Collynn was awake for a long time before she dared to open her eyes. Was she dead? Was she in hell for killing that bastard? Because she was pretty sure that this is what hell would feel like. She pondered everything that had happened in the previous twenty-four hours…well at least as much as her hungover brain would allow her.

She smiled contentedly as she remembered being tucked in like a little kid and promptly passing out a while ago. She had no idea how long she'd been asleep or what time it was. All she knew was that she felt like she had just gotten run over by a Mac truck, and then backed over a few times for good measure.

She burrowed down underneath the comforter for a few moments, enjoying the sense of security that the heavy blanket provided her with. Inhaling as deeply as her battered nose would allow, she hummed in pleasure at the smell of leather and men's cologne. There was a hint of cigarette smoke underneath.

After she laid on the comfy mattress for what felt like hours with her eyes closed, she hazarded opening one eye. Then the other. Jesus Christ it was bright in there. The numbers on the alarm clock that sat sentry next to the bed were a jumble of red neon for a moment until they slowly rounded themselves into focus. 10:24 A.M. Collynn groaned. She'd slept for close to sixteen hours. However, it wasn't as if she didn't need it.

Tossing the thick comforter back off of her, she noticed that she was still clothed in her hoodie and jeans. Whoever had tucked her in the previous day had removed her red Converse and sat them on the floor by the foot of the bed.

Collynn crept over to where someone had dropped off her duffle bag for her and pulled out a black tank top and another pair of clean jeans. After changing quickly, she peered at herself in the small bathroom mirror. The black thread of the stitches stood out in stark contrast to her pale skin and the mottled bruising had settled itself underneath her eyes. Luckily, some of the swelling in her nose had gone down, reducing it almost back to the size of the cute button that it normally was.

She frowned deeply at her reflection and hung a bath towel over that mirror as well. She really just didn't want to look at herself. Heaving a sigh, she combed through her curls with her fingers and plaited it quickly into a dutch braid. That would have to do for the day.

With her entire body protesting, she made her way down the steps from the apartments and into the clubhouse. It was blissfully quiet as she trekked to the garage in the hopes of finding her dad or Tig. Any familiar face would do at the moment.

"Collynn!" She nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard the feminine voice behind her. She put a steadying hand over her heart and smiled at Gemma Teller-Morrow. Gemma was another person that she vaguely remembered, but couldn't quite be sure. Collynn had no idea how to react to her.

Whirling around far too quickly for her hungover body to handle, she was face to face with Gemma. With one look at her, anyone could tell that she was a ball buster. She was nearly as tall as Collynn, back straight and chin held proudly high. She had a soft look on her face as she surveyed Collynn's.

Collynn was flooded with relief. She didn't want to be the target of anyone's ire today.

"I hear you're pretty handy in the kitchen." Gemma started with a smirk and Collynn returned it in spite of herself.

"I can hold my own."

"Well, I've got a customer waiting for me in the office. If there's anything I can do, you let me know, baby. Especially if you want to talk." Gemma gave her a firm squeeze of the shoulders and marched back toward the TM office where she was stationed.

Collynn smiled. It felt good to be around people who gave a shit. She hadn't had that in a long time. Collynn's relationship with her mother was terrible. Lilian Rourke was a flighty piece of work. After leaving Charming, her mother had joined a commune outside of Oakland, bringing Collynn along with her. It had been nice, and the people kind, but it didn't last. Her mother had eventually grown bored with the small community of gentle hippies and went on to find bigger and better.

She had moved around a lot in her adolescence; her mother was more of the transient type than anyone had given her credit for, hopping from man to man and dragging her daughter along for the ride. All of the men that her mother had dated were nice enough, but they either saw her as a consolation prize or a nuisance, never really taking interest in her. Collynn was only twenty-five, but her mother was already on husband number four.

"Hey, Kitten!" For the second time that morning, she had been snuck up on. It wasn't something that she traditionally let happen.

She scowled at Tig with mock indignation. "Don't call me that. I'm not a kitten. At the very least, I'm a ferocious goddamn hyena."

"Whatever you say." He shrugged and looked down at her. "How are you doing?"

