Melissa spends the morning updating her blog and writing up some notes to add to her ever-expanding list for the novel that she will one day write. If nothing else, the dramas between her and Hawk were giving her some great material for her ‘someday’ book. It’s been a little while since she’d been able to focus on her writing, pretty much since things had kicked off with the Caged Kings. This was the first day she has been able to really catch her flow, and she’s so caught up in it that before she knows it she’s worked through lunch and into the early afternoon. It’s only when her doorbell rings that Melissa gets up from her desk and stretches her tight muscles. Looking out of the window she sees a familiar face wearing a grease-stained shirt advertising The Shop. True to his word, a tow truck—complete with one of Hawk’s trusted mechanics—was waiting patiently outside her house.
“She really is a beauty.” Jesse looks at the car longingly, as Melissa hands over the keys to the Mustang.
“Yeah, she is, or at least she will be once Hawk’s finished with her.” Melissa gives him a wry smile, knowing that Hawk has been possessive of her car, not letting anyone else work on it. Melissa had the sense that it wasn’t just because he cared for her; she was pretty sure the caliber of the Mustang had a lot to do with it as well.
“Beautiful car for a beautiful lady.” Jesse smiles at her and winks, but there’s no hint of anything other than friendly banter in the older man’s tone. “But if you tell Ownes I said that, he’ll have my guts for garters.”
Melissa laughs easily and holds up her hands in some semblance of a Girl Scout promise. “Your secret is safe with me.”
She watches as Jesse gets the car all set up and ready to tow, her mind a million miles away.
“You want a ride to The Shop?” Jesse’s voice jolts her back to the present and out of her re-visitation of the dream from the night before.
Melissa looks at her watch, figuring she has just enough time before she goes to meet her mom. It was the first time in weeks that they had seen each other, a fact that felt intensely odd since they spoke almost every day. That evening Melissa had agreed to meet her mom’s new boyfriend, the guy that her mother had barely been able to stop talking about. She knew from her mom’s excitement that this guy could be the real deal. For her sake, she wanted it to be true. Her mom had put her life on hold for Melissa, barely dating until Melissa had left for college. Her mother had been through her fair share of dating disasters, but this was the first time that Melissa sensed that it could be more than just a way to pass the time for her mom. This could be the man that she’d been waiting for since Melissa’s dad walked out on them. Melissa just hoped that he deserved her.
It would be tight, but there’s just enough time to stop by the shop and see how the lay of the land is looking between Wes and the guys. After their conversation by the lake the night before, Melissa has the feeling that Josh and Hawk both might have some issues reining in their distaste for their newest recruit. Sure, that’s the only reason you want to go to The Shop, Potter. It’s useless to kid yourself. She wanted to see Hawk, the rest was just a handy excuse.
“Sure, that’d be great.” Melissa throws the mechanic a smile and locks the front door behind her before jumping into the truck.
As they rattle along the road in the truck, Melissa tries to make conversation. She and Jesse hadn’t exchanged more than a few ‘heys’ and ‘how are yous’ so she had imagined that a thirty minute drive in afternoon traffic was going to be a bit of a stretch, but she couldn’t have been more wrong.
“So, you excited about the big party?” He remains looking ahead, his weathered face squinting against the bright winter sunshine.
Melissa frowns at him. “Big party?”
“Hawk’s Patch Party in a couple weeks!” Jesse looks at Melissa as if she were a little dim.
Melissa tries not to look surprised, or hurt at the fact that she’s hearing this from Jesse rather than Hawk. Jesse reads her expression and clears his throat, suddenly uncomfortable. “I’m sure he’ll be mentioning it you soon, probably just been busy. I wouldn’t worry about it.” He stares fixedly ahead, not making eye contact with her as if he thinks that she might break down in tears beside him.
“Jesse, it’s fine.” She waves away his worry, doing an Oscar-worthy performance of not caring. “I just hadn’t realized he was getting patched so soon.” She looks out of the passenger window, trying not to obsess over why Hawk hadn’t mentioned it to her.
“Soon?” Jesse shakes his head, as if she’d just said something really funny. “He’s officially been a prospect for a year now, but he’s really been part of the club for years before that. He’ll make a great King.” The note of admiration in his voice is unmistakable.
“So what happens at a Patch Party?” Melissa pushes her insecurities aside, reminding herself that she doesn’t have any claim on Hawk, not really. They’d never formalized their relationship. The closest they’d gotten was Hawk calling her his when they were making love, but that had just been in the heat of the movement, hadn’t it?
“Well, there’ll be a vote where all the full members have to agree for Hawk to become officially part of the Caged Kings MC. That’ll just be a formality though, Hawk’s in for sure.” Jesse gives her a reassuring look as if she’d gotten that far ahead in her thinking.
“And then?” Melissa had the impression that things didn’t end there. She’d been around the bikers in the bar for long enough to know that they like to party, hard, and a new patch sounded like the perfect opportunity.
“Then everyone gets pretty drunk.” Jesse chuckles deeply. “Well, that’s what usually happens. Hawk’s will be a little different, with what Josh has planned and all.”
Melissa frowns at the man next to her who seemed so unassuming and yet seemed to have his finger on the pulse of exactly what was going on in the club.
“What does Josh have planned?” Melissa raises an eyebrow, as Jesse looks quickly at her and then away again, probably trying to figure out exactly how much trouble he’s going to be in if he’s said something he shouldn’t have.
“Damn, would you look at this traffic? I swear there are more cars in Portland every year.” He shakes his head and looks out of his window, doing a terrible job of subtly changing the conversation.
“Jesse.” She gives him a meaningful glare, channeling Felicia’s ‘Don’t fuck with me’ stare, and it seems to do the trick, as he sighs heavily.
“Alright, but you’re twisting my arm here, Melissa.” He shakes his head, as if he were trying to persuade himself that he doesn’t have any choice but to tell her. Melissa got the impression that he probably quite enjoyed a good gossip. Some of the bikers that she’d met were bigger chatterboxes than any group of women, especially once they’d had a couple of drinks. It made her wonder how they seemed to manage to keep their club secrets when they all liked to talk so much.
Jesse drops his voice to a whisper, as if there were someone else in the truck to overhear them. “Josh’s going to give Hawk part of the business, part of The Shop.”
Melissa’s smile spreads wide, as her eyes blink in shock. She’d known that Hawk was saving up to buy a share of the body shop that he loved so much, but she’d had no idea that Josh was ready to just give it away. It wasn’t hard to figure out why Josh would do that with something that he had invested his entire adult life in. Hawk was like a son to him, the son that he never had, and Hawk looked up to him. It made perfect sense that Josh would want Hawk to have part of his business.
“Hawk might have a hard time accepting it as a gift.” Melissa smiles wryly, just imagining the good-natured argument that would break out between them; Hawk telling Josh that he wants to earn what he gets, and Josh telling him that he’s more stubborn than a mule.
“That’s between them. They’re both as bad as each other.” Jesse chuckles, clearly picturing the same scene. As they pull into the lot in front of the shop, Jesse turns serious. “You won’t say anything, will you?”
Melissa smiles reassuringly at the nervous man next to her. “I won’t say a word, Jesse.” She watches as his shoulders relax, wondering how many more secrets she was going to have to keep; she was starting to lose track.