SWNOVELS Chapter 17 — His Bike
-Dominic's POV-
As I walked into the school building 20 minutes late, I tried thinking of excuses I could use to explain to the guys where I went off to yesterday before I stopped and told myself that I didn't really care. Although I did realize that walking to school allowed for more time to think, and even though that should be a good thing, I personally needed to avoid it. There were things that I didn't need to think about.
I opened my locker with little awareness of my surroundings. Most people were in class at this point anyway except, "You're late" I was told by someone and I looked up to find Jason?
"This is new," I say my thought out loud, but it was true. Throughout these six months of knowing the guys, Jason was never the first to approach me, at least not alone. He was very distant and was used to people approaching him first. I put my guard up just in case he tried anything but instead, I was surprised to see him smile back down at me. "Since there won't be any gym today, Nick wanted you to sit with us during the lunch period." The bit about there not being any gym wasn't news to me but since I 'wasn't there' I raised my eyebrow, acting as if I was surprised to know that he knew about it.
"You were there at the time too?" I ask, and he scratches his head, probably preparing a lie,
"it happened just as we were about to leave."
I nodded but obviously that wasn't the case. The media wasn't aware of it, but the Skulls and Bones were the ones responsible for the shooting in the basement and ground floor of the gym. Our fight got serious and fast. There was a lot of damage and even I was left with a bullet wound from getting shot and having the bullet dig its way into my shoulder but not all the way since my leather jacket was able to provide some resistance. When Xavier saw the wound after the fight, he scolded me for a full hour while stitching it up.
All this led to the gym having to shut down for a while, leaving me supposedly jobless, so they knew I'd have to be at school.
"So we'll see you at lunch, right?" Jason asks, breaking me out of my thought. I lowered my hood which had stood to protect my bruised face from being seen while I answered him.
"Since when did it go from hating me to wanting me around, Jason?" I ask back and he shrugs.
"People change."
"But never entirely," I smirk, and he decided not to take notice of it.
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"We don't want to hurt you." Oh, the irony, he was the one who started the fight yesterday with that headlock of his, but I let him continue, "Besides, I'm sure you could protect yourself from us anyway." I smiled at the fact that he acknowledged me and decided to give him a decent reply.
"I'll think about it."
He accepted that and then turned to go to class.
After that, I started walking to the school's parking lot with my hood back up again. It was where I was told to pick up my bike by the owner of the garage whom I had left it to. I usually get my work done by his men, mostly William who I trusted the most, but as I walked closer to where I could see William standing and my muscles tensed, anger starting to boil in me. What the fuck had they done to my bike? I thought as I went behind William and shoved him really hard which made him fall onto the floor.
"What the fuck is this and where the fuck is my bike?!" I shouted, spitting venom at him because this was no longer the bike that I loved but a cheap blue rip-off.
"Before I could get to your bike, the boss had concluded that there was no repairing it and had sent it away. Instead, he bought this one thinking it'd suit you more," he replies as he tries getting up, wincing in pain. My hands balled into fists and I started shaking in anger. I wasn't called a demon for nothing. I stood behind the bike and kicked it over so half of it landed on William's leg, making him groan in pain.
I walked over and crouched next to him. "Do you have any idea how valuable that bike is to me? Don't you recognize who's bike it was? It's belonged to Arthur!" His head snapped in my direction with his eyes widened and mouth agape. "Arthur? How? Why would you have Arthur's bike?" He asks softly, pain in his voice which made me calm down slightly. I helped move the bike from his leg as I answered.
"He was my saviour, my friend, my brother, and yours too" William was my stepbrother's best friend. We grew up together after moving to New York from England. After the accident though, we stopped talking. The only way he knew me now was through the Mysterious Demon because I had only trusted him with repairing my stepbrother's bike the same way Arthur did when he was alive.
I took out my necklace and showed it to him. "Dominic?" He asked, shock evident on his face.
"I'm more known as Demonic now," I chuckle softly but shake my head. "Leave William, take the stupid bike with you. If you ever tell anyone of who I am then I won't be as merciful but, you know that already, don't you?" He stared at me for a few seconds and I expected him to turn and leave straight away but instead, he walked up to me and surprised me with a hug.
He held me for a minute in silence before slowly pulling away. "Don't suffer alone." He said, and I knew exactly what he meant. I could rely on him.
After that, he squeezed my shoulder in reassurance, packed up, and drove away. Leaving me standing there with emotions that I wasn't ready to feel.