Chapter Six
“You’re painting faces for the Easter fair?” Eden asked.
“Yep.”
“How did you get pulled into that?” Eden folded her hands across her chest as she watched her sister change her kits.
“You know, I have no idea how I got this job, just that it landed on me.” She shrugged. “I guess I’m the only one they could think of to paint kids’ faces.”
Eden laughed. It was more likely there was a town meeting, and parents only wanted a professional to handle their kids, rather than run the risk of infected eyes or cross-contaminated products. Maeve was taking it seriously and had several disposable brushes and cleaning equipment.
“You’re sure you want to do this?”
“I love the Easter fair, and the kids love it too. This is not my first time.”
That was true. Last year, the guy who thought it would be good to paint kids’ faces got overwhelmed, reacted, and there had to be an intervention when one of the kids walked away with a penis drawn on his cheek. That hadn’t been good. That was when Maeve took over, and the kids adored her.
Even though her sister could be quite loud, often abrasive, and use every curse word in the book, she was a sucker for kids and worked well with them. Eden knew she would make a fantastic mother one day.
“Can you help me?” Maeve asked.
There were several cases, and Eden helped Maeve into the car and climbed into the passenger seat. Eden was helping at several different stands. Her role was to jump in when someone needed help.
Razor had said he’d be at the fair. They brought their bikes, which added an element of flare and excitement. No one was allowed on the bikes or to touch the bikes, but a lot of men and women came to see them. It was like the barrier between biker and civilian dropped at the town fair.
She also had a hunch it had something to do with the sheriff asking for help, in keeping everything safe.
Eden had noticed several of the MC going to the sheriff’s office or randomly stopping by to talk to him.
She also put two and two together when a shop was vandalized or robbed, and there was justice brought.
The person was helped and their shop was returned to its former glory, without a penny spent.
The MC were meant to be pains in the ass, but they took care of things. She had noticed it a lot while dating Mac. It was hard not to notice them. They did a lot more than people gave them credit for, and she had no doubt in her mind they were not all good men.
Razor didn’t talk about it, but she knew how he earned his name. Again, it was what Mac had told her. They earned the names they were given, not that he explained his own. She figured Mac loved burgers or something like that, although she had never seen him eat a burger.
Razor had promised he would be at the fair, and she was looking forward to seeing him.
They had been hanging out, and it was a lot of fun.
He came every morning, including Sundays, carrying coffee and breakfast. Sometimes it was buns, other times it was a breakfast sandwich.
He had even gotten some pancakes and waffles on different occasions.
She never had to worry about breakfast. Of course, one of the days Maeve joined them, and they had no choice but to offer their own food so there was plenty to go around for three.
Now, Razor sent her a text, asking if her sister was even there. Most often, she wasn’t. She’d been busy, but in the past week she had been there every single day.
After breakfast, he always had some kind of club job to do, and he was vague about a lot of what he did.
Sometimes he worked late, when he was on guard duty at the strip club in town.
Other times, he worked at the mechanic shop and bounced around from job to job.
There was no one direct answer. The nights he worked late, he never stopped by, but when he was not at the strip club, he came to watch a movie, take her out to dinner, or for a walk. Eden didn’t need to ask him to show up.
Arriving at the fair, Eden wrinkled her nose. She hated crowds but she always attended the fair and helped where she could. She grabbed Maeve’s bags and followed her sister, helping her get set up at the face-painting stand.
“Are you okay?” Maeve asked.
There were a lot of people, and it was before nine o’clock in the morning. The Easter fair brought a lot of locals out, but people traveled for this as well. It was always a lot of work.
“Yeah, yeah, it’s all good. You know me.” She let out a little laugh, which she didn’t quite feel, but she was trying to keep her focus on what was important.
Eden had no idea why she hated crowds, or why they made her so nervous. It wasn’t like anything bad had happened to her in a crowd.
“I better get going.”
