Hank, Piney and Half-Sack had mingled again and Roxanne was admiring the grill when Gemma joined her.
"I like that thing. Sure looking cool in the dark with the flames behind the writing," she commented, and Gemma nodded.
"Yeah. It was a present from the mechanics to the club for the last anniversary party. Built it themselves."
"Really neat!"
"By the way, you were looking for a newspaper, I put today's inside behind the counter for you. I almost forgot."
"Thanks, I'll take a quick look then, about an apartment," Roxanne replied. "I don't want to block yours any longer than necessary, Half-Sack already told me that it's basically just an emergency housing for club members."
"It is, but right now it isn`t needed that way so no rush," Gemma assured. "Doesn't matter about a week or so."
Roxanne grinned. "But I'm sure you've heard the saying, 'You don't shit where you eat.' You could also modify that to: You don't live where you work. I don't know, I think it's kind of a little weird in the long run."
"You're probably right. Oh, and one more thing," Gemma added as Roxanne was about to go into the clubhouse. "Keep next week Sunday free. Breakfast for the family at our house."
"For the family?" echoed Roxanne, confused. "But I ..."
Gemma shook her head emphatically and grabbed her by the shoulders.
"You work here, you get along with us, and you're nice, so you're more than welcome!"
"Okay ... thank you!" A little overwhelmed after all, Roxanne went inside to take a look at the newspaper and specifically searched the page with the apartment ads.
Almost immediately, one caught her eye, and with a quick decision, she pulled out her cell phone, called the number listed, and in no time had made an appointment for the next day after work.

"What are you excited about?" Opie wanted to know, meeting her at the door with a couple of empty beer bottles in hand, and Roxanne now realized she was smiling.
"I have a realtor appointment for tomorrow. Can't stay here forever, after all."
"Cool, I'll keep my fingers crossed for you then. But if there are any problems, just say you're working at and for us at the garage. We have quite a bit of impact here."
"I will but I don't think there are that many takers," Roxanne said thoughtfully. "It's a trailer home on the other side of town."
"They're often better than their reputation, so maybe you'll get lucky."

Indeed, she was. The trailer park didn't seem to be bad at all, and Roxanne was pleasantly surprised. This antisocial white-trash cliché seemed to apply only to a limited extent, and she didn't plan to live there forever anyway.
But with the rest of her cash stash, which would probably go almost entirely to furnishings, she couldn't make any big leaps at the moment.
The house itself consisted of two spacious rooms, a small bathroom, an even smaller kitchen and a storage room and was apparently completely renovated. Only the roof needed some work, but that would be done by the day after tomorrow, she was assured.
Contrary to expectations, Roxanne was the only interested party and, as long as the realtor had his way, could basically move in right away. She didn't even have to play the Teller-Morrow-Workshop-Sons-of-Anarchy trump card.
After all the formalities were taken care of, Roxanne walked through the house with the folding rule she had brought along as a precaution, measured appropriate furniture spaces, and headed straight for Charming's only furniture and interior design store. Although she chose only the cheapest stuff possible, the whole thing still tore a decent hole in her escape fund. Stove, refrigerator as well as some kitchen cabinets including washing machine was fortunately available.

"Hey guys," she greeted as she entered the clubhouse. Jax and Opie were in the middle of a game of pool and Tig and Juice were sitting at the bar. Half-Sack was busily polishing glasses behind it. "Good news, I'll be out of here by the end of the week!"
"So it worked out with the house?" concluded Opie, interrupting their pool game, Jax had pretty much won anyway.
"Yeah, everything's great."
"A house?" Half-Sack got wide-eyed. "How can you afford that! I mean ..."
"It's not like I bought it, just rented it. And it's in the trailer park on the other side of town by the way," she said with a smile. "Seems fine too, I imagined it would be much worse."
"If you need help moving, let us know," Tig said, but she shook her head.
"Nothing needs to be renovated, the furniture will be delivered and set up, it's included in the price, and I don't have much luggage anyway. But thanks!"
"And there will be a housewarming party, right?" Juice chimed in, beaming so expectantly that Roxanne had to laugh.
"Yes, there will be something like that. It's also quite good that it's at the edge, you can possibly spread out a bit. Speaking of celebrating," she added, looking around. "What's the deal with this 'family breakfast' at Gemma and Clay's, anyway?"
"It's more or less irregular, every couple of weeks. Like a social brunch and it's kind of stretching over half the day," Jax explained. "Why? Are you invited?"
"Yes, I am."
"You don't say! Barely hired and already in the inner circle," Tig grinned, eyeing her appreciatively. "Kudos!"

