Chapter 14
Annalese
T rix and Vapor take me to the clubhouse to wait for Haze to return. She brings me a sweater and a pair of jeans. I clean up and change in one of the restrooms, the jeans are a little snug, but they’ll do. My beautiful gown smells like smoke and that breaks my heart. I decide to send it out to be dry cleaned. Hopefully, it will come back clean and smoke free.
When I come out with my dress tucked under my arm, I realize the cavernous main room of the clubhouse is practically a ghost town as far as club brothers go. Except for a dozen or so club girls scattered about, sipping on drinks, there are only a handful of prospects wandering around with their guard up.
“Where is everyone?” I ask Trix after Vapor wanders off to make sure everything is as it should be.
Trix shrugs, “Out hunting down clues as to what happened to Haze’s boat, I imagine. Right now, the only people here are club girls hoping the brothers make it back in time to party tonight, and prospects who have been tasked with guarding the clubhouse when the brothers are on a mission.”
Glancing around, I respond awkwardly, “I guess that makes sense.”
“Let’s get something to drink,” she tells me as she flashes a hand sign at Mel who is behind the bar.
“I hope Haze is okay,” I state worriedly. “To be honest, I hope all the club brothers helping him out come back safely.”
Trix bursts out laughing. “Vapor says they’re going out to question some drunk who harassed you this morning. Trust me, they’re going to be okay.”
I stop anxiously biting my lip long enough to ask, “How can you be so sure of that?”
Trix gives me a grin, “Because they’re vicious as hell when they want to be, more than a match for a mouthy alcoholic. They’ve fought child traffickers, drug dealers, and my grandfather’s whole club. The Legion always comes out on top because they’re mostly former military men and men with street smarts. The club brothers know how to handle themselves.”
We sit down at a table in the corner. “What do you mean by your grandfather’s club? I hope you don’t mind if I ask.”
“Hell no, I don’t mind at all.” Making a sweeping gesture with one hand, she states loudly, “Everybody in this clubhouse knows that my grandfather’s club was bitter enemies with the Savage Legion for over twenty years. They fought tooth and nail.”
“You said the Legion won. Is that how you ended up here? Like part of the spoils of war or something?”
Trix throws back her head and laughs so hard she has to take a minute to catch her breath. Finally, she says, “How did you know?”
Absolutely mortified, my mouth opens and closes several times as I try to grasp what she just admitted to. “Tell me all about it, if I’m allowed to know and you don’t mind telling the story.”
She flashes a grin and I realize she was teasing me, “I met Vapor at a rave, and we hooked up. Neither of us knew the other had a club affiliation, much less that I was the club princess for the Hellfire Hounds MC. My grandfather was intent upon cementing an alliance with the Grave Diggers MC through a marriage alliance between me and the son of the Diggers’ president. Let’s just say neither of us were very interested in getting hitched. There was a skirmish between our clubs and the Legion took several of the Hounds prisoner. Vapor wanted to get me out of the arranged marriage, so he arranged one between me and him in exchange for releasing the Hounds being held prisoner, and for some territory my grandfather had always coveted.”
“Oh wow, that’s quite a story. So, you and Vapor fell in love for real?”
“I think I fell for him the night I met him.”
“Romance is alive and well and living in Las Salinas,” I say.
“You better believe it, sister. Vapor is my world. My brother, Tracker, is prospecting for the Savage Legion and my youngest brother probably will too once he’s finished high school. When the Diggers found out they lost out on making the marriage alliance, they patched over my grandfather’s club after a fight.”
“What happened to your grandfather?” I ask.
“He ended up in jail and got killed there.”
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” I feel bad for bringing up bad memories for her.
“I’d be lying if I said losing him made me sad. He wasn’t actually my real grandfather—my father was his friend Jamus, and not his son. But whether he was a blood relation or not, the old buzzard didn’t love me or my brothers. The only thing he truly cared about was his club and in the end they all turned on him for an opportunity to join the Grave Diggers MC. He was an evil man. The sad truth is the world is a better place without him.”
Her story is heartbreaking. I try to smooth things over by saying, “Well, I’m glad you made it out of that MC and didn’t end up being married off to some man you didn’t love.”
“You’re really sweet, Anna. I just know we’re going to get along well.”
Something in my chest loosens a bit. “I certainly hope so. I would really love to have a good friend. It’s been hard making new friends in Las Salinas.”
“Well, now that you work at the tattoo shop, you’ll be meeting lots of new and interesting people. That’s what happened to me when I started working at Mel and Tracker’s bar in town. Plus, I know the club wives are already partial to you.”
“They sent a lot of gifts when I was in the hospital. It really made my time there so much more bearable.”
“I’m sure my brother-in-law did his share to keep you distracted and amused.”
