For the first two hours of the trip, before their first stop, she drove up with EZ on his bike, then went with Riz. When they were two and a half hours away, she was getting tired and at their last stop she switched to the van with Taza. It wasn't as comfortable as her car, but it was better than being on the bike. She dozed off and luckily for her, Taza was the kind of guy who enjoyed the quiet and was peaceful.

Twenty minutes from the clubhouse, Taza woke her up gently and they talked about him, his roots and family.

They honked their horns as they reached the closed gates of the club and one of the guys came to open them, allowing the van and the flow of bikers from Santo Padre to enter the grounds. As they came to a complete stop, she looked around in surprise; she had never seen so many Mayans grouped together. Some were already enjoying themselves in good feminine company whereas others were drinking and talking.

She opened the van door and let herself out as Angel and Adelita parked their bike next to the van.

"Are you OK?" asked Adelita looking at her face.

"Yeah. I caught up on my beauty sleep. It helps that Taza is the quiet type."

Seeing that all the men they had driven up with, had abandoned them to greet the other guys, they put their arm around each other and walked around the van, up the path toward the packed courtyard.

"Are the guys nice, at least the ones you know?" asked Adelita.

"Bear and Gunner are great. Lorenzo is… well he's Mr. Testosterone and everything that comes with it, but with Angel and Bishop here, he'll behave. The others from Flagstaff are nice but I don't know them that well. As for Stockton and Tucson, no idea. I guess we'll find out."

"Isabella," said Lorenzo as he greeted her, "it's good to see you again."

"Same, Lorenzo. I really appreciate you and Gunner keeping an eye on Samuel."

"Don't mention it," he said as he shot a glance at Adelita. "And who is this charming beauty?"

Isabella saw Adelita blush slightly. "Adelita, this is Lorenzo Mineo, President of the Flagstaff crew."

"It's nice to meet you, thank you for having us over."

"Of course, although a beautiful woman like yourself shouldn't be surrounded by so many single men," retorted Lorenzo.

"I'm glad that you are concerned about my fiancée's well-being," said Angel as he joined them and put his arm around Adelita.

"Well, you and Bishop are going to have to give us pointers on how to find such incredible women."

"Love usually has a way of finding you when you least expect it," said Angel. "Come on, let's get some drinks", he added as he led Adelita away from Lorenzo.

"Possessive much?" said Lorenzo.

"You blame him?" replied Isabella who had very quickly figured out what kind of man he was.

"Not the slightest. But, hey, I have a reputation to maintain," he said winking at Isabella.

"Not sure that is a quality, but what do I know."

Isabella looked around and couldn't see Bishop.

"Have you seen Bishop?"

Lorenzo in turn looked around. "No, maybe he's inside. You're free to go and have a look."

Isabella nodded and strode toward the clubhouse greeting Gunner and Bear as she did. As she walked inside, she noticed the clubhouse wasn't that different than the one back home.

"Bishop?" she called out. "Bishop are you in here?"

A door further down inside the clubhouse opened and Bishop walked out followed by a woman who must have been his age. Usually, she wasn't jealous, but as she noticed that they had just exited a bedroom, she felt a pain in her gut and suddenly sick to her stomach. She took in a deep breath and swallowed hard as they walked toward her. The woman had short pixie-cut blond hair, petite and plump, and multiple tattoos on her arms, nothing like her physically… at all.

Both stopped walking as they reached her, and Bishop put his arm around Isabella. "Belita, I'd like you to meet Francesca, my ex-wife. Francesca, this is Isabella, my fiancée."

The older woman smiled at her. "It's a pleasure to meet you Isabella but most especially the woman who managed to make Bishop believe in love again."

Isabella nodded but couldn't utter a word. What the hell had Bishop and his ex-wife been doing in a fucking bedroom?!

Seeing that Isabella wasn't talking Francesca nodded. "I'm going to go find Bear, I'll see you guys later."

