Good for you. “Find out more about this party for me.”
“I’m not part of this crew, remember? You don’t get to give me orders.”
My eyes slowly fell to his and I narrowed them.
“Get me more information on this party I’m going to attend.”
My cousin grinned. “Trying to get some ass?”
“Just go,” Rupert said.
“All I’m saying is, this is the place to get it. Want me to check up on your girl for you?”
I puffed smoke in his face. “Just go.”
“Fine, whatever.”
Benji pushed off the sidewalk with the sputtering old rust bucket I’d told him not to buy. I told him it would suck down more money than it was worth and it still wouldn't ride like he wanted it to. But my cousin was always determined to prove me wrong. I told him he couldn't pledge this crew, but no matter what I did, he always tried. Showed up randomly and tried to ride with us. Tried getting himself into trouble just to show us he was capable of defending himself. I’d had to bail that asshole out of more bullshit in his life than I had the rest of this fucking crew. I used that mindset against him, though.
I told him he’d never get the grades in high school to go to college, and he did.
I told him he’d never get into a university, and he did.
I told him he’d never have the guts to do something no one else in this crew had done, and he did. He was the first one of us to go to school. To declare a degree. To make something of himself.
And if that’s what got him away from this place, I’d keep challenging him until it got him as far away from this family as possible.
“So you coming back for the party?” Rupert’s voice pulled me from my trance.
“Don’t know.”
“Oh, come on. You know you’re going to come back.”
I shrugged. “Got shit to do.”
“What kind of shit? Better than getting laid?”
The guys behind me agreed with him as I puffed at the last of my cigarette.
“We’ll see,” I said.
I let the butt fall from my lips before I smashed it into the ground with my boot.
“Oh, come on. You can tell us. You're coming back, aren’t you?”
I slowly looked over at Rupert and blew the last of the smoke I had in my lungs in his face.
“Shut up, Roop.”
He snickered. “I love pissing you off.”
I revved my engine before I sped off, watching Benji putter his way to his dorm with that awkward bike of his. He was a bit too big for it. Those wheels were a bit too flat. But even so, I saw how girls stared at him, licking their lips and running their eyes over him. To them, he was a prized treasure wrapped in leather, black denim, and cockiness. Which they seemed to enjoy.
Interesting.
No matter. There were other things to focus on before that party. And collecting our next job was one of those things. I rode down toward the main highway with the guys following me. And when our first opening came, we sped in the direction we needed to go. We turned onto the highway and weaved in and out of traffic. Horns honking. People cursing. Lights flashing.
It made me smile, feeling the wind wrapping around my body as the people of Ann Arbor cursed at us.