“First off, you three are more than good enough for me. Second, Dad never told me why he kept me apart from your MC, or I guess, your former MC. Was it an agreement with my mom or something?”
“It was for two reasons, really. First had to do with your mom. You may not remember, but we threw you a big fifth birthday party at the club. We’re talking princess everything. You even got almost all the members to wear birthday hats, and you had an absolute blast. You were the only kid anyone had at the time so we all spoiled you. Your mom hated that you had such a good time. You went back and asked her if you could spend more time with him and his family.”
Ben interrupts, “You know your mom, sweetheart. Well, she can’t ever stand to see you happy, so even as a little kid, she couldn’t let you have that. She made your dad go through hoops to be able to still get you when he could. One of the conditions was no more big birthday parties. The other reason was because of a few run-ins with a rival MC a few years later. We had an attack on our clubhouse and lost a couple of brothers and an old lady.”
“Wait, is that what happened to Sarah? Was she someone’s old lady?”
Ben nods.
“She was mine. We didn’t have much time together. She’d only been my old lady for a little over a year when everything went down, but it scared your dad about your safety, and we couldn’t disagree. Our club was a bunch of young guys without responsibilities. After Sarah died, no one else had an old lady for a long time, and no one else had kids for a few years. Some of us old-timers knew about you, but respected Mike’s decision to keep you separate. It’s why we’d see you at his place and that was it.”
Looking at my uncles and the men who have quickly taken my heart, I say, “Sarah’s the one who taught me to bake. She would spend hours with me in the kitchen and was always so patient with me. Makes sense now why Dad didn’t tell me what happened to her.”
Our food is delivered and we dig in. After a few bites, Tim speaks up.
“We know from Jonah and your reputation, that most, if not all your brothers, have day jobs. We currently don’t and are happy to become lookouts for you so Jane’s place can be safe. Maybe we can catch the fuck who is leaving the weird shit for her.”
Jon speaks up, sounding in charge and in control, “I think that might be a good idea. I just sent a text out. Why don’t we change up today’s plans a bit and have a barbecue at the clubhouse. We can discuss this and you can meet the brothers. Babygirl, I know you’re supposed to have your dinner with Vicky, but you think you can have her come to the clubhouse instead?”
“Invite her to be surrounded by single guys? She might just forget I’m even there with that temptation everywhere. I’ll text her to let her know.”
I pull out my phone and text Vicky the change of plans. Looking back up, both Rory and Juan have a strange look on their faces.
“What? Do I have somethin’ on my face?”
“No, baby. Has Vicky left you high and dry like that before when she’s met some guy?”
I wonder why Juan would ask that.
“Only a couple of times, and I usually was the one driving. If not, I either called Nicky or got an Uber home. That’s not that unusual when women have nights out.” Not feeling really comfortable with the look Juan is still giving me, I decide I need a minute to process everything.
“I’ll be right back. Going to run to the little girls’ room.”
I get up before anyone can ask me anything and head toward where I saw the bathrooms were when we came in.
Juan
Watching my woman head to the restroom, I say what’s on my mind.
“I already don’t like this friend. I get why Nicky ain’t a fan of hers.”
Ben pipes up, “Son, I may not have the best track record with women, but one thing I do know is don’t get in the middle of a woman’s friendship. Support her, love her, and be there for her when the inevitable happens if this friend is as bad as she sounds. If you tell her you don’t like her friend or try and get her to see what you do, it will only end bad for you. And that one in there? She’s had sass and opinions on things since she could talk. She’s the sweetest person in the world until you get on her bad side, then watch out.”
Rory, the jackass he is, starts chuckling at that.
“Oh, both my brothers here have seen that, especially Juan here. He got her wrath a couple of weeks ago. I know at some point it’ll probably be directed at me, but I’m trying to do my damnedest to avoid it.”
Not wanting to be talking about this when Jane comes back, I decide to change the subject.
“Did you guys just get into town? Where are ya staying?”
“We just got in this morning, hoping you would have a suggestion for a good place to stay. We like the look of the area and we may end up staying, but for right now, we just need a place to catch a few winks and a shower daily.”
I can tell by Jon’s face, our woman is coming back to the table.
“Why don’t you guys stay at our clubhouse. We’ve got some empty rooms, and it’s not that far from Jane’s place.”
“I think we’ll take ya up on that generous offer there. That's mighty kind of you.”
