Reinventing Mel: A Hellion MC Novel (15 page)

"We're doin' their fuckin' grocery shopping?" Gritty asked on an incredulous note.  He had bright red curly hair that he kept in a ponytail at his neck.  "I thought that was just a rumor."

"Naw, its real but it ain't so bad," Transport replied, shifting in his seat.  He was one of the tallest men Mel had ever seen.  "Beats the shit out of yard work."

"Yard work?" Mel asked.

"You know, raking and mowing and shit," Poacher added lifting and reseating the cap on his head.  "We'll be doing that this afternoon."

"How long have y'all been recruits?" Mel wasn't sure but he was thinking he was the last in.

"Ten months," Chucky said with a one-sided grin.

"Six for me," Transport grumbled, still twisting in his seat. 

"Seven and a half," came Poacher's answer as he dropped his chair back down to all four legs.

"Five weeks and four days," Gritty replied which Mel felt explained his question about the grocery shopping.  Dare had told him that recruits were considered the least trustworthy guys in the club and had to earn both the respect and confidence of the other brothers. 

"Why does it take five of us to do a grocery run?"  Gritty's voice was kind of high and nasally which grated on Mel's nerves.

"Twenty-nine lists, man.  That's a shit-load of food."

"And it's actually six, we're just waiting on the other brother to get here.  In the meantime we need to make a master list so we're ready to hit the stores," Chucky explained patiently.  Mel thought the most senior recruit had been doing these runs for a while.

"Stores?  As in more than one?  Fuck me," Gritty sighed running a hand over his head.

Mel caught Chucky's eyes and both men grinned.  Gritty was in for a helluva day.

He wasn't wrong.  After listening to the redhead's complaints about anything and everything, Mel was sure his ears were bleeding. 

The work wasn't hard but it was tedious especially redistributing all the items into individual bags was a pain in the ass.  For that, the group which included Pagan, enlisted the help of Rinse and Derek.

Mel hadn't seen but bits and pieces of his younger brother since Wednesday and only in passing.  Eyeing him over the mound of groceries that had been grouped together around the Hellion kitchen he thought the kid looked tired.

"How you doing, Derek?" he'd asked as he moved to stand next to him.

"All right, I guess," came the noncommittal reply with a shrug.  "What do you care?"

The kid wouldn't even look at him.  Trey had said the attitude might get worse before it got better and Mel could see he was right.  Although, Der's backtalk did hold a measure of respect it hadn't before and wasn't screamed in Mel's face which he counted as a win.

"Hey, Mel.  Nice to see you again," Rinse called from the other side of the butcher block.  "Der come here and help me with the canned goods.  It'll go faster with two of us."

"Mel?  How come you ain't got no street name yet?" Gritty called out from his place beside the sink where he was wrestling with the mounds of fresh fruit and vegetables.

"Oh, he's got one.  Just don't think anyone's had the fuckin' balls to say it to his face yet," Pagan answered on a laugh.  "You fuckers know it’s the Honeys that usually end up giving us our names, right?"

Mel hadn't known that.  After talking to Dare he just assumed it was something a brother picked for himself.  And he'd already been given one?  By Carmi and Tight?  The idea sent a shiver down his back.  He didn't really want a reminder of that Sunday afternoon because he knew Lulu had heard about it and had changed her opinion of him.  Which would definitely explain the dead look in her eyes and expression.

"So how'd I get stuck with Gritty, huh?  It sucks!"

"According to the girls, when they took you back for some fun, you were filthy.  Said they had to make you shower before they'd have anything to do with you!"  The entire room laughed at the explanation.

"But I'd just come back from an errand to a place that only had a dirt road!  Honest, I shower.  Regularly."  But the other men weren't giving his explanation any credence.  Gritty was one that a person needed to stand downwind from.

"What's my name, then?" Mel finally asked although his stomach clenched at the thought of what the girls had come up with.

"You wanna know?  You really want to fuckin' know, brother?" Pagan responded, all traces of mirth gone from his face.

Mel's nod was just a jerk of his chin.

"Hardwood," came the reply which stopped all sound and movement in the room.

"Fffuuuccckkk," someone breathed.

"Damn.  Now that's a name a man would be proud to have," Transport said with a head shake.  There were more than a couple of 'yeahs' and 'you know it, brother'.  More than a few men's eyes held a measure of respect as Mel looked over the group.

Mel could feel the heat in his face bloom.  They all thought it had to do with the Honey's assessment of his cock.  But he knew better.  Only the second word was missing from the exact words he'd confided to Dare about his Lulu's beautiful attributes which Mel's body had shared.

The second word being 'floors'.

Chapter Fifteen

Mel didn't know how the other recruits did it.  Working a full time job and then along with the responsibilities of being at the beck and call of the members gave him no private life.  No downtime.

