by Jessie Cooke
He’d never really thought about it until he met Chelsea, but some people seem to be given more than their fair share of troubles. Maybe he’d just been self-centered his entire life, too focused on himself to realize that everyone else wasn’t enjoying life as much as he was, or maybe he was growing up. Either way he was beginning to wake up to the fact that he’d gotten a pretty sweet deal in life. The worst thing that ever happened to him so far was the chopper being stolen and burned, and as sick as that made him, the insurance company had already put a check in the mail and by the end of the following week he’d be able to start over. So, looking at the big picture, he was a lucky guy.
He looked down at the beautiful woman in his arms now and thought about what she’d been through. She was the first to admit that a lot of it had been about her own choices, and part of what he loved about her was that she didn’t spend her time trying to blame other people for her problems. Instead, she was working towards fixing them and having a better life, and he had nothing but respect for that. He hated that she was working so hard, though, and the deck still seemed to be stacked against her. He wished that there was something more he could do to help. He was smart enough to know that by virtue of who he was, his involvement in anything to do with the custody battle would only make things worse. They had to wait for the DNA test before they would know if Walton was the father of her baby and had a motive to hire someone to hurt her. The guys in lockup were working on getting Wayne to talk about the numbers on the sketch.
Maybe he could do something about helping her have fun. He wasn’t going on the run the guys were making to Connecticut today to deliver “herb” to a club they dealt with there, because Dax had given him permission to keep an eye on Chelsea until they got all of this sorted out. That meant that the only thing on his agenda was keeping her safe, but what he really wanted to do was make her smile. He had this sudden driving urge to help her remember that there was so much more to life than the shitty hand she’d been holding for the past five years or so.
The weather had been nice and warm, and fresh air always helped him when he was feeling down. Maybe she’d like to go for a ride down to the harbor. He smiled as an idea suddenly came to him. Kissing her on the side of the face and rolling her out of the crook of his arm, he ignored the throbbing between his legs and climbed out of bed. He pulled on a t-shirt and a pair of sweats and after one more soft kiss to Chelsea’s cheek, and another stern word to his wayward cock, he quietly left the room and headed downstairs to the kitchen.
He found a few of the girls making breakfast when he got there. “Hey, Chopper, looking for some grub?” Kay asked him.
“Actually, I was thinking about making pancakes.”
“I can make some for you,” Kimber told him. She was frying bacon at the stove and had her back to him.
“I kind of wanted to do it myself, but I’m open to your input,” he said with a grin. His mother was a great cook, even on the road. When he traveled alone, he ate out and when he was at the clubhouse, he ate what the girls cooked. In other words, cooking wasn’t his forte, but he wanted to do it for Chelsea. “Where’s your old man?” he asked Kimber. He didn’t think Jigsaw was in on the Connecticut ride and he hadn’t seen him when he came through the great room. Usually when he was home, Kimber was there. Their relationship was fairly new, and close, and they spent as much time together as they could.
“Dax called at the crack of dawn and he took off to meet Garrett.”
“Oh yeah? What are they up to?”
“I’m not sure,” she said.
“Where was Garrett?” Last time Chopper saw Garrett, he was still in Iowa.
She looked over her shoulder and smiled at him. “I don’t know that either,” she said. “Jig just told me he’d be back tonight.”
Chopper wondered what it must feel like to live in the center of all of this and not be privy to what was going on around you most of the time. Most of the ladies on the ranch operated on a need-to-know basis. It was old school but so were most of the biker laws they lived by. The rules had been meant to protect them, back in a time when women were considered “weaker” and less capable. Although that’s not how most of them saw women now, the traditions stayed intact. Kimber didn’t seem bothered by it, although Chopper knew there were more of a handful of women on the ranch that were.
“Okay…well, if you ladies will just show me where everything is, I’ll get started on those pancakes. My friend spent the night and I want to make her breakfast before she wakes up.”
