Shut Your Mouth

Tig didn’t even look at her when she shouted at him, but simply turned and waved her to follow him as he went through the garage and opened the door leading into the house.
Violet stood rooted to the same spot, not believing that he had practically kidnapped her. What was wrong with these people and the way they treated women! Huffing out in annoyance, she looked over her shoulder, scanning the friendly looking neighborhood before groaning and following the crazy-haired man into the house. It wasn’t like he was gonna do anything to her.

“You want a coffee? Beer?”

He called from the other end of the small kitchen, not realizing that she had joined him.

“Coffee would be great, thanks.”

Her voice was smaller than she had intended. She shrugged her backpack off her shoulders and grabbed the purchased bottles of beer from it and heading to the fridge to keep them cool for whenever they’d leave again.
She looked around the kitchen and the front room that it opened into: it was neat and comfy but rather basic. He probably didn’t spend much time at home.

“What am I doing here Tig.”

The chair scraped over the floor as she went and took a seat at the round kitchen table, placing her hands on the worn wooden surface of it. Her eyes followed his movement as he put some ground coffee into the machine and switched it on before heading to the fridge to grab some bread and cold cuts.

“Defusing the situation. Can’t have you roaming around the clubhouse with Happy being in a weird mood and obviously Chibs having something up his ass, too. I didn’t think people would lose their shit over a piece of ass. No offence.”

She chuckled and sunk back into the chair.

“None taken. Never picked you for someone this…domesticated.”

She watched in amusement as he flipped her off, continuing to make a few sandwiches before bringing the plates over to the table, pushing one of them in her direction.

“Can’t let people think I’m letting a guest starve. How do you like your coffee? One sugar and no milk?”

She had no idea how he would know this, but she simply nodded as he turned towards the coffee machine, filling two cups. Back at the table, he sat opposite her after placing both cups down and sighed loudly, both his palms resting against the tabletop before he looked at her. The clear blue of his eyes fascinated her.

“What do you know about Happy? Do you know him at all apart from the random conversations at the studio? What he does? About this club?”

She had just taken a bite from the sandwich and decided to let him wait for an answer until she had emptied her mouth. She took extra long to chew, all the while staring right back at him.

“I’d hate to sound patronizing, but you have no idea what you’re getting yourself into sweet cheeks. Not everything we do is this side of the law and with your past employment…I don’t think you should be getting in the middle of it.”

She had finished her mouthful and washed it down with some hot coffee.

“I am not trying to change him Tig. I like him. He is rough on the outside, but there is so much warmth in him and I want to explore that. I don’t know anything about him, but neither do I know anything about any of you. It’s not like I’ll be getting involved with your MC or anything, I just want to spend time with him and see where it takes us.”

It was his turn to take a big bite out of the sandwich he had in front of him, not taking his eyes off of her. He was obviously trying to read her, so she was copying his actions and went on devouring the food he had plated up.
His phone rang, causing him to slide it out of his jeans’ pocket only to roll his eyes towards the ceiling and placing it on top of the table, ignoring the ringing.

“Let’s cut to the chase Vi: I don’t think you should be getting involved with us past the studio. You’re a lovely girl but this would change the way you see us. You’re not like the others and I think that’s what has men drawn to you. Especially Hap and Filip, they can see how innocent you are, you’re not just some croweater.”

His phone started ringing again and he picked it up, eying the name on the small flip phone. Putting his finger over his lips in a signal to be quiet, he flipped the phone open and put it on loudspeaker as he accepted the call, placing it back on the table.

“Hap, what’s going on?”

“The fucking Scot took Violet to the shops and lost her. He didn’t see her coming back out, and when he went inside to look for her, he noticed the opened back door. I have no idea if she fucking ran because he was being an ass or if she got taken. Alvarez was quick to step up for her yesterday, maybe he hung around and took the opportunity.”

Tig rubbed his face and tired eyes, shooting Vi a pointed look across the table as if to say “told you so”.

“I am sure she is fine man, Chibs would have heard their bikes if they would have been near the store. Maybe she just wanted to lose him and went into town herself to have some time to think about whatever went down this morning.”

Vi looked at the phone, somewhat disturbed that he thought someone may have snatched her from the shop. Was this a normal occurrence?

