclude that if we hadn’t stopped we wouldn’t have been in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Arguing about this wasn’t worth it, even if stopping the car was the only way to stop Porter from being so damn handsy.

What had I ever seen in him?

“If that’s why you’re here, you can go now.”

A sly expression entered his eyes as he gave a slow shake of his head. “Alexandra - now that I know your story, I want a second chance.”

“No,” I stated emphatically. “Now leave.”

“I’ll be gentle,” he said.

Ines kept her rolling pin on a free-standing holder on the counter. Porter edged forward, I casually reached backward and grabbed the handle. I raised the kitchen tool between us.

“Get the fuck out, Porter.”

His eyes darted to the pin and back to me. Then he laughed.

“A rolling pin, Lexi? What do you think you can do with that?”

I hefted it to the side for more momentum, swung, and caught Porter on the shoulder.

He cried out in pain and grabbed his shoulder.

Then suddenly he wasn’t in front of me, and I realized Rafferty had grabbed him and slammed him against the opposite wall.

He held him there with a hand to Porter’s throat.