by A. J. Downey
I started Matilda up with one kick and headed back for the club while I continued roving down memory lane. I was proud of my baby and ecstatic that I was going to have Everett warming my back tonight. I wanted to share this with her and a night ride as a club, small as we were at the moment, was the perfect opportunity to ease her onto the back of my bike. I was really hoping she would take to it.
I pulled up and hit my signal to make a left through the club’s gate. Coming at me was Ashton in her Jeep. She waved through the windshield and turned up into the driveway, her friend Hayden pulled up and into the drive right behind her in some black Lexus SUV. That was Sunshine for you. Agreed to take my girl to her dancing in the morning and didn’t even have her car here to do it. Swear to God that woman would give you the shirt off her back. She and Trigger were a lot alike that way. I rode up into the lot and backed my bike into its spot.
There was a small crowd forming outside the clubhouse by now. It was warmer than it had been in days but still crisp enough that my nose was trying to run from the cold of the ride. Still. It felt really damn good to be on the bike again. I shut her off and got off, pulling off my helmet and the clear lensed, black framed wraparounds I was sporting to shield my eyes from the wind. I tucked the glasses in my jacket and hung the helmet off one of the handle bars.
Everett glided up in that effortless walk of hers and I pulled her against me, kissing her temple while she got a good look at the bike under the flood lights. She reached out tentative fingers and I smiled.
“Go ahead.” I murmured against her ear and let her slip free of my grasp. She touched the rosary and picked it up letting the ornate crucifix rest in her palm. She walked slowly around the bike and asked.
“Am I seeing things or does it have roses on the gas tank?” She smiled at me and I smiled back.
“They’re roses.” I affirmed. She’d seen the bike before, outside her coffee shack but I hadn’t really given her time to really look then. Now she could have as much time as she wanted while we waited for Trigger’s boys to arrive. She trailed a fingertip reverently along the edge of the gothic cross sissy bar and paused, bending to read the inscription below the fender rack, above the tail light. She frowned, a cute little crease forming between her eyebrows and leveled that steely blue gaze of hers, the one that I swear saw through everything.
“Matilda… Your mom?” she asked.
“Matilda is my bike.” I went on to explain, “My mom was Tilly, she hated the name Matilda and you called her Matilda at your own peril.” I smiled and felt the familiar ache of loss in the center of my chest.
“You built it for her?” she asked.
“Yeah.” I said shortly and one of her brows arched, the look on her face said she clearly knew the story didn’t end there but then she shot a look over to the crowd of people close by.
“Will you tell me about her?” she asked quietly.
“Not something I typically talk about.” I said honestly and her face smoothed into solemn lines. “Maybe someday.” I said quietly going to her and pulling her against me.
“Okay.” She smiled at me and it was beautiful. I smiled back and a feminine voice cleared her throat behind me. I spooked, tensing. Only one person that freaking quiet around here.
“Yeah Ash?” I asked, voice harder than I meant it to come out.
“I’m sorry Dray, I didn’t want you thinking I was eavesdropping or creeping up on you on purpose.” Her delicate almost ethereal voice drifted from behind me. I turned with Em in my arms and spied Ashton and her straight laced rich friend Hayden standing pretty close.
“I know you don’t mean it Sunshine.” I said, voice a little smoother. She’d gotten better at not crumbling under one of my looks or admonishments which was saying something. Sometimes it was even easy to forget that she was as delicate as she was emotionally. She’d crumble or cry or have one of her hysterical fits but she always bounced back pretty quickly from them.
Em looked up at me and smiled and I didn’t miss her grateful look. Seems like there was another follower in the cult of Ashton, which I couldn’t really bitch or throw stones. She’d made a convert out of me too. Hell I’d even been instrumental in killing her husband for her. I shot a look over my shoulder to Reaver. We’d done it together. I blinked realizing that his glacial blue eyes were fixed in our direction. For a second I was gonna get my back up thinking that he was eye fucking my girl but then I realized that his stare was fixed on Hayden and it was as hopeless and grim as I’d ever seen him. Em distracted me by laughing at something Ashton said.
