*It's funnier if you imagine Ryder actually wearing these sunglasses.*
•Ryder•
Talia borrows Kitty's compact little Honda, driving slowly through the city. It's midday, plenty busy but not as crowded as it gets at night. There's still people making their walk of shame from the night before and plenty of people still celebrating as if the night never ended. They fill the streets, flood the bars, come and go from casinos. It's always a party here, no matter the time of day.
I follow behind Talia in her borrowed vehicle, making sure I don't lose her. With how slow she's driving, I'm not in any danger of that happening.
We don't stay on the road for long and soon we're pulling off on a side road, away from the hustle and bustle of the main strip and down a quieter street filled with smaller restaurants and cozy little shops that tourists don't seem to frequent as often. It's almost like a hidden gem for locals.
There's a garage behind the restaurant Talia is pulling into and we park, her getting out and flattening her hands against her thighs to remove the nonexistent wrinkles from her dress.
"Do you think I look okay? I feel like I'm trying too hard to impress her. I don't have to impress her, right? This isn't a date. She's not my girlfriend or anything. I shouldn't be so nervous. She's just a girl and I'm just a girl and we're just having lunch so we can talk. There's nothing to worry about...right?" The hesitancy in her voice has me stepping forward, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her into my chest. I take the side of her face, making sure she's looking into my eyes.
"Don't be nervous. This girl helped you and now is your chance to thank her. Everything is okay. Please try and breathe. You can do this." I lean forward and kiss her forehead, my lips lingering for a moment.
She takes a deep breath, closing her eyes and leaning back, placing her hands on my chest and rubbing her thumbs against my solar plexus. Her shoulders fall, releasing some of her built up tension. I wonder if she drove all the way here as tense as she was.
Giving her hip a gentle squeeze, her eyes pop back open, those deep pools of icy waters staring straight back at me. They're filled with uncertainty, but I have a good feeling about this meeting. There's no need for all that worry.
"But thanking her isn't all I'm going to be doing. What if she can't help the club? I mean, she's just a girl. I doubt she holds any kind of sway over her family's business."
I shrug. "You never know. Crime families are more tight knit than any other kind of family. She may not be directly involved in anything, but I'm sure her family would at least listen to her if she had something to say."
Talia's face falls and I pinch her chin lightly, bringing it back up. "What if she doesn't want to help? Just because she helped me not die at the hands of Dmitri doesn't mean she's going to want to help out with the club."
I chew on the inside of my lower lip. "I've already considered that and if that's how it's going to be, well then, I guess that's how it's going to be. We'll figure something else out. We always do. The club hasn't come this far without managing to find a backup plan somewhere." I give her a cheesy smile but she can tell I'm banking on this working out. She knows it means a lot, even though I know I shouldn't have bet all my marbles on this random girl coming through for people she doesn't even know.
I can only hope her niceties extend to a bunch of strange bikers as well as a tortured, innocent girl that was tied up in a hotel room.
"Come on, I'm sure she's waiting for you. We're a few minutes late." I tug on her waist and head towards the side entrance of the Greek restaurant. "I'm going to go in first and get a table. You come in after me so it doesn't look like we came in together."
She nods and gives me a peck on the lips before standing off to the side and lighting a cigarette and bringing it to her lips. Hopefully it'll calm some of her nerves.
I walk the rest of the way to the doors and open them, hit by the smell of cooking meets and fresh vegetables. It's a scent I'm not overly used to, not having ever been much of a fan of Greek food. Not that it smells bad, I just prefer the smell of pierogis cooking if I'm going to eat any traditional European food.
The seating sign at the front says "seat yourself" so I find a quiet table made for two guests and lean against the wall after sitting. Other customers surround me, enjoying their meals and having some lunchtime wine. There's enough people to not be noticed but there's also enough that I can't tell if any threats wait nearby. For all I know, the entire restaurant could be filled with King family members and Athena could have led us into a trap.
A child wails from across the room and I watch a dark haired woman stand up and lead the small crying child out of the front doors and into the parking lot. Talia steps in right before the doors close after the woman and child, her eyes scanning the restaurant. She stands there, hands fidgeting at her sides until I see the recognition flutter over her face.
