SEAN

 

Get-togethers with the rest of the club were something I missed when I was locked up. Losing your freedom was worse than anything. If I were locked up with the people I cared about, it would have made things a lot more tolerable.

I had everything I could ask for right here with me. The club was the only family I needed. And with Lydia here, too, there wasn’t much else I could ask for.

I was a simple man. It didn’t take much to keep me happy. If I had nothing but this for the rest of my life, I would have been just fine with it…

The day wore on.

Garnet and Michelle worked the grill like they were master chefs.

Needle kept being the prick that he was, trying to goad Lydia into playing a game of poker.

Ghost kept Lydia company and told her stories about what it was like to live life on the road. He knew that better than anybody.

I was by her side the entire time.

The Grindhouse was filled with nothing but people who wanted to celebrate the Black Reapers. Despite everything going on with the money situation, Garnet managed to rally everyone around so we could forget about anything that might trouble us, even if it were only for one night.

Nighttime in Ivory came eventually but the celebration didn’t stop.

I sat outside with my arm wrapped around Lydia and enjoyed a beer. The two of us listened to Michelle and Garnet tell their story.

“You should have seen him,” Michelle said. “He walked up to me like he owned the place.”

“I did,” Garnet scoffed in response. “When a Black Reaper walks into the place, you know damn fucking well he’s the man everybody’s got their eyes on.”

“Including the cops. This idiot walked up to me and you know what he did, Lydia? He pulled his dick out! He held it in his hand and waved it at me.”

“Really?” Lydia said.

Lydia gave Garnet a puzzled look. He just shrugged and nonchalantly took a swig of his beer. I’d heard this story before but I laughed just the same.

“Can you imagine that?” Michelle said.

“I don’t know if I should…” Lydia said. “Did it work?”

“Did it work?” she exclaimed. “How would you feel if some biker walked up to you and pulled his cock out in the middle of a bar?”

“I… I’m not sure I would know how to react.”

“You like it,” Garnet chimed in. “How could you resist?”

“Anyway,” Michelle continued. “Garnet was making so much of a scene, the cops ended up arresting him and charging him with a lewd public display. They took his dumb ass to jail.”

“It was worth it,” Garnet sighed. “After all, you ended up talking to me the next time you saw me.”

“I was talking to you because I felt sorry for you.”

Lydia was laughing to herself, fascinated by the bickering couple in front of us. Underneath the comforts of a clear night sky, I leaned back in my seat as we sat just outside of the clubhouse.

“Well, it makes for an interesting story, at least,” Garnet said.

“How about you?” Michelle asked. “I’m sure Sean over here did something really stupid to get your attention.”

Lydia looked up at me.

“Now that you mention it…” she started.

“Stop!” Michelle said as she put her hands up. “I don’t wanna hear it. I’ve had enough trouble hearing about how the idiots in this club deal with women. You’d think you’d learn a thing or two about how to treat a woman.”

“Hey!” I said. “I know how to treat a woman. Don’t talk shit now.”

“You’re a Reaper,” Michelle said. “Being smooth was never your forte. This club is better at other things.”

“Right,” Garnet said. “You know damn well I make you scream, babe. Leave all that romantic shit at the door.”

Michelle rolled her eyes and kissed Garnet, seemingly reluctant. I’d known the couple for so long but seeing them together like this always put a smile on my face.

“Come on,” Michelle said. “I’m still hungry.”

“Hungry?” Garnet said.

“That was hours ago, you idiot. Let’s go get something to eat. Give the two lovebirds a moment to themselves. Poor Lydia here has been dealing with the entire club the whole day.”

Michelle dragged Garnet up off of his seat, leaving me alone with Lydia. The rest of the club was mingling outside but their conversations were distant. Lydia sat up straight on the couch we were on.

“How are you doing?” I asked. “You all right?”

“Better than all right,” she said with a smile.

“What do you think?”

“Well… I didn’t know what to expect. But I’m glad I came here. Everybody here is so warm and welcoming.”

“That’s not surprising. You’re a respectful woman, so they’re gonna treat you with respect. I told them you weren’t like all of the other women in Ivory.”

“Is that right?” she said, raising a curious little eyebrow in my direction. “What else did you tell them?”

“Not much else,” I said with a shrug.

“Did you tell them how good of a fuck I was?”

I chuckled softly at her. I reached my hand up to her face and gently pressed my thumb to her lips. Her skin was so damn soft.

“You’re such a beautiful woman,” I said. “That kind of talk doesn’t suit you.”

“You’re a big boy. You can handle that kind of talk… Speaking of which…”

She looked over at Garnet in the distance and sighed.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I was talking to him,” he said. “He told me…”

She slowly turned back and stared right into my eyes. A gorgeous set of brown eyes that had me so fucking hypnotized.

“He told me what happened,” she said. “About Angela. About the night you got arrested… Is it true? Is that how it happened?”

I exhaled a breath through my nose and smiled softly at her.

“I suppose you haven’t taken the time to look it up,” I said.

“I could have done that, sure. But nobody knows what happens better than you did. I trust you’ll tell me the truth.”

“Always…”

“…Then it’s true. You killed a guy because he hit your woman.”

“I wasn’t trying to kill him. I was just trying to hurt him. I wanted to teach him a lesson. It didn’t help that he was shooting at me.”

“That makes sense.”

