Chapter 8

Sophie

I watched Daryl leave after I told him we didn't stand a chance. He scared me. The club scared me. I wasn't afraid he would physically hurt me, at least I didn't think he would. It was the emotional damage he could do to me. Deep down I knew that this hard ass biker could be my undoing. Men had shit on me for years. Sean, I thought was the exception. We had been living together for about eight months. I knew the last few weeks we were arguing more than getting along. I didn't realize it was because I wasn't into the kinky sex that he was.

Sean had hinted about a threesome with Jordan once or twice and I had firmly told him no. It seemed like he should've been living with his best friend and not me. I did realize that while it hurt, I was going to be able to move on easier than I thought.

There was something about Daryl that if we got involved, losing him would never be easy. Whether he walked away or I did, either way, it would hurt me more than I could maybe handle. I had lost so much in my life than I didn't have it in me to take a chance on him.

My Daddy died when I was four. Momma kept us living in Georgia where Chrissy and her family were until I was about to go to high school. That's when she met Mike and we followed him to Kansas. They lasted a couple of years before we were on our own again.

She was working low paying jobs as was I. Not much available for a kid right out of high school except working at fast food joints or at the mall. I hated doing both. Together we barely made enough to keep a roof over our heads.

I had just gotten my first real job working as a receptionist in an office when Momma got sick. Six months later, I was totally on my own at twenty-two. Eight miserable years later, I'm back with the only family I have left.

And I'm confused more than ever.

I saw the life that Chrissy led. I'm not sure I could do that and there was no way I was going to invest my heart in a relationship that could only end with it shattering into a million heartbroken pieces.

Diesel loved Chrissy. I saw that every day, but he loved his club more. Plans got canceled instantly whenever his phone rang. Questions couldn't be asked and danger was right around the corner. That was not going to be the life I wanted to lead.

It was a shock when I saw Daryl standing next to Brick. We lived in the same town but I had been able to distance myself from the club as much as possible. Basically, that meant, I never went to any gathering at the clubhouse even though Chrissy tried to get me to go all the time. Plus, whenever I heard the rumble of more than one Harley approaching the house I tried to stay out of the way as much as possible.

It was time for me to start looking for a place of my own.

Still, I watched the man that confused my heart take off his cut before climbing into the van. There was a time when I didn't know what a cut was or why he took it off before getting into a…cage. At one time it was only a van, but why I thought about cars and trucks as cages now showed you how much influence the MC world had on me and I only lived on the edge of it.

Daryl rested his head back on the headrest of a second before hitting the steering wheel with the palm of his man. I felt his frustration as much as my own. It was my choice. I wanted to live my life following my own rules not one of a sexist male-dominated motorcycle club.

He never looked back into the shop before driving off. I hoped I hadn't cost Maddie their business. She had been good to me and it wouldn't be fair if this affected her.

"He's gone?" she asked quietly emerging from the back of the store.

"Yes, I'm so sorry Maddie. This never should have happened here. I was surprised to see him here."

"Come in the back and we'll have a cup of tea," she encouraged me. I looked over at my boss. She was a petite little thing who was barely five feet tall. Her long red wavy hair hung in braid going all the way down the back. She had the patience of a saint until she didn't. Then watch out for her fiery temper that I had seen directed at a careless baker one morning and I knew never to piss her off.

She was also becoming a friend.

"Someone needs to watch the store," I reminded her.

"Becca is here for her shift. She was just grabbing an apron before coming out so the timing is perfect."

I wasn't sure I wanted to share my story with Maddie, but then again she was an impartial person in my drama. Any time I talked to Chrissy, she tried to encourage me to get involved in the club life. If not with Trax, then maybe someone else. She just didn't get that my brief experience with the MC life was enough. I wanted a man that didn't wear a leather vest that made people nervous. A man that drove a real car every day. A man that could give me a normal life where I came first.

