Duchess – Prologue

"We should get rooms at the next motel!" Jax shouted to his men over the rain and roar of motorcycles.

The men grumbled in response, ducking their heads closer to their chests as they made their way through the rain. The flickering green light of a vacancy sign was like a beacon of hope in the storm and they made a bee line for it. As the thunder roared overhead they pulled into the parking lot. Bobby whistled in appreciation for the three shiny cars parked on the far side of the motel. There was a shiny black Range Rover that had obviously never been off road in its entire life; a small silver convertible Porsche and a bright red Lamborghini. The paint jobs were so clean that their headlights shone back at them as they parked.

"I wonder who these belong too," Bobby said, not bothered about the rain anymore.

"Probably that rich girl in there," Chibs chuckled.

Happy looked into the reception area where a small blonde woman was stood, tapping her foot impatiently as she spoke to the disinterested motel employee behind the desk. The closer they got to the door, the more they could hear her voice. She was complaining about the cleanliness of her room and bedsheets.

"-sleepwear is Chanel!" she ranted, "do you even know what that means?"

The man behind the desk looked up as the four men walked through the door. He had an expression on his face that suggested he had been subjected to this for a long time and was pleading with them for help but Jax just shrugged and folded his arms.

"It means," the woman continued, "that I am not paying for my room until I get some sheets that aren't ridden with bed bugs and… heaven knows what else!"

She threw her arms up dramatically and then folded them again, still tapping her foot against the cheap linoleum floor. She hadn't even turned when the guys walked in and Jax shot Happy an amused look as they took in her bedraggled appearance. She had some fluffy pink sandals on her feet but the fur had been drenched where she had obviously been treading in puddles and walking in the rain. Upon closer inspection, her shiny blonde hair was hanging limply around her shoulders and her silk robe was darker around the shoulders where the rain had hit it.

"Look," the man behind the desk sighed, "I can give you sheets but the housekeeper won't be in until 1:30 tomorrow afternoon."

"You're expecting me to change my own sheets? What kind of place is this?"

"You are paying $5 for the night. What do you expect?"

The woman scoffed as the long suffering man put some "clean" sheets on the grimy desk and slid her key back over to her. She took them with another scoff and spun around to leave but jumped back into the desk when she saw the four men then shuddered when she realised where her silk robe had brushed against. Happy watched with amusement as she looked up at them with a disgruntled look on her face but the wide, grey eyes betrayed her fear of the tall, leather clad men.

"Let me get the door for you Lass," Chibs said with humour in his voice, "I can tell you've had a trying day."

She looked up at him thankfully with those wide, doe eyes and nodded as tears welled up in them, making her eyes look even bigger and so innocent that it was hard to believe she had just been chewing out the receptionist. She was just about through the door to go back into the rain when Bobby caught her forearm, pulling her to his chest.

"You want me to make you feel better?" he leered at her and she visibly wretched, dropping her sheets and blankets.

"I," she said spitefully, the crocodile tears all dried up, "would literally rather die."

The guys laughed and Happy let himself smile slightly at her rebuff of his brother.

She wrenched her arm out of his grip, realised that she had dropped the sheets and stamped her foot with a quiet shriek of anger. As she stormed out of the reception she screamed "Daddy!" causing them all to laugh again. Bobby ducked his head back out into the rain and shouted after her.

"I'll be your Daddy, darlin'!"

They heard her shriek again.

Later that night, Happy had been kept awake by his roommates snoring and couldn't stop the itching that came from being in a bed that probably hadn't been changed since the motel was built. He understood what the girl meant by bedbugs and whatever else was on the sheets. Bobby hadn't seemed to care and had settled into sleep quickly.

The rain had stopped outside so he decided he would get away from Bobby's snoring and take a walk in the fresh air, hoping that perhaps the cold would make him feel tired. As soon as the air hit him he knew he wouldn't be getting any sleep that night, regardless of how much he walked around. The sound of a dog barking caught his attention so he decided to follow the noise only to see the girl now fully clothed in tight blue jeans, beige high heels and a white top that sort of floated in the night air. She was also holding a small hairy creature that is the opposite of what Happy would call a dog. This thing was more like a hairy rat or, equally, a fancy dress wig with legs. She was stamping her foot in anger and whining as she bashed weakly on the window of the vending machine where a bag of chips was hung suspended from its hook. It just wasn't her day, Happy thought with a small smile as she huffed and hitched the hairy thing up higher. She had obviously decided that it wasn't worth the trouble and turned to leave.

Mildly annoyed at the waste of a dollar, Happy stalked over and kicked the vending machine harshly; making the lights inside flicker. It took two times until the chips fell down into the bottom of the machine where he dipped his hand into the too small door to get them out for her. when he looked up to call her back, he saw that she was already looking at him with those wide eyes and clutching the thing to her chest tightly.

"Here," he said gruffly and held the bag out to her.

The girl was stood frozen in the middle of the path before blinking and jumping into action. She walked slowly over to him, with her hand outstretched and watching him just as closely as he was watching her. The bag was snatched out of his hand quickly, the sudden movement causing the dog thing to start yapping again.

"Shh, Romeo," she hushed the dog then nodded to him once, "thank you, sir."

Nobody had ever called him sir before, not seriously anyway and he kind of liked it. He gave her a small smile and nodded back to her. Her voice had lost all notion of the brattiness she was showing before but had now turned innocent and kind of scared.

"Catherine?!" a male voice shouted from across the parking lot, "are you still there?"

"Yes Daddy!" the girl shouted and turned to walk away towards the open door.

Before she went into the room, the girl cast one more curious and mildly frightened look back at the biker. Happy was watching her with just as much curiosity until the door was closed behind her. When Happy turned back to the machine, he realised that the lights had gone out and the display screen was flashing nonsensical words. Without even thinking, he punched the glass until it shattered and grabbed some chocolate bars and bags of chips for the guys.

Even with his stomach full of potato and chocolate he couldn't sleep but kept thinking back to those big grey eyes and sweet voice calling him sir and he smiled. It was a shame he would never see her again.