A collective “Aw” echoed off the kitchen walls and he felt his face go hot. The women were even happier to help him when they knew that he was doing it as a surprise for Chelsea. They got everything he needed out and once he had the griddle heated and the batter mixed he said:
“Do we have chocolate chips?” When he was a kid if he ever felt bad, his mom would make him chocolate chip pancakes. She made sure that no matter where they were on the road, she always had all of the fixings with her, and she cooked them up in a cast-iron skillet on the little butane stove they carried in the mini-trailer that his dad hauled behind his bike. Like a magic potion, they always made him feel better. Callie presented him with the chocolate chips and Kay told him that everyone threw out the first pancake. Of course, he threw out the first three, but it didn’t matter. By the time he was finished he had two of the most beautiful chocolate chip pancakes he’d ever seen. He was proud of himself.
The girls found a little wicker tray and he put the plate with the pancakes on that. He stole a few pieces of the bacon and Kimber gave him some fruit that she had sliced to put in her yogurt. He topped it all off with a mug of coffee, a glass of juice, and all the trimmings and condiments she might need. He thanked the girls for their help and carried the tray out the kitchen door and toward the stairs. He’d almost reached them when he spotted Gunner coming out of Dax’s office.
“Well, there it is—I called for room service an hour ago,” Gunner said.
Chopper chuckled. “What’s wrong, your old lady won’t cook for you?”
Zack appeared in the doorway behind him and said, “Tammy probably finally got tired of getting scratched by that Brillo pad on his head and kicked him out.”
Gunner rolled his eyes. “Tammy loves my hair.”
“There’s no accounting for taste,” Zack said with a chuckle. Gunner and Zack had a love/hate relationship. Tammy was Zack’s girlfriend before she was Gunner’s old lady. Chopper really liked her, but she was meaner than a snake when you crossed her. She’d been the princess of another MC herself, and sometimes he was surprised that she hadn’t killed them both by now, especially Zack.
“What are you guys up to?”
“Tammy went to Texas when we got back from Sturgis, she’s visiting family, so I told Dax I’d keep an eye on the books.” Tammy was good with numbers and had helped with the books at the MC her family came from. As it was, their books had almost gotten Dax arrested on a RICO violation this past year. She stepped up and offered to help and since then, she’d been doing a lot of work in the office. Gunner was Dax’s half-brother and there were few men Dax trusted more. He and Tammy were both from Texas and he still spoke with a Texas drawl. When Chopper first met him, it seemed so funny coming from a blue-eyed Puerto Rican, but he was so used to it now that he hardly noticed it any more. Zack was from Texas too, but like his family and everything else from the Lone Star State, he’d left his accent behind.
“I’m just here to class the place up a bit,” Zack said with a grin. Gunner and Chopper both rolled their eyes at that.
“Keep trying,” Chopper told him, stepping up on the first stair. “It’s good to have dreams.”
He ascended the stairs to the sound of Zack’s laughter. When he got to the room and opened the door, he had a smile on his face, but when he saw that the bed was empty, his heart automatically began to pound in his chest and he felt like he couldn’t breathe.
“Chelsea?”
“Ju
st a sec.” He let out a sigh of relief when he heard her call out from the bathroom. It was going to be hard for him to let her out of his sight until they finally found out who was out to get her.
While she was in the bathroom, he took the opportunity to move everything off the top of the nightstand next to the bed and set her breakfast up. When she came out of the bathroom, she was wearing the robe that she’d come to his room in the night before and he had to fight to concentrate on anything other than the fact that he knew she was naked underneath. Her hair was wet and pulled back in a ponytail and her face was freshly scrubbed and glowing.
“What’s all this?” she asked with a surprised smile.
“I made you breakfast,” He told her. “Do you like chocolate chip pancakes?”
“Everyone likes chocolate chip pancakes,” she said. “It smells great.” She sat down on the edge of the bed and Chopper sat down next to her. While she ate he said:
“What time do you work today?”
“At five until closing around ten,” she said. “You can go and do whatever you need to do.”
“I’m not going anywhere until we know for sure you’re safe.”
“I hate putting you out. I know you have to have a life beyond taking care of me.”
“Sure I do,” he said, “but right now, my life is about taking care of you. And I was hoping that maybe we could do something fun today.”
