14, This won't do

Nash

I was in an ever fouler mood as I woke up. I had been angry enough after Shadow’s little display last night that I had spent the evening drinking alone and going to bed, also alone. I headed down after my breakfast and found Shadow sitting at a table alone. I didn’t know if it would be a good idea to talk to him. But my feet decided it was. I sat down opposite him. There had been an SMS sent out that we were going to church to discuss Tite and her presence. But I still had a moment before the meeting started.

“Feeling less grumpy today?” Shadow asked. I glared at him. I wasn’t, but I didn’t want to tell him that. “Apparently not,” he replied to himself.

“What was that all about last night?” I asked.

“What are you talking about?” he asked back instead of answering. I glared at him some more, hoping it would make him give in. It didn’t.

“I’m talking about you cosying up to Tite yesterday. You do know she is the daughter of the mother chapter’s prez? If she calls home and cries about heartbreak we will probably be royally fucked,” I hissed at him. He watched me for a while and then grinned.

“True. Luckily for me, I think I’m one of the few men in this club that isn't interested in getting her into bed. What about you, Wolf?”

“What the fuck about me? Are you implying I want to sleep with Tite?” I asked. The fucker chuckled at me.

“Implying? No. Telling you out right? Yes. Come on. Even a blind man can see how you look at her and how she looks at you,” he huffed. I was about to tell him to mind his own business, when I registered what he said.

“She looks at me too?” I wanted to know. He shook his head.

“The two of you will tear this place down before you get it on. I would leave you to it and enjoy the fun, but we have more important things to deal with. So I need you to get your shit together and tell her you like her,” he said.

“I don’t like her,” I objected. It was like a reflex.

“Sure, fine, whatever. Don’t come whining to me when she finds someone else. Look, Wolf. I’m not interested in Tite, not like that. We clicked, but as friends. We have some shit in common and that's what we spent last night talking about. She feels isolated. What I can tell you is she isn’t one to fuck around and play games. If you have her attention, it’s because she likes you. If you don’t want that, fine. But don’t be an asshole and flaunt other women around in front of her and shit like that.” Shadow leaned back in his seat and watched me after his little speech. I didn’t know what to do with it, so I leaned back and watched him as well. We sat like that until it was time for church. I walked over to the conference room we always used, no one except the ones in the leadership ever went into the room. Doc was the last one in and closed the door behind him. We spent most of the morning discussing Tite and how to act towards her.

“I just don’t understand why we should treat her like a member. She looks good enough to be a sweet butt, maybe even an old lady if she keeps her temper in check. I just can’t take someone like that seriously. I could fucking end her if I breathe too hard in her direction,” The Mountain said and grinned. A couple of others murmured in agreement.

“That’s not what it sounded like yesterday when she held a knife to your dick,” I said. There was laughter around the table and The Mountain turned an interesting shade of red.

“What the fuck are you trying to say?!” he shouted as he stood up. I wasn’t intimidated by him and just shrugged.

“I’m just saying that she isn’t as weak as you make her out to be,” I told him. Bones sat next to me and he hummed.

“Wolf is right. We saw her stand up to her father and the leadership group of her club. That took some steele in her spine,” he agreed. We continued to discuss it and ended up with the decision we would treat her as any other member and help her to get the information she needed and at the same time keep an eye on her.

“Wolf, you are the Sergeant at arms, our law keeper. This falls under your jurisdiction,” Chief said. I felt my unease grow. It was the last thing I needed. At the same time I approved as I didn’t trust anyone else to look after her. Which was an idiotic thing. As we got ready to leave, people's phones started to ping.

“What the fuck?” Chief said as he looked at his. My phone pinged as well and I took it out. It was a text from one of the enforcers telling me Tite and some of the women had made lunch for everyone. I groaned. I had seen how her club did the whole communal dinner thing. And it had been nice. But we didn’t do shit like that. Chief looked at me and I just nodded. I needed to deal with it. I walked towards the kitchen and Shadow joined me.

“Lunch huh?” he said, sounding amused.

“She will be the death of me. Thinking we are some kind of hippie compound and not a fucking MC club,” I complained. Shadow laughed. I was set on dragging Tite to the side and explain how things worked around here. But when I reached the bar, the crowd of bikers and some old ladies took me by surprise. They all seemed to be heading for the food, and it did smell nice.

“Nash, Shadow, over here.” I heard Tite calling. She stood to the side with a tray loaded with food. She made her way to a table and put the food down. “If you want beer, you need to get it yourself,” she said and put down a bottle of water as she sat down.

“I’ll get it,” Shadow offered. “If you eat my food while I’m gone, I will kill you,” he added. There was a hint of truth in his voice. Tite just giggled and started in on her food.

“We don’t do things like this,” I told her.

“Yeah, the women told me. But today you do. I would say most think it’s a good idea,” she said, looking out over the room. She wasn’t wrong. Most of the brothers and our three prospects were sitting and eating the food. There were even a few old ladies and some sweet butts mixed in. People were talking and I even saw Chief and The Mountain enjoying the food.

“What women?” I asked as my brain finally took in what she had told me. Shadow put down a beer in front of me and sat down and started eating, making happy noises, which was a little disturbing.

“Jane, Essme and Maya. They have all been really kind and helpful. They helped me make the food and we talked a lot while we worked,” she told me and took a bite out of her sub. I had forgotten about the food in front of me. But to give myself time to think. I popped a potato wedge into my mouth and almost moaned as the taste of it hit me. It was fucking delicious. I got sidetracked for a moment as I enjoyed the home cooked food.

“Wait. You had Jane helping you?” I asked with food in my mouth.

“Sure. She is really sweet. A little shy and I think it’s hard for her with all the bikers. But she is kind and works really hard,” Tite told me.

“Impressive,” Shadow said before taking a huge bite of his sub. He wasn’t wrong. Jane had been with us for almost a year and she had barely spoken more than ten sentences to anyone except Little.

“I’m thinking we should make this a regular thing,” Tite said.

“I need to talk to you. In private,” I told her.