Becca joined us in the store with her usual big smile. She was in high school and worked a few afternoons a week. I still had an hour left on my shift, but if the boss wanted to talk, then maybe I would talk. I gave Becca a rundown on what still needed to be done before joining Maddie in her office. Since she tended to work all hours of the night, there was a large comfortable sofa in there so she could catch some sleep whenever she needed a quick nap. That was where I found her drinking a hot cup of green tea with her legs curled up under her.

"I made you a cup, too," she said pointing to the steaming mug next to her electric teapot.

"Thanks," I smiled as I grabbed the mug before joining her on the cushy couch.

I knew she was watching me over the top of her mug, but I waited for her to say something. "I grew up in this town. I don't remember a time when the Road Devils weren't here. I went to school with some of them before they joined up. I know they don't have a good reputation in town, but a lot of that is undeserved, especially now. Bear's done a good job of making them more of a piece of the community. They're good for this town, but not everyone sees it that way."

"Why are you trying to talk these guys up to me?" I asked her.

"I couldn't help overhearing you and Trax especially when your voices were raised."

"I'm sorry, Maddie."

"Don't be sorry. There weren't any customers around so it's okay, just don't let it happen too often."

She was way too understanding. "It won't happen again. Unless Daryl…I mean Trax, is hungry there's no reason for him to come into the store to see me. He has no other reason to come back."

"Okay, here is where I pry a little bit. Well, maybe a lot," she laughed. "The gist of what I got and feel free to correct me or add in more details is that you met Trax at some point. I got the feeling that somehow you didn't know he was with the Road Devils. Am I right so far?"

"Yes. I had a flat tire and he stopped to fix it for me."

"So far so good," she said before taking another sip of her tea. "But something happened between you two that went beyond him just fixing your flat."

And that's when I felt my cheeks start to flush and I knew I was blushing badly. I looked away from her as I held the hot mug of tea between my hands.

"Just like I thought and you get no judgment from me. Been in your shoes before so I perfectly understand where you are coming from."

If she's making me explain Trax to her, I'm certainly going pry a bit myself. "You had a brief encounter with one of those guys, too?" Now it was her time to blush, so I pushed her just like she was pushing me. "C'mon Maddie. You know you can't leave it there. I'll go first, then you need to spill. Trax and I didn't have a one night stand. It was more like a quick rainy afternoon hook up. It wasn't planned, but I did have that flat tire. Except it started to rain and we waited out the storm inside my SUV. Let's just say we steamed up the windows pretty damn good."

"Then what happened?"

"He fixed my tire and basically rode off out of my life. I never saw him again until one Friday night at the clubhouse. Chrissy was trying to fix me up with Wolf. That man is H.O.T hot, but I knew he was too much of a player. I didn't want to be his flavor of the week and he didn't get my panties wet. Oh, no! I shouldn't have said that." That was way too much information to be sharing with my boss. I hung my head in my hand.

"Don't stop there, girl! This is finally getting good," she laughed. "I know Wolf and he is a gift from God. I've seen women stop dead in their tracks when he struts by. That man doesn't know how to simply walk, but I get what you mean. He doesn't do that to my panties either."

I think I found my new best friend.

"Who wets your panties, Soph?"

"Daryl…Trax. Whatever his damn name is, he's the one."

"It's Bear for me," she added quietly.

I looked at her in sheer unadulterated shock. "Bear? The big, bad bushy President of the Road Devils? That Bear?"

Maddie shook her head yes. "He was my one club hook up. It was back when he wasn't President yet. My girlfriends took me to one of the Friday night club parties. I had never seen anything like him. He was larger than life and like twice as big as me. He was playing pool and had a Hellion hanging on him. He made a shot and when he looked up, our eyes met. I watched him drop the pool cue and push the Hellion off his arm. He walked over to me and held out his hand. I took it and we spent the night and the next two days in his room having the best sex of my life. Early Monday morning, I slipped out while he was sound asleep. Two days later I left town to go to culinary school. I didn't see him again until I moved back here two years ago to open the bakery. I've never forgotten him."