“I was alone out there. It was just me and him. When I caught him and got my hands on him, I just let out all of the pain and frustration. Seeing her hurt… It was the worst feeling in the world. I never want to experience it again. I never…”

I paused for a second. I laughed to clear my throat, suddenly getting choked up as the memory came back to me.

“…I never want to see something like that happen to you. And I’ll make damn fucking sure it won’t.”

“I believe you,” she said with a nod. “I just… That guy at Finn’s the other night… He was angry.”

“No kidding. Poison. He’s not even a Cobra. Not anymore, anyway. But it was his brother that I… that I killed.”

“He threatened you. He said he’d pay you back.”

“He’s not even a nomad. There’s no reason to worry about him. The Cobras don’t back him. And I’ve got the rest of the club watching my back. He’s just some punk out there who wants justice.”

“Right…”

She looked down at the ground. I knew she was uneasy about the whole situation. I wanted to tell her that being in a club meant you were always under a microscope, especially when it came to other bikers.

But just as I started searching for the right answer, she looked back up at me.

“It’s okay,” she said. “I know you’re trying to do the right thing. I know I don’t have anything to worry about. I know I can trust you.”

“God, Lydia… I don’t know what I did to deserve you—”

“Shh…”

She cut me off and put an index finger to my lips. I shut my mouth like she had a spell on me. Looking into her eyes, I would have done anything she asked of me.

“Let’s just enjoy this moment together,” she said.

“Yeah. I can do that.”

“Hey!”

We both turned and looked up at Garnet working the grill.

“Lydia,” he said. “You worked at a restaurant before. Why don’t you show me a thing or two?”

She looked at me as if asking for approval. She didn’t need me to give it to her. She was her own woman. I didn’t say a word as she got up from her seat and helped Garnet work some more food onto the grill.

As the two of them worked together, Michelle made her way back over to me. She took a seat down next to me and smiled.

“She’s a sweet girl,” she said.

“She’s more than sweet,” I sighed. “She’s special. She’s real special.”

“Yeah, she’s special, too. I know that’s not just your dick talking.”

“Ghost said something similar. He thinks because I just got out of the pen that I’m ready to dive into the first pussy I see. That’s not the case though.”

I took a swig of beer, my eyes locked on Lydia in the distance as she cooked with Garnet. She stuck out from the rest of the crowd. Just a plain t-shirt and a pair of jeans but she might as well have fallen from Heaven.

“If you’re sure—”

“I’m sure,” I said, turning back to Michelle. “I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Have you ever been locked up?” I asked. “Have you ever been behind bars and had your freedom taken away?”

Michelle shook her head.

“It changes you,” I said. “It’s more than just losing all those years when you could be out here in the real world. All that time alone in the cage gives you time to think to yourself. You start to realize what’s really important.”

“And what’s really important to you, Sean?”

“When I first got out, the first thing I wanted to do was put on my vest, get on my chopper and just ride. It didn’t matter where I was going, I just wanted to ride. I wanted to feel the wind against my face and smell the exhaust. And that’s what I did. It was the best fucking feeling in the world.”

I finished the rest of my beer and tossed the bottle over to the side. I locked my eyes on Lydia as the memory came flooding back to me.

“But when I saw her,” I said. “It was like nothing else mattered. She was the only thing that mattered. It’s like she came here to Ivory just for me. It was fate.”

“Fate? That’s a strong word.”

“My feelings are strong. What we have is strong.”

“What about Lydia?”

I turned back to Michelle. Her eyebrows raised and her eyes wide, she stared at me like she was still skeptical.

“What about her?” I asked.

“Have you considered her feelings?”

“Lydia is free to leave. I would never make her do anything against her own free will.”

“Sure. But maybe she doesn’t know exactly what she’s getting into. Being with a biker isn’t easy.”

“She knows that.”

“Does she? Does she truly understand what it means to be with a man in a motorcycle club?”

I sighed and shook my head.

“If you’re trying to say something, just say it,” I said. “No need to get all fucking philosophical with me.”

“What I’m saying is that you think Lydia came to Ivory for you.”

“Yeah. And?”

“Did you stop to consider why Lydia came to Ivory?”

“I know why. She came here to work at Amy’s.”

“But why did she come here? She had a good life in the big city. She would have been just fine if she stayed there.”

“She wanted something different for herself. She needed to find something.”

“Or maybe she was trying to escape.”

Michelle reached forward and put a hand on my shoulder.

“She left a lot behind,” she said. “A lot of it was good but she wouldn’t have left it there if she loved it so much.”

“What’s your point?”

“My point is she didn’t come here to find whatever troubled her all over again. Now, I’m not saying there’s some ex-boyfriend back home trying to kill her. Or the cops have a warrant out for her arrest. Nothing like that. But if Lydia finds whatever it is she left behind here in Ivory, maybe in you, she has just as much reason to go back.”

Michelle looked me right in the eye as she said it.

“Don’t give her a reason to go back,” she said. “Don’t remind her of the life she willingly left behind.”

I clenched my jaw, trying to make sense of what Michelle said. I looked over at Lydia in the distance. She was smiling and laughing with Garnet as the two of them continued to work the grill.

Whatever point Michelle was trying to make, it was lost on me.

“I’m hungry,” I said. “And I need another drink.”

“Sure. The night’s still young.”