Chapter 4 #2
I look down at the phone and see that Stella did text ten minutes ago that she was coming by with coffee.
“One second,” I call out. I run into the bathroom, put back on the same clothes I wore yesterday, take my hair out of the towel and finger-comb it, and then I unlock the door and open it a crack.
The girl who went shopping with Savage is standing at the door with a huge grin and a travel mug in her hand. “Tell me you drink coffee,” she says dramatically.
I nod.
“Cream? Sugar? Nothing? I’ll run back to the kitchen for whatever you want.”
I shake my head. “You didn’t have to do that.”
She waves a hand at me. “No bother, but this one is mine. I need to know how you take yours if you don’t want to come out and make it yourself.”
Just then, little Aurora stands up in her crib and grips the wooden bars with her chubby fingers.
“Holyyyy shit.” Stella shakes her head. “I don’t have a maternal bone in my body, but that baby is gorgeous.
Look at you.” She lowers her face and wiggles her fingers at my daughter.
“Those eyes. They are crystal blue.” She looks at me and crosses her arms over her chest. She grimaces and then continues.
“I want to kick the ass of whoever did that to your eye, but I’m going to leave the violence to the boys.
Now, where’d your daughter get those blue eyes? ”
“My mom,” I say, and I can’t stop the smile that comes. “My mom’s were the exact same shade of blue.”
Stella frowns and flips her hair over her bare shoulder. Her red tank top is bedazzled with glittery stones, and the color really shows off her dark tan. “Were? Ugh, I’m sorry. How long has your mom been gone?”
I choke back my answer when Stella holds up a hand.
“Don’t answer that. I’m prying in your business and making an ass of myself, when I’m here trying to make friends.
” She stands up to her full height. “I’ll be back in five minutes with coffee, and if you don’t tell me how you take it, I’m going to bring a little of everything.
Are you a breakfast person? We’ve got fruit, bagels.
Any basic shit you want, we probably have. ”
My head is spinning with how fast Stella is talking and all the options she’s throwing my way.
Stella doesn’t wait for an answer. She drops her coffee on my coffee table and sweeps toward the door.
She heads down the hallway, and I can hear the clacking of her high-heel shoes as she walks. Stella is pretty, in a very done-up way. Long nails, fancy pedicure, short shorts, but she seems as genuine as they come.
I’m still rooted to my spot, thinking about all the things happening around me and to me, when Stella arrives back, knocks lightly, and then lets herself in. I realize immediately that I didn’t lock the door behind her.
Stella chatters on while I drink the coffee she brought and eat a banana—feeding some of it, along with baby oatmeal, to Aurora. Then I pack a few diapers in one of the plastic bags from yesterday.
“Oh shit.” Stella frowns.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, my stomach sinking. “Did I do something wrong?”
Stella cocks her head. “Baby, no. You’re perfect. You don’t have a purse, a diaper bag. Nothing. Do you have a wallet or ID?”
I nod. I had my ID in the back pocket of the shorts I wore yesterday. It’s sitting on the bedside table beside the phone Savage got me.
“All right, then. You ready to go?” She points to the closet, where some shoes are lined up. “Those are mine, and I swear, baby, I do not have feet cooties. We’ll get you a whole new wardrobe today.”
I slide my feet into a pair of tennis shoes that are a little big, but they’ll work. Then I pick up Aurora. “Honestly, it’s fine. Thank you so much for doing all this.”
We’re about to head out when I suddenly stop.
I reach for Stella’s arm. Her skin is so soft, and she’s so…
I don’t know. Beautiful in her own way. She has an ease about her that I recognize.
It’s how I used to be. Young, free. Unbroken.
I envy that for myself, but it brings me a lot of peace to see that a woman who’s here all the time isn’t miserable.
Her easy manner gives me the guts to ask her the question that’s been burning in my brain since yesterday.
“Yeah, babe?” she asks, turning to me.
