“They’re going out to get decent coffees for us, Grease… right?” Jamie said pointedly, and I figured why the hell not. I turned to Rocket as I started leading Caroline to the door.
“Behave. This is our place of work, right? Our livelihood.”
I guess being flipped off is pretty much what I expected.
We started walking, and I was relieved to see her coming out of her shell again, but that’s when she asked the question. The one I was dreading but knew would come.
“Who are all those guys? Why do you know them?”
Caroline
HARLEY GROANED, AND PAUSED, grabbing my hand to stop me.
“It’s a long story, and I want to tell you, but can you try to not judge me as you listen, please? You know me, okay? Knowing this won’t change who I am, nothing will.”
That was a bad way to start. That meant that what he was about to say would be bad.
We started walking again, and I heard him taking a deep breath, preparing himself to start.
“Grease and Rocket are… uh… brothers of mine. Club brothers, not the blood kind, but blood family isn’t always your real family.”
I glanced at him as he said that, like there was something that made him steer clear of blood family, but then I knew he had a daughter he adored, so it must have been other family that he was referring to. It didn’t seem like the time to ask, so I just nodded at him to continue.
“I’m in a… I mean, you saw my leather cut, right? You saw the colours?” He meant that leather waistcoat he wore, didn’t he?
“Phoenix… there was a phoenix on it.”
He nodded. “It’s a motorcycle club, and the first thing, the most important thing you need to know about them, is that they’re good people. Okay? You hear bad things about biker clubs, but this is not the club they mean. Phoenix MC, my brothers, they’re the best guys I know.”
“Even Rocket?” Harley snorted, rolling his eyes a little.
“I suppose.”
“He seems nice, Harley. He told me he’ll try to be less noisy when I’m around. That sounds like what you’re saying.”
His eyebrows shot up and he dragged a hand over his jaw, and I could tell that he hadn’t expected me to stick up for the guy, maybe because he didn’t realise the other man had made such an effort.
“You chose to go into business with him, right? He can’t be all bad.”
We reached the door to the coffee shop, and Harley stopped and tugged me aside.
“What do you want to eat? I’ll get it while you hold our table.”
I glanced over at the table we usually sat at, but something made me want to push myself today. To be braver. It looked busy in there, but not quite as busy as the last few times we’d been there.
“I’ll come in with you.”
“It’s okay. I’m not judging you for staying out here. It’s really unpleasantly loud in there, I get it.”
“I need to try,” I said firmly, reaching for the door, but Harley pulled me back once more.
I opened my mouth to argue with him, but he just grinned and pushed the door open, making room for me to go in ahead of him.
“Might not look like a gentleman, but I was raised to be one.”
The noise level was pretty bad in there, and I froze for a moment as it hit me like a wave crashing over me, but something warm touched my hand. Him, my protector. Harley took my hand, squeezing it gently.
“I’ve got you,” he murmured close to my ear, and just like that, the noise level seemed to dissipate just a little. Enough that I could walk with him to the counter, to wait for service.
