Chapter Six At The Carwash
Briget
I could feel Fate's eyes on me. Ma and I were crying though, so it wasn’t like I could blame him. Ok, so I missed my mom. Ma reminded me so much of my mother. Especially when she used the old southern talk. Swiping at my tears, I let go of Ma.
She reached over and patted my cheek then turned away to head over to the stove.
I looked over at Belle and said, “Let's get ready for the carwash.”
Smiling at me, she nodded, then she looked over at Liberty. “Meet ya out there in like twenty?”
“Nope, that's too long to wait, babe,” he quipped as he grabbed her up and kissed her.
The kiss they shared looked deep, breathless and a bit wild. The two of them seemed to have no shame about that. It went on for a minute or maybe three.
I stood there feeling sort of awkward as I looked anywhere except at them. Then of course, somehow, my gaze met Fate’s.
He shrugged at me and rolled his eyes like he was feeling a bit awkward too. “Come on, Lib,” Fate said. “It's just twenty minutes.” He then left the kitchen.
Liberty broke the kiss finally and gave Belle a wink before turning to head out the door.
Belle looked over at me while wearing a goofy smile. “Sorry ‘bout that.”
“You are not one bit sorry… Babe .” I scoffed then chuckled. “Let’s go.” I led the way out.
Laughing, we both went across the first living room. The Connor House had three huge living rooms, two rec rooms and two dens. The place was nice too. I’d known of it when it was up and running. Well, most of Ramton did as it was the only bed and breakfast the town had. I did wonder what happened to the Connors themselves though. Did they run off like most of the town had?
I broke away from Belle and went into my room.
Belle went further down the hall to the room her and Liberty shared.
I never believed she would share a room with a guy. I had to admit it still felt odd that Belle had a steady boyfriend. In the years that I’d known her, she’d refused to have any guy in her life permanently. Up until now. It had to be true love and she claimed it was. I held out hope that it would last. It sure looked like it would.
Heading over to the dresser, I took out an older t-shirt. I liked the one I had on too much to use it for hard labor. I changed it and left my jean shorts on. I did go over to the closet to switch my tennies out for sandals. With the water and all, they would be better for this.
I checked myself out in the large dresser mirror and shrugged. I looked ok…Hair didn’t need brushing. I still had a small amount of makeup on from this morning. Oh…Maybe a ponytail would be a good idea. I looked around in the small top drawer for a holder and then put my hair up.
I hoped Belle was ready, there were times when she was like your typical female. Taking forever to get ready for something. Then other times, she would be ready before I was. I went out to the hall to wait for her.
In just a couple of minutes, she came down the hall wearing a bikini top and jeans short with sandals. She also had a towel over her shoulder.
I stared at her bikini top and asked in surprise, “You were serious about the bikini?”
Nodding at me, she laughed. “Might as well try for a tan. Besides, don’t tell me that wearing a t-shirt isn’t gonna be sexy too.”
“I won’t, cause it isn't.” I headed down the hallway.
“We'll see,” Belle replied as she followed me.
When we got to the parking area, I noted they had all the vehicles behind a fence. There were many people here so it looked like a huge car dealership honestly. Except there had to be over 50 bikes here too. The wide gate stood open, so we walked through. Looking around, we spotted Liberty hosing down a large SUV. So we headed over.
He was laughing while spraying the vehicle down.
“What’s so funny?” Belle asked him as we walked up.
He pointed at the windshield.
We looked through it to see Fate in the front seat. He looked unhappy to say the least.
“What are you doing?” I asked Liberty.
He grinned and replied, “Just teasing him.”
“You’re trapping him inside the car?” Belle asked him.
Liberty scoffed. “Nah, he can come out anytime he wants… If he’s brave enough.”
I shook my head and went over to the passenger door. “Roll the window down,” I called to Fate.
He stared at me then leaned forward to tap the button.
