by Freya Barker
“Tse? I’m liking the name.” I grunt. I’m not interested in a conversation with this woman. I know her type. I know it all too well.
I’m spared when a nurse walks in.
“Ms. Wilson?”
“That’s me,” the blonde says, facing the nurse.
“Your brother just woke up. He’s asking for you. If you’d like to come with me?”
Liz turns to me and runs a lethal-looking, bright red fingernail down the front of my shirt. I have to curb the urge to snap it off.
“You gonna wait for me?” she purrs.
I step out of her reach and pull a rigid Sophia to my side.
“We’ll be heading out. I gotta get my woman home.”
With that I firmly steer Sophia out of the room and down the hall. Halfway to the front door she manages to slip from under my arm.
“I’m nobody’s woman,” she fires at me.
“Not yet.”
I let her dart outside in front of me and get on my bike as she gets in the Jeep.
Then I follow her home.
CHAPTER 5
Sophia
NORMALLY ON MONDAYS I do some laundry, clean, run any errands, and grab a few groceries. Today I haven’t gotten much further than hanging around on the couch, sipping coffee, and streaming Netflix on my laptop.
I did call the hospital first thing this morning to find out how Bernie made it through the night. As it turns out, not so good. When he woke up, he became incoherent and combative and they suspect his brain may be swelling. I guess that would mean surgery, as his doctor had indicated was a possibility.
I wish I’d had a chance last night to exchange numbers with his sister. The woman is alone in town and I could’ve given her a call, even though she’s already not my favorite person. She’d been borderline hostile to me yesterday, before Tse returned and whisked me out of the waiting room, but maybe that had been the stress of finding out her brother’s condition.
Yesterday was exhausting and I’d almost immediately rolled into bed when I got home. Of course, that was after Tse annoyingly insisted on following me, parked his bike alongside my Jeep in the driveway, and walked me to my door.
There was a moment I wondered whether he was going to try and kiss me. It wouldn’t have been the first attempt, he tried it once last year and I rebuffed him. Last night though, I’m afraid if he’d tried I might not have stopped him.
The man tempts and infuriates me in equal measure and it makes me feel off-kilter when I’m around him. He’s like chocolate, you know it’s bad for you if you make it part of your daily diet, but you tell yourself all you want is a little taste. Except, one taste leads to a constant craving.
My phone rings and I grab it off the coffee table. It’s Lisa.
“Hey.”
“Just heard what happened yesterday, are you all right?”
“I’m fine. It was a bit of a shock, that’s all.”
She makes a humming sound.
“Mm-hmm, I bet you are. How about you come here for a bit of lunch? I know Brick will wanna see you.”
I look down on my ratty old yoga pants with the torn seam on my inner thigh. The most comfortable piece of clothing I own and I was hoping I could spend the rest of the day in. I’d have to get dressed.
“Oh, I don’t know…”
“Get your butt over here before my husband decides to come knockin’ on your door to see for himself you’re doing okay. Besides, Finn’s first birthday is next month. We need to plan.”
I grin. Not sure how much planning a birthday for a one-year-old requires, but her mention of Finn awakes a different kind of craving. That little boy has my heart and it’s been weeks since I’ve seen him. He’s the only man in my life I’d ditch these yoga pants for.
“Oh, all right. Give me an hour. I’m not dressed yet and I want a shower.”
“Fine. We’re in the clubhouse.”
I don’t get a chance to change my mind because she’s already hung up.
The clubhouse. I assumed she meant lunch at their place. I should’ve asked before agreeing. I don’t feel like running into Tse, or Wapi, for that matter. The last few times I was at the clubhouse you could cut the tension with a knife.
Maybe they won’t be there. It’s the middle of day on a Monday; surely those guys have work to do. A girl can wish.
I drag my ass into the bathroom and take the next half hour to get ready. Then I grab my purse, check my wallet for some cash for the dessert I want to pick up on the way, and head downstairs.
