Heartbreaker is giggling and snorting a bit while Kon smiles down at her. I guess in the real world this would be considered cute, the way they are together. I can tell it’s harmless as their affection is apparent to the naked eye. Though just from what I’m seeing, thinking sometimes Kon might take it a bit too far, like right now. I catch Kon’s eyes and grin his way.
“Got ya, brother, she’s hands off. I bet Heartbreaker stops traffic everywhere she goes, though don’t tell anyone, but I kind of got my eyes on this beauty right in front of me here, so you have no worries.”
Both Heartbreaker and Dottie drop their mouths open and Dottie gasps, shocked by my words. Shit, I’m also surprised as I glance at Dottie, who just stares at me with those golden-brown eyes of hers. The world seems to disappear and it’s only the two of us at the table in the room at the restaurant. Well, until someone clears their throat. Then I’m brought back to the present, which has Dottie’s eyes watching me for my reaction.All I can do is stare at that gorgeous face, feeling out of sorts, and don’t know why. She slowly smiles my way and instantly I feel a warmth deep in my chest I’ve never felt before. Even more, I feel alive, and for some crazy reason, I feel I can trust Dottie, which makes me feel safe for the first time in a very long time. Not to mention scared to fuckin’ death of these emotions running through my heart and body.
THREE
STORM
DOTTIE
As we both look at the menus in our hands, I’m at a loss for words. First off, I don’t even know this dude, which is why I’m shocked at myself for not only inviting him to dinner but then I trusted a perfect stranger into a closed area, my cage. Now. we are seated together at The Wooden Spirits, which has a ton of people I know all around us. I just know something is going to ruin this feeling I’m experiencing being with Benji. Then I hear the voice of Shadow calling my name. I lower my menu, looking up at her to see those dead as fuck icy-blue eyes are glaring in his direction.
“Hey, Shadow. You and Panther here for dinner?”
Her eyes move to me and I can see the million and one questions. When she has that look in her eyes, I know there’s no way to escape from her probing nosy-ass. I see the menu lower on the other side of our table, and that’s when I see something I barely ever see: a stare off between Benji and Shadow. Then to my utter surprise, it’s Shadow who looks away, though Benji continues to stare daggers at her. His face is void of any emotion, though those eyes of his again look dead just like Shadow’s always look. The same dead glare she uses to terrify people.
“Who the hell are you and why you sittin’ with my sister? You ain’t from around here, are you?”
Benji’s head shifts toward me and his eyes never leave my face. When he mouths “seriously” to me, I can’t help but chuckle. Shadow literally growls but what has me laughing out loud is that Benji growls even louder back at her. This is what Panther and Avalanche wander up too. Panther pulls Shadow against him, and I can see her letting her walls drop because she’s in his arms. Avalanche moves up toward our table first.
“Hey, brother, how’s it going? Try the special, Cook always does it up right. Well, that is if you’re not a vegetarian or what do they call them now: yeah, gluten free, not vegan, right? Though gotta say, Cook is working to find alternative menu items now too. You good, Halo?”
I watch as the man in question closes his eyes while taking in a deep breath, then lets it out. His shoulders seem to relax, as does his body. I can’t pull my eyes off of him, which is shocking because usually I never put my eyes on any man. Learned my lesson early in life; it’s better to blend into my surroundings with eyes cast down while not looking at anyone in particular for any amount of time, as it can be taken as an invitation. Someone tapping me on the shoulder has me shifting and lifting my head, until my eyes meet those icy-blue eyes with a thousand questions swimming in them. Not my story to tell and since both Avalanche and Panther were present at the sanctuary, they can relay what they know, which is probably more than my information. They were all probably questioning Ollie, I’m sure, on the way back to the sanctuary. Meanwhile, Benji and I headed into town. Just as my enforcer goes to open her mouth, the waitress comes over to take our order.
“Hey, Dottie, nice to see you. Have you two decided on what you want or do you need a minute or two?”
Before I can reply, Benji’s deep raspy voice quietly states he’ll have the special with a bowl of the cream of potato soup. The waitress, Cindy, asks if he wants salad with house dressing and he tells her, “Yes, please.” When she turns to me, I tell her to make it two. She thanks us then turns and leaves. Knowing that unless I give her something, Shadow will stand here all night, including during our dinner, I turn to her and start to explain how I met Benji. Well, until he clears his throat, stands up, and puts his arms across his chest in a defensive manner. Oh shit, here we go.
“May I ask why my business is yours? I’ve done nothin’ to deserve this kind of harassment, lady. Now, we’d like to eat our food in peace, so can you please leave us to it? I’d appreciate it, ma’am.”
Trying not to laugh, instead I snort loudly, which has Avalanche laughing while Panther turns away, probably to hold in his own laughter. Shadow’s getting more pissed by the second until her ol’ man leans down, whispering something in her ear. Even with her skull tattoo, I can see her face starting to turn pink before she looks down at me, saying goodbye. Then the three of them turn and head toward the front area. When I look toward Benji, his head is down and he’s wringing his hands together.
“Hey, she don’t mean no harm, she’s just very protective. Shadow doesn’t realize how she comes across. Sorry if she offended you.”
It’s like he didn’t even hear me. So when I reach across the table, even before I can put a hand on his—he seems to literally flip out—grabbing my hand, pulling me up, while twisting my arm behind my back. This all happens in a split second, right before Benji growls in my ear, “You are not to touch me. EVER.” I do what Shadow taught me by taking in small breaths while relaxing my body. He must feel it because he immediately releases my arm, twisting me around so we are facing each other.
