Page 54 of Orion Ruined

“Better?”

I nod. His jacket is big, heavy, warm, and smells of him.

He hops on the bike again and we ride for another twenty minutes through the streets of NY. What a feeling it is to be out, and free. Kai nods to at least five people on our journey. They must recognize him by the tattooed arms and bike, but nobody knows me. The joy of being invisible.

After a while we slow down, I presume because we’ve reached our destination, just outside an old building in a rundown area of town. It has one metal door with a sign that reads ‘Studio’ hanging above it, the opening hours written underneath.

Kai turns to me. “Shall we wait a half hour for it to open, or shall I just go in now?”

He’s waiting on my response, but his cell on the handlebars is flashing repeatedly with a message.

I point to it. “Your cell.”

He leans forward and reads it, then checks the time. “Let’s wait for them to open. I have enough time to sort this out.” He does a U-turn and we zoom off.

“Where’re we going?” I shout.

“My club. Don’t worry, it’s gonna be fine. Nobody’ll know we’re there.”

My heart’s in my throat as we drive through the wide entrance. Bikers are all over the place, most of them tinkering with their own bikes. Some are listening to music, some smoking dope, some just lying there with a girl next to them. Nobody really pays any attention to us. Maybe this will be fine, as Kai says.

At the far end is a swinging door where people are coming in and going out, and as they do a bar inside is revealed, where everyone seems to be enjoying themselves, even at this time of the day. We pull up at the opposite end, away from the bar and next to an office. A tall, lanky man sees us through the glass and comes out. His nose is crooked and his tiny, squinty eyes are too close together. He’s unsettling.

Kai parks the bike but leaves the motor running.

“Stay here, I’ll be right out.” He’s talking to me without looking at me, scoping out the place instead. He gets off the bike and heads toward the office. “What’s so urgent that you needed me back right now, Rocco?”

He’s gone, and I’m left alone, sitting barefoot on his bike. What was I thinking? Staying out for even one minute could take me back to square one. Kai did not think this through. Is anyone looking at me? Fuck. Anyway. I look different now. Just as I try to steel myself and say ‘fuck them’ in my head, a tap on my shoulder startles me.

“Hey, what’s up?”

I turn to see a petite girl with short blonde hair and piercing, serpentine eyes. Her black vest reveals a lot of skin, covered in tattoos from her neck down to her arms. I can’t see her legs as she’s wearing greased-up jeans, but I’d bet the tattoos go along her whole body.

I pull my visor open and shrug. “Not much.”

“That’s Kai’s jacket you’re wearing, right? He rarely takes that thing off. It must be nasty on the inside.”

“It’s not, actually,” I reply, and glance over to the office. Kai’s sitting down with the man and talking.

“Where are your shoes?”

“I lost them.”

“What are you, size seven? Here, have mine.” She takes off her sneakers. They look too expensive and unique for anyone to part with: red-and-white striped, with a strange insignia hand-stitched on them.

“A-are you sure?” She’s a lifesaver. We don’t have to stop to buy shoes anymore.

“Of course, I got plenty.” She too looks over at the office. “What’s Kai doing? Working?”

“Yeah.”

“And you? All alone here? Come with me. And take your helmet off, I’m sure everyone’ll want to meet you.”

“Um, I was told to stay here, actually. I’m sorry.”

“Oh, come on. Kai’s not gonna be back for a while. He probably told you to stay here and he’ll ‘be right out.’ Well, if you do, you’ll end up waiting on him for hours. Trust me. I know.”

That’s what he said, exactly. If he’s like that, what a prick. I remove my helmet slowly and observe her reaction. There is none. She’s nonchalant, which puts me at ease. I place the helmet on the bike in front of me and lift my feet one after the other to put the sneakers on.

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