It had been a 4 days since Nora had come out of her room. The first day Kozik was there with her, icing her bruises, taking care of her. Then he had to leave for a run with the rest of the guys. As much as Nora begged and pleaded him to stay, he still left. She couldn’t wrap her head around what was so important about these runs. He wouldn’t tell her anything. Just that they were club business. Whatever that meant.
She was still upset that he left her with these animals who couldn’t make a point without resorting to violence. Sure she’d struck her first but that bitch went as far as breaking her nose. She was too embarrassed to step out and face them. She had in fact slapped one of their own, of course nobody was going to step up and defend her against their precious Harley, they had all warned her what she was capable of. UGH, she couldn’t even figure out why she had acted like that. In fact, Harley hadn’t done anything to get at Kozik. She always kept her distance and Kozik had every right to know his daughter.
It was the fact that she felt like she was losing him. Sure Harley had kept her distance, but she could feel the change in Koz when they were in the same room. She could see the way he looked at her, the smile he gave her, the way his body reacted when she would smile back. He told her he loved her, and he went to bed wrapped up in her, but she knew it wouldn’t compare to the love she heard the two of them had shared.
A knock on the door startled her. She hadn’t spoken to anyone but Kozik these last 4 days and the fact that he was gone only meant it was one of them on the other side. She had seen what Harley was capable of and the look in her eyes when she threatened her told her she would make good of that threat. She only wondered if it was one of the men who came to deal with her for disrespecting one of their own. As she sat there in fear she tried to be as silent as possible. Maybe they would think she had gone out, but there was that knock again followed by a voice. “ I know you’re in there, I’m coming in” she heard Harley say and her eyes widened to the size of saucers. Harley was the LAST person she wanted in this room. That girl was crazy and Nora was terrified her.
Harley had had enough of Nora moping around in the dorm room. She had been by herself the entire time the guys had been gone. She wouldn’t open the door for anybody and even though Harley and Tara made sure to have the prospects bring her food, they’d have to leave it outside in front of the door where she’d open it after they’d leave. Well she wasn’t going to put up with this. Sure she’d gotten knocked on her ass but who hadn’t? That doesn’t mean you hole yourself up and treat everyone like they’re out to get you.
Half Sack and Harley went out to a cafe on Main where they got her a small soup and sandwich to bring back to Nora. If she was going to be a part of this family she would have to act like it. She was on her way to becoming an Old Lady and Old Ladies don’t sit around and feel sorry for themselves because of a couple of bruises.
As Harley knocked on the door she could hear shuffling inside but no answer. She know that girl hadn’t walked out of this room and with everything that had been going on, nobody would have let her out of the clubhouse without a patch with her. She got sick of waiting and turned the knob opening the door slightly to make sure the other woman was decent. All Harley could do was sigh and scrunch her face softly as she saw Nora pressed against the headboard looking like a battered deer in headlights. The bruising had faded a little but it was still noticeably swollen.
“Hey,” she began softly “I brought you some lunch. I know we don’t have the best food in here so I went out and got you a soup and sandwich” she sat on the edge of the bed and pulled the food out of the bag sitting them in front of her.
All Nora could do was stare. Why was she in here? The last time they spoke, Harley nearly ripped her head off and now she was bringing her lunch and being nice. She was about to reject the food but her grumbling stomach told her not to so she slowly took the sandwich out of it’s container taking a small bite. Her eyes not leaving Harley’s.
A warm smile spread on Harley’s face as she watched the woman take a bite. She clearly was not letting her guard down but they had to talk so she figured she would start. “ Look..” she started to speak before Nora interrupted her.
“Wh.. why.. Why are you here?” The brunette spoke up but quickly realized how rude she sounded and went into damage control so she wouldn’t anger her. “ I.. I only mean why are you being so nice to me after what happened?”
Harley smiled softly looking at the woman’s nervous expression. “Listen, babe. I’m not going to sit here and say I’m sorry for hitting you because I’m not. You were out of line behaving like that in front of my child. I may hang around all of these “criminals” but my daughter has not heard so much as a swear, much less seen any act of violence until you decided to lose it the other night. You can imagine how hard I’ve worked to keep those grown men in line around the children. They even know better than to light a smoke near Isabelle and Abel. But I am sick of you cowering around in this room. We’re family. Families fight all the time. Kozik and Tig have had a 10 year battle going on and they still consider each other brothers.”
“But that’s the thing.. Herman is family. I’m not. I’m just here going through the day while he’s out there doing god know what” the brunette spoke as she took another bite of her sandwich.
“That’s not true, darlin’, Koz wouldn’t bring you here if you didn’t mean something to him and that makes you family. Sure we don’t welcome strangers to us with open arms, but once we get to know you we’ll be the best friends you could have. I’m not sure why you felt the need to lash out, I’m hoping for your sake it’s just the stress of uprooting your life, but you need to pull it together.” Harley paused placing a hand on the girls knee, “ There’s a lot of bad shit going on out there sweetheart, and Kozik needs a tough Old Lady by his side. All of us here have lost fights, that doesn’t mean we give up and lock ourselves in a room. We deal with it.” She paused again watching Nora relax a bit. “ Look Nora, I’ll be honest, I will always love Kozik. Always. We have a long run behind us and he gave me a beautiful little girl, but that’s over and done with. I’m not after your man. I’m not trying to ‘trap’ him, but my little girl deserves to have a father. She deserves to have two parents who love her very much. I’ve kept him away long enough and when he was away it was easier, but now that he’s been here in person, you could physically see how drawn to her he was. It was tearing him apart and it was hurting me watching him. He needs his head in the game right now and if his mind is on worrying about what you’re doing or on being torn apart by not getting to be with his child, then he could seriously get hurt.”