“I don’t know, I’ve never really ridden on a motor cycle before but something tells me I’m going to learn how.” She eyed me dubiously and I smiled.
I let her go and pulled my old jacket out of my saddlebag. When I’d started really coming into my own and hit that final growth spurt between sixteen and eighteen it had gotten a touch too small through the shoulders and too tight around my upper arms. I flipped up the hood on Em’s hoodie and held open the jacket. She shrugged into it obediently and I tried not to think about how I’d worn it the day my mom died. It fit her near perfect if a touch too big. It looked like what it was, that she was wearing her boyfriend’s jacket and I smiled. I liked that. I liked that a lot.
“I thought it’d fit.” I said judiciously. She smiled up at me and adjusted her hood on her sweatshirt so it would lay comfortably outside the collar of the coat. Zander pulled up on his custom chopper and behind him Squick on his vintage Beemer. Some cheers and calls went up from the small assembled crowd. Ashton and Hayden had moved off when I’d been fussing over Everett and Ashton hugged Squick who leaned his tall frame, nearly folding himself in half to hug her back. Em and I sauntered over. I clasped hands with Zander and then Squick. We were all familiar with Zander’s custom ride, so the talk immediately turned to Squick and his bike.
“Let’s get a look at this thing.” I said and smiled.
Trigger was right. The kid had done an amazing restoration job on it. The skin gleamed pearly white under the flood lights, and I mean that. The rainbow sheen of pearlessence was subtle but noticeable. He didn’t have the extended seat for a passenger but that was okay. From the snippets of conversation I’d just heard he was just learning how to ride and didn’t need to be taking any passengers.
Everything that was supposed to gleam, gleamed and the sound it had put off when it had come up the drive was one of a fine tuned, well-oiled machine. A sound my mechanic’s ear totally appreciated. In short, I was impressed, it may not be a stereotypical biker’s bike but fuck, who cares? It fit Squick’s personality and it was a bike. Only rule on bikes in our by-laws was none of that jap-crap, and I’m not talking about sturdy Hondas, I’m talking the plastic shit. No rice or pasta rockets. In short, I wasn’t going to be too picky, we really did need good members. The Beemer, it worked for me. My dad came out of the club house with a bundle under his arm and I gave him a chin lift. He gave me one back and I nodded. Hang around cuts. Black Denim no frills vests with a top and bottom rocker, a precursor to the leather cut of a prospect.
My dad’s gaze lingered on Em, tucked up against my side for a split second but then he got busy strapping the material wadded in his hands to his fender rack. Em’s attention was rapt on something nearby. I followed her blue eyes to Reaver standing pretty damned close to Hayden who was smallish like Ashton but still a few inches taller than Ash’s five foot nothing.
“Do you trust me?” I heard him ask. She was looking past him at his bike like it was going to jump up and bite her. I raised an eyebrow. Hayden was getting hitched to some rich blowhard banker type come summer. The dude was hardly ever around, always traveling on business and since she and Ashton had become like BFF’s or something she’d taken to hanging around with her and by default the club whenever her fiancé was out of town. None of us minded. The woman was easy on the eyes and Trig and Reaver kept her clear of trouble. I watched fear slide behind her clear green eyes and sighed inwardly. Now I
knew it was a done deal. Reaver would be getting her on the back of his bike come Hell or high water. Shelly called across the parking lot to her cousin.
“Hey Cuz! Can I get a ride?” she asked. He called back without taking his eyes off Hayden.
“Sorry Runt! Seat’s taken!” I smirked and decided to help Shells out before she caused a scene.
“Prospect!” I barked. Em jumped in the circle of my arms and I chuckled.
“Yeah!?” Derek called back.
“You’re giving Shells a ride!” I ordered. He grinned.
“You bet!” Shelly looked at me aghast. I knew she liked the Marine and this pretty much served her right for being such a pain in the ass on the regular.
