Loud music blared from the large speakers.
Rock music, so predictable.
I felt a strong arm wrap around my shoulders. I knew it wasn’t Kit as he was clearly in my line of sight, playing pool with Tie and Wrench. I watched as he laughed, playfully pushing his Brother before taking another shot from the table.
“It’s gonna be weird without you around,” Optimus said, placing his drink on the bar next to me. The room was cool with both the bi-folding doors opened out onto the patio. A fire raged outside, people milling around it. Mix lay back on a sofa and strummed at my guitar, a couple of club girls hanging off of him and giggling. Everyone was drinking, laughing, and genuinely having a good time. That’s the way it should be. I missed Caleb. But life would go on. We would remember him the way we needed to, and we would make the most of the fact that we were still here, even though he wasn’t.
“Get your hands off my girl, Op. Don’t be trying to convince her to stay,” I heard Kit shout across the room, but when I looked up I found him with a beaming smile.
“I can offer her just as much as you, fucker!” Optimus called back, raising his middle finger in the air.
I laughed as Kit did the same before returning to his game. “You won’t miss me, there’s still plenty of other club girls to keep you boys on your toes.”
The second Kit had me alone after the funeral, he’d told me he didn’t plan to leave me here. I would be going back with him. His words were stern and to the point, and I knew he obviously expected me to fight him on it. But I wouldn’t. I wanted to be with Kit. If I had to re-sit a class or two by transferring my credits to another college then so be it. But I wouldn’t spend another day away from him.
I was falling and I was falling hard.
Optimus pulled on my shoulder and spun me to face him. His usually stern and serious demeanor was now soft. “Harm, you’re more than just a club girl. You’re family. You always have been.” I shook my head, but he continued, “You think I would let any of the other whores here get away with talking to me like you do? Even before Kit was in the picture you always had something to say, but you also had respect for us assholes and knew when it needed to be said. The guys love you, more than just in the way that they wanna get into your pants. I’m surprised this shit didn’t happen sooner with one of our own guys.”
I smiled. “I’m glad it didn’t.”
“Being an Old Lady is hard work sometimes. And an Old Lady to a president, even more so.” He looked a little concerned and I couldn’t help but grin.
“Like you just said, I know where and when it’s appropriate to have my say. So don’t you think I’m gonna let Kit off easy.”
“Didn’t think you would, babe.” Optimus grinned back at me, an expression I very rarely had the pleasure of seeing, so I basked in it. This place had been my home, and in a strange way these men had been my family. They had taken me in, supported me. It was weird to think now, that before, I hadn’t wanted anything more. I didn’t want love, I didn’t want a man to stand up and say he cared for me, for fear that I would fall into his trap only to have my heart broken.
But now I realized that I was only coasting. Enjoying myself and having fun – just making it by, but never really living. Kit breathed life into me. He made me feel things that scared the ever loving shit out of me, but that I wouldn’t give up now for the world. I’d loved music before, it was my heart and soul. But now the power behind the lyrics of the songs that I played seemed to have so much more meaning. Music needed heart, and now that mine was full, there was no stopping me.
“You’ll take care of Chelsea, right?” I said.
“Harmony…” he growled, his face quickly turning serious again.
I held up my hand sharply. “No. Listen to me. Sort your shit out. Chelsea will be done with college soon. And just like me, she’ll be looking for work, for some way to use her degree. Being a club girl is all fine and dandy when we were just going to classes and studying. But we study for a reason – to get work afterward. And you know that as soon as that happens unless she has a reason to stay, she’ll be outta here.”
He stared over my shoulder to where I knew Chelsea was sitting with Slider, Wreck, Del and a young woman that Kit explained they’d found during their raid on Daniel Ashley’s place – Andie I think? She was covered with bruises, but even then she was absolutely stunning with dark hair that hung almost to her hips. She didn’t speak much, but she also didn’t shy away from people. Slider seemed to have taken quite a shining to her and had made it his mission to make her smile.
“Chel wants a prince. I ain’t no prince, Harm.”
“Prince or no prince, Chelsea just wants someone to give a shit about her. She never had that. She was here for the same reason I was because it’s what we know.”
He frowned at me for a long time. “I got your girl covered.”
“One day you need to tell her how you feel,” I said quietly.
His frown slowly turned into an awkward glare, one that told me I was exactly right about the whole damn situation. Optimus and Chelsea had been doing this dance for a long time. I just hoped he let her know before she finally chose to throw in the towel.
“We’ll see.”
“Harmony!” Oz wandered over to us and wrapped his arms around me. He looked up at Optimus. “We’ve got the fire burning good and strong for when you’re ready.”
Optimus nodded and quickly headed in the direction of his office. Oz turned me and directed me outside, others seeming to follow, heading for the bright glowing flames that were now engulfing the large makeshift fire pit.
“What’s going on?” I asked, a little confused as to why the music had gone quite as well as the conversations.
“When we lose a Brother, his patches are kept to put up on the wall, but his cut is burned,” he explained as we came to stand close to the fire, the heat burning my skin. Others seemed to turn and listen as Oz spoke, only proving to me exactly what Kit had said about his father. He was a natural leader, people flocked to him and wanted to hear what he had to say. “We don’t know where we’re going after this life – heaven, hell, who the fuck knows. But wherever we are, we have no doubt that the club is still a part of us. Burning our Brother’s cut means we get to watch it float away with the ashes and dust, in hopes it will find them and keep them safe even in the afterlife.”
The explanation made my heart both sink and soar at the same time. I watched as every single person crowded around. Kit came to my side, linking his fingers through mine and offering a silent support as Optimus finally emerged with a bare cut. The new patches that had been sewn on and displayed at the funeral today were gone, but there was a slightly faded part of the leather that showed where Caleb’s prospect patch had been. The patch he had worn with so much pride.