#dad bishop

Lara slowly trudged up the sidewalk that led to the driveway of Bishop’s house. The sun was rising and the morning dew dripped off the grass at an even slower pace than Lara at that moment. Turning towards the house she stood for a moment staring at it, wondering how she was going to maneuver sneaking in. 

The clothes she wore from the previous night were still hanging off her body, but just a bit more disheveled. That’s what happened when you stayed out all night at some dive bar though. As well as when you’re in and out of any room with a working lock in said dive bar, fooling around with some random stranger after having a series of traumatic events in your life. 

Without thinking a second more, Lara had her plan perfected. Bishop was likely asleep on the couch and she’d just move quickly through the door and make her way to the bathroom, playing it as though she was up early to conquer the day. 

She did a brief look at herself in the rearview mirror of Bishop’s truck on the off chance he woke up once she was in the house. Her natural curls were tangled within the curves of one another and the frizz was growing by the second in the Santo Padre humidity. Her lips were completely clean of any gloss, stain, or chapstick and they definitely were a little more plump from the activity they saw. Her neck had smears of her foundation that was intended to cover the red marks but was now only doing about half of that. She regretted not putting powder on top to really secure the makeup but there was nothing to do about it now. Lara began to quickly adjust herself, wishing she had carried a purse with some essentials, something that would help her wipe the day old mascara that had slightly smeared on her face or a face spray to liven her up, but she worked with what she could in the small side mirror before giving up and making her way towards the front door. 

She placed her hand on the doorknob and took one last deep breath before holding it in as the door creaked open. Quickly maneuvering around the door, she pressed her left hand flat to it, the right still on the handle and as she turned to shut it, she positioned her body practically flush against the oak to hush the sound of it closing. As this happened, she heard the clink of a glass in the kitchen. Her head snapped immediately to see her father, hand on a coffee mug and sitting alone at the kitchen table. 

The breath she was holding in let out as she knew she had been made. She took getting caught with pride as she strutted into the kitchen right by her father as if nothing happened and this was completely normal. Her eye caught the large tattoo on Bishop’s bicep that wasn’t there two years ago, but now with him sitting in an undershirt under the harsh kitchen light, was impossible to miss. Not to mention that the tattoo was her little brother’s face and for a moment when she saw it she felt her heart ache a little but not long enough to offer compassion to the man, if anything this fueled her attitude more. 

“Nice tattoo,” the little sass in her tone didn’t go unnoticed by the man as she went to the fridge to grab a carton of milk. 

Bishop’s eyebrows raised and he nodded briefly as he accepted this was how this conversation was going to go.

“Where were you last night?” He asked her, ignoring the tattoo comment. 

“Went and got a drink,” she shrugged, pouring a cup of coffee. Still standing at the counter behind him so both their backs were facing each other. 

“A heads up would have been nice,” he turned his head to look at her, not wanting to be demanding but trying to establish some ground rules. 

Lara laughed for a moment and turned to him now leaning against the counter. 

“Hey Dad, decided to go on a little bender by myself, I’ll call you if you have to come and bury any bodies.” She smiled sneeringly as she took a sip of her coffee. 

Bishop continued to shake his head until his voice snapped. 

“You think this shit is fuckin’ funny?” He stood up now, the chair screeching against the tile as it pushed back quickly. 

Lara stopped chuckling and sunk down as the man raised his voice. Bishop saw the change in demeanor in the girl and immediately realized how scarred his daughter actually was. 

He brought his voice back down and looked around the kitchen taking a deep breath. 

“You can’t be doin’ this shit, Lara.” He said with more of a softer tone. “After what happened not even two nights ago, and you just go up and missing on me. You know who those people are? They aren’t people you want coming after you.”

Lara opened her mouth and thought to argue but stopped, she knew there was no point to argue. Their clashing personalities is what got them into this mess years ago when she left. 

“Why do you think I called you. I knew you’d know how to handle the fuckin’ disaster I got myself into.” Her voice cracked as the tears formed in her eyes. 

“Those bikers aren’t like me and Hank, they follow no code, they’re all about money, power, and self.” He said hoping she’d understand. 

“So now what? I go into hiding for the rest of my life, staying two steps ahead of The Calaveras.” She placed the mug in the sink, now worried and concerned. She hadn’t given any thought to what was going to happen next and now the thoughts were overflowing her brain. 

“No. I handled it. No one’s ever going to know it was you. For all they know, you left a month ago. They have a laundry list of people who could have done this as an act of revenge.” Bishop explained knowing he purposely dropped a reaper pin that used to sit proudly on someone’s kutte but now had a home at Jesse’s house. 

“You just left the body there?” Lara was now alert and oriented 10x more than she was previously. 

“Are you crazy? Hank and I handled it.” 

Lara took a moment to be relieved. The two sat in the heavy silence of the room. 

“I’m sorry about not coming home last night, I’m just used to making decisions on my own.”

“I get that.” Bishop answered, nodding his head. “You know me, I don’t need play by plays or tracking devices. Just wanna know you’re all good.” 

Lara nodded. “Note taken.” 

“I’m gonna head down to the clubhouse, let me know if you need anything and I’ll bring it back.” Bishop threw on his button up that was draped over the kitchen chair and then moved to the hooks near the front door where his kutte hung. 

“Let me come with you,” She grabbed his coffee mug and put it in the sink before taking a couple steps toward him. 

“Absolutely not. You’re not even going to be staying here long.” Bishop shook his head as he adjusted the kutte on his shoulders.

“Don’t.” Lara said firmly. “Don’t do this again. It’s just going to be an exact repeat of what happened two years ago.” 

She hoped the words stung him. Not because she wanted to hurt him, but because she wanted him to see the full picture.

“It's not safe here, never has been,” he said with pain in his eyes. “I should’ve never brought any of you here. And that’s something you said to me, so you know it’s true.” There was just as much pain in his tone as Lara’s. 

“Clearly it's not safe where I end up either.” 

Her point was crystal clear but yet Bishop had no response. He just moved towards the girl and kissed her forehead. 

“There's movies and shit in the tv stand, one of the guys got me one of those playstation things if you wanted to hook it up,” he said as he exited the door leaving no moment for Lara to say anything more.

Lara stood in the entryway of the house, feeling empty, abandoned, and hollow. She picked her phone up and moved back into the kitchen and made her way to the fridge where Frankie’s number was pinned up. Something the girl must've done when she was down here visiting once. 

The phone rang a couple times before there was a cheery greeting at the other end. 

“You got time to come to Santo Padre today?” Lara asked, skipping pleasantries and jumping straight to the point.

“Lucky for you, I’m already here, came down with Hank not long after you left. I’m at his place now but I can be at Bishop’s in 30?” The girl knew immediately who was on the phone. 

“Meet me in the town square? I got a couple errands I want to run.” Lara said, grabbing her bag so she could begin her walk. 

“Sure, see you in 30.” 

————

“So your errands were to apply for a job?” Frankie said as she caught up to the girl who had a bunch of applications in her hands. 

“Need money,” she shrugged as Frankie snatched the papers from her hands to look at the places she was planning to apply at. 

“Nope. Come on.” Frankie turned the girl around and brought her to her Honda coup. 

The ride was silent. Lara was trusting of the girl, so wherever they were going she knew there was purpose. 

They pulled up to another main strip, but this one was nicer. No trash, no graffiti, and Lara knew it all too well. The memories flooded back to her like they happened yesterday. Her eyes fell on the municipal building and the image of the family she once was a part of took her away from real life for a moment.

“One, two, three, JUMP!” Antonia and Bishop’s voices boomed with laughs as they walked down the municipal stairs with Aiden clinging to their hands as they lifted him up with every step. Lara smiled as she headed down the stairs alongside them picking up her pace so she reached the bottom before them. 

“Feeling left out?” Bishop laughed as his arm swung around the girl’s shoulder and brought the girl close to him as they walked to the truck. 

“You’re annoying,” she laughed, pushing him off her which earned a laugh from Antonia. 

“Hey, if I’m annoying to you that just means I’m playing my role as a father correctly.” he smiled and unlocked the truck. 

“Can we get ice cream?” Aiden’s voice yelled before they got into the truck. 

Lara picked the boy up and held him in her arms. “Pleaaaaasseeeee” she rested her head against her little brother’s and they both poked out their bottom lip. 

“Your mom had a long day at work, buddy,” Bishop’s hand extended out to the little boy's face.

“Okay, we can drop Antonia off and you’ll stay with her and I’ll take him to get ice cream.” Lara smiled in hopes to get the car. 

“Nice try.” Antonia smiled from the passenger seat of the vehicle. “I could go for ice cream,” she looked at Bishop and shrugged. 

“Alright, family trip.” Bishop grinned. 

Lara was taken out from her memory when Frankie put the car in park. 

“Right there.” Frankie pointed at the two story restaurant. 

“Right what?” Lara said, turning to look where her finger pointed. 

“That’s where you’re going to work. What you’d make in a week at any of those places” Frankie nodded to the stack of paper on Lara’s lap. “You’d make in a day at this place.” 

Lara looked out the windshield at the lavish restaurant that read “The Villa” in the most elegant script font. The golden pillars held up the upper half of the restaurant and the smooth jazz that was playing from the entrance could be heard through the open windows of the car just slightly over the white noise of the fountain that sat in the courtyard where the outdoor tables were. 

Just from looking at the place, Lara knew she was right. 

“And how am I getting here on the daily?” Lara asked. 

“Bishop can get you a car in an hour, easily.” Frankie frowned as they walked up to the restaurant so Lara could get a look. 

“If it was up to Bishop, I’d be in another town in an hour.” Lara sighed. 

“Ahhhhhh, I see. Look, if you tell him you’re gonna stay around for a bit, stay low and just work here, Bish isn’t gonna argue.” She explained. 

“The Bishop you and I know are very different.” Lara smiled. “But honestly seeing how he’s been living? He needs help. He needs me here. Probably just as much as I need him.” Lara realized there was no point in arguing it. The two Losas’ needed some TLC in their life and some father-daughter bonding might be just the solution for both of them. “Alright. Let me apply.” She brought herself to enter the building. 

