by Clare Power
The ladies cheer, all excited at the concept. Their men look bemused; I know where they’re coming from.
“That would be so awesome,” says Kat, her eyes shining.
“I can teach you,” says Dawn, “I’m a qualified instructor.”
“Awesome,” Jack says, full of excitement.
“Why are you so pleased? You’re going back to England,” Kat demands.
“Well I might stay for a bit,” Jack responds. Fuck me if I don’t see the smile Trash can’t quite hide. Kat, however, doesn’t see anything but the opportunity to spend more time with her sister and she really starts to get her party on.
I realize she’s been holding back on her party so I ask Jack about it. She grins at me and says “She didn’t want to get too drunk in case someone did something to her. You know, covered her in condoms, got her a male stripper. Those sorts of things.”
“And who would she suspect of such a thing?” I ask her.
“I have no idea,” she says with a nearly straight face. “But she’s partying now.”
Oh yeah, that she is.
Chapter 32
Family Gathering
Backfire
It’s just over a week ‘til the wedding and my parents ride in. My pops rides his bike while Mom drives the car, no doubt full of wedding shit.
As Pops is a member of such long standing, Ace has offered them room at the clubhouse, but they’ve decided to stay at the hotel where most of the wedding party are staying and the catering is coming from.
We’ve agreed to introduce my pops and me to Kat’s parents with our real names.
Because everyone wanted to meet them, we arrive at Tampa Airport in two cars. There are my parents, Kat, Jack, and Trash, whatever the fuck that’s all about, and me. We hang out in the Harley shop waiting for them to clear customs and immigration.
By the time they get through, Kat hasn’t spent too much money so that’s something.
I go to help grab their bags. We load up and head back over the Bay to the hotel. We start to do introductions over a bite to eat.
Kat’s dad’s name is Colin and her mother’s name is Amy. While Kat and Jack talk to their parents and mine, Trash and I haul their cases to their room. We come back and everyone seems to be getting along, sitting and chilling. Kat’s parents have more than a snack ‘cause the plane food was weird. It doesn’t look like Jack had mentioned much about Trash to her folks so they’re looking rather confused at this relationship. I see this as less pressure on me.
Colin’s an architect and Amy’s a college lecturer in history. As the conversation progresses, we discover that he’s picked up a love of bikes from his daughters and had acquired Kat’s old BSA, which is a great icebreaker. Kat’s mom, being a history lecturer, fits in with my folks interest in medieval England. We arrange to take Colin out for a ride with us tomorrow while the ladies have agreed to hit the mall, mentioning scary shit like eyebrow threading and make-up. Better them than me.
Chapter 33
Happy, Happy, Happy - Yikes
Kat
Oh my God, I couldn’t be happier! The idea of getting married to Backfire is pretty unbelievable. I love him, and it’s as simple as that.
But will it work?
Can we live and love together? Work and play together practically twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week?
Is it too much?
Without the odd kidnapping and shooting to make him go all Mr. Protector on me, will he get bored?
Do we need to put some distance between us? How? Everything I do is linked to him in some way. What if we burn up and burn out?
How the hell do I keep things exciting and interesting for him? I suppose the only thing I can do is work things out as they come along. I can make this work. I will make this work.
Worrying won’t help me. It is what it is, so it’s best to go with the flow and keep trying. At the very least, we’ll have a hell of a ride together.
Backfire
I get home from work to see Kat nearly freaked out about something. I worry that the Dead have got to her in some way until she runs into my arms, crying about how she’s sure we’ll burn out ‘cause we’re ‘too close all the time,’ or some such shit.
I say to her, “Eyes on me, babe. Are you mine?”
“Yes,” she squeaks with her eyes still brimming with tears.
“Am I yours?”
“Of course,” she replies, “but…”
“No buts, babe,” I tell her, “We face shit together and ride it out.”
She relaxes a little at that, so I scoop her up and carry her to the bedroom. Words aren’t enough for me to make my point, so when I toss her to the bed, I rip her tee off before she lands on the bed. She sits up to look at me and I grab the waist of her jeans to pull them off too. As I drop my jeans and release my cock, I see a hint of her smile again. I step to the edge of the bed and she wraps her legs round my waist, rubbing against my cock while I strip off my cut and my shirt. That gets her wetter and me harder so I lift her up and drive inside her in one motion. Fuck, it’s good to be inside my woman.
I hold her arms over her head and lock our gazes as I fuck her hard. She writhes under me and shrieks my name as she comes, clamping around my cock.
“I’m yours, Backfire” she says with no doubt in her voice.
That’s what I needed to hear. A few more deep thrusts and we come together.
Chapter 34
The Last Gasp of Freedom
Kat
Tomorrow is the day.
I miss being with Backfire. I tell myself it’s only for one night, but that’s not really helping. Silly superstitions. At least Jack and Trash are here, helping me deal with the final arrangements for the wedding and my nerves.