I lucked out at the City Market downtown. They had a dozen pastéis de nata left. Mom makes those Portuguese custard tarts for special occasions and despite trying my hand at them for years, I can never quite get them right. The ones they sell at the bakery in the City Market are the closest to my mother’s recipe I’ve ever tasted, and I’m craving a little comfort food.
Only a few motorcycles are parked in front of the clubhouse when I drive up and I sigh a breath of relief. Looks like most of the club is out, which suits me just fine. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the sanctuary the club offered me last year, but the testosterone runs so thick in there sometimes it felt like I couldn’t breathe.
“Sophia!”
My name is called as soon as I get out of my vehicle and when I turn I watch Brick walk toward me, wiping his hands on a rag. He must’ve been working in the garage and seen me drive up. As soon as he’s close enough, he pulls me in for one of his bear hugs. He smells of motor oil and mountain air, and for a moment I linger in his arms. Every time I see him he greets me like he hasn’t seen me in years, instead of a few weeks at most.
I get it. When I lost my best friend, Kelsey, he lost the daughter he had been estranged from. He welcomed me, gave me the special part in little Finn’s life the boy’s mom had awarded me, and I gave him the second chance at a relationship he never had with his daughter. We both recognize the gift in each other.
“You’re gonna piss Lisa off with that.” He points at the bakery box in my hand.
“It’s just dessert. My favorite taste of home; custard tarts.”
He smiles his crooked grin at me as he guides me to the clubhouse, his arm slung around my shoulders.
I barely have a chance to give Lisa a hug because Finn is about to bounce out of his high chair at the sight of me. I pluck him out of his seat and soak up his slobbery smile sporting four perfect little teeth, two at the top and two at the bottom.
“Look at you.”
“Bah!”
He slaps a hand on my face and immediately grabs for my lip. Ever since his own first tooth broke, he seems to have a fascination with teeth.
“Gotta be gentle, buddy,” Brick cautions him and reaches for him, but Finn clings on for dear life, burying his face in my neck.
“It’s okay. He’ll be gentle, right, Finn?”
His head lifts and I’m rewarded with another smile as his head bobs. I grin back; this is the kind of attention I could handle all day long.
I take a seat at the kitchen table, Finn on my lap, and catch up with Lisa as she dishes out lunch. The baby briefly protests when Lisa picks him up and firmly seats him in his chair so I can eat, but he’s quickly distracted with some food. Typical boy.
I’m about to dig into the tarts Lisa grumbled about, but put on a plate anyway, when Tse walks into the kitchen. He grins wide when he sees me.
“Miss me already?”
Tse
Spent the morning with Paco, picking up where we abruptly left off yesterday.
By a stroke of luck, Jed Mason was available to sit down with us and we left my concept drawings with him. He has an architect he works with he said he’d get in touch with, and he was going to drive up to the site to have a look at the existing foundation.
We talked about potential timeline, his availability, and the possible labor the brothers could contribute. He offered to crunch some numbers and would get back to Paco with a cost range.
Paco and I came bac
k to the club to talk to Trunk about my idea to get some of the kids involved with the build. Give them something to work on during the summer. But when we pulled up, I didn’t see his bike.
What I did see, however, was Sophia’s Jeep, and I was already grinning when I walked into the clubhouse.
The only person there is Nosh, who has news on TV while working on his daily crossword, a common sight. I know Ouray and a few of the guys were supposed to head out to the Backyard to clean up and install a few security cameras before it opens up for business again tomorrow, but I can hear voices coming from the kitchen.
Her face is priceless when I walk in and I can’t resist.
“Miss me already?”
Her lips thin with annoyance but before she can say anything, Lisa gets up.
“You hungry? There’s plenty of soup and I have some frittata left. Pull up a chair.”
The only empty seat is the one on the other side of Sophia, with Finn’s high chair wedged between. The kid already has his arms out to me.
“Bah!”
Ignoring his sticky hands, I lean over and kiss the top of his head.
