Chapter Eleven #2
The club also cost him the ability to father children as well, or at least that is what his father would say, one too many times of getting shot.
Pat recalled the guys talking, it never stopped Doc from fucking, but they always assumed he got shot in the balls.
It wasn’t. Pat knew his father had a low sperm count. Still, his mother never left.
He recalled how the two of them were together. Always in love. Always finding an excuse to touch one another, to love one another. It was really quite beautiful.
Pulling into the abandoned driveway, Grant slowed the car down.
Rusty groaned. “No, don’t fucking slow down. Speed the fuck up.”
Doc was a tall man. Even though he retired, he had never lost his edge. Not an ounce of fat was on the man’s body. Even though he was seventy-five, he didn’t look his age. More like a fifty-year-old. Maybe even younger.
Pat climbed out of the car and looked over to his father, who had not smiled on their approach.
“Hey, Dad,” he said.
“Hey, son. I hear the club is in real fucking trouble.”
“Hey, Doc,” Rusty said, groaning. “I’m in real fucking bad shape.”
And that was the father-and-son introduction over.
****
A va decided not to leave the store. She loved helping her mother and sister, and also being distracted on November first by changing the window displays helped her not to think about Pat, and last night.
Unfortunately, she did have random thoughts completely dominated by Pat and what they shared.
They didn’t just have sex once. Nope. After that first time, Pat had been so caring and gentle.
Much to her embarrassment, there had been a little blood.
Just a tiny amount, and Pat had taken care of her.
He’d been so tender and loving with her that it had stolen her breath away.
She had never been so used to a man treating her like that.
He’d insisted on carrying her into his en-suite bathroom, and he didn’t have a bathtub, but he forced her into the shower. He even moved her out of the way so the cold spray hit him rather than hitting her, which had been so totally sweet of him.
Pat washed her body, along with her hair.
Shampooing the long length, and her hair was still a dark black.
It was the dye that needed multiple washes for the color to change back to what it was.
She did have a moment after she did it, when she wondered what the hell she had done, dyeing her blonde hair, but it was done.
After he washed her, she was not going to allow him to escape that easily, so she attended to him, washing his body.
Pat was so sweet, so calm, and he talked to her throughout washing him. His cock had not remained flaccid. It had been very stiff. Rock-hard. She recalled being so red in the face. Pat had taken her hand and wrapped her fingers around his dick.
“Touch me, Ava.”
He’d whispered those soft words against her ear, and she had touched him, explored him, and much to her surprise, felt him get even harder. He hadn’t even been stiff from the beginning, or at least not fully stiff, which shocked her.
After the water started to chill, Pat had turned it off and told her to wait in the bathroom. Before he left, he wrapped a towel around her body, and one in her hair. She stood in the bathroom, feeling rather odd, just waiting.
He returned to the sheets bundled up together, and then he picked her up in his arms. Again, another surprise, and he hadn’t even shown any sign of her weight bothering him.
Pat carried her back to the bedroom, and she saw his bed was once again neatly made before he placed her right on top.
The towels disappeared, and Ava got to experience sex for a second time, minus the pain, and it had been incredible. She loved every second of it. Even now, just the memory, while she should be working, was right there, reminding her of what they shared.
And also, what she also sneaked away from that very morning.
“You’re distracted,” Violet said.
They were standing in the window display, removing the last of the Halloween decorations and inspirations.
They would clean them up, box them, and place them in storage until next year.
Throughout the year, Hazel would make decorations for each specific time of the year, to help advertise the shop through the window displays.
Ava loved to contribute as well. Although, she had been attempting to construct a corset for this very window, and that hadn’t exactly gone to plan.
The measurements were way off, and it didn’t fit any of the mannequins as her corset had come out too big.
She had done something wrong in the measuring, tracing out, and the final piece.
Hopefully, next year she would have something for the window.
“I’m not distracted. I’m working. You know how particular Mom is about her displays. She wants everything to be perfect, and that is exactly what I’m working to achieve. Perfection.” She didn’t want to talk to her sister about sex.
“You’re a terrible liar,” Violet said. “You were crap at it growing up, and guess what, you’re still crap at it.”
“Shut up.”
Ava finished wiping the last of the display, and now it was ready for the November inspiration.
Their mother didn’t like to put bolts of fabric in the window as the glare of the light tended to ruin them by fading the fabric. She often made things out of fabric for them to be seen.
Seeing as this shop catered to many different elements of the sewing craft, from dressmaking to quilting, and hand-stitching, the window display had to showcase that.
Ava started with one of the many quilts they had made over the years for the shop.
This one was all about Fall, with pumpkins and leaves, and it looked so seasonal, getting ready for Thanksgiving.
She was looking forward to Thanksgiving, only she didn’t know if this meant she would invite Pat to her family’s celebration.
She wasn’t even sure if Pat had any family.
Glancing over at Violet, she didn’t know if her sister would know.
“Look at these cuties,” Violet said.
Her sister lifted up a tiny costume that was that of a turkey but for a kid. Ava smiled.
“I love kids,” Violet said.
She was aware of her sister’s love of children, but she hated the thought of giving birth.
