Reagan’s own scream woke her up, disoriented and flaming hot, her hand between her legs, and somehow, she had stripped herself naked while she slept.  Damn these dreams had to stop, she had one every freaking night, and it was really starting to get on her nerves.  How as she supposed to move on with her life and leave Defiance if every single night Tank played center stage in all her dreams. 

Getting up off the couch, Reagan started putting things to right. Picking up her phone, she noticed that it was around two in the afternoon. Hell, she had slept a long time.  That wasn’t like her, she was usually up with the bird’s, ready to start her day.  Scrambling around, she stoked the old wood stove; thankfully she had begun it last night and it still had some embers left. Otherwise, it would be awhile before she got any coffee and that shit wasn’t happening.  She needed coffee like she needed air. 

Pulling out the old metal percolator, Reagan got to work pumping the water from the inside hand pump which was fed directly into the house from an underground well, then she found the coffee beans, no instant crap for her.  Taking the old-fashioned grinder down, she ground enough to make a pot.  Then placing the percolator together, she put the coffee into the metal basket.  Placing the lid on it, she waited and waited.  Damn, this was one thing she hated; at home, she had Keurig instant coffee goodness, all day, every day.  At the clubhouse, they had an electric pot, but it was always full and waiting. 

Here, she had to wait. Pacing back and forth, she waited for the familiar little sound, the blurp.  No blurp. Reagan checked the stove just to make sure it was hot enough, and it was; shit still no freaking blurp.  She needed coffee, even considered chewing some of the beans.  People made candy out of them, right? Maybe it wouldn’t be that bad.  No, she would wait, she knew it would be worth it.  More pacing, more cursing, and glaring at the old kitchen appliance.  Maybe it was broken, it hadn’t seemed to take this long before. No, she knew that it was put together right.  Walking out of the kitchen area, she went to her bag and pulled out her laptop.  She had made sure her battery was fully charged, and she had two extras just in case.  If that didn’t work, she could start the generator.  She didn’t want to, but would; she still had a bunch of work to get through. And then she heard it, the blurp, blurp made her heart sing. 

Walking back to the stove, she poured the first cup, moving it to an area that was a little cooler on the old wood stove and started waiting again.  Burnt coffee wasn’t something that anyone wanted.  These old stoves could be tricky, you had to watch and wait, that was all there was to it.  Damn, if anyone saw her now, she would be embarrassed; cup in hand, drool filling her mouth, damn, she was a junkie and coffee was her drug.  The aroma filling the cabin only made the anticipation of that first taste stronger.  Shit, maybe she could live on her dreams and coffee alone, who needed Brayden Tank Taylor anyway, right?

Bringing the mug up to her lips, she couldn’t resist, just a small taste and proceeded to burn the ever-loving hell out of her tongue.  She started jumping around like a mad woman, damn it.  That was when she heard it, a car door.  Fuck, had the three men found her, or shit, maybe her brother?  It sure as hell wasn’t anyone from the club because they wouldn’t have been driving a car. No, they would have been riding their bikes and those puppies were loud.  Putting her coffee down, Reagan creeped to the window next to the door. Pushing the curtain back with her finger, she tried to figure out who was out there. With a big smile on her face, Reagan pushed open the door.

“It’s about time you got here hooker, I’ve been waiting all night,” she screamed.

“Hey,” Suzie just laughed, “don’t call me that, Puppet girl, you know I’m as pure as the fresh driven snow.”

“Yeah, whose version of pure?  Remember, I’ve seen you after a few drinks.”  She and Suzie hugged and laughed; it had been so long, and Reagan really needed her right now. 

“Mmmm, is that coffee I smell?” 

“Yep, just finished making it. Want some?” 

“You know I do. It always tastes so good up here.  I can’t make the stuff at home taste the same way, must be the water.”

“Yeah, that or the fact you refuse to by a one cup coffee maker and you use an entire cup of grounds to make ten cups.” 

“Whatever.”

“Come on, let’s go out on the dock and drink this. I have been stuck in the car for the last two hours, and I’m itchin to just be in the open air.”

