Well then.
"Just saying... don't dismiss what you're feeling because someone told you it's too soon," Alex said.
"Even if that someone is you," Summer said with a knowing smile.
"I don't understand why you guys are here..." I said, needing to change the topic before they gave me any more hope. I couldn't take that.
They exchanged looks and Janie shrugged. "I think you kinda get that we are all kinda stuck inside this huge boy's club between the guys here at Hailstorm and all the bikers at The Henchmen compound and all that... we girls need to stick together."
I felt a smile tug at my lips despite myself. "So you're like... trying to recruit me into your... girl's club?"
"We're just showing you that you'll be in good company when you get your head out of your ass and get Shooter back," Janie said with a smile. She was... blunt to say the least. I kind of liked that. You knew exactly where she stood. "I know I can speak for myself and say I'm a badass bitch to have as a friend. And Lo is like... queen of the badasses. Alex is like an anti-social badass and Summer, well... you can't trust her with an automatic weapon, but she bore the offspring of a biker leader so that goes without saying that she's a badass too."
I shook my head, smiling a little sadly. "That's nice but... I don't see how I'd fit in. I'm not really a... badass or anything like that."
"Honey, you got Shooter by the balls," Lo said with a smirk. "If that isn't badass, I don't know what is."
"Yeah but I'm not like... a hacker or a like... a leader or..."
"Amy," Summer said with a head shake, "right now I am just a glorified milk machine," she said, gesturing toward her chest. "But I'm still badass. Just... don't second-guess your position in Shooter's life because you think you don't fit in with us. The fact that one of our guys fell for you is proof enough that you're awesome. Because they're friggen great guys and they don't fall for just anyone."
I let out a long breath, pulling my legs up and sitting cross-legged. "You guys are forgetting one thing. Even if I did decide, and that's a big if, that I wanted to be with Johnnie, he dumped me."
"Oh, pshh," Lo said, waving a hand. "That's the easy part."
"In what universe is that the easy part?"
"In the girl universe," Janie said, shaking her head like I was being silly. "You realize guys like tits and ass and pussy, right? And you realize that you know... you have those things."
"You think I can just... seduce him into wanting me again?"
"Well, yes and no," Summer said.
"Okay," Alex cut in, sounding like she was ready to lay it out without all the runaround. "Shoot has a job in two days. He'll be gone for four or five days . We're saying you go and settle in, make yourself at home. Move some of your stuff in. Show him that you are not going anywhere, that you belong in his life."
"Move my stuff in?" I asked, feeling my head start to spin.
"It's already on its way," Lo said, drawing my attention. At my look of shock, she smiled. "Well, Shoot had me send guys down there to investigate. I made a call a few hours ago and they packed up your shit and are driving back with it. Hang up your pictures. Put your clothes in his closet. Stock his pitifully bare cabinets. Get cozy. He'll see it and he'll see how much he wants that, wants you there, wants you in his life."
"You guys can't be serious," I said, shaking my head at them. The plan was just so... over the top. It was ridiculous. But still... was it worth a shot? My stuff was apparently on the way anyway.
"Oh, we're serious. And we will all be there, watching our men get nice and sweaty hauling your shit up to his apartment. Oh yeah," Janie said, closing her eyes at the image.
"The guys know about this?" I asked, not able to hide my surprise.
"How'd you think we got the idea?" Alex asked, smiling for the first time.
"Seriously?"
"Yeah well... they all kinda fell for us when we were forced to live with them because of, well, the crazy shit we had going on around us," Janie explained. "So I guess they think that has something to do with it. Breaker coughed up the info about his job. He will also let us into his place. It's all set up. So the day after tomorrow, you move in. Then the second you get him back, you need to call us. I don't care if you have to call us mid-fuck, we need to hear from you," Janie demanded.
"Um..." I wasn't going to agree to it. The plan was stupid. It was worse than stupid. It actually made no kind of rational sense. But still...
"Look, what's left for you in Alabama anyway?" Lo asked in a way that suggested she knew there was nothing for me there except work. "Up here, honey, you have us at least. I mean I know you don't really know us. But you will and you'll like us. We're good people. Even if, by some twist of fate that makes no damn sense at all, you and Shoot don't work out... we'll still be here for you. Isn't that better than what you had down in bumfuck nowhere?"
Well, when she put it that way...
"Plus, we have way more druggies and boozers for you to reform here," Janie added.
I felt a smile pull at my lips, lifting up the dark mood that had pulled at me for a day. Hell, it lifted the dark mood that had plagued me since I was seven years old. They were right. I had nothing left. I had to move. I had to move on. And, well, they were right; I didn't know them. But they sat at my sick bed and hatched a ridiculous plan to try to get me what they knew I wanted. I already liked them. Job opportunities would definitely be more abundant in a busier area like Navesink Bank. So yeah, even if things with Johnnie fizzled and burned out, as much as that hurt to even think about, there would be something left for me here. There was nothing left for me anywhere else.