GGS: Good Gaelic Souls A Biker Saga (G.G.S) (14 page)

"You doing a'right lass?" He asked still standing in the doorway. "Doing fine brother." She answered, "I had hoped to get a chance to ride today, so thank you for taking the time to bring it so early. You want a cup of joe?" She offered. "I could surely use it." He said, as she moved out of the doorway so that he could enter. "Tandy at the hospital?" She inquired as they walked toward the kitchen. "Nay, errands. Everybody is running errands, or working at the property." He informed her.

"Wow, is there that much going on?  Maybe I should get dressed and go to the Clubhouse to help out." She pondered, pouring fresh coffee. "Nay lass," Twitch advised her, "Strangler said that you shouldn't come down today, too much happening for him to take time to catch you up on everything. He said things should settle down soon. He wants for you to stay home and visit with Serenity, said he'd call you when he could." He looked a little sheepish when he finished, and Stax sat there quietly for a moment mindlessly stirring her coffee. "Really? She muttered, watching Twitch as he shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "Yep, that's what he said, but he weren't being shitty Stax," He stressed, "Too many loose ends, errands and decisions, he just doesn't have time."

Twitch glanced up and saw her eyes, and he knew instantly that she had taken his remarks personally, "Fuck me," He was thinking,  "Now she's pissed and it's my fault. Shit."  He had realized as soon as he said it, that it sounded more like he had time for everything "but" her. He was so upset with himself, he was afraid to speak again, lest he made it even worse. So he said nothing more.  If he had started something, he would never be able to forgive himself, that is if Strangler didn't tear him apart first. Strangler had been short tempered and preoccupied, hell he'd been downright nasty yesterday.

He was gonna have to get used to this new reality just like everybody else. They all knew that Slider would never leave Stax out. Hell, none of them would. It didn't seem right to any of them for Stax not to be in the middle of things. Not calling the shots of course, but helping and offering input. She was actually a very good problem solver, and everybody knew it and appreciated it. It's almost like they had lost her too, at least for now. Moby and Griff were in it up to their tattoos, and he knew that they could use an extra hand. Rage was attached to  Stranglers side as temporary V.P.  until they decided on who would take Samson's place when he stepped up, and Samson was with them wherever they went.

"She's not a delicate flower, like Strangler has been acting.  It's Stax, for fucks sake." He thought. He could tell by her reaction that she didn't get it, or like it either, that was obvious. "If I'm not careful, this could get real fucking ugly, real quick." He told his inner self. Finishing off his coffee, he decided that is was time that he took his leave. "Thanks for the coffee lass, gotta run. Ride Safe, and know that you are loved." Knowing he should keep his mouth shut, he spoke again anyway, "I'm sure things will smooth out soon, lass." He offered, quickly heading towards the door.

Chapter 10

"Wow"

"He can kiss my Irish ass!" She thought, still sitting there stirring her coffee. "I'll be damned if I'm going to sit here like some "house-mouse" while the club is struggling. That's just straight out bullshit!" She stood up and immediately sat back down, remembering Samson and Serenity's words from two day's before. "Give the man a fucking break." Serenity had screamed at her. "Calm the fuck down, your acting like a three year old." Samson had barked. Maybe they were right. Maybe she was over reacting and simply not thinking clearly. It could be the stress and grief over losing her father, she tried to reason. "Or, it could be that he's just a fucking prick." She said aloud, followed by "Asshole." And then another thought crossed her mind, one that took her by suprise. "Maybe, now that he's made "Prez", he was done with her. Certainly Slider had taken their relationship into consideration when he chose him for V.P. Am I about to lose too?" She asked herself aloud, again.

Slider might have figured it to be a solid way for her to continue to be a vital member of the club, if she was his succecesor's ol' lady. "Straight out bullshit" She thought again, "Da didn't think like that, he knew that I am very capable of making my own way." She reasoned. "And Strangler knows it too. There is simply no way that what we share is in anyway connected. Period." She sighed, sitting at the kitchen table, staring at nothing in particular. She was shocked that she had even allowed those thoughts to form in her mind. She knew better than that, she knew that they had a rock solid thing going on, and that it was as good for him as it was for her.

