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Tiffany frowned and shook her head. “I think your drawings are amazing. Kids aren’t the only ones coloring these days you know,” she pointed out. “I used to buy adult coloring books. The images are more elaborate and complex, kind of like the ones you draw. Grown-ups color for relaxation, too, but using artist-grade pastels and pens.”
A surprised grin spread across her face, and Alyssa perked up. “I’ve never heard of such a thing before. Maybe I’m not as childish as I thought.”
“Not at all,” Tiffany said emphatically. “I’ll bet you could sell your creations. They’re more interesting than most I’ve seen.”
“You’re joking, right?”
“No, not at all. I’ve been meaning to shop for a new one. Want to come with?”
“I’d love to,” Alyssa said eagerly.
Lily dropped onto the empty stool beside Tiffany and leaned over to have a look at the drawing. “Where do you get paper that large?”
“It’s from a sketch pad. I just tear off a page whenever I’m in the mood to draw.”
Lily smiled at her. “That’s a cute drawing. The kids are gonna be fighting over that one.”
Tiffany shifted anxiously in her seat. “Do you think the guys are okay?”
Shoving a clump of hair back over her shoulder, Lily sat up a little straighter. “I worry every single time Ven is out on a job. It’s difficult not to worry about his safety. Early on, I just convinced myself that the best way to get through was to imagine him walking through the door, safe and sound. It almost always goes down like that, so I’m rarely disappointed.”
Alyssa laid down her pen and swiveled around to face them. “They’re going to face off with another club for Darkness and his little one. No matter what happens, I have to believe little Sammy is worth fighting for.”
“Jesus, she’s definitely worth it,” Tiffany said. “I have to say that when they all go out together like today, I fell they are a bit safer because of the numbers.” She looked from one woman to the other. “They’re safer when they go out in force, right?”
Lily sighed and motioned to the prospect behind the bar to bring her special drink. “Not really. They only ever go out in force when the danger is extremely high. That’s how we lost our last club president.”
Curiosity got the better of Tiffany. “Are you allowed to tell us about it?”
Glancing nervously around, Lily lowered her voice. “I don’t know all the details, but one of our girls got snatched by a gang from out of state. I think they wanted a ransom. She was Darkness’ sister. His father was our club president, and he went ballistic. They rode out one night, and no one had a good read on where they were going. The next morning, most of them came back at the crack of dawn, but we lost a third of our crew, including Darkness’ father.”
“Did they save the girl?” Tiffany was riveted by the tale of a woman being taken and saved by this rough crew of bikers.
Nodding, Lily murmured, “When they found her, she wasn’t in good shape. They had to send her off to some treatment center for trauma survivors. I didn’t see her, but Ven said she’d mentally checked out.”
Tiffany was all kinds of aware of how that could happen to a woman. When Stuart began his little games, her brain would just kind of click. She was aware of what he was doing but having mentally removed herself, it felt much like watching it happen to another person. It wasn’t that she didn’t feel the pain; it was that in her self-induced altered state, she simply didn’t care.”
Lily’s quiet voice pulled Tiffany from her internal musings. “It’s a shame, ‘cause she was a real nice girl.”
Alyssa chimed in. “It was before my time, but I heard the brothers voted Darkness in within a few days of returning.”
“Yes,” Lily said. “That’s how I remember it. Ven had trouble sleeping for a long time after that. Though he’d never say, I heard no one from the rival club survived. I think it’s why all the other bikers and petty criminals in the area steer clear of us.”
Tiffany gasped. “I honestly can’t even get my head around a story like that.”
“Umm, it’s not a story. It’s club history.” Lily’s voice was strained and a little offended.
Tiffany immediately apologized. “I didn’t mean to insinuate it wasn’t. It’s just a lot to take in all at once. Does stuff like that happen a lot?”
“Thank God, no. Since Darkness took the gavel, the club’s been straying into more legitimate business ventures. I think they were all so traumatized by the horror of that day, they chose to take the club in a totally different direction.”
Alyssa nodded her agreement. “The brothers prefer real business ventures nowadays. The garage has always been here, but now they have an auto parts store, a hair salon, and a junkyard.”
“Things have really calmed down in the last few years. The townsfolk leave us alone, and we don’t cause trouble for them. They’re slowly coming around to see us as just regular folk.”
Alyssa eyed the older woman with interest. “Lily’s got her own story to tell. It’s a good one.”
Lily glanced around again, taking in where the few prospects were before speaking. “Every single person associated with this club has their own story, and some of them are really fascinating. My story is more Ven’s story. I was just along for the ride.”
