Never Again

Chapter 4

Cora awoke the next morning, having slept surprisingly well in the clubhouse dorm. She got up and changed into her usual formal attire, praying that she wouldn't have to go on yet another motorcycle ride. Then she grabbed her work folders from her bag, and headed out of the dorm, making her way into the main room of the clubhouse.

When she entered the room, she noticed that the place was rather empty. She had expected to see some of the guys mulling around, some of whom she knew and was hoping to catch up with. Yet, the only two people in the room were Happy and a younger, scrawnier looking man that she had never seen before. The unknown man sat at the bar, drinking a beer; he turned to look at Cora as she entered.

"You're Cora, right?" he asked.

She gave a nod in response. "Yeah, that's me." He got up and made his way across the room, offering a handshake.

"I'm Kip, but you can just call me Half-Sack."

Cora raised her eyebrows at his introduction, shocked to know that he was called "Half-Sack," but also too scared to ask why. So, she merely shook his hand and smiled assuringly.

"Are you a prospect?" she asked, pointing to the patch on his kutte.

"Yeah, I'm the new prospect around here," he explained, nodding. "That's why Jax asked me to stay behind; he wanted me to stay with you until Gemma got here."

"Gemma?" Cora's heart leapt in her chest at the mention of Gemma, equally out of fear and excitement to see the woman. She loved Gemma, and thought of her as the aunt she never had, but much like Cath, Gemma was someone who was all about family and staying true to Charming. Cora knew that she was likely to get some pressure from Gemma on the matter.

"Jax and the guys had to go handle something with their warehouse blowing up, so Jax asked Gemma to take you to see Wendy."

Cora nodded, understanding. "Makes sense." She paused a moment, looking over to Happy who was standing in the corner of the room, still talking on the phone. "What's with him?" she asked Half-Sack.

The prospect turned his head to match where Cora's gaze was. "Oh, Happy?" he inquired. "He's on the phone with the SAMTAC president. The club lost a shipment in the explosion; Happy's talking to SAMTAC about getting their help with replacing it."

Cora nodded again, making sense of the situation. Then Half-Sack motioned for her to follow him. He led her to the bar and poured her a cup of coffee.

She gladly accepted it, sitting down. She blew away steam as he took a seat next to her, striking up a friendly conversation. The two talked about nothing in particular as she sipped at her coffee, awaiting Gemma's arrival.

After a little while of sitting around, Cora heard a car pull up outside, followed by the opening of the clubhouse doors. Cora turned to look and spotted the figure of Gemma Teller Morrow.

Gemma smiled when she caught sight of Cora, calling out to her. "Sweetheart," she greeted, going to her. The matriarch enveloped Cora in a hug. "It's been far too long."

Cora grinned wildly, glad to see Gemma; it had been quite a while since she had last visited her, almost a year. "Yeah, it has," she agreed. "It's good to see you again."

Gemma released Cora from her hug and took a moment to look her over. "You look more and more like your mom every day," she noted. "Cath looks even more like her, what with all her curls."

At the mention of Cath, Cora bit her lip, not sure of how to respond. She was only a minute into her conversation with Gemma, and her twin was already being dragged into the mix.