GGS: Good Gaelic Souls A Biker Saga (G.G.S) (11 page)

Sweet Della was in love with Moby, and he had strong feelings for her too, but he would never tie himself to a woman. She had came to grips with that long ago. When he was with another, she would go about her business and treat him just like every other brother. She knew it would only be a minute before he got bored and returned to her. Della held herself in high regard. She had no self-esteem issues whatsoever. She was aware that she was a good looking woman, an easy going companion, and a damn good lover. She also knew that Moby's refusal to commit had nothing at all to do with who she was as a women. That was his issue, but she cared enough about him to allow him to be himself, besides, nobody else had ever 'tripped her trigger' like good ol' Moby still did.

As the club enjoyed the meal and their time together, the ladies who finished first began gathering empty dishes. Together, they would clean the dishes and kitchen, chatting and placing everything back in order, knowing that in a couple of hours it would start all over. Preparations for supper would be next. The kitchen was well stocked at all times, but in the last few days, the ladies had been bringing food in, so as to have everything they needed at hand. Supper would be easy enough, the cornbeef and cabbage had been pre-cooked last night and brought over early morning by several of the women. It needed only to be re-heated. The ones that came this morning in vehicles instead of on bikes, had brought freshly prepared pans of haggis, which only needed to have the broth added before cooking. Two pans of which had immediately been popped in the oven when the last biscuits came out. As soon as it finished cooking, it would be replaced by the next batch.  The neeps and tatties would be cooked fresh just before the meal was served.

Throughout the day, there would be upwards of sixty family members coming and going, and that didn't include the children. The majority would stay the night and leave in the morning. Late that night, they would set out platters of deli-meats, cheese, breads and a variety of finger foods for grazing.

In between meals there would be enough down time for the ol' ladies to enjoy each others company, while keeping an ear out for the guys and the oven timer. No one was stuck in the kitchen longer than twenty or thirty minutes before someone else relieved them. The older women would ensure that on a day such as this, nobody antagonized another too terribly hard. The whiskey would begin to flow soon and for Stax's sake, this day should be as pleasant as possible. A new chapter was beginning, and these good souls would surround each other with love today. Any other time, the women would jump right in and stir the pot a wee bit themselves, as was their nature.

After breakfast, the men went outside and piddled with the bikes for awhile. Stax walked out to the four car garage to ask Strangler how much Ale was left in the Keg, to see if she needed to have one delivered. As she approached the doorway, she overheard Rage telling the story about an ol' lady Slider once had
, "She wanted to be his ol' lady forever, and to impress him, she had his name tattooed on her pubic mound. But ol' Slider, he took one lood at that and burst out laughing. Once he got a hold of himself, he told her flat out, "And when I'm done with that, you can just add the word "In" after me name, and you can call it an instruction manual!"
Stax walked in laughing. Finding that the keg was still half full, she lingered to hear another story, before heading back to the house. Soon enough, as the heat of the day came upon them, they would migrate back indoors to cool off and move on to whiskey. The day was full of stories about Slider, and for the most part everyone kept their emotions in check and spoke as if he was still with them. Occasionally you would hear the catch in someones voice or see a room full of teary eyes, but that was to be expected. All in all, it was a good day for everyone, including Stax. There was much laughter and storytelling and the bikers were all on their best behavior.

Strangler had reminded them all that this was not a day to speak of club business or personal issues with others. No exceptions would be tolerated. Everyone knew how this day would end, there would be no drunks on the road tonight, club policy. Shortly after midnight, as was customary, the women would put away the last of the leftovers, while the men moved the large table in the Florida room to the west end of the room. It would be placed on its side to make space for people to sleep. Earlier, just before sundown, the garage had been cleared and large area rugs and carpet remnents had been rolled out. There were about a dozen cots stored in the overhead of the garage, and it was first come-first serve, for those. While this was occuring several others had walked out to the storage shed in the back yard, returning with boxes of pillows and blankets, in vacuum sealed bags. Everyone would find something or someplace to call bed, with the original members taking their old bedrooms. These three couples would share their bedroom floors with the younger of the children, and one by one, the adults would pass out where they could. Stax and Strangler took Slider's bedroom, while Samson and Serenity each found a spot on their floor. Come morning, they would all awaken to a hot breakfast of biscuits and gravy, served with fresh coffee, before they took their leave.

Chapter 8

"The Unexpected"

Stax woke up a bit confused as to where she was. Her first thought was, "Wow, what a fucking party," but then her mind began to clear and she realized
why
she was laying in her father's bed with her lover. "Wow," she thought again. "This ain't right. This all feels like a bad dream, like someone else has taken over my world." She sat up and took stock as to where Samson and Serenity were each sleeping, so as not to step on or wake anybody. She made sure that she was alert enough before moving. Spying the discarded bathrobe from yesterday morning, she slipped it on and headed to the master bathroom. Freshly showered, she came back out to get dressed and heard movement in the living room. Still in her robe, she went to see who was up and about already.

Dimples and Tandy had already started breakfast. Tandy hurried to make her a cup of coffee as soon as they saw her, picking her way through the sleeping bikers. Stax watched as they placed the first double batch of biscuits in the oven and began frying up the ground sausage for the first batch of gravy. Dimples slowly picked her way out to the Florida room to get the big coffee pot started, respectfully trying not to wake anyone.

As the smell of coffee and breakfast interupted their sleep, the hung-over biker's began to stretch and yawn, opening their eyes to a new day. Within minutes, you could hear such phrases as "Where's my fucking boots," or "How the hell did that get there?" coming from all over the house. Once the blankets and pillows were gathered up, missing items began appearing and everyone was able to get dressed. All Cuts and Leathers were hanging neatly in the big hall closet, as this was Slacker's job, and even though someones chaps may be hanging under someone else's jacket, it would all get figured out, eventually. Slacker would pay for it later, that was a given.

