Four
I made it as far as the door, and then I didn’t think I had the courage to step inside and see everyone. They’d all be wondering, staring at me like they could see what was wrong, and they’d have questions. They’d want to prod and pry, and I just wanted to fade into the background, like the elaborately carved phoenix on the door. My fingers traced over the textures of the design, and then a hand slammed against my shoulder.
“Brother! Fucking good to see you again!” I turned to catch a glimpse of Torch, before he dragged me into one of probably many man hugs.
“Hey, man, still a scary fucker, I see.”
He laughed, backing up to look me over.
“You look good, man. Let’s go in and get this done, yeah? Got a bird waiting in my room, and I got holes to fill. It’s a job I take very seriously.”
Jesus. I found myself laughing as we walked in together, and suddenly it wasn’t the daunting prospect, pun intended, that I’d imagined. I was surrounded by the men I knew and loved, accepting hugs and pats on the back, and declarations of being missed, and I hadn’t realised how much it’d boost my mood. I felt almost buoyant as I took my seat beside Reacher, who looked like a proud fucking father.
“Alright, you smug bastard.” My words were only for him, and gained me a smirk in response.
“Okay guys, settle down, I’m not gonna drag this out. We’re here for a few reasons today, and we’ll start with the most important one. Our brother, our VP, is back with us, and it’s about fucking time. We’ve missed you, man, and we’re behind you one hundred percent. Anything you need, we’re here, yeah?”
I nodded, feeling embarrassingly choked up again.
“Thanks, Reacher, my brothers. Bear with me while I get settled again, it’s been a weird few weeks.”
Ryder patted my shoulder. “We got you, man. Welcome home.” Cue another round of cheers and stuff, which honestly made me blush like a total pussy, and then Reacher got to the real reason we were together, no matter what he said.
“Okay, brothers, in light of various recent events and the future of this club, we’re making a few changes to the bylaws. I don’t expect everyone to love them, but I’ll say this now. We built this club from the ashes of another, and we made a fucking family out of it. We made a set of rules back then that were always gonna be subject to change as the club evolved, and as the President and Vice President of the club, we’re within our rights to do so. We’re changing two rules right now, and any issues you have, of course we’re gonna listen, but we’ll do that privately outside of here. Take time to absorb them, and think about how they may or may not affect you.”
He was rambling, and I wasn’t the only one who noticed, so I cleared my throat, and he turned to nod at me. He probably needed a minute to catch his breath anyway.
“Okay, rule change number one; from now on, any issue we choose to vote on, is no longer going to need a unanimous vote. We’ll be going with the majority, and yeah, this is precisely to prevent one or two naysayers from ruining something that could make another person in this family happy, and yes, this applies to old ladies. I’m stunned to be a member of a club who could even consider voting against the happiness of a brother, much less their President, and so it’s not happening again. Not on my fucking watch.”
The room stayed uncomfortably quiet, and I exchanged a worried glance with Reacher. He took a deep breath.
“The second rule under development, and we’re calling it that, because it’s not gonna be a strict set-in-stone rule anymore, uh… the ‘no ride, no club’ rule. There are any number of reasons that a member of the club might not be able to ride, temporarily or otherwise, and I don’t want any member of this club, who relies on us as his family, to be in fear of losing everything if he’s injured or ill. ”
“Who apart from Stitch is affected by that though?” That was Micro, and he practically flinched from the glares he received from many of us.
“I’m not trying to be an asshole, man. I get it, there are always reasons, but I was just curious if it’s a widespread thing.”
Ice opened his mouth, and Reacher shot him a glare, silencing him.
“That’s enough of this bullshit. It’s nobody’s business who can or can’t ride. The only people who ever need to know if there’s an issue are the two of us. And we need to know as soon as there’s a problem, so we don’t end up relying on you when you can’t step up.”
They probably couldn’t see it, but I could see how incredibly uncomfortable Reacher was right now. Changing the rules was something he’d rebelled against, because he didn’t want to be a dictator, but these were good changes.