The inside of the restaurant was even fancier than expected, and a gust of a cool breeze hit Lara as the ceiling fans in the restaurant slowly spun around. Waiters bustled around and were delivering plates that looked like they had been created on the food network to tables with people who looked like they would never be caught dead watching the food network. Some tables occupied families that looked more normal compared to the suits that occupied the other half of the eatery. 

Lara stood at the podium waiting for someone to take notice of her. Frankie was outside across the street waiting on her phone. This gave Lara a few extra minutes to take in the richness of it all. 

“How can I help you?” A voice asked from the podium.

“I wanted to apply for a job, anything you guys have available, I can serve, wash, cook.” She laughed trying to be as charming as possible. 

“We actually could use a hostess.” The girl said looking over her shoulder at another waitress who was gathering utensils. 

“Totally could.” She laughed as she dismissed herself to seat the people that came in behind Lara. 

“You got any restaurant experience?” The waitress asked, now giving Lara her full attention. 

“If I tell you yes, will you hire me on the spot?” The girl grinned hoping that by being funny and pleasant the girl, who had to be about Lara’s age, would give her a chance. 

“To be honest you could say you murder people and I’d still hire you because you seem like a people person and you have a smile that will bring people back in, which is all the owner wants.” 

Lara’s laugh after that comment was dripping in irony.

“Only murdering I’ll be doing is killing all the guests with kindness”  Lara could have cringed at her joke but truthfully she’d say or do whatever to get a job right now. Being able to show Bishop she was serious about staying here was going to take some effort and already having a job lined up would be a huge help. 

The two talked more about figuring out details of the job, like when to start, what her hourly rate would be, tips, dress code, just the basics. After about 15 minutes passed Lara was back outside making her way over to Frankie. 

“You’re looking at the new hostess of The Villa” She said in her most fancy sarcastic voice. 

“Amazing” Frankie smiled and hooked her arm into Lara’s as they walked back towards the car. “You mind if we stop at the club? I gotta pick up something.”

Lara looked over at the girl and didn’t speak for a minute. She knew going to the club was going to get a reaction out of Bishop, and not a good one, but also she could use the opportunity to talk to him about staying. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll be your back up.” Frankie said as they approached the car. 

______________

They pulled up to the clubhouse and immediately Lara was hit with a flood of emotions. This place was ultimately what broke the family she had and it gave her mixed feelings. She knew the way the club could suck every ounce of life out of you, but she also knew it was probably the only thing holding her father together. 

“Everything ok?” Hank called out as he approached the vehicle and opened the car door for Frankie. 

“Yea, just came to say hello,” she smiled up at her Dad. “Coco here?” She stepped away from him looking into the scrapyard and then moving her eyes towards the clubhouse. 

“He’s in the office.” Hank pointed to the scrapyard station. 

Frankie nodded and jogged over to the office door as Coco was exiting. Lara wasn’t far behind her after she quickly greeted Hank. 

“Whatchu doin’ here?” Coco smirked and nodded at Frankie as he made his way to one of the piles of metal on the yard. 

“You know Hank, can’t go more than a week without seeing me.” She smiled and followed him. “This is Lara.” She introduced her to the man. “Lara, this is Coco.” 

Coco nodded at the girl and looked at Frankie. “Thought we had enough strays make their way through here.” He joked as he wrote a couple things down on the paper and then finally turned to both of them giving his full attention. 

“She’s Bishop’s kid.” Frankie sported a shit eating grin as she saw Coco’s face fall. 

“Fuck, my bad.” He offered the girl apologetic eyes. “Jus’ a joke you know,” he got a little nervous. 

“You don’t gotta apologize, seems like we’re all strays off the beaten path,” 

The man smiled, “Off the beaten path or following true destiny.” He began to get philosophical. 

“Don’t get him started on this shit, he’ll have you thinking you smoked 20 blunts by the time he’s done explaining his Church of Coco meaning of life nonsense.” Frankie rolled her eyes. 

“Says you, who hits me back with all that psychological textbook bullshit.”

They both stared at each other seriously for a minute before they both broke out in laughter. They had Lara fooled for a minute thinking that they were actually fighting. 

Coco began moving back to the office and the girls followed behind them. 

“I gotta ask you a favor.” Frankie said confidently. 

“Ain’t nothing good ever come out of you asking  me for a favor.” Coco turned around and got serious for a minute. 

“Relax. It isn’t that deep. Figured since I’m down here early you could give me my monthly pick up.” 

“You’re  always asking for more than you’re payin’ for, you know that?” He leaned over the office table and pushed a few things around the drawer that was open and pulled out a bag that had about an eighth of weed in it. On the baggie itself it said “Frankie” on it, all ready for her. Coco tossed the bag to her. “Don’t tell me I ain’t ever did nothin’ for you.” 

“You literally are sent from the heavens, you know that.” 

“Yea tell that to every other mother fucker in my life.” His lips curled to one side in a smile as he brought his cigarette to his mouth. 

Both of the girls began to walk towards the clubhouse. Frankie put the weed in her back pocket while Lara tried to get her head on straight for her talk with Bishop. After a few seconds of getting overwhelmed and only having taken two steps towards the green building she decided she’d just wing it. Quickly, before she gave it a thought more she turned to Frankie. 

“So you two like a thing?”

Frankie practically choked on her chuckle. “Who? Me and Coco?” She laughed some more. “You smokin’ the shit I just bought?” Frankie joked. “Nope, just friends. He’s probably the closest person I got here. Everyone else is old as hell and too loyal to Hank– which I get by the way.” She turned sideways to talk to the girl as they strolled to the stairs. “It’s just nice having someone whose around a lot that I don’t gotta worry about always running to my dad.” 

“Oh Frankie did this, Frankie was here, Frankie asked me for that.” She mocked what Lara had to believe was some of the other MC members. “Coco just gets it. He’d never betray any of them, but he knows when to keep his mouth shut is all I’m saying. Plus he’s smart. He’s got a lot of knowledge about life.” Frankie explained. “He brought in the prospect too, who's cool, but still too early on to trust him like I do Coco, you know.” 

“Gotcha,” Lara nodded. 

“Why, you interested?” Frankie teased. 

“I think I need to take a break from boys.” Lara sighed. “Look what happened to the last one.” She quipped. 

“The last one, hm?” Frankie said as they made their way up the rickety steps leading to the entrance of the club. 

“What’s with that questioning look?” Lara frowned. 

“Bishop called Hank last night to ask if he saw you. So in turn, Hank asked me. Figured you were out and about, but that was like 1AM, so that also usually means you were out with company. And I know you weren’t with an ex.” She teased back. 

“You should go to school to become a detective.” Lara joked. “Yea I was with a guy. One night stand shit, nothing serious. Just needed to let off some steam.” Lara explained. 

“Let off? Or Get off?”  Frankie wiggled her eyebrows as they pushed through the clubhouse doors. 

The smell hit Lara like a ton of bricks. The alcohol, the smoke, the smell of outlaws. It was so familiar and brought back so many feelings. Her gaze went from left to right, scanning over the chairs and then to the bar, and over to the pool table and then the big stained glass door. It was closed which meant someone was in there, and considering that some of the members were outside she knew it wasn’t an official church meeting but her father was probably stuck behind the head seat. 

Frankie moved over to the bar but before Lara could follow, the door slid open. Taza emerged and saw Lara immediately and his face looked ecstatic. 

“Lara.” He said with open arms and walked over to the girl and embraced her. 

“Hola, Taza.” She hugged the man, giving him a tight squeeze. 

“Your dad is–” Just as he turned to look for Bishop he already appeared. 

“Right here. And wondering what the hell you’re doing here.” Bishop said with a firm voice. 

“I’ll leave you two.” Taza said as his face filled with a pitying look before disappearing. 

“Hear me out, please.” She said, holding her hand up. 

“This better be fuckin’ good.” He mumbled. 

“Let me stay here with you, you’re all alone in that house, it’s practically falling apart, inside and out. I can help out around keep the place looking livable, clean things up, and God forbid we spend a little company together. Would that be the worst thing?”

“We can do that if you’re a couple towns over. You can come visit every few months or I can come to you.” Bishop argued. 

“So you can continue to live in a pit full of alcohol? No. I already got a really good job, Frankie helped me get it all arranged.” She pointed at the girl who was drinking a beer, she offered up a wave before she made her way over. 

“Uncle Bish, it’s all set up, she’s going to be at her job more than she’ll be here, plus it’ll give me someone to hang out with when I come home and that’s also time spent away from here.” Frankie said, trying to convince the man. 

“You spend all your time here when you’re home.” Bishop frowned at his niece. 

Lara gave Frankie a look as she raised her eyebrows, expressing that she was doing more harm than good. 

“Well, if Lara’s here then maybe I won’t be.” She said and quickly brought the beer bottle to her mouth so she wouldn’t dig herself any deeper. 

Bishop managed to laugh. “You thought this through didn’t you?” He looked at Lara. 

Lara nodded in hopes he was changing his mind. 

As he began to speak, the door to the clubhouse opened up and Lara’s attention moved over to the commotion. The group of about 3 men walked in. She recognized the one man as Coco, and the other as Hank. The third man stood tall but she couldn’t see his face yet but he looked recognizable. She frowned, hearing her father still going on in the background but she was occupied with putting her finger on who that was and how she knew them. 

He turned around and that’s when she saw his face. Her body practically froze. He was the guy from last night. As the world continued without her attention, her eyes followed the man who was yet to notice her as he moved to the corner of the clubhouse with Hank and the man she just met, Coco. 

As Bishop wrapped up his long winded statement, Lara looked back at him. 

“What?” She said still half out of it. 

“I asked where are you working?” 

“The Villa.” Frankie spoke up seeing how distracted Lara was. 

Bishop nodded his head. 

“Alright, yea you can stay for a few months. But don’t be hangin’ around here.” 

Lara smiled, now coming back from the distracted zone she was in and hugged her father. 

“Thank you.” She kept her gratitude simple. 

“Don’t make me regret this.” He said giving her a kiss on the forehead before heading over to Hank at the bar. 

Meanwhile, while Lara was having her conversation with Bishop and Frankie, the mystery man had caught a glimpse of Lara and was in just as much confusion and shock as the girl. 

