clanked as they were dropped.
Strong arms wrapped around her. She screamed in surprise, dropping a couple of the sacks holding the burgers.
"Step out, honey." Frank lifted her.
Her toes scrambled to come into contact with the floor as she found herself taken outside and plopped down against the building. Getting her balance, she set the bags remaining in her hands on the ground and straightened her shirt.
"What's that all about?" she said.
"Just a disagreement." Frank lit a cigarette and stayed between her and the door. "They'll be done in a few minutes."
Remembering all the physical fights that happened within the clubhouse growing up, she walked over to her car and got the cup with the last of her milkshake in it. She returned to Frank, trying to hear what was happening inside the warehouse. Tarkio members were passionate.
They partied hard. They were loyal to a fault. And sometimes those emotions came out in violence.
The door swung open. A member burst outside, wild hair circling his head. She stayed back until she recognized Whip, Tracy's brother, and then she called his name.
Whip swung around, glaring in her direction before his face softened upon seeing her. She approached him, studying the changes in his face over the years. The last time she heard anything about him, he was spending time in prison for murdering the two men who'd killed his parents. Because they were killed inside the house, it should've been self-defense, but Whip was a Tarkio member, and the men were in another motorcycle club. The judge deemed it gang activity.
"Brat? Is that you?" Whip leaned closer, chuckling. "Well, well, well, look who grew up."
She threw her arms around him. "It's so good to see you. How have you been?"
"You know, hanging out in a cell, shooting the shit with other criminals doing time." He pulled back and looked at her again. "Last time I seen you, you had braces."
She grinned, no longer having a large gap between her front teeth. "Wow, it has been a long time. I spent the night with your sister not long ago and thought I might run into you, but we had a quiet girls' night in with the kids."
"I stay at the clubhouse. That way, she and Rick have their privacy." He swept back his hair. "Are you living in Missoula? Last I heard you were living with some relative, somewhere else."
"Yeah, with my Grandma. She passed away, but I'm still living in her house in Superior."
"Not too far, then." His gaze swept down her body and back up to her face. "We should get together. Hash out old times and catch up."
"She's mine," barked Curley.
Faye leaned to the side and found Curley standing at the door. Not wanting to roll her eyes, she looked at Whip and shrugged. "Long story."
Whip whistled and whispered. "I hadn't heard."
"It is what it is," she whispered back.
Picking up the sacks, she walked over to Curley. Without saying a word, she plopped the sacks into his arms and walked inside to see if there was anything to salvage from the burgers she'd dropped. Luckily, no one had stepped on the food, and the burgers were still contained in the sack.
Curley followed her and took the food out of her hands. "A don't want you hanging out with Whip alone. If you need to talk to him, meet him at the clubhouse, or better yet, tell him to call on the phone."
She gasped. "Get real."
"I'm serious." He dipped his chin. "If you don't push him away. I will."
"He's Tracy's bro..." She squinted, noticing the blood at the corner of his mouth.
His bottom lip was also swollen. She dropped her gaze to his chest, checking if he was injured anywhere else. The neck of his T-shirt was ripped. The tattoos on his arms hid if he was bruised.
She swallowed hard. "What did you do?"
"Who says I did anything?" He walked away from her and set the sacks on what was now a newly constructed bar at the back of the room.
And, so it started. The first hurdle they got to while working together, and already he'd started a fight.
She tossed her cup in the garbage can sitting nearby. The others had gone back to work. A few of the guys dove into the burgers and started passing around the food. She gazed at everyone, trying to find who Curley was fighting with. Maybe that way she could figure out what the problem was.
Chapter 18
Curley
Faye stood on the top of the table.