“Did you stay away so you wouldn't be in her way when she met me?”
I laughed. “No. I wasn't that noble of a soul when I was around twenty. I just wasn't ready. There was a lot I needed to deal with by myself, away from others.”
“Yeah, I know. Just thought maybe you extended the trip to not, you know, be in our way.”
“No. That wasn't it.” I shook my head. “I'm glad she did, though. Meet you, I mean.”
“Me too,” he smiled. “So, think you're ready now? For whatever it was you were trying to get ready for.”
“No,” I shook my head. “But I don't think I'll get any more ready, and I might as well get ready here. I can't run forever.”
“So you're sticking around?”
“Yes. But I'll get on the apartment-finding mission next week,” I assured him.
“Why?” He honestly looked surprised when I said that. “We got space. There's fucking five of us living here already, Eliza’s like three normal kids, and there's usually even more around the table at dinner. Not like one more will make much of a difference. And you're family, you’re helping out, and we like having you here. All of us. Stick around. Land and figure out what you wanna do.”
I'd obviously read a lot more into that question than there was to it. I thought he was worried that I'd stick around in his house forever, which apparently wasn't the case at all. He seemed to honestly like having me around. Or at least not have any problems with it.
“That's... really decent of you.” I wasn't sure what else to say.
“I love your sister. Kicking you out would get me kicked out of our bed. Kinda like it there,” he had a playful smile while he looked out over the landscape.
That made me laugh out loud. “She can be a vengeful bitch when she's angry.”
“You're telling me?” He shook his head. “Think I got you down all wrong. Not sure if what you're really like is better or worse than what I imagined.”
“I'm sorry, but you can only be worse. She's put you on a pretty high fucking pedestal in those emails. Mr. Perfect in the form of biker.”
He laughed again. I once again had to agree with that part of Lanie's description of him. He really did have a great laugh. Judging by the laugh lines on his face, he laughed a lot.
“That what she called me?”
“Can't use it against her. She'll know I told on her.”
“Lips are sealed.” He took a swing from his beer. “There's a party tomorrow. Family and friends, at the clubhouse. The Spring Hog Roast. We have it every year. You should come.”
“As long as no one thinks I'm available pussy, I'll consider it.” A surprised look from Brick and I nodded. “She told me about that, too. About your groupies and... yeah. Don’t want to run a gauntlet between hard-ons.”
He shook his head. “I'll make sure they know you're family. Besides, most of them saw you, they know who you are by now.”
“What else do they know?”
That was another thing Lanie’d told me, that the members talked about stuff. A lot. The exact quote was 'gossiping worse than grannies'. I wasn’t sure if I was one of those things—obviously most of them hadn’t heard of me before I came here. But they might’ve asked, and he might’ve filled them in, and I wasn’t sure I liked that idea. I was hoping he'd calm me enough so I wouldn't have to worry about it if I went to the party.
“Not much. They know what they need to know, nothing else.” He gave me an assuring look. “It's your story to tell, not mine. It's up to you who knows what. Okay?”
I nodded and looked down at the book in my hand. I was relieved, but at the same time I wondered how long it would stay that way, how long it would be a private thing. What I'd done.
“What did she say to you? About... you know.”
“She said you did what you had to do and what she never dared to do. You're good in my book, girl, and you're welcome to stay for as long as you need. That's what family is for, and we all like having you here.”
“Thank you.”
“Nothing to it. Like having a full house.” He emptied the beer. “It's up to you if you wanna come to the party and if you wanna be involved with the rest of them or the club. But I'd like you to meet them at least, before you decide. It's a big part of who I am and also who Lanie is now.”
“I know. And I hadn't thought about avoiding them or anything. Think I'm just getting used to one thing at a time.”
“Okay. They're curious about you, but they won't poke around.” He stood up with a nod. “I'm hitting the sack.”
“Night.”
“Night, girl.”
I sat there for a while longer. Not reading, just thinking about what he'd said, what Lanie'd been writing me before I got here, and my general situation. I might not have to move just yet, but I was getting a job. At least I could try to help out a little and pay for myself.