“Ay man, who is that?” He leaned over and asked Coco. 

“That’s Hank’s kid, Francesca – Frankie. You fuckin’ know that, fool.” Coco said as he lit up his second cigarette of the hour. 

“Nah, not Frankie. The other chick, talkin’ to Bish.”

Hank now interrupted the conversation. “That’s Bishop’s kid. And if I were you I’d stay far away. For your own sake. Bishop doesn’t play when it comes to Lara, and I don’t either.” Hank stood up and walked over to the bar. 

As both Bishop and Hank were occupied at the bar, Lara turned to Frankie. 

“Who is that? The tall one.” 

“Who?” Frankie casually looked over her shoulder as she asked and then realized who Lara was referring to.

It was practically 2AM at this point as Hank and Lara sat awkwardly quiet in the van as they drove down the empty interstate. The MC van wasn’t new to her, she knew the vehicle and the man driving it well, but knowing how she left mixed with the situation that led her here made everything even more tense than imagined.

The silence was eating Hank alive so he decided to speak up. 

“Are you cold? Do you want me to turn down the air?” He asked as he went to fidget with the dials. Trying to just make the girl he looked at as a niece comfortable. 

“No, I’m ok.” She responded, hands sitting in her lap as she mindlessly played with her jewelry on her hands. 

Hank nodded and put both hands back on the wheel. A couple cars zoomed past them on the highway, but besides the occasional speeder, they were the only ones on the road. A sign that read “Oakland 5 miles” passed overhead and Lara wondered how much longer they would be driving. 

“Are you hungry or anything?” Hank spoke up after a few minutes again. He scrunched his face up after asking once he noticed Lara jump at the unexpected noise, now double guessing if that was an okay thing to ask. 

“What do you got?” Lara looked over at him curiously for the first time. She needed something to keep her mind occupied and sitting in silence was not helping.  

Hank leaned over and rummaged through the side compartment of the van. He took out a couple pieces of paper, folded up scrapyard forms, and gas receipts until he pulled out an unopened chocolate bar and a bag of peanuts. 

“The prospect always keeps junk hangin’ around.” The side smirk grew on his face as he handed them to her and shrugged.

“One man’s trash.” She said with a courteous look and opened the Hershey bar as Hank went and turned on the radio to ease the silent tension as they continued to drive.

The ride was only 10 more minutes but it felt like an eternity. If Lara was being honest, although not talking was torture for her brain, the thought of having to explain anything to Hank seemed more torturous. He was an amazing uncle– kind, thoughtful, but hard to talk to about the deep stuff, as his niece that is. She was sure when Bishop approached him on club business he had a whole different persona, I mean how else do you get to be the Sergeant at Arms of an MC?

Hank put the car in park which made Lara snap out of her thoughts and stare up at the tiny house they pulled up to. She took in the area as she climbed out of the van and made her way to the front door. Before either of them could knock the door was being opened and Francesca Loza stood there waving them in.

Lara looked around the house as Frankie and Hank whispered by the door, clearly talking about her. 

“Just look after her, you know?” Hank offered up to his daughter. 

Frankie nodded and looked at the girl who was clearly uncomfortable and decided she’d take her father’s advice. Which is why she then kicked him out. 

“Alright, go.” Frankie shooed her father out the door and he raised his hands up innocently as he walked out the door just as quickly as he entered. 

“You want some water?” Frankie asked as she walked past the girl to fill up a glass despite Lara’s lack of response. 

Lara awkwardly followed and grabbed the glass that Frankie put on the counter. 

“Alright, so we’re gonna do the quiet thing, that’s cool.” Frankie said when she realized Lara wasn’t going to speak. 

She escaped into the back hallway and Lara thought she was just going to stay back there which would leave her alone with her thoughts. But almost within seconds the girl was back in the kitchen with a bunch of folded clothes in her hand. Lara froze when she saw the clothes and then looked down at her own to see the blood all over her current outfit. A look of worry filled Lara’s face which Frankie clearly could read off of her immediately. 

“It’s not a big deal.” Frankie spoke so nonchalant you’d think they were talking about spilt milk. “You know who our dads are?” She shrugged and left the clothes on the counter as she opened the fridge looking for something to quickly put together. 

She took out some produce along with a container of meat and placed them on the counter before turning around to the island in her kitchen where Lara stood on the opposite side. 

“Do you eat meat? I have soy chorizo too, we don’t discriminate in this house.” She turned back around and grabbed the ingredients she stacked up and brought them onto the island. She paused for a minute and looked directly at Lara before speaking again.  “We just don’t tell Hank he’s eating a vegan based meal.” She smiled spreading everything out for Lara to get a look at. 

“I’m a carnivore.” Lara said her first words since entering the house and then immediately flinched at the thought of her statement. 

Frankie understood her thought process immediately, that was something great about her, she could read the room swimmingly, and all of her psychology classes made that skill even more useful. Turning around she rapidly put the beef away and replaced it with the soy chorizo. 

“Cool. Well this is a new brand so you can tell me if it passes for the real stuff cause then I can add it into Hank’s secret menu.” She smiled trying to move the conversation along as to not upset the girl and keep her calm. 

Lara laughed and nodded, grabbing the clothes but not sure where exactly to go.  

“Bathroom is down the hall to the right, my shower is broken right now otherwise I’d let you hop in, but the sink works and there’s some washcloths in the linen closet.” She pointed with the wooden spoon in her hand. 

Lara entered the bathroom and stared at herself for a couple moments. She wanted to cry but there was nothing left in her. No emotion, no tears, nothing. If anything this entire night felt like a fever dream. 

Grabbing one of the washcloths, she began to let the water run and wipe herself down from the blood and dirt currently stuck on her being. As the towel moved down her bruised arm, her mind flashed to Jesse grabbing her and slamming her against the wall. The shriek she let out when he had her pinned against the wall filled her mind like a song would when it would get stuck in your head. Her eyes shut tight and body leaned on the counter as her head dropped. Memories kept flooding her mind as she cleaned off the blood and it drained out into the sink. 

“You think you can just show up because you have nowhere to go? We broke up a month ago, Lara.” Jesse said, storming through the house. 

“I literally have nowhere else to go. I got kicked out of my old place. I have like no money because you took all of my savings and spent it on bullshit!” She said with an attitude as she chased behind him in the house.

 Lara thought this was what rock bottom looked like. Begging her shitty ex for a place to live. But looking back this moment might have been the least cringey of the day. 

“What a low life like you? No friends? Nowhere to go? Shocking.” He scoffed and pushed past her shoulder aggressively. 

Standing in the kitchen looking around, she realized there was no reason to be begging for anything from this man. He didn’t help her when they were together, he obviously wasn’t going to help her now. At this point she figured she’d try her luck at a shelter or try and get some money for a motel, you know, take things day by day. 

“Whatever I’m out of here” The attitude still dripping from her tone, rightfully so. Adding a nice eye roll and head shake as she walked by him, giving him the same shoulder check he just delivered to her. 

“You and that fucking attitude.” And with that statement his hand gripped the girl's arm practically cutting off her circulation and slammed her against the wall which caused her to shriek. 

The constraint he held on her was so tight that she could feel her skin bruising as the seconds passed. She felt her heart racing similar to when you’d get your blood pressure taken although if things kept up like this her vital signs would be non-existent. When she shrieked his hands moved to her mouth and then down to her neck restraining her from screaming anymore but also crushing any way for air to make it down to her lungs.

“I always told you that mouth was going to get you into trouble.”

She scrambled her hands around and came across something on the counter. The hesitation that consumed her was probably the last bit of innocence she had left in her. Lara knew what was in her hand was a butcher's knife and the damage it would do could be irreparable, but as she realized there wasn’t a single breath of air coming through her, she just went for it. Stabbing the knife into the man’s body and almost immediately he fell to the ground letting her go to slide down the wall. 

“You stupid bitch.” He spat as he lay on the ground. His next move was where he made the mistake that took his life. Taking the knife out, he bled out within seconds. Not able to say anything, just fight for air like Lara was moments ago. 

Lara sobbed. Not for the loss of his life but for the fact that she had caused someone's loss of life. 

Lara exited the bathroom with her change of clothes on. As she entered the kitchen she saw the plate of food on the island waiting for her and Frankie scrolling on her iPad as she sat on the counter. 

“Thanks.” Lara said as she dug into the food, not holding back, there was only so long a candy bar and bag of peanuts could hold someone over. 

Frankie smiled and let the girl eat in peace while she also ate a plate of food. Eventually the two began small talk, which turned into friendly talk about their past. They weren’t complete strangers, the two had known each other when they were younger teenagers. They were friends in fact, but once things started to go down hill with her family, Frankie was one of the people that Lara pushed away with ease. 

“So why are you in Oakland?” Lara asked as she leaned back in the bar height chair with her now empty plate in front of her. 

“Finishing up my last semesters of school before I come back down. I’m surprised my dad didn’t mention it on the way over. He’s counting down the days until I’m home.”  

“If it means anything, he didn’t really mention much on the ride. He hasn’t changed at all.” Lara smiled. 

“They never do.” Frankie said with deeper meaning behind her words but keeping the conversation going so the statement went by in passing.

“Must be nice to have him want you around. Bishop practically pushed me out the door when Aiden died.” 

The mention of Lara’s dead brother was said with no emotion and such ease, which was something that didn’t go unnoticed to Frankie. 

“Although they live a very similar life, there are differences, being the president of a MC versus a member, even an office patch.” Frankie explained. “I’m sure he did what he thought was right, but that probably didn’t feel good for you.” She validated the girl. 

“Just very accustomed to losing people, you know.” 

“This life, being the daughter of– whatever the fuck you want to call it, the MC, of an outlaw, it’s very… unique.” Frankie explained. 

“Unique is what you describe something from a thrift store, this life, is fucking traumatizing.” Lara bluntly said. 

“I’m used to being the only blunt person around.” Frankie laughed. 

“I guess you met your match.” Lara raised her eyebrows. 

“Match made in hell.” Frankie retorted and both girls laughed. 

