25. Willow
25
WILLOW
Tanner's car is barely out of sight when I grab my keys, lock the house up tight and jump into my car to drive to the clubhouse. Even though it's an easy walking distance, having a ton of steel around me feels like armor. I'd rather make a short drive than to be caught out on foot.
God, I'm so paranoid right now, but something about him gave me the willies.
Crank, the biker at the gate—I'm starting to remember some names—raises his eyebrows curiously, but he waves me through. I find a spot to park in the cracked parking lot on the far side of the church where I won't be in the way, and then I finally feel safe again. Surrounded by the walls of the Outlaw Sons compound, no one can get at me, not without laying siege to it first. And creepy or not, I'm pretty sure Tanner isn't able to do that.
After a couple of long moments gathering myself, I get out, just in time to almost bump into Bonnie, Paige and a woman I haven't met yet. Bonnie's leather biker jacket has a “Boss Bitch” patch over her heart.
And they're all armed.
“What's going on?” I eye their guns skeptically. Maybe I thought wrong that I'd be safe in here?
Paige grins. “We're going to the shooting range. Ladies only. Want in?”
This place just gets wilder, but at least it's not something new to worry about. “Thanks, but I'm here for Blackout, Skyhigh, and Dragon.”
“They're still out, aren't they?” The third woman wears thick glasses and has long brown hair. “Ghost and Tex went with them to some kind of pickup, and they're not back yet.”
Paige's smile widens even further. “Then it's definitely our duty to keep you busy until then. After that, I'm sure they'll figure something out.” She winks.
Great. Everyone around here knows already, it seems. Blackout did say that bikers gossiped like old ladies. “I'm not much of a shooter.”
“Only one way to get better. It can be a useful skill around here.” The bespectacled brunette holds out her hand. “I'm Jessica. Old lady to Ghost, Tex and Riot. You've probably met Ghost. He's one of Hellfire's officers.”
I nod.
“And if you want coaching on how to handle a relationship with three big, dumb bikers who love to wave their dicks around, you won't find anyone better to help you than me and Jessica, so I think you should definitely come shoot with us. They'll find you. Trust me.” Paige pats the grip of the pistol in her belt holster.
Bonnie laughs, her voice raspy. “Come on. We'll teach you.”
I follow them around to the back of the school, where a couple of lanes have been marked up with chalk and ropes, and person-shaped targets on paper are mounted on the far end. A couple of bikers are shooting, but Bonnie tells them to fuck off, and amazingly enough, they do. They laugh about it, and I think they were finishing up anyway, but it's obvious that Bonnie carries a lot of respect with what's definitely a man's club.
While Jessica hangs up new, fresh targets for us, Bonnie pulls out her gun and shows it to me. “Ever handle one of these? Or do you want the crash course?”
“No, I've shot a couple of times. For about eighteen months until they decided they wanted the internet back, my parents were obsessed with living off grid with a bunch of people who thought the government was listening to them through their fillings. Some of the skills we practiced were more useful than others.” I eye the gun skeptically. “I'm not a good shot by any stretch of the imagination, but I know enough to not accidentally shoot someone.”
“Shit, I want to hear more about your folks,” Bonnie cackles. “Those targets up yet? I wanna see what our new girl can do.”
When the path is clear, I load Bonnie's gun, line up and squeeze off all the shots before putting the gun down. One of them hits the head of the target, a couple hit the paper around it, and the rest into the backstop that keeps the bullets from keeping going when someone misses. Like me.
“Not bad, not bad.” Bonnie pats my shoulder. “Maybe they didn't all connect, but all it takes is one.”
Jessica steps up to take her turn with her own gun, and she fires five times in rapid succession, each bang coming before the previous one dies down. They're so closely packed in the middle of the target's face that it's hard to separate them from here. The spread can't be more than an inch, if that. “Wow.”
With a laugh, Paige steps up to take her turn. “Jess is the one who will save us if it comes down to a shootout. She's like a freaking assassin.” Paige pulls the trigger until her pistol clicks. Nowhere near Jessica's accuracy, but they all hit the body. It's not just the bikers who are dangerous around here, that's for sure.
After a few more rounds I get more into it, and my accuracy improves. At least now all my shots are hitting the paper, and in the meantime, I'm getting a mix of gossip about certain bikers, many of whom I don't know, but where I can at least laugh at their antics, and some of all of my new friends’ back stories.
Jessica’s been around a little longer than Paige, and was the first to hook up with bikers in a group. Her background sounds terrifying, and her story about ending up here even more so. Like a spy movie. Makes my situation sound pretty tame.
Paige's story is a little less crazy, and that's saying something when it involves bounty hunters and the Mafia. And then Bonnie tells me more about her life with General, and how she ended up there, and how she ended up alone. I can't imagine what it's like to lose someone you love to someone you should be able to trust. Maybe Tanner wasn’t totally off base about how brutal the club can be.
