Celeste Chapter 4 #2
“Are you alright? If you don’t want to do this, we can turn around and go home. I’ll call Eliana and let her know that we changed our minds.”
“No, don’t do that. I know that if she asked us to do this, it must be important.
Perhaps the club wants to do something for Promises and would like our help.
I’m just nervous to meet them. I know they’ve probably heard what happened.
I hate the thought of them all staring and whispering about me. ” She said the last part softly.
“Capri, if they do anything like that, we’ll get up and leave. I don’t care how much we like Eliana. If her husband’s club does that, then fuck them. We’re out of there,” I growled.
“God, don’t get out your knives, crazy lady. The whispering and staring just make me uncomfortable. No need to go to war over it,” she teased.
“If it makes you feel less than welcome, then yes, there is.”
“Crap, I forgot to ask. You aren’t… You know…carrying any weapons on you to this thing. Are you?” she asked me warily.
“Do I ever go anywhere without them?” I retorted.
I’d started doing it long before what happened to her.
However, I hadn’t done it one hundred percent of the time.
Now, I never leave the house without a knife and a gun on me.
Capri was less comfortable with the idea, though she had been taught to shoot.
When she turned eighteen, I took her to get her concealed carry permit.
However, between school and her job, both places that refused to allow it, she often had to leave it at home or in her car.
I told her to do it anyway, but she was scared she’d be caught, lose her job, and be kicked out of school.
As for me, since I worked in the courthouse, I had to leave my weapons in my car. But I damn sure had them at hand going to work and coming home. In between, I had them on my person.
Our chatter brought us to the gate of the Pagans’ huge tract of land.
Many people gossiped about this place. They wondered what was inside that couldn’t be seen through the chain-link fencing.
I’d heard that women who came here to party and have a good time with the guys found it nice, and it far exceeded their expectations.
Once, I overheard a woman bitching that she was only allowed in the clubhouse and nowhere else.
They weren’t permitted to wander around freely.
Pulling up to the closed gate, I noticed a square box on the left with a button and a speaker. It was like the ones you might find in a gated community. Rolling down my window, I pressed the button and waited. It wasn’t a long wait.
“Hello?” a man’s voice answered.
“Hi, I’m Celeste Malcom…” I stopped talking because the gate began to open, then the guy responded.
“Hello, we’re expecting you. Just drive to the large building on your right, where bikes and vehicles are parked outside. Park anywhere and then come in the main door.”
“Okay, thank you,” I said. I had no idea what else to say. Rolling up my window, I glanced over at Capri.
She was studying what she could see through the gate. “Here we go,” I told her. She smiled.
Once I cleared the gate, I pulled in and drove to where I was told to go.
Finding a spot not too far from the door, I parked.
The outside of it reminded me of a warehouse with all the windows and how they were placed higher up than you’d find in a regular building or a house.
We’d gotten out and taken maybe three steps before the door we were walking toward opened, and out came Eliana.
With her was a buff, tall, wide-shouldered man.
He had bronze skin and very dark hair. Behind them came another couple. I didn’t know them.
“I’m so glad you came. You didn’t have any trouble finding us, did you?” Eliana asked.
“No, we knew where we were going. It’s good to see you, too,” I replied.
By then, we met in the middle. As usual, Eliana and I hugged, then she hugged Capri the same way. When she was done, she stepped back and put her arm around the tall man next to her. Seeing him up close, I guessed that he was Native American, or at least partially. He smiled.
“Let me introduce my husband, or as we say in the biker world, my old man, Agony. He’s the president of this chapter of the Pagans.”
He held out his hand, and I shook it. He said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you both. Eliana has talked a lot about you.”
“Thank you for inviting us to your club,” I said.
When that was over, Eliana pointed out the other man and woman. “This is Dare, he’s the VP of the club, and this is his old lady, Joli,” Eliana stated.
It was another round of hellos and handshakes.
“Alright, we’ve kept you out in the cold long enough. Forgive us. We wanted to say hello and let you know that there are a lot of us inside, but please don’t let them overwhelm you. They’re loud and sometimes a pain, but they mean well. You’re both absolutely safe here,” Agony assured us.
“Thank you for that. Lead the way,” I told him.
