by Erin Osborne
“Make sure that’s all you get,” I warn once again as I watch him make his way into the office and over to the coffee maker.
Callie looks over and watches him make his coffee. It’s not hard, he always drinks if black. Bishop keeps his back toward her and acts like he doesn’t realize she’s standing there watching him. It’s almost as if she’s studying him for some reason. My attention stays on the two in the office as I hear a bike pull in the lot. I’m sure that it’s Carson getting here for work, but I can’t be sure now that the club knows Callie is working here. So, I tear my attention from the office as Bishop turns and heads back this way. As I see that Carson is getting off his bike, I hear the melodic sound of Callie laughing. Bishop has a smile on his face as he passes me. A growl escapes me as I try to hide the fact that someone other than myself made Callie laugh. Fuck! This is not good.
The rest of the morning flies by in no time at all. I can’t help my gaze as it continuously strays toward the woman in the office as she sorts through months and months of paperwork listening to music that I can barely hear over the noise in the shop. One-by-one the guys make excuses to go in and out of the office to see Callie and I’m the one that stays out in the shop. What really gets me is when she catches me looking at her through the window. Those times are when I get the rare smile as she continues about her work.
The guys start talking about what they’re going to do for lunch, and I realize that Callie’s been slaving away in the office for almost four hours nonstop. I dig out my phone and call Corrinth to order some lunch for the two of us. Yes, I should probably check with Callie and make sure that there’s nothing she can’t eat, but I don’t think about that right away. I just make the call and tell Carson to go pick it up after handing him some money. Putting down my tools, I make my way into the office and stop dead in my tracks. The entire desk is cleaned off, the couch doesn’t have the mess spread out across it, and you can even see the two chairs that sit in front of the desk. I’m impressed and amazed at what Callie’s been able to do in here so far. She must be tired as fuck.
“Wow! You’ve been workin’ hard,” I say, startling her as she turns around from the filing cabinet to face me.
“Oh, um, it’s nothing really. Do you mind if I start organizing the filing cabinet better? It’s hard to find things in here. Especially for repeat customers,” she asks, standing close to the cabinets like she’s afraid I’m going to be mad at everything she’s done in here.
“Do whatever you have to do,” I tell her, looking around again in awe at the transformation. “I’ll set you up with the computer and stuff tomorrow. Unless you want to get online today for any reason.”
“I wouldn’t know what to do online if I did,” she murmurs in response.
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinkin’. Well, I have lunch comin’ Carson should be back with it soon. I got you a burger, fries, and an iced tea,” I tell her, wanting to somehow make up for the epic fail I just made. I didn’t realize that she was that sheltered.
“It’s okay. I’ve been thinking today that I finally know what I want to go to school for. I’d be interested in office management so that I can continue working like this. The work is easy for me and I love having to keep things in order. Must be a trait from my grandma,” she says, flooring me with the insight she’s gained about herself in just a few short hours.
“Well, if that’s what you wanna do, then I say go for it. I’ll support you a hundred percent,” I tell her honestly as I sit down on the opposite side of the desk so that we can wait for lunch to get here. “How are you playin’ music in here?”
“Oh, it’s just my phone. I don’t get good reception here and can’t hardly use it for anything other than listening to some music. I’m still trying to figure out what I like though, so I’m sorry about the broad range of things,” she answers, a blush creeping up her face.
“Don’t be. We listen to it all in here. I may just have to invest in that sound system the guys have been tryin’ to get me to buy. We can make sure that it plays softer in here in case customers are in here. But we’ll have somethin’ to listen to,” I tell her, sitting back in the chair as I wait for Carson to get back.
Before either one of us can say a word, I hear the tow truck pulling in the parking lot and turn around to see Carson parking. One thing I will say about him is that he doesn’t waste time when one of us sends him on an errand. Callie walks over to the desk and sits down opposite of me as we wait for our lunch to be delivered. Usually I’d go myself and get it, but today, I wanted a little bit of time with the woman that’s been filling my thoughts and attention.
