Making the Cut (Sons of Templar MC 1)

I groaned as the previous night’s events washed over me. “I was supposed to go into the store today and sort things out for the opening next week.” I started to stress, taking a huge gulp of the precious nectar in my cup, letting it soothe me.

“It’s Sunday girlfriend, the day of rest and hangovers,” Amy laughed. “Let’s just chill out today, go grab some brunch or more definitely late lunch, explore the town a bit more and enjoy a carefree day.” She jumped out of bed and waltzed towards my wardrobe. “Now you grab a shower and I will sort you an outfit,” she ordered.

“Okay,” I sighed, pulling the covers back to get out of bed, forgetting about my foot until the pain reminded me. “Shit,” I cursed, hoping Amy wouldn’t notice the bandage. No such luck.

“What did you do to your foot?” she asked with concern.

“Ummm,” I tried to think of some convincing lie, even though I knew Amy would sniff it out a mile away, we never lied to each other.

“Ohhh, I smell something interesting.”

Damn our unnaturally close bond.

“Spill,” Amy demanded.

“Fuck it,” I grumbled. I then proceeded to relay the events of last night, in detail. After I finished Amy sat at the end of my bed wide eyed.

“Well fuck me,” she breathed and didn’t say anything else.

Wow, my best friend was actually lost for words, now that was an absolute first. She always had some response to any situation, even when we bumped into Karl Lagerfeld in the Hamptons one summer. She managed to get us invited to dinner with him. It was awesome.

“Fuck me!” she yelled and I jumped, her tone bringing my thoughts back from the Hamptons.

“No thanks you’re not my type,” I mumbled back.

“Yeah sounds like your type is more tall, dark and delicious,” she replied sarcastically. “This is amazing. I seriously can’t believe you were enacting some kind of scene out of a fucking romance movie right downstairs while I was asleep.” She looked at me with a smirk. “I mean…shit.”

“There is nothing to smile about Ames, last night was a huge fuck up and I’m going to make sure I never see him again,” I said, wondering how the hell I was going to avoid the sexy biker in a town this small.

“Newsflash babe, we are in Siberia, you can’t exactly avoid him, he is like one- tenth of the population,” she argued reading my mind.

“Maybe a slight exaggeration Amy.” I rolled my eyes, gingerly testing out my foot. The pain wasn’t bad enough to stop me wearing heels.

“You get the point.” She waved her hand. “Anyway why would you want to avoid that delicious hunk of stud? I mean this is brilliant, you have come out of the nunnery,” she exclaimed, clapping her hands and disappearing into my closet.

I followed her and sank into the chair I had in the middle of my closet. “This is most certainly not brilliant,” I groaned. “Don’t you remember last night? Not to mention the last time I hooked up with a sexy biker? Didn’t end so well.”

Amy flinched and I regretted my harsh tone. “For starters, Cade,” she moaned his name, “is like a zillion times hotter than He Who Shall Not Be Named, and you can’t just automatically assume everyone who rides a motorbike is a psychopath. Just like you wouldn’t stop wearing Prada if they came out with one bad collection.” She flipped through my racks, pulling out a Givenchy tee.

“Well, men who are in outlaw motorcycle groups certainly aren’t involved in church circles or neighborhood watch,” I informed her.

“Honey,” Amy said softly looking up from my shoe selection. “You do not know this man or anything about his club, and from what you’ve told me, he seems decent. Now I am the first one to want to protect you from ever getting hurt again, but don’t let what happened to you turn you into someone who judges people before you even know them. That isn’t you.”

Her words cut me deep and I knew she was right. I shouldn’t be so bitter. But I also knew bikers and their gangs were trouble. Amy didn’t see what I saw so she couldn’t know.

“Let’s just forget about last night for now and not let a man complicate my first proper day in my new town with my girl.” I gave Amy a smile.

“Okay,” she agreed. “But life would be no fun without men to shake things up now and then, and as much as I love my B.O.B nothing compares to the real thing,” she advised before throwing my no doubt fabulous outfit at me.

The late afternoon sunlight, beginning to disappear behind the hills, kissed the horizon as Amy and I enjoyed a cold margarita on the back porch. I relaxed into my chair and let my head fall back, feeling the most content I had in a long while.

“That was an awesome afternoon girl, just what I needed,” I told Amy, keeping my eyes closed.

We had had a delightful lunch at a cute little café, then proceeded to walk up and down Main Street, perusing all the little shops along the way and generally just enjoying the town’s atmosphere. And to my delight, we did not once hear the telltale rumble of Harley pipes nor see a broadly built man donning a leather cut, so all in all, a great day.

“Yeah it was actually kind of great, wasn’t it?” Amy replied. “This little hole in the road is actually kind of growing on me.”

I laughed. “That’s great to hear, since we might be here for a while, owning a home and business here.”

“Oh I almost forgot,” Amy continued. “I got us invited to a party, well the closest this town does to party anyway, a barbeque? Tomorrow night, hopefully there will be some man candy there.”

“What?” I spluttered. “When did you find the time to get yourself invited to anything? I was with you most of the day!” I sat up, turning to look at her.