When she had walked out of the clubhouse, Isabella stepped away from Bishop and frowned.

"Want to fill me in?" she asked.

"We were just talking."

"In a bedroom?"

"There aren't a lot of places to talk in private here, mi amor." He then saw the look in her eyes. "Wait? You thought that… No! I love you and I would never let any other woman approach me, mi amor. I'm sorry if that's what you thought."

"Yeah, well there aren't too many ways to interpret things."

"I apologize. I was outside waiting for you impatiently and then she needed to talk about something that is bothering her."

"So, that's all it was, talking?"

"Yes," he said as he took her in his arms and kissed her. "Now, if you want, we can go in that same bedroom and do what you think I was doing."

She laughed. "Making love to you with a bunch of bikers outside, is not what I had in mind."

"Exactly," he answered, "which is why I booked the casino room for tomorrow night. How was the ride over?" he asked as they headed toward the porch.

"Tiring."

"Who'd you ride with?"

"EZ, then, Riz and then in the van with Taza."

"Taza will set up the van for you, Adelita and Letti to sleep in."

"I know he told me. Where are you going to sleep?"

"We'll settle camp in the courtyard."

"Another night without you."

"Hey, you're more than welcome to share my sleeping bag with me, I'm only thinking about your comfort, Belita."

"Much appreciated, but if I remember, in not such a distant past, your arms and chest are more than comfortable."

He kissed her. "Deal. Come on let's go sit with the others."

As they joined the group, he introduced her to the guys from Stockton and Tucson she hadn't met yet, then they sat down with Gunner and some others.

Gunner removed the cap from a beer and handed it to Isabella.

"Thanks Gunner, but it's best I don't drink, I'm still recuperating physically from the surgery."

He slapped his forehead with his hand. "Am I an idiot or what?"

"No, that's alright, you couldn't have known. I appreciate the thought."

He passed the beer over to Bishop who gladly took it and pulled her against him, as they continued to mingle for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

"You're really going to abandon me to sleep in the van alone with Letti?" asked Adelita as she and Isabella sat outside together while the guys were setting up camp and Letti was helping Taza with the van, eyeing her phone every two minutes for her GED test results.

"As if you don't want to sleep with Angel."

"I do, but he hasn't offered."

"Well then you take the lead, I did with Bishop. Why should the men call all the shots, huh?"

"I guess you're right."

Out of the blue, Letti came rushing out of the van, phone in hand and threw herself at Isabella hugging her.

"Whoa, take it easy there, carina. What's going on?"

She took a step back and pointed to her phone. "I passed! Bella, I did it, I passed the GED."

Bella hugged her. "I'm so proud of you. I knew you could do it."

Coco walked over, "What's all the noise about?"

"I'm going to have my high school diploma."

Coco smiled and took her in his arms. "My mija is smart,".

She pulled away. "I need to call Sofia," she said running back toward the van.

Coco looked at Isabella and she smiled at him. "I owe you even more now."

"No, you don't."

"Yeah, I do," he said before walking away.

"Seems like things are finally looking up after all the shit we went through," said Adelita. "Hopefully it stays that way."

When the night rolled in, Adelita, who had opted to sleep with Angel, and Isabella settled with their men. Bishop put his arm out and let Isabella place her head on his chest.

"Goodnight mi amor," he said as he kissed the top of her head.

"Yeah, goodnight mi amor," he heard Bear reply from the porch.

"Shut up, Bear! Go inside, I'm sure Francesca is waiting for you."

Isabella looked up at Bishop. "Francesca and Bear are together?"

"Uh huh. It's been a couple of years."

"And you're OK with that?"

"Sure, why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know. I doubt if you and I divorced you'd take me being with another Mayan that well."

"Well, she's not you. What she and I had when we were married is nothing compared to what we have. We were bad for one another; we didn't bring out the best in ourselves. You, bring out the good in me. And I'm crazy in love with you."