"Did he forget you?"

Maddie smiled at me, "No, he recognized me right away one day as I was walking down the street. He stopped his bike in the middle of the road and just stared at me. We've never really talked since that night. He sends his prospects in to buy baked goods for their Friday meetings. Other than that, we don't have any contact."

"But..."

"No, this isn't about me, it's about you and Trax. I heard him apologize for being what I assumed was him fucking up. But you said no to him. Why? He's a good guy. I've known his casually for a few years. He's quiet, a hard worker, and I've never heard anyone say a bad thing about him. Now his brother, Sugar is a whole different ballgame, but Trax is a good guy."

"He could be the best guy in the world, Maddie but I don't want to have the MC controlling my life. I see how Chrissy lives and she tells me she's happy. That's her life, but I don't want it to be mine. I need to come first in my man's life, not some boys club."

"Shit, Sophie! Don't ever let them hear you call it a 'Boy's Club' it's a hell of a lot more than that."

"They ride motorcycles all day and drink at night. What more can they be?" I know Diesel had explained what the club meant to him, but I still did see it differently.

"I think it's time to graduate to wine. Hold on."

This sounded like it was going to get even more serious than what we had just talked about. I was still trying to process petite little Maddie with a man as big as Bear. He had to be well over a foot taller than she was. Where he was huge, she was tiny. I wondered if he had the big beard back when she was with him. With the gray in it, it did make him look a bit older than I thought he was. I had met him once when he dropped by Diesel and Chrissy's house one night.

"Here," she said handing me a glass of cool white wine. "I always keep a bottle or three handy. Now let's change your perception of Angel Valley's big bad MC."

"Good luck." I took a sip of the wine and found it crisp and refreshing. "Nice."

"Thanks. First, the MC has several businesses in town. The garage that Trax runs and a couple of bars. I'm sure there's more, but those I know for sure. Many of their employees are people from town so they are helping the town that way. They've had motorcycle runs as fundraisers. I know of a family whose little girl became sick and needed a bone marrow transplant. Bear not only organized a poker run that included clubs from all over, but they had testing stations to see if anyone was a match. One guy from a club in Alabama was and he stepped up right way saving that little girl's life. Not to mention the almost ten thousand dollars they raised for the family. And then there was…"

I listened to Maddie go on and on about how good these guys really were. I may have had my eyes opened a bit more about the MC, but I also knew there was a dark side that she wasn't mentioning. That's the side that scared me. Sean had broken my heart a scant few months ago. Well, maybe it was more like cracked it a bit, but Daryl who I had known only a few hours hurt me more than he should have. I knew if I gave him the chance and it didn't work out, he'd destroy me.

There was no other place for me to run to except Angel Valley, so I had to play it safe. My sanity depended on it.

"Okay, I get the club isn't exactly what I thought it was, but still doesn't change my mind about Daryl." Maddie had this big grin on her face that sidetracked me. "What?"

"He told you to call him, Daryl?"

"Yes."

"And everyone in this town calls him Trax. Doesn't that tell you anything?"

"That he's confused about his name?"

Maddie burst out laughing. "No silly, that he wanted you to think of him apart from his club identity. It meant you were special to him."

I shook my head. "No, that makes no sense. We barely knew each other and nothing had happened between us yet when I told him I was Sophie and he said he was Daryl."

"He knew you were different. Trust me."

"Whatever." I knew the truth. We both had a good time that afternoon, but it was nothing but an easy hook up for him. And boy was I easy that day taking off my clothes when he told me too. I didn't say no or even think this was a crazy idea. He got into the backseat and dropped his drawers. I was one hundred percent naked as I climbed over the seats so I could sit on his really big dick.

So classy of me.

"I don't know Bear's real name. I spent a whole weekend with him and I only know him by Bear. Daryl told you his real name, whether you think so or not, that's important. It really is."