She sees Athena.
Her feet take her in the direction of the back of the restaurant and I see a smaller dark haired girl stand up, her back to me. Talia's face breaks into a grin and I can see her holding back tears as they hug. Talia isn't much of a hugger when it comes to people not directly in her inner circle, so I know accepting Athena's hug meant more to her than I can imagine.
"Hey, my name is Anna, I'll be your server, what can I get you to drink?"
I look up to the pretty blonde standing in front of my table and curse myself for not even noticing her walk my way. I was too caught up in seeing Athena and Talia interact, I let a stranger get the drop on me.
"Water is fine, thanks." If I'm going to sit here and people watch, I need to order something or else I'm sure I'll be asked to leave. Grabbing the laminated menu behind the salt and pepper shakers, I peruse the listings, not seeing anything that catches my eye. Except for a cheeseburger and fries. Thank you gods of picky eating.
The waitress comes back carrying a glass of ice water and sets it down on a napkin, pulling out her notepad and pen, jotting down my basic meal order with only a mild bit of judgment on her pinched face.
She leaves and my attention turns back to Talia. I can't hear them talking from across the restaurant but I don't need to listen in. I just need to watch and make sure Talia isn't in any kind of danger.
She wipes away a few of her tears and I'm surprised she's let so much emotion flow between the two of them in such a little amount of time. She's opening so much more of herself now that she's healing and I'm so proud of her.
"Here ya go. Enjoy!" The waitress says cheerfully and drops my plate in front of me, a little more agitated than I would have liked. My guess is she doesn't get many people coming in here ordering an American cheeseburger and fries. Whatever, it looks amazing regardless and I dig in, still scanning the room from time to time. I'm cautious not to eat too quickly because I want to give them as much time to speak as possible, and I don't want to have to end up ordering more food if I finish this off too soon.
My fears about that are subdued when my phone starts to vibrate in my pocket. Setting down the burger, I pull it out and check the number, seeing Unknown Caller on the screen. "Huh." I don't get very many unknown calls so I decide to answer it anyway, putting the phone to my ear. "Hello?"
It's silent for a few seconds and I'm about to hang up, thinking it's a scam call, when I hear a gravely voice I've not heard in a year come through.
"Hey, brother."
I startle, shaking the table and causing the silverware to clang and the glass of water to wobble. It gets the attention from a few tables around me and I look around apologetically, coughing to coverup my blunder.
"Talon."
"Yeah, it's me."
I'm so shocked I can't form anymore words. I can barely even breathe let alone form a functioning thought enough to keep a conversation flowing.
But I have to or else he'll hang up.
"You there, Ry?" His voice is slow and gritty and I can tell he's on something right now. He doesn't sound bad, but he doesn't necessarily sound all there at the moment.
I bring myself out of my shock and finally respond. "Yeah, yeah man, I'm here. Holy shit. How are you? Where are you? What have you been doing? Are you coming home?" I can't help the barrage of questions that come spilling forth through my lips now that I'm fully back in my own body and over the initial shock of finally hearing my best friend's voice after an entire year of being apart.
I know losing your wife and child and experiencing all that he did changes you and I know that he needed some time to himself, but it's been so long. Too goddamn long. His place is here. In Las Vegas. With his family. His brothers.
Talon laughs quietly, but there's no amusement there. It's almost as if the sound is completely devoid of all feeling. "I miss you too, man."
"Fuck, yeah I miss you, bro. I—we—need you to come home."
I hear him sigh over the phone and I grit my teeth, wishing I hadn't said it. The last thing I want to do is make it sound pushy and make it seem like I'm trying to force him to come back.
"I know. Soon. I promise."
Soon. How soon? I resist the urge to ask and don't push the subject further. Instead, I go with something else. "So what have you been up to all this time?"
I can hear the hesitation in his voice and I know he's debating on whether or not to tell me the truth. I wonder if he'll ever tell any of us the truth when he gets back, or if he'll forever keep his experiences this past year to himself. "Just...living. Trying to come back into myself, you know?"