The move went smoothly and after a few days Roxanne had already settled in.
It also went well in the garage, there was a lot to do and most evenings she was so exhausted that she just wanted to relax.
She saw at least some members of the MC almost every day, and one or the other helped out in the garage from time to time, although none of them had a classical mechanic's training. To a certain extent, however, they knew their way around quite well.
She had hardly seen Tig in the last few days, he was mostly with Clay doing some club business. The few times they had met, they talked shortly and he had, if she didn't notice, really kinda undressed her with glances. Although or just because the new jumpsuit, even if it fits better, was anything but sexy.
He should really know by now what to do about or with her but the problem was that he simply could not yet assess her in this regard. He could always pick up a hooker or one of the crow eaters, he knew exactly what was going on with them and he didn't care about them - but Roxy was on the one hand not one of them and on the other hand he did indeed care about her.

On Sunday morning, Roxy stood on the side of the road, perplexed, in front of the open hood. She had stopped to make sure she had her cell phone with her and then the engine wouldn't start.
"Shit!" she cursed, closed the hood, and as if summoned, Tig now pulled over on his Harley.
"Hi, trouble?" he greeted and before he could dismount, Roxanne came around the car.
Tig's mouth dropped open and he pulled his sunglasses down a bit to see over the top. He was almost used to the constant sight of Roxanne in jumpsuits but now she was wearing skin-tight leather pants and a, at least not that tight, backless sleeveless top.
"Hi, you're just in time!" she smiled, and for the first moment, she studiously passed over his reaction. She had definitely noticed it, however. "It won't start anymore, I don't know what's wrong. I'll have to take a closer look at it at the garage."
Tig pulled out his cell phone. "I'll tell Half-Sack to bring the tow truck and another prospect to come and get your car."
"Okay, I'll put the key on top of the front wheel," Roxanne said, and Tig was once again treated to the sight of her shapely buttocks in tight black leather as she leaned in. He really had to concentrate hard for this short phone call.
"Do you like what you see?" she wanted to know as she grabbed a black leather jacket from the back seat and put her sunglasses back on.
"Oh yeah!" he replied with a grin. "Hop on, I'll give you a ride, you won't want to miss this."
"What do you mean?" she countered with a wink. "The breakfast or the ride?"
"Both!"

After a few hundred meters, Tig remembered why he very rarely took women on his motorcycle. There was something so arousing about the way Roxanne nestled almost her entire body against him, her arms tight around his waist, and he had to pull himself together to concentrate on driving and the, albeit quite sparse, Sunday traffic.
Roxanne had no idea of Tig's dilemma and simply enjoyed it. Both the ride, it had been quite a while since she had been on a motorcycle either by herself or riding along, and also his closeness. While he was no longer a young whippersnapper, Roxanne estimated him to be at least in his late forties but in very good shape. It felt damn good, anyway.

With the nice weather, it was kinda a garden party and their arrival was definitely noted. Roxanne waved over the fence as she dismounted, but Tig made no move.
"You go ahead, I ... have a quick errand to run," he said, trying hard to be casual. "See you in a minute!"
She looked after him in surprise for a moment before shrugging and walking to the front door, which, before she could even ring the bell, was opened from the inside.
"Hi, glad you're here!" Gemma pulled her into a warm hug. "Come on in. Where's Tig off to in such a hurry?"
"I don't know," Roxanne replied as she followed the club manager's wife through the house toward the patio and garden. "But I guess it won't take long."
"And is there something going on between you two?" echoed Gemma curiously, grinning. "I mean, because you're together ..." She let the sentence hang meaningfully in the air, and Roxanne shook her head.
"He picked me up because I broke down with the pickup. And am I blushing now? Shit, I'm blushing, ain't I?"
Gemma laughed. "A little bit. But don't worry, your secret's safe with me! Coffee?"
"I'd love to, but ... Hey, what secret do you mean?" called Roxanne after her as Gemma disappeared towards the kitchen, but got no reply.
"Hi, Roxy," she was now greeted by Jax. "Where's Tig?"
Oh no, please not again, she silently pleaded. "I don't know but he'll be along."
Gemma returned with a full coffee mug in one hand and the pot in the other. "Come on, the 'buffet' is over there."
"Wow, that looks delicious. You did all this by yourself? Such a bunch of work?!"
Roxanne had asked specifically a few days earlier if they should bring anything, and she had been emphatically assured by Clay that Gemma downright forbade it.
"I don't mind," the latter said now. "I just like to do it once in a while. Help yourself!"
Juice beckoned to her from a corner of the table, and she joined him and Bobby with a full plate.

"Dude, where have you been?" Chibs wanted to know. Tig had just snuck in through the side garden gate.
"I've had something to do," he said, shaking his head, part stunned and part insinuating grin. "Anyway, it's fucking uncomfortable to ride a bike with a boner, I gotta tell you!"
Chibs was about to take a sip of his beer and almost choked when he laughed out loud.
"What?! Jeez, she's really gotten under your skin ain't she? What the hell are you waiting for? I don't get it!"
"You don't have to," Tig replied.
After all, he didn't get it himself.