Bridezilla? Me?
Trash has the wedding phone so he can ‘sort out’ annoying queries. This fact has deterred everyone from trying it on.
Ace has made Jack welcome at the club and we have finalised the public areas and made sure the numbers are right.
The blood families are mixing and starting to get to know each other – our moms have been shopping and our dads have been riding. Loads of club family are starting to arrive too and everyone seems to be getting along, which is great because anyone who causes a drunken fight at my wedding will incur the wrath of Bullet, and any other Sergeants at Arms that arrive.
I am a bit gutted for Backfire that his two blood brothers haven’t managed to make it so far due to club business. He seemed a bit down about that for a while, but then let it go. I have left some seats empty just in case. We both have family and friends that we’ve been unable to contact, who, if they turned up, would be more than welcome.
The only big mistake in the planning I nearly made was by not understanding the importance of a rehearsal dinner, but luckily I was told in time and the hotel was able to come through for us. The three families all mixed and had a great time. There was no one putting a spanner in the works and that’s fine with me.
We are having the actual wedding at the clubhouse, so that’s where Backfire is. I love the fact that you can get married just about anywhere here. We’ve planned for a mixture of different things. There are loads of different foods for after, hence why the formal wedding rehearsal had escaped me.
Everyone who can be here is here. Everything is ready for us to move on with tomorrow.
Chapter 35
The Day
Backfire
I wake up in my room at the clubhouse on my own ‘cause of some shit about ‘no seeing each other before the ceremony.’ What that fuckin’ translates to is not sleeping with Kat last night and I fuckin’ hate it.
I shower and get dressed for the day. Luckily, my woman has an understanding of the whole biker thing and so my jeans might be new, but they are jeans. Same as my black, button-down shirt and boots; both new, but wearable. I head out to the kitchen to look for something to eat.
The ladies have put out a spread for breakfast. I
get a plate and start to eat. Sadly, Sock and Shades turn up to start running their mouths, trying to ruin my day. What the fuck was I thinking, makin’ Shades my best man? I did this to myself.
“And so the condemned man eats a hearty last meal,” Sock starts in.
Before Shades even gets a chance, I slug him in the gut. Simple, ‘cause he’ll never learn.
Ace wanders in to add his two cents, “Whatever happens, don’t hit each other in the face or you’ll all have Kat to deal with, and she has Bullet on her side.”
We all look at Bullet who just smiles slowly at us. Scary shit.
Kat
Jack and I are up and out early in the morning. We get breakfast and then we’re off to get the final touches to our hair done.
We take off to the hotel and start getting everyone prepared for make-up and getting their clothing together. Once we have everyone taken care of and the parents away in cars, escorted by Liam on his bike, we go to our bikes.
The wedding bikes for Jack and I are beautiful. Mine is white and Jack’s is burgundy and white. Everyone is starting to head out when we hear the rumble of what sounds like a thousand Harleys. Jack and I check out the parade of Cycle Devils, led by Ace and Snack. Brewer is giving Amber a ride and Lori rides her bike beside her man. Within moments, we’re surrounded by Cycle Devils from different chapters―even Nomads.
Ace and Snack come forward, as do Seamus and Ultan. YES! I look to Ace for an explanation and he says, “You didn’t think we’d let you arrive at your own wedding without an escort, did you?”
“Please, Ace. I don’t want to cry, especially not yet and hopefully not at all.” The bikers within hearing range quietly giggle.
Seamus and Ultan smile at me and reach out to hug me. They both make sure to kiss Jack.
Ultan grins at me and says, “Not even we would kiss you today, not without our brother’s express permission.”
“You came to meet me instead of going to be with Backfire?”
“Our brother will appreciate that we’ve come to escort you to him,” Seamus says. “So, are you ready to take your ride to him?”
My smile is so big my face hurts, “Oh yes.” I say.
Tex gives his instructions. “So it’s like this, Kat. Snack and Ace will lead. You will ride beside Templar while Jack will ride beside Vike. Then Brewer will be with Lori and Amber. The rest of the brothers will follow in a coordinated ride behind us.
I grab both Ace and Snack and give them my attempt at a bear hug. Once I release them from my grip, I shout out to all the others, “Hello and Welcome. I hope you all enjoy the party.”
They all roar in approval. The procession lines up in the allocated order, and we slowly start to ride toward the clubhouse.
Backfire
My bike is parked at the side of the wedding area with Shades’, Trash’s and Pop’s. It has a traditional aisle covered in white flowers between two seating areas and a white arch at the back that looks traditional, until you look close and see it’s decorated with loads of little white bikes. I know the girls have been making them for weeks. There’s a small band to play wedding music, but who can also play country and rock music afterwards.
The seating area is full of our blood families, but none of the club is present. Just as that thought crosses my mind, I start to hear the loud rumble of bikes.
