Claiming Sunshine (8 page)

             
At lunch, she was sitting at the picnic table with Georgie and Charlie. She asked Georgie what Joel's deal was. Her natural instinct to figure people out had her so curious about him. Georgie just shrugged and said that he was just quiet and didn't hang out with anyone. He went on to say that he was such a great mechanic, that he looked past his social challenges.

             
Drifter walked past on his way from the club to the garage. “Hey Drifter, you know when he'll be back?”

             
“He had some business to attend to, he'll be back later. You just sit tight,” he said, and disappeared into the bay of the garage.

             
“You got balls talkin' to him,” Georgie said, gesturing towards the bay that Drifter had just disappeared into. “He has quite the rep with the ladies and I don't think it's a good one.”

             
“Oh. Well Scooter seems to trust him, so I guess I will too,” she said, looking back at Drifter as he made his way back to the club. “He doesn't scare me,” she said, feeling like maybe she should be scared of him.

             
“You be careful messing around with those club guys there Nikki,” Georgie told her. “I love em, but that life isn't for everyone, it's fast and hard.”

             
“I think it's too late for that,” she said, gathering her lunch up and heading back to the office.

             
She noticed Joel getting out of a car that had pulled up to the street. He walked her way as he made his way back to the garage. She smiled at him. He looked down, avoiding eye contact with her.

             
“Hot lunch date, Joel?” she said jokingly, trying to strike up conversation with him.

             
He quickened his pace to get away from her and threw a quick, “No,” over his shoulder.

             
She shrugged it off and decided to keep trying when she got the chance.

             
She continued to work, dealing with customers and payments, as the people came in to pick up and drop off different vehicles. Just as she was gathering up her things so she could go get the girls from school, he pulled in.

             
She was walking out the door when he pulled into the lot. He pulled up to her and put his hand out. She took it and he pulled her in for a kiss. Oh, how she longed to be right here for days.

             
“I'm going with you to get the girls,” he said, pulling his face from hers.

             
The engine on the bike was loud. What had he just said?

             
He gunned the engine and parked the bike next to her truck.

             
“What did you just say? It sounded like you said you were going with me to get the girls?” she said in a questioning tone.

             
“Get in the truck. I will explain on the way over there,” he said, letting himself in the passenger side.

             
“But how am a going to explain to the girls who you are?” She slowly got in.

             
“Just drive, Sunshine.” He nodded towards the steering wheel. “Remember, you went into this with your eyes open, you agreed to be mine.”

             
“Oh my God... did you... did you kill him?” she asked, stopping the truck before pulling out of the lot.

             
Scooter burst out laughing. “Too much TV again, Sunshine. We didn't kill him, just roughed him up a bit and scared the hell out of him. He should stay away for a while, but I wanna be with you for a few days until I know he took us seriously.”

             
“What should we tell the girls?” she asked, as they were approaching the school.

             
“Pull the truck over for a minute. I need to tell you a few things that will make it easier to explain all this shit to the girls.”

             
She stopped the truck on the shoulder, just a block from the school. She could see the kids starting to file out the doors.  Keeping her hands on the wheel, she braced for what was about to be said.

             
“Sam has been seeing someone else. He has been making visits to her house for quite a while from what she told Drifter, when he paid her a visit.” He pulled the photos out of his vest pocket and showed them to her. Him, going in, and leaving, straightening out his clothes. “So you can tell them the truth. Their dad is cheating and that I am a friend that will be hanging out for a while. We can go from there.”

             
She was shocked. Is that why he had taken this job? Has been so cold to her for the last several years? The whole time he was seeing her? Was she just as guilty after what she and Scooter had done?

             
“Let’s get your girls and go back to your house. Georgie knows you are done for the day.”

              Jen took the news about her dad pretty hard. Since she was the daughter that was compliant and excited to tell her dad about things, she was shocked that he could be with someone besides her mom. She cried, went to her room and wouldn't even look at Scooter. He didn't take any offense to it and let her have as much space as she needed. Nikki wanted to console her and kept knocking on her bedroom door with no luck.

             
“Just give her some space, she'll come around,” Scooter told her, as she came back down the hall after several attempts.

             
Nelly, on the other hand, is fine with it. All he ever did was question her and put her down for her attitude. She was glad he was gone. “I knew he was an asshole all along.” were her exact words.

             
“Nelly Mae, you watch your mouth,” Nikki said to her, while Scooter snickered. “You are not helping here,” she told him.

             
“I like him Mom. He likes my attitude,” she said, heading towards her room.

             
The evening went on somewhat uneventful until her phone went off. It was a text from him.

Sam: I am out front in my truck. I want to talk to you.

Nikki: No, the kids are finally settled down. Just go away we can talk later.

              Scooter is reading over her shoulder. She has the shades on the front window down and Scooter's bike isn't there because he came home with her.

             
“I don't think he knows you're here,” she says, looking down at her phone as it beeps again, confirming her assumption.

Sam: Are you fuckin' that stupid ass biker? Next time I see him I'm gonna kill him.

