Ryder

Chapter 10

The red flags go up, and the race grinds to a halt. Damn it, that's not good. That normally means someone is hurt. Once the engine noise fades, you can hear the siren over the growling tick of the bikes. I glance around and can't see everyone, so I'm not sure who's out or how many, but there's a pit in my stomach. I've grown to like some of these guys, and I hope it's nothing serious. This so easily could be me with all the bullshit with Arch, and it's potentially career-ending.

As I get back to the van, I hear a voice from behind me. "Hey."

I spin around, and the smile that spreads across my face makes him smile at me. I rush towards him and throw my arms around him.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" I grin as I squeeze him harder.

Jay smiles at me, squeezing me back. "Thought I'd come and see what a big shot you are now." He laughs.

I stare into his bright blue eyes and can't help but grin. I slip my arm around his neck, pulling him into a headlock and scrubbing my fist in his blonde hair. Jay's as tall as me. Well, he's an inch taller, but because of my curly hair and his crew cut, we look the same. He's more built than me, but not by a lot, and he has more tats than me, all over, up around his neck into his hairline. All his body is covered. He even has tats on his dick. He's a work of art, and he's been my best friend since pre-school. We met on our first day, and we've been inseparable since.

Dad comes round the corner and laughs as he sees us wrestling around and ribbing each other. Jay sees him and breaks away, striding over to him and hugging him. His dad never hung around, either, so Derek has a soft spot for him too, and he was always at our house, or I was at his. Our mums worked shifts around each other, so one of them was always around, and if Dad picked us up from school, he would bring Jay too.

"So." Jay turns to glare at me. "Where's this boyfriend of yours?" He smirks, crossing his arms over his thick chest.

I shake my head. "So, you're here to check him out, not see me?" I laugh.

He grins over at me and chuckles. Winking in my direction. "Fucker," I grumble.

Lee couldn't make it this weekend, and while I am disappointed, I understand he has to work. This means I may not see him next weekend either, as we're further afield for the next round. I feel this is the start of it becoming more difficult for us, but I also can't be mad.

The race is restarting, and as we get to the starting line, Arch looks far too happy with himself. I can't help but wonder if he took out another rider on purpose to try and get the race restarted. It was well out of his capabilities to regain those places, and there was no way he was going to remotely catch up, and the scary thing is, I think he could actually be happy about what he did. I don't think he feels any remorse. That guy"s career is over. He broke his leg, and it will take a while to heal, but it will never be as strong again, and I'm sure he will be out for too long. He may still ride as a hobby but won't make it a career. The break was too bad. It was shattered.

As the board turns and the gate drops, I shoot forward and just try to concentrate as the dirt flies up around me. I just try to stay focused, stay on top of my feelings, and not let anger take over. If I start focusing on Arch, I will fuck up, and I can't have that. I have to keep calm and push forward.

I exit the first corner in second as we push towards the bottleneck at the top of the hill. Rounding the bend, I pull forward, taking it tight and sliding up his inside, shooting past him as I come down the hill in first, screwing the throttle back as hard as I can, hitting the ramp at full throttle and sailing into the air, the feeling is euphoric weightlessness. It all quietens for a split second. It's like all the sound stops till you crash back to earth, before slamming on the breaks, digging my heel into the ground, and accelerating out of the corner. It's clean, it"s beautiful. My back wheel flicks all the mud into the rider behind me. I grin as I take off down the straight.

I'm pulling away, and I can't be caught now. I sail over the line. I look around and can see Dad and Jay jumping up and down.

I meet them back at the van, and I don't even have time to take my helmet off. They dive on me the minute the bike is on the stand. Once I get out of their embrace, I take my helmet off and shake my sweaty hair at them, making them curse and swat at me, and I'm laughing when I see him, Arch. The glare he gives me as he walks towards me. One of his team is behind him with his bike. The lazy fucker can't even push his own bike back. I shake my head as he shoulder barges into me as he walks past. I burst out laughing, and he spins on me, shoving me in the chest.

"You got lucky today, heathen. It won't last." He spits at me. "You're a nothing, a nobody. If you were American, you would be trailer trash, but you're not even well off enough to classify as that!" He spits down on the floor in front of me as Jay pushes forward.

But I rest my hand on his chest, and I push forward till I'm breathing into Arch's forehead. He swallows and glares up at me. When his eyes meet mine, something passes over them, and I grin.

"Money can't buy you everything, Arch." Arch grits his teeth at me, and I grin. "Why don't you and your…" I look around. "Ahh, I was gonna say friends, but it looks like even you don't have enough money to buy decent ones of those."

He glances over my shoulder at Jay and grins. "I wonder if that puff of yours will be interested to know you've found yourself…" He glares at Jay, curls his lip, and spits, "a bit of rough." He grimaces and shudders as if the thought of it disgusts him.

I lurch for the cunt. "You can say what you want about me, but you don't fucking talk about him like that!"

Jay steps forward and gets in between us, slinging his arm in front of me and snarling at Arch, flicking his hand out and grabbing Arch's chin. Arch gasps but freezes. Jay turns Arch's face from side to side, looking him over and grinning.

"Babe, I think he's jealous." Before Arch can say anything, Jay steps forward. "I think he would look so pretty on his knees with these beautiful pink lips wrapped around my giant cock."

Arch's throat bobs, and what looks like lust flicks across his face before he realises what's just happened and slaps Jay's hand away, turning and storming towards his motor home. Jay spins to face me, grabbing his mouth and chuckling. "Holy shit, homophobic arsehole is a closet cunt!" He laughs out. "That fucker's so gay. Jesus."

I shove his shoulder and shake my head. "Dude's not gay. He's just an arsehole!"

"Nah, man, trust me. I know what I saw, and he liked the idea of sucking my giant dick."

Shaking my head at him, I shove him again. "You're not even into guys."

He shrugs. "Never say never!" He winks, bites his lip and groans. Dad clips us both around the back of the head.

"You're both giant dicks. Now, get this bike cleaned up. I'm starving."

It's a warm day, so I grab the hose and whip my shirt off, hosing down the bike, and Jay follows suit and helps. I keep seeing a face looming near the window of Arch's motorhome and can't help but wonder if Jay's right. If his extreme homophobia is because he's actually fighting against his own urges.

I'm not proud of what I do next, but if he is, and he's watching, I hope he enjoys the show. I writhe around and soap up the bike, flicking sudds at Jay and totally being over the top, sliding my hand down my wet, soapy front, flicking my hair, letting the spray fly from the ends of it.

I see Jay catch my glance towards Arch's motorhome, and he bites down on his lips, sliding his hand up my arm and winking at me, flicking his imaginary long hair over his shoulder and prancing around, throwing soap around.

"What the fuck are you two doing?" Dad shouts beside us, making us jump as we both burst out laughing. He just sighs, "You two are right twats. Now hurry up, grill's warm. I want to throw these steaks on before I head to the hotel for the night."

We both salute him as he stalks back towards the grill, and we clean up and head around to join him.