She came over and kissed me. “Thank you, Nick. I love your house but there are some ideas I have. I’ll write them down and we can talk about them. I don’t want to take over your whole house, but I’d love to make a few changes.” I nodded. Devyn got up from the barstool.
“Mom, I’m going to go work on my classwork. Let me know when you want me to help with dinner. And thanks, Bull.” She came over to give me a hug.
“You’re welcome, honey. And Devyn, you can call me Nick when we’re not around the club like your mom does. It’s been a long time since anyone has called me that and I find I like it.” She grinned.
“Okay, Nick. Thank you. Now off to work on my Organic Chemistry.”
When she left the room, I looked at Jocelyn. “How has she been this morning?”
“Quiet. She didn’t want to talk about Ace, so I didn’t push her. He came by again to talk to her, but she refused to come to the door. He’s looking rough. I wish there was something I could do, but it will have to resolve at its own pace. I just hope she doesn’t throw away what they have because she’s scared. I really think Ace loves her.”
“Oh, he does. He’s losing his mind and worrying himself to death that she won’t forgive him. I agree we have to wait and see. In the meantime, what can I do to help? I can be your baking assistant.” She laughed.
“Nothing to do right now but wait for the dough to rise, which takes several hours. We can watch a movie or do something else. Maybe get out of the house.”
“Want to take a ride? We can go out and enjoy the day. It’s not too cold. Oh, before I forget, you said you knew of someone who would be great to run the bakery. What's her name? I want to talk to her about it. Or maybe we both could talk to her. You think she’d be open to a quick visit today? I want to get things on the road. We expect the bakery to open in three months. I need her input on what it should include and maybe how we should lay it out.”
“I can call her and see. Her name is Madisen Collins. She works at the DMV right now. It’s closed on the weekends. She’s an excellent baker. I don’t think you tasted any of the desserts at the party before last, but she made those for me. Our book group has had a lot of her creations and everything is to die for. She apparently went to culinary school, but she loves baking the most. She’s been saving up to open her own catering business. I think she’d love to run the bakery. Let me call her.”
As she stepped away to call her, I thought about how much the club had changed over the years. Back when me and a few of my friends had founded the Warriors, we had been looking for a way to be free and not have to conform to a bunch of bullshit rules. Our time in the military had been hard on us. Yeah, at first, we were into illegal shit like running guns, protection, and shit, but we never ran drugs or women. Then we decided one day we wanted to live a long life, and that wouldn’t happen with the life we were leading. So, slowly, we moved our businesses to all be legitimate. Some members had left not wanting to do that, others had died over the years. In my chapter, it left only Bear and me as the last of the original group. Jocelyn interrupted my musings.
“She’s home and said we could drop by. I didn’t tell her what we wanted to talk about, just that I had someone wanting to talk to her. It intrigued her. Let me get changed, then we can go.” I nodded. While she got changed, I went to get my bike out of the garage. Ace came walking up.
“Where are you going, Pres?”
“Jocelyn and I are going to see someone about the bakery. I’m sorry Devyn is still not talking to you.”
He sighed. “Yeah, me too. But I’m not going to give up. I’ll keep coming back everyday until she talks to me. Have fun.”
“What are you up to?”
“Just taking a walk. I need to think, and the clubhouse is too noisy. Talk to you later.” He walked off, heading back toward the back part of the compound. Jocelyn came out the door dressed to ride. I got on the bike then helped her on behind me. Once she was snug against me and I knew where we were going, I started my bike, and we were off. I waved at Jake at the gate. About twenty minutes later, we pulled into the parking lot of an apartment complex. It wasn’t the best in town, but it could have been worse. We parked, then she led me to an apartment on the third floor.
The woman who answered the door wasn’t what I expected. I guess in the back of my mind I thought she’d be older and maybe heavier. After all, she was a baker. Boy, was I wrong. Even though I loved Jocelyn, I could see that Madisen was gorgeous. She stood about five four and had dark brown hair with golden highlights that hung down to her shoulders. Her eyes were the palest blue I’d ever seen, surrounded by thick dark lashes. She was athletic but curvy in all the right places. I could see her causing a stir. I’d have to warn the guys away from her.
“Hi, Madisen. Thanks for seeing us today. This is Bull, he’s the president of the Archangel’s Warriors. We wanted to talk to you about something,” Jocelyn told her. I could see Madisen was leery of me when she first saw my cut. I held out my hand.
“Nice to meet you, Madisen.”
She took my hand and shook it. I was glad to see it wasn’t a limp handshake either. She had a firm one. She held the door open for us to follow her inside. Once inside, she led us to the living room where she had iced lemonade and some baked goods on a plate. We took a seat.
“Please, help yourself. I hope lemonade is okay. I have water, soda or beer if you prefer.” We reassured her the lemonade was fine. “What can I do for you? Jocelyn said you had a proposition for me. I have to say, I can’t think of anything an MC would want to proposition me for, unless it’s something I don’t want.” Her remark caught me off guard, then I had to laugh.
“No, no, I assure you, it’s nothing like that. Do you know The Dark Angel in town?” She nodded yes. “Well, that’s our bar. We’re moving it soon to a bigger location, and that will leave the current one vacant. We were thinking of a new business to put there, and it was suggested the town needs a bakery. Jocelyn told me you were a baker and might be interested in running it for us. That’s why we’re here today.” She relaxed back in her seat.
“Well, I have to say, not what I imagined. I’d love to run a bakery. I’ve been wanting to open my own catering business. I just imagined working for myself and not someone else. The chance to bake all day versus work at the DMV is very attractive, but you only have Jocelyn’s word that I can bake. Why don’t you try some of those things there first, then see if you still want me to run your bakery?” I looked down at the platter in front of us. There were five different items on it. All of them looked great. I took one of each on a small plate and bit into the first one. I almost moaned. It was fantastic. It was some kind of lemon bar which burst in my mouth with a tart flavor. From there I worked my way through the other four items—a cinnamon roll, a chocolate muffin, an apple tart and baklava. I looked at her when I was done.
“Madisen, I’ve never tasted anything this good. Damn! You’re one helluva baker. I have no doubts you’re the perfect one for the bakery. What will it take? I know you want to own your own business. How about we do this? If you have any more of these, let me take them back to the compound so the guys can taste them. Then I’ll talk to them. I think we should be able to come to an agreement. Maybe give you a percentage of ownership? Something, because I know it will be profitable.” She looked stunned. I looked at Jocelyn. “You weren’t kidding, babe. She’s an excellent baker.” She smiled. Madisen looked surprised.
“Babe? Are you two…”
Jocelyn answered, “Yeah, Bull is my boyfriend. We’ve just recently moved in together. I can tell you, he and his guys are trustworthy, Madisen. They are on the up and up. I know they’re an MC, but there is nothing shady about them. I really hope you will do this. I know how much you hate working at the DMV and want to bake full time. This is your opportunity.”
Madisen nodded. We spent a little more time just chatting and getting to know each other. She was from Memphis originally and had moved to Hunters Creek to be closer to her aunt three years ago. When we got ready to leave, she packed up several of her delicious goodies. We thanked her and promised to get back to her later this week. Packing them away in my saddlebags, we headed out. I took Jocelyn for a ride in the country before we went back to the compound. Once in the gates, I stopped at the clubhouse.
“I want the guys to taste those baked goods. Want to come in with me?” She nodded yes. Inside, I found most of the guys were just hanging out. They called out a greeting when they saw us. As I put the containers on the bar, they came over to us.
“What do you have there, Pres?” Ajax asked.