Turning, I raised my hand to warn Liberty, “Don’t spray over here. Or you will be cleaning water up from the seats!”
Liberty snorted and said, “Killjoy.” He laughed. “Fate acted like a girl about the water.”
“A girl?” Belle asked.
He turned to look at her. “Um…I mean—”
Grabbing the hose from him, Belle then let him have it with the spray.
He shouted as she doused him then he turned and ran.
“What a freakin’ girl!” she called out as she laughed and rushed after him.
Fate opened the vehicle door and hopped out. “Thanks for the rescue.” He smiled at me. “I was done cleaning the interior, but he wouldn’t let me out.” He nodded his head at Belle as she was still chasing after Liberty with the hose. “Glory was right, she is his match.”
I chuckled. “If you mean she won’t take any crap from him, then you would be correct.”
“Fantastic.” He beamed. “To think, most would wish him happiness and good cheer. Me? I want him to be kept in line and be made accountable for his actions.”
“Wow, talk about brotherly love.” I shook my head. “And you are twins, no less.”
“You don't get it,” Fate explained. “The man is a constant jokester. And he has been that way since he was three years old. Sometimes, I feel like he almost goes too far. I am a constant victim, although Justice caught a lot of it too.”
“So what Glory said about the prank war thing? That's for real?” I stared at him.
He nodded, then let out a chuckle. “He didn’t win against her. Then he dragged me into it and I lost too.”
“I cannot wait to hear about this,” I told him as I smiled. “I bet it’s hilarious.”
“I’m not sure if it's hilarious or more like nefarious. But knowing Glory, you will be hearing about it. Because I refuse to pay her off a second time.”
“Wow…” I laughed again. “You really paid her off?”
“We both did. Two hundred dollars a piece. And at the time, it was a lot of money for us. She took it and went to Disneyland.”
I leaned my head back to laugh loudly.
Fate just shook his head and smiled. “I’m serious. She put us over the coals, then blackmailed us. Then she and dad grabbed a plane to Florida to hang out with the real Mickey and Goofy.” He winced.
“The real Mickey and Goofy?” I asked.
“That was what she called us at the time. I was Mickey and Liberty was Goofy.”
I stared at him then shook my head. “I suppose I can see that happening. Glory is not the least bit shy is she? Actually, your entire family is something else. All brave, in your face kind of characters, really.”
“Yeah,” Fate said. “I know. And I have an inside joke about that. We are the Triple A’s.”
I tilted my head at him and said, “Well, this ought to be good.”
He grinned at me and explained it, “We are abrasive, annoying assholes. So honestly, we don't really fit in anywhere. Except for our club.”
I had to laugh as I went over and grabbed up the soap bucket to set it close to the hood of the SUV. “Club?” I asked. “You mean motorcycle club?”
He nodded and came over to grab a large sponge from the soapy water bucket at my feet. “There’s my brothers, two uncles, several cousins and about twenty other bikers. But they're technically brothers too.” Fate slapped the sponge onto the hood and started to soap the exterior of the SUV.
Looking down, I saw a second sponge in the bucket, so I raised it up and set it onto the hood then moved to the opposite side.
We both spent the next ten minutes or so working the different sides of the Silver SUV. Then when we got close to each other again, I asked, “So what do ya’ll do there. In this club, I mean??”
“We have lots of different jobs. My dad has businesses he opened while he had the club going and we all work in them. They actually belong to the Requiem.”
I looked over at him and dipped the sponge back into the bucket then asked, “What’s a Requiem?”
Fate smiled and replied, “The Requiem MC. That’s the name of our club. We own a gym, a couple of convenient stores, and a construction company. We have a storage business where we also have a rental yard that has tractors and large equipment that we lease out. We all take turns working at the various businesses. Then we also do turns working at Justice’s law offices.”
Pausing, I raised my head to stare at him. “Is that what most MCs do?” This whole subject had me really curious as I’d never been in close proximity with bikers before.