“Gotta eat first, buddy.”
Over the top of the baby’s towhead, I wink at Sophia as I take my seat.
“You heading to Moab this weekend?”
I turn to Brick.
“Been thinking about it. You?”
He grins at his wife, who rolls her eyes in response but doesn’t quite manage to hide the smile as she turns to the stove.
“You bet. Lisa’s coming with me. The old lady’s taken to the back of my bike of late.”
“That so?”
Lisa sets a plate and a bowl in front of me.
“Yeah, I like it. It’s too bad my husband insists on ticking me off and risking a fork in his eye for calling me his old lady.”
“I hear you,” Sophia contributes. “I had the same impulse when Tse called me his woman yesterday. I’m not sure what pissed me off more: the presumption or the label. Either one is barbaric.”
“And stabbing someone in the eye isn’t?”
Brick looks in mock horror at his wife, who snickers as she takes her seat beside him.
“Would you’ve preferred girlfriend?” I ask Sophia innocently.
“Nice try,” she fires back, her eyes narrowed on me.
“Old lady?”
“Get real.”
“Don’t diss it until you’ve tried it,” I tease her, the thought of her on the back of my bike very appealing. “You should come. To Moab. On the back of my bike.”
“Me on a bike?” she snorts. “Don’t forget I’ve been in a car with you, you drive like a maniac.”
Brick starts laughing, the bastard. I may have a bit of a reputation as a speed devil. I turn my upper body to Sophia and put my hand over my heart.
“Swear I’ll be on my best behavior. I’ll even let Brick take the lead, he doesn’t go any faster than a lawnmower.”
“Hey. Just because—”
“Hush, honey,” Lisa interrupts him with a pointed look my way. “Don’t let him goad you.” Then she turns to Sophia. “Or you,” she adds. “Having said that, I think it’s a great idea. You should come, that way I won’t be the only odd one out. It’s my first rally.”
I try not to grin when I see Sophia bulge her eyes at Lisa, who pretends not to notice.
“I have to work.”
“We don’t have to go both days,” I suggest. “Take one day off. Sunday’s the better day anyway and you have Mondays off, right?”
Her eyes dart around the table until they land on Finn.
“Don’t you need someone to look after the kids?”
“Yuma is sittin’ this one out,” Brick informs her. “He and Lissie are taking them. They’re covered.”
I used to love going to rallies that would quickly turn into weekends of drinking and debauchery, but in recent years they lost their shine. I like the ride, don’t get me wrong, but the partying is getting old. Or maybe it’s me who’s getting old. Not that the club frequents meets like that often anymore. A lot of the brothers have families, the club runs legitimate businesses, and we always have a handful of boys in our care.
Long gone are the times when the entire club would be riding out to two, sometimes three, events for each of the summer months. These days we stick closer to home and hit two, maybe three for the season.
The Moab rally is put on by a local club, the Mesa Riders, and their president, Red, is a good friend to Ouray. Moab is only a three-hour ride, but it’s a pretty one going from the lush green of the Rockies to the red rock formations of Arches National Park.
I reach across Finn’s high chair and grab one of Sophia’s hands.
“Come with us. You’ll have a good time, and I promise I’ll be on my best behavior.” Brick makes a laughing sound and I kick my boot out, hoping to catch him in the shin. “Not helping, old man.”
“Who are you calling old? I’m not even ten years old than you are.”
I ignore him and focus on Sophia, who seems to be looking at Lisa for answers. I give her hand a squeeze so her eyes come back to me.
“Come on, Fee,” I plead. “Have a taste of the life. I swear, just a nice ride and a few drinks with good friends. No strings attached.”
I throw that last line in hoping that might convince her. I’m not going with the expectation something will happen, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be trying hard.
When she says, “I don’t even have a helmet,” I know the battle is won.
“Lots of helmets around, you can borrow one,” Lisa says.
