Saige

by Shannon McFadden

  "Saige, my darling!" Pyro draws out a scream as he comes out of nowhere, picking me up and swinging me around. “You look beautiful, my birthday goddess!”

  Laughing, I smack his arm. “Put me down, you great big oaf.” Pyro laughs as he does, though he keeps his arm around my waist, holding me close.

  He’s another one that’s close to me and Loki, causing a lot of mischief. He’s great looking, tall, muscular, but not overly so, with blonde hair that he keeps dyed flame red in a faux hawk, and the deepest blue eyes you’ve ever seen. You could almost drown in them. Pyro got his name the old-fashioned way, of course. He loves to play with fire and anything that goes boom. So he’s the go-to guy if there’s ever any need for explosives. Which isn’t often.

  “Hey, are we all still on for tomorrow night? I went and bought a new outfit to wear just for you, my beautiful girl.”

  I blush deeply.

  Before I can get a word out though, Cotton asks, “What the hell do you mean, still on for tomorrow night?” Everyone looks at him. Loki and Tires are ready to step in if a fight breaks out, while Cruz and Stone exchange a knowing look.

  I finally find my voice, but instead of answering Cotton, I look to my brother and dad, stating, “Loki and I were asked to go to Myst with Poppy, Lilly, and their guys. You know, the crew from school, to celebrate our birthdays. Loki is taking Sloane with him, and I didn’t want to be the only one without a date, so I asked Pyro if he would like to go with me. That way I still have the two full patched members with me that you like.”

  Stone and Cruz both nod their heads. Tires is watching his best friend’s reaction to this.

  “What’s it matter to you anyways, Cotton? You aren’t a prospect assigned to protect her at all times any more. She isn’t your girl or old lady. So why go off the way you just did?” Pyro asks, getting angry.

  “I may not be assigned to protect her anymore, but I am VP of this club. Her protection is always important to me. She is my Pres’ daughter, my best friend’s sister, and my friend. And who the hell are you to question me?”

  “Okay, guys. That’s enough. Pyro, if you keep this up, I won’t take you. I’ll ask Lynch to go with me instead.”

  Cotton stands there smirking, while Pyro is looking thunderous.

  Loki is grinning like he has won the lotto. “Sis, let’s go swimming before Stella hollers at us to come eat, yeah?” I nod and follow him down to the beach area.

  There are several brothers and a few old ladies down here swimming, some of them watching kids, of all ages.

  “Sai! Sai!” I look up as the cutest little girl comes waddling towards me as fast as her little legs will go.

  “Hey, sweetpea! Have you been playing in the sand?” I pick her up and kiss her cheek, hugging her.

  “Yeth. Momma saith that I can. I buil a cathle.”

  “You built a castle? You’ll have to show me.” I put her down and we follow little Bethany over to her castle and her mom, Beth. Bethany had stolen my heart from the time she was born. Beth and I are good friends, her dad is another brother in the MC, and I babysat Bethany while she went to classes to finish up her schooling. We chat for a bit, then Tires and I go over to a spot by ourselves.

  “There are just too many people here today, Coop. My anxiety is so high.” I melt into him as he pulls me to him and hugs me.

  “That’s what I was afraid of. Did you take your meds to help ward off a migraine? I told Dad you may very well end up with one because of all of this.” He pulls back and looks into my green eyes, so much like his own.

  I smile. “Yeah.” The last thing I want, or need is one of those vicious things to pull me under right now.

  “Good deal. Hopefully it’ll keep you from getting one.”

  “I don’t know, all the stress from Pyro acting like he is lately, Cotton acting like he hates me but still looking out for me, trying to get my bakery up and running. It’s getting to be too much.”

  “I can talk to Cotton and Pyro for you.”

  “Don’t you dare! I am a Farrell. I can handle them. If I feel like I need help, then I’ll come to you.”

  He grins at me. “Yeah, okay. Let’s get in the water.” He already has his swim shorts on and waits for me to strip down to my bikini. “Holy shit, Sis! Where did you get that? Has Dad seen it?”

  “Um, no, not yet. It’s part of the new wardrobe Aunt Stella bought me. What’s wrong with it?”

