“I will be okay.” Treat laughed. “It’s over and done with, moving on.”
Shady laughed. “Yeah, you and I know that is a lie, but hey, make them beg for it before you take them back.”
Treat frowned at her friend, she thought they were on the same page as each other. Last night when they all talked, Shady had told her to find someone new. Now she was saying this. “What are you talking about?”
Shady laughed. “Babe, I know you. I know everything about you, and you, my dear, are a chick who doesn’t give shit away free. You gave them your time, they fucked you over with Trick, but more they fucked you over because you wasted your time on waiting for them. We all knew it and saw it. Now, I know you also are a lot like me. My guys, total dumb shits, but they also know I gave Slider a second chance when he pulled some stupid shit. But he knows it is only one chance. No shit, you gotta make them come to heel and then beg for your attention or they will always think you are club pussy they can screw with. Not that I think these guys think of you like that, I mean you need to remember you are not the same girl looking for scraps of attention from your bitch of a mother, and prick of a father. You are better than that, and you deserve those men to crawl back with their dicks between their legs. Last night you needed to hear it was okay to move on, if I saw you making a move to anyone I would never have said this. But you didn’t, instead you kept your eye on the door and until they walked through it, you were tense. Then you watched who they were hanging with, if it would have been a chick I would have told you to move on. But it wasn’t, it was only with the guys, never looked at another chick, only you when you weren’t looking at them. Now, high school bullshit aside, they need a little push to let them know they can approach, I will give it to them, but you need to be able to receive, and by that I mean you need to make sure you set your boundaries and bring them to heel. These are bikers, they are rough and tough, but they love fierce, and they will protect you with their lives. You and I know when I say bring them to heel for a biker that means you follow and put the seat down on the toilet when they are done in the bathroom, if you want anything other than that, go find a wimp on the corner to fuck. But you let them in, give them the chance to prove to you they fucked up and they know it, then they will make you their world. And, Treat, that right there is what you deserve, do not settle for anything less, and do not let them think they have the upper hand. You are a Lady Rider, we are bad bitches who can take care of ourselves at anytime we want, and we also know when to let our men take care of something. Now, I am going to give them that push, but tell me right now if you need me to not do that.”
Treat looked at her friend, she had said a lot of the truth, and basically, she knew it all was something she needed to hear. Dammit, she knew the guys fucked up, but she wasn’t sure she could forgive them, what did that say about her? Well, it said she wasn’t a doormat, for one, because she wasn’t. But did she want to let them try to make it up to her? Did she want to put herself through that right now? The answer was fuck no, she knew that, but she also knew it was because of the timing and everything else. Because if she hadn’t still felt something for those idiots she would have left with the club.
“If they fuck up again?” Treat asked.
“We kill them and bury their bodies in the mine so no one will ever know, and then I promise to buy you like ten cats and set you up in a house on the compound to live your lonely sad life as the compound cat lady,” Shady drawled.
“Well, just so we are clear on my expectations in life.” Treat grinned.
Shady hugged her and whispered into her ear, “If you need me, you call me.”
Treat nodded and then let her friend go so she could call the hospital and check on her sister first, and then get some damn coffee so she could get a caffeine high, ‘cause this could be a long fucking day.
“You with me?” Shady said quietly as she threw her leg over her bike. Her two men had come this morning after taking care something last night.
“Yeah,” Stone said firmly.
“Good,” she said and then looked to the clubhouse. “Make sure you tell her when you get in there that Slider and Cajun left her and the others a little present in their new bungalow.”
Treat, Bob, and Nike had been going to share, but that had changed in the last few hours. Jilly and her son were going to need protecting, so Nike and Bob were going to stay in one house, while Treat and Jilly would stay in the other. Stone and War were in charge of their safety, which meant they would be bunking there as well.
Slider grinned and laughed. “Yeah, talked with Freebyrd already, he knows what the deal is, just make sure she knows this was a contact we hunted down for her last night. You don’t burn him, because if you do, we will have a hard time replacing him.”
