Page 45 of Firecracker

It is at that moment, Quick lets Sam up. “He was grabbing my woman.”

There he goes again, his woman.My heart starts to speed up, and I feel flustered.

The man turns to Shy. “Sorry Shy, we have no quarrel. My club means no disrespect and this fucking idiot will be dealt with when we get home. On my word.”

Shy just nods his head in acceptance shaking the guy’s hand that was extended out.

He turns to the other men in his group. “Where the fuck were all of you? Get his punk ass outta here before he embarrasses us anymore.”

The man that I’m assuming is the president of this club, which I can see clearly now that their cuts are different, walks over to Quick, who has moved in front of me and extends his hand out. “Quick, sorry for the problem. Again, no disrespect from our club. I hope your girl’s okay.”

A few people in the crowd pipe up laughing, but it’s one of his men that state. “Shit, Sam got his ass handed to him by the little Firecracker. Quick was just shutting him up.”

The old man moves, looking over Quick’s shoulder and then down to me and laughs. His face wrinkles up around the eyes when he laughs. He has a bandana wrapped around his head with sunglasses on top. I can’t see his patch or name, but when he nods, I smile back.

“Sorry, little Firecracker,” he states but doesn’t move toward me, showing respect to Quick.

“It was nothing. I’m sorry for hurting him and making it a big deal,” I ramble.

Everyone starts to laugh around me and Quick turns pulling me into his side. I see the man’s name is Big Pete and he is, indeed the president of the Hellman MC.

Well, hell man. I laugh at all these fucking names. Seriously I wonder where they come up with them.

Big Pete turns to Quick. “She is a firecracker, alright. Good luck, brother.” he turns and heads out with the few men that remained with him.

Shy yells, “Shows over, turn the music back on and let’s party.”

I yell, hoping Maze is behind me and can hear. “Maze, can we have some shots please?” and when she answers,

“You got it, Mama!” I smile.

Ginger is the first one to grab me, but Quick doesn’t let go, so she hugs us both. “Goddamn, Firecracker is so your new name. Jesus Christ, now I know where Iz gets it. You’re one badass bitch.”

Izzy pulls me from Quick’s arms and this time he lets me go. She sits me down at the bar, and I’m back in the middle of all the women telling them stories of when I was on the road. The next couple hours is filled with laughs and so many shots I lost count. The place has thinned out some with the altercation, but most of the single men are upstairs where the strippers are still dancing, and I think more of the crazier crew are up there with all the whistles and catcalls.

Quick and the other guys move back over to the pool table but Quick keeps his eyes on me, staying close. I watch him too, letting him know I’m thinking of him just as much. The closeness these people have for one another and how they had my back has me so overwhelmed. Thank goodness they have moved onto a different subject and now I am just sitting here listening to them talk shit amongst each other.

I’m mostly blown away at the fact that not one person blamed me for the incident. That no one said it was something that I did to antagonize him. Sitting here and listen to all the stories. My heart fills with yearning and sadness, knowing I could have had all of this a long time ago if I left him sooner. I feel really happy here and not stressed at all. I get a sharp pain in my chest thinking of Isabella. I miss her so much, but I needed this weekend. I need to be able to confront Brody and move on. I can’t even name all the eye openers I’ve had being away and seeing how my life could actually be without him.

I finish off the rest of my vodka cranberry. Izzy and Ginger went upstairs to handle something with the sound system. Eva left a while ago saying she had a date and the ladies from West Virginia are all chatting about something, so I place my glass on the bar and look over at Maze who’s actually staring at me. I smile. She smiles back while making her way over to me, she grabs a bottle of Honey Jack, pouring us both a shot.

“How are you doing girl?” she asks with a smile.

I shrug. “Tired.”

“You sure it’s tired and not sad? I’ve been bartending a long time and know the difference.” Maze leans over and like always, I look to her cleavage. She has such nice big tits. Jesus, I am drunk.

She waves her hands in front of me. “Hello?” she says with a laugh.

“Sorry, your tits are just so nice and distracting,” I say, laughing at myself.

We both take the shot. She’s such a nice person, or maybe I’m drunk, or maybe it’s because she’s a bartender, but I start talking. “I’m just fucked up. I’ve been in a fucked up marriage from the beginning.” My words kind of slur so I sit up straight thinking it will help sober me up. “He verbally abuses me. Like that” —I flick my hand in the air pointing behind me— “thing that happened earlier. He would have blamed me and said it was my fault. See, men used to do that shit to me all the time at the bars or venues where he would be playing, and of course, I would do what I did, defend myself,” I say the last part a little loud.

Maze pours us another shot and says, “Fuck that. I was about to jump over the bar and deal with that fucker myself. It was not your fault.”

I wave my hand at her, “I know. I know. But after so many years of hearing it's my fault I kind of believed it. Anyways, what was I saying?” We both take another shot.

“Oh, yeah. I was saying I hate my life. I’ve missed my sister. I’ve missed her so much, but I’ve been too embarrassed to call her and ask for help.” I throw my hand up. “I swear. I tried a few times, but he always sabotaged it. He has cameras in the house, probably in my car, fuck he probably has me bugged. The fucker always knew when I called her.”

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