Life on Two Wheels

It had been a week since Brian had seen her and he couldn’t get her out of his head. He’d gone back to the same spot on the beach, but not once had he seen her jeep or her. He went out early in the morning and didn’t come back in until mid-afternoon when he felt like his skin was about to burn off of his body. He’d gone back to Johnny’s bar almost every night and spent hours, but he hadn’t seen her once. The only thing that kept him going was the haunting image of her crystal blue eyes and her long bleach-blonde hair.

Finally, he came to the unfortunately realization he probably wasn’t going to see her again. He knew there was a bunch of the MC in Huntington, but the chances of her being identified with the MC here was slim. The MC itself was based hours north of Huntington in Charming, and there were all different locations for them to come from. Hell, there were some in Nevada and Oregon, too.

A bit bummed out, he’d reluctantly gone with Zacky on some errand he had to run. Zacky wouldn’t tell him what it was, but Brian could tell by the way he was acting, Zacky was excited about it. He’d borrowed a friend’s truck and trailer, and they were currently driving to some place Brian had never been before.

“What exactly are we picking up?” he queried.

“Dude, I told you, it’s a fucking surprise.”

“Is the surprise for you or for me?”

“For me, duh.”

“I still don’t understand why I have to come with you.”

“I’ve watched you go down to the beach for a whole week trying to find Miss Mystery. I’m trying to get you out of your funk, and out of the sun that’s fucking frying you. You can’t exactly have fun playing guitar while being sunburned.”

Brian crooked a smile at his friends and looked to the driveway they were pulling into. A motorcycle was out front with a “FOR SALE” sign on the front of it.

“Dude, no way are you buying a bike,” Brian said, astonished.

“Yep, sure as fuck am!”

Brian let out a laugh of amusement and got out simultaneously as his friend when they parked.



“I can’t believe you paid a grand for that piece of shit,” Brian said, shaking his head.

“With just a little bit of tender lovin’ care, this baby will be up and running in no time,” Zacky said with a smile.

“You gonna fix it yourself?”

“Hell, no,” Zacky said, scoffing. “There’s a bike shop off of Main I’m gonna take it to.”

“You talking about ‘Monroe Cycles’?”

“Yep,” Zacky said, flicking his cigarette out of the window.

“Are we going there now?”

“No time like the present!” Zacky said, smiling.



They pulled into the lot less than a half hour later. A huge building loomed to the left of them, and straight ahead, the six-bay garage looked open. People were walking around the parking lot, and a couple of motorcycles revved up and took off, passing them. As they drove by the huge building, a large “SONS OF ANARCHY” read on the side. Instantly, Brian perked up. Maybe she would be here!

Once they were parked, they climbed out of the cab and were approached by a dark-skinned guy with a chin-strap beard and cautious eyes.

“Can I help you?”

“Yeah, I talked to Ben Monroe earlier about my bike,” Zacky said, sticking his hand out for the guy to shake.

The guy took his hand and moved it up and down once.

“I’ll go get ‘im,” the guy said and walked away abruptly.

“Well that was fuckin’ rude,” Brian said and looked around.

There was a bunch of guys walking around, wearing cuts, and a few in the garage area, wiping off tools or bent over a truck. No females were in the vicinity and he sighed. He spotted a middle-aged man, hair pulled back into a ponytail and a full beard walking their way.

“You must be Zacky,” he said, extending his hand with a smile. “Benjamin Monroe.”

“Nice to meet you, man,” Zacky said. “This is my friend Brian.”

Brian shook his hand and said hello.

“So what’ve we got, here?” Ben said, pulling his sunglasses off of his face to rest them on his head.

“Well,” Zacky began as he moved towards the trailer where the bike was hooked up. “I picked it up for a grand. I didn’t know how much damage there was until I got there, but I was able to talk the dude down.”

“Shit,” Ben said, climbing onto the trailer to get a closer look at the bike. “Fuel tank’s busted, bad shocks, and the front break line is almost severed… This ain’t gonna be cheap, kid.”

“Yeah, I figured that,” Zacky said, groaning.

“You even got your Class M?” the man gruffed out, but he was smiling.

Returning the smile, Zacky flashed his license with the ‘M’ on the back.

The older man nodded and stood up, wiping his hands off. “You’re gonna wanna see TJ up at the garage. C’mon, I’ll introduce ya.”

He hopped off of the trailer and headed towards the garage.

“Wonder how big this guy’s gonna be,” Brian whispered to Zacky as they followed suit.

“Teej!” Benjamin hollered. A few tools fell and a curse could be heard. “TJ!”

“WHAT!?” a voice came from somewhere deep in the garage.

Something wasn’t right.

“Get the hell out here and take a look at this bike.”

Some clattering could be heard, along with wheels rolling, signaling they had been lying on a creeper and were coming out from underneath a vehicle. Both Brian and Zacky’s attention was brought to their right where a body was emerging from the ground.
Brian’s mouth dropped.

He’d been searching for her for a week and she’d been standing right under his nose the whole time. Her hair was in a bun, piled on top of her head and she was wearing an old pair of jeans with oil covering them, and a dark blue shirt that said SAMCRO on the front. There was an oil smudge above her left eyebrow and she was wiping her hands off as she walked towards them.

If she recognized him, she didn’t give any indication of it whatsoever. Her eyes flicked to him, but they immediately went back to Zacky as she smiled broadly at him.

Tessa kept it to herself, though. She knew who he was; everyone in Huntington knew who the Avenged boys were. She’d seen him at the beach and at the bar, most definitely, which is why she’d done the dance she had. If she hadn’t had to leave, she probably would’ve tried flirting with him; he was hot.