Reagan knew what Suzie was really saying, time to come clean.  They had most of their deeper conversations sitting on that dock, the first time a boy dumped them, the first time they had sex, all the stuff involving her family, the loss of Suzie’s family.  The dock was the place where they both let it all hang out. 

“So, sister chicken, you gonna tell me what’s been going on with you?  Don’t think I didn’t see what Tank was doing at the diner.  I know you that man melts all your brain cells.” 

“Ah, damn Suz, I don’t know about all that. Tank is and always has been my one weakness, but that’s all done now.”

“What do you mean?” 

“Well, last night he made sure I knew exactly what he thought of me, and I’m finally getting it.  I just wanted to make things right, you know.”

“That was never your place, Rea, but I get where you are coming from. Brayden is going to have to do the rest.  I have to say though, the man must really have a way with those hands because you seemed to be in another world.”

“Oh, my god, I wished you hadn’t seen that.” Reagan put her face in her hands embarrassed.

“Yeah, me too, honey. Believe me, some things just can’t be unseen, but I have to ask why did you let him do that to you?”

“Damn, Suz, I just don’t know. When I’m with Tank, and it’s good between us, it’s like nothing else matters.  I just want to be with him, you know.  He makes me feel alive, makes me feel free, like none of the rest matters.  Then it’s almost like a switch goes off in his brain, and he turns kind of mean, not physically, but his words hurt.  He has me so messed up, I just don’t know what to do anymore.”

“Hon, Brayden, has been messed up since high school.  He was always the life of the party, making jokes and pulling pranks.  After the accident, it was almost like he was angry at the world.  Did you know he almost didn’t graduate?  I even heard that his old man had to pull some strings to get him into the service.”

“Don’t believe everything you hear, Suz. I know he had some issues, but Tank was a straight A student. He could have failed the rest of the year and still graduated. As for his dad pulling strings, I highly doubt that. I don’t think his plans for Tank included a military career.  The man wanted him to follow in his footsteps.”

“Yeah, you might be right. I just hear so much at the Diner. I mean, I know the guys at the MC from school and coming in to eat, but some of the stuff I hear scares me.  When you told me that you would be staying there, I almost hyperventilated.”

“Suz, it’s not as bad as people make it out to be, but it’s far from normal.  Think frat party turned up several thousand notches.  But the guys are a good bunch, women are respected, and they do a lot for the community.  Didn’t you hear about the donation the RBMC made to the fire department after the Mayor cut their funding?  Don’t get me wrong, none of them are choir boys, but don’t let rumors and speculation muddy your view.  I was there for six months, and they were all respectful to me.  You can’t say that about a lot of people.”

“Yeah, Brass keeps on asking me out, and hell, Rea, he has to be the hottest man I’ve ever seen.  All that blonde hair makes a girl want to grab hold while he takes her for a ride and damn, don’t get me started on those eyes.  Have you ever seen eyes that color of blue, Oh and…?”

“I get it, you think Brass is hot,” Reagan laughed. “Why do you keep on turning him down? Brass is hilarious, I mean, the man is always saying something that will either shock the shit out of you or make everyone around him laugh.  You two would be good together.”

“I don’t know, I mean, I think I would constantly be thinking who he was with if he wasn’t with me.  Then there’s the whole Outlaw Biker thing. I don’t know if I could be with someone that wasn’t aboveboard.”

“Okay, first off, you don’t know everything about someone you date in the beginning, you have to work up to all that.  My feeling is if you like the guy go for it, it might work out and it might not, but not even trying isn’t any good, either.  Take it from me, you can date a lawyer, and he can turn out to be the worst of the worst, or you can try a biker on for size, and he might be the best.  You never know until you try.

“All the guys in the RBMC have been in the service, and to be honest with you, I don’t think any of them have been arrested or done time.  Knowing you as well as I do, I’m pretty sure you have already used those wicked little fingers of yours to scope that out.  So, if it’s the Clubhouse that freaks you out, make other plans.  Go to the movies, hell, just got for a ride.  I can personally tell you that there is nothing like being on the back of a Harley with a man between your legs while the wind is whipping through your hair.  Live a little Suz, life is too damn short to be scared of anything.”

