Chapter 103 The Crew
CAITLYN'S POV
Jason was driving me to his place. His real place. Not the safe house. Not some temporary hideout. His actual home. I was nervous about it. About seeing where he lived. About meeting his crew properly. About starting this new chapter of our lives.
"You okay?" Jason asked. He glanced over at me. "You are quiet."
"Just thinking," I said. "About everything that has happened. About what comes next."
"What comes next is us," Jason said. "We go home. We rest. We start building our life together."
"Your crew is going to be there right?" I asked. "You said they wanted to meet me."
"Yeah," Jason said. "Tommy and some of the guys are there. They wanted to welcome you properly. But if you are not ready for that I can tell them to leave."
"No," I said. "I want to meet them. They helped save me. They risked their lives for me. I should thank them."
"They did not do it for thanks," Jason said. "They did it because you are important to me. And what is important to me is important to them."
We pulled up to a house in a nice neighborhood. It was not what I expected. I thought Jason would live somewhere rough. Somewhere dangerous. But this was just a normal house on a normal street. It had a small yard and a garage and a porch with chairs.
"This is where you live?" I asked.
"Yeah," Jason said. "I know it is not fancy but it is home."
"It is perfect," I said. "It looks so normal."
"What did you think I lived in a biker clubhouse or something?" Jason asked. He was smiling.
"Kind of yeah," I said.
"I did when I was younger," Jason said. "But I grew up. Wanted my own space. Somewhere quiet where I could think."
He parked in the driveway and came around to help me out of the truck. My legs were shaky. Everything still felt unreal. Like I was going to wake up and find out this was all a dream.
"Come on," Jason said. He took my hand. "Let me show you around."
We walked up to the front door and Jason unlocked it. Inside I could hear voices. Laughing. Music playing. It sounded like a party.
"They are here," Jason said. "You ready?"
"Ready," I said.
Jason opened the door and we walked inside. The living room was full of people. At least a dozen guys all wearing leather jackets with the club logo on the back. They were sitting on the couch and chairs and standing around talking and drinking beer.
When they saw us everyone got quiet. They all turned to look at me.
"Everyone this is Caitlyn," Jason said. "Caitlyn this is the crew."
"Hi," I said. My voice came out smaller than I wanted.
For a second no one said anything. Then Tommy stepped forward. He was grinning.
"It is good to finally meet you properly," Tommy said. "We have heard a lot about you."
"You have?" I asked.
"Jason would not shut up about you," Tommy said. "For months he was talking about this amazing woman he used to know. How he messed things up. How was he going to get you back?"
"Tommy," Jason said. He sounded embarrassed.
"What?" Tommy said. "It is true. You were obsessed with her."
"I was not obsessed," Jason said.
"You totally were," another guy said. He had a beard and tattoos covering both arms. "You talked about her constantly."
"Okay fine," Jason said. "Maybe I talked about her a lot. But can you blame me? Look at her."
Everyone laughed and I felt my face getting hot. I was not used to this. To be the center of attention. To have people be nice to me.
"We are glad you are here," Tommy said to me. "And we are glad you are safe. What Hayes did to you was messed up. But you do not have to worry about him anymore. He is gone."
"Thank you," I said. "For helping save me. I know you all risked your lives."
"That is what family does," Tommy said. "And you are family now. You are with Jason which means you are one of us."
"One of us," the other guys echoed. They were all smiling. All nodding.
I felt tears starting to form. I had not expected this. Had not expected them to be so welcoming. So kind.
"Thank you," I said. "That means a lot."
"You want something to drink?" Tommy asked. "We got water and juice and soda. No alcohol though. Jason said you are pregnant so we left all the beer outside."
"Water would be great," I said.
Tommy went to the kitchen and came back with a bottle of water. I took it and drank. My throat was dry. My hands were shaking.
"You want to sit down?" Jason asked. "You look tired."
"I am tired," I said.
Jason led me to the couch and I sat down. He sat next to me. The other guys gathered around but they kept a respectful distance. Like they knew I needed space.
"So when is the baby due?" one of the guys asked. He had red hair and freckles. Looked young. Maybe early twenties.
"June," I said. "I am about five months along now."
"Do you know if it is a boy or a girl?" the guy asked.
"Not yet," I said. "I am going to find out at my next ultrasound."
"I bet it is a boy," Tommy said. "Strong little boy just like his dad."
"Could be a girl," another guy said. "Girls are tough too."
"Either way the kid is going to be a fighter," Tommy said. "With Jason and Caitlyn as parents, how could they not be?"
Everyone laughed and nodded. I looked around at all these guys. These bikers, whom I had been so scared of. I thought they were dangerous and violent. But they were not like that at all. They were just regular guys. Friends who cared about each other. Who had each other's backs.
"Can I ask you all something?" I said.
"Sure," Tommy said. "Ask away."
"Why did you help me?" I asked. "You did not know me. You had no reason to risk your lives for me."
"We did it for Jason," Tommy said. "He is our brother. And you are important to him. That makes you important to us."
"Plus Hayes needed to be stopped," another guy said. "He was a cancer. He hurt a lot of people. Taking him down was the right thing to do."
"But people died," I said. "Officers died helping me. Do you know their names? Do you know anything about them?"
Tommy nodded. "We do," he said. "Officer Mark Chen. Officer Sarah Rodriguez. Officer David Kim. They all had families. They all had people who loved them."
"I want to go to their funerals," I said. "I want to pay my respects."
"We are all going," Jason said. "The whole crew. We are going to honor them properly."
"Good," I said. "They deserve that."
We sat there for a while talking and drinking water and eating pizza that someone had ordered. The guys told me stories about Jason. About the stupid things he did when he was younger. About close calls and crazy nights. Jason kept telling them to shut up but he was laughing too.
It felt good. Normal. Like maybe we could actually have a life together. Like maybe everything really was going to be okay.