“Wow…” she trails, her eyes widening as she looks up at me.
“It’s nothing like that.” I brush off her reaction.
“You sure?”
I glare at her, making her laugh before she nods her head. Tatum makes an entrance at that moment and Ella laughs again, shaking her head. Tatum smirks at me as she and Ella turn and walk out of the door.
“Bro, you sure that’s a good idea?” Axe asks.
“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?” I don’t mean to snap at him, but I do.
“I was just meaning. Does she have your patch?”
“No.”
“Are you planning on giving it to her?” My head snaps over, eyes wide as I stare at him.
“You’re out of your fucking mind.”
“So I’ll ask you again, you sure this is a good idea?”
I hesitate and look at him for a moment. “It’ll be fine. We bring girls all the time.”
“Yeah, but—” he stops himself quickly as if he doesn’t really want to finish his thought.
“What?” I snap at him again.
He still hesitates, looking over at me. It’s almost comical. Axe is nearly 30 years older than I am; however, he respects the hierarchy enough to not spout out whatever he wants to at me. I let the irritation fall off my face and he sighs. “We bring unpatched girls who don’t matter to us.”
“We’re just friends.” I shrug at him.
“Who you haven’t seen in years and after… what, 12 hours you decided you wanted to take her to bike week?” he pauses again and nods. “Just be careful.”
“I’m always careful.”
“You’re never fucking careful.” He responds, making us both laugh loudly.
We stop in LA on the way out of town, meeting up with the national charter. Zane dismounts from the bike, walking over to the man standing in the front of their club and hugs him.
I see the older man that Zane is talking to look directly over at me and gives me a curious look. Zane nods his head at me to come over. Standing up and kicking over the bike, I walk over to where they are standing.
“Tatum, this is Ro. He’s kind of my uncle.”
“Kind of?” I can’t help but ask, causing them to laugh.
“It’s a long story. His mom and I went way back.” He says before I see sadness wash over his face and as quick as it appears, it’s gone again.
“Nice to meet you.” I nod to him and he smirks.
“You too.” He pauses as he turns to look at a woman standing behind him. “This is Sadie, my wife. If you need anything, ask her.” She smiles at me as she nods.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine.” I say and the men turn to talk about something that sounds very logistical-y with how we’re going to get there.
“You never know.” Sadie shrugs as she steps over to me. “There are a couple of other guys bringing their ol’ ladies. They’ll look to you for guidance.”
“Oh, we’re not…” I instantly try to backtrack from what she’s thinking when there’s a squeal from behind me and I see a flash as Ella comes over, nearly jumping onto her.
“Sorry.” Sadie laughs as she pushes Ella off.
