Some and the Flame

by Michelle, Christine

  Putting Poppy on the back of my bike again the next day just felt right. I never had an easy ride with Julie in the beginning because she wouldn’t listen to me about how to lean with me through curves or to hang on and not bounce around when she saw something that excited her. Maybe, it wasn’t fair to compare the two because Poppy had years of riding bitch with another man. I didn’t like to think about it, but it was true. Before that, she also had a biker brother, and from what Chief told me, their father had always had a bike when they were growing up too, even though he’d never been part of a club. Poppy was born and raised for this life in her own way. Julie never had been. It was only in the few months before we split that my rides with Julie on the back were smooth and unlike the headache they had been in the beginning.

  Part of that might have been that she had come to terms with being an old lady, even though I’d never made that official. She’d just decided that it wasn’t such a bad life and I wasn’t so much the runner-up anymore. Not for the first time, I wondered what I had been thinking sticking it out so long with a woman I wouldn’t even consider calling my old lady. Now that I found someone, I wanted to do that with, it wasn’t possible. Even thought he’d been a dick, cheated on her, and whatever else, Poppy’s ex was still a club brother and still legally married to the woman I wanted. I could think about claiming her for myself, but that’s all it could ever be until things were settled between them. Even then, I wasn’t sure how the club would react if Walker put up an argument that she was to be off limits to club brothers.

  Truth be told, if this were any other situation, I would stand to lose my kutte for going after Poppy when things weren’t settled with her previous old man. Actually, even if they were. I’d only ever heard of a club brother picking up what another had scraped off and still remaining in the club one other time. That was with our man Hopper when he got rid of his son’s mom because she was too much to handle. They hadn’t ever been married though. Iceman, the Dakotas Chapter President, had picked her up and married the woman. He didn’t having Hopper’s son around as his step son, but if rumors were true, the man regretted his decision to get involved with Hopper’s ex immensely.

  With Poppy’s situation, it helped that Chief was also in the club and he made it known to our chapter that he’d put his sister’s happiness up against our brother from another chapter who fucked around on her. If I was the reason for her happiness he wasn’t going to complain.

  No sooner did we get there and Poppy was hopping off my bike, than Heavy was calling out to me. “Thought you didn’t let bitches ride on your bike anymore, man?” The asshole was about to eat his own words, and maybe a few teeth talking about her like that though.

  “Call her a bitch again and we’ll be talkin’ out back in the shed,” I answered back. He nodded, and I could see from the inquiring look on his face that he wanted to know what was up with that, but I was just ticked enough with him to not want to answer. It didn’t matter that it was Chief’s sister, or the woman I planned to claim as soon as it was possible, he had no right to start a woman’s day out making her feel like shit. Calling a woman, that a brother brought by, a ‘bitch’ while comparing her to others was not an easy start to a day that you want to go smooth. Still, I tipped my head to Poppy and we both moved toward where Heavy was standing with Hold ‘Em and Crutch.

  “This is Poppy,” I introduced.

  “Poppy?” Crutch asked before turning his full attention to the woman in question. “You’re Chief’s sister, right?”

  “That I am,” she answered him with one of her beautiful smiles.

  “Oh!” Heavy chimed in. “Chief asked you to bring her by? I’m assuming that means he’s bringing one of his bitches then?” Fucking Christ, someone needed to put their foot up Heavy’s ass. Pretty sure I growled out my response, but I couldn’t honestly tell you, because I was that pissed off with the man.

  “Poppy’s with me because she’s mine!” I glared at each man standing there, even though it had only been Heavy who pissed me off. “Don’t know what Chief’s up to or if he’s bringing anyone,” I clarified just before I noticed Hold ‘Em grinning big at my woman.

  “Oh, hey!” Poppy called out excitedly.

  “Hey Poppy,” he answered back. “How’s that monster of yours?”

  Her sweet as fuck laugh made all my anger drain away as I just took her in while she talked to my future brother. There was no doubt our prospect would be moved up in the ranks to full member, and soon.

  “He’s good, although he didn’t seem too happy to be left behind today,” she told him.