  “Nothing really. I’m just not used to seeing you in something that revealing, and you know that Dad will probably go berserk on Stella. Hahaha. You look beautiful. You always do. It just shows that you truly are a woman now. And it means I might have to kick a few asses if these guys don’t put their eyes back in their heads!” I smile and run into the water with him following me.

  Cotton

  I’m about ready to break this little punk’s hands if he doesn’t get them off Saige! And who the hell is he to question me like that! I may not be assigned to protect her anymore, but I’ll always protect her. Thank God Tires took her over to go swimming. Stone gives me a chin lift to follow him.

  “What’s up, Pres?” I ask when we are a good bit away from the others but can still see Saige and Tires.

  “Care to tell me what that was all about back there?”

  Sighing and running my hand through my hair, I look at him. “I honestly don’t know. I have so many feelings going through me right now. The biggest one being rage when I see anyone touching her. I don’t get it. I know I’m not good enough for her. I’ve done things I’m not proud of, and I know she deserves better than me. But I also know that she deserves better than that ass clown who is likely to blow himself up one day too.”

  “Cotton, I want to tell you something. God forgives us for our sins, all we have to do is ask. You must learn to forgive yourself as well and let go of this guilt, because it wasn’t your fault, Son. There was nothing you could do. You have to believe that. Now as for not being good enough for my daughter, I must disagree with that as well. If you decide to follow your heart and go for her, I give you my blessing. But if you hurt her….”

  I look up at Stone and nod. “Understood, Sir. Thank you. “

  “Now let’s go and talk to Cruz and Lynch about that run we have coming up…. What the hell is she wearing?”

  I look over to Saige as Stone explodes and all I can do is stare. She is gorgeous. Standing there in a dark green bikini with skulls on it. She’s covered completely where it matters, but oh man, her body is banging! Just looking at her I am instantly hard. I turn away and start counting in my head. Finally, I hear a splash and I know that she’s in the water. I walk over to Cruz and we go get Lynch. I need to get my thoughts and feelings straightened out, and I sure as hell can’t do it while staring at her.

  Two

  Saige

  “I don’t know how to thank you all for all these gifts. Y’all didn’t have to do this. Just being here with us to celebrate was the greatest gift you could have given us,” I say to the clubs that are present.

  Loki gives my shoulder a little push, “Speak for yourself, Saige. Bahahaha, I’m joking. Really, we do appreciate everything. Y’all are the best family anyone could ask for. Thank y’all for being here. Like Saige said, y’all being here to celebrate our birthday was the greatest gift you could have given us.”

  We have already eaten a huge meal and the cakes that Stella decorated. She did one with sugar skulls and butterflies for me. Loki’s had skulls and lightning bolts. Then they had us go through this massive pile of gifts. Clothes, gift cards to all kinds of stores, jewelry, stuff for our bikes, and other knick-knacks. I’m glad Dad brought the cage up here. It’s going to take it to get everything back down to the clubhouse and my room.

  “Saige! Loki! We need you two to come over here please.” Stella has us follow her over to the end of the pavilion. Our dads and Tires are standing there with two ‘65 pan-heads, fully remodeled. Both have a custom paint job that my brother did on them at his garage
.

  “Happy birthday, kids. These are from us, Tires, and Cotton.”

  We walk over and hug them. I have tears running down my face. I look at Loki’s bike. It is neon green with lightning bolts and a badass skull on both sides of the tank. Right by the gas cap is the Renegade Vipers emblem. The helmet matches the green and has the lightning on it. He walks over to look at my bike with me. It’s a deep purple with cream. Cooper didn’t go too crazy with the decorations on mine. Just a small butterfly on each side, and our emblem by the gas cap. My helmet is the same purple with a small butterfly on the back. I can’t believe the work that he did on these. He really did an outstanding job.

  I look over to my brother and dad, and they both have tears in their eyes. I hug them both. “Thank you both so much. You didn’t have to do this. I love you.” I can’t seem to stop the tears.

  My dad cups my face in his hands. “Baby girl, we did this because we wanted to. I love you. Now, let’s get all this stuff packed up and get it back to your room. Yeah?” Nodding, I follow my dad and we start getting everything loaded into his Ford F250 Harley Davidson edition truck. I love his truck so much, that I went and saved up the money to buy myself one.