I make a mental note to hit up the Harley store this week to pick her up her own lid. I plan for her to spend more than only this one trip on the back of my bike.
I fucking hope she likes it.
CHAPTER 6
Sophia
“HEY, BOSS?”
Emme sticks her head around the door.
“There’s someone here to see you.”
“I’ll be right out.”
Emme is my second bartender and a complete opposite of the preppy-looking Mack. I liked her right off the bat: direct, brutally honest, and completely comfortable in her skin. Skin that is covered in colorful ink.
She works hard, doesn’t take shit from anyone—not even from Chris, who has most of the staff shaking in their boots—and doesn’t hesitate to lend a hand where needed. Doesn’t matter whether it’s bussing, helping in the kitchen, or cleaning the bathrooms.
She and I are the same age, but as different as night and day. Her uniform is jeans or cargo pants and a T-shirt, while I try to get some wear out of my former office wardrobe. Her blonde hair hangs straight down to the small of her back, while mine is dark, cut in a short bob, and wavy. The only ink I ever got on my skin is the small tattoo on my ankle depicting two peas in a pod. Kelsey had one of those too. We had them done right before she discovered she was pregnant with Finn.
I miss my girl so much.
Lisa is becoming a good friend, but she’s at a different place in her life than I am. Most of the women at the club are, and I haven’t really had a chance to make new connections here. Not that that was ever my forte; making friends.
Kelsey and I developed a friendship in the break room at the company we both worked at. Workplace friendships make sense, given that I spend most of my time at my job and have never been a barfly. The women who work here are either unapproachable—like Lauren Harris who works with Chris in the kitchen—or a different generation, like most of the waitstaff. I could see Emme as a friend, though.
I sure could use one right about now. In three days I’m supposed to climb on the back of Tse’s bike and head for Moab for a biker rally. Talk about being completely out of my comfort zone. Heck, I don’t even know what to wear. I haven’t seen him since the clubhouse on Monday—Wapi showed up every night, though—and am hoping maybe he forgot about it, but something tells me I won’t be that lucky.
Entering the last item
on the liquor order form, I send it off to the supplier, close my laptop, and head to the dining room to see who’s looking for me.
“Hey.”
Lea Hemmingway, wife to Kaga, who is Ouray’s second in command, is sitting on a stool at the bar. She quickly gets up and smooths her hands on the black slacks she’s wearing before reaching out to shake my hand. I don’t know her well, other than an introduction at the clubhouse at Christmas and seeing her around at Lisa and Brick’s wedding in May.
“Sorry to barge in unannounced,” she says, appearing a little nervous. “I was hoping to have a word, but if you’d prefer me to come back another time…”
“No, no, not at all,” I reassure her, as I quickly look around the restaurant. We’re between lunch and the dinner rush so only two tables are occupied. Since my office is small and not really outfitted to receive guests, we’ll probably be more comfortable in a booth. “Would you like to sit down?” I point at a booth in the corner where we’d have privacy.
“If you’re sure.”
“Absolutely. Would you care for a drink? Or a coffee?”
“Coffee would be nice.”
I look at Emme, who apparently heard us because she gives me a salute before I can even ask.
I wait until we’re both seated before asking, “What brings you here, Lea?”
“I was wondering if you have any openings. I’m looking for a job, now that—” She stops when Emme approaches with two cups of coffee and waits until she returns to the bar.
“Go on,” I prompt when she hesitates.
“Well, with my boys in high school and driving themselves, I’ve got too much time on my hands. It was Kaga’s suggestion, actually. He said you guys had some staffing issues and he was gonna talk to Ouray, but I wanted to do this on my own.” She grins. “He’s not too happy about that.”
I can see why. Her husband is just like the other men at the clubhouse, protective and more than a tad controlling. The only difference is the other couples all met later in life when the women already had careers of their own. From what I understand, Kaga and Lea were high school sweethearts.
“I bet, and yes, we’re still a little shorthanded on waitstaff.”