I feel myself blushing because she’s not wrong about that. “Yes, he’s been beyond nice and supportive of me. I don’t know what I would have done without him.”
Suddenly Mel is standing beside our table with drinks in her hand. Her expression is bright and cheerful. “Glad to see you again, Anna. Have you had second thoughts about working at the bar? We could sure use a hand here, trying to run two businesses and juggle a baby is crazy.”
Her hopeful expression makes it all the more difficult to tell her the truth. “Actually, Haze and Vapor hired me to work at their tattoo parlor. I think I’ll stick with that for a while because I really like it there.”
Trix speaks up, “You know I’ll help out at the bar.”
Mel nods with a big smile on her face. “I know Trix, but soon you’ll be in my shoes. Anyway, I brought you both virgin drinks because one of you is pregnant and the other is still taking meds to help her heal from the accident.”
There’s a gasp to my left and I turn to see Trix glaring at Mel.
“Oops, I guess I just let the cat out of the bag,” Mel says with an embarrassed look on her face.
Trix is bright red.
“How far along are you?” I ask cheerfully, trying to make things less awkward.
“Almost three months, I was waiting for my scan before announcing,” she glares at Mel again.
Mel once more looks chagrined, “I’m sorry, it’s just so damn exciting. Our kids will be almost the same age.”
“I know,” Trix says with a smile.
Suddenly a wave of understanding washes over me, “Oh, the twins thing I said at the tattoo parlor!”
Trix nods, “I was getting freaked out. Vapor took me to the doctor’s office that morning, my gynecologist did an early scan and confirmed it’s just the one baby. But the panic attack I had wasn’t just a panic attack, turns out pregnancy is playing havoc with my allergies, and I now have asthma.”
“Oh, poor you,” I say.
“It’s okay, the inhalers are helping.”
I take a mouthful of my drink, “Damn, I would have loved a nice glass of wine.”
Mel shrugs. “By the way, Haze wasn’t talking about your personal business. He got me to fill your prescription after you got out of hospital, that’s how I know about the meds. Haze is a great guy. You two were lucky to have found each other.”
Suddenly, Trix jumps to her feet. “Sorry, I have to pee for like the twentieth time today.”
Mel laughs, “All part of the joys of being pregnant, I’m afraid.”
A few minutes after Trix runs off to the restroom and Mel goes back to the bar to serve a customer, two club girls wander over to my table and slide into the empty seats without asking if it’s okay to join me. I can tell they’re club girls by the way they dress. There’s an obvious trend at this clubhouse where the old ladies dress slightly more conservatively than the club girls.
“Hello,” I tell them politely. “I don’t think we’ve met. My name is Anna Bryan.”
One of the girls is wearing a tight leather skirt and a black halter top that shows almost everything that God gave her.
She lifts her chin in a gesture that seems slightly arrogant. “My name is Bella, and this is Candy. We know who you are, what we’re confused about, is why you’re here?”
So it’s gonna be like this, is it? I take a deep breath and reply in kind. “I’m here because, much like yourself, I was invited. Is that going to be a problem for you?”
Candy is quick to respond. “No. Of course not. We just wanted to drop you a hint that he always goes back to Brittany.”
“Who always goes back to Brittany?” I ask, knowing full who they’re referring to. I just want to put them on the spot and make them say it out loud.
“Haze has been with just about every club girl who comes here and a few from outside when he gets really bored, but he always ends up dumping them so he can go back to Brittany. They have a strange relationship, but it works for them.”
“Is that so? Why don’t you go and get Brittany? I’ll see what she has to say about Haze dumping everyone for her.”
Candy’s expression turns mortified, and she stammers, “Brittany isn’t allowed at the clubhouse anymore.”
“But Haze is, right?” I ask.
The girls exchange nervous glances before nodding in unison. Candy explains timidly, “Yes. Of course he does. Haze is a fully patched member of the Savage Legion MC. He comes and goes as he pleases.”
“Why isn’t Brittany allowed at the clubhouse anymore?” I know full well that it’s none of my business, but my curiosity gets the better of me.
“Um, she got into an argument with Haze and Siege kicked her out. The brothers don’t like a lot of drama and the bottom line is that it takes a full vote of the brotherhood to get rid of a fully patched brother, but club girls have no personal power, so we’re targeted quite frequently when things go wrong.”
Bella adds, “You’re even more vulnerable than we are because you’re just a guest, whereas we’ve been given permission to hang around anytime there is an open bar.”
Oh, they’re bar flies. This is making a lot more sense now.
Candy adds hesitantly, “We just thought we’d give you a heads up about Haze. Everyone knows he likes to get a little strange every now and then. He likes the girlfriend experience where he gets to dote on a fresh new face for a few weeks. It always fizzles out and he ends up right back in Brittany’s bed.