The two of them did dishes and wiped the counters down as they talked and just bullshit the rest of the night away until both of them decided to retreat to the living room. Both of them sat on the couch and watched some late night cartoon that was on TV but neither of them were truly watching it, they were both in their own thoughts. Lara digesting the events that happened earlier while Frankie digested the best way to handle everything moving forward. 

“I’m sure they deserved it, you know.” Frankie said to break the silence, not expecting a reply.  “Not sure what happened but in most cases, it’s usually you or them. And you gotta put yourself first cause otherwise, no one else will.” Frankie added on. “You don’t have to talk about it, yet. But if you want to, I’m here.” Frankie paused before taking her eyes off the girl and back to the TV. 

The weeks went on pretty much the same. Frankie and Lara were settling into living on their own just fine. They spent nights out and about at bars and clubs and days nursing the hangover and going to work to make the money they used to make those nights out possible. This morning was no different from the others, Lara rolled out of bed and crawled to the shower. After doing the minimal amount of work to get ready she made her way to the kitchen following the smell of a fresh pot of coffee.  As Lara passed the living room, she glanced over at Frankie who was sitting on the couch with her sunglasses on and a steaming mug in her hand. 

“Glad to see you’re alive,” Lara snorted and grabbed the pot. 

“You’re the one who blacked out,” Frankie retorted as she casually sipped on the black coffee. 

“I’m going to the club, got a call about a copper pick up and wanna let Chucky know,” Lara poured the rest of the boiling liquid from the pot into the travel cup. The smell alone was bringing her slowly back to life. Frankie was a woman of many talents but making the perfect cup of coffee was for sure at the top of that list. 

“Mm.” Frankie hummed to acknowledge what her best friend had said and just settled deeper into the couch. 

Lara grabbed her bag and keys as she left the house, making sure to lock the door behind her because there was a 100% chance that Frankie was going to fall back asleep. 

______

Luckily, the clubhouse was relatively empty when she arrived. It was still morning on a Saturday so it made sense. Her eyes scanned over the bikes to see who had been there. She knew each member's bike, not just by the body style and paint jobs but by the little details that were so on brand for each personality. 

The long braided biker whip that was connected to Hank’s handlebars proved he was not to be fucked with. It looked nice from a far but when provoked, had a mean sting. That along with the batwing fairing cowl that matched the man’s broad shoulders, his bike looked like him. 

Next to it was Creeper’s bike. To the untrained eye, the bike could have been mistaken for anyones, but not someone who was around enough to see how much dedication and effort he put into things. He was always working on stuff, whether that be taking scrap from the yard and making something practical or useful again, installing cameras and security around the perimeter of the lot, or working on the mechanics of his bike. Lara had always seen him installing new parts, that while they might not have stood out, they made the bike faster, stronger, and honestly cooler. The shininess of the metal along the blacked out bike glistened in the sun and allowed the sparkle of the bike next to it to gleam even more than it originally did. 

And that bike? That bike was ‘The Breakout’. Bishop’s bike. Lara could pick that bike out of any lineup, even on a highway going 100mph, she’d be able to recognize it anywhere. Not just by looks but by sound also, it rumbled at a pitch that none of the others did. It was blacked out and the body pieces were painted an emerald metallic green that had little black details on it you could only see if you were lucky enough to stand close to it. That green. Lara was the one who picked it out for Bishop’s first bike years ago and he never changed it, even when he changed bikes. 

“Green,” Lara said without looking at her father and then nodded as she repeated the word again, “green.” 

“Green like money?” Bishop frowned and shot his head back not expecting that color choice from his daughter. 

The girl met his eyes for a moment before smirking, “green like envy.” 

Bishop’s face turned to a grin as he looked from the girl to the bike. His head began to nod as his hand lightly traced around the body of the bike, “green like envy,” he mumbled. 

To Lara, that green not only symbolized the envy of everyone who looked at it and wanted either the bike itself or to be like the person driving it, but it also symbolized other things about her father. She had later googled what green could mean and found things such as the military, eternal life, and luck. Which Lara found ironic, because in her googling she found that the South American symbolization of green was defined as death, and if that were true Bishop was going to need a lot of luck. 

Lara luckily was able to snag Chucky just as he was leaving the lot, letting him know about the copper bid and all the details of who he should bring and where it was. He gave her some paperwork and a note for Bishop that someone left for him in the mailbox. Lara didn’t think twice of it, he was a well-known and high in demand person to talk to in this town. 

As she stepped to the clubhouse, the sound of silence hit her, it was beautiful. Especially on a Saturday morning when she was as hungover as she was. Her eyes scanned the room to see Creeper standing at the bar, and the templo doors closed. 

“What, you weren’t asked to brunch with the boys?” Lara teased the private templo meeting going on as she skipped over to the bar and jumped on the high stool. 

Creeper chuckled, “nah, invite only event.”

“What a shame,” Lara smiled as she rested her elbows on the bar. 

Creeper kept fidgeting with whatever he was fixing or installing before moving to grab a beverage for the girl. 

“What can I get ya, lil mamas?” he held a beer up to ask if she wanted it, while he didn’t drink himself, he wouldn’t stop those around him from their normalities, and in the clubhouse drinking was a normality. 

“Beer at 10 in the morning Creep? Who do you think I am?” Lara inhaled as if she was appalled that the man would offer her alcohol this early. 

His face dropped for a minute, not because he was nervous, but because he was simply confused. There had been plenty of mornings where he saw the girl not just drunk but what he would always call “keeping the night alive”. 

“You ain’t gonna offer me a mimosa or anything?” Lara quickly jumped back at the man so he knew she was joking. “I mean just because the big boys are having brunch doesn’t mean we can’t,” her back was now against the bar chair as her shoulders shrugged.

“Now, if you expect me to pull a fuckin’ champagne bottle out from behind this bar, I know you really done lost it.”

Lara let out a breathy laugh at his comment. She had always enjoyed her short conversations with Creeper, he knew how to give back the attitude without being rude and that was something Lara enjoyed. 

“Give me the beer,” she leaned forward again, waving her hand at him to bring the cold brew in her direction. 

“You look like shit,” her father’s voice now filled the quiet ambiance of the clubhouse. 

The chair swivelled in his direction as she rested her right elbow on the bar with the beer loosely dangling from her fingertips, her left arm rested comfortably on the chair back. 

“And to think people tell me I look like you,” Lara’s head turned to the side as she made a grinning expression to mock the man. 

Bishop wasn’t laughing, in fact, he looked worn out which made the girl bite back anymore humorous comments. 

“What’s wrong?” her tone 180ed as it held sincerity in it. 

“Been a long night.” 

Typical. Short and sweet response. Lara nodded and went to press more but Bishop kept talking. 

“What brings you here so early on a Saturday?” Bishop stood against the corner of the bar, leaning against the wooden slab that had seen the best and worst of anyone who dared to drink off it. 

“I got a call from my copper connect on a bid going on in Campo, wanted to let Chucky know. Plus, haven’t seen you in a while so I figured I’d run my luck and catch you here.” 

“You didn’t think I’d be home?” Bishop asked less frustrated as the thought of his daughter coming to check on him. 

“I guess I know you better than you thought,” Lara shrugged. 

“I think the right wording is you know me better than I’d like you to,”  Bishop raised his eyebrows. 

“I’m heading downtown later today just to do some shopping, you need anything? I’ll bring it by the house,” Lara was jumping down from the bar, still with her hand on the half drunk beer. 

“I’m alright, I had the prospect wrap me up some of the barbecue shit from the party last night. It’ll last me a couple days,” Bishop waved the girl off. 

“Ah, so that’s where the young and impressionable were last night. We missed them at Tops.” 

“How can you possibly miss them when you’re out every other night with them?” Bishop chuckled. 

“Same as I miss this beer the minute the bottle leaves my lips,” Lara finished the drink and placed the empty on the table. 

“You sound like an alcoholic.”

“And you sound like a party pooper,” Lara kissed the man goodbye. 

“Just please keep your head on straight,” his tone was deliberate. 

Lara stopped in her walk and turned around to look her dad in the eyes, “Hey, my bills are paid. I work 6 days a week, I volunteer to help teach kids, and I stock your fridge up for you,” she pointed at him with the last words. 

“Touché,” he lifted his hands up. 

“Oh before I forget, Chucky gave me these to give you. It’s like bills and shit,” she was stepping back towards him with the pile of mail in her hand, extending it out to him. He looked down at her wrist to see Aiden’s name engraved on a bracelet she was wearing. “Soph made it for me,” her other hand raised up to move the piece of jewelry around so he could see it better. 

Bishop simply nodded and grabbed the letters from her hand. “Thanks for comin’ in and making sure shit with the yard stays straight.” 

Lara nodded back, disappointed they weren’t able to talk about Aiden, or really anything going on for that matter. 

_________

Lara strolled downtown picking up groceries and just enjoying the morning on the strip. Her mind was in a million places, and good ones at that. Aside from the distance Bishop was putting between them, life was good and as the sun beat down on her face she couldn’t help but smile. 

As she made her way towards Sophie’s shop her eyes looked over the couple of people that were walking by her, offering smiles and good morning pleasantries. 

“Buenos,” her lips curved at the other locals. 

“Buenos Dias, Lara.” The voice was piercing, and she recognized it immediately. At first she thought she was hearing things, but when their eyes connected hers darted away once she was able to confirm it wasn’t just in her head. She was scared and ready to run, which wasn’t like her. Lara went to walk away but the man grabbed her arm. 

“I thought we’d seen the last of you 5 years ago.” The man’s grip got tighter as his smile grew wider. 

Lara said nothing as she shot daggers at him. “Not sure if you heard but Jesse died,” he paused to read her face, but when she didn’t flinch one single muscle, he kept talking. “Not too long after you mysteriously disappeared from Lodi, actually,” his conniving, cocky voice hit her ears sending chills through her body. 

“I heard, sorry for your loss,” she looked down to see the Calaveras kutte sitting smug on his shoulders. In that moment, she tried to squirm her way out of his hold but had no luck. The action went unnoticed by the bystanders on the street, but luckily one person had been watching from their father’s shop across the street. 

“Let me go,” Lara’s tone mimicked her father’s almost perfectly. 

