10
“D on’t bother trying to fool me. I know you were talking about me and what’s going on.” She met Aaron’s gaze as she spoke, then turned to Matt. “I thought we were going to keep this quiet.”
“We are keeping it quiet, but if you’re going to be seeing him, he needs to know. Besides, he was from the area, he may know some of these guys. He might be able to help,” Matt said.
“I’ve not been in touch with anyone I knew from school, but I’ve got a couple of buddies from when I was in the Army who settled down there after they got out. I’ll reach out to them, see what they can tell me,” Aaron said.
She started to say something, she didn’t know if it was say that wasn’t necessary or to caution him about being too specific with what he was looking for. He held up one hand, letting her know he wasn’t done.
“I’ll be careful. I won’t give your name or any details, but I can do a little fishing and see what I can find out. I’ll do a little looking online too, see if I can figure out who these guys might be and if they’re even looking for you.” He gave her what she thought was a hopeful smile. “For all we know, they’ve written you off as gone for good and have moved on.”
She watched him for a moment, trying to decide if he was lying to make her feel better or if he really believed what he was saying. After a moment she nodded, accepting it. She didn’t think he was lying or at least not outright. He might be fudging the truth a bit, but she didn’t know him well enough to be sure anymore.
“I thought we were told no poaching?” A blond with his hair pulled back onto a low ponytail and a couple months growth of beard came up behind Aaron and demanded.
Aaron turned his head far enough he could likely see the new guy, at least enough to identify him, if he knew him.
“No. You were told no poaching. But there are two differences here.” Aaron kept his voice even, as if he was trying to teach the other man something.
“What? And don’t tell me you’re not trying to pick her up. I heard enough earlier to know you’re making plans to take her out.” The newcomer sounded defensive.
“Ok, let’s make that three differences. We’ll start with number one being that I know Heather, and not just from today. We knew each other years ago and just ran into each other again.”
The new guy waved one hand as if dismissing that, but he didn’t get a chance to say anything as Aaron continued.
“Number two being that Heather doesn’t belong to any of the Kings.”
“She’s here with him.” The new guy flung one hand in Matt’s direction.
“Yes, she is, but she’s not his ol’ lady or even his date. She’s his cousin.”
Heather was glad he didn’t go into detail about why she was here if she wasn’t seeing one of the Kings. She didn’t need her troubles spread wide for everyone to know.
The new guy, obviously one of Aaron’s club members, folded his arm across his chest and scowled. She didn’t have to know him to see he wasn’t impressed by Aaron’s reasons.
“And then there’s the third, and maybe the most important one.” Aaron stopped, glancing at her before turning back to look at the new guy.
“Enlighten me.” The new guy’s tone said he’d lost interest, but knew he wasn’t getting away until Aaron had finished with whatever he was saying.
“The third difference is I asked Heather to dinner as a chance to reconnect, to get to know her and possibly build some kind of relationship. You don’t do relationships with women. You hook up. And hooking up or trying to hook up with any woman associated with our allies is asking for trouble. That is why you were told no poaching.”
“But you get to?”
Aaron shook his head. “No. I just explained to you why my asking Heather to let me see her again wasn’t poaching. If you don’t see the difference, it’s because you don’t want to. I’m not wasting more time trying to get the blind to see.” Aaron turned back to face the table, effectively dismissing the stranger.
The stranger frowned at Aaron’s back, opened his mouth like he was going to say something then shook his head, closed his mouth, and walked away.
“He’s a player?” Matt asked once the stranger was gone.
“Yeah, Sackett will nail anything that walks. Once. Thankfully, it’s not something I have to deal with much anymore.”
“Oh?”
Heather stayed quiet as she watched the two of them talk. At least they were getting along now, and Matt wasn’t doing his best to run Aaron off.
“He’s only up for another few days. He’ll go back to Arizona when the Tucson chapter leaves,” Aaron said.
“And you’re staying?” Matt’s tone made it clear that he wasn’t sure if he liked that.
“I moved to the ranch last fall. About the time of that dustup with your previous president, if I recall right. I wasn’t sure when I came up, but I have been for some time now. I’ve got no intention of leaving, at least not any time soon.” Aaron met her gaze and winked as if he’d knew Matt was checking on his intentions toward her and possibly checking to see if he’d come up here looking for her for the men in Mobile.
“I told you.” She tilted her head sideways until it knocked into Matt’s shoulder. “Now, one or both of you go get a plate, before there’s nothing left.”
“Go ahead.” Matt nodded at Aaron, letting the other man go first.
“You sure?”
“I’m sure.” Matt made no move to get up.
“You know, I’m a big girl and with all these rough bikers around, I doubt anyone will brave the group to harass me. You can both go fill plates. I’ll be okay.” Heather was getting tired of their shit.
Matt looked at her as if he was trying to decide if she was telling the truth, then without a word he stood, looked at Aaron and tilted his head toward the line that no longer had any women, but was about a third of the men gathered around.
Heather looked around, noticing that even with food being served, there were men wearing the leather vests like Matt and Aaron both wore, scattered around the area where everyone gathered. They didn’t look like they were standing guard, but she got the feeling they were making sure there was no trouble, from either inside the group or from anyone not part of either club. Feeling reassured, she picked up a tortilla from her plate, tore a chunk off and scooped up some of the beans before popping them in her mouth.
She blinked several times as she chewed and swallowed. The food was good, at least what she’d tasted so far, but she hadn’t been expecting sweet beans.
“Is something wrong?” a woman’s voice asked from not far away.
Heather picked up her coke, took a drink and turned to find a woman she’d seen a few times today, but didn’t know her name.
“Yeah, I’m good. Thanks. I just wasn’t expecting the beans to be sweet. It was a bit of a surprise.”
The other woman frowned. “Why wouldn’t they be sweet?”
“No reason for them not to be, I just wasn’t expecting it. They’re good I’m just not used to it, and didn’t think about them being any different than what I’m used to. Thanks for checking on me though.” She smiled and hoped the woman would take the hint.
Heather ducked her head and kept her gaze on her plate as she continued to eat. She’d been social and friendly all day and could use a few minutes of not talking to anyone to recharge, just a little. Not that she minded being around Matt, or even Aaron. She felt like she still knew him as well as she had way back when, even though they hadn’t seen each other.
Was that odd? Did he maybe feel the same way? She couldn’t tell, and she’d never ask, but she could hope.