Chapter 12 #2
“Which is why I’m telling you this now. You don’t have to keep track of who belongs in which category. You don’t have to try to fit in, and you sure as hell don’t have to dress like somebody else.”
Charlie’s gaze slid almost automatically towards her own clothes.
Mia snorted.
“I saw that.”
“What?”
“You’ve been comparing yourself to every woman in here since you walked through the door.”
Charlie opened her mouth to protest, then closed it again.
That was exactly what she had been doing, and apparently Mia had noticed.
“Reeze didn’t bring you here so you could turn yourself into somebody else, babe.”
The words struck deeper than Charlie expected. Somewhere beneath everything else, she had already begun wondering whether she could ever fit amongst these people, and Mia must have seen it in her face.
“Trust me. If that man keeps looking at you the way he has all evening, you are definitely not the problem.”
Charlie’s cheeks heated again and Mia grinned with obvious satisfaction.
“And yes, I’m absolutely going to give him shit about it later.”
She didn’t get the chance to say anything else before Rollo approached them. He moved calmly through the room and stopped in front of Charlie.
“So you’re Charlie.”
He held out his hand.
“Welcome.”
His grip was firm but brief, and Charlie returned it with a cautious smile.
“Thanks.”
Rollo nodded before turning towards Mia and leaning closer to her ear.
“I need Reeze for a while.”
The words were barely above a murmur. Mia’s expression hardly changed at all; she simply nodded.
“Go.”
Rollo rested a hand briefly against her shoulder before moving away, and Mia watched him for a second before turning back to Charlie.
“Right. Then we work.”
“Work?”
“Reeze needs to deal with something. Club business. Nothing to do with us.” Mia stood and held out a hand. “But I’m not leaving you sitting here by yourself, and the bar won’t run itself, so you’re coming with me.”
Charlie took her hand and followed.
Behind the bar, everything somehow felt even closer. Glasses clinked, voices rose and fell, people appeared and disappeared again. A few eyes flicked towards Charlie, registered her presence and moved on.
“You sit there,” Mia said, pointing towards a stool just inside the bar. “Nobody gives you anything without me seeing it, and if anyone says something you don’t like, you look at me. Understand?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Mia immediately returned to work, completely in her element as her hands moved automatically between glasses, bottles and money.
“Reeze is a good man,” she continued while she worked. “Sometimes too fucking good. People take advantage of that if he lets them. I don’t, and Rollo doesn’t.”
Charlie remained quiet while Mia poured another beer.
“And you’re here because right now you need to be here. Not because somebody owns you. Make sure you understand the difference.”
Charlie nodded slowly, and for the first time since leaving the flat she felt her shoulders drop properly.
Reeze might have disappeared from sight, but she wasn’t alone.
Rollo closed the door to the meeting room behind them and put the gavel down on the table.
Reeze shrugged out of his cut and hung it over the back of a chair but remained standing.
Something in Rollo’s manner had already told him this wasn’t a conversation that could wait, so he leaned back against the edge of the table.
“I got a tip,” Rollo said without preamble.
“From who?”
“Doesn’t matter. What matters is that it isn’t bullshit.”
Reeze straightened slightly and waited.
“Things are moving around the edges again,” Rollo continued. “Nothing open. Not yet. But enough that I want to know exactly where we stand.”
Reeze understood immediately.
“The armoury?”
“Exactly.”
He ran a hand through his hair and glanced towards the locked cabinet in one corner of the room.
“We’re not empty, but we’re not where I want us to be either.”
He crossed the room and unlocked it. The familiar sound of metal against metal filled the silence as he quickly checked the contents while Rollo remained behind him.
“We’ve got a few semi-autos checked and ready. They’re not new, but they’re reliable. We’ve got handguns, but we need more. And ammo...” Reeze grimaced. “Enough to make our presence known, but not enough if something drags out.”
“What do you need?”
Reeze closed the cabinet and turned towards him.
“Contacts, time and some fucking peace. I can get what you want, but it means movement. Not tonight, but soon.”
Rollo nodded. He didn’t ask how Reeze intended to do it or who he would contact.
That was part of the reason Reeze held the position he did.
“Good. Then handle it.”
Reeze reached for his cut but stopped.
“One more thing. I’ve got private shit going on at the same time.”
“I know.” Rollo met his gaze steadily. “And I trust you to keep the two separate.”
“I will.”
There was nothing more to say about it. Rollo picked up the gavel and nodded towards the door.
“Good. Then we’re done.”
Behind the bar, Charlie had continued watching the people around her while Mia worked.
Not so much the conversations or what was being said anymore, but the patterns.
The cuts, the patches and the way some men could make others move without ever having to ask, while others simply blended into the crowd.
“Mia?”
“Mm?” she answered without looking up as she opened two bottles at once.
“What does all of that actually mean?”
Charlie nodded towards the cuts and Mia followed her gaze.
“The patches?”
“Yeah. Reeze has Master at Arms, Rollo has President, Billy has Vice President and Jesse has Master of Money. But most of the others only have Wallhalla MC and Member.”
“Well spotted.”
Mia set down the bottles and leaned against the counter.
“Member means exactly what it says. Full member. Voice, rights and responsibilities.”
“And prospects?”
“Apprentices, more or less. They run errands, keep their mouths shut and learn. The bloke who brought your things over? Prospect.”
Charlie nodded. At least Tony gave her a face to attach to the title.
“And the ones without an officer patch?”
“Not everyone needs a position and not everyone wants one. A title means responsibility, and responsibility means you’re never completely off duty.”
Charlie glanced towards the closed meeting-room door. She had no idea what Reeze was doing in there and she wasn’t going to ask. Not now.
But she was beginning to understand that there were parts of his life that didn’t simply stop because he finished a shift at the pub and went home.
“Reeze seems to carry a lot.”
Mia pursed her lips slightly.
“Yeah. He does.”
She studied Charlie for a moment before continuing.
“That’s why he doesn’t let people in easily.”
Charlie didn’t have time to answer before the meeting-room door opened and Reeze emerged.
His eyes found her almost immediately.
He walked straight towards the bar, and Charlie barely had time to smile before he stepped behind it, cupped her face in both hands and kissed her.
It wasn’t cautious and it certainly wasn’t fleeting.
Reeze kissed her hard and without the slightest concern for the fact that they were surrounded by his brothers and everyone else moving through the clubhouse.
When he finally pulled back, he stayed close enough that she could still feel the warmth of his breath.
“Everything okay?” he asked quietly.
“Yes.”
Mia, who had naturally watched the entire thing, gave them a crooked smile from behind the bar.
“Well, that settles that. Nobody in here needs to wonder who she’s with anymore.”
Charlie barely managed to glance towards her before Reeze slipped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her against his side.
“Good.”
She felt the warmth of his body and the familiar weight of his arm around her.
Only a few hours earlier she had been standing in her own flat trying to understand how her life had suddenly become so complicated.
Now she stood in the middle of an MC clubhouse, surrounded by people whose rules, titles and relationships she was only beginning to understand.
She still didn’t know exactly what she had got herself into, and she had no idea where whatever was happening between her and Reeze would eventually lead. There was far too much she didn’t know about him, the club or the world he lived in to pretend otherwise.
But one thing, at least, was perfectly clear.
Nobody in the room needed to wonder who she belonged with any more.