CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

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Jax relaxes at the lighter atmosphere and twists so he can reach the plate of food he'd dropped on the table. "Eat." He orders me, pointing at the cutlery sitting beside the piled plate.

In between eating some of the food I feed 2/3's of it to Jax, taking one bite to ever 2 of his before I'm full and he shakes his head. "I'm stuffed." He mutters as I set the fork back down and relax into his arms again.

Vince's head twitches and there's a prospect and a sweet butt at the table, the prospect hands beers around while the half-naked woman clears the dishes away and quietly asks Donna and I what we want to drink. I shoot a glance at Maggie as a black drink is set in front of her by another sweet butt.

"What on earth is that?" I ask looking at the unusual coloured drink.

Maggie grins "It's a black Martini. Here, try." She passes the glass to me and I take a tentative sip, the vodka base is obvious instantly. The raspberry and orange is amazing and as I pass it back to her I smile.

Maggie looks over at the sweet butt that brought the drink "Make up a jug and bring it over please Abby."

The sweet butt, Abby, rushes back to the bar and I watch while she pours liquor from three bottles into a jug and mixes with a giant swizzle stick, chatting with Dani who's behind the bar with her, before bringing it and two other glasses back to the table. Setting them down she smiles at Maggie. "When you want more just holler and we'll make them."

Maggie picks up the jug and tops up her glass before pouring some of the amazingly dark liquid into the two other Martini glasses that I'm stunned are present in the clubhouse. Looking at her with a raised eyebrow I can't help asking "How on earth did you get Martini glasses to stay whole in here?" As if to illustrate my point right as I finish the sentence a beer bottle gets dropped two tables across from us and shatters the second it hits the floor.

Maggie laughs and points towards Vince "He put the fear of god into everyone."

Vince shrugs and slings his arm across Maggie's shoulders "If she's not happy then I'm not happy."

Maggie sighs and kisses his cheek quickly before picking up her glass "You mean if I'm not happy then you don't get any and that makes you unhappy."

Vince shrugs again "Same thing."

Vince pulls his arm from Maggie's shoulder and gets to his feet "Duty calls love." He kisses the top of her head and walks outside, the crowds parting quicker for him then they did for Maggie before, both the president's patch and the obvious mission he's on making the gathered hangers on scatter.

Blade and Tank come through the door not long after Vince leaves it and head straight for our table. "I believe we have a pool challenge to see to."

Jax nods "We do." I stand up and let him out while Opie gets up from beside Donna as well. The four of them cross to one of the pair of pool tables in the corner of the room and patiently wait while the duo that was playing finishes their game several shots later and hand over the cues before heading towards the bar.

None of us at the table can hear the conversation going on but it's obviously a debate over who gets to break and in the end it's handed to the visitors and Opie breaks, about then my attention wanders back to my drink. Knowing that Jax is only a few feet away, and that Opie is there to, has made me relax enough that I can't remember why I got so worried and stressed out.

Maggie and Donna draw me into the conversation they were having, about shoes of all things, and knowing my addiction to footwear has Donna just about rolling on the floor from laughter at my admission of having a few pairs of shoes.

Maggie looks confusedly between her and I before shaking her head "Do I ask?"

Donna giggles again, picks up her drink and finishes the glass. "Sarah said she had a few pairs of shoes. Jax asked her a while ago how many pairs she had and she made up a number to get out of admitting she's a shoe whore."

I poke my tongue out at Donna and try not to laugh. Maggie attempts and fails "What did you tell him."

I roll my eyes and take a sip of my drink "I may have told him I have eleventy-twelve pairs of shoes. However, I shall neither confirm nor deny how many pairs I actually own…other than it's in triple digits."

Maggie grins "Oh, I have to tell Vince that, it makes my 49 pairs of shoes look positively innocent."

I poke my tongue out at her as well and finish what was left in the bottom of my glass, passing it and Donna's over to be refilled. "So yes, I have a shoe addiction. It really could be worse. I don't have a handbag addiction to go with it."

Donna bursts out laughing again which gets a raised eyebrow from Maggie and me shaking my head furiously "I really don't. I have about 10 handbags in total."

Donna nods as she tries to get hold of her hysteria. I finally jam her glass into her hand and shake my head "Have a drink, calm the fuck down D."

Donna giggles again, occasional hiccups escaping as she sips her drink slowly, using the time to regain control of her laughter. When she's finally stopped laughing she smiles at me "Sorry, I could just imagine the size of the wardrobe you'd have to build if you did have a handbag addiction as well. It'd be the size of a double garage."

I find myself rolling my eyes again but a cheer from the pool table draws all our attention in time to watch a handful of notes being passed to both Opie and Jax with disgusted looks from two of the Fresno members we were introduced to earlier, trying to remember their names I vaguely remember being introduced to them as Tank and Dave. A short conversation between the guys at the table and the balls are being racked again.

Donna shakes her head "How much do you want to bet that they'll be there all night?"

I giggle and shake my head "I'm not taking that bet! It's stupid."

Maggie glances between us and tops up the glasses "Want to share?"

"Jax and Opie have pretty much just decided where they will be all night. When they team up it's hard for anyone to beat them, but given that the pool table is in line of sight as well they won't move far I don't think." Donna says, sipping her drink.

I pick up my glass as Donna sets hers down "When they were younger they used to spend all their free time at the clubhouse, as most second generation Sons did. When they weren't in the garage bays they were at the pool table. Between the pair of them they've had lessons from all the Sons…both good lessons and bad ones." I swallow a couple of half-mouthfuls of my drink before setting it down. "By the time they were ready to prospect they could beat everyone in the clubhouse. Apart from each other."

Donna shakes her head "Several weekends were lost to the haze of drinking games based on their pool games till T…someone…came and destroyed the dynamic."

I lean over and rest my hand over Donna's "You can say Tara's name."

Maggie shoots her head over and looks at me "You know Tara? I've heard a lot about her, none of it good."

I nod and frown "I do. But she is history; let's leave it at that please?"

Maggie nods and drains half the liquid in her glass as Vince makes reappearance at the table and sits down heavily beside her, his arm falling across her shoulders.

She blinks up at him "You all good baby?"

He nods and picks up the abandoned beer he'd left on the table "Yeah. No worries now."

She nods and leans into his side draining the rest of the drink from glass in her hand before setting it down. Vince immediately picks up the jug and refills the glass, tops up both mine and Donna's glasses and holds the jug above his head. I raise an eyebrow at him but Maggie's silent giggling and shaking of her head pauses the question about to come out. He's only holding the empty vessel for a minute when a fresh jug is set on the table and the empty one is plucked from his hand.

"Thanks Abby." Maggie says from her position against her Old Man's side.

"No probs." Abby weaves her way through the crowd again and Vince gets to his feet, heading towards the pool tables but remembering his beer this time.

How to make a Black Martini:

2 parts vodka

1 part raspberry liqueur

½ part blue curacao. (you could use triple sec I imagine, but it would be red not black then).

Mix in a shaker with ice, strain into a chilled Martini glass