“If this is too much for you?” Maeve said. “I can take care of it.”
“Maeve, it’s fine. I do this every year, and every year it is always fine. I’m fine.”
“You’re saying fine a lot.”
“It’s how I handle and deal with it. Chat later.” She needed to go and get stuck in, otherwise, she would end up in one of the porta-potties, trying to control her breathing.
She made her way across the fair, trying to stay within her own space, but of course, people kept bumping into each other.
It’s fine.
She arrived at a trinket stand with homemade gifts. There were a lot of people in Rivermont Ridge who liked to dabble in crafts. There were handmade buttons, earrings, bracelets, necklaces, little frames, cards, and even items of clothing.
Stepping behind the stand, Martha offered her a smile. Martha was a lovely older woman who was the head of the crafts in Rivermont Ridge. She owned the craft store, which was also a fabric store, and a safe haven for anyone that crafted.
Eden was not a crafter. She had designed Martha’s website so she could compete with some of the bigger chain stores, and sending her business online had helped her a lot. Now, she had a lot of followers, and Eden had seen the shop grow stronger.
Usually, this stand was quiet, but in recent years, a lot of people had started to see the real value in homemade items, and Eden got involved in selling.
When there was a spare minute, she found herself looking at the cute handmade clothing. The sweaters looked adorable. She loved the one decorated with puppies. It was so cute, and she kept stroking it when she had a spare moment.
“Honey, Beatrice needs you on the book stand,” Martha said.
This is where she started moving from stand to stand. She hadn’t seen Razor yet, and she couldn’t help but keep looking for him.
****
Razor hated and loved the Easter fair.
It was good, because nine times out of ten, the sun was shining, and it was a lovely event. There was good food and pretty much anything anybody could buy. He didn’t like that in recent years, a lot of assholes liked to come, and Sheriff Hayes had asked for their help.
They brought their bikes and used them as a cover to be at the fair. This was no longer a fun time for them, but a job. There had been a few times Razor had to intervene, when he saw some guys about to hurt another.
The sheriff wanted the fair to go off without a hitch. It could be hard to accomplish with so many people around. Also, there was alcohol, which never freaking helped.
He stood near one corner of the fair and watched, making sure no one stole anything, keeping an eye and ear out for any kind of trouble.
Across from him was Maeve’s makeup stand for face painting.
He’d seen the long line of children looking excited at the prospect of getting their faces painted, and Maeve was a real winner with those kids.
She had them all smiling and happy as she painted them as bunnies, fairies, or even scary villains.
Some of the boys didn’t want their faces painted, and she would talk to the moms who would agree to let them be whatever they wanted.
“Anything?” Doc asked, coming to stand beside him.
“Same old, same old. I heard Savage had to break up some kids attempting to buy pot, but other than that, it has been quiet.”
He hadn’t seen Eden yet, and he was starting to get a little irritated. Mac was supposed to come and give him a break, but as usual, Mac was a no-show, and it was starting to piss him off.
“She’s good,” Doc said.
Razor looked at Doc and followed his gaze to where Maeve was working on a couple of twins. “Yeah, she’s the best.”
“I know Charlotte asked her to come over.”
This made Razor frown. “Charlotte’s a kid. Are we talking about a playdate here?”
“No, Maeve does some kind of ... home appointment, where she’ll talk through products, do the makeup stuff, and then offer a discount for ordering your first kit. Charlotte wanted it last Christmas.”
He knew Christmas with Charlotte didn’t go well. “What happened?”
“I got her a cell phone instead, and I put a GPS tracker on it. Her mother had already gotten her a cell phone, so I gave her some money.”
“Dude.”
He held his hands up. “Yeah, I know, I know. Nancy said I had to arrange it with Maeve because it’s a lot of money, and she talks about the cost upfront and all that. What the fuck do I know about makeup?”
“Look, she’s Eden’s sister and I’m seeing Eden, so I can talk to Maeve for you.”
“You’d do that?”