I went inside, cleaned up the kitchen before I went back to the guestroom. I took a shower, and when I came back out to the room I opened the drawers to get a pair of panties. I already had more clothes than I'd had in total the last six years, and if I wasn't mistaken, it kept becoming more. I suspected that Lanie was buying more stuff and putting it in my drawers, thinking I wouldn't notice. It was a very Lanie thing to do.
I smiled when I opened the second drawer, with the t-shirts and sweaters. That drawer was also definitely fuller than it used to be. I gasped when I noticed a Motörhead t-shirt, and when I roamed around I found Velvet Underground, My Bloody Valentine and Jesus and Mary Chain t-shits as well. They weren't new, so these were my old ones. The ones I left behind. She'd kept them, for six years, and god knew how many moves. She'd saved them for me.
I sat down in the armchair and dried my cheeks. Obviously I had more clothes than I'd thought.
-o0o-
Bull was on a bench next to Dawg, both of them leaning against the table behind them. He was looking at the women carrying out food to the tables they'd set up earlier that day. His own Old Lady was among them, Angela. She wasn't at club functions that often, but she'd wanted to come to this one. Angie was his second wife. He hardly ever thought about the first one, not unless he was forced to, but he was reminded of her now, since she used to love these things. Parading around as the Old Lady of the Sergeant at Arms, giving other girls shit. Angie was mostly looking uncomfortable and kept eyeing the sweetbutts. Probably wondering which ones of them he'd nailed.
She was nice and he did love her; he just had a lot of issues and probably shouldn't have married her. She was hard to pass up on, though. Really pretty Latina woman with big soulful eyes, and he'd needed a mom for his kid. He knew she was better than he deserved, as far as a wife went, at least. She was good, and he tried. He just wasn't very successful and had a hard time caring about how bad he was failing.
Brick came walking next to Bear, their VP, and he stood up to meet them. It had been a packed week, and he still hadn't gotten around to talking about Edie, so he was gonna have a quick talk with him now.
“Hey, Bull,” Brick took the beer a hangaround was handing him and then waited until he was gone. “What's up? You've got that serious face.”
“Been wanting to ask you about Edie. Want me to do a check up on her? Or put Mech on it?”
Brick shook his head. “Nah, I know what you'll find.”
Bull eyed him, and then Brick took him to the side.
“I know you, so I know I could order you to not do a check up and you wouldn't do it, but it would bug the shit outta you.” Bull had to admit the guy was right. It would bug him. “So do it, but you don't share that with anyone, got it?”
“Okay?”
He'd been worried before that, now he was more curious. Brick seemed pretty damn sure he knew what was on her, and he also seemed sure it would be something big, but nothing that would matter to the club. He'd get on it first thing tomorrow.
“I might need Mech.”
“No. Do it yourself, it'll be enough. Full name is Edie Mari
e Yates, born in New York. I'll text you the rest of the info tomorrow. I'm not gonna ruin Mel's day by asking for Edie's info today.” Brick looked at something and when Bull turned around he noticed Edie walking across the lot and up to Mel. “Make sure the others behave tonight. She’s not pussy, and she’s already a bit on edge about this. I want her to feel welcome.”
“I will. Don’t think you have to worry. Mel’s sister is family, that's how they'll treat her.”
Just then he saw Dawg home in on her and with a big smile he got up and started towards her. Brick turned towards him with a meaningful smile.
“Fuck! Yeah. Hrm...” Bull said. “I'll fill him in. He wasn't here when she came.” Dawg had been away up to the mother charter to visit his family and had come back that morning.
“Do that,” Brick said and watched Dawg with an amused face.