War nodded, “Got it.”
Shady smiled at the guys, it wasn’t a nice smile like ‘have a great day’ or ‘see yeah later’, no, it was a creepy scary smile, Treat thought as she stepped out into the sun, she also wondered briefly what they were talking about, but then she laughed quietly. Yeah, Shady was protecting her, she knew that smile, it was the ‘gonna kill you dead if you hurt my girl’ smile. Treat had seen it often enough to know what it meant, and she wanted to giggle when she saw War and Stone shift uncomfortably and step back from her bike after she muttered something. She waved at her friends and then turned and walked back into the clubhouse. She knew what Shady was doing, that did not mean she was going to make herself a target, just in case they didn’t want the in with her.
She walked to Bic who as getting stuff together for the meeting. “You need help?”
“No, I think I got everything. Not sure how the guys are gonna handle this. Free didn’t say a thing about it last night. He is waiting to get into the meeting before he says what he wants to say. Never been in a meeting before, have no idea what the fuck they do in there. For all I know they could be drinking and fucking sheep,” Bic drawled.
“Yeah, before all this, we weren’t even allowed in the common room if there was a meeting. It was nuts they didn’t want us anywhere near them. Didn’t bother me much, until they made a decision about my life without me present. Took me a long time to get used to that,” Treat said slowly and looked to the door when the guys walked in. Shit.
“But you gotta get used to it, or this life will drive you fucking nuts. For me, I am glad to be finally doing something to help. I mean we do the community stuff, rides for money and charity; we helped clean up this area in town. The community knows us and trusts us around here; they know the guys protect what is theirs, even when they ride down the street people respect them. Then they look at us, and trust me, honey, I have heard it all. Women hide their kids like we don’t have a uterus to have our own, men look at us like we are an easy lay, like our men would share. It is embarrassing sometimes, but now, with the Lady Riders, yeah, I can feel where it would make us front and center doing something to help the club, and women out there. Do not need any acknowledgement, but will make me feel good all the same,” Bic said and Treat nodded.
“Yeah, when we were in Mexico and found all those women and girls, it was fucking horrific. When we came back and talked about what we were gonna do, I have to tell you I was all for it, but I was also concerned about how we were going to deal with the situations with the abusers. I mean, I can defend myself, not the problem, but I also do not want to have to kill every man we run across because he is psychotic, we don’t want to scare the women into coming to us, and we also don’t want backlash on the club for our shit. Balance is delicate, and we just have to remind ourselves of that, we are not going to be avenging angels, there are enough crazy bastards in the world.”
Bic laughed and said, “Well, I would like a black pair of wings if we do become known as angels. Now, how is Jilly?”
Treat frowned. “Still the same, she is going in and out of consciousness, they are guarded in what they say but since she made it through the night they are more hopeful than before. Sti
ll don’t know her son’s name yet; she keeps muttering a name but the guys can’t catch it. So for now, figure we could call him Buddy.”
“Well, Buddy is a cute little guy. Slept all the way through last night, woke up at five a.m. and took a bottle, then went right back to sleep. Just woke up a few minutes before I left and Free was calling Boo to watch him during the meeting. She is one of the younger women who have been hanging around. Like her well enough, she is helpful ‘cause she works at the shop as a secretary, she doesn’t flirt or anything, far as I know Renegade and Match got shot down by her when she was first hired, and if those two boys can’t get in there, shit, no one can. Has a CNA, just couldn’t find a job in the field, so that is a bonus,” Bic laughed and then turned. “Five minutes before the meeting, seems like someone is waiting to have a word, so I will give them that chance but, honey, make sure they beg.”
Treat rolled her eyes, Bic and Shady were a lot alike, and she loved both of them, but she had never been the cast-ironed bitch they were, and wasn’t sure she could be. Fuck, she thought and took a deep breath. Channel Shay, that was all she could think of, WWSD, ‘what would Shady do’, she wanted to giggle; they should make bracelets for that.