“I don’t understand,” I tell her softly. “Why is he doing this? You, Poppy? Why are any of you doing all this for me?”
Stella blows out a big breath through glossy bright-red lips.
“Right,” she says. “Yeah, of course. I get what you’re asking.
” Then she looks me in the eye. “Most people with great lives and stable families don’t join our club,” she says quietly.
“Some do, I’m sure, but none that I know.
” She looks down at her nails and grimaces.
“Every man out there, every woman who hangs around here… We all came from something bad or worse than bad. We’re here because this is a place where other people who come from equally effed-up shit can get away from it all.
Find something good in all the anger and the violence and the poverty. ”
She swallows and is quiet for a second.
“We’re all strays in our own way. But just because we’re a random pack of lost souls doesn’t mean we don’t make some kind of family together.” She brightens a little. “You fit in here,” she assures me. “Don’t worry so much about it.”
She stalks toward the door and suddenly turns to face me. “Oh. I forgot. Savage picked up a car seat. You should have seen him trying to install it. It was like a bad joke—how many bad-ass bikers does it take to install a baby seat?”
She cackles and waves for me to follow her. I tuck my new phone into my pocket and leave my room. I only realize when I’m walking back through the compound that I forgot the key. I didn’t lock my room.
I somehow trust that, locked or not, nothing bad will happen. And that feeling, for the first time, feels like freedom.
Stella leads me through the compound, and I duck my head, avoiding what feels like stares from a couple of women I don’t know and a bunch of bikers.
Some are shirtless, watching TV and drinking coffee.
Others are wearing sunglasses and talking on their phones or to one another.
The vibe here is so different. At the Hellfires’ compound, you felt like a fight could break out at any moment.
Power was traded and taken. The strong bullied the weak.
This place feels weirdly like a family. People shout “Morning!” to no one in particular. I clutch Aurora to my chest and follow Stella, who is shouting at people, making fun of others, and just generally acting like she’s the big sister of everyone in this place.
As we head past the bar, Phantom, who I now know is the president of the club, stops Stella with a nod of his head.
“Hey, handsome,” she drawls.
Phantom shakes his head. “Stel, come on. Poppy hates when you call me that.” But he’s stifling a grin under a thick, dark beard.
“Liar, Poppy doesn’t mind. She wears that shit like a badge of honor. You may be handsome, but that girl is way prettier than you could ever be. You really climbed that ladder.”
Phantom holds up a hand. But one corner of his mouth lifts, and he looks at me. “Savage takin’ good care of you?”
“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to thank him, thank you. You’ve all—” I choke a bit on the word “—saved us.”
Phantom lowers his brows in a terrifying glare and waves a hand at me. “I wasn’t looking for thanks. I just… Ah fuck.” He pulls a wad of cash out of his back pocket and nods at Stella. “Savage set you up?”
Stella pats a black leather purse that’s over her shoulder. “He sure did.” She leans in and loudly whispers, “He gave me a grand, and I’m planning on spending every penny.”
My mouth drops open. A thousand dollars? Savage gave Stella a thousand dollars to spend on me and the baby? I must have misunderstood.
Phantom gives her a bunch more cash. I don’t look at it. I don’t want to know how much he’s giving her or what they plan to use it for. He talks in a low voice to Stella while I bounce Aurora in my arms.
“Yo, we goin’?” A huge guy I’ve never seen before comes out of the kitchen, brushing crumbs from the front of his black T-shirt.
“Claire, this is Tank. He’ll be driving you today.” Phantom claps the guy on the shoulder. “Take good care of them, you hear me?”
Tank widens his eyes at Aurora. “As long as I don’t have to play baby music in the truck, I’m good. Ready to go?”
“We’re ready,” Stella tells him, thankfully saving me from speaking because I’m not sure I could without my voice wavering.
What kind of crazy fairy tale did I step into, and am I going to wake up in a different reality?
I sure as fuck hope not.