Dawg had earned his road name by being a dawg. He nailed anything on the upper part of the hot scale as long as it was a human female. Anything. Only ones he stayed away from were Old Ladies and daughters of members. He still charmed the shit outta them, since that was his natural state of being. He couldn't talk to a woman without flirting with her. It was pretty funny to watch. Bull liked Dawg, he was loyal member, never a problem and did what he was told. He was funny as hell too, part of his natural charm, probably. He moved closer to hear what Dawg was saying. He had his usual 'the things I could do to you'-smile, and Bull noticed him checking out her ass when she turned away. Dawg's smile got even bigger as he gave it an approving nod. Obviously he liked what he saw. Bull had to agree, the ass was very nice.
The reason he didn’t immediately stop Dawg was that Edie didn't seem to care, and she definitely wasn't swooning. Her turning around and focusing on the food wasn't to hide a blush, it was to actually fix something on the table. It might not be the first woman who didn’t fall like a log for Dawg, but it wasn’t common. Definitely not among the women who came to the Spring Hog Roast. Dawg was fully capable of getting a female into his bed in less than fifteen minutes if he really gave it a try. It depended on the woman, though, and if Bull had to guess, Edie had seen this play more than a few times before. At least that's how he interpreted the eye roll she did just before a deep sigh. Bull figured this could be fun to watch, and he could always stop it if it went south.
“So you've been traveling, Nibbles,” Dawg drawled. “Where?”
She shrugged as an answer to his question while looking around. “All over.”
“For long?” Dawg was still smiling and took a step closer.
“Six years.”
“Six years?!” That seemed to throw him off and Brick chuckled. This really wasn’t one of Dawg's usual girls, and he might just have figured that out. “Around the world?”
“Yes.” She sighed again. “Nice to meet you,” she continued and then she quickly walked away.
Dawg looked stunned, but he didn't give in that easily, and when he took a few steps to go after her, Bull stopped him.
“Off limits,” he said with his hand on Dawg's chest. “She's Mel's baby sister.”
“Mel has a sister?” He looked after the girl. “A hot fucking sister. Look at that ass! What's her name?”
“Edie. And again, she's off limits, so don't even try to play her.”
“Fine, fine. Why the fuck haven't we heard about her?”
“Didn't she just tell you that? She’s been traveling. Walkabout or some shit like that, last six years.”
“That was true?”
“Yup.”
Dawg still hadn't taken his eyes off her, and he still had a smile on his lips while he eyed her.
“Seriously, brother,” Bull tried again. “Stay away. It shouldn't be a surprise to you that you're on top of the 'stay the fuck away'-list in this case.”
“Nah. I get it. Pity,” he said with a sigh. “She was fine. All shy. Love fucking those shy girls.”
“Take one of the other girls here. Or take two.”
He didn’t bother to correct Dawg. Edie wasn’t shy. She just didn’t give a fuck about him, but that wasn’t his problem and it could be fun to watch Dawg butt his head against that brick wall for a while.
-o0o-
Dawg wasn't gonna try to fuck that girl, Edie; he just wanted to talk a little more. He'd said to Bull that she was shy, but when he replayed their conversation he was starting to suspect she actually wasn't even the slightest bit interested in him. So naturally, now he wanted to see if she really wasn't interested or if she was faking it. He was pretty fucking sure she was faking it. He was also curious about her trip. So when Brick was occupied with Eliza, and Mel was talking to some of the Old Ladies, Bull was getting a blow job in the bathroom and Edie was sitting outside, all alone, he grabbed two beers and sat down next to her.
“No thanks,” she said when he tried to hand her one of them.
“Had enough?”
“I don’t drink,” she said and then he noticed the joint in her hand.
He halted his hand with his own beer halfway to his mouth, turned his head and looked at her.
“You smoke pot, but you don't drink.”
“I don't like what I'm like when I drink.”
“Okay,” he nodded and took a swing from his beer. “So you're Mel's baby sister?”
“Yes.”
“Just got home from a six year long trip?”
“Yes.”
“And you don't drink?”
“No.”
By now his smile was big. She wasn’t giving anything up, but it was kind of fun, and she was nice to look at. He knew what she was doing and liked it. He also knew how to deal with that, so he went with it for a bit longer.
