Chapter 5

“Do I get to know how you know the girl?” he asked delicately. “We’re covered by privilege,” he assured me. “I’m acting as your lawyer, so you can tell me what’s what.”

I thought about it and nodded. I told him that they were next door neighbors and that Lisa considered herself too old for me, but was in for a fling while we waited until she could comfortably settle into being mother-in-law.

“So you’re sleeping with BOTH?” he asked, shaking his head. “When the young one finds out, you’ll be lucky to reach your bike to flee the city.”

“She knows,” I told him. “The three of us slept in the same bed last night. She’s still a virgin, but I’m not sure she’ll make it to her sixteenth birthday in August.”

“So you banged her mom in front of her?” he laughed. “This is a good one. I wish your Pop were still with us to hear this.”

I barked a laugh. “Pop’d say, ‘so you gotcherself an Old Lady AND a Missus. Now all you need is a dog and bike big enough for everyone.’ and then he’d slap me in the back of the head for not having thought how we could all ride together.”

“How ARE you gonna ride together?” he asked. Brandon’s parents had ridden with Mom and Pop a bit, but a bad hip had made his dad give it up and his mom only rode locally now.

“I’ve got Pop’s old bike running like she’s new and I’m working on the sidecar for it now,” I told him. “I was thinking of asking Ang to sell Ladybug to me if they like it as much when the bike’s moving as they do when it’s just gunning the engine in Park.”

He chuckled. “Your sister never did like to ride,” he shrugged. “I never understood why she wanted the bike in the first place.”

“Probably because Ladybug belonged to Mom,” I said. “Or maybe she likes to go out and gun the engine in Park when Lorne is at work.”

That got us both laughing and finally Brandon turned serious. “Yeah, the forms are easy enough. I’ll draw them up this week and have them for you by Friday. You need the forms for parental permission to marry her too?”

“Probably not today,” I said with a chuckle, but I thought it might be worth a laugh if the lunch plans go well.

When I left my meeting, his secretary cornered me. “Who is she?” she demanded, not even waiting for the door to close behind me. I could hear Brandon laughing in his office as the door swung shut.

I blinked and grinned, cocking my head to one side. “Is it really that obvious?”

“Come on,” she urged. “We all saw how down you were about Jennifer. You’ve been working here for a while now and your mood got worse every week. You never took it out on anyone, but you acted more and more like someone killed your dog. Today, you show up and you’re practically whistling. You’re not here to work, but want to talk to Brandon. It doesn’t take a genius to know you got to check some lucky girl’s oil. Spill it!”

“Would you like to call a press conference and invite the rest of the office?” I asked ruefully.

“They’re waiting in the kitchen for us,” she said crisply and tapped on Brandon’s door before opening it a crack. “We’re going to cross-examine Jake in the kitchen. Want to come watch or did he tell you everything?”

He shook his head. “Good luck, Jake,” he told me and she took my elbow to drag me off to the small kitchenette that served as the lunch room.

All three of the paralegals, Olivia, Sabrina and Ivy, were there waiting for us with smiles on their faces. “Crystal says you got some strange tail over the weekend,” Olivia opened up the conversation. “We’ve had a pool going as to who would take your mind off Jennifer. I don’t think anyone bet on an outside source. What’s going on, Jake? I thought we were friends.”

I let Crystal push me into a seat and shook my head. “You know we’re friends, Olivia,” I said. “I spend enough time crawling under your desk that people were sure that I was fooling around with you.” Her computer needed three times as much maintenance as the others did for no real reason we could nail down, so I was constantly unplugging it and taking it for cleaning, both physical and digital.

“You wish!” she quipped. “We just want the details, not the flattery.”

“How many of you talk to my sister?” I asked seriously.

They looked around and shook their heads at me. No one here.

“Good,” I said. “I don’t think she’d approve, so I don’t want her to know about it while it’s still fresh. Not that I’m hiding it, but you know how it is when it’s new. You don’t want to hear the criticism.”