“Here ya go boss man,” Carson says as he sets the bag and drinks on the desk between us.
“Thanks Carson,” Callie says before I can get a word out of my mouth.
I watch as she grabs the containers from the bag and opens them up before noticing that we have the same exact lunch. She hands me one of them while placing the other one in front of her. Before Carson leaves the room, we watch as she gets up, grabs napkins and the salt and pepper that’s on the small shelf beside the coffee pot. What the fuck is she doing? I’ve never seen someone act the way that she is right now. It’s almost as if she doesn’t even realize that she’s making sure that I have whatever I’ll need before she’s going to allow herself to sit and eat. Carson and I share a look between ourselves before turning our attention back to Callie.
“Are the drinks the same too?” she asks as she finally takes a seat.
“Yeah. Iced tea for both of us,” I answer, still trying to figure out what’s going on.
Callie hands me a tea before placing her own in front of her and opening the takeout container. Still, she doesn’t touch a single thing. Wanting to see something, I sit forward after motioning for Carson to leave the office and pick up the cheeseburger sitting in front of me. After I take a few bites, I watch as she finally begins to eat her own food. This is fucked up and I don’t know what the hell is going on. But I’ll take it a step further to see how deep this shit is.
“I forgot the ketchup,” I say beginning to stand up from my seat.
“Sit down, I’ll get it. I’m sorry, I should’ve asked if you wanted anything else,” she says, hanging her head down in shame as the anger rises in me. Who the fuck has her trained to be a fucking servant?
“Callie, you know you don’t have to wait on me, don’t you?” I ask, needing to know why she’s doing this.
“What?” she asks, stopping dead in her tracks. “I didn’t realize what I was doing. I’m so sorry.”
“There’s nothin’ for you to be sorry about. I’m not mad at you; I’m mad that someone had the fuckin’ balls to train you to think so little of yourself. You’re not a slave, Callie,” I tell her, trying to make my voice as gentle as possible so I don’t scare or hurt her further.
“That’s a long story. One I’m sure you don’t want to hear,” she answers, sitting back down in her seat and passing me the ketchup.
“One day, you’ll tell me. I want to know all about you someday. Not until I’ve earned your trust though,” I tell her knowing that earning her trust is going to be a hard thing to accomplish after what I just witnessed.
“Um, will you stay with me this afternoon when the guys get here?” Callie suddenly asks, placing her half-eaten burger back in the container and looking at me. Her eyes are full of innocence and something akin to fear.
“If that’s what you want,” I tell her, knowing that I’ll do anything that she asks of me.
Callie nods her head and picks at the rest of her lunch. It’s like she’s lost her appetite but doesn’t want to say anything to me. I watch as the life started draining out of her at the mention of her serving me. Fuck! I’m an idiot for making her think of a time in her life that holds nothing but bad memories. But this is something that I’m going to talk to Renegade about when no one else is around. Grave and him were the two that were around Silvia the most and I think he’s got more insight a
bout this than he realizes.
“I’m gonna get back to work,” I murmur, finishing off the last of my burger and leaving the remaining fries untouched.
Before I leave the office, I make sure that my garbage and everything else is put back so that Callie can visibly see that she doesn’t have to pick up after anyone here. I know that she’s been cleaning the office and shit, but I would never expect her to wait on me or any of the guys that work here. Looks like I might have to have a talk with them about this as well. Not a single one of them are going to take fucking advantage of Callie. They’ll find themselves fired if they even try that shit here. They have a mama and Callie isn’t her!
The rest of the day goes by smoothly. I’m finally finished taking apart the bike and can start figuring out what parts I’m gonna need to order and what can be salvaged on it. Then I can make sure that it’s ready to go to Bishop for a kickass paint job before being put back together again. No matter what I do, I can’t get lunch out of my head though. I know whenever I talked to Silvia, she never mentioned anything that I witnessed today.