I nod, but then say, "Yeah, I understand," when I realize he can't see me nodding along. "And did you...find yourself? Are you doing better?"
Aside from the lack of emotion in his voice, being able to hold this conversation with me is a good sign, right?"
Another long pause.
"If you're asking am I over Sasha and Bear, then no. I don't think I'll ever be over them. But if you're asking have I learned to live with it, then yes. I'm working on it and it seems to be going well."
I want to ask for specifics but I don't, recognizing he doesn't want to talk about whatever it is he's been doing. I'm surprised I got this much out of him. Even Blade didn't get details when Talon last called him.
"That's good. I'm happy for you. You deserve happiness and you deserve to be able to live another day without crawling into yourself. You're tough." I realize I've now given two people close to me pep talks about being brave and strong, and I seriously hope I don't have to do it again. I'm sick of people hurting so much around me.
"So I've been told." I can hear tears being held back in his voice and my chest clenches in pain at the sound. I was practically raised right alongside him. He's more than just my friend. He's more than just my brother. Blade, Talon, and I, we're like soulmates but not romantically. We're all so alike yet so different from one another. I'd take a bullet for either of them any day of the week, as I know they'd do so for me. And right now, hearing Talon hold back sadness is tearing my soul to shreds. There's only a handful of people that can invoke such strong emotion in me, Talia being at the top of the list, but Talon and Blade are right there behind her, even ahead of my own parents and the rest of the club.
That's how much they mean to me.
"Hey, come on, don't cry. Get off the phone and I can help you," a feminine voice speaks from Talon's end of the phone. It doesn't sound seductive, like someone trying to coerce him into bed to take his mind off things, but I can't imagine why else Talon would be with a woman right now.
"Ry, I've got to go, okay. I promise I will see you soon. Don't worry about me."
"Come on, Seth, let's go to the meditation tent and I'll help you."
Seth.
Meditation tent.
So not only does this mysterious woman know his real name, she meditates with him? What kind of hippie crap is this? Was holistic medicine his treatment and way of coping through the loss of his family?
"Bye, Ryder."
"Bye, Talon." He hangs up before I even have time to pull the phone away from my ear.
I'm stumped with the knowledge that he's with a woman, in a tent of all places, meditating and doing god knows what other kind of hippie stuff. If he comes back changed into a free spirited tree hugger, the club isn't going to take too kindly to that. Not that there's anything wrong with saving the trees. Hell, the club donates to planet saving charities every year and volunteers when and where we can, but we're not out there living with nature and becoming one with the earth. He's going to get laughed at.
I can only hope that's not the case.
And I can only hope this woman isn't some rebound stand in for Sasha.
My food is still warm but I've lost my appetite and instead sip on the water, grabbing a larger fry and pushing the others around on the plate. Talia and Athena are still talking and by the softness on Talia's face I know whatever it is they're talking about is going well. Maybe during my call with Talon she got the chance to ask about meeting up with us and agreed.
I sit in silence for a little while longer when Talia gets up, hugging Athena goodbye and leaving the restaurant. I throw a twenty onto the table, enough to cover the meal and a tip, scooting out after her, but trying not to make it noticeable that I'm following her.
I stay a distance far enough away as to not arouse suspicion until we get further into the parking lot and closer to my bike and Kitty's car.
I sweep Talia into my arms and she immediately bursts into tears. My arms instinctively hold her tighter and let her get every last ounce of pain out into my embrace.
We don't speak and I don't ask how it went. I just hold her, letting her cry. Letting her get it out. Words aren't needed right now.
We stand against Kitty's car like that for ten minutes of silence, only Talia's softening cries filling the space between us. We get worried looks from passersby heading to their own cars so I wave them off each time they act like they're going to intervene.
Finally, Talia pulls away and I swipe my thumbs under her eyes to remove the wetness coated in her black mascara. Her makeup is ruined but she still looks beautiful. Her eyes are even brighter and shinier when tears have washed them clean.
"I'll tell you all about what we talked about later, but I wanted you to know that she's going to do it. She's going to help the club."
Shit. She really did it. The logistics of it still need to be worked out, but it's in the works.
The Australians won't be a problem for much longer.
Talia did it.