They nodded and promised that they wouldn’t spread it around, so I told them about Lisa and Kelsey, about how we’ve been edging toward the three of us being a family over the last nine months and about how Saturday and some of Sunday, but not nearly enough for their appetites.

“So when do we hear about the sex?” Sabrina wanted to know.

“Yeah!” Ivy complained. “There was nothing about hot sex in any of that. What happened.”

I shrugged. “We went for a ride on my bike and then we had a nice dinner,” I told them. That much was true. I just didn’t tell them that the bike never left the garage.

“That story still doesn’t have a sex scene in it,” Olivia reminded me tartly. “We have ways of making you talk.”

“What do you want to know?” I asked with a sigh.

“How was the sex?!” Crystal prompted, exasperated.

“Are you kidding me?” I looked at her incredulously. “After you telling me what a dramatic change there is in me today, you have to ask?”

“Okay, so the effect was good,” she admitted. “Give us details. Come on! You’re killing us here!”

I looked back and forth at them and sighed. “Okay,” I caved. “I need some assurances from you each though. This is really new and delicate. I need to know that it doesn’t leave this room, not just to my sister, but to anyone. I know a few of you know Jennifer and some of her friends. If it got back to her, she’d try to start trouble. Do any of you know a guy named Ryan Porter over at Henderson and Riggs?”

They shook their heads and that helped ease my anxiety some. It wouldn’t get back to him, Jennifer or my sister. Those were the three important ones.

“Good. Because he’s Lisa’s ex-husband and Kelsey’s ex-Daddy,” I told them.

“Her ex-Daddy?” Ivy asked. “How does one become an ex-Daddy?”

“Easy,” I told her. “You skip out on calling your little girl for Christmas and then don’t bother to make time for her for so long that the guy next door gets promoted to being called Daddy and you start getting called by name.”

She winced. “That sucks. He skipped Christmas? Really?”

I nodded. “I was there for Christmas Day. They sort of adopted me where I’m not really close to my sister and I sort of adopted them where they were all on their own too.”

“Where was Jennifer for Christmas?” Olivia wanted to know.

“She said she was at her parents’ place,” I shrugged. “Given recent evidence, she may have been there, or she may have been drinking eggnog from the tap, if you get my meaning.”

That got some nods. They’d all cringed at the news that she was cheating on me every chance she got. “Okay,” Crystal interrupted. “We get it. You’ve been there for them both more than he has, so tell us about the SEX!” she practically growled.

I smiled. “Alright,” I surrendered and told them about Lisa coming to me in the garage and about turning on the bike and fucking her right there in the garage. I even told them about spotting Kelsey watching us and beckoning her closer, her hearing her mother, the things we said, the things Lisa wanted, all of it. They were shocked at the fact that Kelsey actually got involved toward the end, but they were young enough to remember being fifteen and in love.

“So you’re going to keep the mother on the side and date the daughter?” Sabrina clarified.

“Not exactly,” I said. “They both want the same thing. Lisa thinks she’s too old for me to settle down with, but she’s willing to be the best mother-in-law I could ever ask for when Kelsey is old enough for us to get married.”

“I’ll bet,” Crystal said dryly. “What are you going to do if they start clawing at each other, like strange cats?”

“Spank them until they’re good girls?” I suggested. “Saturday, I got the clear message that Lisa was interested, but the age difference was too much for her. She was talking to Kelsey about the possibility of us having sex like she didn’t want to because of her. So I got out of there. I told them they should talk it out and I hugged them both before I went home and had the coldest shower I could instead of the hottest sex imaginable. They talked it out all that night and all the next day until Kelsey sent her mother over deliberately for the royal fucking she’s never had in her marriage or any time before or since.”

“But you’re not bragging,” Olivia scoffed playfully. “Not at all.”

I shrugged. “Have you ever been on a motorcycle?” I asked. “Not one of those shitty little mopeds they call bikes, but a real touring bike?”

She shook her head and shrugged. “What’s the big deal?”

“Imagine the best vibrator you’ve ever owned. Now imagine a couple of thousand of them bolted together, turned up to high and put a seat on it.”