He didn't feel he'd even had a weekend.  There had been no respite, no chance to simply unwind and process all the shit going on his life.  And as he watched from the back porch as Dare rode off after their nightly lesson, Mel wondered at his choice of lifestyle.

Fuck it.  He just didn't have the energy to even question his decision anymore.

Der was sitting at the dining room table when Mel entered the kitchen, twisting the locks on the back door.

"Mel, can we talk a minute?" his brother asked quietly and Mel pulled out a chair to join him.  This was the first night in a long time their little family were all together under one roof and awake.  Although Julie had gone to bed about a half-hour before.

"Sure, Derek.  What's on your mind?"

"Bishop said that a man, a real man, needs to talk when he has something he needs to get off his chest."  Derek took a deep breath.  "Not yell, not scream and not punch things.  So I wanna try it."

"Go on," Mel encouraged resting a forearm on the table as he twisted to face the teenager.  "Talk to me."

"I don't think Montana is for me."  Mel saw his brother's eyes dart from the hands he had face down on the table to his big brother's.  "I-I think it'd be better for us all if we moved someplace else."

"Why's that?"

There was another big sigh before he heard Derek speak again.  "I don't like the Hellions.  Don't get me wrong, the individual dudes seem okay.  But the club as a whole?  I don't like how wrapped up our lives are in a motorcycle club."

He couldn't blame his brother for expressing the same doubts his own heart held.

"Okay, but you didn't like it here even before that.  What else is going on?"  It seemed to Mel as if it had been years that they'd talked together.

Derek let out the air in his lungs in an audible rush.  "I don't know.  The other kids make fun of the way I talk.  The school has me doing work I've already done in Texas.  You're never really around and the only thing Julie talks about is the Honeys."

Mel thought about what Der was saying.  The kid sounded about as lonely as Mel felt.

"I don't think I can leave yet.  And you have to admit the Honeys have been good for Jules."

Derek nodded but didn't look up.

"But, I can tell you're struggling the most."

"I might have a solution if you'll hear me out," Derek tendered in a quiet voice.

"I'm listening."

"There's this boarding school just outside of Beaumont, closer to Houston really, that I've looked at online on the school's computer.  It rated really high academically, with classes for kids like me."

"You mean of the brainiac variety?"

Mel's heart lightened at the smile that Derek tried to hide.

"Yeah.  Well, anyway.  They do a twelve-month school year and have a twenty to one ratio of teachers to students.  The rooms aren't all that great but I think I'd be happy there."

"What's the name of this place?"

"Greenfield Academy."  Mel could hear the yearning in his younger brother's voice.

"Do you know how much it costs?"

"That's the thing.  They have scholarship programs and from what I read, I qualify because of our income and my grades."  This was said on a rush and with more than a measure of hope.

"Your old grades or your new ones?"  Mel was trying to keep the smile out of his voice as he asked his questions.  The punk really had done his homework on the place.

"My old.  The new ones were because I already knew the stuff they were going over.  It's hard to pay attention when it's just a review, you know?"

It was Mel's turn to nod as he thought about what his brother wanted.  He let his mind remember how Der had been before and how he'd begun to act up since their move.

"I know you're trying to keep us all together, Mel."  Derek looked his big brother full in the face.  "Working hard to keep you and me and Jules tight, but I…"

Mel held up a hand to stop him.  "I have been.  Maybe too hard.  But I want you happy, too, Der.  And, like you said.  You aren't happy here and if you're too smart for what they have you doing in school, we've got to re-think that."

The brothers continued to look at one another before Mel finally broke the silence.  "What've we got to do to get you in, then?"

For the first time in what felt like forever, Mel saw his younger brother throw back his head as delighted laughter poured up and out of him.

*.*.*.*.*

 By Sunday afternoon, I had all the boxes emptied and everything put away in my new apartment.  Even I had to admit once all my furniture was in my little place was cute as a button.  Although the entries were strange.  The complex was set up as four apartments in a line that faced the other four units divided by a wide expanse of lawn dotted with trees and other plantings.  So my front door faced the grassy area and the back door was close to my carport. 

I could see the back door would be the one I'd be using the most.

As I began to close the blinds on my windows that faced the front yard, I saw a light come on in the apartment across from mine.  Only to see two men wearing the same vests as the guys from Boots as they moved around their living room. 

That wasn't good.

 I didn't want to be within a mile of anyone wearing their colors or having their attitude.  While by and large the Hellions were still a rough and tumble motorcycle club, the members didn't seem to possess the same unswerving sense of entitlement that the other group had.  Or maybe it was because I hadn't really seen the Hellions in a social setting.  At work they treated me with a measure respect which I appreciated. 
Well
, I admitted to myself,
the amount of respect a biker could give to another, especially a girl, that wasn't one of them.
 

