Page 78 of A Brother At My Back

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how I learned to make authentic, southern-style biscuits and gravy.

Hayden had been right, the kitchen was the central hub for a lot of the women. She and Ashton may have gotten things started, but eventually, other women from the club began to drift in and it would seem that all of them were here. The entire club.

It started with Hayley from the diner and another woman, slender with long dark hair and vivid blue eyes named Dani. Then came Everett and Mandy. Everett introduced herself as Dray, the vice president’s ol’ lady and I didn’t have the heart to really tell her that I knew who Dray was. He was, after all, Dragon’s son. Not to mention, all of the men of the club, at one time or another, had come through Sugars. Usually as a big group, but not always. Sometimes they came in two’s or three’s together and every once in a while, some of them came alone, like Dragon did for the most part.

After Everett and Mandy came a man named Aaron, who was apparently considered one of the women, which confused me until one of the brothers, a tall, slender man full of vivid tattoos, walked in and kissed Aaron like he wanted to eat him from the mouth down. It was unbelievably hot, and I think I stopped and stared a little too hard because a lot of the women watched me nervously for a reaction. I sighed; we were in the Bible belt, after all.

I didn’t want or need them thinking I was one of the narrow-minded cum buckets I was sometimes forced to work with so I told the truth, “Do that again, I’m going to need some alone time,” I said. Smiles broke out and the tension drained out of the room like water from a bathtub.

After Aaron came a platinum blonde named Shelly with a kid on her hip, smiling at me in a way that said she knew something and she was pleased by it, which made me slightly uncomfortable.

Right on her heels came Mali, sporting a pair of sunglasses, groaning and saying, “Please, for the love of Christ, tell me there’s coffee.”

“Out at the bar,” Hayden said, grinning.

“Real coffee, or the swill these barbarians claim is coffee?” Everett asked.

“Did you make it?” Shelly asked.

“No,” Everett answered.

“Then it’s swill,” Shelly said with a shrug, and Mandy laughed.

“Good point,” Everett said. “You can have swill now or wait like ten minutes and have the good shit.”

“Fuck,” Mali barked. “Swill now, good shit in ten minutes. I can’t handle anything this early without caffeine.”

“Come on, I’ll see what I can do with what’s out there.”

They went out and it was just enough people leaving the crowded kitchen that I felt like I could breathe marginally better. I kneaded biscuit dough and flattened it, cutting out rounds and laying them on the industrial cookie sheets lined with parchment paper while I took everything in.

“Anybody know how long we’re staying here?” a woman who was new asked

“Bails,” Dray’s voice called from out front, “Will you let those capable ranch hands take care of shit for you for once in your fucking life, and stop worrying about everything on that farm of yours?”

“Yes, cousin dear!” she called back, rolling her eyes.

“I’m Bailey,” she said with a smile.

“Tiffany,” I said softly and jumped when someone gathered up my hair from off my face behind me. I froze and yelped, “What are you doing?”

“It’s driving me nuts,” Hayley said. “You can’t cook for people with your hair in your face like that. You’ll get it in the food if you’re not careful.”

“Then I’ll be careful. Please, let it go,” I said.

“Not gonna happen, not while you’re working around food. Besides,” Everett called, “You’re a hottie.”

I blinked gathering tears away and was glad they didn’t spill, muttering to myself, “Clearly you haven’t gotten a load of my face.”

“We have,” Shelly said, bouncing her kid on her hip. “And Everett’s still right.”

I felt my face flame in embarrassment and dusted the flour off my hands, “Did you need anything else?” I asked Ashton.

“You can help me bring out the dishes,” a soft voice said. I turned around and a young girl, and I do mean young, smiled at me. “I’m Maren, Nox’s Ol’ Lady,” she said. What I heard was, I’m Maren, Nox’s barely legal teen. I’d also immediately thought to myself, who’s being the judgy cunt now?

“Sure, just let me wash my hands,” I said.

I did and resisted the urge to immediately pull down my hair before I helped her haul out plates and stack things on a table at one end of the bar. Mandy and Everett were already setting up those metal tub things over warmers, the kind that caterers used, on its top, and I had to admit, when you were feeding this many people it was a good idea and a good investment.

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