Page 13 of Jake

“Ok, let’s make that three differences. We’ll start with number one being that I know Heather, and not just from today. We knew each other years ago and just ran into each other again.”

The new guy waved one hand as if dismissing that, but he didn’t get a chance to say anything as Aaron continued.

“Number two being that Heather doesn’t belong to any of the Kings.”

“She’s here with him.” The new guy flung one hand in Matt’s direction.

“Yes, she is, but she’s not his ol’ lady or even his date. She’s his cousin.”

Heather was glad he didn’t go into detail about why she was here if she wasn’t seeing one of the Kings. She didn’t need her troubles spread wide for everyone to know.

The new guy, obviously one of Aaron’s club members, folded his arm across his chest and scowled. She didn’t have to know him to see he wasn’t impressed by Aaron’s reasons.

“And then there’s the third, and maybe the most important one.” Aaron stopped, glancing at her before turning back to look at the new guy.

“Enlighten me.” The new guy’s tone said he’d lost interest, but knew he wasn’t getting away until Aaron had finished with whatever he was saying.

“The third difference is I asked Heather to dinner as a chance to reconnect, to get to know her and possibly build some kind of relationship. You don’t do relationships with women. You hook up. And hooking up or trying to hook up with any woman associated with our allies is asking for trouble. That is why you were told no poaching.”

“But you get to?”

Aaron shook his head. “No. I just explained to you why my asking Heather to let me see her again wasn’t poaching. If you don’t see the difference, it’s because you don’t want to. I’m not wasting more time trying to get the blind to see.” Aaron turned back to face the table, effectively dismissing the stranger.

The stranger frowned at Aaron’s back, opened his mouth like he was going to say something then shook his head, closed his mouth, and walked away.

“He’s a player?” Matt asked once the stranger was gone.

“Yeah, Sackett will nail anything that walks. Once. Thankfully, it’s not something I have to deal with much anymore.”

“Oh?”

Heather stayed quiet as she watched the two of them talk. At least they were getting along now, and Matt wasn’t doing his best to run Aaron off.

“He’s only up for another few days. He’ll go back to Arizona when the Tucson chapter leaves,” Aaron said.

“And you’re staying?” Matt’s tone made it clear that he wasn’t sure if he liked that.

“I moved to the ranch last fall. About the time of that dustup with your previous president, if I recall right. I wasn’t sure when I came up, but I have been for some time now. I’ve got no intention of leaving, at least not any time soon.” Aaron met her gaze and winked as if he’d knew Matt was checking on his intentions toward her and possibly checking to see if he’d come up here looking for her for the men in Mobile.

“I told you.” She tilted her head sideways until it knocked into Matt’s shoulder. “Now, one or both of you go get a plate, before there’s nothing left.”

“Go ahead.” Matt nodded at Aaron, letting the other man go first.

“You sure?”

“I’m sure.” Matt made no move to get up.

“You know, I’m a big girl and with all these rough bikers around, I doubt anyone will brave the group to harass me. You can both go fill plates. I’ll be okay.” Heather was getting tired of their shit.

Matt looked at her as if he was trying to decide if she was telling the truth, then without a word he stood, looked at Aaron and tilted his head toward the line that no longer had any women, but was about a third of the men gathered around.

Heather looked around, noticing that even with food being served, there were men wearing the leather vests like Matt and Aaron both wore, scattered around the area where everyone gathered. They didn’t look like they were standing guard, but she got the feeling they were making sure there was no trouble, from either inside the group or from anyone not part of either club. Feeling reassured, she picked up a tortilla from her plate, tore a chunk off and scooped up some of the beans before popping them in her mouth.

She blinked several times as she chewed and swallowed. The food was good, at least what she’d tasted so far, but she hadn’t been expecting sweet beans.

“Is something wrong?” a woman’s voice asked from not far away.

Heather picked up her coke, took a drink and turned to find a woman she’d seen a few times today, but didn’t know her name.

---