Chapter 3 #2
I look away just as the door swings open and Legs walks in. She heads straight over, smiling at Lil as she holds her hand out.
“Hi. Lil, right? I haven’t really gotten a chance to talk to you since I arrived. I’m Legs. It’s nice to meet you.”
Lil hesitates for a moment, then leans over the bar with a smile and shakes her hand. “I can’t remember the last time I shook someone’s hand. Is that weird?”
“Bikers usually want us to shake something else,” Legs says with a wink, making Lil giggle.
“You’re not wrong.”
Legs turns to look at me and smiles—but again, knowing it’s not the same smile from yesterday pisses me off, though I don’t let it show.
“Hey, Midas.”
“Hey,” I mutter back. She looks back at Lil. “You wanna maybe hang out sometime? Maybe grab a coffee, do a little retail therapy? I still need a few things for my room. I got distracted last time and don’t really know my way around yet.”
Lil looks caught off guard, and I frown before remembering that most of her so-called friends bailed after everything went down, leaving her to deal with the aftermath alone.
“Um… sure. That sounds great. When were you thinking?”
Legs shrugs. “I’m easy. You pick a day that works best for you. I just need to check with Blade to see what he wants me to do around here. But otherwise, I’m free.”
“He’s pretty easygoing. He likes us to pull our weight, but he doesn’t hand out jobs unless he thinks we’re slacking. Or if they need the prospect for something, which usually means working the bar.”
She nods. “Okay, that’s doable. What about meals?”
“It’s mostly fend for yourself, but the kitchen’s always fully stocked, thanks to Sunshine.”
She starts to say something, then looks back at me. “Shit. Sorry, I’d better go. Catch you later, Lil,” she calls over her shoulder, offering me a nod goodbye, so why does it feel like she just kicked me in the dick?
Once I get another couple of coffees in me and I start to feel my human again, I figure a ride might be the best thing for me right now.
With a wave to Lil, I head to the door, almost colliding with G, who looks me up and down.
“You heading to work?”
I shake my head; grateful it doesn’t feel like it’s gonna fall off anymore.
“Going for a ride.”
“You feel like some company?”
“Sure. But I’m leaving now.”
“Cool,” he says, falling in beside me. When we reach the warehouse, we walk over to our bikes.
“You got someplace in mind?” he calls as he grabs his helmet off his seat and straddles his bike.
I shake my head. “Right now, anywhere but here.”
I climb on my bike and start her up. The second her throaty growl rumbles through my bones, something inside me finally settles.
G pulls out, and I follow behind him. When we reach the main road, I open her up. I grin inside my helmet as I push her limits. Yeah, I’m being reckless, but I don’t give a fuck. This is exactly what I needed.
We head out of town, speeding down the empty stretch of road with no destination in mind. We don’t stop until I need gas. When I spot the gas station up ahead, I signal and pull in, parking beside the pumps. I climb off the bike and take my helmet off before filling up, and G does the same.
“You want to get something to eat?” he asks, nodding to the diner across the road.
My stomach growls at the mention of food. “Yeah, sounds good.”
We pay for our gas and ride across the road, parking in front of the huge front window so that we can keep an eye on our bikes.
The bell above the door jingles when we walk in, and the waitress behind the counter looks over. “Sit where you want. I’ll be with you in a moment.”
The place is dead. Besides me and G, the only other customer is a trucker sitting at the counter, eating a slice of pie. We slide into the booth next to the window, and each of us grabs a plastic-covered menu from the end of the table.
A few minutes later, the waitress comes over, and I order the waffles with blueberries and whipped cream, along with some breakfast sausages.
G grins at the menu, and I know exactly what he’s gonna say.
“I’ll have a stack of pancakes with syrup and a side of bacon, extra crispy.”
“Can we also get a couple of coffees?” I ask her as I put the menu back.
“Sure thing. It shouldn’t take long.”
“No problem.” G smiles at her, and she actually blushes before walking away.
“You’re so fucking predictable, you know that?” I smirk.
G shrugs. “If it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it.”
“Don’t you get bored of always having the same thing?”
“Nope. I know what I like. I’m not a food whore like you.”
I flip him off, leaning back in my seat.
“You wanna talk about whatever the fuck your problem is?”
“No.” I fold my arms, making him grin.