“Is that what Jesse said when you murdered him?”

His words were like venom, her stomach was in knots, and she wanted to throw up, the memories of that night five years ago flooded her brain, the blood, the smell of rust, that feeling of uncertainty was rushing her thoughts, but her face stayed neutral, another thing she learned from her father. 

“I said, let me the fuck go,” not bothering to answer his question, just keeping her grounded stance. 

“You know when we found my cousin in a pool of blood in his own home, we really thought it was the Sons. They were messy enough to leave that reaper pin behind. We believe that so much so that we started a fuckin’ 5 year war with them. Every Calaveras charter fell apart, due to loss of life, loss of funds,” he kissed his teeth, “shit, only ones left are about 10 of my guys in my charter.”

Lara’s eyes moved again to the kutte to see the office patch sitting brand new on his chest. It was so new she was surprised she hadn’t noticed the brightness of it before. Vice President. 

“Again, I’m sorry for your loss,” Lara squirmed again, this time her mind was going a mile a minute. Is that why her dad went to go up north to Charming? How much did they actually know? Did Bishop know any of this?

“You’re damn right, you’re sorry,” the spit from his statement hit her in the face causing her to flinch backwards and her nerves to back down and the anger to rise up. “You’re the one who fuckin’ killed him!” Although his voice was at a whisper she could hear the animosity in those words, the blame, and she could also sense his pain, and that was what she was going to focus on because that was the weakness that could help her out of this situation. 

As the words escaped his mouth, she let the saliva build up in her mouth and instantly shoot from her mouth and hit his face, spitting it directly in the middle of his face, “I said let me the fuck go.” 

Lara was now even more gripped up as the anger rose in the man as well. 

“Pretty sure the lady told you to let her go,” another voice joined them. 

Lara looked to the side to see Angel standing there nonchalantly with a toothpick in his mouth that rolled around as he played with it. 

“And who the fuck are you?” the guy frowned and did a double take when he saw the kutte Angel was wearing.

“Don’t matter who I am,” Angel said with a shrug now leaning against the garbage bin that was about three feet to the left of the two. “You should leave her alone,” he nodded and frowned his face sarcastically. 

“Or what you’re going to beat me up,” he squinted towards the patch, “El Secretario,” the man laughed as he caught a glimpse of the kutte resting on Angel’s body. 

Angel laughed and shook his head, not even giving a single thought to get up in the man's face because he knew he didn’t need to. 

“Nah, but she will,” the words left his mouth effortlessly. 

The comment made Lara look at Angel a little differently for a split second. He wasn’t being a complete jerk, or trying to do the ‘hero - get the girl’ type of thing. He was genuinely concerned for the girl and letting her keep control of the situation. 

Lara yanked her arm free and let another drop of drool exit her mouth next to the man’s shoe. “Let’s go,” Lara said looking at Angel and nodded her head for them to leave. 

“Don’t do that,” the man clutched her up again before she had the chance to walk away and with that movement she spun her arm out of his grip and pushed him away.

Angel was now standing up ready to jump in. 

“The last person who put their hands on me, you found dead laying in their blood, and let me tell you for some badass bikers,” her eyes moved up and down with disgust at the man, “you’re a bunch of pussies.” 

With that, she walked by Angel, standing behind him waiting for him to take lead. 

It took a lot for Angel not to beat the man up, who he was now realizing was just a kid, probably 19-20 years old. The kid was laughing on the ground from the push Lara gave him but Angel figured the best option was to just get Lara anywhere but here as the murmurs and whispers filled the street. 

“Come on, let's go.” Angel guided the girl across the street. She felt like melting into him which was not like her, she felt helpless, dependent, a burden, along with a lot of other stressful emotions. Everything she was feeling brought her back to who she was years ago and she hated every moment of it. 

They stepped into the butcher shop and Angel gave the girl her space. Luckily it had just been the two of them in there, Angel’s father had gone into the cooler in the back which was practically sound proof. 

“You aight?” The seat he grabbed screeched as he flipped it around closer and motioned for her to sit while he opened the refrigerator and handed her a cold soda. 

He retreated to lean on the window waiting for her response.

“Honestly?” she looked up at him with tears forming in her eyes, “no.” Her head shook from left to right as she brought the soda up to her forehead to cool her down. The adrenaline was now starting to fade and the fear and anxiety was becoming more noticeable. 

“That’s ok,” Angel just nodded, not knowing how to handle the situation. 

“You don’t need to deal with this,” she shook her head and stood up to walk out the door but Angel also stood to stop her. 

As he approached her, even in the most innocent of ways, the girl flinched back almost like she had burned herself on something hot. 

He lifted his hands up immediately and apologized. 

“Sorry,” he nervously stepped back, “just... you’re good, Lara,” he said with a soft tone, “you don’t gotta put up an act. I’m not gonna judge you.”

“Right.” She said sarcastically letting her normal self come back for a little. 

Angel laughed. “Look, I know I’m a dick but I’m not that much of a dick. This seems like serious shit. I can call Bishop, get him down here–”

“No!” her voice was earsplitting and caused Angel to step back and scrunch his face up. “You cannot tell Bishop, you gotta let me bring it up…” her voice cracked, “It’s family shit.” 

“The dude was wearing a VP kutte, Lara, seems like it’s club shit,” Angel said back to her. In that moment she realized this was the most she talked to the man in years. 

“Didn’t you see the rocker? It’s the Calaveras, they aren’t shit, just let me fuckin’ handle it,” Lara was now moving to leave the shop. 

“If I trust you on this, you can’t burn me.” Angel said as Lara’s hands were about to push open the door. His eyes looked down on her as they both stood next to each other by the entrance of the shop. 

“Just like I trusted you and you burned me?” The words left Lara’s mouth before she could even think them through. 

Angel’s face dropped, it could've been unnoticeable if she blinked, but the fall of his expression was enough to make Lara speak again. 

A knock at the door woke the two girls up on the couch along with the rays of sun shining in through the large window. Frankie was up and at the door in seconds, rising on her tiptoes to peek through the peep hole to see who was there. 

She unlatched the door and turned the doorknob to let the guests in. Bishop and Hank walked through the entryway, Bishop giving the girl a quick hug as he walked in.

“Thank you,” he took a moment as he held the girl out at arms length. 

“Yea, yea.” The girl smiled and pushed him away as she went to greet her own father. 

“How you holdin’ up?” Bishop asked as he approached Lara who was still on the couch. 

“Good. Was actually able to sleep a little.” 

“We should get you checked out.” Bishop said, looking at the girl’s arms and legs. Seeing the set of old black and blue bruises mixed with the yellow-green ones as his eye moved to her neck where the red was forming from the most recent incident. 

“Can we just go home?” The girl asked, standing up off the couch, folding the blanket and setting it on the top cushion. 

The word ‘home’ hit Bishop like a truck. He hadn’t heard anyone refer to his house as a home in years and hearing it come from his daughter felt like the breath of fresh air he needed. 

“Yea, let’s go home.” He repeated to her nodding towards the front door. 

“Where are your clothes from last night?” Bishop asked out loud before following her footsteps, remembering he still had to tie up the last loose strings from the night before. 

Lara looked at Frankie who was still near the entryway of her place standing next to Hank. 

“Burned. Threw ‘em in the fireplace last night. Ain’t my first rodeo.” She grinned hoping the comedic tone would ease the tension of the situation.

Lara took a minute and smiled at the girl as she walked over to her. 

“Thanks.” She took a deep breath followed by a chuckle. “That feels like such an underwhelming use of the gratitude I feel.” Lara shook her head and stared at the ground. But it was the truth, she had been dropped off at Frankie’s doorstep in the crazy hours of night and she just took her in. 

“Gratitude’s mine. Helped me perfect a new meal.” She winked at the girl so Hank couldn’t see.

“New meal, huh?” Hank looked over at his daughter with his eyebrows raised and a smile to match. 

The group of them laughed. The feeling was warm and not something she expected to feel so soon after the night prior or even at all. Her life was issue after issue so the connection of bonding and laughing was foreign. 

Lara said her goodbyes before she made her way out the door and was soon followed by Bishop who walked onto the front porch to see his daughter frozen on the driveway staring at the 800 pound green machinery that practically mocked her in it’s standing position. Lara knew it was the only way she’d be getting home, but it didn’t stop the negative flow of thoughts from running in and out of her brain a mile a minute. It had been a while, to say the least, since she was on a Harley. She never got on Jesse’s bike. Ever. Since her brother’s accident, driving itself had been a task, let alone bringing herself to be so vulnerable and open on the road like you were on a bike.

“It doesn’t have eyes so the bike will win by default,” Bishop said as he walked past the girl to grab the extra helmet he had ready for her. 

After taking a deep breath she stepped towards the bike she was having a stare off with. Bishop handed her the helmet and she went to grab it but Bishop’s hand was still gripping it. Her head snapped up to look at her father’s eyes. 

“You know I wouldn’t let anything happen to you right?”

“8 hours is a long drive.” She retorted back without breaking eye contact. 

A smirk filled Bishop’s face as he let go of the helmet and swung his leg over the machine.

“6.” 

The grin on his face was filled with humor knowing the girl was going to freak out since he was insinuating speeding his way home.

“Da-“ Lara’s voice cut through his chuckle but he quickly cut her off. 

“I’m kidding,” His grin turned to a genuine smile as he twisted his body and tapped the space behind him. “Let’s get you home.”

____________

Lara took a step into Bishop’s house. From the outside it could pass for livable, stone veneer on the bottom and a forrest green side panelling that filled the top half. It was two stories, and at a quick glance it looked great. But then your eye moved to the landscaping, the trees grew long to the point they were sagging down covering the entire front walkway, weeds grew tall in the front yard, the sidewalk had broken stones and don’t get Lara started on that damn driveway. It was filled with junk, a couple old cars and trucks, some stuff from the scrapyard Bishop swore he’d bring home and fix up for his own use, mixed with a handful of things Antonia was getting rid of when she moved out of their previous home that Bishop just couldn’t bring himself to let go. The inside was even more of a disaster, clothes everywhere, empty bottles strewn throughout, the couch looked like it had been slept on very frequently. The only clean room was the kitchen, which probably meant he wasn’t cooking and barely eating. 

