2.
I stripped out of my shirt and cut and lay them both over the back of a sun-bleached deck chair before opening my toolbox. I scratched at the hairs on my chin and cracked open the AC unit on the roof.
The thing hadn’t been replaced since it had been put in over thirty years ago, and after carefully puling it apart I came to the conclusion that the whole thing would need replacing. I stood back up and slammed the door to the unit shut before making my way over to the stairs that led back inside the clubhouse and hunting down Butch.
He was sat with Dom on one of the sofas in the main room of the clubhouse, his head thrown back in laughter at something the other man had said. Not seen him laugh like that in a long assed time. In fact, seeing him like that made me stop in my tracks because I couldn’t think of a time he’d ever looked like that; free and happy. Butch took his role within the club seriously, but his role as older brother and successor to his father, Hardy, our president, even more so. Rider was our VP but it was a given that Butch would one day take over the gavel and run this club, and there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that he’d do a damn good job of it too. But just like his father, he took life too seriously, and, in my opinion, both men needed to remember what this life was really all about.
Freedom.
I started walking into the room again, noticing how quiet it was without everyone here. Most people had gone off to The Pit in town since for the first time in weeks we were all back together and we wanted to show the Burning Eights a good time, and so the clubhouse was eerily quiet, barring Dom and Butch laughing.
“Hey,” I called out.
Butch stood up quickly, dropping his beer on to Dom’s lap and spilling beer all over the other man who cursed loudly, and I burst out laughing.
“What the fuck, man?” Butch barked out. “What the fuck are you creeping around like that for?”
Dom stood up, his whole crotch soaked in beer and I laughed again and threw my t-shirt to him to mop it up since I hadn’t bothered to put it back on yet. He snatched it from the air and swiped at the beer giving me a grumbled thanks. Brother was moodier than Butch and didn’t talk much. Most women liked to try to get him to open up, but none succeeded. Didn’t stop it being funny to watch em’ try though.
“Creeping around?” I chuckled.
“Didn’t realise anyone was still here,” Butch growled out, his eyebrows pulled down harshly. “Thought you would have gone with everyone else to The Pit.”
I rubbed my greasy hands down my jeans and headed to the bar with a smirk. “Nah, trying to fix the AC on the roof,” I explained, “trying to anyway.”
“No good?” Butch asked and I shook my head.
“Whole systems fucked. Needs replacin’. Things older than Pops,” I laughed, and Butch cracked a smile. “Going to price up a new system. I’ll get the costs to you as soon as I can. Gonna be a couple of days before it’s up and running again though.”
“Shit,” Butch replied, dragging a hand through his beard.
I raised in eyebrow in question and grabbed a bottle of beer before popping it open and taking a swig. Butch looked over at Dom who was still scowling at having his cock and balls beer soaked. I smirked at him.
“Women will thank you for it later, brother,” I said, nodding towards his crotch. “Little something extra for all their hard work, am I right?” I laughed.
Butch laughed and Dom glared at the other man before dropping the t-shirt on to the sofa and storming away. I watched him go with an amused smile on my face.
“What’s his deal?” I asked.
Butch shrugged, his gaze on the space where Dom had just been. “Don’t worry about it. Just get the AC back on. The Burning Eights are sticking around for the week. Hardy wants them to go on the next run with us, split everything down the middle since it’s a big job for the Reverend and the Eights lost a big load last week.” Butch didn’t sound or look happy about the decision, but it was Hardy’s choice, not his, in the end.
“Better get this shit working real soon then,” I said, pulling on my cut. “I’ll go straight into town and see if I can pick up the new system straight away.”
“You need anyone with you?” he asked, moving around the sofa.
I shook my head. “I got it handled. Gonna need to take a cage though.”
“Least that’ll have air con,” Butch chuckled and I laughed back.
I swallowed the rest of my beer and headed for the door, turning back briefly to watch Butch head off into the direction Dom had gone. They’d been best friends since I’d joined, kinda like Fighter and I, though in the past couple of months there’d been a lot of tension between the two men. No one knew why, and no one wanted to ask, and since it wasn’t affecting the clubs runnings, Hardy didn’t give a shit either.
I climbed into one of the clubs trucks and started the engine before heading into town to the hardware store. It was a small family run business, but it was where I always went. It kept a lot of things in stock, and I’d known Alfie, the owner, since I was a kid.
I drove down the main road through the centre of town, my arm hanging lazily from the window. Loved my Fat Boy, and normally hated being caged up in a truck or car, but there was something to be said for the cool air currently blowing through my hair after working up on the sun-drenched roof. I slowed down and pulled off my shades as I passed a woman wearing chucks, tight blue denim cut-off shorts and a faded black cut-off t-shirt. She was stunning: hair held back by a yellow bandana, though a few loose blonde hairs were hanging on her shoulders. A tattoo trailed lazily down her spine, and as I passed I looked out of my window to get a better look at it, wondering what it was.
Damn, but she was gorgeous and my dick got hard at just the sight of her ass sashaying as she walked. Looked like an angel or some shit, the way the sun bounced off her blond hair and porcelain skin.
A car in front of me sounded its horn and I slammed on my brakes, coming to a stop, millimetres before hitting a little car on the junction. I waved a hand at them.
“Sorry!” I called out of the window, turning my attention to the road instead of the fine piece of ass I’d just passed.