"So, what the fuck? Where did that come from?" She just didn't know what to think anymore. She was so very confused. "Why can't we just go back in time and..." She stopped her own thought. "Don't insult your own intellegence" She told herself. "End this pity-party, or go over the deep-end right fucking now and be done with it." She stood up again, this time with a different purpose altogether. "I need a fucking shower." She said aloud to no one. "Shit, what I really need, is to stop talking to myself." Deciding that she needed to change her frame of mind in a hurry, she walked into the living room,  put on a southern rock c.d and headed for the bathroom singing.

Fresh out of the shower and dressed for a ride, she heard Slider's voice in her head. "
Biker up, lass.
" He would say. In other words, "put on your riding gear or you ain't going nowhere child". Stax smiled at the memory. When she was younger, he insisted that she wear a helmet. "
Not because it's the law lass, mind you. That's not a concern. It's because I love you and I want to keep you safe.
He stopped to tug at her hair, "
I can control the bike lass, but I can't control the people who refuse to pay attention to their surroundings. Not another word, you understand. Now go get your skid lid."

When she was old enough to ride without one, she could tell that he was torn. He wanted her to enjoy the ride without the burden of a helmet on her head, but he also wanted to continue doing everything that he could to keep her safe. "I'm a big girl Da" She had told him curtly, "And I don't want to wear one anymore. But because I know that it bother's you, I promise to wear one if it's raining." He had sighed and resigned himself to her decision, she was an adult now after all, but he refused to bend on the chaps and leathers no matter how old she was. She had been willing to accept that without issue, much to his relief.

Once she had given herself a minute, Stax decided that she was going to give it another day. She was going to go out into the world and just be herself, while Strangler worked out his own issues. She would give him that, and then she would go to the Clubhouse tomorrow and see for herself exactly what was happening.

She left a note for Serenity and Lee, advising that she would be riding for most of the day, and reminded them that any leftovers that were in the fridge come morning was going to be thrown out. She made a mental note to call Slacker in the morning. He could swing by and pick up the leftovers and take them to the property to be fed to the pigs. At first she had thought to put something together for the family that she had met at the lake, but she knew that most people were turned off by Haggis, and even Cornbeef and Cabbage wasn't always quite as welcome to most, not like fried chicken or meatloaf would be. She would put money on it that their kids would refuse to eat either one, they had probably been surviving on fish. This thought gave her angst and she decided to ride out to the lake to check and see how they were doing down there.

As she entered the garage to warm up her bike, her cell phone went off, it was a text from Strangler, "
Enjoy your ride Angel, stay safe
" it read. "
K-you too
" She texted back. He came back with "
Need anything
?" Her reply was "
All good
". She hopped on her Harley and headed out, pushing back the thought that they had never felt so far apart. 

When she arrived at the lake, she couldn't find the family. The tent and van were both gone and their little fire pit was cold. She rode around for awhile looking for them, thinking that they might have moved to a different spot around the lake. "Maybe they were asked to leave for being there too long" She pondered, "Or maybe they were able to find a more suitable place to live." She hoped that this was the case. After her second trip around, she decided to go to the bait shop and ask if they knew of their where-a-bouts, but she couldn't remember their last name. "Too much on my mind." She supposed, as she pulled up to the bait shop.

