“Get out of here with that garbage!” the fat man behind the bar shouted. The bottle Rebecca threw flew through the air and broke against the far wall. “I mean it!” the bartender said again.
No one paid him any attention. Red was getting up, her hand over her bleeding nose. Holly rushed forward and slammed Rebecca against the bar. She looked over and saw Gloria and Mabel on the floor, trading punches and kicks. Red went after Rebecca, standing behind Holly and throwing punches when she could.
“Get out!” the man behind the bar yelled, and then Rebecca heard a loud click. The women froze and turned to the man. He had pulled a shotgun from beneath the bar and had pumped it. He aimed it in the women’s general direction. “Ain’t none of that shit welcome here.”
“All right old timer,” Rebecca said as Holly let her go. She held her hands up. “Don’t shoot.”
She giggled, and so did the other women, Hammers and Black Roses alike. They left together, and Rebecca wondered if the fight would continue, but everyone had gotten their licks in, so they climbed upon their bikes and parted ways on somewhat good terms. Rebecca and Gloria headed back to town.
They stopped in front of Gloria’s place, a small and dingy trailer on the outskirts of town.
“Something's getting to you,” Gloria said. “Still a problem with Jason? Look, he’s a dipshit, and the rest of the guys are too. I know you love the club, and things will work out. Stick with it.”
“It’s not that,” Rebecca said truthfully. “Hull is back in town.”
“He is? What a fine hunk of man. He didn’t come to see me.”
Rebecca laughed.
“So what’s the problem?”
“He…wants to start again.”
“Start again. He’s a good man.”
“Something is just wrong. It feels wrong.”
Gloria sighed and climbed off her bike. “You young women, you think too much about everything. Figure it out. Figure out what you want, and then do that. It’s that simple.”
“So you say.”
“Get out of here. I’m going to drink some beers by myself. You get into too many fights.”
“I get into too many fights? Didn’t you get into a fight during your wedding?”
“Which one? The first one or the second one?” Gloria asked.
“Both of them,” Rebecca said with a laugh.
“Oh, right,” Gloria said, and then she laughed and headed into her trailer, leaving Rebecca to start her motorcycle and head home.
4
When Rebecca got home, she was surprised to see Hull waiting for her. The man had his motorcycle parked in her driveway, much like Jason had a couple of weeks before. She parked her bike next to his and climbed off. He smiled.
“What’s up?” she asked him.
“I don’t know what your problem is, but I feel like I gave you enough time. You ready to figure this out?”
Rebecca sighed. “I don’t know what I need to figure out. I don’t want to be with you.”
Hull shook his head. “I don’t believe that.”
“Well, you better start believing it. I don’t want what we had, all right?”
“I love you,” Hull said, trying to take her hand, but she pulled it away. “I love two things,” he went on, “the Hammers and you. I want both of you back.”
“You’re going to take on Jason?”
“I’m going to get the Hammers back, and I’m going to get you back.”
Rebecca felt anger rise in her chest. “I don’t want to be gotten back. I’m a person, not a club. Not something you own.”
Hull sighed. “I don’t know why you’re so angry. I love you. You hurt me, but seeing you, I…I want to fix it.”
“There’s nothing to fix,” Rebecca said, and she left the man standing in her driveway.
Hull stayed true to his word, in both aspects. He sent her flowers a couple of days later, and he somehow got a hold of her cell number. He didn’t drown her with attention—it never went from yearning for her to creepy territory—and Rebecca found herself wondering why she was being so hard on the man.
As for the Hammers, Jason made it clear that he had no plans to let Hull into the group, and Hull made it clear that he didn’t want to be in the Hammers; he expected to lead them. The contention between the two men grew so much over the weeks that Jason forgot about his campaign against Rebecca, and the young woman found herself enjoying being in the group once more.
Her love life and the club drama came to a head the same night. Rebecca was in Drive, a small biker bar not far from where she lived. The Hammers hung out there a lot, and they had taken over most of the bar that night. Rebecca was shooting pool with Gloria, her head bobbing to the rock song pumping out of the jukebox, when Hull made his way into the bar.
Every set of eyes was on him. Most of the Hammers knew him from before he left, and they had known his father, and those who didn’t knew him now that Jason was fighting with him. Jason was near the back of the bar, and he tensed up, but Hull ignored him, instead going straight to Rebecca.
“Can I speak with you?” he asked.
Rebecca sighed. “I’m busy.”