Masquerade

After finding out the person I really was, Tig and I became much closer. I felt more comfortable around him than I ever thought I would and it was almost like having a real big brother to help look out for me. A few weeks went by before he decided to drop a bomb on me.

“I told Venus about you.” The first emotion I felt shoot through my veins was betrayal. I had opened up to him and he spewed my story to someone I didn’t even know. If I had anything to hit him with, I would have used it. “I think she could help you!” he quickly added, seeing the rage cross my face. “You said you’d never had any other trans person to talk to. I know another trans person. It makes sense.”

It took thirty minutes of arguing for him to finally convince me that I should go with him to meet Venus. I reluctantly agreed and told him to meet me at my house in fifteen minutes so I could go change. I didn’t want to meet Venus while I was in my cut and ratty jeans. I felt like I should present my true self to Venus, not the self that other people had always told me to be.

“Nice legs.” Tig smirked as I exited my house wearing a tight fitting t-shirt and jeans skirt, the stretchy shorts underneath so I could ride on his bike without worry. It wasn’t too showy but I did apply a nice winged eyeliner and a layer of lip gloss.

Part of me knew that this meeting wasn’t going to be a big deal but no one had told my stomach that because it was doing flips the entire bike ride to Venus’s house and I had to fight not to throw up. Thankfully we made it to the house before my stomach could empty it’s contents onto the back of Tig’s cut. We pulled into the driveway of a decently decorated house in one of the nicer parts of Charming. I guess it truly did pay to be a prostitute.

Tig knocked on the front door and that’s when the real fear set in. I felt like it took five hours for Venus to finally answer the door and when she did I was surprised to see her in sweat pants and an old shirt that I recognized to be Tig’s. Seems like ‘close’ was too platonic of a word for them now. Tig and I were close but not 'wear his t-shirt while lounging around the house’ close. That was some next level stuff, but I kept my mouth shut about it.

“Well hey there baby.” she said, a smile lighting up her face as she looked at Tig. Suspicions confirmed. Her eyes eventually found their way to my small frame and I felt a little self-conscious under her gaze. “And who is this little cutie?”

“This is Andrea.” Tig replied, my eyes darting up to his face as he called me by my chosen name instead of Andrew or even Andy. “The newest patch in.” Understanding flickered across Venus’s face and she pulled us inside the house. She led us to the kitchen before offering us anything to drink, then excused herself to go change.

She came back in tight-fitting jeans and a low-cut blouse, something I at first assumed was for Tig’s benefit but then I recalled that she enjoyed dressing this way. For herself and no one else. She was a truly independent woman and I could see why Tig wanted us to meet.

“I guess you have a story to tell me.” she said with a smile, grabbing herself a cup of coffee and sitting at the dining room table with us. She waited patiently for me to size her up and determine if she was worth telling my story to. Of course in the end I did, I told her the same exact thing I told Tig weeks prior and she listened just as intently.

Over the next few weeks Venus and Tig both helped me truly start to become the woman I knew I was always meant to be. Venus especially. She was so caring and sweet to me, helping me with even the most remedial of things and never being anything other than patient and supportive. With all the time I had been spending with her I could very easily see why Tig was drawn to her, she was charming, charismatic, and hilarious. What she saw in Tig on the other hand was a completely different story.

About a month after Venus helped sort everything out with my insurance to get me started on hormone therapy she thought it might be the time to finally tell the rest of the club what was going on with me.

“You can’t keep living two lives, sweet pea.” She said.

“I just don’t know if I can do that.” I admitted, rubbing my neck. “What if they strip me of my patch and kick me from the club because I’m not a dude? I don’t think I could handle that, Venus. I love the MC and everyone in it. They’re the family I’ve always wanted.”

She pulled me into a soft hug. “But darling, are they really such a wonderful family if you can’t show them who you are? And I don’t think they’d entirely strip you of anything. I mean, they were a little wary of me at first, but look at how well they treat me now. And you know Tig would never abandon you.”

She had fairly decent points there, but the biggest difference there was that she was not a patched in member of SAMCRO. I didn’t know all the rules by heart but the fact that there were no other females in the MC kind of spoke volumes. But even Tig started to encourage me to tell the other guys, pointing out that after a while I wouldn’t be able to hide what the hormones did to me.

Tig convinced me that I should go to the Clubhouse party this weekend and let the guys get a feel for the real me. He said to think of it as a 'test run’ before officially letting them all know that I had officially started my transition.