  Loki and I ride our new bikes down to the clubhouse, and after we get them parked Pyro walks over to us. “Listen, I wanted to apologize for earlier. I really do want to go out with you tomorrow night, Saige. Will you forgive me for being such an ass?”

  “Yeah, I will this time.” I smile at him. “Goodnight, Pyro.” Giving me a kiss on the check, he says goodnight and heads off towards the bar.

  “You going to go in and have a drink, or are you calling it a night?” Loki asks me.

  “I think I’m going to call it a night. I need to take some more of my meds and try to catch this migraine before it gets bad. I really want to keep our plans for in the morning.”

  Hugging me close, he says, “Yeah, okay. Get some rest. If you need me, text me. I’ll come running. See you in the morning. Acer is expecting us around ten.”

  Nodding, I head into my room. I had Dad leave it unlocked for me. I see a little present on my bed. Hmmm, wonder who that is from? That’ll have to wait a minute though. I lock my door, take my migraine meds, get some clothes, and take a quick shower. Leaving my long hair loose, I towel dry it a little and then run a wide tooth comb through it. With my natural big loose curls, I never brush it. I go back into my room and put everything up that I got today, and then sit on my bed looking at the present. I open it and gasp. It is the most beautiful necklace I have ever seen. White gold with a tanzanite butterfly. The little card only says, “Happy birthday, Cotton.” Wow! Cotton got me this? No way! I grab my phone and shoot him a text.

  Me: Cotton, thank you for the beautiful necklace. I love it. ~S.

  Cotton: YW. Happy birthday butterfly

  Butterfly? He’s never called me that before. Maybe he’s starting to feel for me what I feel for him? No. Not Cotton. He’s a screw ’em and leave ’em type of guy. He never stays with the same girl for more than a night. He usually kicks them out as soon as he gets what he wants from them. Oh well. I can dream, can’t I? I put the necklace in my jewelry box so that it doesn’t get messed up and lay down to go to sleep.

  The next morning, I get up and feel the twinges of a migraine starting. Great. I take my meds, hoping that it’ll keep it at bay, get dressed in a Vipers tank top and cut off shorts, brush my teeth, and go out to meet Loki.

  He takes one look at me and shakes his head, saying, “We’re taking the cage and I’m driving. No arguing with me. That’s if you even feel like going. I can call Acer and reschedule.”

  I shake my head. “No, we’re going. I took my meds. But the cage and you driving is a great idea,” I say. “I need to try to eat a small bite of something or it could get bad pretty fast.”

  “Okay. Want to stop and get a chicken biscuit?” I smile up at him. My best friend knows me so well. “Alright then. Let’s get going.”

  I give Loki the keys to my truck. It’s my baby. So he knows I really trust him to let him drive it. It’s a 2019 F250 Harley edition. I got the beautiful grey color. Everyone here has the black. I wanted something a little different. I got a specialty tag for it that says, I <3 baking. It cost over eighty dollars, but the money went to the children’s hospital burn unit, here in Summerhaven, Tennessee. I even went so far as to put in a moon visor, chicken lights on my running boards, and I have a few window clings I put on it. One is a military tribute, one is for police officers, the other for firefighters.

  We have several of each in our MC. It’s how we can do what we do. We don’t run guns or drugs or anything. We are legal in almost everything we do. Tires owns his garage with Cotton, the Torque Wrench Custom Build and Bike Shop. Ryker and Skip work there. Tripp was a marine and he now owns the strip club, Vipers Pit. Hawke usually helps him out if he isn’t on call with the EMS. Tech is a computer genius and he does anything that’s needed. Rubble, Lynch, Locke, Crow, Pyro, they are the Nomads. Barq, Mac, Gunner, and a few others are from Black Forest, they are our other charter. We help our community with whatever they need. Toy drives for kids, taking food and medicine to the shut-ins, working on homes, whatever.

  Then there is the other thing we do. If we hear about drugs, kidnappings, sex rings, anything going on like that, we go in and bust it up. I say we, because I am actually a patched-in member. The first and only female. I have Cotton to thank for that too.