"Either way, Daryl and I aren't going anywhere. But I do need your help with something else." It was time to take my next step in independence and change the topic.

"What's that?" Maddie asked as she added more wine to both of our glasses.

"It's time I moved out of Diesel and Chrissy's place. I've got money saved, but I just need a relatively inexpensive place to stay. Do you have any ideas?"

Chrissy and I got along great and we loved hanging out when Diesel was gone but I was starting to feel like a third wheel in their house. I was ready to be on my own and they could use some privacy. I could also use a few decent nights' sleep. Those two were way too active half the night.

"Maybe," she said. I could see her thinking and I'd appreciate any help she could give me. "Furnished or unfurnished?"

"Furnished would be better since I have clothes and nothing much else with me."

"Let me make a call." I watched Maddie get up and head over to the desk. She picked up her cell and I listened to her call someone on her contact list. "Great. When are you free? We're at the bakery." She nodded her head a few times before saying, "Perfect. We'll see you in ten."

Then she turned to me with a smile. "Ron Hanson who owns the building that has the coffee shop, book store, my friend Gail's clothing store and a few others. He offers small apartments beside a few offices above them. One of the apartments that is semi-furnished opened up a few days ago. He has time to show it to us now."

"Now? Oh wow! Is it affordable?" Could finding an apartment be this easy?

"Ron's made himself a comfortable living in real estate. I went to school with him years ago. He has these handful of apartments for people that could use a slightly helping hand. It's his way of giving back to the town. So grab your purse and let's head out."

And an hour later, I had myself an apartment. It was one bedroom with a small living room and kitchen, but it would work perfectly. Ron asked me to give him a few days to get it painted and have a cleaning crew come through it. I was so excited.

Angel Valley was working out for me. I had two jobs that I liked along with my own place to live. And hopefully, I was far enough from anything Road Devils oriented, except Chrissy. I could never lose her.

I drove back to Diesel's house making a list in my head of everything that I would need. Some I could get now, like sheets and towels, and others would need to wait until I had more money like a TV. I hated telling Chrissy, but she knew my staying with them was only temporary. I'm sure Diesel was long ready to have me gone. We got along fine, but it was his house and he and Chrissy hadn't had that much time together since he officially made her his ol' lady.

And that was just another reason I was glad I was further away from the MC. No one was ever going to call me an old lady!

TRAX

I was so damn close to being late for Church. This ain't the kind of Church that earns you an evil look from your Mama because you're sliding into the pew a few minutes late. This is the one that gets your ass beat down good and you fall out of favor with the Prez and possibly your patch pulled.

I slammed the van into park and Brick was handing me the bakery boxes as I ran around the van struggling into my cut. He held the door open for me as I blew right past him into the clubhouse. He was gonna bring the muffler parts over to Mickey at the garage.

When I hit the doorway I could see I was the last one there. Never been late for church once. Never. At least today, I had two things going for me – the bakery boxes in my hand and my secret weapon.

"You're late," Bear growled at me as I headed toward him with the boxes.

A minute was technically late, but barely. Except, I wasn't gonna argue with him. "Sorry Prez. It took us longer than it should have to hit Willie's and the bakery." When I saw he was still angry, I knew I had one more trick up my sleeve. I put the boxes down by him so he got the first choice then I whispered in his ear, "Maddie specifically wanted me to tell you that she hoped you liked what she sent this week."

And Bear relaxed. It was just a hint, but it was enough that I knew I was out of the doghouse. I took my usual seat at the table and we waited for Bear to choose what he wanted out of the boxes. Glad our Prez had a sweet tooth.