“Boss man, we’re gonna call it a day,” Bishop says as I look up to see Sam, Carson, and him have already cleaned everything up and are gonna be heading out.
“See ya tomorrow,” I respond, standing up so that I can clean myself up a little bit while we wait for the guys to show up.
As I walk into the office, I can see that Callie has several folders sitting on the desk and is going to grab more from the third cabinet. She’s managed to already sort through two of them. I’m in awe of her and the work that she’s managed to get done today. So, I stand there and watch her for a few seconds before making my presence known. I don’t want to scare the shit out of her after all.
“Callie, you can stop for the day,” I tell her, walking toward the bathroom so I can wash my hands.
“Okay. I’m gonna run to my car really quick before they get here,” she answers. I hear the office door slam shut a few seconds later.
By the time I’m done washing up, Callie is sitting back behind the desk. It’s almost like she’s using it as some sort of shield. No one can get close if they can’t be on the same side as her. I actually wonder if she’ll let me stay on the same side as her. It doesn’t take long before the guys show up. We can hear the loud rumble of their pipes as they pull into the shop and park close to Callie’s car. As the rumble gets louder, I can physically see her entire body shaking. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea, I think to myself as I watch Renegade, Grave, and Psycho dismount their bikes and make their way to the closed shop door.
Callie steels herself as the three hulking men entire the office and take their seats. Renegade and Grave sit on the opposite side of the desk while Psycho takes his seat on the couch. He’s as far away from Callie as he can be since they haven’t met yet. I go to make my way around the other side of the desk, and I watch the small shake of her head; silently asking me to stay near her. The source of pride and the feeling like I’m ten feet tall assaults me as I stand behind the desk chair.
“I don’t even know how to begin this conversation,” Callie says, her hands trembling as she plays with an envelope that I didn’t notice before. “I was going through my grandma’s things and I found some pictures. They’re of you guys and my grandma. I don’t understand why she would have them when I never once met any of you when I was there visiting.”
Callie looks up and I watch as the three men in front of her try to keep their emotions in check. Psycho is the one that loses that battle first. His face goes ashen and I can hear the almost inaudible gasp that leaves his lips. Renegade gives a slight shake of his head as Callie looks back down. There’s almost a haunted look on the faces of Grave and Renegade as I continue to look at the men I’ve known most of my life.
“Sweetheart, your grandma wasn’t tryin’ to hurt you. Her only concern was makin’ sure that you could keep visitin’ her and that our presence wouldn’t put a stop to that. I’m not sure of everythin’ that she was tryin’ to protect you from, but I know that she loved you more than any single breath she took,” Renegade says, taking the lead as usual in his President status. “Now, what I can tell you is that years ago, Silvia was with one of the men in the club. She wasn’t an ol’ lady or anythin’ like that; wouldn’t take it that far with Boozer. But she was at our clubhouse on a regular basis. The boys and I spent a lot of time with her after Boozer was killed. He was run off the road by a rival club and didn’t take another breath.”
Callie takes a few minutes to process what Renegade just told her. I can see her shoulders visibly shaking as she silently cries. There’s nothing I can do in this moment other than take her lead. So, I give her a few minutes to compose herself and finish the conversation that she wants to have.
“So, my grandma had an entire life I knew nothing about?” she finally asks, sitting up and looking at the men before her.
“Don’t think of it that way,” Grave tells her, sitting up in his chair so he knows he has Callie’s full attention. “Your grandma was tryin’ to protect you. Whatever issue she had with your parents; she knew that if there was even a hint of the club bein’ in her life they’d lock you away from her so fast everyone’s head would spin. She wanted to tell you so bad, babe. I’ve never seen her as torn about anythin’ as she was over you knowin’. Don’t hate her or be upset with her over somethin’ she had no control over.”
