Chapter Six
Lily
The impromptu pizza party was amazing. Instead of being upset or trying to decide who to blame for the kitchen fan fiasco, everyone was laughing and joking.
Boxes of pizza were laid out on the picnic tables, and the coolers overflowed with drinks.
Ace, the President of the Riptide MC, stood and held up his hands for silence.
When he had everyone’s attention, he shook his head. “I’m not sure what happened, or why the fucking fan came crashing down, but I just wanted to say this.” He paused to make eye contact with his brothers. “Next time you want a pizza party, just ask. Damn fans are expensive!”
The group howled with laughter. I looked up at Rattler. “He’s not mad?”
Rattler shrugged. “Why should he be? No one got badly hurt. It’s just a piece of equipment. Replaceable. And we’ve been talking about giving the kitchen a new coat of paint for over a year. Guess it’s finally going to happen. We told Mom to pick out a paint color.”
“Nobody’s in trouble? And we get to have pizza every night until it’s fixed?
” I’d just spent years living with a guy who got mad over everything or nothing.
Something like this would have caused a major blowup.
I was having trouble wrapping my head around this reaction.
The take-it-in-stride attitude of these guys was going to take a bit of getting used to.
Rattler took a bite out of the slice in his hand before he answered. “I’m okay with that. As long as they don’t put those damn mini fish on them. Fish do not belong on pizza.”
“You mean anchovies?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Those crappy little bits of fish. Probably some new-age guy in LA thought that one up. Next thing you know they’ll have vegan pizza. Tasteless crust with grass on it.”
I almost choked on my piece of Hawaiian pizza as I struggled not to laugh and spew it all over. “They had fish on flatbread way back in ancient Rome. I don’t think some guy in modern L.A. invented it.”
“But I got you to laugh, didn’t I?” His eyes twinkled with mirth.
I wrinkled my nose. “You did. Does that mean you actually like anchovies?”
He gave me a look of mock horror. “Fuck no! Can’t stand the little bastards.”
“We could pick them off the pizza and feed them to Scrapper,” I suggested.
“Or we could just buy Scrapper a can of tuna. Then we wouldn’t have to touch the slimy little things at all.”
“Right. Note to self. No anchovies. Ever.” I pretended to scribble a note on my hand. “Anything else I should know? Maybe you have a thing about chicken? Pineapple? Vegetables?”
“Nope. Just slimy little headless fish on my dinner.” He took another bite of the slice of pizza.
Ace and Emma wandered over arm in arm. I was proud of myself for remembering almost everyone’s name.
Ace grabbed two bottles of beer out of the bucket beside us.
Twisting the top off one, he handed it to Emma before opening his own.
The pair sat down on the bench opposite us, and Ace nodded a greeting at Rattler.
“I managed to get a restoration company booked for the morning. The prospects are cleaning all the broken stuff up right now. Once that’s out of the way it’ll be easier to see what needs to be fixed or replaced. ”
Rattler nodded. “We should probably get a licensed electrician to check out the wiring before we put up another fan.”
“Already booked. Piper’s dad has connections and they’re sending their guy over. He can check the wiring out and make sure the new fan is installed correctly.” A wry smile crossed his face. “Nice as it is to have a friend do it for free, we don’t need a repeat of today.”
Rattler saw my puzzled look. “In one of those weird twists, Piper’s dad is our FBI contact.
We do some contract work for them from time to time, and he’s got a fuck-ton of connections.
Anything from landscapers to bankers. Piper grew up with no idea who her dad was, so she tracked him down with one of those DNA search things when she reached legal age.
He had no idea he had a daughter until then.
Her mother is what you might call a free spirit, so there were a lot of candidates to choose from. ”
“Oh.” I wasn’t sure what else to say. “Nice that they get to know each other now.”
“Turned out good from a lot of angles, but that’s another long story,” Emma added. “You can ask Piper about it some time.” She grinned. “Karma has a way of making sure we’re all in the right place at the right time.”
Ace pulled her in close and placed a kiss on her lips. “Sure does. So glad I was home the night you showed up wounded, instead of spending it at the clubhouse here.”
I looked from one to the other, but Emma just laughed. “Another long story. We need to set up a girls’ night sometime soon and get you caught up on all the drama.”
“Sounds like a plan.” I took a sip of my beer just as Willow came rocketing over and stuck her nose in my lap.
Scrapper hissed, and his claws came out.
The fur on his back stood straight up as he arched his back like a cat in a Halloween cartoon.