He leans forward. “Tough. Do it anyway.”
“What the fuck, you a shrink now?”
“If you need me to be. But don’t expect it to be free, I charge by the hour.”
“Funny, so does your mom.”
He just laughs, not taking the bait.
“Look, something’s pissing you off, and I figured you needed to talk to someone about it. So why not me? You know I’ll keep it to myself, unlike the brothers, who are a bigger bunch of gossips than the club bunnies.”
I wince at the mention of club bunnies, and the perceptive fucker that he is notices right away.
“Ah. I get it.”
I shift in my seat, but don’t say anything.
“It’s been a while since you’ve shown an interest in anything.
Sure, you’ve got the shop, and you do whatever the club requires of you, but since shit went down with Bear and Snake.
It’s like you’re only half here. Gotta say, maybe it’s a good thing a bunny caught your eye. ”
I frown, thinking about what he’s saying and considering his words.
“I get it. When your brothers turn on you, it makes it really fucking hard to put your faith in the ones left.” Wait, what?
Sure, he’s right about the past, but that’s not what’s got me twisted up right now.
I rub my face and grunt at him. “It’s not like I don’t want to trust you all—I do. But I trusted Bear and Snake, too. Yeah, they’re assholes, but show me a brother who isn’t. I bled for Snake when I prospected. I took a fucking bullet meant for his old lady. I never regretted it—”
“Until he showed his true colors. Look, none of us walked away without scars, Midas, but some of us were fucked up more than the rest. Just look at Lil. She’s changed since then.
She goes through the motions, but she’s not the same person she used to be, and her so-called friends turned their backs on her.
I’m not judging them for walking away, but none of them keep in touch, at least as far as I know. ”
He stops talking when the waitress comes back with our food and drinks. We both thank her, then I wait until she leaves before I say anything.
“Legs asked Lil if she wanted to hang out today,” I tell him, picking up my fork and knife. “Lil looked surprised, nervous, and excited all at the same damn time. That shit broke my heart a little.”
“Legs, huh?” He smirks, and now I realize why he changed the subject. He wanted me to be the one to bring her up. Asshole.
“Yeah,” I grunt, cutting into my waffles. He watches me, knowing there’s more to it.
“You think it’s an act or is Legs a good person?” he asks carefully.
“I’m not sure yet. But I think she’ll be good for Lil.” I take a big bite of my food.
“My gut says she’s a good girl. She’s funny, sweet, none of it seems like an act to me, and I like to think I’m pretty good at reading people.”
I grunt, not needing the reminder that he’s spent time with her.
“Blade told me he’s giving them two months to figure out if they want to stay on a permanent basis. I personally hope they don’t wait too long to decide because breaking in the new ones gets old.”
I grip my fork so tight my knuckles turn white.
“I don’t see her leaving anytime soon. Not this one. Raven Souls isn’t Legs’ first club. She knows what she’s getting into.”
I nod around a mouthful of food. “Right. She’s one of the transfers.” I almost forgot about that part.
“And from what I heard, Legs was with the mother chapter of Chaos Demons for years before Viper was president. They were into some fucked-up shit back in the day, so she’s seen the dark side of club life.”
“What the fuck?”
G swallows and frowns. “You didn’t know that?”
“No, I didn’t fucking know that. I knew she was from Chaos Demons, but I thought she came from Scope’s chapter.”
“Huh. Well, technically she did, it’s just not where she started out.”
He digs back into his food, and I do the same, lost in thought, trying to piece everything together. But the woman slowly consuming my thoughts just became even more interesting.
When I’m done, I push the plate away and sip my coffee. I wait for G to finish so we can head back. I’ve got the strangest urge to hunt Legs down and get some answers. I won’t pry, though, because then she’ll expect the same in return, and my past is off limits.
“So... Legs… you fuck her again?”
I grit my teeth and look away.
“You like her?”
“I don’t know her,” I say. It’s such a total fucking cop-out, and we both know it.
“Huh. I guess it won’t hurt to get to know her a little more myself then.
” He waggles his eyebrows at me, making me want to rip that stupid piercing out of his eyebrow.
But I say nothing, do nothing, because I have no fucking claim on the woman, and both of us know it.
So I’ll do what I do best and avoid her, hoping this weird hold she has on me disappears.