The Florida room was the first room cleaned and it's furniture set back in place, by the time that was accomplished, breakfast was ready to be served. Those that weren't busy fixing breakfast, put the entire house back in order and re-packed the pillows and blankets, all in less than 45 minutes. The guys returned the vacuumed sealed bags to storage, and put the garage back in order. You would never have known that the entire club had been there for the last 24 hours.

This time their meal was served on disposable plates, and a large waste can was placed at the end of the table. Everyone ate a hot breakfast, tossed their dishes and began saying their goodbyes as they slowly made their way to the door. By ten forty five, it was just Serenity, Strangler and Samson that were still there. Samson took out the trash and came back shaking his head. "Looks like someone couldn't hold their breakfast, don't worry I got the hose and took care of it." They all chuckled, saying the same name at the same time. "Slacker!" Anyone one of them would be willing to put money on it.

Expecting to spend another full day with him, Stax was taken aback when Strangler took his leave at noon. "Sorry Angel, my plate is full. You have Serenity here with you now, you'll be fine." He told her moving closer to the door. "I know I'll be fucking fine," she said sharply, "I just thought I could go with you." She answered, as he shook his head in a negative manner. "Fuck it, never mind."  As soon as she said it, she realized how hateful it sounded. She had no clue as to why she was so pissed all of a sudden, she was just full of anger, for no good reason. Shocked at herself, she tried to clear her mind. "It was probably pressing club business, and she would like to catch up on thing's too." She thought, but for some reason, she had instantly felt like he had just tried to shut her out.  "Is there a cruinniú today?" She asked, "No, just a meeting of a few minds, so to speak." he offered reluctantly, "Nothing for you to be concerned about or get involved in." Ignoring her odd behaviour altogether, he looked over her head towards Samson, and walked out the door.

Stax certainly didn't expect an answer like that, and she couldn't believe that he had just walked out the door before she could speak again!  "Da would have told me exactly what was going on." she thought, "But Strangler isn't Da." She reasoned in her head, her eyes turning brown. "I'm not the Prez's daughter now, I'm just his fucking ol' lady." She stared at the closed door confused and pissed. "Your about to find out how just involved my concerned ass can be!" she shouted at the closed door.

As they heard Strangler's bike start up, Samson looked over at Stax and knew that she was about to bolt. He had no choice but to intervene, "Stax, calm the fuck down." He told her firmly, placing himself between her and the door. "Your acting like a damn three year old. Shit, it's only been a week, he's probably just thinking about you right now." He saw the look on her face, she wasn't buying it. "Stax," he tried again, "The man hasn't been President for three fucking days yet!" Don't you think that he has alot to deal with? Damn woman, he's spent the last week soley taking care of you! Maybe you should show him a little consideration, and give him time to think!"

Stax went to the key hook and grabbed the keys to her Harley. She would be right behind him when he pulled into the Clubhouse. "I'll give that son-of-a-bitch something to think about!" She snarled, as Serenity came up and slid an arm around her, she knew what Stax was feeling. "He's right sissy," she said patiently."Strangler needs time to clear his head and start thinking about his new role, and the obligations that come with it. There's been no joy in this for him. Baby, he still has to come to grips with the fact that it was your father's death that put him there. He loved Slider. How do you think this makes him feel? He had to put everything on hold for you, to give you time to grieve. And now, he has no choice but to get busy and take care of business. Do you realize that by being so strong for you, he didn't give himself anytime to grieve?"

Seeing the obstinate look on Stax's face, she threw her hands into the air and raised her voice, "Give the man a fucking break, Stax! You aren't the only one that lost Slider. Aren't you a little torn yourself? Proud that your man is 'the man' but devastated that it came at such a high cost? Are you really going to attack him now? Really Stax, now? she exclaimed, raising her voice even higher.

Stax felt shame wash over her. She thought of how Strangler had protected and cared for her for the last week. Except for the night he had to officially step up, he had been with her day and night, thinking only of her. Positioning himself between her and the world, he had pampered her, taking her to the one place where he felt that she would find peace. Sheltering her as long as possible from her new reality, just to have her turn into a hateful bitch for no good reason.

"Fuck me running!" she cried aloud, "What a selfish cunt I've been! He must be about to explode right now, and I'm acting like a little shit!" She looked at Samson and Serenity, " I've fucking lost it. Just put me down now, before I turn into a cold, bitter bitch." The danger was over, for the moment at least. They both knew that the emotional rollercoaster that she was on, was an E-ticket ride, and it would probably continue for some time. They would have to be strong for her and help her see past her emotions as she grieved the loss of her father and came to grips with her new status in the club. Although neither of them had ever seen Stax unable to cope with anything that life threw at her, they both had dealt with the loss of a loved one. An unexpected loss was damn near unbearable, for anyone. Tragedy changes lifes, and though time doesn't really heal, it does allows for change.

Samson stayed for awhile, just to be sure. But when a text from Strangler came up on his cell, he had to take off, citing club business. The girls ordered chinese, made themself a drink, and stepped out to the Florida room to smoke a joint. After a second toke, Stax looked at Serenity and asked once again, "So where the hell were you when I needed you? Why couldn't anybody reach you?" Caught off guard, Serenity choked on the weed. It took a minute for her coughing fit to die down, before she could finally speak. "There is somebody new in my life," she revealed, "and we were on a cruise ship, totaly without cell phones or internet, on purpose. We didn't tell anyone that we were going, we just wanted to be alone together." Stax looked at her astonished. She hadn't a clue that Serenity had found someone special! Why hadn't she said anything? Any other time she would call and tell her all about the guy of the moment. Hell, they even discussed positions, size and quality. They had no secrets, so what the fuck?