"When you and Jax talked about you getting your crow. Was he sober?" I asked Mia the next morning.
"Yeah. But we weren't very serious about it." she said
I nodded and looked out the window. It was raining. I didn't work tonight so I was planning on being lazy all day.
"Why are you asking?" Mia asked handing me my bowl of popcorn.
"Uh last night. Tig he told me he wanted me to get his crow."
Mia raised her eyebrows and nodded.
"Are you going to do it?" she asked.
"Um I don't think so. He was wasted."
She nodded and sat down next to me drinking her cup of Apple juice.
"Do you want to get it?" she asked
"I don't know. Maybe. I'll wait till he asks me sober"
Mia nodded and turned the t.v. on.
. . .
It seemed as though the weeks passed by in a blur. Mia started at the hospital and she actually loved it. I continued to work at the bar. Even though Mia was making less we still lived the same way as we did before.
Tig and I never spoke of the tattoo again. Which was fine with me because I wasn't ready to get it. We did however talk about him getting his own place. He said he was ready for move out of the clubhouse and get his own house. So later that week we went and started looking at houses. People instantly thought we were married. After telling them that we weren't they quickly switched to try selling the house to Tig. Until they realized how much my opinion mattered to him. It didn't take long to find one I loved as well as him.
It was small. Three bedroom, two baths. It had a big back yard as well. When you walked in you entered straight into the living room and to your right was the hallway the led to the bedrooms and bathrooms. The kitchen and living room connected through a arch and the kitchen looked out over the backyard. It was hardwood flooring except in the bedrooms there was a dark grey carpet and the bathrooms had plain white tile.
It would be a few weeks until Tig moved in but as we stood in the master bedroom he turned to me.
"You know if you want um you can have a drawer here. For when you stay over. More practical you know." he said clearly trying to a big deal out of it. I smiled and nodded my head before going over and giving him a brief kiss. And in true Tig fashion it.
"You know red we could start christening the new house right now" he said a mischievous look in his eyes.
"No!" I said slapping his hands a way laughing.
He just laughed before grabbing me and hugging me. And I wanted to say it. I wanted to just at that moment tell him that I loved him but I couldn't. So instead I kissed him deeply.
As I arrived home I found Mia making dinner with Jax at the table. I smiled because they hadn't heard me walk in because the door was open, a must have whenever Mia cooked. Mia was laughing. Jax was just smiling clearly pleased with himself for making her laugh. I walked back out but not before I saw Jax grab Mia and pull her close. He gave her a small kiss on the cheek and she closed her eyes leaning into it a silent tear made its way down her cheek. I saw Jax reach up and whip it and decided to turn and walk out. That was a very intimate moment and I felt like an intruder standing there.
I walked out and went to the vending machine near the front office. As I debated what to get a man walked by. I didn't pay him much mind until he spoke to me.
"Ezra?" I turned and there stood my first boy friend.
"Matthew?" I said shocked. I hadn't seen him sense we were teenagers. He looked almost the same. He was taller now at least 5'9. He had dark almost black hair and dark eyes. He lost his glasses that he used to wear. Must have traded them for contacts.
"Yeah! Wow. It's crazy seeing you again. And here of all places." he said walking closer.
"Right." I said "Why are you in Charming?"
"Uh business. I'm looking to buy some land" he said. "You look good."
I just laughed and rubbed my face. Even being with Tig and his very vulgar language something like what Matthew just said still makes me blush.
"Uh thanks" I said
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"Oh I live here now. With Mia" I said
"Shit you and Mia are still friends?" he asked clearly shocked.
"Yeah" I said laughing.
"Huh. Wouldn't have picked you for a small town gal" he said.
"Yeah. Well I needed a change" I said shrugging.
"Right. Well I have to get going but here" he said writing down something on a back of a business card. "Call me, maybe we can get a drink or something" he said handing over the card.
I looked down at it and saw on one side it was printed with Marvins Logging. There was a number underneath but he wrote his number on the back.
"Yeah maybe" I said looking up and smiling at him before he walked off.
. . .
"Should I call him?" I asked Mia.
She shrugged and looked up at me.
"Do you want to?" she asked
"Uh kinda. I mean it's been a long time sense I last saw him" I said
"Then call. What harm could it do?" she said raising her eyebrows. I nodded and called the number. After a brief conversation we agreed to meet at 8 pm at the bar Penthouse.
. . .
I walked in at 8:15. I had accidentally overslept. I looked at the bar and spotted Matthew there wearing a very sharp grey suit.
"Hey I'm sorry I'm late" I said sitting down next to him.
He smiled and looked over at me.
"Its ok" he said beforelooking me up and down. Good God man can you be more obvious?
I had chosen to wear something simple yet classy because Penthouse was an "upscale" bar. Although looking around I felt I should have worn a dress or something but most of my dresses were meant for club party's and serving drinks. Oh well. My black skinny jeans and white and gold shirt was going to have to cut it.
Matthew and I spent the next hour or so talking and catching up. I found out he was in town with the hopes of buying a big chunk of land, harvesting the trees there and then selling off the now clear property for business, he learned about my bartending and how I came to be in Charming. He asked if I was seeing someone and told him yes but didn't give him much info on Tig because Gemma had made it clear that anyone could be a threat to the guys and by my being with him someone could use me to try and get information about the club. I highly doubted Matthew was a spy but still you couldn't be to careful.
After a few drinks through we decided on a walk to clear our heads. We walked down main street in a comfortable silence. We ended up walking by the clubhouse at the same time Jax, Opie, Tig, Happy, Juice and Clay walked out. I thought it was weird because they never went for walks. They all turned and started walking towards us. I felt Matthew put his hand on my arm and looked down at it before shrugging it off.
"We should go" he said moving in front of me as if there was danger.
"Why?" I asked confused.
"Well of it isn't mister richy rich!" Clay said walking closer.
"Look gentleman I don't want any problems tonight. Can't we handle this tomorrow?"Matthew said making me wonder what his business with the club was.
"Well you came onto our turf. Let's handle this now" Clay said. I briefly wondered if the guys had seen me but I was almost completely hidden by Matthews broad back. I peeked around him and saw Tig look right at me.
"Oh look he's got a date as well" Tig said making me more confused but then I realized why he didn't recognize me. It was really dark out here. I saw Mathews back tense up.
"Leave her out of this" he hissed before turning back to me. "Go home. I'll be ok" he said but by his turning it made my face visible to the other guys.
"What the hell?" a voice I knew very well said making me look up to see Tig standing there completely confused.
"Just leave her out of this" Matthew said giving me a slight push. Of course his hand landed on my thigh making Tig's eyes fill with fury. Oh no.
"Why don't you take your fucking papered boys hands off of her!" Tig said walking forward. Shit.
"Ezra go!" Matthew said before trying to hit Tig. Tig easily dodged it and threw one punch knocking Matthew on his ass. Fuck. I looked up at Tig and he was fuming he threw his hand out and I grabbed it walking over Matthews body who was clearly struggling to get back up.
"No!" he said trying me.
"Dick head this is my girl" Tig said pushing me into his side.
"What?" Matthew asked clearly confused.
"I told you I was with someone" I said.
"Do you know who this guy is!?" Matthew asked getting up holding his bleeding nose.
"Uh yeah. I've been with him for six months" I said
"Youve gotta be fucking kidding me Ezra." he said "A fucking biker? And hear I thought you would have at least attempted move up in life" he said. I stepped back like I had gotten slapped and didn't even bother trying to stop Tig as he jumped forward and started wailing on Matthew.