CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Heading back towards Donna's house, having shoved her in the driver's seat and giggled while watching her take what seems to be half an hour to adjust the seat to her liking, I'm startled from my thoughts of both houses when the unfamiliar phone rings again.

Checking the number this time I grin, "Cam, where are you?"

"We're right outside some casino in Reno. Al wants to go in, insisting it's a 'sure thing'. I'm not sure if that means it's a sure thing that we'll win, find the next tattoo canvas, find someone to sleep with, your car will get broken into or what." Cam sounds tired, but I know driving across country would have done that, and the addition of dealing with Al and Doj wouldn't have helped.

I glance over at Donna, but she's already turning around and heading towards the Clubhouse to get them on the road. I'm still not sure why they can't drive straight on and have a couple of prospects meet them outside Charming, but I figure that it was Clay's call and if he wants to send an escort that's his right.

I tell Cam to go inside and have fun. After all it'll take a couple of hours to get the welcoming committee there. I issue a reminder to back the U-Haul with all my gear so it can't be opened, and leave a window open for the dog. After a snort and a 'no duh' voice in my ear as I hear the conversation telling Al they're going to gamble for a bit.

Even with Al obviously outside the car I hear cheer and can just picture the facial expression. My tattoo artist has a fondness for gambling, but not a good talent for winning. Which I am perversely grateful for as many lost bets have covered half the time spent on my designs.

Finding out what casino they are at just as we pull into the garage let I let Cam know I'll ring back in a few minutes with exactly how long the escort will take.

Snapping the phone shut and climbing out of the car I finally look up to see Jax is there, glaring at me like I'm something he stepped in. Ignoring the seriously uninformed biker I head towards the office, where I can see Clay talking to Gemma.

After filling them in Clay sticks his head out of the office and calls over Opie, Happy and Juice and a prospect, which as usual, is nicknamed 'shit head' to head out and scare the shit out of my two incoming friends.

Happy looks over at me, "Are you coming, or do we get a description of your cage?"

"I'll come, if that's okay, and one of you doesn't mind me as your bitch?" I answer, knowing that Happy won't care if I'm behind him, having been his 'bitch' before when we've ended up somewhere and Jax has vanished into pussy land. I'm not sure if Happy resents those times, but I'm sure if he did I would have heard about it. I haven't learnt a single thing about Juice, but I have to remind myself I've only been back 2 days. He's still an unknown, and I'm not willing to put myself on his bike without seeing how he rides first. And there is no way that I'd get on the back of a prospects bike. It just wouldn't happen in any situation unless it was life or death.

Happy comments loudly, within Jax's' ear shot, "Just like old times aye, but this time I'm taking you somewhere, instead of bringing you back." He tosses me a helmet and we head over towards his bike.

Donna nods enthusiastically when Opie asks if she wants to come, but runs into the office first to ask Gemma if she can take the kids for dinner.

Bending over I pop open the boot of my car and pull on an old jacket. I hear Donna's muffled gasp from across the lot, somehow, even from the door of the office she has recognised the battered item.

Shaking my head at her I silently plead for her to not mention a thing about the 40 year old leather, knowing that she'll get the answers she wants from me later she nods once and turns back to Gemma.

While Donna is sorting her kids I take a second to ring Cam, hearing the jingle of slot machines. "Hey, we're leaving Charming in about 5. It'll take maybe 2 hours to get there." I look at Happy and he nods his head confirming the 2 hour time frame I've allowed.

Snapping the phone closed and tucking it into the inside pocket of my inherited leather jacket I look up as Donna accepts the hoodie Opie has just collected from his dorm room and they head towards his bike.

Twisting my hair into a long rope I tuck it into my jacket before climbing on the back of Happy's bike, having learnt from previous experiences that wind hair is not good when your hair almost touches your ass.

Pulling out in a mini-formation I spot Jax, the glare still fixed on his face, but with the impending arrival of my friends I can't let his attitude bring me down.

Clinging on to Happy's back I remember the times, before Tara, that Donna, Opie, Jax and I would get on their bikes and make a trip up to Piney's cabin for a night. Once Tara and Jax got together that all changed, and suddenly it was Donna, Opie, Jax and Tara going to the cabin while I stayed home and listened to Jacob and David tell me why it was a good thing that I was getting distance between me and the club.

My family never understood my connection to the outlaw club that ruled the town I moved to when I was barely 12. They didn't get that I'd known Clay since my birth and it didn't matter to me if he was a outlaw, a biker, a criminal. As far as I was concerned he was Uncle Clay and one of my fathers best friends. My cousins never understood me either, no one bothered to ask if I liked Charming until one day this tiny brunette girl threw herself into the seat beside me, looked over and me and said, "You absolutely hate it here." It wasn't a question, but in that very minute Donna Learner showed me that not everyone in Charming tried to be polite to the orphan niece of Jacob Hale Snr.

Our friendship didn't start easy, her statement of fact weighed heavily on my mind for weeks afterwards, and I wondered constantly how this girl who didn't know anything about ME or where I was from could read me so easily, yet the family I'd be shipped to live with had no idea how much I hated their 2.5 children white picket fence life. Her parents instant dismissal of everything to do with the club included me because of Uncle Clay being one of the officers didn't make us forming a friendship easy, and I think that back then that was part of the reason why we fought so hard to be friends.

Glancing over at the young woman wrapped around her husband I can't help but feel incredibly grateful that she didn't let me stew in my distaste for the small town I'd moved to when my parents were killed after my father had a heart attack while piloting their light plane. She repeatedly demanded my attention, deciding within weeks of my arrival that we would be friends, and me fighting it was pointless. She once sent me a card for 'our' birthday, the day we celebrated every year when, as 13 year olds, we'd declared each other our best friend. The card was a nondescript forest setting the message inside simply saying 'I told you so.'

Bringing my mind back to the present I see Opie's bike drift a little closer so he can shout at me, "How are we going to know your cage when we get there?"

I can't help the laugh that bursts out, startling Happy a little before looking over at Opie and saying calmly, "Oh you'll see it alright."

He doesn't ask anything else, probably thinking we'll stop in the car park and I'll point it out, but I haven't been entirely honest about my Nitro. The decision to leave it behind in New York was a harder one that I thought; the final decision was only made when Cam pointed out to me that the Challenger didn't have any way to pull the U-Haul.

Settling in to the bitch seat on the bike I relax against Happy's back, content to remember previous times on a bike, and the person I used to cling to.