"Oh, you know. I'm hiding out with a motorcycle club because I imploded my life by brutally murdering my fiancé. Typical Friday. I'm waiting on the wall of trauma to come crashing down on me." Collynn raised both of her hands in a shrug. "What's a girl to do?"

"Well, you've got options, darlin'. You could act like he never existed and go back home to your fancy job. You could move to Charming. You could do whatever your little heart desires."

"I don't know if I can go back to that house." Her voice was quiet, and she was almost ashamed at letting anything get past her mask of false bravado.

"Then you don't have to." Tig made it sound way too easy. Surely it couldn't be that easy.

"It's way easier said than done, Tiggy."

"You're a lawyer aren't ya? I'm sure you could find a great job anywhere you want to."

"Yeah. Don't remind me. I have to be in court on Monday looking like I got into a fight with a chainsaw and lost."

Tig barked a laugh. "Wouldn't some makeup work for your nose?"

"Here, let me break your nose twice, and then try and dab anything in that general direction. Nothing is touching this beak, thanks."

"Point taken." He raised his hands in surrender. Collynn liked Tig. He was honest, and never failed to say something funny, even if it is at her expense.

"Do you know where my dad is? I really need to talk to him."

Tig smirked. "He's over at Cara Cara helping with the books."

"Cara Cara?"

"Porn studio, love." She heard an accented rumble behind her and she jumped again.

"Jesus Christ! I'm getting all of you people bells! Quit sneaking up on me!" She looked quite put out as she turned to face the Scot. He was taller than she was by several inches and much more handsome now that she was sober. Her cheeks reddened when she met his deep brown eyes.

Collynn tried to scan him as discreetly as possible, though she was sure that she was failing miserably. He was lean, but sturdy looking, with strong looking arms and biceps. He was wearing his TM Auto work shirt with the sleeves cut off and she had to make a conscious effort not to drool. She'd never been faced with someone so ruggedly…masculine.

"Glad ta know tha' I've still got some stealth left in me." Chibs chuckled and her cheeks reddened even further.

"Yeah, you're like a giant cat. Tig, you should be calling him Kitten, not me," Collynn quipped and Chibs grinned down at her, showing off his dimples again.

When he had seen her standing next to Tig out on the shop floor, he couldn't resist going over to talk to her when she had a clear head. His assessment had been right the night before. She was gorgeous. His fists tightened in anger when he saw the handprints on her throat that had just begun to fade, but he made no mention of them. It was too damn hot to spook her back into wearing a hooded sweatshirt just to cover the marks.

"So you guys deal in porn?"

Tig shook his head. "Not at the moment. The owner is a friend of the club, and she's been a little overwhelmed lately. Why? Are you adding porn star to your list of options?"

If Tig was hoping to rattle her, he was barking up the wrong tree. "It's crossed my mind. I'm not nearly coordinated enough to be a stripper, but sex is one of the things that I can do." Collynn's response was monotone, barely keeping a straight face as she considered the option with mock seriousness. "No, you fucking idiot. I was just wondering what business my dad had at a porn studio." Collynn gave a delicate shudder.

"Ever since he had ta quit bein' Bobby Elvis at Lake Tahoe, he been doin' tha accountin' at Cara Cara. Louanne can' balance a checkbook fer shite." Collynn frowned at Chibs' explanation.

She knew that the Elvis impersonations were something that her dad not only loved, but was good at. She could remember telling all of the kids in her class in kindergarten that her daddy was Elvis.

"I didn't know he wasn't doing it anymore. We haven't seen each other since before Christmas." Collynn stated glumly. It was already July. "Can someone take me over to him? I really need to get some shit straightened out with this whole mess."

"I'll run ya over on my bike, love. Give me a minute or two, an' I'll meet ya out front." She smiled gratefully at Chibs' offer, her cheeks coloring once again.

"Thanks, Chibs. I really appreciate it." Collynn peeked up at him and caught him looking back at her with a smile on his face.

"Not a problem."

Tig wasn't an idiot, no matter what Collynn had just said about him. He knew the looks that passed between them. Tig was really just a matchmaker at heart. The prospect of a new challenge added a new spring in his step as he left Collynn to go discuss the new events with his meddling partner in crime. If anyone loved to play Cupid, it was Gemma Teller-Morrow.

