How are you doing that? I’m going to starve. – Mike
RYE’S MEMORIESEleven-year-old Rye sat with her dad and sister in the small restaurant. This was one of her most favorite places in the world. And her most favorite people. She loved her mom, but just like her sister, she was daddy’s girl through and through.Mike had been away for a few weeks with the Marines, and this was the first Saturday that he was back. This was the final stop of their usual Saturday routine. They wandered through the market where he bought his daughters little trinkets.Today it was a set of matching necklaces. Smooth, round stones with a hole drilled into them for the black cord to loop through. Leigh Anne had a bright blue stone and Ryanne had a piece of brown petrified wood. In the little bag in the empty chair next to Mike was a third necklace for Donna Leigh. Hers was a deep red with veins running through it.Leigh Anne had picked the blue stone because it matched Stitch on her pinkLeave your brother alone. – AlanaMost of the Lowery family had already arrived and were in the back party room. Chance held the large ornate red door for Rye before placing a hand on her lower back. His fingers barely brushed her thin jacket before pulling away. “Sorry, it’s habit.” He said motioning over her shoulder where to go.They entered the room and there was a lull for just a moment as everyone turned. Rye was accepted in with no questions. Names were thrown at her, but she couldn’t keep them straight. There was his mom, brothers and wives, sister and husband and about a dozen nieces and nephews. Not to mention the man and woman that were both married to Chance’s brother who was not in the room at that moment. There was a large bear of a man with bows in his hair and beard and was named Molly and his five wives. Of their dozen or so children, mainly daughters, Rye recognized Priss.As usual, where Priss was, Camille was not far away. Rye waved at Camil
Baby sister… you’re smarter than me. Don’t follow in my footsteps. Be strong. Keep yourself safe. – Leigh AnneMovement outside the restaurant window caught Rye’s attention. She wasn’t paying attention to the teasing and joking going on around her. She was looking out the window, waiting for the figure to reappear. It had to her imagination.There it is again. She knew that form. Would recognize it anywhere. So many nights had been spent curled up against it to stay warm. To stay safe.Even skinny and dirty, with a distance of at least twenty feet, a pane of glass between them and hardly any light outside, Rye knew who it was.Leigh Anne.Rye had no doubts, that was her sister that she saw outside.Grabbing her phone, she stood up and walked out. It wasn’t until the cold wind hit her that she thought about getting her jacket. Her keys and flashlight were still in her pocket. A few years ago, Leigh Anne would have berated her for not having them on her. E
Mom insisted that we all learned to cook. She didn’t like my plan of never moving out. – BearThey rode in silence for a few minutes and Chance wondered if the heater would ever kick on. As far as he was concerned, if you were going to be trapped in a cage it should be for one of two reasons. You made one hell of a bad decision at the zoo. Or for the heater in a car.“Where are we going?” Rye asked as Chance turned down a road with condominiums on either side. “My mom’s place. You need to eat and calm down before we go see Michael.” He pulled into the driveway and parked. “Come on, duchess.”When she didn’t follow him, he walked around and opened her door. Leaning down with one arm propped on the door and the other on the roof, he smiled at her.“It’s too damned cold to stay out here, duchess.” He said gently. “Let’s get something to eat and then we’ll go to the hospital.”Rye nodded and slowly got out of the car. He led the way up to the front door where he
They took Nessie. Lock everything down. – WerewolfChance didn’t know much about Nessie. She was a hell of a cook, had the ability to talk to the dead and had him figured out when it came to women. And scared the fuck out of him. Literally. He got around her and her expensive knives and his oysters tried to call up his ass for safety.Nessie was beautiful, had a lyrical Scottish accent and got away with almost anything. That was because she was the niece of Siobhan, the wife of the Shacks president, Toad. And she had a crazy ex. Not the crazy like he had. No, he had no intention of being the one to change her wayward lifestyle. He planned to kill her for disobeying him and leaving.Now, he had her.Since they were not sure of what else would happen, all properties associated with the Saints were locked down tight. Construction stopped, shops closed, and all the brothers checked in at their clubhouses while the families were gathered at the Shack. The daycar
Chance, you’ve never just been friends with a woman. – SticksChance reached out and touched Rye’s gray streak gently with the tip of his finger. She gave a small flinch but did not pull away. Chance looked from his finger to her eyes. “I like you, Rye. I’ve never really gotten to know a woman before. Not like this. Now, I think you’re one of my closest friends.” He leaned towards her, and she pulled back. “It’s not like that.”His lips kissed her temple with the lightest of touch. “I’m not a good friend.” She mumbled as she got out of the car and headed for the hospital. He wanted to argue with her and tell her that she was indeed a good friend. She was also the only woman that he had wanted for the past month or so. A club girl had sat on his lap the other night and he had no reaction. No desire. Nothing. He saw Rye at work and wanted to take her to bed. He wanted to kiss her, something he never did. He never kissed a girl, and he never went down on a g
I did offer to tell him who his father was. – AlanaChance messaged Ryder through the company messaging system on his computer. It took about twenty minutes, but he got a message back. Using the other messaging system on the computer he messaged both Werewolf and Karan.I need to go talk to Ryder. I asked for an appointment, and he gave me 2:30 this afternoon. Need Jax or Law to come out and sit the front while I’m gone. Not sure how long I’ll be out.Looking at the message he shook his head and then deleted it.Ryder asked me to come into the office at 230. Need someone to cover the frontSighing he deleted that also.Going into DS Holdings this afternoon. Need front coverage starting at 2Short, simple, to the point and truthful. Before he could change his mind again, he hit send. He got a thumbs up from Karan almost immediately. A few minutes later, Werewolf said that Law would be there at a quarter till.He spent the next few hours questioning him
Not anything fancy, she won’t like that. But it needs to have that car seat locking system in it. – ChanceChance had talked to Repo and Gearhead about a car for Rye. He knew that she would be pissed at him. He also knew that if he let her do what she had suggested, she would never get a new car. Not as long as the craptastic Volvo still ran.At this point, it should probably be taken out to a pasture and shot.That was not going to happen. He knew this because it had been two weeks since they talked about it, and she still had not called either shop. So, he did.Daily. To see if she had called either one. When she still had not talked to either, he asked them to send him emails on the available mom cars. He was looking at the one from Repo as he listened to the conversation taking place in the common room, just outside his office.Cookie and his crew had finished the house. Clay had finished decorating it. Sticks had finished making the furniture for the nursery
Kids have a tendency to ask the questions we don’t want to consider. Thankfully, they are easily distracted with crayons and glitter. – Karan The two friends watched the woman leave. Karan could feel the stress in Chance’s body. This was the protectiveness that the Saints were known for. The reason that she always wanted one of them here. Karan rested a comforting hand on his back. “Why don’t you take her home?”Chance smirked. “Have you even met this woman? She sleeps on a pull-out couch, drives a piece of shit car with no heater and pays her own way through college. She’s not going to take a day off unless she’s already dead.”“And buried in a concrete vault, because otherwise, Zombie Rye would come to work.” Karan shook her head and Chance chuckled.He turned towards his office and saw that it was empty. “If you need me, I’ll be in Rye’s classroom.”As he headed to the common room through his office, he did not see the knowing grin on Karan’s face. Or he