  It hit me then that Hold ‘Em was a prospect and Poppy was new to town, not having been to visit Cedar Falls in quite a while before she came to live here. “You know Hold ‘Em?” The minute the words were out of my mouth I remembered the fact that Hold ‘Em had been the one to check on her when Chief and I were busy helping Shep.

  “Yeah, Chief brought him by when he got back from the run the other day and realized he’d left me without a way to communicate with anyone.”

  “Take it you met Bubba?” I asked him, which caused the man to sputter out a nervous sounding laugh. “Damn near pissed my pants meeting Bubba, thought he was gonna fuckin’ tear my leg off,” he admitted. I turned to Poppy for an explanation.

  She shrugged her shoulders. “There was a strange man on my front porch, and it made me nervous. I’m sure Bubba felt that and was feeding off my energy.”

  “Like that Bubba was doing his job, honey,” I told her.

  “You two know each other before Poppy moved here?” Heavy asked.

  “Nope,” I answered the nosy bastard knowing exactly what he was getting at. I had just claimed another brother’s woman in front of him and he wanted to know if I was part of the reason she was here instead of there working shit out with him. I was sure rumors would start flying, if they hadn’t already, but I didn’t really want to stand there and hash it all out while Poppy had to deal with it. I just wanted to spend a good day with my woman. “I’ll catch up with you guys later. We need to go deliver these cookies Poppy made.”

  “I’ll grab the door for you.” Crutch moved to do just that. The guy had been patched over long before I moved from Sierra High to Cedar Falls, but I swear I don’t know how he earned it. The man was all manners and proper speaking. He rarely used what I’m sure his mom would consider foul language. He loved bikes though, and he had a great head for business which was honestly the reason I think he was patched in. We needed well-rounded riders to keep the club successful, even if they didn’t always fit the mold.

  “Thanks, man,” I tipped my chin up to him as we passed through the door and then I heard it. It was as if he’d been waiting and watching for me to show. “Unc Moke!” I grinned at my nephew as he ran up and clung to my lower leg. I moved my arm from around Poppy’s shoulders where I had used it to guide her through the door with me, and I patted his head. As usual, Brantley wrapped himself completely around my leg, signaling he was coming along for the ride whether I liked it or not. I moved toward the bar so we could stash the goodies Poppy had made and pretended that I didn’t even know I had extra weight I was carrying around all of a sudden.

  Then I took Poppy’s bag from her and tossed it on the counter too before I snagged my nephew up and tossed him in the air declaring, “No free rides!” Then I proceeded to introduce my nephew to my girl, and shit you not, the little fucker was hitting on my woman telling me how pretty she was.

  Before the little brat could start asking her out on a date for milk and cookies, I cut in. “Brantley,” I addressed him so that Poppy would know his actual name and not the bastardized version of it that Brant said since he couldn’t pronounce it right yet. “Where’s your mom?” He pointed and my eyes followed the direction to see my sister was with her husband across the room. “Why don’t you go ask your mom if you can have a cookie. I think Poppy made a special one just for you, bud.”

  “You did?” He asked in surprise.
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  “I did, but you can only have it once your mommy says it’s okay.”

  “Momma!” I put the kid down and he was off and running after screaming to get Soph’s attention. “Popwee made me spetial cookies! Can I eats them?”

  I had to hope that my sister acted right today. If I could cross my fingers in the way of old superstitions and get away with not being seen by anyone else doing it, I would have. Knowing my sister, the day was not going to go by without her inserting her opinion at some point. ‘Just not at the beginning of the day!’ It was like a chant in my head repeating in a hurried cadence while Poppy took the time to unpack the special cookie before we managed to make our way over to where my sister and Bender were standing. Soph did not appear happy to see us, and the chant in my head quickly deflated and died as we approached. This was probably going to happen. I glanced around to see if Chief was here yet, because if my sister insulted Poppy, there was no way he was going to let it go uncensured. Not that I would want him to.

