Zach pulled into a parking space by the pier and looked around for the guys' bikes, but it looked like he was early so he headed up to Soda Jerks, the staff knew him and Ness, so took in his solo appearance and gave him a curious look but he wasn't in the mood to share the story, he ordered his ice cream, paid and found himself somewhere to sit. He let his mind drift over the last few days, everything had changed and yet it was all exactly the same as it had ever been. Zach felt as though he had been in a never-ending fight with an opponent three times his size and he hadn't once raised his fist to defend himself, let alone to attack; he was exhausted but when Ness had opened her eyes and then when she had grinned at him, it was like she had launched herself into his fight and broken the metaphorical big guy's nose. He smiled to himself, finished his ice cream and headed back down to the beach in search of their friends.
"Hey Zach!" He heard the shout and turned to see Adam, Paul and the other guys heading towards him, he raised his hand in greeting and as they reached him, they all fist bumped.
"Where were you guys last week? And where is Ness now?" Paul asked as he looked around for the missing club member,
"Ness had a crash last Friday, she was and still is in the hospital, although she is awake today, I was a bit out of it and forgot all about you guys"
"Woah! What happened?"
"How is she?"
"You say she is awake today, has she not been, then?" The questions came as fast as their fists usually flew and each hit Zach with the same force as the fists.
"She was just leaving the school parking lot when a car reversed straight into her at speed, she's ok, broken arm and leg and her face looks like shit, still, and yes today is the first day she has been awake, the doctors induced a coma to help speed up the healing." He replied, his voice staying clear and strong which surprised him.
"So just an accident then?" Adam asked
"I don't think so, I've got no proof, but I reckon it was Brad, it wasn't his car though and nobody saw the driver, everyone was too engrossed in watching Ness avoid death, fucking gruesome asshats."
They had all sat down on the sand as Zach spoke,
"What makes you think it was him?" The question was from Trey,
"He was the guy whose rib she broke, I just got the feeling it was him as payback, she really had gone for him, full on raging red mist attack, I guess he felt humiliated to be trounced by a girl, ya know? He's a bit of an alpha male type so…" Zach paused, gathering his thoughts again
"Anyway, I watched him this week and he just had this smug look on his face, I was hard pressed to not break his neck if I'm honest. I know Ness doesn't need me to protect her but fuck, I wanted to kill him" Silence met Zach's words and he looked up to see the faces of their friends, each face wore the same look, Zach was pretty sure his face looked the same too. Murderous.
"We can't do anything… Ness would go mental at us." Zach added quietly. It was Paul that responded,
"Get me a picture of this motherfucker."
"We can't…"
"Get me a goddamn fucking picture." His voice was completely flat, "nobody fucks with my friends."
"Paul?" It was Trey "What are you gonna do?"
"Me? Nothing, I'm just gonna call in a favor. Ness can't lynch me if I don't actually touch the little…" words failed him.
They sat in silence for a while as they each dealt with the sudden rage they had felt, eventually Adam spoke up
"Who feels in control enough to fight Zach? He needs to release more than any of us."
"No face hits and I'll take it." Todd responded, he was the club's 'pretty boy' and was guaranteed to protect his face at all costs, Ness had almost destroyed his ability to be a father because he wouldn't let her land a punch to his face and it was the running joke that he could hook any girl but if he could do anything with her was another matter. He stood and extended his hand to Zach to pull him to his feet, but Zach launched himself from his seated position and knocked Todd to the ground again, landing punch after punch on his body, Todd threw a couple of punches but he knew he just needed to be a punchbag, his punches were simply so it wasn't that obvious, he kept his face covered and took the body blows, they all knew how Zach felt about Ness, and they all knew how Ness felt about Zach but they had figured early on that it wasn't their place to mention anything, the two kids would sort it out themselves or they wouldn't.
Eventually, Zach's rage abated, and he pulled back, Todd uncovered his face tentatively, checking it was safe before dragging himself into a sitting position,
"That launch was Ness-worthy dude," he said as he tested just how sore his body was and winced "actually, I think I just got pounded by Ness… OW!"
"Shut up, you wuss!" Adam laughed and they all joined in; it was the first time Zach had really felt like one of them, they were more Ness's friends, he wasn't a biker and he'd always thought they just tolerated him tagging along because of Ness, but at that moment, Zach felt like he belonged there too.