I look down at her.“Absolutely.”
She smiles in a way that says she doesn’t believe me for a second.Probably because she’s smarter than I am.
By the time the sun starts cracking over the horizon, we’ve got a good twenty bikes lined up and ready.The Kings from Freedom Falls are meeting two other Alabama chapters up north for the day—ride, food, bullshit, some actual chapter business if Chux has his way.The women coming along make it feel less like official club work and more like one long family trip with louder engines.
I bring Lucy through the line one step at a time.
Introductions matter.
Not because the club doesn’t know who she is.At this point half of Freedom Falls knows who she is.But because there’s a difference between beingseen aroundand being brought in.
That difference isn’t lost on anybody here.
Chux arrives last because presidents like making an entrance even when they claim they don’t.His Road Glide rumbles into the lot with Alaina behind him, one arm around his waist, the other hand holding down the bakery box she’s somehow brought to a group ride before breakfast.
He kills the engine and glances once over the crowd.
Takes in everything.
Always does.
Then his gaze lands on me.
Then Lucy.
Although there is amusement in the bastard’s eyes, he’s smart enough not to say it out loud.Yet.
Alaina climbs off behind him and immediately starts handing out pastries to whoever’s closest.Tall, elegant, and too pretty to be as scary as she sometimes is, she spots Lucy and smiles like she’s already decided she approves.
“You must be Lucy,” she says, pushing a cinnamon roll into her hand before Lucy can answer.“I’m Alaina.If these idiots get hangry, that’s not our problem.”
Lucy blinks, then laughs.“Thank you.”
“Never trust bikers to pack snacks,” Alaina states.“They think jerky counts as a food group.”
“It does,” Stunt calls.
Alaina doesn’t even glance his way.“See?”
Chux steps up beside her and offers Lucy his hand.“Chux.”
“Lucy.”
He looks at me once, then back at her.“You all right on the back of his bike?”
“I think so.”
“Good answer,” he states with a smirk.
Alaina swats his arm lightly.“Don’t act like he drives wild with her.”
“I don’t,” I reply and I don’t know why.I’ve never cared to defend myself before.
She gives me a look.“You did before her.”
Fair enough.“Didn’t have a reason to embrace the mellow inside me.”
A second bike rolls in behind them, and Riot pulls up with Kelly riding behind him.Kelly works at Alaina’s bakery too and looks exactly like the kind of woman who can smile sweetly while absolutely destroying you if required.She’s come a long way getting her memory back.Sometimes she gets the occasionally headache that makes Riot lose his mind afraid she will have the amnesia back, but she’s been doing better as time passes.She hops off, peels off her gloves, and hugs Lucy before the poor girl can even brace for it.