An angry, but familiar voice comes from behind us. “What a load of hogwash that is. Haze is part of my family now that I’m married to Vapor. He’s nothing like what you’re saying. Sure, he’s slept with Brittany a bunch of times, but that doesn’t mean they have a relationship.”
“They were fucking a long time before you and Vapor got together. You don’t belong here and neither does she,” Bella practically growls.
Gesturing for them both to leave, Trix directs her next sentence to me. “Club girls always think they run the show. The truth is they simply have too much time on their hands to plot and plan all kinds of crap. If these two aren’t careful, they’re going to run afoul of Siege’s good grace and wind up ousted as well.”
Bella shouts, “You have no right to talk down to us. You’re nothing but Hellfire Hounds trash, and an enemy of our club. Vapor doesn’t know he’s sleeping with the enemy, but one day he’s going to realize what marrying you cost him.”
A deep masculine voice states firmly, “No he’s not. Hope you don’t mind me pointing out how inappropriate it is for you to be putting words in my mouth.”
All the color drains from Candy’s face and she actively tries to get up from her chair and flee. In her haste to get away, she trips and breaks her fall with her hands on the floor. Bella walks over and helps her up.
Afterwards, she turns to Vapor. “You should be ashamed, you scared the living daylights out of her. You know how timid she is.”
Vapor takes a step closer. “If she doesn’t want chastised by me, then maybe you’ll remember that my wife is wearing a property cut and you’re not. We put our women in our cuts so everyone knows to leave them the fuck alone. Since you’ve both been with the club for a while, I would have thought you knew that already.”
Bella replies in a more moderate tone. “We have a right to speak our mind. The last time I checked this was a free country, even the part owned and operated by the Savage Legion.”
“Cut the crap, both of you. Everyone here knows not to mess with women wearing a property cut. Finding the two you aggravating my wife fills me with white hot rage. I suggest you both take the rest of the night off because if I have to look at you, I’m going to be tempted to ban you for crossing the line with my old lady. Remember what happened with Lori?”
Both women slowly start backing away. It occurs to me that they didn’t start paying attention and taking the situation seriously until he threatened to ban them. That’s some pretty brazen behavior out of club girls. They both turn and flee when he takes a step closer.
Vapor moves to Trix’s side and places a warm kiss on her temple as he gives her a hug. “Sorry about that, sweetness.”
Trix just sighs. “The club whores here are brazen.”
“Club girls, not club whores. How many times do I have to tell you that.” Vapors words may seem harsh, but the delivery is anything but harsh. He’s smiling indulgently down at her, so I know he’s not really mad at her.
Trix gazes up at him and replies, “I’ll stop calling them club whores when they stop acting like classless whores. My grandfather would have had the prospects beat anyone who dared to speak to a brother like they just did to you.”
“Well, you know the Savage Legion is not the kind of organization to abuse women. If anything, we’re overly permissive and it leads to problems like we’ve had tonight. I hope you two weren’t terribly inconvenienced by their useless banter.”
Trix shrugs it off. “I’m used to it. You can only expect so much decency from a club whore. This is a classy club. I don’t know why you still feel the need to associate with women like that.”
“If it were up to me, we wouldn’t. Unfortunately, it’s not my decision. Therefore, you and I will have to make the best of it.”
They settle down to wait for Haze with me, but I’m lost in my own thoughts. Maybe I dismissed Candy and Bella’s warning out of hand without proper consideration. I really didn’t like how they spoke about Haze being pretty much insatiable. I hate to think that I’m just a new piece of strange that he’s picked up, a diversion of some sort from his life’s stressors that he’s already told me about.
Even now, he’s out risking life and limb to figure out who set his boat on fire. And to figure out why they painted that horrible word with my likeness on the burning boat. I just hope nothing bad happens and he comes home safe and sound. It occurs to me to wonder if he’s going to end up resenting me over his boat getting torched by the drunk I rejected. I know he said he wasn’t bothered, and that his insurance would cover it, but I also remember him saying he and his brother put a lot of time and energy into fixing it up.
That coupled with the club girls saying I’m just one in a long line of girlfriend type relationships Haze has had, makes me think that maybe taking all his charm and sweet talk at face value was a mistake.
How well do I know him after just a couple of months?
“Are you okay, Anna? You look like you’re zoning out a bit.” I glance up to find Vapor and Trix with twin expressions of concern on their faces.
I can tell my next words catch him by surprise. “Do you think your brother is the settling down type?”
Vapor’s brows drop into a frown. He takes a moment to craft an appropriate response before answering my question. “To be honest, we were both sworn bachelors. My brother was always more adventurous than me when it came to women. I got bored of one-night stands with club girls. The women who frequent our clubhouse continued to be an endless source of fascination for my brother.”
I felt my expression shut down as I turned his words over in my mind.
