Page 33 of Tinsel & Chrome
WREN
I stared at my reflection in the bathroom mirror and exhaled, my face pale. Sampson was kind enough to buy me a box of hair dye early this morning. My wet hair was dark brown again and combed back. I’d lost weight and looked gaunt, but I dabbed on some lip gloss to look a bit more alive than a walking zombie.
I left the bathroom and sat beside Joy on the hotel bed while she giggled, watching the kid channel. Her kitty cat, Fluffy, was under the covers, sleeping. When she steered her eyes from the TV to me, her little cupid mouth opened with surprise.
“You’re hair, Mommy!”
“Do you like it?” I asked
“Yes! It’s brown like mine.”
I hugged and thanked her, then walked over to the window, pulling the curtain back to see the morning sun shining, listening the distant sound of motorcycle pipes.
Sampson drove us from Charleston, West Virginia, to Berlin, Maryland, two days ago and secured a hotel room for Holly and me. Last night he said the VP of the Maryland chapter, Mammoth, would come this morning to meet Joy and me.
Nervous, I fidgeted, pacing back and forth until I heard a knock on the door. Looking through the peephole, I saw Sampson holding a small brown paper bag. I unlocked the door, sliding the bolt open to let him in.
He walked in, smiling.
“Wow, you look better with dark hair.”
“Thank you,”
I replied meekly, closing and locking the door behind him.
“Here’s some donuts for you and your kid,”
he said handing me the bag
I placed the bag on the bed beside Joy, and she happily opened it, grabbing a chocolate donut.
Sampson sat at the small table beside the window, stretched his legs, then crossed his ankles.
“Mammoth should be here soon.”
I returned to the window and moved the curtain aside to peer out again. My palms were sweaty as I ran a hand through my wet hair.
“Hey, Wren,”
Sampson said.
“This is weird, and I bet you’re nervous, but it’s going to be okay. Mammoth showed no signs of being an asshole when I spoke with him last night. He and my Merciless Few brothers are the good guys.”
A silver Ford truck pulled up in front and my jaw dropped when the driver climbed out. The man had long blond hair and wore shades. He was tall, wearing a snug black Harley Davidson T-shirt that stretched across his broad shoulders and chest, blue jeans, and black boots.
I hurried and sat on the bed beside Joy when the man knocked on the door.
When Sampson opened the door, the man walked in and removed his shades revealing gorgeous blue eyes that made my stomach somersault.
He stared at me while he made small talk with Sampson.
“Who is that man, Mommy?”
Joy asked sheepishly.
“He’s a friend of Sampson’s,”
I replied, my eyes locked with those handsome blue ones.
Taking my daughter’s hand, I stood as the man approached us.
“Wren, meet Mammoth,”
Sampson said.
Mammoth offered me his hand, and I shook it, amazed at how small mine was in his.
His warm hand squeezed mine gently.
“Hello. My real name is Cameron Payne. I’m the Vice President of the Maryland chapter of the Merciless Few MC. Everyone calls me Mammoth.”
I swallowed the knot in my throat.
“It’s nice to meet you, Cameron. I mean Mammoth.”
“You can call me by either name,” he said.
“Cameron is a nice name. I’m Wren. And this is my daughter, Josephine. She likes to be called Joy.”
Smiling, he knelt on one knee.
“It’s nice to meet you, Joy. I see you have a cat. I like cats too. What’s its name?”
“His name is Fluffy,”
she replied and smiled, holding tightly to her worn and tattered stuffed white cat toy, which had one blue eye missing.
“I have a cat, too, her name is Harley.”
Watching this hunk of a man kneeling to talk to my baby girl made my heart melt.
Even though I did my best to shield her from all the violence and bad things I’d experienced, there were still some horrible things she had seen in her 4 years of life.
I was lucky to have been saved from the Soulless Bastards, and I would do all I could, even if it meant giving my own life, to give my daughter a better one.