“Oh, yeah, this coming from the person hiding out in my cabin, getting ready to leave Dodge.  Don’t think I don’t know what you’ve been up to Reagan, you know I have my ways.  I let all that sneaking around go because I thought you would come to me at some point, but you never did. Now’s the time to tell me, so we can figure out a way for you to have what you really want, Tank.”

“That’s not going to be as easy as you think, Suz. He laid it all out for me last night.  I just don’t believe we’re meant to be, one of us is always hurting the other. I don’t think I can live like that anymore.  This stuff between us has been going on for over ten years; I think it’s about time one of us got off the merry-go-round.”

“That’s up to you, but let’s talk it all out before you decide to go that route.” 

For the next hour, Reagan laid everything out to Suzie.  She might work as a waitress, but Suzie had other talents.

“Okay, this is what I think we should do; I’m going to help you go through the rest of the stuff you got from the storage locker.  You track the money, I’ll track the people.  Together we can figure out what Mr. Taylor and the other two douche bags are up to, then you can take it to Tuck.  Tank will be so grateful, he’ll fall madly in love you with, and you two will live happily ever after, or we can take turns turning his dangly bits into hamburger.”

“I don’t know, I kind of want his danglies right where they are, unharmed,” Reagan laughed. 

“Yeah, I can see that, since you have embraced all your Puppet ways,” Suzie laughed.

“Don’t knock it till you try it, Suz. The stuff they do to women, I mean, I’m no shrinking violet, but I have to tell you those boys could teach classes.”

“Ewww! How would you know anyway if you haven’t slept with any of them?” 

“Hon, I didn’t need to, they fuck openly, in front of anyone, and from the looks on the chicks faces, it’s an experience to remember. Plus, I think I’ve seen more dick jewelry in the last six months than I’ve ever seen in my life.  Hell, there’s this one guy, Creed, he has a Jacobs Ladder. Do you know what that is?”

“Of course, I know what that is, I’m on the internet all the time, but ouch I don’t know if I would like all that extra stuff up inside there,” Suzie said, squeezing her thighs together.

“I don’t know, just think of all those little balls rubbing all those sensitive places...”

“Like Hell! The only dick you need to be thinking of is mine, Rae.”

Both Suzie and Reagan screamed for all they were worth.  Fuck, how in the hell had Tank and Brass snuck up on them.

“What are you doing here, Tank,” Reagan asked. “Oh, let me guess, you brought Brass around to give me one more shot at sucking his dick?”

“Hey, I resent that, well, not really. Anyone talking about sucking my dick kind of gets me off, but I wouldn’t do that to you Rea. But just so you know, I’ve been told I taste like candy, and my Apadravya has made more than one-woman scream,” Brass said, winking at both Suzie and Reagan. 

“Shut up, asshole, no one wants to know about your dick. Reagan, we need to talk.”

“No, Tank, we needed to talk months ago, but you chose to make an assumption and treat me like shit instead. You two need to leave.”

Reagan got up and placed herself in front of Suzie, not that she thought Brass or Tank would do anything to them, but she didn’t want her friend exposed to any of Tanks hateful words.  Not that blocking her would stop her from hearing, but hell, Reagan didn’t know what else to do.

“Reagan,” Tank pleaded, “I need to talk to you.” 

Shit, what the hell was wrong with her? This man could let his eyes and voice go all soft, and Reagan was down for the count.  Who was she kidding? Reagan would follow this man anywhere, another reason she needed to get her work done and leave as soon as possible.

“Fine. Suz, will you be okay out here with Brass for a bit?”

“Oh, don’t worry about Suzie Q, I’ll take good care of her,” Brass said, walking over and putting his arm around Suzie. “I have some questions I want to ask her about quality.”

Both Tank and Reagan groaned