“Didn’t think I’d be having company,” Bishop joked and paced down to one of the closets to pull out the one towel that hadn’t looked like it had been used. 

“Figured you might want to shower.” Bishop shrugged as he handed the girl the towel as she took in the state of everything. “You remember where it is right?” 

“Uhm, on the left?” The girl pointed down the hall double checking if her memory was serving her correctly. She had only been in her fathers house a handful of times. He moved here once Antonia Pena and him separated, which was pretty much right after Aiden had passed. 

“Yea, you can use whatever’s in there,” He waved his hand nonchalantly. “Later today we can go to the grocery store and get you some things.” 

“Cool.” She kept her response simple and made her way to the bathroom.

To her surprise the bathroom was also not as disastrous as the rest of the house, the only complaint she could make was that every surface was covered in dust. Another sign that Bishop hadn’t been staying here often and she assumed he spent as much time at the clubhouse as he did when she left. She opened the shower door and turned the handle allowing her a few minutes to undress and let the water get steaming hot. 

Lara stepped into the hot water, letting it hit her body as she hoped it wouldn’t just wash off the leftover blood but the shame and guilt she found eating her alive. For a moment she stood motionless in the shower as the remaining stains washed away, but as the water cleaned her off, it left her feeling oddly vulnerable. Suddenly a wave of emotion hit her and she began sobbing. Tears mixing with shower water as they fell to the drain. Her body knelt to the bottom of the tub and she just silently wailed. It wasn’t even because she wanted to hide the sounds of cries it was just so much she was feeling. The water pounded on her back as every cry escaped her mouth. 

The thoughts ruminating in her head. The 5 W’s followed by the big H. 

Who was she? 

What did she do? 

When would she feel okay again? 

Where the fuck was she going to go? 

Why did she always find herself in situations like this? 

And How. How was she going to move on from this? 

Those were followed by more intricate thoughts, with more detail and essentially she was burying herself with guilt, but not only for what she had done but the fact she couldn’t even recognize herself anymore. Letting Jesse put his hands on her, letting him take advantage of her time and time again. Then her thoughts would snap back to last night. The blood. Her scream. But then what Frankie said came to her mind. It’s usually you or them. 

As she exited the bathroom she saw that Bishop had left the spare bedroom open and her backpack was on the bed. The last of her personal belongings were in that bag, only a couple outfits, some homemade jewelry along with her jewelry kit that she made things from, her glasses, and finally her wallet that only held her ID and a couple $20 bills. 

After getting ready she rejoined Bishop who was in the kitchen trying to scrounge up food. So far, he had a box of cereal and stale pop tarts on the table. 

“Not much but figured you could eat what you wanted and we’d head out to stock things up.” 

“I’m not that hungry, if you want we can go now?” She shrugged, adjusting her glasses on her face. “But we’re taking the truck.” She grabbed a pop tart and walked to the front door. 

____________

The Ford truck Bishop owned was pulling into the small market that took up a good chunk of the main street block. 

Lara looked around at the familiar scene that looked exactly how she left it years prior. She took in the familiarity of it all before Bishop’s voice broke through.

“Take a cart and fill that shit up with whatever you want, I’m gonna go to the pharmacy and just pick up some stuff.” 

Lara knew he was getting things to take care of the bruises that she currently had covered up on her. Truthfully, there was nothing anyone could do but let them fade away but she wasn’t going to stop Bishop from falling back into the caretaker role. She had already argued her way out of going to an urgent care or hospital so she’d let him have this. 

He handed her a stack of bills before they both went in different directions to accomplish their tasks. Shopping didn’t take Lara long, she grabbed snacking foods, some produce, toiletries, along with the bare necessities of clothing, socks, t shirts, underwear, pretty much whatever clothes you could find in a market like this, so needless to say she she wasn’t going to be entering a fashion show any time soon. She was in and out within the half hour and began loading the bed of the truck with the bags when Bishop reappeared.

“I gotta head down to the clubhouse, do you–“ Bishop was hesitant to suggest bringing the girl down to the scrapyard with him. He wanted to keep her as far away from what she experienced the night before and just that life as a whole. Lara picked up on it and figured she’d save the man from trying to express his thoughts. 

“Does Sophie still own the jewelry shop?” She stood up on the bed of the truck to get a look down the Main Street block at where the store she was referring to was. 

“Yup. Nothing’s changed. She just might have a new cat in that window.” Bishop huffed. 

“Cool, I’m gonna head there then, I’ll walk home after.”

“You sure?” 

“Yea, I’ll see you tonight.” She made her way down off the truck and started to descend down the block putting her hands in her back pocket. She frowned for a minute and turned around. 

 “Thanks, by the way.” She removed her one hand and pointed to the groceries and then waved her hand in a circle. “For everything.” 

Bishop simply nodded and waved with his hand goodbye before getting into the truck and leaving for the clubhouse. 

____________

The ding of the bell on the door filled the store as Lara entered the shop she so frequently visited as a kid. The person behind the counter looked up and a gasp exited her mouth. Almost instantly Lara was engulfed in a hug. 

“How are you?!” The woman asked as she held Lara close to her. 

Lara laughed and squeezed her in return. “How are YOU?” She flipped the question back at her. 

As the woman pulled away she grabbed Lara’s shoulders and got a good look at her and just nodded, having an idea of what she was going through, being able to see past the long sleeve shirt and hair covering up the marks of the past. 

“Come,” the woman nodded for Lara to follow. As she did, her eyes travelled around the jewelry shop, taking in the nuances of the shop she loved so much. The wooden tables that altered in height displaying the funky bright colored necklaces and rings along with the lanterns mounted to the ceiling that dangled and twirled in circles as the breeze of the air conditioning hit them. It looked so familiar but also so different.

“Soph, it looks amazing,” Lara said as she looked at the ceiling above the register that had light fixtures with custom jeweled chains, and at the rest of the unique handmade accessories. 

“A little goes a long way in my book, I was able to save up enough to buy the place out, make it my own.” 

“My dream.” Lara said under her breath. 

“You’ll get there one day. Sell online for now, there’s a big crowd there, get a base clientele,” Sophie was giving advice before she lifted her hands. “Sorry,” she closed her eyes. “Habit. Help the youth you know?” 

“And this youth appreciates it.” 

“What happened?” The girl asked not to waste any more time. 

“What do you mean?” 

“That avoidance act might work on your father, but I push.” Sophie smiled sarcastically as she pointed to her chest. 

“Mistakes.” Lara shook her head. “Would you let me say I don’t really want to talk about it? Just know I’m okay now.” 

Sophie lifted her shirt showing her stomach. “My mistake,” she showed the large scar on her abdomen before changing the topic. 

The women chatted for a bit before an overflow of customers came in. Lara said her goodbyes and decided to walk down the block taking in the town that brought back so many different memories. Some good. Some bad. 

The neon sign down the block flickered, catching her attention. The sun was just about to be setting and she figured why not have a drink. One drink obviously turned into a couple. The trauma she had buried was rising up and the liquor was doing a good job of pushing it down. Lara finished the glass and as it clinked against the table a voice from behind her startled her. 

“Fuck that guy.” 

She turned around to see an extremely tall man in a button up plaid shirt make his way to sit at the bar. Lara’s first thought? Ugh. Second thought? Well? Third thought? Let’s see. 

“And what guy would that be?” Lara went along with him, turning just her head to look over and up at him as he stood a few feet from her. 

“Whoever's got you drinking like that.” His eyebrows raised as he nodded towards the empty glasses. He proceeded to make himself comfortable in the seat two stools over from her, creating a decent sized space between them before ordering. 

“Hey Top, two of whatever’s she’s having.” 

The bartender came and brought them both the tequila drinks. 

“Seems like now you got me drinking like that,” she lifted the new refilled glass at him and offered him a cheers.

“And here’s to joining you,” he added as he took a sip. 

“So I guess a ‘Fuck that girl’ is in order,” Lara added with a smile as she took her sip. 

The mystery man laughed and nodded his head, “You from around here?”

“Please don’t.” Lara shook her head. The man looked at her with his eyebrows raised.

“Sorry,” she lifted her hands in an apology. “I just, the whole picking someone up in a bar thing, the small talk, how do you not cringe?” She laughed looking at him. 

“So what’s on the ‘ok conversation’ list?” he asked with a devilish smile. Nothing good could come out of that smile. 

“Nothing,” she gave the same devilish grin back and finished the drink in one last chug which allowed the man to look at her pretty impressed. 

Lara got up and adjusted herself, she knew the words out of her mouth next would be a mistake. But, truthfully, she didn’t care. She’d let the toxic mentality run through her veins one more time. Ironically, that’s what she had said each time she got herself into trouble. But her excuse came down to this. It’s difficult when things get like this, doing yourself right when you’re already so deep into wrong, when the pain becomes practically numb while simultaneously you can feel it practically spilling out of you. So even though she knew she shouldn’t, she did. And she did it with confidence.

“Count to 20 and meet me in the bathroom.”

Coco huffed as he placed one of the cardboard boxes down in the furthest bedroom down the hall. 

“The fuck you got in there? Rocks?” Coco’s face contorted as he stretched out his back and complained about the work he was doing. 

“Actually,” Lara looked delighted as she went over to him and opened the box. The sunlight from the bare window shined in and created a rainbow of reflections on different areas of the room. “Weren’t far off, they’re crystals for rings.”

Lara closed the box as Coco stood there in a little bit of shock. 

“Girls and their weird shit, man,” he mumbled as he exited the room to head back to the van and unpack whatever was left. 

He passed by EZ on his way out who was carrying a large pastel purple bean bag chair in his arms. 

“Purple’s really your color, prospect,” Lara joked as she followed Coco down the hall, “really brings out the green stitching on your kutte.” Her eyebrows moved up and down as she joked with him. 

“I’ll be sure to add some more purple to my wardrobe, but until then, where do you want this?” 

“Don’t ask me, that’s your girl’s.” Lara pointed to the first bedroom on her right that belonged to Frankie as she exited the hallway leading to the living room. 