“Fuck, Dottie, I’m so sorry. Touching is extremely hard for me. Don’t ask, please, at least not while were here. Why the fuck did I try to go outside my comfort zone? I know it don’t work for me, for Christ’s sake. Did I hurt you? Goddamn, I’m just gonna take off. Can I get my bags from your trunk? You sure as hell don’t need my kind of trouble, that’s for sure.”
Knowing he’s being dragged down by a shit ton of memories and he’s letting those take over his present situation, I give him a second or two before responding. I hold my hands up, showing him I’m not going to attempt to touch him.
“Come on now, Benji, don’t make an impulse decision. Let’s just eat then you can decide your next steps. I was wrong to try and touch you, I know better. Believe it or not, that woman who just left is not only our club enforcer but a very good friend of mine. She’s taught me very well to read signs and body language. Somehow, I neglected to remember those lessons while dealing with you. Again, I’ll apologize, but hey, let’s not rush into anything. We came for some food and, oh look, our food is on its way. How can you say no to that potato soup with fresh biscuits? I mean, there’s even bacon, onions, and cheese on top of your soup. Ya know what they call that, right? Loaded. Come on, sit down with me and let’s eat.”
I carefully sit down and wait, not wanting to put any pressure on him. He looks around, seeming to memorize his surrounding, while he takes some really deep breaths, then looks down at his steaming soup. When his stomach growls loudly, I know he’s going to sit down, which he eventually does. He grabs his napkin first, putting it on his lap, then he reaches for the spoon, which he shoves into the soup then back up to his mouth. The noises coming from him as he eats his soup have me rubbing my thighs together, which in itself totally shocks me. My God, I can’t remember the last time I had any interest, especially when it came to sexual noises a man makes, let alone one I don’t knowjack shit about. When he lifts his eyes, the sadness in them hurts my heart. I give him a small grin, which he hesitantly returns, then digs back into the soup. I know he’s hiding something enormous but at this point, I don’t care. What I want is for him to try and, hopefully, maybe even trust me, because it’s apparent he needs someone to be his friend and have his back. And for some ungodly reason, I want it to be me. If my twin sister, Dani, was here, she’d tell me I’m letting my bleeding heart guide me down an unknown path. She’d be right, though I’d never say that out loud, especially to her. Like most twins, we have a very healthy competition going between us constantly, and I would never purposely tell her she’s right because it will go straight to her head. Big time.
“So, Dottie, how’d you end up here? I mean, in nowhere Montana, in this town, what’s it called again?”
I put my spoon down and wipe my mouth before I answer back.
“It’s called Timber-Ghost. And, well, like you, I have a past I’m trying to outrun. My twin sister, Dani, and I escaped from our parents’ commune back in South Dakota. Now, before you start thinking about Woodstock and all it represented, like a celebration of peace, music, and unity amidst the social and political unrest in our country. You know the free love idea, which anyone who attended either participated willingly or didn’t, it was their choice. NOPE, our life was nothing like that. Where we lived, it was not anything remotely about unity, peace, or free love. It was a society where men ruled and women did what they were told, or else you were punished. No one was safe from theelders,so when we had the opportunity to escape, Dani and I ran like the hounds of hell were chasing our asses. In fact, sometimes I feel they are still stalking us, especially when it feels like I’m being watched. Anyway, we begged our mother to come with, but she was way too brainwashed by our father.It wasn’t until we both were approached to become prospects for the Devil’s Handmaidens Motorcycle Club that I started to feel somewhat safe and human again. Tink, Glory, and Shadow shared what they were about and since I believe in what they are doing, as does Dani, we joined. Once we started to prospect, Tink and Glory made it mandatory that we seek help to deal with our past. Since then, both of us have been in therapy to try and find some closure and the peace of mind to move on with our lives and try to truly enjoy each day without looking over our shoulders constantly.”
He has been watching me very closely as he finished his soup. When I stop talking, he looks either way, then cautiously leans in and asks me quietly about the purpose of our club. I nod because not everyone, though most, know what we do outside of those in Timber-Ghost. Just about everyone here now knows and they support our club fully. It took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to get here, but we never gave up trying to get our town to stand behind us. They finally started to when they mainly needed the club’s help, which of course we jumped right in to do, and over time we’ve saved numerous members of this community from harm’s way. Building trust is what Tink calls it.
“To begin with, we are a full one-percent motorcycle club, if you know what that means. We follow our rules and stay true to them. On top of that we work with agencies to rescue victims of human trafficking, domestic violence, and any other type of abuse experienced generally by women and children. We don’t shy away from men being abused, but that’s rare, though it seems to be happening more each day.”
His face gets hard while those inky-black eyes stare off, no emotion whatsoever in them. He doesn’t say a word, and I’m not sure if I should continue. It’s then something occurs to me and I sit back shell-shocked. Since Dani and I’ve gotten to Timber-Ghost and hooked our stars to the Devil’s Handmaidens, outsideof my club sisters—and not even many of them—have I shared and talked about much of anything from our past with anyone. Yeah, I was social to a point, well more than Shadow, but that isn’t saying much. Why all of a sudden do I feel the undeniable pull to this stranger? I know nothing about this man. Not sure how this is going to go, but shit, I really want to try to give it my all. I’ve put myself out there enough already and even told him about our club, so it’s only fair he does the same thing.
“Benji, you now know some stuff about me, it’s your turn. Don’t have to go deep, just like maybe why you’re here, where you’re from, and what you’ve been up to. What’s your plan?”