The boxes were quickly passed around before we started. This was a room that no one came into unless you were a patched member or invited in. Our coat of arms, the winged skull, was proudly displayed on the wall behind Bear. The table was big, really big and fit a dozen of us around the table easy. The rest of the guys sat in assorted chairs around the room. Those of us at the table, which included me, were either officers of the club, Prez, VP, Secretary, Treasurer, Enforcer, Sergeant at Arms, and the Road Captain plus those of us that either ran MC businesses or had more time put in than the rest. Even though Sugar had more time in the club than I did, I sat at the table and he didn't. I knew that burned his ass, but I ran the Road Devils Motors or RDM as we like to call it and he didn't.

Finally, Bear slammed the gavel down and all conversation came to a halt.

"Let's get down to business. Buck, minutes from last week and don't take all fuckin' year this time."

Nobody listened to Buck. He was an old-timer in the club who did the job that nobody else wanted to do. He took the minutes from each meeting and went over them each week. It was about all he did for the club as he had gotten up there in age. The thing was he did everything old school and half the time he couldn't read what he had written.

But that wasn't the reason nobody was paying any attention to him. It was Bear. Not one club member was saying anything, but we all saw it. I didn't dare look at Blade who sat across from me or Cue who was next to him. If we did we'd most likely lose our patches, except there was no fuckin' way almost thirty guys in here where gonna keep from busting out laughing.

We held it together during Buck's longer than necessary minutes reading.

Barely.

Then it was Bear's turn. "Guys, got some rather disturbing news last night. Kat called me and it seems she had a few of the Outlaw Knights at the club yesterday and the night before. Now, I don't know what the fuck they're thinking being in our territory but the OK's gonna learn right fast this ain't no place for them."

I saw him looking around the table and I knew it was gonna happen. We were all about to lose our patches. "Blade, you think this is funny? What the fuck are you smiling for? Cue, you too? And Ghost? What the fuck is going on here? You don't think this is serious?"

Then we all lost it. I had never seen so many men laughing so hard. And Bear had no fuckin' clue.

"What the fuck is going on!" he bellowed. "Have you all lost your Goddamned fuckin' minds?"

Even Colt was having a hard time controlling himself and he was the VP.

"Prez, no offense but we can't sit here listening to you talk about the fuckin' Outlaws looking like that. Naw, Sorry. It's not fair to ask us to do that," Diesel laughed.

"My kid looked better after eating his birthday cupcake last week and he's only one!" came from Mace.

Bear looked furious and I knew he had no idea why. "Look in the mirror, Bear," came from one of the guys in the back.

Our Bigger than life president got up and stormed over to the mirror hanging on the wall. "Son of a fuckin' bitch!" Yep, he saw what we've all been staring at for over half an hour. His beard was filled with pink icing from the cupcake he ate. This could have gone two ways, he could be furious at us for laughing and embarrassing him or he could laugh with us. We waited to see what was going to happen.

And we waited while he stared at himself in the mirror.

I don't think any of us breathed until he finally burst out laughing. Then was a lot of good-natured ribbing going on as Bear tried to clean his beard with a bandana he had in his back pocket. He only succeeded in making it worse as he spread the pink color throughout his gray beard.

Maybe he wanted a snack for later.

"Fuckin' hell, I ain't got time for this. Shut the hell up. Anyone says anything more about my pink beard I'll either put you on bathroom duty for the next month or restrict your access to the free pussy around here. Your choice!" he bellowed.

Fun time was over.

Everyone got immediately serious. First, none of those wanted any of those punishments. Prospects didn't even get bathroom duty. That disgusting job was left up to the Hellions who he was threatening to cut us off from. If there was one thing the guys here liked was the easily available free pussy. And lastly, the problem with the Outlaw Knights was no joke.

They were a thorn in our side for years. A small 1%er club that was intent on taking what was ours. We had numbers in our favor, as we were easily twice as big as they were. If they wanted to deal with drugs and run guns, that was their business. Except, they had no business doing it on our turf. Showing up at Kat's, which was the Kitty Kat Club on the far side of town, was nothing short of them thumbing their noses at us.

There was not one brother who would put up with that shit. They thought they were tough, but we were fucking tougher.

