Kane/Rome
I go down to the cafeteria to get a cup of coffee. It’s not the best but it’s better than the vending machine. I don’t know how it can feel so right and wrong at the same time when I am around Tara. She makes me yearn for more out of my life but when my temper goes short, as it tends to do, I want to shelter her from me. I know Devil has been pushing me towards Tara. The why, I have not figured out.
Bikers do not play fucking games in life like this. Live our lives free is the only way we know but watching Devil with his family maybe that is the real freedom. I wouldn’t give my bike, club, or brothers up for anything but maybe trying a real life wouldn’t be about giving things up but just adding to them. The thought of a relationship fucks with my head.
Could Tara live with my life? Could she deal with my dreams, the meds I need, and the club always being in our life? Maybe, but there is always that chance she can’t. I pay the cashier for my coffee and walk through the dining room to look out the window. I see Bud crossing the parking lot and feel my phone vibrate in my pocket. I take it out and see it is from the prospect that is upstairs keeping an eye on Tara. They are moving Tara to the other floor so it will be a little bit before she is in her room on there. Now is a good as time as any to have a talk with Bud. I make my way to the front doors where Bud will come in. I am waiting for him when he comes through the sliding glass doors. I walk over to him.
“Bud let me buy you a cup of coffee. They are moving Tara a floor up so it will be a little bit before she is settled.” I see the concern on Bud’s face. “Tara’s fine. They just got a room available for her. There’s a prospect following her from the floor she is on to the next one. He’s been staying in the waiting area while I was in with Tara and he will be outside her door when she is settled.”
“Is the coffee any good?” Bud ask me.
“The cafeteria coffee is better than the vending machines.” I tell Bud.
“I could use some coffee. Been talking to the fire chief this morning and then went to talk to the sheriff.” Bud doesn’t sound happy. We walk into the cafeteria and Bud gets his coffee and I pay. We walk out into the dining room and take a seat by the windows so we can look out as we talk.
“Did they find anything out yet?” I ask Bud but the look that comes over his face is one of a pissed off man.
“They are blaming it on a gas leak which I know is a crock of horse shit. The Fire Chief doesn’t know his head from a hole in the damn ground. I then went to the sheriff’s office and he said that if the fire chief determines the explosion was from a gas leak then his hands are tied, horse shit, again.” Bud tells me and the way he says it almost makes me laugh. I don’t think I have ever seen Bud react this way but the next thing he says shocks me. “If the Feral Steel are going after the asswipes that did this then I am in and so are some of the other business owners in town. We’ll be damned if some snot nosed boys playing dress up in their daddy’s suits are going to come into our town and run the law-abiding citizens out. We will stand with the Feral Steel club.” I think about what Bud said.
“Then what happens when they are run out of town or contained? What then? Are the good people of this small town going to go back to walking on the other side of the street when one of our club members walks down the sidewalk? Do you just want to the club to clean up this mess and then we go back to being the bad ones? That doesn’t sound like a good situation for the Feral Steel. Maybe we should just take care of us the way the good people here have only been taking care of themselves for years. You know we pay our taxes just like you do but have been treated like second class citizens, since I have been here, anyway.” It’s only the truth but I see the way that Bud reacts.
“The citizens of this town have recognized the changes Devil has made with the Feral Steel MC since he has taken over as the president. None of it has gone unnoticed but prejudices die hard. It didn’t take just a few years for the dislike of the club to take hold and the approval will not happen overnight.” Bud sounds almost apologetic.
“Who says we want or need this damn towns approval?” I give Bud a quick comeback but I know that is a fast reaction and Devil is the one Bud needs to speak with. “You need to bring this to Devil and he will take it to the brothers. Everyone seems to think the Feral Steel has no civility, which can’t be further from the truth. We live by our own rules and that means we have no rules that aren’t voted on by all of us. Devil is our president, so talk to him.”
“Fair enough. I am going to visit with Tara and then I will talk to Devil. Mildred will be here by lunch to stay the afternoon.” Bud looks at me then out the window, deep in thought. “I know Tara doesn’t have any insurance to pay for this stay. I will help her as much as I can but until the insurance pays off I am going to be strapped for cash. There’s not much I can do. The apartment that had Tara’s things in it was destroyed along with the kitchen and my office. I don’t know when I will be able to start cleaning up and rebuilding so Tara won’t have a job. I talked to Betty about Tara staying with us and she wouldn’t hear it. My hands are tied.” I look at Bud and see the shame hidden there.
“Tara is under my protection. I will take care of the hospital bill and her medical bills. Tara will be coming with me back to the clubhouse when she is released until I can get a better place. If you can help her get in contact with her professors today, that would be great, if not, I will take care of that later. Can I go look at the diner? Specifically where the gas exploded?” Bud looks at me skeptically.
“Did you let Tara in on the fact that you are going to be doing all this? She is not the type of person that lets someone else take care of her. In fact, she down right hates women that let men take care of them. She thinks that is too much like Lena and Sheila.” Bud is telling me nothing I don’t already know.
“All you need to know Bud, is it is handled. Tara doesn’t have a choice. It is what it is. She’s mine now.” Bud laughs.
“You’ve got a lot to learn about women.” The worry in Bud’s eyes seems to have lifted a little.
“Tara has a lot to learn about me.” She’ll learn. One day at a time. “I am going to go look around the diner while you are here. The prospect’s name is Cricket and he is here for extra protection. He’s been told to give Tara her privacy but not to leave her floor.”
“There’s still crime scene tape on the diner so if the authorities see you there they will run you off but I hope you can find something those assholes missed.” Bud tells me.
“Tell Tara I’ll be back later.” Bud looks surprised I’d let Tara know I am leaving. “I’m going by the business office to take care of Tara’s medical bills. I don’t want any paper pushers bothering Tara so she can concentrate on getting better. I’ll be back to see her later.”
“I’ll do that. Watch your back. I don’t think this is the end of it.” Bud doesn’t know just how right he is. I throw my cup away and go back out into the hallway that will take me to the offices. It doesn’t take long inside the office after I give them my credit card. If they get paid is all that matters to them.
I need to ride. The walk to my bike clears my head a little. Hospitals have a way of making me disconnect from my feelings. I think it is a reaction of being in the hospital for so long after my injury in the military. When the smell of the sterile environment hits my nose, it is like I shut my feelings down. It was the only way I survived the many months in the hospital.
I mount my bike and leave the place behind just for a little while. It’s not a long drive to the diner. When I set my eyes on the destruction it is not the worse I have ever seen, by far, but it is still hard to look at. This place, just twenty-four hours ago, was a family’s livelihood.
I ride around to the back of the building and park my bike. I dismount and walk over and lift the tape from around the building and walk under it. I make my way to the side were most of the damage is. There’s not much left to the diner from this side or the building wall adjacent to it. I step inside what is left of the building. I can tell it was a violent eruption for sure but there’s no way with what is left of the kitchen I can determined the burn pattern. It would take a forensic investigator with a good knowledge of forensic science.
My question is then how could the fire marshal determine it was a gas leak so fast? I come up with two possibilities. Either this small town doesn’t have the funds for a full investigation or money has changed hands to look the other way. Neither sit well with me. There’s nothing I will be able to determine one way or the other.
I walk over and see they allowed Bud to at least put up some plywood to keep people out of the rest of the diner. This trip was a bust. I decide I am going to go and check in with Devil at the clubhouse and maybe Oz has found something else out. I make my way back to my bike and my phone beeps with a text alert. I check it and see Devil is calling church. Maybe that means there is news.