  Brantley helped cut the tension a little when he spoke up. “Momma, can I haz a spetial cookie pweeeez?” Bender laughed before offering up an apologetic look. He knew what was about to happen too. Fuck. I was about to just grab Poppy’s arm and pull her away before shit could go down, but then she was talking, and being so sweet. I had a moment’s worth of hope that my sister would see how genuine she was and keep her mouth shut.

  “Whenever you’re ready for him to have that,” She offered as she held the special cookie out that she had made for my nephew. Then she smiled at Bender as he addressed her and held his hand out to shake.

  “We already met when you moved in, but I’m Bender. This is my old lady, and Smoke’s sister, Sophie. This little guy is Brantley.”

  “Thanks again for helping move me in,” Poppy told him before turning her attention to my sister. “I’m Poppy.” My sister was pulling a bitch card and didn’t bother taking her hand like Bender had. “I’m Chief’s sister,” my woman added, in case there was any confusion. Bender and I both stared at Soph, willing her to behave.

  “Sorry,” Soph finally spoke, and I just knew she was pulling her shit together and was going to act right. “I was just confused by you showing up with my brother since you’re married and all.” Then again, I had been wrong about Soph before.

  “Are you fuckin’ kidding me, Soph?” I asked my sister through clenched teeth, about to rip her a new one right there, until I felt a small hand clamped down around my arm and took in the delicate shake of Poppy’s head. She didn’t want this scene to play out here where everyone was tuning in to the drama. I reigned in my anger and let her handle the situation since that was what she seemed to be asking me to do.

  “I am still married. I’m in the middle of a divorce at the moment and, while I would love that it was all over already, my ex is being a pain in the butt and trying to stall in order to get money for the sale of my family’s home and lands.” She offered up her business to my sister even though she didn’t have to and I was both proud of the way she was handling it and embarrassed that she had to stand here spilling her dirty laundry where anyone could hear because my sister was being an asshole.

  “He’s a brother in the club,” Soph managed to get out. The message clear, even in her hushed tone.

  “Yes, he’s with the Sierra High Chapter,” Poppy explained needlessly.

  “Why would he need your family’s money?” Soph asked, not understanding.

  Poppy’s shoulders hitched up and down. “I don’t begin to understand anything Walker does, so I couldn’t tell you. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to see if my brother’s around yet,” and with that, my woman was making it clear she’d had enough of my sister.

  “Poppy,” I called out to her as she started walking away. “I’ll be right behind you in a minute. Chief’s at the pool tables.” I’d clocked him walking in, just before Soph started in on Poppy. Once I thought my woman was far enough away, I turned back to my sister, not willing to spare her feelings since she had been more than okay with putting Poppy on blast the way she had. “What the fuck is your problem?”

  “I – I don’t know,” she admitted. “I don’t like that you’re with her, or that she decided to latch on like a fucking leech the minute she got in town,” my sister hissed, her brief moment of feeling guilty quickly forgotten.

  I grabbed hold of her arm and yanked her further into the corner away from prying eyes and Bender took the cue, moving Brantley to the bar to eat his cookie. “Let me clue you in, little sister. Not that you deserve to know shit about my life or the decisions I make considering how you just behaved, but Poppy didn’t latch onto me. It was the other way around. The minute I met her; I knew. I knew she would be the one to rock my fucking world, and I wasn’t wrong. Neither of us can help the timing of when we met, but I promise you this, if we had met when we did, or five days from then, a year, or even a decade later, the results would have been the same. Never in my life felt a pull like that to another human being on this planet, and then when we talked, and everything just clicked into place like we’d been doing it for our whole lives – hell, maybe longer – I knew I wouldn’t be letting her go. Even when she was skittish and gave me the ‘it’s too soon, let’s just be friends speech.’ So, you wanna get up on your high horse about someone being a leech and not showing signs of letting go, then you better point that accusing finger of yours at me, and only me. If you’re worried about Poppy still being married and me going after her anyway then you go stand in Chief’s corner and start asking what my intentions are toward his sister. Because of me, she will face all kinds of scrutiny, and that ain’t fair to her. Hell, you just proved how unfair it is, but I’m selfish enough to want to keep her in my life, and just pummel anyone who has anything bad to say about her or us.”