“Yeah well, I went to the usual places. She ain’t there. Where are you anyways, I called before and you didn’t pick up. You think she ran? Fuck, what did I do to make her run man!”

“You all but raped her by the sounds of it this morning Hap, maybe she doesn’t want to be found for now. She has no mode of transportation, I am sure she’ll show her face when she gets over that sad excuse of a dick trying to invade her…”

“Alright, spare me! I feel bad enough about that as it is. Anyway, Alvarez and some of his boys are supposed to be back tonight, do me a favor and keep your eyes open, will ya?”

Tig looked at the way Violet was chewing on her lip and grabbed the phone from the table.

“Sure thing brother. I’ll see you in a couple of hours back at the clubhouse. She’ll be back…does she even have your number?”

They could both hear him cuss on the other end, making her realize that things had happened so fast, that they never even had paid a thought of swapping digits.

“Fuck, no she doesn’t. Who has her number, Luanne? I’ll have Juice get onto that if I don’t hear from her in the next few hours. I just hope the Mayans didn’t pick her up somewhere.”

“Don’t worry Hap, she’s a grown woman with a good head on her shoulders. She’ll be fine. I’ll be back soon, just gotta take care of something.”

They disconnected the call and Tig snapped the phone shut again, slipping it back into his pocket.

“As I was saying: first thing he thought of was of a rivaling MC kidnapping you. Do you now understand why I am urging you to rethink this?”

She emptied her cup and stood, moving to the sink to wash it out.

“Has anyone ever thought that maybe Rose got in the crossfire and some other party connected to you guys killed her?”

She had her back turned towards him as she looked out of the window. This was the first ‘lead’ she had had since starting to look into her sister’s death.
She could hear his chair move before she felt him behind her, both his hands moving to the top of her shoulders in a fatherly manner.

“It was the first thing Happy suspected back then. But she wasn’t involved with us outside the studio, so it seems rather unlikely. We’ve had issues with other studios in the past, but nothing in a few years really. Happy really took a shining to your sister back then, they were constantly sticking their heads together. I don’t think anything ever happened between them,…but I believe the family connection is another reason why he is so drawn to you. He’s trying to redeem himself or some shit, who knows.”

He turned her around and studied her features: she was beautiful. She wasn’t wearing any make-up but her skin looked so smooth and flawless. Her green eyes were so similar to her sister’s, but they carried more maturity to Rose’s. Her lips were plump and pink. He had to step away a little in order not to have his sudden erection poking her.

“It’s unlikely. But Happy has had Juice looking into things since he met you. We’re not the police, we have other avenues to get information. I am sure he will tell you if anything comes up.”

His left hand cupped her face as he could see tears swimming in her eyes.

“You’re just a desperate girl, taking desperate measures to make sense of what has happened. Don’t let your personal vendetta to find your sister’s killer drive you into our world or porn babe. Even though I enjoy watching you work.”

He pressed a kiss to her forehead, his thumb gently wiping away a tear that had started rolling down her cheek. In this very moment, he realized that she was most beautiful: so vulnerable.

The corners of her mouth twitched into a small smile as her eyes moved back up to look into his.

“Thanks Tig, it’s somewhat comforting to get some fatherly advice seen that mine is no longer around. Either way, we should maybe go before Hap goes crazy, thinking I’m lying dead in some ditch. We can just tell him that you picked me up wandering the streets?”

Tig nodded, stepping away from her as she ran her thumbs under her eyes to hide any more tears that had escaped.

“Come on then. Grab your beers and we’re on our way.”

He said in an airy voice, turning on his heel to pick up the plates from the table and dump them in the sink.
She had misjudged him: he had always come across like a no-good creep but she had obviously judged this book by its cover. She didn’t care what the club stood for, if its members were apparently caring, warm people underneath all their rough looks and behavior.

She grabbed her beers from the fridge and stowed them into her backpack again, following him out the door so he could lock it.

“Think about what I told you Violet, we’re not just a bunch of fun guys to hang out with. If you become someone’s old lady you’ll be very much in the crosshairs of people that have something against us. And a simple kidnapping is only one thing people could do, we had women raped and murdered for being connected to us.”

He turned on his engine and allowed her to slide behind him after she had put the helmet on. Pushing his bike back down the driveway, she wrapped her arms around his middle, thankful that finally someone had opened up to her.