A New Ride Begins

Chapter Five

"Wait here," Ellie says as she leaves me sitting in a virtually empty ice cream parlor and candy shop in downtown Charming.

She disappears behind a corner. I can hear her boots clicking up a staircase that I can't see. My hands are shaking again, the nerves getting to me a little more each second she is gone.

I hear some rustling and turn in time to see an older, balding man come from out of what I assume to be a storage area because he is holding a large Hershey box. The man's eyes find mine and his mouth hangs open, the box in his hands crashing to the ground at his feet. I raise an eyebrow his way and smirk.

"There a problem?" I ask gruffly.

The guy is looking at me as if he's just seen a ghost. He doesn't even have the gall to respond. My nerves, my previous unwelcome altercation with that Cal creep, and this one-handed bastards' serious gawking are all bothering the shit out of me.

I hear a clamor of boots on the stairs, my attention being brought back to the situation at hand.

A half a second later, Ellie turns the corner, followed by three older dudes in Sons adorned leather.

They look at me briefly in the same way the first guy did, but luckily, they seemed to snap out of it much quicker.

"You shouldn't be here boyo. Ya should go back home to yer Ma and Pa," the man who wore a Presidents patch said as he takes a hesitant step toward me.

His accent is thick, Irish or Scottish if I had to guess. Maybe even a mixture of both. His hair is longer, with strips of white highlights along the slicked back sides. A long scar highlights his cheek, and while his words have slight bite, his eyes seem soft.

"We should hear him out," the man next to him with dark curly hair says.

I look toward his patch; Vice President. He has an easy-going smile on his face and I'm not sure whether he is going to cry or kiss me. It's obvious that these men had known my parents, knew the secrets I have wanted to uncover for most of my life. They never would've reacted to the sight of me in such a way otherwise.

"And what do you think?" I ask the third man; a bald, tall, tanned and muscled man who bore the Sgt. At Arms patch.

He presses his lips together and crosses his heavily tattooed arms over his vest, but doesn't answer me.

"I just want to talk," I tell them, directing my attention back to the President.

"See, Chibs. He just wants to talk," the curly haired one responds with a nudge and a smile.

The man takes a step forward, smiling, and holds out a hand for me to shake.

"I'm Tig," he says as we shake hands. "That's Chibs and that smiling beauty is Happy. I'm sure Nero told you all about us," he says, his smile beaming.

"He never said a word about any of you," I answer honestly, which causes Tig's smile to drop. "Who's that?" I ask, nodding my head to where the first guy still stands gawking at me.

Tig follows my eye.

"That's just Chucky. Ignore him," he answers, his feelings obviously hurt that I have not the slightest idea of who any of them are.

"Ya just wanna talk?" Chibs asks, running his hand over his face and pulling slightly on his short goatee.

I can tell he's struggling with something internally. It takes him a minute to find my eyes again and I look back unwavering. I hold up my hands as if I'm surrendering myself to them as I muster up the acting ability to give him my best, mega-watt Jackson Teller smile.

"Just want to talk," I repeat.

The man they call Chibs sighs deeply and nods toward the stairs.

"Well c'mon then," he says softly, causing the other members to turn and head back the way in which they came.

I look toward Ellie. She's sitting at a small circle table, tapping her nails on the stucco. Her eyes are on the table top but if I had to guess she listened in on every word spoken.

"Thanks," I mutter to her with a small smile, placing my hand on her shoulder and giving it a brief squeeze.

She nods her head in acknowledgement as I follow the men around the corner and up the stairs.