              “Ah shit. He's gonna start shit with the girls here. What do we do?” She slowly turned around to Scooter, still standing behind her.

             
“You just sit tight, Sunshine. He thinks I was fuckin' kidding? You just sit tight and don't alarm the girls.” He headed for the door. As he got to the door, he reached around, lifting his tee shirt and vest in the back. A gun. He was grabbing a gun!

             
“Oh shit, what are you going to do?” she said, stepping towards him.

             
He took her by the shoulders and spun her around. “I got this babe. He needs to know that I'm serious. Now stay in the fuckin' house... please.” He opens the door and is gone.

             
She runs into her room trying to be quiet so the girls don't hear what is going on. She leaves the light off and can plainly see the front yard, as Scooter is pacing across it with his gun in his hand. It was dusk. As soon as Sam sees him, he throws the truck into gear and speeds off.

             
She goes back to the living room and waits for Scooter to come back in.

             
“Stupid fuck. Didn't quite kill me, did he? I think I am gonna stay close for a while. That dumb shit thinks he’s bigger than us.”

             
Just then, the pizza delivery guy gets there and other than Jen taking her pizza into her room, the rest of the evening is mellow.

              Sam pulls up to the house. The blinds are closed and her truck is in the driveway. “She thinks she can have some assholes push me around?” he murmurs to himself, as he pulls his cell out of his pocket, typing out a message to her. If he has a chance, it's now while she's alone, and not at work with those fuckers. She's probably fucking the lot of them. That would explain her new confidence of telling him off the last few conversations and no interest in fucking him.

             
Her texts are pissing him off. She must be fucking one of them. He decides to stop playing and tell her how it's going to be. He'll threaten to kill the son of a bitch. He waits for her response.

             
Sam sees the front door open and assumes it's her. “Yeah, I still got a handle on her,” he says out loud to himself. He notices it's not her. “AH FUCK!” he yells. He throws his truck into drive and speeds away, looking in the rear view mirror to see if he is going to chase him. That fucking biker had a gun in his hand.

             
He puts his phone back in his pocket and switches direction to go to his lover's house. “They want to play with me. I will destroy them,” he says to himself quietly. He has no idea how, but he knows he will figure it out.

              Sam recalls the little shake down that he had endured that afternoon. He had gotten a rush install that took him to a country road outside of town. The place looked almost abandoned when he backed into the driveway so he could get to all the equipment easier. As soon as he knocked on the door and it opened, he was pulled in and there were several of them, all in leather. The house was empty and the one with President on his vest immediately got in his face.

             
“Nikki hired us to follow you and we know you are cheating on her. You and her are done. You get me asshole? You stay away from her and the girls, you cheatin' fuck.” He pushed him into the biggest guy in the room, who punched him in the gut.

             
“I don't know what the fuck you are all talking about. How the hell did Nikki afford a spy?” he asked, rolling on the floor in pain.

             
“Don't you worry about that, asshole. Just stay away and don't call the cops unless you want to see what we are really made of!” Scooter yelled, and then spit on him.

             
He laid there for a while letting the pain subside as he heard the motorcycles all drive away. What the fuck was that? She had him spied on? Why the fuck did she care? His anger over took him and he decided he wasn't going to let them dictate what he did.

              Nikki gets ready for work, the girls get ready for school and Scooter sits at the kitchen table drinking coffee and waiting. After Sam's attempt to get to her the night before, he isn't taking any chances in leaving them alone.

             
On the way to the school, he tells Nikki that she needs to go in and get Sam's name off all the school contact info and let them know that Sam is not to be picking up the girls from school. He waits while she walks the girls into the school.

             
“They won't let me do that without a court order,” she says as she climbs back into the driver's seat. “What are we going to do?”

             
“Well for starters, you need to text him and let him know that you did change it. That way he will think you did and maybe that will keep him away from them.”

             
She nods. “Ok, I hope he believes me.”

             
They arrive at the garage, and after getting Nikki settled in the office, he goes to find Drifter. He wants to see if he got any more info on Sam from the girlfriend that Drifter had chatted with a few times.

             
“Well Pres, she text me last night and said that he showed up there all pissed off about some stupid ass biker keeping him from his kids, and that he was going to put them all in their place.”

             
“You are somethin' Drifter, how the hell is she going to keep her fucking mouth shut to him about us?” Scooter asks.

             
“Well, I'm keepin' her mouth and a few other places busy enough. She likes it real rough and …”

             
Scooter cuts him off. “Enough ok, ok. Finally found one that will keep coming back,” he laughs.

             
“Yeah, I think I made it really clear who she is dealing with, the Club and all, and if she makes a peep to him, things will not go good for her.” He slashes his index finger across his neck. “Plus, I am throwing her some cash. Somethin' that I don't think ol' Sam is capable of... oh, and then the rest she seems pretty happy with.” He smiles, thinking about how great it is to have a bitch that isn't running for the door when he needs to get good and rough with her. This one craved it. He may have met his match.