Finley
It's been a week since the party here at the house and as far as we can tell no one has been dropped off at the hospital. It seems that the rule we made with the bar has made things significantly harder for this group of people. The problem is, TKE is having a party tonight and they didn't call my father for the alcohol because they had already paid someone when Chase and Zoe started spreading the word. Zoe told them that they should implement some rules about drinks, but we don't know if they are going to do it.
I send out a text to the guys to see if there is a plan for tonight, but they don’t respond before I get to the café for lunch with Raven.
“I am meeting someone,” I tell the hostess, I can see Raven from the door.
“Enjoy.”
“I ordered you a dr. pepper, but I wasn’t sure what you would want for an appetizer, so I waited.” I take a drink from my soda and pick up the menu. She made it clear that she wasn’t mad anymore, but this will be the first conversation that I have had with her since I told her about my dad and there are a lot of things that she might say.
“I am over it; I promise.” Normally I am pretty good at hiding what I am feeling but I guess my emotions are on my face with Raven today, I try to relax but it isn’t easy. I get the feeling that even if she is over it, our friendship will never be the same.
“I believe you; I think I just feel a little weird now because you know who I am, and I don’t know how to act. I am still the same person but I’m not, you know what I mean?” Damnit.
Why am I worried about this?
“You get to be yourself with Zoe and me now, without worrying about what you are going to say, that should be a relief?” Our waitress comes up and we order an appetizer, I wait until she is gone to respond to Raven's statement.
“It is, but I guess I question how much of myself you truly want to know. You asked me about the blood on my hands, and you didn’t like the answer.” This conversation would have been easier at the house, or in a park. I am going to have to be careful that I don’t say anything that would make someone want to eavesdrop.
“I think it scared me more than anything. But the truth is I don’t know anything about bike clubs, only what they put on the tv which of course is going to make you guys look bad. I am choosing to believe that you would never hurt me and that you wouldn’t let anyone else hurt me either. That makes me feel better. At the end of the day, I want you on my side, that isn’t changing because I figured out you can probably kill a man twice your size without breaking a sweat.”
“I am only the MC princess, what makes you think I am capable of anything more than riding bitch?” I give her a quizzing look, just to test the water.
“Because I know you, I know that you are not the type of person to sit back and watch the people around her do anything for her. You don’t drink because you want to watch out for everyone else, you are always the first to jump when someone needs help and I have seen you stand up to more people since I have known you than I have ever seen anyone do before. You are not a victim, ever.” There is pride in her eyes, something that wasn’t there the last time that we talked. When I’d first told her she was scared, but she truly took the time to think about it and realized that she knows me, I might have hidden something big but it didn’t stop her from getting to know what kind of person I am.
“Thank you, Raven.” I find it kind of hard to accept her compliments, but this isn’t the type of thing that I usually get complimented about.
“Now, tell me about your date, which one was it?”
I smile as I think back to the night before, the soreness between my thighs is a beautiful reminder of what we did for most of the night. “Pyro, he’s the youngest one.”
Images of us together flash through my head, I know that she isn’t asking about those kinds of details, but I can’t help where my mind went.
“Come on girl, don’t make me drag it out of you!”
I chuckle and take a drink; the waitress shows up with our fried pickles and we order our meals. When she walks away Raven folds her hands and puts them on top of the table, I love when she gets all bossy like this. It makes her look like the hot teacher or the pissed-off attorney.
“Okay, so you know he sent a car from me, and then he took me to the steak house on commerce street, you know the nice one. He was so sweet! When I got in the car there was a bouquet of my favorite flowers that he would have had to have flown in, and then he was waiting outside the restaurant for me to get there. He ORDERED for me! It was so weird but also so hot! Then when we were done with dinner the driver took us to a hotel on the riverwalk, he had chocolate-covered strawberries and champagne waiting in the room!” Raven moves her hands up under her chin and listens to my whole story with stars in her eyes. I honestly never would have thought that I would be the girl with the guy that did all the right things.
The guys are always so rough and tough at the clubhouse. Outside of the hugs, I have never seen a softer side of any of the other brothers, but I am starting to think that they have them. There is no way that my guys are the only ones that treat their women like this.
“And I assume that it’s the strawberries and drinks that kept you out all night, and not something else that you gorged yourself on?” The waitress snorts a little and tries to cover it with a cough but before she can we are all laughing, and Raven is apologizing profusely.
“Seriously, don’t worry about it. You wouldn’t believe the things that I hear when passing tables.” She sets our food down and walks away while we are still trying to recover.
“Listen, I gorged myself on all the things. I started with him, but we got to the strawberries eventually.”
“Does he have a brother?” I almost spit dr. pepper out of my nose and Raven doesn’t even look ashamed.
“Not that I know about but most of the people in the club don’t hang around with family anymore unless they were raised in the club.” Her face falls and I can tell that for a moment she forgot that Pyro was part of the MC.
“I love you, and I accept you, but I don’t know that I could stand dating someone in the club.”
I am not offended by her words; I know that being in this life isn’t for everyone. Hell, I was trying to get away from it myself, but things have changed in the last few months. This is my life, and I am not getting out of it.
Raven is the 9-5 job, white picket fence type of person, and that’s okay, I love her for it. I will never be that person. I want a house with my family one day, but my family doesn’t have tiny feet running around. In my future I see leather vests lying around and bloody hands being cleaned in the kitchen, there is sex on every surface, and no need to cover up when you go to the kitchen.