  Loki and I had gotten into trouble, yet again. Rubble was passed out in the common room. We took some hair extensions that I had that were pink, purple, green, and blue, and put them in his beard and hair. Then Loki took all these empty hair dye boxes and bottles set them around us, then poured some water on Rubble. It woke him up. He was sputtering, then looked at us, asking what the hell we were up to. Loki showed him in the hand mirror. Rubble went berserk. He was cussing and screaming. Dad and the guys were in church and came running out to see what was going on. From then on, anytime there was church, Loki and I had to sit on a couch in the corner on opposite ends.

  One day Cotton came in, he was angry already for some reason. “Oh, for fuck’s sakes! Pres, if they’re going to be here for church all the damn time, you may as well patch them in!” he’d yelled, banging the table.

  My dad had looked at him, then smiled. “All in favor?” Everyone in the room said ‘aye’.

  Cotton looked up shocked because he hadn’t meant it. Never had he meant for me to be patched in. Loki was thrilled. Me, not so much. I was shocked. I love helping others. I love the club. But I want to bake. I want to contribute in other ways. Like an old lady would.

  “Hey, what do you want to drink with your chicken biscuit? You want the Cajun fries with it?” Loki asks, pulling me from my thoughts. Thank God for him.

  “Oh, my gosh, yes. And a large Coke.’’

  Loki grins. He knows that when we come here, no matter what we get, I always get the Cajun fries. Pulling through the drive thru, we get our order and head to Renegade Tattoo.

  I am so excited for this. “So, is Acer going to do both of our tats? Because just the one you are getting is going to take at least six hours, if not more. That’s not counting our matching one.”

  “No, I think he’s going to have Leilani do yours. You’ll have to have your shirt off, and I think since you know her so well, he thought you’d be more comfortable with her.”

  Nodding my head in agreement I say, “Yeah, I will be. I just hope she doesn’t say anything to Dad before we get them done.”

  “She won’t. Acer made her promise. Besides, you know she likes getting one over on your dad every now and then.” I laugh as I agree.

  Leilani and Dad have been dating for several years now. She’s a feisty one and we love her. I keep hoping Dad will make her his old lady soon. Loki pulls up behind the shop like Acer told him to, and we knock on the door. Acer lets us in.

  “Hey, guys, how’s it going? So, Loki, you drew up a matching tattoo for you
and Saige?” Pulling the paper out of his pocket he shows it to Acer. It’s a skull with butterfly wings. I loved it when Loki showed it to me. We are going to get it colored just a little differently, but still have the same colors in it. “Okay, so tell us how you want these done, then Leilani and I will get y’all tatted.”

  “Ladies first.”

  I smile at them. “Okay, so we both want green and purple in the butterfly wings. Purple is going to be my main color, with the green being the accent color. I want it on my right shoulder. Then on my left I want a cupcake with a sugar skull and heart.” Leilani smiles big and pulls me into the back room. “See you in a while, bestie!” I holler to Loki.

  “Not if I see you first, bestie,” he laughs.

  Leilani has me take my tank off and I pull my hair up into a messy bun. I had worn a strapless bra, so I was ready there. I straddle the chair and get comfortable while she gets everything ready. She shows me what she has drawn up, which I love, so she gets started.

  “So, my keiki, your dad does not know about this yet?” she asks.

  “No. I don’t know why, just a feeling I had, but I told Loki it would be best not to let anyone know what we were doing today, and he agreed.” She nods and asks if I’m okay.

  “Yeah, that isn’t bothering me at all. The first few sticks felt like a bee sting, but now it’s okay. My head is hurting though. I took my meds and ate; I’m hoping that it kicks in a few.” Leilani looks at me. She had nursed me through a really bad migraine, so she knew how they could get.

  “Okay, keiki. If it gets to where it’s getting bad, you let me know. I have a couch here you can lay on in the dark. Okay?”

  I smile and nod. She talks to me some about the buildings I have been looking at for my bakery, and then Dad. They have a big date planned. Dad is taking her to Chez Rouge. It’s a new fancy restaurant on the other side of town. I smile at how excited she is. Leilani really does love my dad and us kids. She has really taken to the club too. She would make a great old lady. I need to let him know that Tires and I agree on that. Maybe that’s why he hasn’t asked her.