“Yeah, it won’t be hard. Maeve likes to warn about busting my balls at every opportunity.”
“Does Mac know you’re dating Eden?” Doc asked.
“Yeah, he does.”
“And?”
“It’s Mac, he’s not even here when he fucking should be.” Razor was pissed off.
“Mac’s here, but he’s on the other side of the fair,” Doc said.
“Son of a bitch,” Razor said. “Are you good here?”
“Yeah, I am.”
Razor happened to notice that Doc kept looking in Maeve’s direction. He didn’t know if he should warn his Prez, but then Doc had never done anything to jeopardize his situation with Nancy. They had divorced long ago, and they were friends.
Making his way across the fair, Razor had only one destination planned, and he spotted Mac by the hot dog stand. He was standing with Iron, and this pissed him off.
“You were supposed to relieve me an hour ago,” Razor said, stepping in front of Mac.
“I was? Huh, that is so strange, but I’ve been here for the last couple of hours, so no biggie.”
“What the fuck is your problem?” Razor asked.
“I don’t have a problem. I was told to be here and keep an eye on things. I didn’t realize I had to be in a specific area at any point.” He pulled out his cell phone. “There’s no notification that states I need to cover your ass.”
Razor wanted to fucking hit him. Mac was being smug. They all had a job to do. If he started a fight, Doc would be pissed.
This fair was supposed to go smoothly. It was what Sheriff Hayes asked for, and if the MC started to get into fights, it would be bad publicity for the town and for the fair.
He was aware the locals counted on this for their revenue.
There would be a time and a place for him and Mac to deal with this, but it wasn’t going to be today.
He didn’t know what the fuck his problem was.
He glared, turned on his heel, and made his way through the fair, intent on finding one person and one person only.
He spotted her, fingering a sweater at the handmade goods stand.
For a minute, he watched as she served a couple of people, then went back to admiring the sweater.
He recognized Martha, who was a nice old lady.
A couple of months ago, her store was broken into, and some of the fabric was stolen.
The sheriff came to them, and they took care of it.
It was a few out-of-town kids playing games, thinking they were a lot tougher than they were.
A visit from a few bikers and talking with their parents had handled the situation with ease.
Razor didn’t like the fact the sheriff was using him and the club to do their work for them.
He had started to notice an increase in the sheriff’s demands, and it was grating on his nerves.
It wasn’t like he had to do a lot of work in Rivermont Ridge.
Sure, there were a lot of petty squabbles, but not a lot of crime—mainly kids with nothing to do. Easy stuff to handle.
He watched as Eden left the handmade stand and made her way toward the bookstore. Going to the handmade stand, he smiled at Martha.
“The puppy sweater,” he said.
Martha looked at him. “Aren’t you dating Eden?” she asked.
“Yeah, I am, and now I have Christmas solved.”
Martha laughed. “She is going to be upset to see it go, but you know what, I think this will be a cute Christmas present, and you’re thinking eight months in advance. Does this mean you’re serious about her?”
“I do not kiss and tell.” He was not giving up on Eden.
He knew some guys would, with the whole no sex thing, but he wasn’t one of them. He was happy to wait and to get to know Eden a lot more. He wanted more than anything for her to trust him.
After paying for the cute handmade sweater, he made his way back to his bike, stashed it in a small compartment it actually fit in, and made his way back just as Eden was about to leave the bookstore. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked, spinning her around.
Eden laughed. “I was actually going to check on my sister. See how she’s doing.”
“If it makes you feel any better, she has got a full line of kids and looks to be loving it.”
He saw the smile deepen on Eden’s face.
“Good. I’m glad.”
“You didn’t think she’d like it?”
“I didn’t know if she would like it or not, but this is good. It’s all good.”
“So, how about you and I go and have some fun?” He winked at her.
“Well, that depends on what kind of fun you’re talking about.”
He had a feeling she was flirting with him, and he liked it a lot.