Chapter 29
CILLA
Jet takes me to the clubhouse after work, as Mason is busy with something.
I can’t help but think from the look on Jet’s face it's something they call Club Business, and I don’t get to know about.
Their thinking is a little off because Bono, Tank, or Pyro would inform me if I asked.
Especially if it had to do with, you know, offing someone.
I’d see them cross over if one of the three made a move on whoever it is.
*You don’t need to know, Cilla*
“You’re right, Bono. I’m more than happy with not knowing what they are all up to at this time. I have other things to get sorted out now I’m here.”
I rush to Keys’ office because I’ve got to make sure he behaves himself. Shrugging as I lift my hand I open the door instead of knocking. “Hey, Keys.” I throw myself into a seat and notice the surprise on his face.
“Hello, Cilla. What can I do for you?”
Now, I would laugh if I wasn’t here for a serious reason because Keys is looking behind me, at the side of me, and squinting while he does it. “What are you looking for, Keys?” I ask, knowing full well that he’s trying to see if I’ve brought a ghost in here with me.
“Nothin’,” Keys replies quickly, and his eyes are still darting around me.
“There are no ghosts here with me. Not even the three assholes. Now, I wanted to talk to you about the wedding planners. Do not post reviews that could ruin them. It is just ridiculous that they will lose money because they don’t want to create a biker wedding.
It is what it is, Keys. I don’t care and I have an appointment to see a planner later, so hey, it is all good. ”
Keys looks very shifty, and I squint my eyes at him. Nervous, yes, he is. I cross my arms, lean forward, and give him my undivided attention. Attention that he is trying to avoid.
“Um, I already did it,” Keys says sheepishly.
“No! What did you do?” I jump to my feet feeling panic rising.
Keys shrugs, “Look, we are bikers. We know what we are, but do more for this town’s benefit than they ever do for ours.
We help damsels in distress all the fucking time.
My brothers have been shot for it more times than I can count getting women away from asshole men.
But hey, we want a wedding and they won’t do it. Well, fuck ‘em, Cilla.”
I step closer and place a hand on Keys’ shoulder. “Show me.” It is all I am able to ask, but feel a little dread at what I might see.
“Well, this bitch is up to her neck in debt. Debt she isn’t going to be able to pay.
Yet she thinks she’s above planning a wedding for a bike club.
A legit bike club at that. Now, a few years ago, when we were a one-percenter club I could understand it, but we haven’t been that since Pres decided he wasn’t going to see any brothers end up in jail or deep in the ground.
We’d seen that in his father's era, but not from Pres.” Keys gives me a proud look, and I give a small nod and wait for him to continue.
“I set up AI to post reviews at staggered intervals. Stated her planning was shit, and she was in so much debt that they may not get their wedding as she’ll run off with the dollars that they pay her. ”
“Oh, my…” I look at Keys when he chuckles to himself.
“It’s cool, actually. I set an algorithm for it to spin words around, rewrite what I said, and just keep putting it out there until I tell it to stop.
That’s number one, the other one is a woman who is sleeping with someone’s husband.
But the best thing is that she is married herself.
So, I just dropped some stills from cams I accessed to her husband's email address. Job done. She’ll be out on her ear by suppertime.
” Keys looks at me with such a look of satisfaction that I can’t help but shake my head, followed by a smile.
“Okay. But no more. I have a planner coming to the house to discuss things. Jet found her, and I reckon she’s a good one.”
Keys nods. “Give me her name and I’ll check out that she is good. But you need to get her here to the clubhouse so she can look over the place. With the wedding here, she’ll need to see it.”
“Yeah, okay, you’re right. She needs to see and then make suggestions with all the facts in hand.” I kiss Keys cheek before stepping towards the door. “Thanks, Keys.”
“You’re welcome, Cilla.”
“Maybe you should have been a wedding planner, Jet,” I say with light amusement.
Jet gives me a filthy look but then has that one-sided smirk that most bikers seem to have. I wonder if it is something they test for before they allow them to prospect?
“Come on, let’s take a look. You suggested it, Jet, so you are coming in with me.” I tuck my hand under his arm, and he leads me into the bridal shop.