EZ flashed that infamous grin of his as he shook his head and entered into the room to place down the large fluff and move onto whatever was next as well. 

Lara made her way outside, still behind Coco but they parted ways when she jogged over to her car to unpack whatever last few things were laying around in there. The trunk flew open and her hand rested on the black bumper sticker that read “cute but psycho” as she held the trunk up and grabbed the last few bags that held odds and ends of her life from Bishop’s. Her mouth curled into a smile as she picked up the frame that held a photo of her and Bishop when she was turning 5 years old. It was one of the few memories she had in her head of when her mother was still alive. If she thought about it hard enough, she could still remember what the birthday cake tasted like. Vanilla cake with strawberry jelly filling and sprinkles melted within the fluffed curves of the sponged loaf. One thing that always bothered her was that she could never remember her mothers voice, as hard as she tried, it was like it was erased from her memory, but her laugh. Her mothers laugh. That was something embedded into her mind. She remembered hundreds of little moments where Bishop would make the woman laugh and it made her heart warm. 

Her hand slammed the trunk closed and the figure that was standing hidden behind it was now in full view. Their presence caused Lara to jump for a moment but then a chuckle escaped from her mouth. 

“Trying to kill me?” She placed the odds and ends on the car as she turned towards her father. 

“I did tell you this would happen over someone’s dead body.” Bishop looked up at the house they were moving into.

“If my memory serves me right, I believe you said over your dead body.” Lara began to banter with her old man. 

“Keep pushing and I’ll bring your whole moving crew down with me.” He countered her statement with seriousness even though she knew he meant none of it. 

“Honestly the threat might make ‘em move faster,” a huff escaped her mouth as she glanced over to Coco mocking EZ with one of Frankie’s stuffed animals. 

“Can you fuckin’ not,” Frankie’s voice echoed from the porch as she stared down at the two grown men, one of them making high pitch noises pretending to be the bear in his hand. 

“My bad!” Coco called out and threw the animal into one of the handful of boxes left and trudged up the stairs with his head down like he was a child again and had just been reprimanded by a teacher. 

“I see you packed things that don’t belong to you.” Bishop had grabbed the picture frame and now was looking closely at it.

“Come on, grumpy. Make yourself useful and grab a box. You can help me find a place for my stolen memento inside.” She laughed picking up the stuff she placed on the car. 

“Make myself useful,” Bishop scoffed. “Like I haven’t been here all morning helping you,” he grabbed the box that was at her feet and waited for her to finish throwing everything into her bin. 

The house was pretty much unpacked, the guys were on unloading duty while Frankie and Lara unpacked and set things up the way they wanted. This was the last of a few days of them moving so besides the handful of boxes left, the big things were all set up, appliances, furniture, and tv. 

After Bishop and Lara placed the boxes down, she grabbed a couple frames and made her way right outside her doorway. 

“What do you think about both of these right here?” Her hands placed the frames on top of eachother a couple inches apart. The photo she was looking at outside along with the photo Bishop always carried on his person of his two kids. He sighed as he looked at them. 

“It’s a good spot.” He retreated back to the room and returned with a nail and hammer from the tool box that currently resided in her room. Quickly, he replaced himself where Lara was standing and hung the pictures up quickly and took a step back to get a look at them. A little smile formed on his face which Lara couldn’t resist making a comment. 

“Is that Bishop Losa with a smile on his face?” she shouldered her father as she stood next to him. 

“Those were some damn good memories,” the grin was still on his face. 

“You bet they were. You smashed my face into that cake probably 30 seconds after that photo was taken.” 

They both had the same familial smile on their face as they thought back to the days those pictures were taken. Standing side by side enjoying the moment in time where despite their disagreements, their problems with each other, or their issues as individuals they could remember they were family. 

The moment didn’t last long as more voices filled the house, causing both of the Losa’s to make their way towards the living room and kitchen. 

“I’m gonna have to come here with some shit from Home Depot and fix these light fixtures for you, get the right heighted person in here and that thing is going to fall right down.” Bishop pointed to the overhead light that was in pretty rough condition. 

“You know I was kidding about you fixing shit, right?” Lara said over her shoulder as she made her way to the kitchen counter and leaned forward against it just as Hank trudged over and placed a bin full of pots and pans on the kitchen island. His eyes wandered around now that he was done bringing in things. 

“It’s a nice place.” 

“Yea, couple houses down from my Pops’ place too.” EZ said as he treaded up the entryway stairs to the open kitchen and living room area with his final box in his hands. 

Hank glared at him for a moment, it had gotten out that Frankie and Ez were a thing when Creeper had walked in on them pretty close and comfy in the club house bathroom. He would have gladly covered for the two of them, Bishop and Hank had been right there to hear Creeper’s reaction which went a little like. “Woah hooo hooo” followed by a laugh and a “get em prospect.” The girls were 2 for 0 that night with hiding shit from their fathers. 

“Sorry, Hank.” EZ said without really knowing what he was apologizing for, but knowing it just felt right. 

“He’s a good kid, Uncle Hank.” Lara reached her hand out to lightly swat the man. “Plus I’m here, I’ll keep an eye out on them,” she smiled up at him. 

“Yea that’s what I’m worried about,” he laughed. 

Before she could respond, an arm was thrown around her shoulder and she looked up to see Bishop holding her and taking his turn to look around the home.

“Are you going to cry?” she laughed and leaned into her fathers embrace. 

“And what if I was?” he grunted at her and just soaked in the moment with his daughter. “It’ll be nice to have you close,” he said the words in a low whisper so only Lara could hear him. She didn’t make a big deal out of it, even though the words sent a feeling of comfort through her body, all she did was squeeze him a little tighter and nodded. 

“Yea it will.” 

___________________

The small group of them relaxed in the living room with a couple of beers for the rest of the afternoon.  

Lara got up to go get another beer and get a light for the joint she wanted to smoke outside on the front porch. Managing to get Frankie’s attention without alerting the rest of the group, her best friend got up and they snuck out on the porch to have a moment together. 

“Figured we’d have a celebration of our own” Lara lit up the joint and passed it to Frankie to smoke first as they sat on the wicker furniture the landlord kept for the tenants on the decent sized deck. 

“My favorite kind of celebration.” The girl smiled and inhaled the marijuana smoke. 

“You know what else is my favorite celebration?” Lara took her turn in the small rotation. 

“Hm?” 

“Top’s Bar. Tonight.” Lara held her hand out to pass the celebratory blunt. 

“You know, I think this living together thing is going to work out very well for us.” Frankie agreed with Lara’s idea for a night out. 

“We should invite the guys too, buy them both a round for helping out since we ain’t got shit else to pay em.” 

The two leaned back in silence and sipped their beers and passed the weed back and forth to each other for a while just soaking in the moment. 

“You two together makes me nervous” Bishop joined the two girls on the porch. 

They laughed at his comment and Frankie handed him the joint. Bishop shook his head in decline which caused Lara to boo out loud. 

“Relax. You two owe me a raincheck on that. But I got a few hours of a ride ahead of me right now.” Bishop’s statement was lacking detail. 

“You’re headed up to SAMCRO already?” Coco said as he joined the girls outside to light his cigarette but replacing it with the weed Lara passed him. 

Lara was staring at her father hoping for more detail, whenever club stuff would be brought up in front of her she’d get gut feelings on whether or not it was something worth pushing for more answers, most of the time she let it go, it had to do with Galindo or the drug runs, but sometimes, she felt uneasy when she overheard things. The thoughts of everything that could go wrong would fill her brain and the spiral would begin. 

“I’ll be back tonight, not like I’ll have anyone at home waitin’ up for me.” He joked to deflect the conversation just as quickly as it got brought up and before anyone could follow up with more he was saying his goodbyes and within the next minute the bike was fading from a roar to a hum as he got further and further away. 

____________

Lara exited the cab and gave the driver a $20 to cover fare and tip. Her arm linked to Frankies as the two of them strutted towards the entrance of the bar they both frequented more often then they’d like to admit. Both of them dressed up but still casual for the night, not expecting anything but a laid back drunken night to celebrate their accomplishment together. 

“Hey Top, can we get two Tequila’s on the rocks with a splash of orange juice?” Frankie leaned over the bar and ordered from the bartender that they knew by name. 

“Coco and EZ coming?” Lara was taking a sip from the drink that just was placed in front of her and then quickly turned to the bartender before they left. “Can we also get two lemon drop shots, Top?” Her eyebrows raised up as she remembered. The key to drinking was to stagger throughout the night but before the guys got here she wanted to have a mini toast with just her best friend. 

“Yea, Coco said they’d head over after templo.” 

“Templo? Bish is back already?’ Lara fornwed not expecting that to be what Frankie said. 

“Feeling left out of Bishop’s life already?” She joked with the girl. 

“No, I just don’t get why I’m not kept in the loop.” 

“You’ll be kept an arm’s length away until the day you got one of those leather vests across your chest.” 

“No, you’re kept an arm’s length away. I’m kept in the dark.” Lara corrected the girl. 

“I know what you know, but you’re more eager to dive deep into the details of everything, I’m comfortable with knowing as little as possible. Less to analyze.” Frankie explained to the girl who nodded as she got what Frankie was saying, not that it made it any easier on her. 

The shots arrived in a timely manner and the conversation changed to a quick toast which is what got the night started.  

“Here’s to many more drunken nights where we will have to crawl up the porch stairs into our new place.” Frankie said as she held up the shot glass. 

“I’ll drink to that.” 

____________

The girls were well into drinking their way through the bar when a few of the guys arrived. Coco and EZ made their way over to the bar where Frankie and Lara were while some of the other guys that tagged along kept to their own devices in the bar. 

“You leave any drinks for the rest of us?” EZ laughed as he picked up one of the empty glasses that was decorating the bar amongst many others strewn across the surface. 

“TOP!” Frankie yelled as she leaned over the bar. “Do you have any more alcohol?” Her voice slurred but her pitch was smooth and her tone was earnest. 

“It’s a bar, Franks, yea I do.” The bartender shook their head as they wiped a glass clean. 

Frankie shot a look back to EZ who lifted his hands up with a grin. “Even though it was a joke, I stand corrected.” 