She giggled. “What we did last night was fun.”
He smiled. “Yeah, that was a hell of a lot of fun…but I want to do something else with you. Do you have a bathing suit?”
“Yeah…”
“If we leave right after breakfast and swing by your place and pick it up, we can get to Dorchester Harbor by noon.”
“Okay…and then what? We’re going to swim in the harbor?”
He laughed. “No. We’re going to rent jet-skis.”
“Um…I’ve never been on a jet-ski.”
“That’s okay. We’ll just rent one and I’ll drive.” She was looking at him like he was crazy and he began second-guessing his idea. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I mean, I don’t know, it’s just…well, there’s so much going on…”
“Which is exactly why we’re going jet-skiing. Life is about balance, baby. You have to give yourself permission to have fun sometimes.”
“Fun, huh?” She said it like the concept was foreign to her and it made his chest hurt.
“Yep, fun. What do you think?”
She smiled and swallowed the bite of pancakes she’d just taken. After a sip of her orange juice she said, “I think I’ve heard so much about this thing called fun that I’d like to try it.”
Chopper slid his arm around her shoulders and planted a soft kiss on her lips. She tasted like chocolate and bacon and it only added to the struggle he was having south of his bellybutton. He forced himself to leave the kiss at soft and sweet, and pulling back he said, “Just so you know, it’s slightly addicting.”
She smiled sweetly and said, “So are you.” The next kiss wasn’t soft or sweet. It was hot, passionate, and even harder to pull out of.
“I love you,” he whispered when he did.
“I love you too.”
Chopper enjoyed the hell out of the ride from the ranch to Chelsea’s apartment. He loved the feel of her arms wrapped around him and her face pressed into his shoulder, but what he was really looking forward to was her in a bikini. It was silly, since he’d just seen every part of her naked, but there was something about a sexy woman in a two-piece. He waited on the couch while she was in the bathroom changing. She came out in her jeans and a tank top, but he could see the strings tied around the back of her neck. They were red, and his imagination ran away with that. The ride out to Dorchester was uncomfortable to say the least. The front of his jeans was being stretched to capacity and he hadn’t even seen her in the suit yet.
When they got to the harbor, Chopper went into the little kiosk and rented the jet-ski. While the staff moved it to the launch pad, he pulled off his boots and jeans and then his t-shirt. When he was stripped down to his swim trunks he looked at Chelsea, still in her jeans and tank-top and boots and asked:
“So…you wearing your boots in the bay or…?”
She rolled her eyes and sat down next to him. As she was unlacing her boots she said, “This suit is really old. I don’t go anywhere to wear it anymore. I’m kind of embarrassed.”
“Well first of all, we’re going to change all that. You’re going to start going lots of places and you’ll need that suit, or a new one. I’ll buy you any one you want.”
“We’re going lots of places?” she asked with a smile.
“Yep. Dax is talking about sending me out on the road again by September. I’d really like you to go with me.” Chopper realized he’d said something wrong as soon as he said it. She stopped unlacing her boots and looked at him like he had two heads. Trying to salvage it he said, “I’m sorry. I know I’m rushing things…”
“It’s not that,” she said. “I think you’re forgetting about Reed.”
He felt like shit then. He hadn’t forgotten about the baby, but just assumed that once Chelsea had custody, he would go wherever she did. “No baby, of course not. He can go too. I know you don’t ride, so we can’t really do the sidecar thing, but I was thinking maybe we could get a van, or a little motor home. The guys will be happy to help us fix it up. We can make it a nice little home on wheels for him.”
“Chopper, I can’t take Reed on the road. If I win this battle with my sister, it’s not going to be “Here’s your kid, do what you want with him.’ I’ve never had full custody of him. Mom and Dad have had temporary custody of him since he was born. They promised me that as long as I was trying, they would never make it permanent. But, whenever I do get custody of him, it’s going to be closely monitored for a while at least. I’m sorry.”