  “What are your intentions?” My sister asked cautiously.

  “I intend to make her my woman, my family, and everything else along the way that you can think of. That fuckwit in Georgia didn’t appreciate what he was throwing away because she didn’t belong to him, and he probably knew that all along.”

  My sister rolled her eyes at me. “They were married for what? Ten years, Smoke? You can’t just make statements like that.”

  “I can, and I did, because it’s the truth. A man knows. He knows when a woman is too good for him, not good enough, or the perfect fucking fit to the puzzle that is his life. She’s my perfect fit, and I’d bet you anything he felt like she was always too good for him.”

  “That doesn’t say much for her,” my sister offered snidely with a wrinkled nose.

  “You mistake that shit, Soph. I don’t mean she felt that way. I mean he did, and that’s why his insecure ass was off looking at other ass. He was waiting for the ball to drop and her to get wise and leave him.” I pointed to her husband who was watching us warily from across the room still. “That man there, he knew you were his perfect fit. He snatched you up, and to this day, you can still see it in the sap’s eyes when he watches you. Even when you’re being a bitch who is completely out of line, he still thinks you’re his perfect piece that completes his puzzle.”

  Her lip wobbled a bit and I knew I’d made my point. “You really feel that strongly about her? It hasn’t been that long.”

  “How long before you knew Bender was it for you?”

  She glanced over at her husband and smiled. “I knew I was going to marry that man the first time we were introduced.” She laughed then. “Long before he knew it.”

  “I should fuckin’ hope so!” Bender was a few years older than me and they had met for the first time when I brought my sister and brother around to a club family cookout just after I was patched in. She was still in high school then and not even legal. He had to be about 24 or 25 at the time. “There’s a goddamn 10-year age gap between you.”

  She waved that off. “More like nine and a half,” she argued.

  “Anyway…” I attempted to redirect her.

  “Yeah, I know. I
get your point. I’m sorry, okay?”

  “No, it’s not. You just embarrassed her, and she was already insecure about how everyone here would treat her since she’s already gone through becoming a pariah back in her hometown. Not to mention that you’re my sister, and it has to make her feel even worse about just being my friend, let alone anything else right now, considering my own family jumped her shit about all the things that have been plaguing her.”

  “I said I was sorry,” Sophie countered again.

  “Yeah, but you’re saying it to the wrong fuckin’ person.”

  I walked away from my sister then, more than a little disappointed in her. She’d never been blatantly mean to people that I’d seen before, but the way she had treated Poppy was unacceptable. I attempted to shake it off and went to the bar to nab a beer before I headed over to where Poppy was hanging out with her brother by the pool table. By the time I got to her, half of my beer was gone and I had managed to shake off or bury most of the residual anger I was carrying. That shit didn’t belong to Poppy, and I didn’t want to run the risk of it coming out in front of her. I just had to hope that Poppy was going to behave better than my sister had. If she didn’t, I couldn’t blame her though.

  “Food’s up out back. You want to go grab something?” I asked before reaching out and taking her hand in my own. I didn’t know what it was about the woman. I hadn’t been very handsy with Julie when we were together. Sure, we touched, but we never really did the hand holding shit. I used to think that was too high school to bother with. Now, I was starting to see that it just meant that you enjoyed another person you couldn’t help but try to be connected to them in every way possible.

  Once we got outside, I slowed, giving Poppy a chance to take everything in. She seemed to be soaking in the gloriousness of the multi-tiered decking we had built out here as well as looking to see where she might need to fill a space. I never thought about it before coming here tonight. She wasn’t my old lady, because she couldn’t be right now. She also wasn’t here as Walker’s old lady or even Smoke’s sister. Poppy was the girl I brought along with me. Considering the hierarchy of women around a clubhouse, it had to be confusing to her as to where she fit in. I pulled her over toward the food thinking we’d just grab some plates, have a seat, and relax when Jewel sashayed her ass my way.