The night went on and the group of them chatted, drank, danced, laughed, pretty much every stage of a night out you could think of. 

Lara was well on her way of being too drunk to make reliable decisions, but she’d argue she wasn’t generally one to make those types of choices sober either. 

“I think I’m going to get Bishop a dog!!!” Lara screamed over the music to Coco and EZ while Frankie had stepped away to the bathroom. 

“You’re fuckin’ crazy.” Coco laughed as he blew the cigarette smoke out of his mouth. 

EZ smiled as he sipped his beer, he was enjoying the night out. He was still a prospect but hanging out with people who knew what the life was but also were still a little removed from it was comforting to him. He felt accepted. 

“I’m serious. It’s like– companionship…” Lara trailed off for a minute breaking eye contact with the men as she gathered her thoughts by taking a sip of the beer in her hand. Just as the sip was finished, her eyes went wide. “LOYALTY! You know?!” She got overly excited that her brain had processed what she wanted to get across. 

“What, the club ain’t enough companionship ‘n loyalty for him?” Coco laughed again, while he was on his way to being pretty buzzed he was nowhere near the level of impaired as Lara. 

“The day one of you cuddle with Bishop at the templo table is the day you can equally compare the club to a house pet.” Lara rolled her eyes and turned to EZ. 

“What’s your opinion, prospect?” 

“My opinion is that if you get Bishop a dog, I’m the one that’s going to be picking up after it.” 

Lara frowned and nodded her head from side to side in fake contemplation as she leaned on Coco’s shoulder. 

“Yea, I’m okay with that.” The both of them broke out into laughter. 

“Okay with what?” Frankie’s voice joined them again and Lara turned to her. 

“We’re getting Bishop a dog!!” 

“Cut her off.” Frankie said seriously before a smile grew on her face as she stepped towards EZ and found herself cuddling into his side. 

“Whatever. You guys suck. I’m going to the bathroom.” 

And with that she was making her way to the back of the bar where the storage closet and single bathroom resided. The one person stall was not typical for a bar, but Lara was thankful because it gave her the privacy to pull herself together. She took a couple minutes to adjust her outfit after exiting the stall. Splashing water on her face and just staring at herself in the mirror for a few moments. It was one of those times where she was so drunk she was trying to convince herself she wasn’t. Quickly she pulled her phone out to check her notifications and saw nothing that required immediate attention, just some instagram replies from her drunken story posts. Not quite ready to exit the bathroom yet and reemerge into the crowd of people, her lipgloss was now out and in hand ready to be reapplied. Luck was on her side because just before the applicator hit her lip there was a knock at the door that startled her.

“Be out in two seconds.” Her voice was still a little stammery from the drinks. Taking mental note of that, she’d make sure to drink one glass of water before drinking anything else with an alcoholic percentage in it. The gloss was reapplied in seconds and she was on her way. 

Her hand moved to the lock of the door and she swung it open with force but froze when she saw who was in front of her. 

Angel. 

His arm was resting on the doorframe, keeping his body standing tall, his head hanging down in front of him, clearly getting impatient by having to wait 1 minute for the bathroom to be unoccupied. The sound of the door opening made him jerk his head up, the neutral expression leaving his face for the look of unbelief and like someone was playing a sick joke on him. 

Lara read the room fast, it helped that seeing him not only sparked the emotion and anger within her, but it sobered her up a little. Who was she kidding, that moment sobered her up a lot, but not enough to hold back on the sass. 

“Trying to relive past regrets, Reyes?” She huffed as she walked by him. The memories of the night they shared in that exact bathroom filling her head followed by the absolutely shitty way he handled it the next day. Just as Angel was about to say something, Lara put her hand up. 

“Uh-uh,” she cut him off before a single syllable could leave his mouth. “Don’t talk to me.” She pushed by him and stomped to the bar. 

“Damn, you good?” Coco asked as he saw the girl make her way to the bar with purpose in her step and determination in her eyes.

“Two shots of tequila, Top.” 

Lara ignored Coco and waited for her order. The inebriated sense was fleeing her body and was being replaced with emotion she wasn’t prepared for and she needed to push it back down. 

After downing the shots like they weren’t even there in the first place, she turned to Coco and nodded and then made her way to the dance floor with a beer in hand. 

“You might wanna check on your girl,” Coco said as he spoke to Frankie as he nodded at the dance floor where Lara was now beginning to move in the center of the crowd. 

“Check on her? I think you mean join her.” Frankie grinned and joined her friend. 

The two girls moved around the dance floor together as each song came and went. Their hips swayed to the beat, both of them dancing like it was their last night on Earth and with the amount of alcohol they consumed that night it very well could have been. The sweat dripped down their skin as their bodies rolled in slow motion starting from their shoulders down to their abdomen and ending out at their hips in sync to the beat. The girls twirled around after that, connected by their hands in the air along with the rhythm. The lights covered some of their movements as they flashed but it didn’t stop either of them from showing off their moves. It didn’t go unnoticed either. People had their eyes on them. 

“Why didn’t you tell me Lara was gonna be here?” Angel said to his little brother as he strutted towards the bar. He spoke with a louder tone to be heard over the music, but not loud enough that anyone past EZ could hear him. 

EZ was taken aback for a moment, he hadn’t talked to his brother in a while, after the switching sponsors and shit they went through as a family recently, EZ didn’t realize days had gone by without them really having a conversation. 

EZ frowned at his older brother before wiping the expression and answering him, figuring he’d just go along with it. 

“Didn’t know you liked to take attendance to come have a drink.” 

“Man, shut up.” Angel shook his head and turned to Top to get a drink. “Shit just gets mad annoying when she’s around.” 

“I wonder why that is.” EZ teased his brother with a grin. 

The two of them fell back into their normal badgering routine. At the end of the day they were blood. There’d always be bumps in the road, but just as that fact would always be true, so would the one where they’d always have eachothers back. No matter what. 

Angel paused to glare at his brother but let it go to grab his beer and turn around to lean his back against the bar. 

“How’s lover’s paradise.” Angel decided he’d tease his brother right back, but he was genuinely curious. 

“Jealous?” EZ laughed. 

Angel huffed a chuckle out of his mouth before replacing the missing breath with a sip of beer.

The brothers were masters at getting under each other's skin, EZ always having a smart aleck response while Angel was almost always ready to argue with him. The two of them kept quiet for a couple moments, nodding their heads to the music, enjoying their drinks while everyone else in the bar kept moving along doing their own thing. EZ let his eyes scan around the building, taking in the scene around him while Angel was focused on one specific person in the room, someone who was practically always on his mind whether he liked to admit it or not. 

Watching Lara move not only brought back memories but it made him feel a type of way. At first it was neutral, but that quickly changed when he saw a man make his way through the crowd to dance behind her, pushing his body flush against hers. What really pushed him over was the fact that she didn’t flinch or put any distance between her and the stranger, she went along with it. The motions she was making against the atmosphere before were now happening against someone’s body. He felt the anger in his stomach begin to form a pit, but the thing that made him the most angry was the fact that there wasn’t a single thing he could do about it. Ultimately he put himself in this position whether he meant to or not. It was easier to “hate” the girl than to use two ounces of emotional brain power to figure out what he really wanted. 

“You don’t have to keep up the act.” EZ interrupted Angel’s emotional process. 

“Huh?” Angel turned to his brother. 

“Just go dance with her, bro. Put us all out of our misery watching you two bitterly pine over each other.” 

Angel looked at his brother in shock for a moment, he hadn’t told anyone about the night with Lara. And the idea that EZ could be smart enough to know his brother enough to notice what was going on, was foreign to Angel.  Truthfully, Angel didn’t even know himself well enough to notice what was going on in his own head. He pushed everything away and filled it with booze, girls, and club shit. The MC trifecta. 

Angel’s lack of response was plenty for EZ to get fed up with. 

“Well while you mope around, I’ll be in lover’s paradise.” EZ retreated to the dance floor and grabbed Frankie by the hips bringing her close to him. 

Although Angel had still been mad at his brother and even his father, it was nice seeing him happy for once and not so deep into the shit that life had served him. 

A lot can happen during a lifetime, for Lara Barrera Losa a lot happened in the first quarter of her lifetime. By the time she turned 25 she had lost her mother, her little brother, and the close connection she shared with her step-mother. 

As a young teenager her family moved around a lot due to her father’s work with her uncle, so she had grown up familiar with loss. First, losing her mom at the age of 5, then the loss of control when her father had decided to remarry, then that was followed by the loss of friends through each move. This was constant until Bishop had eventually decided to settle them in Santo Padre. 

Luckily, as time passed, Lara grew close with her step-mother, Antonia. She was someone that stepped in and not only proved herself loyal to the girl, but she helped heal her and essentially raise her.

Lara thought the feeling of loss would be one of the past. She had found friendship in Francesca Loza, Frankie, as most people called her, all while Bishop got deep into the MC life. Frankie was the one person who understood the lifestyle Lara now lived. Being the daughter of an outlaw was unique to say the least, but some of the best friendships are formed through the strangest bonds. 

But loss, it followed Lara like a lost puppy. Aiden, her little brother, had died in a tragic car accident. That alone drove a wedge into the family. The pain became unbearable, for all of them. Bishop, Antonia, and Lara. Soon enough, all of them just consumed themselves with other things. Lara with secluding herself, Bishop with the club, and Antonia with becoming the town’s mayor which just pushed the wedge deeper. An outlaw and a government official wasn’t exactly the leader in power couples, it was more of a guaranteed relationship failure. Eventually, the two had divorced and although Lara talked to the woman often, things were never the same.

Bishop didn’t stop pushing people away with Antonia. He couldn’t look at Lara without seeing her late mother, without seeing Aiden, hell, without seeing Antonia in her actions. The lack of attention and love was enough to make Lara leave and go right into the arms of potentially the worst mistake she’d make in her life. Bishop let it happen, he wasn’t a strict parent to begin with and with his mind elsewhere he didn’t have the energy to argue. But if he knew who she was getting involved with, maybe that would have changed things.

Fast forward some time, after Lara thought she lost everything she possibly could, she then lost an innocence in her she didn’t know she even possessed, the innocence of never killing someone.