“That was slightly mean.” Everett whispered, but she was smiling this impish smile that made me laugh outright.
I explained what I expected out of her as a passenger and she listened rapt. I didn’t think she would have a problem with keeping balanced but the last thing I wanted was her counterbalancing and fucking up mine and Matilda’s flow. Taking on a new passenger was always risky though; you never knew what you were getting into with one until you were moving.
People were drifting to their machines and I got on mine. I put on my helmet and glasses and Em put her brain bucket on. I adjusted the chin strap for her and brought out a spare pair of clear safety glasses for her, she slid them on and got on behind me. I started the bike and put up her kickstand and Everett snugged close into my back, her arms twining around me. Damn but she felt good against me. We weren’t staying too long at the bar. I wanted to make good on my promise. I really did.
My dad pulled out first, me just behind to his right, Trig just behind to his left. Reaver behind me, Doc behind Trig, Data behind Doc, Loyal behind Reaver then Zander and Andy. Our tail gunner was our most experienced rider so that would be Gypsy. We flowed out the gates and turned onto the highway making for the center of town and the night life it held. We usually went to The Spot bar and grill when we had the women with us. Sugar’s, which was the local tittie bar, when we didn’t.
Everett settled in behind me like she’d been born on a bike and I checked her out in my side view. She was smiling and her smile was huge and as carefree and full of life as I had ever seen it, which was to say I’d only ever seen it on her like this when she danced, or when I’d been moving inside her. At any rate, thank you Jesus! She liked it, no, I was pretty sure she loved it. I heard her laugh, bright and beautiful and I called out.
“You like it!?”
“I can’t believe I’ve never done this before! Thank you!” she called back. I grinned and opened up the throttle a little more. I glanced over at Trig and Ashton and smiled. Ashton looked as calm and serene as you ever saw her. Trigger about the same. I knew the feeling.
The ride was too damned short. Only about ten minutes but there was nothing like riding in a pack with your brothers. It had a whole different feel from solo riding, though it was a tough call on which I liked better. All though riding just me and Everett might take the top spot. I couldn’t wait to test the theory. We lined up at the street in front of The Spot and backed our bikes to the curb in the places we could find that were vacant of cars or where there was enough room for a bike or two but not for another car between them. Patrons on The Spot’s front deck and outside surrounding bars and clubs turned and watched the main drag take over. Leaning into one another and speaking in hushed tones.
The looks were a mixture of awe, entertainment, fear, distaste and even some arrogance. I’d seen it a million times and didn’t give two fucks what any of them thought. Neither did my old man and neither did my brothers. I helped Em off my bike and she was glowing, nose and cheeks red from the crisp cold of the autumn ride.
“I think I’m going to like that!” she stated and I laughed and left our helmets and glasses with the bike.
“Go with Sunshine and the girls and find us some tables Baby? I got some business out here.” She smiled and nodded and leaned forward and kissed me. Her lips cold against mine. I smiled against them.
“Don’t plan on stayin’ long.” I said against them and she smiled.
“I’m holding you to that.” She said gently.
“Be disappointed if you didn’t.” I called after her.
I pulled out one of my clove cigarettes and put it between my lips. I pulled a lighter out of the little pocket in my jacket meant for it and lit it, sucking in the spicy sweet smoke. Trigger looked at me with a cross between disgust and longing and took a drag off his blue tipped e-cig. I laughed at him.
“Pussy.” I said and he raised an eyebrow.
“Shit you’re smokin’ ain’t real either bitch.” He said with a grin.
“More real ‘n the bitch cig you got in your hand.” I said and he hooked a massive arm around my neck and shoved me forward towards the rest of our brothers with a massive hand on the back of my head. I laughed and stumbled forward. Yeah, my relationship with Trigger was greatly improved over the summer.
“Listen up!” My pops bellowed and we gave him our full attention.