She scoffed. “If they were THAT good, more girls would ride bikes,” she pointed out.

“I’m taking a fifteen year old girl to get riding gear after school today because her first time on a real bike, her eyes rolled up in her head and she left a wet-spot on the seat. The truth is out there. If you want me to bring the bike by this afternoon, I can stop in around two before I pick her up from school.”

She gave me a look, but finally nodded. “If it’s that good, I want to know,” she allowed.

I nodded and was finally allowed to escape my interrogation. Crystal followed me back toward the front. She patted me on the shoulder. “We’re all glad you’re feeling better,” she told me. “I bet on Olivia in the pool. She beats up her computer on purpose so you spend a little more time with her.” She smirked. “I know she’s tried to get you to look up her skirt a few times when you were crawling under her desk.”

I glanced back at Olivia’s desk and nodded a little. “I noticed,” I confessed. “I thought about installing a camera so I’d have something to smile about on the days I wasn’t in the office. It was greatly appreciated both at the time and now that I know she did it on purpose for me. Tell her not to stop though.” I grinned at her. “Maybe I’ll invite her around for my birthday if the girls are in a bind as to what to get me.”

“We want to meet them eventually,” she said. “Maybe we’ll throw you a party for your birthday. I’ll talk to Brandon about doing it here on that Saturday or something.”

I chuckled and nodded. “I’ll let you know what the plan is.” My birthday wasn’t for another month, but I knew I should mention it tonight to prepare the girls for the idea of meeting the work crew.

I slipped out and went shopping for bike gear. My leathers from last summer were a loss. I still had them, but the hospital staff had refused to believe I didn’t need bandages and stitches after the crash, so they cut them off.

I knew where I was going and it pays to be familiar with the shops.

“Hey, Digger! You back there?” I yelled into the workshop at the back of the showroom in the out-of-the-way pro-shop.

Digger came to the doorway and swished aside the curtain that he used to separate the shop from the showroom. He was a scrawny little guy in his sixties with a scraggly beard twisted into forked braids. “Hey, kid!” he said, coming to shake my hand. “I heard you was off the road now. Took a spill or something.”

“Yeah, Dig. I nearly ended up all over some asshole’s windshield. Took me forever to get the bike back in shape, but it’s ready to go now. I need to get some new leathers and a helmet.”

“Sure,” he said. “You looking for something custom or off the showroom?”

“Showroom’s good enough for me, I think, but I’ve got some custom work to get done later today and I wanted to know if I could borrow a helmet for a couple of hours.”

He looked at me strangely. “Yeah, I know you’re good for the helmet, but I’m curious. What’s going on?”

“I’m bringing in a girl to get fitted,” I told him. “She’s young, so you probably don’t have a lot in stock that’ll fit her well. You have any colored leather around?”

He grinned. “I do have some,” he admitted. “What color?”

“I dunno. Make sure she sees it and she can pick it out herself. I just want a loaner helmet for now so that I can bring her over on the bike and then pick out the one she loves.”

He nodded and got her size from me. He went back to the shop and came back with one. “This one’s a demo,” he said lightly. “Company sent it to me for free. If this is the little lady’s first ride, tell her it’s a gift. If she likes the style, then we can have it painted to match whatever she picks for her outfit.”

I turned it over and looked at it. “You sure, Dig?” I asked. It was a nice one with room for a built-in helmet cam and headset.

“Absolutely,” he said. “I’ll fuck you on the price of your helmet instead,” he joked.

“Nice, Digger,” I said. “When you see Kelsey, you’ll want to do her outfit for free too, so I’m not too worried about paying an extra $50 for mine. Just don’t get to grabby with her fitting. I’ll be here with her.”

He looked hurt and scandalized for a moment, but then shrugged and showed me the new helmets he had on hand. I got a full visor one like Kelsey’s new one and we’d decide on how we wanted them painted later. I told him I’d wait and see what she picked out and try to find something that matched.

“You sweet on this girl, kid?” he asked me, surprised.

“Yeah, Dig. She’s been good to me especially since things skidded off the road with my last girl.”

