Page 86 of Panther's Magpie
He turns and smiles at me. I’ve seen him around the clubhouse before, but he’s always coming and going. I have never had the chance to formally meet him.
“Hello there, Maggie. Glad to see you could make it out. First, you both need a hard hat.” He leads us over to where there are supplies laid out.
He hands us both hard hats, then tool belts. Then he looks over and contemplates what we could do.
“I think where we need the most help right now is handing the guys what they need as they get the frame up. You guys can go help Trout and Yak. Rain, every thirty minutes I want you to make a run around to everyone with water and snacks. I don’t want anyone passing out.”
She rolls her eyes at him. “Sir, yes, sir. Anything else?”
He clenches his jaw. “Brat. Go on and stay out of trouble.”
“Oh, I don’t know if I can make that promise,” she says as she grabs my arm and pulls me away.
“What was that about?” I whisper to her as she leads me over to one of the houses.
“Oh, nothing. Ridge isn’t overly happy with the fact that I’m eighteen years old and hit on him. It makes him uncomfortable,” she tells me.
“Do you like him?”
She scoffs. “That oaf? He’s infuriating. He never even knew I existed until my eighteenth birthday when I accepted a dare and asked him to take my virginity. He about lost his mind. Ever since then, it’s like he’s made it his personal mission to not come near me. I hate him.”
I think she is hiding some hurt under all of that, but I’m not going to go there. Not today.
“Well, it’s his loss then,” I tell her, hugging her arm closer.
“Thanks, girl,” she says low before she yells, “Yak, Trout. We are here to help.”
“Oh god, who sent the tornado in?” one of them calls out.
“We are all doomed with her on our team,” the other teases.
“Hey now. That’s not nice to say about our new friend, now is it? I could let Panther know you’re insulting his girl.”
My heart skips a beat at her calling me his girl. We haven’t fully had that conversation yet. I want to be his girl, though. More than anything.
They both look over at us then pale a little.
“Sorry, Maggie. We were talking about your partner there. I’m Yak. This is my boy Trout. We have heard nothing but good things about you,” he assures me.
I snort. “It’s okay. I’m used to finding friends who make trouble.”
My heart hurts as an image of Aspen flashes in my head.
“Anyway, where can we help?”
And that’s how the first hour goes. I hand nails and tools to the guys as they work and chat. I learn a lot about each of them. Like Yak got his name because his mouth is always running a mile a minute. I swear he changes the subject so quickly I’m notalways sure what we are talking about. It helps that he also has long hair and resembles a yak as well.
Trout, on the other hand, got his because he is lean and can move fast in the water. He wins all the swimming contests in the group. That’s not what earned him the name, though. No, he saved two kids swimming at a local lake when they started to struggle. He was able to single-handedly get both of them to shore without any of them dying. This was before he was a prospect, but the president at the time saw the whole thing and knew it would be his name when he joined.
Listening to their old stories about the club and their lives only has me smiling all day long. It sounds nice to have so many people on your side. To be able to have game nights or go on camping trips. I’m hoping I can experience all of that with them.
I want to make my own memories.
After the second hour, I turn to Rain. “Hey, is there somewhere I can go to the bathroom?”
She nods. “Porta-potties right over there. They should be clean. They were delivered this morning.”
I don’t love the idea of them, but I head over to them anyway.
