KNOW ME (DEFIANT Motorcycle Club)(22)

desperation in my own grip.
Orion’s hands wound through my hair, yanking me back so hard I cried out a little in

pain and surprise.  He stared into my eyes for an intense minute and then he was gone.
I sat down, breathing heavily as the bikes fired to life and thundered away towards

whatever danger was their destination.  And though I hadn’t cried since the murderous

night which changed everything, I cried then.
***
After spending the evening mooning about the room I was a little weary of my own

company.  Early the next morning I banged loudly on Rachel’s door.  She tumbled out of

it, cursing, wearing only a bra and pink thong.
“Jesus, Kira.” She rubbed her eyes after being assured that nobody was actively

bleeding or endangered.
“I think I’m Kasey while I’m working, right?”
Rachel yawned and stretched.  “Yeah, Casper said he talked to Orion.  Since you’re

supposed to stay close it’s okay if you hang around the bar for now.  Just get scarce

when Marauders or anyone else rolls in.”
“I can do that.”
Rachel looked at me funny.  “Why you want to sit in a dirty bar all day if you don’t

have to?”
I coughed, looking down.  “I don’t want to be alone.”
She gave me a quick hug and started to return to the trailer.
“Hey, Rachel.  I guess I won’t ask you where they went.”
Her hand paused on the aluminum door handle.  “I wouldn’t know what the hell to tell

you anyway.”
“But it’s bad, isn’t it?”
Her head fell.  “Yeah,” she said softly.  “I think it might be.”
Adele showed up while I was cleaning tables.  She offered me a friendly smile under

soft brown eyes.  Rachel called to her from behind the bar.
“Your sister showing up today?”
Adele shrugged.  “She says Grayson doesn’t want her working here anymore.”
Rachel’s eyes narrowed.  “Bullshit.  Grayson doesn’t give a f*ck.”
Adele laughed.  “Don’t tell her that.”  She picked up a bag which I noticed held

cleaning supplies.  She saw me watching.  “Yeah, I’m also the maid.  Bar doesn’t

keep us busy all day long and no one else was willing.  Hey, Rach.  I’m heading over

to the house for the morning.”
Rachel frowned at a spotted shot glass.  “Fine.”
“Can I come?” I asked.
“Sure,” Adele smiled.  “After all, you live there, don’t you?”
There was something about the companionship of performing mundane housework which

brings two women together.  I’d had friends at Berkeley, but always kept them arm’s

length.  They didn’t really know who I was or where I came from and they would not

have understood if I’d told them.  Many times I’d imagined the shocked gasps of their

entitled little mouths if they knew and how they would ask if my life was really a Sons

of Anarchy episode.
Adele was raised in Quartzsite.  Her father had been part of a club which didn’t exist

anymore and he’d died young too.  Only he’d died with a needle in his arm and left

his daughters with a tired wraith of a mother who wasn’t much better off.
“She’s still breathing,” Adele grumbled as she dusted a table.  “But it doesn’t

seem to matter much to her either way.”
I fluffed a couch pillow.  “And you live with her?”
“Yeah.  If you take Cholla Road all the way down it’s the crumbling yellow house on

the corner. Has a sort of meth lab glow about the place. Talia’s got the right idea. 

Now that she’s got in good with Grayson she doesn’t come by unless she has to.”
Adele pushed her brown hair tiredly behind her ears.  Her face had a careworn look

which made it difficult to estimate her age.  I could guess the meaning behind her

words.  She desperately wanted out.
“Why don’t you leave?” I asked quietly.
Adele kneeled on the floor and started to clean a stain which might have been spilled

beer.  “I’ve never known anything but here,” she said. She gave me a tired smile. 

“Takes guts, you know.  To start over.  That and some cash.  I’m short on both.”
I jumped when the front door of the house swung open and Teague stalked in.  He cut a

figure which  was lanky and sinewy.  His usual expression seemed to be a perpetual

leer.  A cigarette dangled from his thin lips and his smirk deepened when he spotted

Adele.
“How about it, babe?”
Adele faced away from him so he didn’t see her grimace.  She kept her voice

artificially light.  “Rain check? I got to get this place squared away or Orion ain’t

gonna pay me.”
Teague blew out a cloud of smoke.  “Well, maybe I’ll look for you later.  Or maybe I

’ll find something else.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to mutter something sarcastic to this personality

specimen.  But it would have been out of turn.  And the truth was without Orion around