Ember

 

The first night with the San Diego Satan’s Sons was vastly different from my first night with the Big Sur Satan’s Sons. For one, they acted more like a big family of a lot of rowdy, rambunctious brothers than leery, seedy men with ill intentions. I got along with all of them, conversed, and even got to shoot some more pool with Smith (I kicked his ass) and then with Boss (I lost, but put up a good fight.)

 

Sleeping with Wheeler felt less like an escape from the world and more like an embrace. The sex was great, and the sleep was peaceful. It was easy to forget where we had come from—a world where people thought that I’d had a hand in a massive arson, and where he was a part of a club that he had lost his passion for but still stayed for as a sense of duty.

 

The next morning, I woke up before him again. My body was wonderfully sore, thighs still wet from cum and satisfaction.

 

I needed a shower.

 

Wheeler’s room here had a bathroom in it just like the room at the Big Sur clubhouse. I made myself at home, helping myself to it. It was pretty big, and the water pressure on it was to die for. As I stood under the spray and lathered up, my thoughts drifted.

 

I’ll need to call Mom again at some point to update her. Wanda too. I can do that after I get a phone from Wheeler. Or maybe I should still contact them through a payphone? I don’t want someone trying to trace their calls and link them back to me. That would bring them a little too much trouble from my end …

 

I finished up my shower quickly, making up my mind. Wheeler was still sleeping when I came out. I pulled on my clothes from the day before and headed downstairs. The San Diego boys were up earlier than the Big Sur ones. They greeted me cheerily and I gave them good mornings back. Quickly, I found Smith.

 

“Hey, is Boss around?” I asked.

 

“He’s working on something right now. Whatcha need? Another round of pool?”

 

I laughed.

 

“No. I want to use a payphone. Call my mom and everything.”

 

“Oooh, gotcha. Here.”

 

He led me down the corridor where the bathrooms were and to a phone. He pulled out a few quarters and slid them my way. I raised a brow.

 

“I don’t keep a cell phone on me,” he explained with a grin. “Too much hassle.”

 

I laughed.

 

“That’s fair.”

 

He left me to call in private. I stood for a moment.

 

I should only call one of them. Just so there were fewer people that had the ability to get a hold of me.

 

I dialed my mom’s number.

 

It rang and rang. It was a few in before she answered—she might have been busy with something.

 

“Angela, hi,” she greeted breathlessly. A bemused look crossed my face.

 

“Hey, Mama.”

 

“Ember!” Something crashed in the background; it sounded like plates.

 

“Oh,dear.”

 

“Is everything okay, Mama?”

 

“Oh, yes, yes. Sorry. I’m just cleaning and I dropped a dish. I didn’t expect you to call me. Ember, on the news—”

 

“Yeah. They’re bringing in the heat pretty hard, apparently.”

 

“Honey, I’m so sorry. If there’s anything that I can do—”

 

“Don’t worry about it, Mama. I’m fine.”

 

I heard her huff a little more, and some more noise that sounded like plates being stacked one on top of the other. I let her do this without interruption; I didn’t want her to break more plates because I surprised her by accident.

 

She came back to the phone properly after a moment.

 

“All right. What’s going on, Ember? The news—”

 

“Kinda ratted me out, yeah. Wheeler and I are steering clear of the Big Sur Satan’s Sons right now.”

 

“Are you safe?” I could hear the worry tremble in her voice.

 

“I’m safe, Mama. We’re staying with … a more stable chapter that isn’t involved in all of this. I promise that I’m fine.”

 

“They keep putting out this story that you’re some horrible woman who colluded with the Sons to burn the festival down for fun. They’re going to be launching a full investigation and they’re going to be questioning the Sons this week.”

 

That wasn’t good news.

 

“Well. We’re nowhere near them. So it’s not like they’ll find me.”

 

“But they could try to pin most of the blame on you instead of them.”

 

Shit. She was right.

 

“Ember.” My mother’s voice pulled me back. “Ember, baby, come back home, okay? Everyone here knows you; they wouldn’t think to try and turn you in. You can lie low until they know the truth—”

 

“I can’t do that Mama.” My answer was immediate. “Mama, I don’t want you anymore entangled in this than you already are, okay? Please just let me and Wheeler figure this out. All right?”

 

She heaved a sigh on the other side, but she didn’t argue with me anymore. That was good. I couldn’t bear the thought of upsetting her further with everything that had happened.

 

“I promise that I’m doing okay, all right?”

 

“It’s what I’ll have to take.” She sighed again. “Honey … I’m so proud of you,” she said suddenly. My eyes widened.

 

“Why’s that, Mama? I haven’t done anything.”

 

“You’re handling this whole situation so well,” she said. “I would have broke by now. I don’t know what I would do in such a situation. It sounds so scary.”

 

“It is,” I said. I leaned against the wall. “It … it’s really scary. But Wheeler helps that. He’s doing what he can to help. He kept me safe at the club and he … put in a lot of miles to get me to a place where I would get help and be safe.” I avoided saying where I was. Just in case. “He’s made it a lot easier to deal with. Trust me, it’s not just me being amazing, and I can honestly say that I wouldn’t be half as calm if I was doing this on my own.” Something that I would normally hate to admit, being independent like I was, but I wasn’t so prideful to acknowledge that Wheeler wasn’t a damn godsend. I was lucky to have him in my corner when there wasn’t anyone else.

 

My mother gave a small chuckle on the other end of the line.

 

“What? What’s so funny?”

 

“Nothing, darling. You just sound so smitten.”

 

My face got hot.

 

“I am not smitten. I’m just telling the truth. He’s not as bad as he could be.”

 

“Hmm. You sound very, very grateful to him.” I could just envision the smile that was on her face. Motherly. Knowing.

 

“He did help me.”

 

“Like a knight in shining armor?”

 

“Mama, stop it.” I laughed this time, rolling my eyes. “Honestly it’s not … it’s not like that …”

 

But wasn’t it?

 

The stray thought encroached on me and I couldn’t stop it. It made my stomach flutter.

 

“Hey, Mama,” I said suddenly. “I have to go, okay? I think they have breakfast ready.”

 

“Mmm.” My mom smacked her lips a bit. The vision of her face that that evoked was honestly? Priceless. “You know, a mother always knows,” she said enigmatically. “And I’m sure that that’s a likely story.”

 

“Mama.”

 

“Yeah, yeah. Go on and eat your breakfast, honey. Try and keep me informed, all right?”

 

“I will, Mama.”

 

We hung up.

 

I lingered in the corridor, not ready to head back up and see if Wheeler was up or not. My mother’s words played in my head.

 

Like a knight in shining armor.

 

That was such a silly notion. Wheeler definitely wasn’t a knight in shining armor. He was a biker. He was a hard man. But there was a soft pocket there that somehow, I’d managed to snuggle my way into. Just because helping me was the right thing to do.

 

I chuckled. We’d started out with the hots for each other, trying to get in a quick screw. Now we were hiding from the law and shady bikers and avoiding getting into even more trouble than we already were.

 

Somehow, it worked. If we made it out of this without landing in jail or something much worse, I might have to see if he’d let me stick around for a while.