“But you smoke pot?”
“Yes.”
“Good to be home?”
“Yes.”
He finally laughed and he didn't miss the twitch at the corner of her lips as well. So busted. She liked it too.
“You're not making this easy, baby” He lit a smoke. “You could at least try to help me get this conversation going.”
She finally looked up at him and this time with a visible smile she said. “Why?”
“Why not?” He held out his hand and she gave him her joint, but when he tried to give her his cigarette she shook her head and he threw it down on the ground.
“You're called Dawg, right?”
“Yeah.”
“And you guys seem to quite often have fitting nicknames. So if I got it right, listening to the other girls talking, Bull is called Bull because he is one. Basically not the diplomatic kind or dick size, I haven't made up my mind.”
“It's the diplomacy rather than the dick.”
That wasn't it at all. Bull was a smart guy, really could see the big picture shit and good at reading people. The 'bull' was more that he on occasion saw red and he was not fun to be around when that happened. It was better if she didn't know that.
“I heard about some of the others as well, Vasco likes to explore, not sure that’s all about geographical areas, though,” she said with a smile. “Although he’s probably too old to go where 'no man has gone before' these days.”
Dawg laughed. “You’d be surprised. That’s a horny old man. But it really was more about roads. He used to be a Nomad.”
“There's biker nomads?” She asked and took the joint he was giving back.
“Their charter isn't in a town, they basically sit down at the table when they're at a charter and... it's hard to explain.”
“Like real nomads basically?”
“Yup.” There was something about how she said that that made him curious. “You've met any?”
“I travelled with the Yeniche for a while.”
“Never heard of them. Where was it?”
“Central Europe.” She left the subject and continued on the names. He was gonna ask her about that later on, though. As far as he knew those people rarely let anyone travel with them. “Mech is the tech guy. And then it’s you. Dawg.” She gave him a s
mile. “Why are you called that?”
He shook his head, knowing what her point was. “Not hitting on you. I'd like to, but I'm not. Just gettin' to know you.”
“Suuure,” she said with a smile and offered him the joint again. He took it.
“You're off limits. Brick'd have my balls if I made a serious move.”
“You just can't talk to a woman without hitting a little, is that it?”
He was just about to answer when he noticed Mel coming towards them, shaking her head with a small smile on her lips. He was in trouble, but judging by the smile not too much trouble.
“I think our time is up.”
“I think it is,” Edie said and stood up. “Like your ink. Should've opened with an ink discussion and then offered to show me the rest of it,” she said with a wink and he laughed again.
“Dawg, Dawg, Dawg,” Mel said as soon as Edie was out of earshot. “Couldn't help yourself.”
“Just talking.”
“Dawg. You never 'just talk' to a woman.”
“I 'just talk' to you.”
“She's my sister. My baby sister, she just got home after being away for a long time. Please don't go there. You'll hurt her and I would have to accidentally slash the tires on your bike.”
Dawg put his hand over his heart. “You wouldn't!”
She stepped closer, squinting her eyes, but still smiling. “I'd even key it.”
“I'll stay away.” He laughed and kissed her cheek. He really liked Mel. “She's hot, though,” he yelled after her as Mel strode off. Her only reply was give him the finger over her shoulder.
He laughed again as he followed her inside. There were other girls that he didn't have to stay away from. When the strip club closed and the strippers strolled into the clubhouse, he found a hot little redhead he'd been with before. So he put his arm around her and walked off, noticing Edie, next to Vasco, looking at him with a small smile. When he winked, her smile got bigger and she shook her head.
-o0o-
The party was nice. I had a lot of fun. One of the first people Lanie introduced me to was Micheala, or Ella, as everyone called her, according to herself. She was Bear's wife. Or Old Lady, as they tended to call themselves. She was also Lanie's best friend and she caught me in a looong hard hug. It was a bit overwhelming to almost be attacked by a really tall, blond beauty with huge breasts that almost smothered me.
Arrow of Time (Marauders) Page 3