Every now and then, it seemed Violet wanted to start a family.
She wanted a big family. Then, there were times when she wondered exactly what Violet wanted.
Ava had a feeling she was never going to leave home, and would start her family with their mother.
“Have you ever thought of adopting?” Ava asked.
“Yes, and I have even looked into it, but it is such a long process. I mean, literally years to get approved,” Violet said. “I don’t know. I think maybe having a child of my own, I may go to one of those sperm clinics.”
“You have thought about this?”
“Yeah, it’s what I want, and that way, I don’t have to go through the whole dating thing. Do I? I like my life the way it is, and I know a child would just be the cherry on top.”
Ava looked toward her sister. “I thought you wanted to get married?”
“Yeah, well, it would seem that after having your one and only boyfriend cheat on you with your best friend, it kind of puts a damper on trusting men.”
“Violet, you cannot let that happen.”
“I know, I know, but come on, seriously. Relationships take a lot of work, and I just don’t think I have what it takes, you know?” Violet asked. “I live with Mom, and I love living with her. I don’t want to be anywhere else.” She sighed. “It doesn’t matter.”
Ava wanted to say more, but what else could she say? Her only true relationship was the one she was currently having now, and she snuck out on him that very morning.
For the next two hours, she and Violet continued to put the window display together. Once it was done, she, Violet, and Hazel stepped outside to see if it was eye-catching.
“You girls are amazing,” Hazel said, and kissed their cheeks.
Ava laughed. “We were taught by the best.”
“Kiss ass,” Violet said, and they all started laughing.
They were about to head in when a car pulled into the parking lot. There were several cars in the parking lot, but this was Mrs. Henderson’s car. She was a lovely woman, had several dogs she would take everywhere with her. Ava loved them all, and even now she approached.
“Oh, my days, did you girls hear?” Mrs. Henderson asked.
Ava was stroking one of the dog’s head. A cute little Jack Russell named Richie, and so adorable.
“No, we haven’t heard anything.”
“There was a big shoot-out at the Chaos and Carnage MC garage. I mean, I was in the diner, getting Mr. Henderson his usual sandwich for today, when the bullets came down. I swear, I have not heard that sound in over fifteen years. I thought that man had come back from the dead. You know the one, Bull’s father, Reynolds. I can never remember that man’s name.”
Ava looked at Mrs. Henderson. “What?”
“I even think there were some men working on a car when it was being hit. Rumor has it the younger brother, Grant, came and picked them up. One of them was hit. You had that military one, and then ... what is that guy’s name. Metal, Rust, no, Rusty, that’s it.”
Ava felt her heart racing.
“Mom, please,” Ava said.
“What’s the matter?” Mrs. Henderson asked.
“Go,” Hazel said. “Violet, go with her.”
Ava rushed back into the store, grabbed her car keys, and Bernice was there, at attention, rushing out with her.
Violet was already opening the car as she clicked the button to let them in. This couldn’t be happening. Violet secured Bernice into the back and then climbed into the front.
“You don’t need to panic,” Violet said.
“Someone shot up the garage,” Ava said, already pulling out of the parking lot. Her mother was still there, looking so sad.
She didn’t think, she just drove. Pushing her foot down on the gas to try and get to the garage. Why did she sneak out this morning? What if Pat was hit? What if he was hurt? Guilt rushed through her and she felt so sick, she wanted to cry and scream. Instead, she just drove toward the garage.
“It’s going to be okay. This is Pat, right, and he’s got military training. I’m sure everything is more than fine.”
On the approach, Ava saw the sheriff’s truck. There was no way she could park. The locals had set up a barricade around the garage, and it looked so empty.
She was able to drive around, and as she did, she went slowly, just in case anyone stepped out in front of the car. She looked, and there on the ground, she saw the blood.
“There’s blood, Violet,” she said.
“Don’t panic. You don’t know anything yet. Where can you go? Can you call Pat? Do you have his number?”
“We can go to the clubhouse.”
“Ava, I don’t think that is a good idea.”
“If someone has been shot, that is the only logical place to go,” Ava said. “He has to be there, right?”
She felt that panic starting to consume her. She felt sick. Glancing toward her sister, she saw the pity on Violet’s face.
“Please don’t look at me like that. I am not ... panicking.”
“Babe, you are, and that is fine. I get it, and if you want to go to the clubhouse, then that is where we go. I just ... I’ve never seen you like this. You and Pat, it’s a new thing, but you’re kind of acting like you have a lot more feelings for him.”
Ava felt the tears in her eyes. “I do. I don’t know if it is love, but it hurts.
” She pressed a hand to her chest. “This morning, I snuck out on him because I thought I was going to get the chance to see him again, but what if I don’t?
What if last night and this morning was all I had, and I could have prevented him from being at that stupid garage and getting shot? ”
“You don’t know if he was the one shot, and you have to have faith.”
She felt like laughing. All she felt was panicking. Driving past, she didn’t stop, and didn’t second-guess what she was doing. She drove right to the main clubhouse.
There was a guy, Rip, or it might have been Sweet, she wasn’t sure. There was no sign of Pat.