"They left yesterday for the hospital." said the old man behind the counter. "One of their boys stepped on a rattler and got snake bit.  No ma'am, I don't know their names, but I did pack up their tent and put it in the shed, so that the authorities wouldn't know that they where actually living out there." he told her bluntly, "I've kinda been keeping an eye on 'em, so to speak. And when they drove up to asked me to call 911, I advised them it would be faster to get help if they just drove him to the hospital themselves. Time is important with snaked bites, ya know. I also told 'em to just say that they were day-fishing, and I paid for the dad's license in case they were asked to show it. I don't think people should be put in jail or have their children taken away because they fall on hard times." he proclaimed, wiping the sweat from his forehead, "Damn, it's hot as a firecracker's asshole today, what would you have done in my position?" he asked her. "Same thing." she assured him, "I appreciate what you did for them, that was an honorable thing to do." He nodded wiping his neck, "I only told you this, because they came in for a few cooking supplies and told me that a biker lady had given them her fish the other day. Since they described her to me, and your the only one to ever ask about them, I figured it was you."

"I think I'll go by the hospital and see how the little guy is doing," she informed the man, "Would you like me to tell them anything if I find them?" He grinned, "Yep, you tell 'em that I'll hold onto to their stuff as long as it takes, no worries. Thank you m'am, I appreciate you offering to pass that on to 'em." He said as he put his hand out. Stax shook his hand and said, "Thank you for letting me know." She headed out for the hospital, she really didn't want to go back there again, especially this soon. 

She parked her bike in the Emergency Room parking lot and went inside to inquire about the family. As it turned out, Tandy was walking through and heard her voice, she called out to Stax. "What's wrong?" she demanded, "Why are you in the ER?" Stax assured her that all was well, and explained her mission. "Hold on honey," Tandy told her, "Give me a few minutes and I'll find out who and where they are." Stax went to the restroom and came back to take a seat, but before she could sit down, Tandy was calling her name again. "Third floor, room 307," she advised, "Name is McPherson. Could be kin to someone we know, why don't you ask a few questions while your visiting?" Stax replied, giving her a hug, "Sure will, I'll keep ya posted." she replied, heading down the hall towards the elevator.

On the third floor, she found the room number and knocked on the half open door. "Come in." She walked in to see the little boy in bed, with his mother holding his hand. "Poor baby," said Stax, "Is he going to be ok?" The mother seemed very suprised to see her, and although she had a questioning look on her face, she answered Stax's concern first. "He's going to be fine now, it was very close, we thought we were going to lose him." Stax smiled down at the little boy and looked back at his mother, "I stopped by the lake to see you today and the man at the bait shop told me what happened." Stax proceeded to give her the message from the man behind the counter, as she was talking, the boy's father walked in.

"We appreciate you checking on us and relaying the message," he told her after she repeated her reason for being there. "But you didn't have to go out of your way on our account." Said Mr. McPherson. "Not an issue," said Stax, "That's what we do. Did you get a chance to go by the Clubhouse and pick up your giftbox?" she asked. "Yes, Thank you." he replied, "We had only just returned when Junior stepped on the snake. The slimey bastard was just outside our tent. It was actually the first snake that we had seen the whole time we were there,  I guess I just wasn't being careful enough." he said shaking his head, "Don't beat yourself up Mr. McPherson," Stax interjected, "It can happen to anyone, we are all guilty of not paying attention to nature like we should."

"Call me Mac, my wifes name is Mavis." he said with a warm smile, "Stax." She offered, putting her hand out. While Mac was shaking her hand, she asked him, "Mac, have ya'll been out there for a long time?" She saw his face muscles tighten, "I'm sorry, that's not my business Mac, I just thought maybe I could be of some help to you and your family." Mac stood there silent for a moment, and Stax thought that she had offended him and would now be asked to leave. But he relaxed and began to relate their story.

"Without going into detail, my job ended and because I work for cash, there was no unemployent checks.  I tried to find work, but there wasn't much going on that wasn't already taken by big business. Two months with no work, and then my wife caught pneumonia. She was severely ill for nearly two months, we had no insurance and I had to take care of the children. Without  income, things piled up and within five months, we found ourselves on the street." He shook his head, "And now this, we damn near lost our son because I can't provide a roof for my family." Stax thought that he was about to cry, she looked away and saw that his wife had tears streaming down her face.