“Treat,” War said softly behind her and she realized that Bic was long gone and she had been zoning out.
“Yeah,” she snapped, too used to being on guard with the two men. Not going well right off the bat, not a good sign.
Both men were silent as they looked at her, almost as if they weren’t going to make their bid to get back into her good graces since it looked like she was being a bitch. Hell, they were not even gonna make the effort, she thought and almost apologized, then she thought, hell-the-fuck-no, she had nothing to apologize for.
“After the meeting we need to go to the hospital and check on Jilly then get the house ready for them to come home, depending on what the doc says. The boy…” Stone said calmly.
“Buddy,” Treat interjected.
“Huh?” Stone said.
“Buddy, my nephew, we don’t know his name yet so we are calling him Buddy,” Treat said.
“Oh, okay, well Buddy is going to need to get into a routine. We can talk to Boo and ask her if she would be interested in helping out along with her job in the office, there are plenty of people to take over some of the day to day stuff,” Stone said.
“Yeah, Bic said she’s a CNA,” Treat muttered and both men looked surprised.
“Really? Didn’t know that,” War said. “Then yeah she would be perfect, ‘cause when Jilly comes home she is going to need some care, we were talking about getting someone from the outside, and all the brothers were a little leery of that. Now we can have Boo do it and it will keep shit tight and in house.”
Stone nodded. “Yeah, I will tell Free. We gotta get into the meeting, but after, we are gonna get this shit sorted for Jilly.”
Treat looked at him and said, “I can do it myself. I really don’t need your help.”
Stone’s gaze turned hard and he leaned over. “We are helping.”
Treat shrugged and then walked to the meeting room where the guys were already gathered. “Whatever, just said I could handle it, if you wanna help I don’t give a shit, it is no skin off my nose. But even though you think you are doing something to get back into my good graces, it is gonna take a fuck of a lot more for me to trust you.”
War grinned and called, “At least you are thinking about us in your good graces, babydoll.”
Treat snorted and rolled her eyes calling over her shoulder, “Keep dreaming, War, not going to be that easy.”
“That is what we are hoping on.” Stone grinned. “We like a challenge.”
Treat stepped into the room and then reached her hand back out and flipped them off, which caused them to chuckle a little as they followed her.
Chapter Six
Treat was watching Freebyrd, he was listening to everything being said and reserving his opinion. They were in the meeting room, Stone to Freebyrd’s left, and War to his right. Bic was talking, explaining everything they were going to try to accomplish. She was also asking for four houses on the far side of the compound to set this up. They would use three of the houses for people in transit that needed protection but also couldn’t move until they healed or got money together. And the last house would be their headquarters, renovated to use as a makeshift trauma room, and also a room to use for attorneys and other people they intended to get to help the women get away from their spouses.
“How you gonna find these women,” Stone said quietly. “You can’t go to the police or Social Services and give them a card to pass onto women. Regardless of everything else, they will frown upon us helping them disappear; they will want them to make statements and shit. They have shelters for that, so they will go there not here.”
Bic nodded. “Yeah we get that, and we also have a plan. Shady and the others have been talking to a couple of people who do this stuff on the sly as well. It is not like we are going to open a women’s shelter. This is not what we are doing. These will be extreme cases where the system hasn’t worked for them, like Jilly.”
