Storm
The day was hot with not a cloud in the sky. When I rode up to Sutton’s apartment, she was already waiting for me on the curb.
Planting my feet on the asphalt, I skimmed her from head to toe admiring what I saw. Her real hair was blonde with hues of gold and yellow blended well together, which suited her far better than the black she always wore at the club. She was wearing a light blue sundress that touched her legs mid-thigh. I drank in her legs and grinned when I noticed her beat-up converse shoes.
“I like you like this,” I said, winking at her.
She couldn’t contain the blush that crept to her cheeks as she kicked the sidewalk with her toe. First, I hand her my jacket and then my spare helmet, she quickly put them on and climbed on the back of my bike.
“Have you ever been on a bike before,” I asked, looking back at her.
“No,” she said.
“Nothing to worry about,” I smiled and slowly let out the clutch.
The Greek restaurant I had in mind was owned by an older couple who’d been in business for the last 20 years. Eating at Amara’s was something I did pretty often and hoped Sutton would enjoy it. When I saw Amara, she smiled widely at me and took us to a back booth.
“Ah Jake, it’s good to see you with such a beautiful girl.” Amara smiled widely at us.
She left us to our menus, and I noticed the bemused expression on Sutton’s face.
“Do you come here often?”
“Yeah, it's a favorite of mine,” I said, looking at the menu though I already knew what I wanted.
“So, she gets to call you Jake, huh? I only know your real name because I asked Mary,” Sutton said, her blue eyes accessing me.
“Amara and her husband Cliff are good people,” I said. What I don’t tell her is I’ve known them since I was a kid. They lived in my old neighborhood. My parents had sold their house about 4 years ago to retire in Ocala, Florida.
“Interesting. You don’t want to tell me more, do you?” She smiled and scanned the laminated menu.
Before I could answer, Amara came back with ice waters.
“It’s not that. My upbringing was typical. I grew up in Mercy. My parents live in Florida now. I wasn’t into school so college was out. Becoming a part of the Merciless Few was a fluke more than anything. Everyone knew about the MC. Hell, both MCs are known within a 60-mile radius or more. But it wasn’t on my mind at the time. All I wanted at 22 was to party and get laid.”
Sutton had a soft smile on her face, and I very much wanted to know what she was thinking. This girl: I wanted to protect her and fuck her senseless in almost the same breath.
“What are you thinking?” I finally asked when she stayed silent.
“Everything about you is unexpected,” she said.
“Care to explain?”
“Not really,” she said and took a big breath and smiled.
Our food arrived, and we tucked in to eat. Sutton wasn’t a big talker or maybe she was nervous. It was hard to tell. But her body language told me she wasn’t hating her time with me so I’d just go with it.
“Now it's your turn to tell me about you,” I said.
“Nothing exciting. I’m from a small town in West Virginia that I doubt you’ve heard of,” she said and added a thick slab of hummus to her pita bread.
“Okay, so why Mercy and why Physical Therapy?”
“My Dad has MS. He was diagnosed when I was a senior in high school. I’d always wanted to be a nurse, but a lot happened that year and it changed my mind. As for Mercy, I wanted to see the ocean and I found a program that let me do that.”
“Will you go back to West Virginia after your studies?” My palms started to sweat as I waited for her answer. What the hell was that about?
“I haven’t decided honestly. My Dad has VA benefits, so he does okay. Plus, he has my mom, and both my brother and sister live nearby.”