Moments later, the door was opened by Dare, and the sound of dozens of voices hit us.
The loud buzz was cheerful from what I could hear.
It wasn’t all adults. Mixed in there was a fair amount of children’s voices and their playful yelling.
I kept my arm around Capri as we entered behind Agony and Eliana. Dare and Joli brought up the rear.
The noise immediately began to die away as our entry was noticed.
Agony and Eliana stopped in the middle of the crowd, which had all parted to allow us by.
All eyes were on us. I scanned them, and all I noticed were friendly smiles and what might be concern on their faces.
The vibe I got was non-threatening. Capri must’ve felt it too, because her body relaxed.
“Now that you’ve all calmed down, let me introduce our guests. I’ll run through your names and such with them. We’re a big, overwhelming, unruly bunch to meet all at once. This is Celeste Malcolm and her niece, Capri Malcolm,” Agony announced. He pointed to each of us when he said our name.
There were overlapping greetings as people called out their hellos and welcomes. When they settled, Agony kept going.
“You’ve already met Dare and Joli. They have some rugrats running around here.
I’ll name the kids as they pop up. There are a dozen so far, ranging in age from nine months to seventeen years old.
I’ll start on this side with the adults.
This is Knight, our club secretary, and his lady, Natalya.
Then you have Pope, Wire, and Cyclone. Wire is our IT genius.
Next is Bones and his lady, Blythe. They’re the newest couple, together for a year.
Bones is our medic. Then you have Twisted, our treasurer, and his lady, Zari.
The couple next to them is Mace and Jessamy.
“Then you have the rest of the single members—Nitro, Pyro, Spartan, Guardian, Lethal, Hazard, and lastly, Hulk, our enforcer. Behind the bar are our three prospects. From left to right are Soren, Thoryn, and Leon,” he finished up.
We nodded and murmured hello, and they returned them.
I caught myself when it came to the introduction of Hulk.
He was the man I’d admired that day on the street—the one who wouldn’t stay out of my dreams. I gulped, and my mouth went dry.
He didn’t have a helmet or sunglasses on this time.
I saw that his hair and beard were black and cut extremely short.
Even so, I could see there was curl in it.
I wondered what it would look like if he grew it out and let those untamed curls free.
Honest-to-God black eyes topped his chiseled, handsome face.
As he stared at me, I swore he was seeing straight into my mind, heart, and soul.
I fought back a shiver. It wasn’t one of fear.
It was one of desire. Agony’s following words shook me free of my staring contest with Hulk.
“Please, come have a seat. Let us know what we can get you to drink. We have every kind of alcohol you can imagine, as well as sodas, water, and I believe there’s even tea and lemonade.”
Automatically, I led Capri behind our hosts to the table situated in the center of the large room.
With so many bodies, it was hard to see what the room looked like.
I got the impression of several table-and-chair sets, and, of course, the bar.
As we sat, taking the seats that Hulk and Guardian had pulled out for us, children began to swarm around us.
“Who are you?”
“Hi.”
“What’s your name?”
“You’re pretty.”
Those and more were some of the chattering we heard. Seeing so many of them, all curious and excited, made me smile. I remembered Capri at these ages. We both ended up smiling and speaking to them. Capri liked children and, at times, still babysat neighbors’ kids.
“Hello, my name is Celeste,” I told them.
“And my name is Capri,” my niece replied.
“Can you tell us your names? How about we start with you?” I said, halting them from all speaking at once. They fidgeted as they waited for their turn. Natalya came forward.
“Let me do the introductions, so you know who belongs to whom. No worries, we get them confused and call them by the wrong names all the time,” she admitted before starting with the one I pointed at first.
“These are Zoe and Zavian. They’re Agony and Eliana’s twins.
Then you have Cara and Iain, who belong to Knight and me.
Next is Avenly. She’s Mace and Jessa’s daughter.
These three belong to Twisted and Zari. Arif and Aliya are their nephew and niece, and Ransom is their son.
The babies you see Bones and Blythe holding will be one in a week.
They’re Calista and Cailynn. And last are Dare and Joli’s boys.
We have Branson and the newest addition, nine-month-old Marcus Jr.”