It’s so white in here you’d think you were in the hospital. “I’m not sure this is the place for me, Jet,” I mumble when I see the woman behind a freestanding rack of dresses walk towards us.
Oh, dear. She is looking down her nose at us. Now, that is not a good sign, and we’ve already had women curl their noses up at us, and I’m not having that again. Or maybe I can ask my boys to help out.
“Why have you got that smile on your face?” Jet asks, but I ignore the question.
“We would like to see any dress and jacket fit for a bride that you may have, please.” Now, I ask her with all the grace I can manage, but it seems that it isn’t going to be easy here either.
“This store only supplies couture wedding dresses. We have a limited number of off-the-rack dresses. Aiming for custom-made, high-end, and hand-stitched designs that suit our clients perfectly. One of a kind that exudes luxury, detail, and high costs. I’m not sure, dear, that you are the kind of client that we can cater to. ”
“Hey, who the fuck do you think you are? If Cilla wants a dress made here, she can afford it, and some bitch like you doesn’t have the right to say all that shit you just did,” Jet snarls and as he does his spittle flies in the woman’s face.
Tank and Pyro I can see are standing with arms folded over their chests and looking more than slightly angry. Honestly, I’m more worried about Pyro doing something he shouldn’t. What I don’t expect is Tank to close his eyes and appear like a man made of fog.
Jet points at Tank, his eyes about ready to fall out of his head. The woman who I didn’t get her name screams, then faints dead to rights in front of me. I place my hand over my mouth as a little giggle escapes.
“Well, Tank, that’s new, and I like it,” I coo, which has him strutting around with his chest puffed out.
“Holy Mother of God!” Jet mumbles, and I grab his arm to steady him.
“It’s okay, Jet. He’s not going to hurt you,” I say as I turn and wink at Tank, right before leaving the woman on the floor and strutting out of the shop, dragging Jet by his arm along with me.
“Cilla, I’ve seen nothing like that in my life.
I’m gonna tell Pres, he’s gonna be jealous as fuck.
He is into this spooky shit, and I can bet he’s gonna want you to call Tank to do it again for him,” Jet is babbling as we climb into the club’s SUV.
A laugh bursts out of him, and he turns to look at me, “Cilla, you are the best goddamn security job I ever had, and ever will have. Can I be your bestie?”
I cannot stop the giggle that pops out, and honestly, Jet is cool usually. Seeing him shocked and then excited has made my day. “Thank you, Tank. That was awesome, and you’ve made Jet a happy man.”
*You’re welcome, Cilla*
Jet takes me home, and I make him come indoors because honestly, sitting outside makes him look like a stalker. The wedding planner arrives that Jet had arranged previously. She looks smart but casual, which is nice, as I expected her to wear a suit and be stuffy.
“Hi, Cilla. I’m Miranda, and I’m very happy to meet you. Congratulations on your upcoming marriage,” Miranda is soft-spoken and comes across with a lot of sincerity.
“Hello, Miranda. I’m not sure where to even start…” I start to say, but Jet jumps in before I can complete my sentence.
“Do you know that stuck-up bitch at the bridal shop?” Jet takes Miranda by surprise.
“Um, you mean the one here in town?” Miranda asks, and I can see she’s a little nervous about the question.
“Yeah, that one. She’s a bitch…” Jet continues, and I step closer, pat his arm and mumble for him to calm himself.
“Please take a seat,” I point to the kitchen table, and we all sit. I can see Miranda is nervous about what response to give. Both Jet and I are waiting now for her to decide about what she is going to say.
“I have worked with many bridal boutiques, and I’ll be honest that I will not recommend that one to any of my clients.
I won’t give nasty comments about the store because the dresses are stunning, but the staff leave a lot to be desired,” Miranda speaks with respect, although she is basically saying the place is downright nasty-minded.
“Well, I want a suit rather than a long flowing dress. I think a nice plain dress, a jacket, and a bundle of flowers are enough. We are having the wedding at the clubhouse, so you may need me to take you there so you can see what you are dealing with. It will be outdoors, and the brothers are building an archway for me to stand under with Mason when we say our vows. Oh, I don’t want it overly flowery, a few floral arrangements dotted around would be nice, but I think that is enough.