"Those pricks are testing us and they're gonna see that they fucked up. Nobody comes into Road Devil territory with their colors on unless they have a death wish. I need a presence at the Kitty Kat Club tonight and the next few nights in case these assholes show up again. Who wants in besides Striker?" Bear asked.

Striker was our Enforcer he would be in charge. There was a good reason that Bear had nominated him for that position and he was easily voted in after our previous enforcer was killed in a bike accident several years ago…the guy was huge. Striker was easily six-four and close to two hundred fifty pounds of pure muscle. His dark eyes could practically force a confession out of anyone. Those that didn't break that easily, rarely made it out alive from the "Back Room."

I looked around the room and I about laughed. Almost every guy had his hand up, myself included. Any chance we got to hang at Kitty Kat's we went. It was the best strip club in the area and the club was a silent partner with Kat. This gave the guys with ol' ladies a legit excuse to go. From the looks of it, we'd be well represented.

Striker set up two groups, one for tonight and one for tomorrow night. If they didn't show, we'd regroup for next week. I was going with the group for tonight. I was raring to bang some heads. Sophie's got me all twisted up and I needed to take out my frustration on someone. That it would be an Outlaw Knight was even better.

"Everyone meet Striker here at nine." Bear slammed the gavel down adjourning church this week.

I stood up to leave and Bear called out for me to wait. "Son-of-a-bitch," I said under my breath. I waited until the rest of the guys left. Blade said in a singsong voice in his way out, "Someone's in trouble," which earned him a fuck-you glare from me.

"What's up, Prez?" He couldn't still be pissed that I was like barely late? Could he?

He looked at me with those steel-colored eyes of his, then down to the empty boxes in front of him and back to me. "I'm asking you to do this as a favor to me. It's not any type of punishment, but I'm taking Brick off the Friday Bakery run and putting you on it.

Not what I expected and not what I wanted. Why was I getting assigned a job that was for a prospect? I was a senior club member.

"That's gonna take me away from the garage. You sure you want that, Boss?"

"Yes, I do. This is between you and me, Trax. You 'bout the only one here that I know won't gossip like the rest of these damn assholes. Worse than a bunch of cackling women."

Still not sure why I still need to do this but if he wants me to and for some reason trusts me with it, I'll do it. But it ain't like this is some secret deal he's got going on. It's fuckin' cupcakes. My big problem is Sophie. I get the feeling that I'm gonna be the last person she wants to see, but well that's tough shit. It'll give me a legitimate reason to be at the bakery and see her. She may be done with me, but that ain't mean I'm done with her.

"You got it, Bear." I went to get up and he stopped me.

"When you see Maddie, can you tell her...I like the variety of shit she sends us. Hell, I wish these hungry bastards wouldn't eat it all, but no more pink fuckin' cupcakes. She knows I like raspberry, but the pink has gotta go."

"No pink. Got it."

"And...if she's got a message for me. I wanna hear it right away, so make sure you get back in plenty of time."

And that's why he needed me.

I knew Maddie and even though it was a simple message she sent back with me, he wanted more. And I bet the prospect never came back with anything like that. I might as well be passing love notes between them like kids used to do in school.

I was nothing but a fucking messenger boy.

It was a stupid job for me to have, but if Bear wanted me to do it, then I'd do it. Big chance I'd be bitching the entire time, but I'd do it. Maybe Sophie's see that I ain't such a bad guy or on the other hand I'd see what I was missing every Friday.

"Consider it done. Are we good? Cause I need to see how many singles I got for tonight." Going to a strip club meant I needed tip money.

Bear laughed at me. "You're a cheap son-of-a-bitch, Trax. Go count your money you cheapskate then bash some heads in tonight, brother."

I smiled back at him. "My kinda night. I get to beat the shit outta an Outlaw then get laid."

Bear shook his head at me as I left the room. I was looking forward to a really good night