“I think I might hang out here for a while.”He wanted to talk to Tom and tell him to take Sadie off the schedule.As long as she worked here, Tinker’s access to Sadie was going to be way too easy.Despite their best efforts, things fell through the cracks, as evidenced tonight when the bouncer assigned to guard the entrance to this hall was called away from his post.
As enforcer for the club, Jed took his job of protecting the club and everyone in it seriously, and because Sadie had been taken under the Sons’ wing, that included her as well.He wasn’t proud of what he was about to do, but it needed to be done.For Sadie’s safety.“Tom, you got a minute?”
2
Sadie
Sadie loaded her groceries into her car and closed the trunk.Cathy had invited her and Oliver to her house for Thanksgiving later this week, and she needed to pick up a few things to prepare what she was taking to her house.She’d really been dreading Thanksgiving this year, now that her brother was gone, and she feared Christmas was going to be even worse.
Bellamy had invited them to the clubhouse, but Sadie was still trying to avoid all things biker club related.She was already too connected to them through her job and the apartment they'd set her up in.She’d felt bad, but she’d politely declined, saying that she and Oliver were already going to Cathy’s.
Her phone started to ring as she pulled out of the parking lot.She clicked the speaker button on her steering wheel to accept the call.“Hello?”
“Hey, Sadie.How are you doing after last night?”Tom asked.
“Okay.I’ve got some bruising around my throat, but I can cover it with a scarf, so all’s good.”
“That’s good.”Tom let the silence stretch out a little longer than normal, and she started to get a bad feeling.
“Tom?”
“Yeah.Hey.I hate to do this, but until the Tinker situation is under control, you’re not going to be able to dance.”
“What?”Did she hear her boss correctly?Was he firing her?“Are you firing me because some asshole laid his hands on me?”
“I’m not firing you.I’m trying to keep you safe.After they straighten this out, you can come back.”
“Tom, this is bullshit.I’m being punished for being attacked.”She couldn’t afford to lose her job.Sheneededthis job.There was no guarantee that her house in Taos would sell anytime soon, and she couldn’t continue to live off of and pay her house payment out of the savings she had.
“I’m sorry, Sadie.I’ll call you when everything is resolved.”Tom said goodbye and clicked off.
“Son of a bitch.”
Taking the next right brought her past Bling Boutique and then Ink Envy.From there, she would pull around back and park in the lot in the alley.The anger she’d been feeling skyrocketed when she spotted Jed getting ready to enter the tattoo shop.This was all his fault.She just knew it.Not giving herself time to rethink what she was about to do, she pulled into a parking spot opening up several places down from the tattoo shop and got out.
“Hey!Jed!”she shouted as she stepped up to the sidewalk and hurried his way.
His body tensed before he turned to face her.
“Thanks a lot, you jackass!”She poked him in the chest.
“What?”
“You cost me my job!”She poked him in the chest again.“Don’t try to deny it.”
“Yeah.I’m not going to deny it.You got Tink’s eye, and you don’t need to be strutting your sweet ass all over the stage with him in the crowd.It’s like waving a red flag in front of a bull.What if the next time it happens, one of us isn’t there to save your ass?”
“I thought that’s what all your security is for; to keep the girls and me safe.”Her hands landed on her hips as she looked up at him.
“It is, but as you’ve discovered last night, shit still happens.Sometimes unexpected shit.Besides, how are you supposed to work nights with a kid?”He rubbed his chest where she’d been stabbing him with her finger.Damn.That had hurt.
She didn’t think her body could get any tighter, but he’d proven her wrong.“You have got to be kidding me.I’m not the only woman working there who has a child to look after.I had it covered.And not that I owe you this, but if it helps you sleep at night knowing Icantake care of my nephew, it's Cathy.Cathy keeps Oliver for me while I’m working.”
“Cathy?”
“She works for Bellamy at Bling.”She said it slowly in case his skull was too thick to understand.
“Oh.”