” Miranda is working on her tablet while I’m speaking, taking notes and nodding each time I tell her something new.
“We need a caterer, photographer, and florist. Budget and venue are not an issue. We are on a short timeline as we have just under six weeks to complete the planning and have the wedding.”
Miranda continues tapping out her notes, then looks up with a bright smile I might add.
“This is great. I have caterers I can call on for this. Think about what you want me to offer. Do you want finger-type foods already plated and handed out to them, or a sit-down meal, or even a buffet type that they can help themselves to a meal?”
“I reckon the brothers would eat stuff like BBQ chicken, burgers, and side stuff. They’d not enjoy sitting at a table like the posh things we see.
Not sure what finger foods are, Cilla, but if they are tiny bits, you can shove in our mouth you’d need a fuck lot of it…
” Jet states, and I grab his hand and squeeze, which he interprets that he needs to be quiet.
“Okay, Miranda, with the comments Jet has made how about we have casual food? Like chicken cooked in different ways, ribs, steaks, and the usual side dishes to accompaniment?”
“We can arrange that. I know the perfect caterer.” Tapping on her tablet again before looking up once more.
“Flowers we can arrange a few placed in strategic places outside to enhance where you walk to Mason. Which would leave the inside free and not require clearing after the wedding. How do you feel about that?”
“That suits me fine. I only want to hold a few flowers tied with a ribbon. Not a full bouquet because it would be a waste of flowers in my opinion.”
“Okay, I can arrange that,” Miranda jots more down, and I’m beginning to think this is going to be a nice, calm wedding. “Do you have a color in mind?”
“Um, maybe cream and pale lilac?” I ask more than tell, because I don’t know what would be available.
“We can do those colors.” More tapping on the tablet. “Photographer, I use the same one and she is fantastic. She always seems to get the best shots at the best angles. You can have only the service photographs, or you can have her walk around taking photographs as she sees things of note?”
“That would be nice, but only outside. I don’t want any indoor photographs taken.” I don’t think Tracker would like photographs of the clubhouse for anyone to use in a bad way. I’ll be happy to have the wedding outside of the clubhouse for everything.
“Okay, leave it with me and I’ll get this all arranged. I will need to pop over to the clubhouse so I can make the plan. Then I can give you the rundown of my service costs. Is all that okay with you, Cilla?” Miranda is packing her tablet away as she speaks.
“Yes, that is good. Arrange a time with Jet, and he’ll make sure you are able to see the compound area where the wedding will be held. Is that okay, Jet?”
“Yeah, no problem. I’ll arrange it all with Pres, get it nailed down for you, Cilla.”
As I show Miranda out, she turns and hands me her card.
Jet had originally given her the date of the wedding, which I hadn’t thought to do.
“The bridal store in Gainesville is accommodating. They will help you find the suit that you envision. Give them a call and make an appointment. Ask for Paris, she is lovely and she’ll do everything she can to make sure what you want is what you get. ”
“Thank you, Miranda.”
Miranda gives me a huge smile. “No, thank you. I’ll speak to you soon, and Jet, I’ll contact you to visit the clubhouse tomorrow. If you can have a day and time for me that is convenient, I’ll do my best to be available to visit.”
“No problem. I’ll speak to Pres and sort something out,” Jet responds, and then we give her a wave as she leaves.
Once back indoors, Jet smiles. “I reckon we found a good one in Miranda. What do you think?”
“Yes. She seems to understand and not push for more than we want. Get her into the compound so she can see where the wedding is being held, and we need to get over to Gainesville to this shop she mentioned.” I look up when the door opens and Mason walks into the house.
Jet soon disappears, and I fill Mason in on my day. Surprising him when I tell him about Tank’s appearing act. “Oh, fuck, you know Tracker will expect to see him now, don’t you?”
“Yeah,” I reply and giggle because Tank is strutting around like he is the most important thing in the world. Yet only I can see him at this moment in time.