Chopper felt like an idiot. He didn’t know anything about kids, or custody battles or DCF. He should have asked more questions about it before he opened his big mouth about going out on the road. “Don’t be sorry. I’m sorry, I should have thought of that.”
She reached over and took his hand and said, “September is two months away. Can we just enjoy what’s happening between us right now and see where it goes?”
Even telling himself he was moving too fast and he was pushing too hard didn’t work. The idea of not being with her scared him. “I don’t have to go on the road. I can stay here. Dax will be okay with that…”
She smiled. “Let’s just see, okay?” Chopper hated that. It’s what his mother used to say when he was a kid and he wanted something that he was sure she would say no about. She would say, “We’ll see,” because she hated to tell him no. But he learned quickly that it meant the same thing. He opened his mouth and since he wasn’t sure what was going to come out, he was happy that Chelsea stopped him. “Today was supposed to be all about fun, remember? Can we get back to that and talk about my complicated life later?”
“Yes! Of course we can, I’m sorry. So…take off your clothes and let’s do this.”
She laughed. “Okay, but you mean jet-ski, right?”
He grinned and winked at her and said, “I’m open to whatever.”
Still chuckling, she pulled off her tank top. He was slightly disappointed to see that she wasn’t wearing a bikini. It was a one-piece, but it was still incredibly sexy. His mouth was watering as she stood up and wiggled out of her jeans. It was a good thing the bay was cold. For the time being he held the lifejackets in front of him and waited until the staff finished explaining the rules and walked away before he handed Chelsea hers and slipped his on. “Ready?” She nodded, looking nervous. “It’s not much different than riding on the bike with me. Just shift your weight when I shift mine. At least if we dump the jet-ski, we land in the water and not all over the pavement.”
“Well, if that doesn’t make me more confident about riding on the back of your bike, I don’t know wh
at will…”
He laughed. “Just you wait until I get my new chopper built and take you for a ride. You’ll want your own.”
She laughed again. “Okay, let’s take this one ride at a time.” Snapping the front of her life vest she said, “Come on, let’s do this.”
26
Chelsea had a blast jet-skiing. Chopper drove fast and occasionally he’d hit a little wave just right so they could get a little bit of air and it felt like they were flying. She was torn between being nervous and enjoying the sensations at first, but she trusted him, and when she decided to just relax and go with that, she ended up having more fun than she could remember having since she was a kid.
When it was time to give the jet-ski back, they got dressed and had lunch in a little place called “Burger Heaven” that was right on the water. Chelsea worried about how expensive their entrées were, but Chopper wouldn’t hear of letting her pay for anything. He seemed to always have money and sometimes she wondered what it was he did exactly to earn it. But most of the time she just reminded herself what a goodhearted man he was. The man that held her when she cried, or immediately apologized when he thought he offended her, or made her chocolate chip pancakes…that wasn’t a man who would do anything to hurt anyone on purpose, and that was really all she needed to know.
By the time they got back to her apartment, still smiling and mostly dry from the sun and wind on the ride back on the bike, she found herself thinking about what he’d been saying about her and Reed going on the road with him. She told herself not to think about it. It was impossible, and thinking about it was only setting herself up for more disappointment. Chelsea had a hard time with living in the here and now. For so long her life had been about the future. Getting clean, staying clean, having access to her baby, getting custody so that she and Reed could start her life.
Her mother spent hours talking to her about how unfair it would be to her son for her to be in a relationship, any relationship, when that happened. Chelsea knew her mom was worried that she’d end up with another guy like Wayne and everything she’d worked so hard for would end up being for naught. But would it really be so bad to offer a man like Chopper as a role model to her sweet baby boy? He’d be a much better one than Celia’s stuffy old husband for sure. Not that Rick was a bad man, but he was just so serious all the time. Chelsea learned when she was going through rehab that life was much more than one big party, but Chopper was also teaching her that there was a lot to be said for balance. She was twenty-six years old and she’d talked herself into believing that she didn’t deserve to have fun. Her version of fun in the past had been the problem, though, not the fun itself. That was a concept that might take some time for her to get through her head, but she had a feeling that spending time with Chopper was going to make it easier.