Page 9 of Hammer’s Fall

“She’s only been here a few weeks. She’s still settling in.” Winter leaned over and bumped Miranda’s shoulder with her own. “She’ll find where she fits, and you will too, if you want to.”

“What do you mean?”

“If you don’t want to fit, you never will, and maybe even if you want it, it might not work out. This lifestyle is not for everyone and some just can’t handle it.”

“Like the motorcycle clubs on TV?” Camila asked. She hadn’t seen much of them but she’d seen enough to know they were rough men and had little regard for the law, though from the way the Sons of Sin had treated her, she had almost convinced herself she’d been silly to think that these men were like the ones she’d seen on the screen, one of her few windows into the real world.

“Kind of,” Winter bobbed her head from side to side, “but probably not in the ways you’re thinking. The guys around here are rough. They can be assholes, they can be some of the sweetest people you ever met, often the one that makes you the angriest is also the one who does something so sweet it melts your heart. What these men aren’t is two-faced. Once you’re one of us, they’ll never hide who they are from you. They say what they mean and they mean what they say. If someone tells you you’ll pay, they’ll find a way to make sure you do, one way or another, and usually not in a way you would ever have predicted. But they’re also some of the hardest loving and most protective and passionate people I’ve ever met.”

“You sound like you’ve been here a long time.” Camila was comforted by that. She never knew what kind of mood Papá would be in. She never knew if he was going to treat her like a pampered, loved daughter or a mannerless mongrel who couldn’t be taught.

“Only a couple of weeks longer than Miranda, but I grew up in an MC, an ally of the Sons, actually. None of this was new to me.”

“You haven’t been here long? But you fit in—you seem like you’ve been here forever!”

“Thank you. I think it’s just that I knew what to expect. Every club’s a little different but The Sons are similar to my dad’s club, so it’s been pretty easy for me to find my place. And don’t worry too much. We’ll find something that fits you. You may not have given it much thought, but what do you think you would like, not just to do here, but in life. What do you want out of life?”

“Thank you. And I don’t know.” Camila’s face heated and she dropped her gaze to the table between the two of them for a moment, then back up at the girls. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. My father would tell me to read. To study the families of Mexico, so I could be worth something. But I hated that. I hate that he saw me as nothing more than an asset. Something he could use to either spy for him or to trade for an advantage over someone. I’ve seen enough TV and read enough that I know that’s not how a family is supposed to be.” She turned wide eyes to Winter. “That is what I want. I want a real family.”

“Define real. What does real family mean to you?”

Camila scowled as she thought about that. What was a family? Papá had taught her that while he was blood, he didn’t treat her like what she believed family should be. He talked about blood and how important blood was, but he didn’t treat her like she mattered. Only what she could do for him, either personally or what kind of alliance he could make by marrying her off to some stranger she’d never met.

“Can I think about that?” Camila asked.

“Sure, but let me add to what you’re considering, just so you have a little more to think about. These men? They’re my family. Are they related to me? Not at all. But that doesn’t mean I don’t love them. That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t protect them just as hard as they’ll protect me. Most of society, in the US for sure, and probably in Mexico too, doesn’t see that. They don’t see that this is our family, our chosen family, and to come against one of us, is to come against all of us. And if you’re thinking there’s not so many of us, You’ve just gotten here. The Phoenix chapter has more than thirty brothers, but Phoenix is just one of I don’t know how many chapters. We’ve got men all across the US. If things don’t work out here, or you want to be farther from the border, Bulldog can likely reach out to another chapter and find a place. If you’re not looking for a traditional blood relation family, and you don’t care much what most people think of you, then club life might be a good fit for you. If you care what the whole town thinks, whether you know them or not, then it might not be.

“None of us will blame you either way, as long as you don’t throw us under the bus.”

“Under the bus?” Camila frowned.

“Sorry. It’s slang. It means don’t betray us. Don’t hurt us to put yourself in a better place.”

“That would be a horrible thing to do. That would betray what you have done for me by getting me out of my father’s house. I’m grateful for that, even if I wasn’t the one Hammer and the others were looking for.”

“I’m glad you see it that way.” Winter said.

“You’re Camila?” A man stopped next to their table. Camila looked up, and up, and up. The man was tall, taller than Hammer, she thought, from how far she had to look up to see his face, this was definitely farther. When she reached the man’s face, it was even more surprising than his height. He was nice looking enough but what caught her attention was the bright turquoise hair. The sides of his head were buzzed short, but the top was long and hung down on one side of his face, almost to his shoulder.

“I am. Do you need something?”

“I hear you speak Portuguese?”

“Yes. Do you need something translated?”

“I don’t at the moment, but we’ve been having to hire translation out or have Hammer try to work it out with the help of the internet and his Spanish.”

She stared at him, horrified. They were missing so many of the subtleties of the language that way.

“I can help. I would like to help if you need it.” Finally, here was something she could do. Here was a way she could help contribute to the people who had helped her so much.

“I’ll let Bulldog know, see what he thinks. Have you eaten yet?”

Camila frowned and shook her head. That was random. She wondered where it had come from and watched as he turned to the girls across the table from her.

“Spitfire, why don’t you order something and have it delivered. I’m getting hungry and you three should eat too.”

“All right, what do you want?” Winter asked.