Fate shook his head. “No, not really. I mean there are a few in Houston and lots of clubs in Dallas that own strip clubs and bars. Or maybe like professional garages. But no, we aren’t the norm. It was because of my dad though. He built it up that way. He wanted legit businesses. Then he fully vets any new members. No drugs, no trouble makers. We are really bikers though, despite the jobs and sometimes wearing a tie. We were trained in many types of combat, so we could still be badasses.” He winked at me. “Even while wearing a suit.”
I stared at him. The cute wink, the smile, the well muscled bod. And damn, he had charm to spare. Plus, he and his family were as well off as I had guessed. Gazing back down at the bucket, I again felt inadequate. Out of my realm. Not in this man’s league at all. This was why I really did not take him seriously.
A shout and laughter rose in the air, so we both looked up.
Belle was running toward me as a soaking wet Liberty chased her with the water hose in his hand.
Before either of us could react, Fate and I were both caught in the water spray. Then all heck broke loose when Fate went and grabbed a second hose.
We all played water war and we definitely all lost the battle. We ended up soaked to the skin, laughing and panting for air.
Suddenly, a loud whistle went off and we all looked up.
Talon stood there with a red face. “Are you children?” he asked in disgust.
Fate and Liberty looked like they might just get angry at his snide look and bossy attitude.
Before the guys could open their mouths, I grabbed a hose and hit Talon with water spray. Then shouted, “Children!! We Are children.”
Talon backed up as he raised his hands to try and deflect the water but it did him no good. He had to keep backing away until he was far enough that my hose spray could not reach him anymore. He looked super pissed but he decided to leave us be.
For now, I bet. This guy ran the place I know, but wow, he really acted like a sergeant in the military. Connor House was full of family, not army recruits. I mean I get it, the Walkers really were a well-oiled machine. Talon and Liv were in charge of it all. I noticed that there were lots of men here. Liberty told me and Belle that the combined MC members totaled out to about fifty or so men. Some stayed in the extra cabins out in the back area and some stayed in the house itself. There seemed to be plenty of room since the MC guys doubled up and the families had the larger rooms.
The surprising news was that they all moved here after Deacon used it as one of his hideaways. This was where he had held Glory after he kidnapped her. Now, it looked like he might have discovered where the Walkers were. And whaddayaknow? They were in the last place he would have thought of. I admit that was very clever on their part.
Turning around, I stepped back over to where our group was.
Fate stared at me with an expression of awe on his face after I just soaked Talon down with the hose. “Damn!”
I shrugged. I saw there might possibly be a fight of some kind over this between the guys and this was the best solution I could come up with. Not that I didn’t enjoy it. Talon reminded me of my Gym coach in high school. Just the way he acted and bossed everyone around. I chuckled and said, “The guy needed to cool off anyways. I just did him a favor, really.”
They all laughed.
Shaking her head as she smiled, Belle came over and draped her towel over me.
I stared at her. “I’m okay. I don’t need a towel.”
“Oh yes, you do,” Belle said as her face looked pink. “Remember what I said about your t-shirt being sexy?” She pointed at my wet chest.
Gazing down, I saw what she meant. My hardened nipples were prominently displayed in all their pink glory right through the wet t-shirt. In fact my whole boobs were easy to see through the now wet material. With a gasp, my head shot up as I stared at her then looked over at Fate.
He bit at his lip then reluctantly looked away.
I knew he had already gotten an eyeful though. I shook my head and said, “Okay then…it’s a wet t-shirt contest.”
“If it is,” Liberty stated with a laugh as he nodded his head at me. “You won, hands down.”
Fate looked up at him then raised the sprayer hose to get Liberty right in the face.
Spluttering and stumbling back, Liberty shouted, “Hey!”
Fate looked a little angry as he kept at him with the sprayer.
Laughing, Belle grabbed the hose and took it from him. “Ok, boys that’s enough.”