“Don’t act like you didn’t know my brother had a prodigious body count. He told me that he fessed up about that to you early on.”
I give him a quick nod, acknowledging his words were true. “He did, and I appreciated the honesty.”
“I’m assuming that a beautiful woman like yourself isn’t a virgin. Am I right?”
Trix shoots Vapor an annoyed look and says to me, “You don’t have to answer that.”
“I know. Thanks for sticking up for me.”
Trix shrugs. “Girl code means we speak up for each other. Also, I don’t think Vapor was trying to insinuate anything.”
Vapor interjects, “I truly wasn’t trying to be disrespectful. I was just pointing out that neither of you are virgins, so numbers shouldn’t matter. Even though my brother was a sworn bachelor before he met you and made fun of me for how fast and hard I fell for Trix, doesn’t mean he’s immune from falling in love with you.
“Just give him some time to switch gears in his mind and see that he can have a better life with one woman as long as she’s the right person, than playing the field for all eternity.”
That stung. Here I am, head over heels in love with Haze. And his twin brother, the man he’s closest to in the whole wide world, is in essence telling to hang in there and see if his brother ends up taking a liking to me enough to stay with me.
***
I sit there with my drink silently contemplating what Vapor had said, while I wait for Haze to return. It’s been a long evening and I’m feeling emotionally fragile, so I try and stuff all my worries to the back of my mind and focus on the present. Before I can fully process what is going on, there’s a commotion at the bar. Vapor, Trix, and I rush over to find Mel crying, “It’s Elodie, Tracker just phoned. She’s not well, she’s been having repeated bouts of croup, the pediatrician said to try steam. Tracker’s been sitting in the bathroom with the shower running for an hour, but she’s no better, so he’s taking her to the ER. Oh God, why did I have to agree to work tonight? I should be with her.”
I rush around the counter because it looks like she’s about to collapse. Before I know it, Vapor is on the other side of her. There’s no one but prospects and wide-eyed club girls standing around staring at us.
Vapor barks, “Get the hell out of the way,” as we round the corner with her.
The club girls all scramble out.
Mel pleads, “I need to get to the hospital and be with my baby.”
Vapor tells her soothingly, “Don’t worry, we’ve got you. Everything is going to be okay.”
At some point I realize that Trix has zoned out completely, she’s just standing on the porch of the Savage Legion clubhouse staring at nothing while all the club girls come spilling out the front door, crowding around her. I’m guessing she’s realizing how scary being a mom is, and that it doesn’t stop after the delivery.
I tap Vapor out, “Your old lady needs you. I’ll drive Mel to the hospital.”
A young kid of around sixteen comes running out, “These are Mel’s keys,” he throws a set of car keys at me.
I look at him quizzically.
“I’m Hark, Mel’s my sister-in-law.”
Before I can get turned around Hark has helped Mel into the back seat, has got in beside her and slams the door. I rush over to the driver’s side, climb in, and peel out of the parking lot. All the way to the hospital I can hear Mel begging Hark to call Tracker. He finally gets Tracker on the phone, and I can hear Mel screaming all the way up on the front seat.
“Calm down, Mel,” Hark says to her.
“How can I be calm? My baby needs me,” she heaves out between sobs.
Tracker’s voice came over the phone, “Mel, sweetie, I told you, the docs have her settled, she’s gonna be okay.”
Mel just continues sobbing.
I shift gears and gently press down on the gas. I’m speeding down the highway as fast as I can manage safely with my hazard lights on. I feel like I’m walking a delicate tightrope between getting her there quickly and safely and going so fast I lose control of the vehicle.
It takes us no time at all to get to get to the hospital, as Mel and Hark rush into the ER, I realize that my part of the emergency is over.
I force myself to release the death grip I have on the steering wheel. My hands are trembling, but I know I have to get out of the emergency area and park the car in a designated spot. I take the wheel again and ease up off the brake. I drive over the parking lot and begin looking for a parking space. It feels weird to be at the medical center that I spent so much time in after my accident. It feels like a long time ago, although I know it wasn’t.
I lock the car and start walking into the hospital. My relationship with Mel is complicated, I barely know her, but I feel like our lives are connected. Vapor and Haze are twins and only siblings. They already knew Tracker because he’d been working in the Legion’s bar in town, and when Vapor married Trix, he became his brother-in-law. Now that I’m getting closer to Haze, I feel a special connection to Trix and Mel.
A little ache tugs at my heart when I think of Haze, I’d hoped that what we had was starting to turn into something special, but now that I got the message from the club girls and his brother that he’s not wild about settling down with one woman. I think maybe I’ve been reading too much into his behavior. Lord knows I don’t have much experience of men being nice to me, and it stands to reason that the first time someone was kind, I go and fall for him.