Page 12 of Axle's Angel
You could have knocked me over with a feather when Axle handed his bike keys to the one daughter.
We wait until Axle leaves in their SUV.
My biggest surprise, I think, was Roman’s protectiveness towards the girls. I wasn’t an idiot; I'd seen his interest in their mother. I hope he knows what he’s doing.
“Roman,” Lala calls from the door of the diner where she’d been watching everything. She hands him a box filled with food. “There’s enough for you and all your brothers. Should travel well enough in your saddle bags.”
“Lala, let me pay for them. That’s a lot of food.” I don’t think I’d ever heard Roman talk to anyone the way he talked to her. She waves her hand and wipes at her eyes.
“It’s a celebration. One of my boys is settled … and the other,” she hesitates and pats his cheek, “I hope he doesn’t fuck it up. I’m closing early and going home to celebrate.”
She runs her eyes over my brothers before stopping on me. “You and your boys are welcome here anytime.”
Tipping my chin at her, I have to bite back a grin when Roman kisses her cheek. It’s so unlike him. He whispers something to her, and I see him stuff notes in her pocket while she’s not paying attention.
I’m not the only one that’s noticed. Tru and Janis are watching him, heads tilted to the side. They share a glance.
“Do you think Roman realises what he’s taking on if he gets involved with their mother?” Spook asks.
“Who the fuck knows brother, he’s a wild card.”
Turning back to the girls, I motion them to Axle’s bike. Tru gets on and starts her. I can see right away that she knows what she’s doing.
“Good?” I ask.
“All good, Pres.” She grins at me before putting her helmet on. I shake my head.
Janis gets on behind her.
“You ride in the middle,” I remind her. She gives me a thumbs-up. Turning to the brothers, I shout. “Precious cargo joining us. They’ll ride in the middle.”
The brothers nod and start their bikes. Roman gives Lala back the empty box; all our saddle bags are full of food. I’ll make sure that I add her to the businesses that need checking on regularly, as I could see that Axle and Roman would be busy for the next while. It wasn’t a hardship to travel an hour for good food, and from the smell of it, her food was going to be delicious.
Straddling my bike I start her up, lift my arm over my head and circle my hand as I pull away. Spook to one side of me and BB, our Road Captain, to the other. The rest of the brothers fall into their assigned roles with Tru and Janis in the middle.
After the first mile, I know that neither Axle nor Tru had been lying; she knew how to ride. I speed up, and we ride home. It may have been an impromptu ride, but there’s nothing like being out with your brothers.
I need to speak to BB. We need to do more rides like this. My worries fall away as each mile passes, and before long we’re pulling into our clubhouse grounds.
I motioned to Tru to follow me as brothers fell away, riding to the clubhouse while we took the road to the houses. As expected, Roman follows us but as he lives next door to Axle, I’m not surprised.
We get to Axle’s house and find Siera on the steps waiting. There’s no sign of Axle and Angel.
She stands up as we ride up, smiling at her girls who park the bike in front of Axle's garage.
They park and get off. Both are smiling wide as they approach us. “God, I needed that,” Tru admits, handing me her helmet. “I haven’t had a chance to ride in months.”
“Are they good?” I tilt my chin towards the house.
Siera shrugs and swipes at her eyes. “I don’t know. I hope so. Maybe now she can heal but there’s a lot of history he doesn’t know, and I’m not sure if it will break them or not. We’ll see. She is one of the strongest women I know. She’s been through so much and came out still standing. Angel’s been my rock.”
There’s not much I can say about that. Roman is suspiciously silent. I look over at him, but he’s staring at the house.
“She’ll be okay,” he says suddenly, “whatever she has to tell him won’t break them. I’ve never seen someone love another like he loves her. Twenty-eight years, and he never stopped looking.” He turns back to us, and I’m surprised to see a sheen over his eyes. Clearing his throat, he holds out the bags that Lala gave him at the diner. “Dinner for you from Lala.”
“Oh,” Siera looks surprised, but takes the bags. “I’ll tell her thanks next time I’m over there. We’d best get home, here’s my number.” She hands me a piece of paper. “Call me if she needs picking up.”
Tucking the paper into my pocket, I smirk as Roman’s eyes track my fingers. Eyeing the paper with her number on it.