If he’d been bigger, it might have been scary.
Instead, he looked insanely cute. Willow certainly didn’t look intimidated and stayed right where she was with her head in my lap.
I glanced up at Rattler, unsure about what to do. The last thing I wanted was a dog and cat fight in my lap. He just shrugged. “They’ll work it out. Willow’s never shown any aggressive tendencies, so I’m betting on Scrapper if it comes to blows.”
I rolled my eyes. “Great. That makes me feel so much better.”
The two animals stared at each other for an endless moment. Willow’s head didn’t move, but she let out a little whine and her tail was whipping back and forth a mile a minute.
“I think she wants to be friends.” Rattler looked amused.
“Maybe, but I’m not sure Scrapper is into it.”
Just then, Scrapper took a step forward. His little head inches from the dog’s mouth, he stuck his tongue out and took an experimental lick of Willow’s nose. The dog reacted by returning the favor, but her tongue was much larger and then Scrapper was wet from his neck to the tip of his head.
In retaliation, Scrapper swatted Willow across the snout.
Luckily, he’d sheathed his claws so he didn’t draw blood.
Willow stood and executed a perfect play bow which seemed to be Scrapper’s cue to hop off my lap and race across the lawn.
Willow followed enthusiastically, and we were soon treated to the sight of the two unlikely new friends playing what appeared to be a game of tag as they alternated between chaser and escapee.
It wasn’t long before they wore each other out.
It was Scrapper’s turn to chase Willow but instead of fleeing, the little dog lay down on the grass and rolled onto her side.
Scrapper stalked up to her and after circling a few times to make sure she didn’t plan to escape, he curled up against her belly and closed his eyes.
Rattler draped his arm around my shoulder. “I think they’re going to be friends.”
I blinked away the moisture in my eyes. “Yeah. Looks like it.”
“Fuck, you’re crying!” Rattler turned to face me. “Why?”
I shook my head, not trusting my voice. It was just so nice. Sitting here as if I didn’t have a care in the world. Not worrying about what I said or how I said it. It suddenly reminded me of being a kid, when my dad was still alive and life had been normal. “I’m just happy.”
I saw Ace give him a quick shake of the head. “Women. Cry when they’re happy. Cry when they’re sad. Don’t try to figure it out.”
Rattler rested his chin on the top of my head, speaking softly. “You’re safe now. You and Scrapper. I’ll make sure the asshole never gets near you again.”
Ace cleared his throat. “Hate to break in here, but just a reminder -- church in the morning. Got a mission going out. You’re on the roster, unless you need to stay here with Lily. Let me know if I need to replace you.”
Rattler glanced down at me, and I shook my head. “I’ll be fine. I can stay here with Mom and Jake and whoever’s not going out.” It wasn’t fair for him to put his life on hold just because I’d suddenly shown up.
“You sure?”
I tried to look like I didn’t care. “Yeah. I’m sure. You do what you gotta do.”
The truth was, the thought of being without him was scary.
And I needed to get over that. Hell, I’d only known him for a short time.
Sure, we’d had sex, but there was no commitment involved.
He’d let me stay in his room because I’d asked.
We’d had sex because I’d initiated it. He didn’t owe me anything.
* * *
The rest of the evening passed in a lazy whirl. Someone brought out a guitar, which prompted a sing-along around the firepit. Rattler and I sat on the edge of the circle, and I watched as the bikers drank and teased each other. No one got loud or aggressive.
I sipped on my second beer. It had been a long time since I’d been able to relax and enjoy a drink. “This is nothing like I pictured a biker party to be.”
I could hear the smile in Rattler’s voice. “You expected fights, naked women, and crazy loud music?”
I wrinkled my nose. “Something like that.”
“I admit some of the parties are pretty wild, but not all that often. Most of us have some degree of PTSD, and we avoid anything that might trigger it.”
That made sense. I knew Jack had changed when he joined the SEALs. He got quieter and more thoughtful. It was as if he’d grown up overnight. I frowned. “You told me before that you’re not a one-percenter club. So if you don’t run drugs or stuff like that to make money, what do you do?”
He looked uncomfortable. “We do security work, hire out as bodyguards, that kind of thing. Sometimes the FBI or the CIA hires us when they need more bodies or an expert on certain things.”
“What kind of experts?” I had a feeling I was pushing a line, but I wanted to understand. I didn’t want to think I’d jumped from the frying pan into the fire.