“I don’t know what to make of this. Or the fact that you guys helped her out with the Christmas thing. What I do know is that I love my grandma and am grateful for everything she did for me. And, I want to keep her legacy alive by continuing on with the Christmas toy drive. If you guys could help me with that, I’d be grateful,” she says, looking hopeful for the first time since the guys walked in as I round her chair and sit on the edge of the desk next to her.
“We’ll do anythin’ we can to help you do that. I know that Silvia would be proud as fuck of the woman that you’re becomin’,’ Psycho says, finally speaking up. “Callie, this is the first time that we’ve officially met. I’m Psycho, Renegade’s brother. Anytime you wanna talk about your grandma, don’t hesitate to come to the clubhouse or give me a call. Our numbers are in a drawer in the kitchen, so you’ll have a way to get ahold of all of us.”
Callie nods her head and pauses for a few minutes. “I have something that I think you guys should have. There’s more in an album at the house that I can keep for myself. It seems to me that you spent an awful lot of time at her house,” she says, her curiosity getting the better of her.
“We were there a lot,” Renegade says, reaching out and taking the envelope from Callie’s trembling hands. “Once a week we’d all go over for dinner with her. We’re the ones that have been takin’ care of the house since we lost her.”
“Thank you. It’s helped me out a lot with the upkeep you guys did. I’ve been working on the inside while I decide what I want to do outside,” she says, looking at the four of us.
“One of us will be over tomorrow to mow the yard and make sure there’s nothin’ else that needs to be done. If you want help, leave a list on the counter and we’ll get it when we get there,” Grave says, looking over Renegade’s shoulder at the pictures he’s thumbing through. There’s a few that I can see, and I remember those days vividly.
Silvia always had an open door for any of us. Most of the town walk in the opposite direction of the guys. They love that they don’t have to worry about the violence or drugs in their town, but they don’t want to get too close to the guys that are protecting them. All their dirty work is kept outside of town while everyone we’re associated with know that nothing comes inside the borders. It’s respected and no one crosses that line.
“Thank you,” Callie says again, standing up from the chair. “If my grandma had you guys over once a week for dinner and whatnot, then why don’t we plan on doing that in a few days.”
“You sure?” I ask, needing her to understand what she’s getting into.
“That’s a lot of guys to feed at one time.”
“I’m sure I can handle it,” she answers, standing there as her body lets on to the fact that she has no clue what she’s getting into by inviting a club over to eat.
“I’ll grill and all you have to do is make some sides,” Psycho says, looking at the woman standing before him. “We can keep it small this time and then keep addin’ some guys to the mix if you decide you want to pick this back up.”
“That sounds good. Bear, you’re coming too?” she asks, resting her hand on my arm without even realizing what she’s doing.
“I’ll be there if that’s what you want,” I answer her, not letting her see how much it means to me that she wants to include me.
She nods her head, tells us all goodbye, and makes her way out of the office. For the first time since the guys got here, they look around at all the work she did today. Grave asks if this was her doing and I nod my head as I watch her get in her car and take off. There’s one more thing that needs to be discussed with the men sitting before me before we take off. I want to know how much they know about Callie’s background and who made her feel the need to serve anyone. So, I explain to them what happened at lunch. The three men listen intently before taking a few minutes to ponder what I’ve just dropped on them.
“It’s like she was trained to serve the man that she’s with. You think her parents did this to her?” Grave asks, standing up. He may be talking calm, but I can see the rage flowing through her body. “I’ll gut them if they trained her to be some fuckin’ pigs trophy wife or some shit like that.”
“I’ll get the guys on it and see what they can come up with,” Renegade answers, standing up and letting me know it’s going to be taken care of.
We all leave the shop and I make sure that everything is shut off and locked up tight tonight. It’s a routine that I do every single day; even if the guys have already done it. The guy’s head to their bikes while I begin to make the short trek back to my house. I’m in need of a beer and some time in front of the lake.