They’re standing under the full moon, giving me enough light to make out the people arguing.The woman is Charlie, standing with her arms wrapped around her middle as if holding herself together.The other is a man I’ve never seen before.He stands a good three to four inches above her.As he seems to berate her, he holds a hand out with a little bag wedged between his fingers.I watch Charlie shake her head, moving to walk away from the man.She gets about five steps from him when his words ring out, stealing what little sanity I was holding onto.
“I’m telling you right fucking now.You’ll do exactly what we ask of you and get the information, or I will ruin everything that you love,” the man yells.
Charlie stops walking and turns back to him.“Why the fuck are you doing this?It’s been fucking years.Why won't you just let me go?”
The sneer on the man's face makes him look like a man possessed or just too fucking high.“NOS will never let you go, and now he has the in he needs to take down the Kings.”He holds his arms out wide.
Done with whatever the fuck is going on here, I step out onto the sandy beach.“Charlie?You okay, sweetheart?”
Charlie spins around, looking at me with true panic on her face.“Blitz, I didn’t know you were back.”
“Just got here.Anvil and Sunny are in the weeds at the bar.They seem to need some help from the best bartender around,” I tell her, making my way slowly to her.
“Yeah, sorry.I stepped away to go to the restroom and then ran into an old friend,” she mumbles, waving a hand behind her.
Sliding my arms across her shoulders, I pull her into a hug, whispering, “We’ll talk about this when I get rid of this asshole.”
Charlie just nods before stepping away from me.
“Now introduce me to your friend.”I grin, reaching out a hand to the fuckhead glaring at us.
“Blitz, this is …” Charlie’s words are cut off by the soon to be dead man in front of me.
“You can call me Chuck,” the asshole says, holding out his hand.“I’m an old friend of Charlie here, and we were just catching up.”
“I don't recall her mentioning you before.Either way, it’s nice to have you at our open clubhouse party.We ask that all guests stay close to or inside the clubhouse.”I drop his hand, turning back to Charlie.“Let’s get you back to the bar before Anvil beats someone's ass.”
She just nods at me before turning to make her way back towards the path leading to the clubhouse.I stand there watching her go, my emotions raging with every step she takes away from me.The moment she has disappeared through the trees on the path, I spin around, eyeing the man smirking behind me.
“I’m going to ask you once and only once.”I demand, “Who the fuck are you and what the fuck do you want with Charlie and my club?”
The fuckhead slides his hands into his pockets, matching my glare.“Seems like if Charlie wanted you to know who and what I am to her, she would’ve told you.Seeing as she didn’t, fuck you.”
I step into his space, looking down at the man.“You seem to have forgotten where you are currently.You are standing in the middle of Kings of Anarchy land, and that doesn’t mean you get to walk away from it.Decide now.”
The man's eyes darken with a knowing that tells me he isn’t who he is trying to portray to the club.We stand there, not a word said for several beats before screaming from the clubhouse breaks me from the trance.Spinning around, I take off in that direction without a backwards glance.Bursting through the tree line, gun drown, I rush towards the crowd of people standing at the edge of the clubhouse.As I make it to the front of the crowd, I find my brothers gathered around a woman lying on the ground.
Remedy is on his knees on one side of her, and another man I don’t know is on the other.They work in unison, trying to figure out what her injuries are and if she is able to be moved.
“What the hell happened?”I question Rhino.
“No one knows.There was the sound of a bike, and then Ivy started screaming, and now here we are,” he throws his hand out in the direction of the two men working.
Raider turns to us.“Clear the fucking clubhouse.I want anyone that isn’t a brother, Ol’ Lady, child, or Club Bunny to get the fuck out.”
Instantly everyone moves, rounding everyone up and getting them off the property.Once everyone is out and the gate is closed, I go into the clubhouse to find all the brothers hanging around in the great room waiting for word on what to do next.Looking around the room, I relax just marginally when I see Charlie behind the bar slinging drinks.Watching her closely, I grit my teeth because her smile is wide and bright, only slightly distracting from the panic I see brewing in her eyes and the slight shake of her hand as she works.I march behind the bar, caging her in so that our backs are to the open room.
“This seems to be a bad habit for you,” Charlie tries to joke.
“Seems sense the day I rode out to South Carolina to honor a marker, I’ve gained more bad habits than I know what to do with,” I whisper across her ear.
Charlie turns her head so she can see me from the corner of her eye, “All I ever needed was a ride.You decided to play the hero.”
Dropping my forehead to rest on the side of hers, my voice trembles.“You’re right, and that was my original plan, but it seems I’m not as good a man as anyone thought.Giving you up after the marker was completed was never an option.”
Charlie takes a shaking breath.“Don’t say shit like that!We both know that I’m nothing more than that—a marker, an obligation for a favor you owed my dead husband.You will never be able to see me as anything else.”
Her words hit me hard in my chest.Knowing that she isn’t wrong, she was the wife of one of my oldest friends, and I will respect his place in her heart, but can there be room for me?Can I live knowing that she can never completely love me?I don’t know, but I’m fucking done.