It gets louder and louder until the bikes appear, and in the lead is Kat and Ace. She looks so fuckin’ fine my heart stops for a second.
The group splits into two. A small group parks their bikes by mine while the rest fill up the space in the background and start to fill up the chairs that are left. When the seats are full, apart from those at the front, they stand around the sides. Colin walks to the back of the aisle between the seats, and that’s where Ace delivers a smiling Kat to her father.
The Bridal party starts to form up. Most of the guys go to their seats, apart from Ultan and Seamus, who come up to give me a bro hug. I’m so fuckin’ happy they made it as I watch them go over to sit by our parents.
The wedding march begins to play and Kat walks up the aisle on Colin’s arm toward me. The wedding service is very traditional until we get to the final vow, which is all about leather and Harleys. It appears that someone’s been watching too many episodes of Sons of Anarchy.
Still, the laughter is a stress relief and everyone relaxes. I am now officially a married man. Fuck it, I’m happy.
Kat
When we promise to look after each other as much as our leather and ride each other as often as our bikes, the place erupts into laughter. That was the point; to make people relax.
The photographers start but we have left loads of little cameras about the place, along with things like bubble jars in place of confetti. I don’t want Ace after me to tidy up the clubhouse grounds because that’s not happening.
As people start to gather around, the Florida prospects start to take down the temporary fencing and a traditional funfair is revealed, along with a food fair of different types of cuisine spread out around it in various food trucks. There are strawberries and cream, and even Pimm’s.
Everyone begins to dig in and help themselves. We plan the cake cutting for later in the area the wedding took place. As soon as the photos are taken, the next stage for the area is set up. Underneath the chairs, an area’s been planked for dancing and music.
Throughout the grounds, various seating areas have been set up so people can sit and relax. At the back of the clubhouse, there is an area set up for bike games. The main two games are ‘potato in the haystack’, with better prizes than spuds and ‘slow race’. I challenged Backfire to a slow race. He hasn’t got the patience so I won easily, and we also won a prize in the haystack. Backfire’s prize was to remove the hay from my cleavage.
Everything is set up to perfection for a wedding such as this. I couldn’t have asked for anything better than this day.
Backfire
I laugh as Kat and her girls go on the carousel again, realizing that this is Kat’s new toy. Trash and Jack have been on ‘bite the wienie’ and ‘in the haystack’ several times.
I have my brothers on either side of me, catching up and having fun. I think that the best way to describe this day is by saying that it’s fuckin’ awesome.
Chapter 36
Pillow Talk
Kat
“I love you,” I tell him as we curl up to sleep on our wedding night.
“Not as much as I love you,” he says as he reaches behind him to pull two glasses of Jack off the bedside cabinet.
“To our future,” he toasts.
“To our future,” I agree.
Epilogue
Backfire
It’s club night and Ace starts to tell us about a new club plan, “The Cycle Devils are going to patch over an English club,” he says. “Because our chapter has links to England, we have been asked to send members over to meet the UK club. Meeting Kat and Jack has taught us that there are a load of differences between our cultures, so we wondered if Backfire and Trash would like to go over there as part of our party with their old ladies as unofficial translators, all expenses on the club.”
Trash grins at Ace, “That sounds amazing. I’ll go, and Jack has shit to sort over there anyhow.”
“Backfire?” Ace asks.
“We’re getting a bike ready to show at Daytona. I’ll obviously go where the club wants, but I don’t know if Kat can come. She has to get it painted.”
“Shit,” Ace says, “We need to find out how to make the timelines work. I’ll find out a timetable, you sort one out too, Backfire. We need to make this work to get Kat out of the picture in case the Dead or the consortium make a move on her.”
“It’ll be an epic honeymoon if we can manage it.”
England here we come.
A story to be told in the next Cycle Devils book,
What the Devil Wants
Acknowledgements
Really there are too many people to thank her
e, so I’m going to stick to the main ones.
My husband Martin
For being wonderful and so much help.
Ava Manello
For making me believe that an ordinary person like me could write a book.
Dana Hook
Editor Extraordinaire.
Margreet Asselbergs
Artist beyond compare.
Lori
For being my mate.
Ryder Dane
For re-focussing me when I was losing the plot.
Sam and Lena
My beta readers for their time and suggestions.
About the Author
Hi – my name is Clare, and although it shocks me, I’m an author…
I’m English and consider myself a biker, whether you do or not is up to you. I come from the Midlands, but have moved up North (!)
I started to ride bikes in 1980, and have been around bikes and bikers ever since.
I've loads of interests and hobbies but particularly I ride and drive horses and craft.
You can contact me via :
Clare Power Books
http://clarepower.blogspot.co.uk/
Clare Power's Book Riding Babes
https://www.facebook.com/groups/729477027129814/