Page 41 of What Burns Between
She straightens, frown tugging her brow. “Where am I supposed to be, then? I thought I was here because it was safer.”
“You are.” I tip my head and wince. “But if we’re keeping this legit, you need to know how things are done ’round here. The other members will find it insulting if you’re given special privilege over their wives and girlfriends.”
“So, do I need to be wherever he is, or is this okay?” She gestures to herself, sitting alone at the bar.
“That’s fine because he’s on site.” I glance around, searching him out and coming up empty. “But if he heads out, you do too.”I lift a hand to stop her talking. “It concerns me as well, knowing what we’re tryin’ to keep you safe from, which is why whenever he rides out with you, you’ll have an escort. Likely Minion. But Hammer is an adequate backup.”
“Does Digger know this?”
“I haven’t spoken to him about it, but he knows the rules, Rae. He’ll expect it.” The same as he’ll expect he can put his colors on her back. Make it public who people have to fuck with if they so much as harm a hair on her head. “You see that woman over there?” I point to Sweetie, clearing away empty dishes from the pool table.
Rae follows my direction. “Yeah.”
“See what she’s wearing?”
Rae turns a little, knee touching the inside of my thigh as she reads the rockers on Sweetie’s vest. “That means she’s an old lady, right?”
“Exactly.” I follow her back when she swivels to face me again, keeping my leg against hers. “It’s a property patch. We ain’t giving you one because Digger hasn’t laid claim to you formally. It’s all a ruse, right?” She nods. “If anyone asks, you have them; you just choose not to wear them. Got it?”
Rae glances at the bar and then meets my eye. “What if someone wants to see them?”
She has a point. Proof of ownership has been asked for on several occasions. It’s not unheard of. “I’ll talk to Digger about that.” My jaw tenses, imagining Rae wearing his colors. For the first time, it dawns on me that even though I agreed to this bullshit, I may not like it. “Maybe we can get you an associate patch instead.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s like a property patch, but it’s more general use. It’s usually given to family and girlfriends who want to show loyalty to the club.”
“Am I not Digger’s girlfriend?” Rae frowns. “I’m sorry, it’s just so confusing. What exactly is the difference?.”
“Being an associate says he ain’t serious about you. Being an old lady is like being married without the ring.”
“Oh.” Her face pales, cheeks slowly growing rosy before she swallows hard and looks away. “What did he suggest I be?”
I roll the words around my tongue before forcing them past my teeth. “His old lady.”
“Boss.”
I suck a deep breath and turn my head toward Graves. “Yeah?”
“Sorry to interrupt, but you got a minute before I head out?”
“Sure.” I run my fingers under Rae’s chin as I slide to my feet. “Don’t stress about it all too much. Just stay close to my brother, and you’ll be fine.”
Me, though? Apparently, not so much.
16
RAE
Digger crashes aroundin the far corner of the enormous garage, the echo of metal as parts and scrap fall against the concrete floor reverberating back to where I navigate my way through the maze of machines. There doesn't appear to be any rhyme or reason to how they're parked, nor any sort of preference for what the members of this club ride. Harleys lean beside Triumphs and Indians. There's even a Yamaha tucked against the far wall. The majority of bikes look made for cruising long distances, the rest as though they'd be at home on a racetrack zipping through S-bends at a gazillion miles an hour.
"The shelf with the two white buckets on it," he hollers over the chaos. "Check the leftmost one. Find some gloves that fit you."
I eye his sculpted forearms, running my gaze down to his bare hands as he picks up what appears to be a guard and hurls it onto a pile of scrap. "You don't have any on.”
"My hands are like leather, honey." He holds them up and grins. "Trust me. You don't want to go slicing your pretty palms up on this shit."
Sure didn’t feel like leather last night.