“These two have brought us a bike to fix, Teej,” her dad said and after introducing them, he led them outside towards the trailer. “It’s definitely a fixer-upper.”

She put a hand over her eyes to block the sun and followed behind the three guys. From her position, she could see Kemper, House and Doc staring at them. From the clubhouse door, Tabitha herself walked out into the sunshine. Tessa could see her mouth drop open as she recognized the two walking in front of Tessa.

Speaking of, her eyes went back to them and her ego took a little jump up as she watched Brian try to slyly turn around to look at her. Then her eyes fell on the motorcycle.

“Holy shit,” she said and laughed softly.

“Yeah, I know,” Zacky said.

She stepped onto the trailer to get a better look at the bike. She let out a low whistle as she examined the bike.

“It’s bad, I know,” Zacky said, scratching the back of his head.

“Hope you didn’t pay too much for this,” she said, closing one eye to look at him.

“I definitely paid more than I would’ve liked to, but I was able to get the guy to come down on his price.”

“Well, that’s good ‘cause it’s gonna be a pretty penny to fix,” Tessa said, standing up. She dusted her hands off on her pants and looked at the boys.

“I figured it would be,” Zacky said, scratching his head.

“If anyone can fix it, though, it’s Teej, here,” her dad said.

“Thanks, dad,” she grumbled.

Brian was staring at her again and she felt a bit uncomfortable. She looked up to see House, Tabitha and Kemper were all still staring at her. Kemper didn’t look too happy. Hell, there wasn’t a time when he did look happy while she was talking to male customers, but he’d have to get over it.

“Let’s go ahead and get it off the trailer and into the garage,” Tessa said as she reached for the straps holding it in place.

Zacky and Benjamin rushed forward and she held the bike still while they unhooked it. Once it was free, she backed it down the ramp and started pushing it towards the garage. She felt a presence beside her and glanced to see Brian walking beside her. Turning her head, she saw Zacky and her dad talking behind them.

“So a mechanic, huh?” Brian asked her, his voice washing over her and making her tingle.

“Yeah,” she said, and frowned at the choice of music that whoever was controlling the radio was playing. The Scorpion’s “No One Like You” was blasting. “CUT THAT SHIT OFF!”

“Mechanic by day and biker chick by night,” Brian said, smiling.

“Somethin’ like that,” she muttered back. “How’d you know?”

“Well, for one, your dad’s cut says ‘President’ on it, which means you would’ve had to be around the gang a long time, and I saw your back that day at the beach. I didn’t think girls could get the reaper tattooed on them.”

“Club,” she corrected. “We’re a motorcycle club. I’m a special case, though. No females can get the reaper, just the crow.”

Brian understood he was about to overstep his bounds by how hard her voice had gone and he just nodded. He tried to find something, anything to talk about to keep her voice going and he tried to settle on something he thought was going to be a safe subject.

“What is ‘SAMCRO’?”

Tessa stopped in her examination of the bike and looked at him. He motioned towards her and she looked down at her shirt to see the letters looming back at her.

“Oh,” she said and looked back up at him. “It means ‘Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, Redwood Originals’.”

“I’m confused,” he said, his eyebrows drawing together.

She walked away to a toolbox and grabbed a few tools, bringing them back to the bike. She sat down on the ground and spread her legs out and began loosening a few bolts.

“The Reaper started with a guy up in Redwood, and they settled in Charming. I’m very good friends with the guy’s son, and the guy himself, and I snagged the shirt.”

“That’s cool,” Brian said, genuinely interested.

They were interrupted by Zacky and her father coming into the garage then. She turned her attention back to the bike to finish her chore, but she was acutely aware of how close Brian was to her.

“So, I’d say about a week before it’s finished,” her dad was saying. “It’ll take a day or two for the parts to come in, and once they do, TJ’ll have it up and running in no time.”

Sighing, she stood up and wiped her hands off. Zacky was shaking her dad’s hand and he turned to her next. She smiled, apologizing for the grease. Her dad shook Brian’s hand, next and he turned to her.

“I really appreciate this,” Zacky was saying.

They were unaware of the slight tension between Tessa and Brian. Her hand suddenly felt sweaty as she reached out to shake his.

He was completely sure he was going to fall apart. Brian had felt so stupid the entire time he was asking her questions, knowing he shouldn’t have asked about the crew, but he was curious and wanted to hear her talk about anything. Now, he was reaching out to shake her hand and he felt foolish…Until she smiled at him. All of his thoughts went out the window as her bright, crystal blue eyes crinkled and sparkled and her snow-white teeth made a huge appearance.

Now, he didn’t feel foolish anymore, he felt like a love-sick school boy. As soon as her skin touched him, he almost could swear there was an electric spark, but that couldn’t be right. There was no such thing. He glanced up from their hands to her eyes, and saw them momentarily widen before looking up to meet his eyes. She’d felt it, too. His pulse quickened and they released hands. She watched her dad walk them back to the truck to help them back out.

Tessa made her way over to where Kemper was sitting after hearing him holler her name. She sat down on a picnic table and watched as the boys had a few last words with her dad. Just before Brian got into the cab, she could see him watching her, and she had to tear her gaze away from him to look at Kemper.

“Yeah,” he said, nodding his head in a mocking manner. “Did you forget you were fucking dating me?”

“What are you talking about, Kemp?”

“Pretty boy couldn’t take his fucking eyes off of you,” Kemper said, taking a drag from his cigarette.

“’Pretty Boy’ is just a fucking customer. Chill out, paranoid.”

“You get too close to customers,” Kemper said, leaning close to her and grabbing her arm.

She jerked her arm away and stood up. “You have your period too much, Kemp.”

House and Doc laughed at Kemper’s expense while Tessa walked back to the garage, her hips swinging.