Treat stood now. “I know it’s my sister, and yeah I would have gotten involved no matter what with this shit. But the doctor said she had a lot of healed broken bones, so I called the security guard and had him ask some questions for me. He found out that she had called the police several times, even asked them to take her out of the house, but Lane intervened all of those times, and they never followed up or did a check on her. He is not her husband, I can guarantee that, my father, the prick that he is, always said when we were old enough he would make sure he got paid back for everything he had to give us while we were growing up. So, I looked into it, and my father owed Lane money, he gave him my sister as payment. No one looked close; they just thought they were married. It is a flawed system; a fucking dirty trailer park in the slum of town is a low priority. Now, not saying the police don’t care about stuff like that, because they do and have shown it, but there are times when people slip through the cracks. More often than not, it is the people who need it the most. Jilly was one of those people; thankfully, she called before her son was the next victim. These are the people we are helping, ones with nowhere else to turn because they have no hope left yet they try one last time to reach out and get help. If we are the ones on the other side of that hand, we can help make a difference. They deserve it, because no one should be afraid for their lives because a bed is made properly or dinner was three minutes late on the table because you were taking care of your child. That is what they live with, and even if Jilly wasn’t my sister, I would do whatever I had to in order to make her safe.”
Treat sat back down and the room was silent. She may have taken that too far, she hoped she hadn’t, because these guys were rough and tumble, but she had never known a Warriors to raise a hand to a female. It was not their way.
“I understand what you are trying to accomplish, but playing devil’s advocate here, what about the money? It is going to cost a lot to get this off the ground. I mean food, clothes, everything that starting a new life would entail. How are we going to swing it?” Freebyrd finally spoke.
“Shady and the others already have a good start on this. Warriors have resources and since it would fall under the Lady Riders, we would obviously be seeking funding ourselves,” Bic said and the women nodded.
Free looked around the room at the rest of the men who nodded to him silently, but firmly, in the favor of the women. Treat was holding her breath though when the votes came to War and Stone, both men looked at her and nodded. Suck ups!
“Okay, ladies,” Free said and then looked at his old lady. “Bic, we need to check out the names of people you want to work with you if they are going to be allowed on the compound. This will mean extra security for our parts, and we have only five Prospects to use, so it means the patches are pulling duty as well. Right now, worry about Jilly; get the rest slowly set up. But make sure you check in with
us. We’ll meet once a month with you to see where you are at with this.”
Bic grinned and nodded. “On it.”
“Treat?” Free said as she turned to grab her stuff to leave. The guys would continue their meeting she knew.
“Yeah,” she said.
“War is coming to show you the house for you and your sister before you take off to see her. Slider and Cajun left you something.” Free smiled. She frowned and nodded, then waited for War to come to her side and they walked out. She refused to talk to him though, she thought, he could just deal with it.
“I don’t know why you need to escort me,” Treat grumbled.
“Let’s just say your surprise could be a little volatile.” War laughed.
Treat went to her room and grabbed her already packed bag. Then they went out to where Treat’s bike was parked alongside the other Lady Riders’ bikes.
“Meet you there,” War said. “Don’t go in without me.”
Treat frowned again and shrugged. The houses they wanted to use were about a half mile from the entrance of the compound. Free and his crew had done good with the land they had acquired, especially considering where they were. In San Diego, even though this wasn’t ‘prime’ real estate when they purchased, it was still waterfront. After a little cleaning up, and making the locals understand who they were and what they were about, the place had taken shape. The place was safe, and out of the way. For a three-mile radius no one bothered them unless they wanted to deal with the Warriors, mostly because that was where the members all had bought houses and fixed them up, unless they lived on the compound.
The way they had it situated, the shop and the row of business they owned were in the front of their property in the warehouse style buildings that were on the land when they bought it. They ran a fence between it and the rest of the property. This was the compound where their main clubhouse, which was a community room and then their meeting room, no other rooms at all were there. It was also where they had houses that were right along their own ocean front property that used to be shipping piers, but too many rocks were in the way and no one wanted the land. A small beach, they could use, but mostly, it was for the view they loved. The gate surrounding them had a privacy shield in it so people walking by couldn’t see their houses, or what they had built. Yep it had cost a lot of money, but Creed had liked the idea of a vacation compound for the Warriors. Which is another reason they had so many houses, some were for the other Chapters to use.
Treats Aren't Always Sweet Page 4