I started driving again, ignoring the death glare from the old guy in the car I’d just nearly rammed into, and pulled up outside the hardware store and climbed out. I looked back to where I’d just seen the woman but I couldn’t see her anymore. Probably ran a mile when she saw a man like me staring at her. I chuckled at the thought. Yeah, that woman was the Yin to my Yang, White and pure where I was black as they come, my soul dipping down into hell for a taste of the bad stuff.
I pushed open the door to the Hardware store and tried to shake off all thoughts of her for now.
“Hey,” Alfie, the owner of the store called as I made my way to the counter. He was a cool guy. Eighty years old and still going strong. He had two sons of his own, but neither of them knew how to look after themselves, never mind a business. So Alfie was still working. He’d been good friends with my grandfather and so I held a soft spot for the guy.
“Hey, old man,” I called, shaking his hand as I got closer. “Looking good, you get a little botox on the forehead maybe?” I joked.
“Smart ass!” he chuckled back. “Think it must be the new diet Mary’s got me on. Something to do with cutting out carbs and anything fried, and no sugar.” He shrugged and I glanced over at the half-eaten bucket of fried chicken he had behind the counter and smirked. “Well you didn’t come here to ask over my good looks now did you, so what can I do you for?”
“The AC unit at the clubhouse is shot, need a new one asap,” I explained.
“You still with that club?” he asked with a tut.
He always asked, despite knowing I was a patched in member. He wasn’t a huge fan of clubs and I understood why; we were known for running drugs and killing anyone who got in our way. Wasn’t a hole heap to like about us when you looked at it that way. But club life wasn’t always about drugs and killing. It was much more than that. Yet despite repeated attempts, Alfie had never got it.
“Got an order coming in an about an hour actually. Ordered a new unit for Officer Forbes, but I can delay him and give you his. It’s a good one too, didn’t waste his money on it.”
I laughed and agreed immediately. Could have been a piece of shit for all I cared, but the fact that it was that little dipshit Forbes’s made me want it regardless.
Alfie looked at his watch. “Like I said, gonna be about an hour if you wanna come back. Course you’ll get it a hell of a lot cheaper than the good officer.” He winked. “I’ll get the paperwork ready and get the boys to load you up as soon as you come back.”
“Boys?” I asked, because his two sons weren’t worth shit. Both of them had gone off to some fancy college and quit after a couple of months and were now sucking the life out of the old man instead of letting him retire.
“Got me some apprentices. Hard working kids too.” He smiled proudly. “Never too shy to put in the hard work for me. Only wish my two could have been the same.”
“Who’s boys are they?” I asked.
“Alex William’s kids from the fire department. They wanted to work there over the summer and earn some extra cash, but they’re not taking anyone on right now so I said I’d help out. Though, truth be, they’re helping me more than the other way around. Worth their weight in gold,” he said confidentially.
I smiled. “Glad someone’s helping you out, old man. You ever need anything though, you know the clubs got your back.” I shook his hand again, holding on to it for an extra beat and clasping my other hand over the top. “Especially me, ya’ hear me? I’ll be back in an hour.”
I headed out of the door and back to where I’d seen the hot piece of ass that I’d nearly crashed the clubs truck over. Figured she owed me for nearly causing a collision. Had no doubt she wouldn’t mind paying whatever I thought was fair either, I decided darkly.
After walking for fifteen minutes up and down the high street, I gave up looking for her. Maybe she was a figment of my imagination. A delusion my sun-heated brain had made up to help get me through the day. My imagination had great taste.
I headed over to the old skate park to watch some of the little shits do some stunts. It was where I’d spent most of my childhood and where Fighter and I had first met and toked our first joint together. It held both good and bad memories for me. But mostly, it was shaded because it was under the freeway which went overhead, and I clearly needed to get out of the sun for a little while.
I sat down in the shade, and watched the boys trying out tricks that they weren’t ready for, but were eager to do regardless, shaking my head when one gangly-assed kid fell off and cursed loudly as the ground scraped away the skin from his shin leaving a trail of blood down his leg. He hobbled away ignoring the echo of taunts that trailed after him. Poor kid, I thought chuckling to myself. I lit a cigarette and leaned back, closing my eyes against the brightness of the day. Because even under here, you couldn’t get away from the heat.
“Can I borrow your lighter?” a soft and sexy voice said from behind me.
I opened my eyes and turned in my seat, squinting up against the sunlight behind me and trying to focus on the woman stood there. My gaze moved up from her chucks to her slender legs that looked even longer in the short as shit cut-offs she was wearing. To the cut off Led Zeppelin tee she was wearing, and right up until I was standing up so I could look into the face of the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.
“Borrow?” I replied, feeling my dick grow hard in my jeans as I stared at her ample chest like I was a teenage boy living out my own personal wet dream.
“Your lighter,” she said with a smirk. “Can I borrow it.” She held up her own unlit cigarette. “I’ve been looking for a store to buy one since I got here, but no luck so far.” She smiled again
“Fuck, yeah, sorry,” I replied and reached into my pocket to grab my lighter.
I held out my hand to her and she reached out to take the lighter, her soft fingertips grazing my rough palm, and the weirdest fucking thing happened. Something I would never have expected in a million years. Something you heard crazy love-sick women talking about. Or the sort of cheesy thing you saw happen in movies. But this was no movie. This was real fucking life, and when her hand touched mine, it felt like I was being electrocuted, but in a good way. Because I couldn’t imagine being electrocuted would make my balls draw up and my dick go even harder. But that was sure as hell what happened to me as our skin touched.
She dropped the lighter back into my palm and looked up at me sharply, sucking in a gasp of air. And I knew right there and then, that she’d felt it too.
BATTLE IS COMING…
GET READY…