Who knew how they behaved out in public?

I wondered if I needed to let Trey know about not only my change in address but about the other motorcycle club's members in residence at the new complex.  I'd never heard if the Hellions had rivals but they had to be aware that there was another club in town.

I was just crawling into bed when my phone chirped with an incoming text. 

MDav: 
I want 2 apologize.

What the heck?

I didn't hear from the guy for a full week except to be asked out while he eyed women he either wanted to or had already slept with and
then
wanted to say he was sorry? 

"No.  Uh-uh.  That's not how the game is played, boy-o," I told my phone. 

Deciding to ignore his text, I turned out the light and snuggled into the covers.

Bet he doesn't even know what he's darn-well sorry for
, my mind sneered which was one of my last thoughts before I slid into sleep.

The next morning, I discovered someone had been at my desk.  While I wasn't overly freaky about keeping my stuff aligned, I could tell at a glance things were not how I left them on Friday.  Perhaps the big industrial-sized bottle of Midol sitting right in the center of my desktop was my first clue.

I eyed it as I stowed my purse and jacket before moving off to the time clock.  Where I had another surprise with a sticky note sitting on my fresh weekly card. 

'L- I really am
so
sorry! -M,'
it read.  Guess the man didn't get the hint by my lack of response the night before.  My mind added 'potential stalker' to the creep label.

But, I didn't understand the bottle of Midol at all.  And I didn't think Mel would've left it for me.  Number one, it wasn't a clear message and Mel had seemed to be a straight up guy.  No, I think my gift, such as it was, was left by another person and held another significance although I had no clue what it was trying to convey.

I let things ride until mid-afternoon before I decided to bring it up with Trey.

"Got a second?"  I asked leaning into his doorway on one foot.

"Sure, Lucille.  Come in and sit down."

"Uhm.  There's a couple of things I want to talk to you about," I said smoothing my cute red and black plaid skirt and crossing my fishnet covered legs at the knees.  I saw Trey glance down when the rustling of my petticoats was heard in his office but he pulled his face back up to mine really quick.  I mentally applauded him only glancing briefly at my legs.

"I moved to another place this weekend.  I don't know if this is important or not but a couple of my new neighbors wear gray vests that say Ghosts on the back."  I watched Trey's eyebrows raise.

"Is there a reason you felt you had to move from the other spot so soon?"

"I, ah."  To fudge or not fudge?  "Things were, ah, a little sticky back home and I, uhm, heard someone is looking for me."

Whew!  I hadn't lied and hadn't even fudged but Trey was staring at me as if he wasn't used to people speaking so cryptically.

"I getting it's something you don't want to share, yeah?"

I nodded, thankful that he wasn't going to press but was going to let me keep my secrets.

"Okay.  But you need to understand that if there's anything I or the brothers can do to help, then you need to keep us in the loop, Lucille.  All you gotta do is lay it out for us and we're there, all right?"

"Yes.  Thanks."  I breathed and felt my shoulders relax a bit.  I'd been afraid he was going to give me the third degree and was relieved it hadn't happened.  "I'll keep that in mind."

"I'll let the brothers know about the Ghosts.  Just make sure you update your address in the system.  Now what was the other thing?" he asked on a blink as I re-crossed my legs.  I think the blink was to prevent another glance at my legs. 

I put the huge bottle of menstrual pain relievers in the middle of his desk.  "This was left for me on my desk this morning."

The big man just stared at the bottle for a few seconds and then looked back up at me.

"Do you know what it is?" I asked thinking that maybe he was so quiet because he didn't know why Midol was used.

"Have a mom, sister and a fiancé.  I know what Midol is for."

"Do you know who might have left it for me or why?"  I prodded.

He shook his head and mumbled, "no" in such a way as to let me know he'd soon know the answers to both.  "But I'll get to the bottom of it and you'll be getting an apology from the guilty party.  I'm sorry.  This shit sometimes happens but don't let it rattle you.  I'll have a word with the guys and it'll all be good."

I sighed.  I didn't want to get anyone in trouble but the gesture spoke of some of the stupid mindsets of cavemen I worked both for and with.  "Thank you, Trey."

"I just want you to know that we appreciate the work your doing and hope you don't hold these little…incidents against us.  I don't think many of us have been around your level of class before so it make take a few tries for some of us to fucking get it."  I saw him rub the back of his neck and did I deduce a flash of discomfort in his eyes?

"I'll come to you if it gets to be too much," I promised, easing to my feet.  "Thanks for seeing me."

"Anytime, Lucille," I heard from behind me as I walked out his office door.  And then saw that every other manager was standing outside their offices staring my way as I exited.