“I swear, each of you could be a fucking movie,” Bonnie says before squeezing off six quick shots with her gun. Not as accurate as Jessica, but close. Enough that I wouldn't want to be on the other end of that.
“Right?” I laugh. “I'll be happy if the movie of my life is just straight up romance, without shooting and bombs and missiles and car chases and all that.”
Paige gives me a nudge. “Your story's not done yet.”
“Don't tempt fate.” I shake my head.
It's funny, I figured that old ladies—see, I'm learning the biker terms—would be a whole different breed, people I wouldn't have a lot in common with, but with these three, it's like I've been a member of their group all along. Friendly and supportive, and I barely even know them. It's definitely another plus for sticking around.
“Oh, we're going to be neighbors!” Jessica blurts out while Paige is taking her turn. “Did you know that?”
A light bulb flips on in my head. “Is that why they're doing all the renovations and taking over the neighborhood?”
“Yeah. Hellfire doesn’t want the place overrun with chicks, and since they wanted the neighborhood as a buffer zone for the club, it makes sense. Ghost has officer's quarters over there.” She nods at a two-story building separate from the church. “They're bigger than most of the guys' quarters, but it's not somewhere for the four of us to stay together all the time. And this is no place to have little kids, you know?”
Paige puts her gun down with a clank and whirls without even checking out how her shooting went. “Jess, who told you?”
“Oops?” Jessica covers her mouth with her hand, but there's no hiding her huge smile behind it.
“Fuck, are you serious?” Bonnie eyes her skeptically, like she might punch her if she's lying.
Me, I just wait to see how this falls out.
Paige chews her lower lip nervously. “Only about two months along, so we were still waiting a little to tell everyone, but I guess word is out now. Don't hurt me?”
“You're lucky I don't punch pregnant women,” Jessica growls dangerously, a microsecond before throwing her arms around Paige and squeezing her with a riotous laugh. “Congratulations!”
The moment Jessica lets go, Bonnie throws her arms out. “Come here.” And then she envelops Paige in them, squeezing her tight. “Can't fucking believe it, but I'm happy for you. Your boys okay with it? And if they aren't, I'm coming over and teaching them exactly how fucking okay they need to be with it.”
“They're fine, they're fine,” she says with a laugh. “We can't wait for the house to be done so we can move in, though. We feel the same as Jessica. It’s nice that Savage has room, but Crank and Poe still have to keep their stuff in their quarters. And with a baby? It would really be too small.”
When Bonnie lets go, it's my turn. “I know we don't really know each other well, but congratulations! That has to be so exciting!”
Paige pulls me into a hug anyway, squeezing me like we've been friends forever. “Thank you! I'm sorry guys, I wanted to say but I was worried. I can’t believe one of the guys squealed before I did.”
Paige and Jessica get into a competitive shootout, while Bonnie and I hang back and watch. It occurs to me that Bonnie's been here for a bunch of years. “Hey Bonnie?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you remember a guy named Luke Tanner? He was a member a bunch of years ago.”
She scratches her chin while she thinks. “Name rings a bell, but I can't place him. If he was, I doubt he was here long, but then General rarely shared club business with me. MCs are a man's world, most of the time. General was real good to me, but he was still plenty old fashioned, if you get me.”
“Yeah, sure. Just figured I'd ask.”
She frowns curiously. “Why are you asking, anyway?”
I'm sure I can trust Bonnie, but I did promise not to tell. And it sounded like it was a long time ago, so why open it up at all? “I just found some old biker things at Grandma's house in a box. I thought maybe it might've been someone from here. Maybe someone wanted it back. No big deal.”
“I'll think on it. Maybe I'll remember something.” She smiles at me encouragingly.
“Suck it!” Jessica proclaims proudly as she blows smoke off the barrel of her gun before putting it down.
Paige puts hers down less enthusiastically. “You know I'll never beat you. You just get better and better.”
Jessica laughs. “Maybe your pregnancy hormones will turn you into a momma bear who protects her cub. Anyone tries to get close, and you’re going to ventilate both of their eyeballs at once!”
“Ew. Pregnancy is scary enough on its own, you don’t have to try and gross me out.” Paige makes a face, which she's only able to hold for a moment before she breaks down in laughter. Then they both laugh as they go over to switch out the targets. I'm not envious, because I can be the same way with Grace, but I can't imagine taking her shooting behind the Outlaw Sons clubhouse. Heck, she couldn't deal with them shooting when we were down at my house.
“You're up,” Bonnie says, pointing at one of the guns. “Show us what you got.”
After a quick nod, I raise my gun and aim.