Nora bit her lip as she fidgeted with her fingers listening to Harley speak. “Jesus, Harley, I’m so sorry I reacted that way. That’s really not who I am. I see how he looks at you and your daughter and I could physically feel him pulling away from me. I don’t want to lose him. I don’t even know what he does and why it’s so dangerous, he doesn’t talk to me about anything like that. When he’s stressed he just leaves, goes out there and drinks and talks to you guys, I’m just stuck here in the dark.”
Harley smiled as the woman blurted everything out in one breath. She placed her hand on the girls cheek. “ Look babe, your relationship is still very young. He’s scared of losing you too if he lets you in on everything. Not a lot of people can handle this life. Hell – Tara’s even walked out a couple of times. But if you love the man, you learn to love this club. All of those men out there would take a bullet for you because you’re Kozik’s girl. It wouldn’t kill you to be nice to them ya know? And regarding him looking at me and his daughter: He’s just getting use to being around me again. We’ve been separated for 3 years and up until now he was never allowed to know his daughter. It’ll be okay, it really will. Who knows, maybe once you guys get settled and Baby Belle feels a little more comfortable, you two could even take her a couple nights a week. The club’s not against you darlin’. It’s better for you to accept it then to run from it. This here is his family, and we all want you to be apart of it.” Harley nodded as she pulled Nora in for a hug. Nora gratefully accepted and wiped the tears she didn’t realize had slipped before Harley spoke up again. “Why don’t you go get showered and cleaned and come hang out there with us. You’re going to have to apologize to everyone but it’ll show them you’re stronger than you appear. Weakness isn’t going to get you anywhere around here.”
Nora smiled and got up off the bed after hugging Harley once more. She couldn’t even remember the reason she hated her. She was right. If this was Kozik’s family, she would have to learn to get along. As much as she disliked how secretive he was about the club, there was a strong sense of family there that she never had.
As the guys finished business, they went back to Jury’s in Indian Hills, Nevada. While the men were enjoying the sweetbutts, Jax and Koz sat at the bar, exhausted by the days events. Koz took a swig of his drink as Jax turned his attention to him. “So… Harls let you meet Belle huh?”
Koz took another swig and nodded turning to face Jax. “Yeah man, I wasn’t expecting that shit. If this was 5 years ago she would have flipped out if anyone even brought it up. She’s changed so much”
“Yeah brother, you have no idea. Having that little girl was the best thing to happen to Harley. Everything she does is so well thought out it’s actually scary. She wouldn’t do anything without thinking of how it would affect Isabelle first.”
Kozik nodded and rubbed his hands through his hair. He thought for a moment before looking over at Jax. “Has.. Has she been seeing anyone? I mean I expected she’d see other people, but anything serious?”
Jax shook his head before a croweatter brought them two more beers. “Nah man, nothing at all. No dates, no boyfriends” he shrugged taking in Kozik’s reaction. “She couldn’t bring herself to do it. She put all her time and energy into Isabelle and helping out the club in anyway she could. I swear she’s almost a better version of Gemma. All the fire with a little more compassion” They both laughed at the thought.
“Why though? It’s not like she couldn’t be with anyone. What about that prospect I always see after her?”
Jax laughed and shook his head putting his hand on the other man’s back. “Nah brother. Sack’s job is to follow Harley. We told him his only priority as a prospect was to go wherever that girl went. I mean they’re close. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes I’m even jealous of their relationship. They’re literally everywhere together. But it ain’t like that.” He paused for a moment before looking back at Koz. “What about that girl you brought? What’s happening with her?”
“Nora? Fuck if I know. It’s like being here brought out the worst in her. I’ve never seen her act like she did the other day. I didn’t even think she was capable of that.” He shook his head taking another sip of his beer. “And I don’t know, I guess it’s my fault. Seein’ Harley again and seeing her with Isabelle, I want to be apart of that. Be a family like we should have been. But Nora’s just been too good to me. I didn’t think she’d come down. If I’m being honest, I don’t think she could handle this life brother. I don’t think she has what it takes.” He sighed and looked over at Jax.
“You gotta figure it out man. Eventually she’s going to want to know what it is that you do. You can’t hide it forever if you see a future with her.” Koz nodded his head before standing up to head for the dorms. He knew this was his fault. He knew that Nora had noticed the way he’d been acting around Harley. But Harley had always been his best friend and she was the mother of his child. Of course he’d have feelings for her. That and she knew this life. Everyone she knew was a SON. It was easier to get along with her – nothing was too brutal or violent to shock her. She was a good old lady and a great mother, but Nora’s innocence to all this kept him going back. When he was with her, it was like he hadn’t just committed numerous crimes. Like he was just a regular Joe. Like he was a good man and that’s all she saw. Like they were in their own bubble. He didn’t want to ruin that by telling her what really went on inside the club.