He paused for a moment, and then cursed. “Fuck, when I saw your ride, I figured you’d dropped her home already, but Jesus, we haven’t been gone that long, have we? Okay…” I waited him out as he thought, because he’d have a plan, “Right, here’s what we’ll do…” I listened, and nodded slowly. Okay, it was a plan. Now I just had to convince Caroline.
I tucked the phone back in my pocket, and lifted her chin again.
“Here’s what’s gonna happen, baby. I’m gonna tuck you under my arm, and walk you out of here, and Micro’s working to clear a path for us around the office building, and out the gates, okay? He’s sending Grease to make sure my ride isn’t penned in, but we’ll be fine, okay? You and me? Nothing hurts you, or gets near you, when you’re with me.”
She sucked in a sharp breath, and I could see that she wasn’t even fully in the room with me. She was already out there in her head, already seeing and hearing the noise, and the large bodies, and the overwhelming atmosphere they created.
Someone tapped on the door a moment later, and I reluctantly released her, heading over to turn the lock, and pull it open a fewinches. On the other side of the door were welcome faces, so I pulled it open further, and let Caroline see who was awaiting her.
“Sophie, Jamie, thanks so much. You’re going to be our escort out, right?” Caroline’s eyes widened, and she relaxed a little, but she was still beating up on herself in her head, and I hated that.
“Hey,” I returned to her, lifting her chin again, “no shame in finding that lot intimidating, okay? They are. They’re not bad people, but they’re loud and obnoxious at times. Even I need breaks from them.”
“I found them pretty scary when I first came here,” Jamie offered, stepping into the room, then grimacing and backing out again, “should have considered it’d smell like sex in here.”
Caroline gasped, and hid her face against my chest.
“Thanks, Jamie. That was really helpful.”
“What? I’m just saying… oh, you can’t crack a window. Ugh, these places are like prison cells.”
“You’d know,” Sophie added, pushing past her by using her large pregnant stomach as a weapon.
“Jesus, Sophie. You’re going to bowl me over with that thing.”
Caroline started giggling, and that’s when I realised this could work. These two might be doing their best double act right now, but it was relaxing my woman. My old lady.
“Let’s do this. They’ll be in front of us, and nobody will risk bumping into big, swollen, pregnant Sophie, right?”
“Did anyone tell you pregnant women get cranky really easily, Harley?”
I laughed, and grabbed Caroline’s jacket, easing her into it, checking her phone was in her pocket, and that I had my keys.
“Ready, baby? Okay, let’s do this.Attack formation delta!”
The women all giggled appropriately, and we stepped out into the dark night, and the sounds of bikers having a great time. I briefly wished we could just join them, but there would be other chances, when my old lady felt safer around them. For now,my priority was to liberate her from the hell she saw when she looked at them.
“Heyyyy, Harley! Check it out, VP. I got me a ‘good boy’ badge,” Stag yelled from across the firepit, and I rolled my eyes. The last person who should have a badge like that was that dickhead.
“Don’t make me take it off you then,” I called out as we approached the large group, and Caroline ducked closer to me, practically hiding under my arm, flinching now and then as people yelled out to each other.
“Can you lot shut the fuck up!” Micro suddenly yelled, and Caroline squeaked with panic. I would have kicked his ass for it, but it obviously wasn’t the first time he’d tried to quiet them.
A comfortable quiet hovered over the area, as he stood up on a bench and held his hands up.
“This right here, this thing we did tonight, that was just the beginning, guys. We’re going to live up to our Phoenix colours. We’re gonna do our club proud. We’re gonna do our colours proud! No more assing around, and being dicks-”
“You first, Pres!”
“Eat me, Grease!”
I leaned closer to Caroline as we passed the firepit, tuning them out, and she lifted her head as I whispered to her in the new, quieter night.
“They’re crass, and inappropriate, but they’re family. You’ll see.”
She nodded and buried herself tight against me again as we carried on walking. Rocket caught my eye and gave me a nod, but he stayed quiet, and moved aside, but that turned out to be a bad move. A really bad one.
“Fucker! You did that on purpose!”