“Brothers, neither of these changes are being made to screw anyone, or favour anyone. We’re a fucking family, and when one of us has a problem, he needs to be able to rely on his brothers to accept and support whatever the fuck he’s going through. Hell… look, I’m one of the people who can’t ride right now, but I’m not the only one. I miss it so fucking much I could scream. But right now, I don’t know how much longer I have, so I’ll get back on a fucking bike somehow, and reclaim that glory before I die. Don’t go thinking that anyone who temporarily can’t ride isn’t feeling exactly the same fucking thing.”
Cammy
T he bikers had all left for something they called ‘Church’, which I was pretty sure had nothing to do with religion, if the books I’d read were any indication. The sign was almost half painted, and looked beautiful already. This place already felt like a world away from my last job, and something about it felt right. This was where I was supposed to be now.
“There’s nothing left to do now, babe. Once the sign is finished, we can think about a grand opening or something. I’ve got some ads going in, and Ice has set up an amazing website and is doing something I really don’t understand, to point traffic in our direction. Hopefully we’ll get some clients pretty soon.”
Well, it sounded like our work was definitely done for now.
“Sounds like we should grab a bottle of wine and celebrate then.”
Lissa giggled. “How did I know you were going to say that? Ice said we can go and have a drink in the clubhouse bar. I hear their VP is back at last, that’s what their meeting was for. I haven’t met him yet, but he’s likely to be using our new business at some point.”
Great, another damaged, messed up guy. I just wanted someone who wanted to fucking live life with me, and treat me like a queen. Was that really too much to ask?
We locked up, and got into my car, and drove around to the gates of the biker compound. It almost felt like one of those zombie apocalypse survivor camps, except for the two young biker guys who strolled over to my car, looking ready to send me on my way.
“Excuse me, Miss… Oh, hey Lissa. You guys coming in?” His tone changed fast, and I listened as they briefly chatted, and then the heavy gates were swinging open and we were directed inside, and to a parking spot. There were more cars than I expected for a biker club, but there was the super sexy, shiny row of motorbikes. I had no idea what any of them were, but they were thrilling, even just parked there, because they represented something risky, and dangerous, at least to me.
“Come on, girl, wine won’t pour itself.”
She led me inside the large building and instantly I felt at home, which was weird because I’d never been here before.
“What took you so long?” Lissa was almost instantly swept up by her hot biker guy, and I was back to being the third wheel, but the discomfort didn’t last long, because suddenly we were in a huge bar area, and it was full of more hot bikers than I could even have imagined. There was laughter, and loud talking, music you couldn’t quite make out, and a cute younger guy behind the bar, dishing out drinks as fast as he could.
“Hey darlin’, what can I get ya?” I asked for a beer, because it occurred to me that I had to drive home after this, and so one beer would have to be my limit.
I sat and drank my beer, while I listened to Ice and Lissa chatting with the other bikers around us. A few were cute, one or two were absolutely gorgeous and at least one was terrifying. He winked at me a few times, and that thrill of impending danger ran down my spine at the thought of being with someone like him, even though I didn’t necessarily fancy him. Sometimes a girl just needs to get an itch scratched, right? But fucking anyone from the club would be super awkward later, if they came to the clinic, and I had every reason to believe they might.
We hung out for a few hours, with me drinking soft drinks after my beer, while everyone else seemed to get more and more merry as the night progressed. Finally I needed a bathroom, so I grabbed Lissa’s arm, and asked her for help, and she went with me to use the small, but very clean set of cubicles off the bar. There was a sign on the door which had clearly originally said ‘ladies’ but someone had added the word ‘old’ in front of it.
“What do you think?”
I stared at her in the mirror as we washed our hands.
“It’s a nice place, I can see why you feel at home here.”
“See anyone you like?” She had a wicked grin on her face, watching me as I undid my smart blouse, and tied the tails at my waist. It felt too officey to wear around these more casual people, but the vest underneath was too skimpy to wear around a room of strange, alcohol-soaked men.
“Babe, I’m going to pop up to my room to get you a different top. Wait here.”
Thank god for Lissa. Now if she could just supply me with somewhere to sleep, I could really party with these guys. I checked myself in the mirror, smoothing my hair, where it had become a little frizzed up in the warm air.
The bathroom was stiflingly hot, so I stepped back into the corridor to cool down, and walked straight into a warm body.