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9
Tossing and turning all night Porsche was glad when she saw the red digital display glowing six thirty and she could stop trying to fight to get to sleep. When the men broke from their meeting most came and got shots with a beer back, but none were in the mood for talking. Then again most of those allowed in meetings where votes are cast and major moves discussed where claimed men which negated her best tactics of getting a man to talk. The best she got was a glance over the shoulder from Mike as he and Hack left.
With a craving to be where the action was, she headed to the clubhouse to start breakfast. A few of the women would already be there beating eggs and frying bacon. The men that tended to work on the renovation houses flipping crew as well as those being paid by Mountain to build the dream home for his soon to be wife and kids usually showed up.
“What can I do?” she said when she was met with a smell of coffee and breakfast foods.
“Can you ice the cinnamon rolls, they’ve been cooling for about five minutes,” Zoe said as she checked the three sheet pans full of bacon she had cooking in the oven.
“Sure.” Porsche dug through the utensil drawer then got the bowl from the mixer where the cream cheese frosting was already mixed.
“Oh hey, Ax and Brick were asking when the lessons start,” Zoe said, and Porsche’s mind whirled a bit trying to find the catalog card in her mind for why Zoe was talking to her.
“Lessons?”
“Yes, they need to learn how to dance and shake their money makers,” she said. “I guess Dreamer’s going to take the men out in the next few days to get the flyers made up.”
“The fundraiser!” she exclaimed, the project she’d been a hundred percent focused on and swore to herself and Doc when questioned about it that she wouldn’t get distracted from. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
“You are in charge of it aren’t you?” Zoe asked. “I know Nightingale and Roadkill were looking at websites to get tickets set up so they could blast it to the world.”
“Right, because it’s like a month away isn’t it,” Porsche reached into her purse, heart racing and head already becoming light because she’d once again switched projects without completing the first.
Juggling multiple things was one thing, but actual projects were another. She’d committed to help Chief and completely forgot about it once she got pulled into the drama with Sydney. Popping the top of her latest SSRI med she dry swallowed the pill then swiped a bit of icing as if that was enough to count as eating when taking it. The bitter pill caught in her throat, and she snagged the orange juice and thankfully reached for one that was near empty so she could drink directly from the carton. Nothing like cream cheese chased by OJ to make one eye snap shut and your whole body jerk. Next time she might as well have just brushed her teeth two seconds before to hit the trifecta of things that don’t go together.
“You okay there Porsche?”
“Not really,” she coughed, bracing herself on the counter as Zoe gave her the are you losing it look. “But um, yes, we can practice with them in the morning. Have we gotten a final list of guys?”
“Aren’t you in charge?” Zoe questioned.
“Yes I am, and I’m going to consult my list and check it twice.”
A list she had not even rough sketched in one of her thousand note pads. Responsibility didn’t scare her, but being pulled in more than one direction with the high probability of letting down a person who was important to her could send her on a spiral again. She needed to focus and get things in order. Settle her mind before the woman who couldn’t get her eyes to close the night before literally passes out mid step as her brain chokes on too many synapses at once.
“Cinnamon rolls are done,” she said snagging one and disappearing back into the main part of the club house.
“Well thanks for saving me two minutes,” Zoe called after her, but she needed to settle in and even if all she did was pull up a notes app on her phone she had to start planning. Taking a bite of the cinnamon roll as her thumbs typed out the names of those who had confirmed. Cass came in and she was about to confirm with him, but the anger as he walked by grumbling and headed upstairs triggered her.
Instantly her mind switched modes in the middle of her typing out Mountain’s name. The men were meeting. Again. This couldn’t be good. Sydney was a child and what they learned was enough to call a second meeting less than eight hours from the first. Her heart lurched and mind went completely blank like a packed stadium where people knew they needed to leave, but the crowd overwhelmed to the point people barely shuffled. Fear gripped her at the idea she was going to completely shut down. The hard reboot unnatural and would take more than thirty seconds for recovery. Worse yet her tech support, Doc, was in town and the project she declared she would see through to the end was for her Ol’ man.
Muffled noises of Zoe setting up and talking were foggy edged. A voice elevated a few times and she thought maybe her name was being said, but she couldn’t grasp it to respond. Her sight blurring, the focal point shifting as if her eyes were crossing and uncrossing. Forcing herself she shook her head, closed her eyes and breathed deep. When the world stopped spinning, she stood. Another technique she’d been taught, moving around to help stimulate sensory responses to allow her brain to settle.
Her fingers began to move again, typing the rest of Mountain’s name, then adding Ax and his song choice. The noises stayed muffled, but there were unnecessary distractions from what needed to be organized. When the front door opened, the mix of cooler air and heavy steps startled her sending her phone up in the air and she ended up juggling it back and forth as if her hands lost the ability to grip. Hack, Mike and Sydney walked in along with Red. Three, four, five times until the edge of the phone made its way to the tips of her fingers and flew forward and Mike dipped one hand down catching the electronic device an inch from the floor.
“Good catch,” she said, her body hot with embarrassment as Mike slowly brought his hand up and passed her the phone. “Guess those reflexes got you noticed by the big guys in the service.”
“There were a few other things,” he said, unlike in the past his voice was settled without an edge to it as if the weight of his troubles weren’t solely on his back and he could breathe again. When he passed her the phone his fingers brushed hers sending a jolt up her arm.
This had to be because she was currently over stimulated. Shifting from the world blurring to sharpened senses. The pill breaking down and drugs rushing through her veins from the quick pounding of her heart finally kicking in. Mike was a man the club had taken in, a rescue, nothing more. While her phone stopped going off she knew from a quick internet search the AMBER ALERT was still live.
Red turned around greeting Baldy, Freaky and several other members walking in behind them. Each snagging some food before heading up to church.
Mike motioned for Sydney and the little girl came to his side. “Porsche, I hate to ask this, but can you watch Syd for me please. I have to meet with the club about a few things, might take a bit.”
“Sure, I can. Sydney have you had breakfast?”
The little girl shook more than her head, her body twisting back and forth as she kept a blanket clutched tight and thumb stuck in her mouth.
