Total pages in book: 212
Estimated words: 207966 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1040(@200wpm)___ 832(@250wpm)___ 693(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 207966 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1040(@200wpm)___ 832(@250wpm)___ 693(@300wpm)
“Anything, really. Reality TV. Home improvement shows. Action movies, like explosions and fast cars, and wicked stunts. Game shows. Serial killer documentaries. But my favorite? SOA, of course.” She grinned.
“Of course,” I said. “Jax girl or an Opie girl?”
“You watch? I thought real bikers didn’t watch it.”
“Nah, but I don’t live under a rock.” I’d heard a debate recently in the clubhouse among the girls about whether they favored one character over the other. I’d heard that same debate at the bar as well as Ma’s titty bar back while the show was still airing.
“Hm. Opie. Jax just breaks my heart. He is pretty gorgeous though. Opie was… he was awesome. Devoted.. Aw, now I’m sad.”
“Sad? Why?”
“Because of Opie.”
“Like I said, don’t watch it. Obviously he’s dead.”
She clasped her chest. “I’m not confirming nor denying. No spoilers.” She shook her head with conviction.
“Not gonna watch anyway.” I squeezed her hand. “Sorry for your broken heart over a fictional character, babe.”
“You’re a reader; you must get attached to fictional characters too, no?”
“Not really.”
“Not that I’m saying what happened, but whatever did happen - I bawled so hard. I was blue for days.”
“My condolences,” I said, then laughed, patting the top of her head.
She swatted my hand. “Go away.”
“Can’t go away, gotta drive the truck since you’re blindfolded.” I chuckled and chucked her chin.
“New topic. How and when did you end up in the Doms?”
“Did time for assault,” I said.
“Oh,” she said softly.
I continued, “Two years. The guy almost died, it was almost attempted murder, but believe me, he deserved it. Put his hands on his niece.”
“His niece?”
“She was my girlfriend. And it wasn’t the first time he put his hands on her.”
“Oh shit. That’s awful.”
“And I had a good lawyer, friend of Ma’s, and no priors, and reason, so I got two years. Though he only got a year, which makes no fuckin’ sense. I met Brady’s pop inside. That was part of what led me to the brotherhood. In a roundabout way.”
“Oh?”
“You heard that story obviously.”
She shook her head. “Obviously?”
“You’re tight with Brady?”
“Not particularly. I mean, he’s nice to me, we’ve hung out, but… no, not real tight with anyone in your club these days.”
“Not any of the other hang-around girls even?”
“The club girls don’t exactly bond, really. Not with me at least.” She shrugged.
“Well, not my story to tell, but Torque’ll be out in a couple months. Been in for nearly ten years. He’s one of the original members of the brotherhood, traded tattoos for smokes with me and I was on the wait list, but he let me jump the line. We gelled, killin’ time shootin’ the shit, talking about life outside. Pulled strings to get me on work assignment with him in maintenance. He told me about the club and suggested I join. Didn’t commit to it. Told him I’d meet him for a beer when he got out and we’d see. Then coincidentally, when I got out, figured out not long later that Archer knew Deke and Rudy. He introduced me.”
“Oh! Coincidence?”
“I suspect Archer asked for the solid, havin’ a thing for Ma. Didn’t really know him well before I got out. My guess – he asked Deke and Rudy to have someone look out for me in there and they sorted it with Torque, who let me jump that queue on purpose.”
“Ah.”
“Not that I can’t look after myself. But bein’ on assignment with Torque helped pass the time. Bein’ welcomed into his circle saved me some hassles. Good man to have in your corner.”
“I’m glad you had that,” she said softly.
She was fidgety, mucking around with her blindfold behind her shades, so I put my hand on her leg again.
“Won’t be much longer; we’re not far.”
“Okay,” she whispered and grasped my hand and held on.
“Then I got out,” I went on. “Stayed with Ma and Archer and bounced at The Playpen again for a while. Shocked the shit outta me that she’d moved in with him. Figure he bought the bar to save her job when the old owner put it up for sale. Guessin’ he also bought leverage tellin’ her he had someone looking out for me on the inside. Though if I asked neither of them’d admit anything.”
“That’s sweet. If that’s what they did. Maybe it was just fate.”
“Deke let something slip that pretty much confirmed it for me later on. Arch took me to Sioux Falls for some bullshit reason that I figured out was an excuse to introduce me to Deke and Rudy not long after I was out. Partied at the clubhouse and the next morning at breakfast, Rudy invited me to prospect. I wasn’t sure I wanted it; he asked me to think on it. Deke joked he was gonna scoop me if he could convince me to come to Aberdeen where he was starting a new chapter. Deke later told me he saw Torque on a visiting day and Torque had good things to say about me, thought I’d fit. I wasn’t interested in prospecting for a big club like Sioux Falls, not real stoked at the idea of being a grunt for a year or two, but the guys that were headin’ there were guys I gelled with. Deke invited me to stay at his place in Sioux Falls with him and his boys for a week, offering me cash to help them get their house cleared out and set up at the new place. Helped them get to Aberdeen and they invited me to try it for a month and let ‘em know. No hard feelings if it didn’t work out. I told ‘em I was game if they made a coupla assurances. They made those promises.”