“I heard about that,” he said sympathetically and made a calming gesture when he saw me getting heated. “You know how it is, kid. I heard through the grapevine. If I knew anything more than smear, I’d have called you. I know there’s a couple of the boys that are gonna find my prices ain’t what they used to be after they got in line. I liked yer Pops. Even most of the younger kids knew him to see him, even if they never rode with him more than a mile. Times aren’t what they used to be. You still got your carry permit?” I nodded. “Good. If you’re going to the rallies, take a piece. Hell, take two. I’ve heard it’s rough sometimes. Not that it was ever gentle, but there used to be more of us that had respect.” He shook his head and seemed to realize that he was talking himself into a bad mood.

“Don’t worry, Dig. I’m not running with a crew. We’re just gonna ride to ride. Maybe head to Sturgis in August. I want to see Gran one more time before the road swallows her up. Introduce my girls to the family.”

“Girls?” he interrupted. “You said one.”

“I’ll be back with her mother at some point. The three of us are gonna ride.”

“Mother and daughter, huh?” he said with a nod. “Props, boy. Yer Pops would have had a chuckle over that.” He looked like there was more he wanted to say, but closed his mouth instead.

I smiled. “Probably,” I admitted. “I’m gonna go for now though,” I told him. “I’ve got some more errands to run before I show up back here.”

He nodded and clapped me on the back on my way out. I drove home and parked the car on the street so I could pull the bike out without easing it around the car. I put my new helmet on and strapped hers onto the rear seat before walking the bike out of the garage and locking up again.

It felt good to start the bike. I had a bomber-jacket on in case I had a minor tumble, but the chances of that were slim. I drove back toward the office, but parked near the pub, which was indeed called Mallory’s. It was just after noon when I walked in with the two helmets in tow. Only a moron leaves a decent helmet on their bike when they’re not with it.

It was a sparse crowd for lunch today and I spotted Ryan at the end of the bar. I crossed the room and sat a couple of stools away from him, putting the helmets beside me on the next stool and the bar between him and me. “Hi,” I said, when I looked up and he was noticing the helmets.

“Expecting company?” he asked lightly. I detected a note of sarcasm in his voice, but only a hint.

“Picking up after here,” I explained. “Had an appointment at a law firm nearby and figured I’d check this out. What’s the menu like?”

“It’s good,” he said. “The turkey club is a winner if you’re in kind of a hurry.”

I nodded and when the bartender came by, I ordered one and a Bud to go with it before turning back to him. “I’m Jake,” I said, offering him my hand and a friendly smile. “You work close by?”

He nodded and took my hand. “Ryan Porter,” he told me. “I work at the ad firm around the corner. What about you? You said you were seeing a lawyer?”

“Oh, nothing bad. I’m an IT consultant. I set up his computer system and run his network. I stop in at the office to check in two or three times a week whether they need me or not. It’s good policy. I’m on hand for any nagging problems or other billables, it reminds them that I’m watching out for them and makes them feel like they’re getting a great deal. The girls in the office LOVE to flirt. You know how it is. All day at the office with nothing to do. A taste of excitement and it’s on. You must see that all the time, working in an office.”

He chuckled and shrugged. “I’m sure you see far more of that than I do,” he said with a smirk that begged to brag about his conquests.

The bartender brought my beer and told me the food would be out in a few minutes. I paid for the beer and thanked him before taking a sip and turning back to my new pal. “Come on!” I scoffed. “I mostly work from home. You see it every day. You mean the ladies at your office don’t get a little extra friendly when the guy comes in to deliver those jugs of water for your water coolers?” I gave him a look of friendly disbelief, “or when Mr. Porter, advertising executive, stops by their desk to ask them to find a file for him five minutes before everyone knocks off for the day?” I traded a knowing look with him. “Yeah, you know what I’m talking about.” I laughed and took another sip.

“Okay,” he said with a laugh and moved over so there was only the stool with the helmet between us. “I may have some experience with that,” he said.

“I figured you did. Girls go nuts for the power suit, right?”