Collynn waited dutifully for Chibs to emerge from the garage as she sat on a picnic table out front. The sun was slowly baking her pale skin to a crisp, but she enjoyed being outside. She hadn't had the chance to spend any actual time outdoors lately. Normally, every few days, she would load Maggie up into her ancient Shelby that had definitely been in better shape and go hiking. At the very least, she and Maggie would go running around her neighborhood.

Ever since she had gotten her new job, Collynn hadn't had a chance to breathe, so she was enjoying the fresh air for the time being.

Chibs met her at the picnic table, donning his kutte, and offered her a helmet and a piece of gauze. She gave him a confused look when she took the gauze from him and he smiled at her. "Ya migh' want ta cover yer stiches, so tha helmet don't bother 'em."

Collynn gave him a grateful smile. "Thanks for being so considerate. Which bike is yours?"

Chibs pointed to a matte black Dyna. "There's not much in tha way of a bitch seat, but ya should be fine. Have ya ridden much before?"

Collynn almost drooled again. It was a beautiful bike. "I've ridden a few times. If I can keep my big ass on the back of a tiny Sportster, I'll be fine on your Dyna."

"But it's a fine arse, love." Chibs gave her a wink before making his way over to his bike and straddling it. He was impressed that she could recognize what his bike was, and he wanted to kick himself for commenting on her fine, fine arse.

Collynn's stomach fluttered as she slid onto the bike behind him, pulling her feet up to the pegs and wriggling close to him. She carefully placed the gauze over her stitches and settled her helmet over her braided hair.

When he started the bike, she wrapped her arms loosely around his stomach, trying to nonchalantly find out exactly what he had going on underneath the baggy work shirt and leather kutte he was wearing.

Collynn laid her cheek against the reaper patch at his back and contentedly watched the world pass her by. She was comforted by his scent, a mixture of motor oil, leather, tobacco, and aftershave, and she felt like she was momentarily untouchable.

When they arrived at the dusty parking lot that housed Cara Cara, she spied her dad seated on his god forsaken Fat Boy and smoking a cigarette. She couldn't believe that the bike was still in existence.

She shook her head as she dismounted Chibs' bike. "Why in the hell do you still have that thing?!" She cried exasperatedly.

When she was a kid, Bobby had come to visit her, and they went for a ride on his Fat Boy. To make a long story short, the fucking thing broke down and her dad had to lay the bike down on the side of the highway. Collynn was lucky that Bobby had told her to jump before he laid the damn thing down. She got away with only a couple of patches of road rash, but she was still horrified to see that the bike hadn't yet been melted down into aluminum cans.

"Oh, come on, Colls. I've had it for so long. It was my first brand new bike." Bobby gave her a sad look. She scoffed. She patented that puppy dog look.

"Yeah! And it's going to kill someone," she huffed angrily as she peeled her helmet and the gauze off of her head.

"We've been telling him tha same thing, love. He just won' listen, the stubborn old man." Chibs grinned and shook his head, swinging his leg back over his bike to stand next to her.

Bobby scoffed, an exact mimicry of the scoff his daughter gave him a moment before. "Who are you calling an old man? You're only a few years younger than I am!"

Chibs' cheeks reddened a bit and his well-trimmed goatee twitch a little. He was slightly embarrassed at his age. He didn't want to admit that he was old enough to be Collynn's dad, feeling a bit lecherous at the thoughts that crossed his mind while she clung to him on the ride over. He shook it off and retorted, "What are ya talkin' about? I'm not a day over thirty. Look at my complexion. It's flawless."

Collynn let out a short laugh and shot him a smile.

"What are you doing here, pumpkin? Did you need something?" Bobby's face grew concerned as he scanned his daughter, looking for any additional injuries.

"Yeah, I wanted to sit down and figure out what the plan was. I can't hide out in Charming forever, dad." Collynn rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly and Bobby nodded.

"Well, let's get inside and talk. It's too fucking hot out here." Bobby waved Collynn and Chibs inside the building. It was time to finally show his kid a little bit more of his profession than just being Bobby Elvis.