Chapter 22 An Old Lady is like a wife
Catalina
I hurried back to my room and put on a bra. I grabbed my wallet and found Jenna waiting for me in the common room.
“You drive,” I said. “Let’s go to the mall. We need a couple of those outfits, you know the kind. I have a picture in my head of what we should wear. I think it will drive our men out of their minds, and the Jackals, too.”
We got into Jenna’s Firebird and stopped at the club’s front gate. Hammer walked up to Jenna’s window, and she lowered it.
“You two heading out?” he asked.
“Is that a real question?” Jenna said, and I let out a quiet laugh.
“We are going to the mall,” I told him. “It is a girl’s day.”
“Well, can you send a text to Torque or Viper? Let them know? I do not want any trouble for letting you two leave.”
“Letting us?” I shot back. “We are not prisoners here, Hammer.”
“No, you are not, that is true. I just want to be sure they know. Also, I am coming with you. For protection.”
“You understand we can handle ourselves, right?” Jenna asked, her voice full of disbelief.
I kept my voice low. “He is just a prospect. Only the full members know the real story, Jenna.”
“Right. I forgot about that.”
“Fine,” I said to Hammer. “I will text Viper. You can follow us on your bike.”
After he walked away, I sent the text to Viper. I waited a few minutes, but no answer came.
As Jenna drove, I stared out the window, thinking about where Viper might be. I had to remind myself that we had not known each other for very long. Even though it felt like I had known him forever. How long had it been? A month? Maybe a little more? I knew Jake for six years and never felt half as comfortable as I did with Viper.
“What is making you sigh so much over there?” Jenna asked me.
“It feels like I have known Viper for a long time, but it really has not been long at all.”
“It has been six weeks. That is nothing. Have you two actually talked about anything? Have you tried to get to know each other?”
“I told him about our past, in the hospital. He knows I am a badass,” I said with a grin. “And we fuck a lot.”
“Yeah, but have you talked about normal things? Hobbies, what you want in life, where you see this going?”
“What about you? Have you talked to Torque about that?”
“Well, yes. I know his favorite color is red. He loves chocolate chip cookies, especially the ones I make. He is amazing at playing pool. And he is a trust fund baby.”
“Shut the fuck up!”
“It is true. His grandfather was a senator from Georgia. They have old family money. He has millions, Cata. He is the black sheep, but he is also the only son left to carry on the family name. His grandmother loved him, so when the rest of the family disowned him, she never cut him off. She even gave him her own money to spite her husband. She died three years ago. He told me she was the only one who stood by him when he refused to follow his grandfather’s path. They were grooming him to be President of the United States. He went to college for Social Science, which is full of Political Science classes. They wanted him to run for mayor, then governor, then senator, all the way up. They had his whole life planned out. But then, in his second year, he met Butcher. During spring break, he and some friends came here to New York instead of going to the beach like everyone else. For some reason, they wanted to see the city. They went to a bar and Torque wanted to play pool. Butcher was there with a few guys from the club, relaxing after a ride. Torque said Butcher came up to him while he was playing pool with a friend and slapped a stack of cash down on the table. It was enough money that Torque could not say no. Plus, looking at Butcher, he did not want to turn him down. He said he could feel the power coming off the man. So they played a game and Torque won. Butcher challenged him to double or nothing. Torque beat him again. He said Butcher got right in his face, trying to scare him, but Torque is a big guy, he does not scare easy. So he just smiled at Butcher and said if he wanted a kiss that badly, he could just ask. Butcher started laughing, told Torque he had big balls, and invited him to prospect. He did, and he never looked back. He dropped out of school, spent six months as a prospect, and then was patched in. He worked his way up and became Sergeant at Arms last year. The last one died of a heart attack.”
I just stared at her in shock. “You two really did talk. Did you tell him about us? About you?”
“No. He did not know anything until you told him that little bit during your tattoo. After that, he came to me and confronted me. He was hurt that I had not trusted him after he trusted me. But when I explained that I was too busy being jealous and pissed off at how he treated me that first month, and then we were just fucking like rabbits, and that he had only just told me his story before you told him yours… he calmed the fuck down and got all embarrassed. For such a big man, he sure turns soft with me.”
“That is because he loves you. I think it is really cute how he blushes around you.”
“Yeah, I think so too. It makes me feel giddy inside.”
We pulled into the mall a few minutes later. We got out of the car and walked right past Hammer into the mall, going from store to store to find our outfits, shoes, and anything else we needed.
“The guys are going to lose their minds when they see us in these,” Jenna said.
“That made me think of something. When is their next long ride? Do they not have one soon?” I asked.
“Yes, in three weeks. Torque said they will be gone for a week.”
“I think we should go after the Jackals while they are gone. That way, there is no chance Torque and Viper can get in the way of our plans.”
“Shit, well then, we need to find those women,” Jenna said.
“Are they right over there? Look, two of them are even wearing their club vests.”
Jenna looked where I was pointing. Well, she thought, what are the odds of that?
“Is that not lucky for us?”
“For real, it is like fate is helping us. We need to get Hammer out of here. He cannot see us talking to them.”
“Hammer,” I called out. “Can you take our bags to the car? Wait for us there. We are just going to Victoria’s Secret. We do not need you following us around.”
“Yeah, sure. No problem,” he said, his face turning bright red.
“Let me do the talking,” I said to Jenna. “I already know what I am going to say.”
She nodded, and we walked up behind the group of women who were looking in the store windows. It did not look like they had bought anything yet.
I made sure my voice was loud enough to carry. “I swear, Nina, my dad acts like I am not even there. He just hands me his credit card and tells me to leave him alone. You are my only friend to spend it on. I wish I had more friends, so we could all go shopping and take fun trips.”
We stopped to look at a mannequin wearing a very short, red sequined dress.
“That dress would look incredible on you,” a voice said.
I turned to see a tall blonde with a lot of makeup on a face that was scarred and pock-marked. She was one of the women wearing a club vest.
“Do you think so? I usually like blue more.” I looked from the mannequin back to the blonde.
“I think it would look better on you. Go on, try it on. I want to see you in it,” I said. “I am Mandy, by the way.”
“I am Sara,” she said, pointing to the other girl in a vest. “This is Emily. And these other girls are just some hanger-ons.”
“Hanger-ons?” I asked, playing innocent.
“Yeah. We are with a motorcycle club called the Jackals. Emily and I are Old Ladies to two of the members. Hanger-ons are basically girls who want in. They are trying to get a biker’s attention to become an Old Lady, but they do not want to be one of the club’s sluts.”
“What is an Old Lady?” Jenna asked. “I am Nina.” She waved at the group.
“An Old Lady is like a wife,” Emily explained.
“Are there any single guys? I could use a good fucking,” I said.
The girls all laughed. “Oh, honey, there are plenty. And with how beautiful you two are, they will welcome you with open arms.”
We all walked into the store together. I pulled out my phone and sent a quick text to Jenna.
This is perfect.
I guess we will not need to be strippers after all. We will go in as hanger-ons.