Chapter 150: Distance
*I miss hanging out with her. If I wouldn’t've kissed her, I’d still have my friend. – Knuckles*
Knuckles kept his distance for a day. Then a week. Then two. Pretty soon it had been a month. They were approaching six weeks.
He saw her every week when they had church. The officers and Siobhan made sure he knew what was going on. They kept him informed not only of the Petros situation, but also how she was doing in general.
They all saw the looks when Nessie and Knuckles thought no one was looking. They all knew that the club girls no longer went to his room. She had shown no interest in any of the other brothers.
Nessie spent most of the time in her kitchen and office. She created a program with Trevor that kept track of occupied rooms. When they had large gatherings, she quickly assigned rooms and keys.
The club girls were doing more around the clubhouse also. They had assigned duties and although at first, they objected, they were doing their jobs well and without complaint. Two of them were now enrolled in the culinary school at the University.
Nessie had gone before the club to get the classes paid for. In true Nessie fashion, she held her ground and chastised the men.
“Yeh bed the girls but yer not gonna marry them. And what happens when no one wants that flavor anymore? Yeh boot them out and think not'ing else of them. And what do they have to show for the times they spread their legs and got on their knees fer yeh? Not a damned ting! Least yeh can do is give them a way ta support demselves. How many of yeh have gone to school through the club?”
She had, of course, won.
She even managed to get the old ladies on her side. Siobhan said that she had several former bunnies that would come to the food bank. She argued that they either supported the girls in learning a trade or skill while they kept the men happy. Or supported them later with the food bank.
Tonight, was church night. They would be voting to send one of the girls to cosmetology school. Knuckles was sure that she would get it.
He didn’t spend much time at the clubhouse anymore. It was easier to get up and leave and come back when either Nessie was busy or asleep. The only time that he ate at the clubhouse was church night. Tonight, he sat at a table with his cousin, Taz, and her man, Riffraff.
“I need to go talk to Toad.” Knuckles said absently pushing pasta around on his plate. His eyes were on the redhead directing the serving.
“About what?” Taz asked following his gaze and smiling to Riffraff as he also saw what the other man was looking at.
“Changing clubs. Think I’m going to go back to dad.” He said sadly.
“You can’t leave me alone.” Taz argued.
“You have Riff.” He pointed out. “I’m hardly ever here anyway.”
On the far side of the room, Nessie went through the kitchen doors and was out of his sight. Without another word, he stood up and took his plate over to the window. Taz and Riffraff both watched as the new girl working the window tried to flirt with him. He was oblivious as he tried to get one more glance at his Scottish beauty.
Riff pressed a kiss to Taz’s temple. “I’ll be back.” She nodded as he stood up and walked into the kitchen.
“Nessie, can I talk to you? In your office?”
“Oh, aye.” She led the way into her office and waited until he was inside before closing the door. “What can I do for yeh?”
“Knuckles is asking for a transfer to another clubhouse.” He said bluntly and she sat down in shock. “I don’t know what’s going on between you two, but you’re both miserable.”
“Well, he can go if he wants.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“I sure as bloody hell do!” She declared, but the crack in her voice and tears filling her eyes told the truth.
“No, you don’t.” Riffraff countered leaning across her desk. “The question is, what are you going to do about it?”
As Riffraff was leaving her office, Knuckles was entering Toad’s. The two men sat across from each other on opposite sides of the desk. After a tense moment of silence, Toad cleared his throat.
“What can I do for you?” Toad asked leaning back in his chair.
“Well, umm… I want to change clubs. Go home, I guess.”
“Is this because of Ness?” Toad asked gently.
“Yeah. I just…. I can’t do it anymore. I thought that I could. We were friends and now…. I don’t know. She’s always there in my mind.”
“That’s not going to change.”
“I have to do something.”
“I’ll call your dad and talk to him. He can say no.”
“I know.” He said and could hear his father’s voice telling him to man up and face his fears. This wasn’t something that he could punch his way through. He didn’t know how to deal with these feelings.
Knuckles cracked his fingers, linking them together and looking at the tattoos declaring that they defend and protect what is his. She wasn’t his to defend or protect. And that seemed to be the problem.
She wasn’t his.