“Squick and Zander here have expressed an interest in becoming official hang-around’s of Sacred Hearts. I wanna put it to a fast vote. Anyone not in favor put it up!” no hands went up.
“Congrats boys. You’re on your first step of becoming a Sacred Heart’s man.” He handed them each a black denim cut. They smiled and there was a little cheering and applauding from our small group.
“You understand you need to find sponsors before becoming official prospects and that you can’t have the same one.” Dragon said to them and they both nodded. I looked over to Zander and gave him a chin lift, Reaver was doing the same to Squick. They each caught on and nodded back.
“Good, glad that’s settled, let’s get our drink on.” My pops grunted and we filed towards the bar. Zander fell into step beside me.
“So how does this work?” he asked. I climbed over the railing onto the deck and he followed suit. They checked ID’s at the bar here rather than the door. It was a pain in the ass getting it out every time you wanted a drink but hey, it made it easy to get shit to someone slightly under age, like Em. Twenty-one next month. I blew out a plume of fragrant smoke.
“Three to six months in that cut, then we put it to a vote, a year in a prospect’s cut, sometimes less, sometimes more, depending and then we put it to another vote. You got any questions or need any guidance you come to me as your sponsor first. You got a beef, you follow the chain of command; we’ll get it sorted out.” I sucked down another long drag. Trigger passed us with his e-cig and flipped me the bird as he skated right on in through the front door. I barked a laugh. He had me there.
“Dues?” Zander asked.
“Talk to Reaver, he’s our treasurer and in charge of that shit. I can barely balance my fucking bank account.” Zander laughed and I slapped him on the back and I put out my cig. We moved inside towards a set of tables near the back where the girls were at. When I reached her seat Em smiled up at me. I put my lips near her ear.
“We’re staying for an hour.” I murmured and I felt her nod, I put some heat and steel into my next words.
“One drink Em,” I told her, “I mean it. I want you completely aware and to feel everything I do to you tonight.” I felt her shudder against my chest and to drive my point home I put an arm across her chest and pulled her back into me where I leaned over her. I kissed the shell of her ear and let her go, stepping back. Her chest rose and fell as if she were trying to catch her breath and I felt a little self-satisfied grin curve my lips.
“Prospect get me a beer and my girl one of her Irish whisky’s.” I said to Loyal and added almost as an afterthought, “Get yourself whatever you want. I’m buyin’.” And I slapped enough green into his had to make it so and leave a generous tip for the bartender. He looked to Em and got a few points for it, she smiled.
“Bushnell’s please.” she called above the conversation and the band setting up on stage.
The girls laughed and talked and I let my eyes skate across Hayden, she looked vivacious and alive and I smiled. Reaver was looking at her and smiling, he looked like the cat who’d gotten the cream and I thought to myself, good luck with that. I mean she was getting hitched but the way he looked at her was the most human I’d seen him look at a girl in a while.
His glacial gaze caught mine and his expression startled for a second. I raised an eyebrow and he glanced at Hayden and put some space between them. Em was talking animatedly with her and the other girls and I jerked my head towards the outside.
Time for me to live up to my title some. I’d just had a cigarette but fuck, I could have another if it gave us an excuse to go out where we couldn’t be heard. I kissed Em’s temple and got up, she smiled but didn’t say anything and so Reaver and I went for the smoker’s porch outside. Loyal handed me my beer as I passed him on his way back to the tables. He took one look at Reaver and handed him the one I’d told him to buy for himself. Good fucking man. I made serious note of that. It impressed the hell out of me. What impressed me more was that he took my girl her drink before returning to the bar to get another for himself. Reaver took a pull off his beer and we went outside.
“Dude, Reaver man, what’s the story?” I asked him. He leaned against the railing and I quirked an eyebrow. He was wearing his cut, but his jacket was conspicuously absent. The leather of his vest gleaming softly in the streetlight against the deeper, light absorbing black of his pull over hoodie. He was silent too long.
“She’s getting married man.” I said in a low voice, meant to be soothing rather than accusatory.
