The guy didn’t seem too concerned about what was on the floor so Isaac didn’t give a second thought to it, either. However, as the stranger offered up a cigarette his interest perked up and he sat forward. “Sure, thanks,” Isaac nodded, glancing up to him as he reached for the box of Marlboro’s to take one for himself. “You live around here?” he asked, sticking the cigarette between his lips as he stood and gestured for him to light it up. “Or are you just passing through?”
Lucas extended his hand out to offer a light to the newfound cigarette that the stranger had taken from him. The question caused Lucas to chuckle with short amusement if only because he had never truly left Wilmington and the idea of being a stranger passing through was a bit humorous given his history in the town. “Nah man,” he said, shaking his head, “Been here for a while now” He added. “What about you? Can’t say I’ve seen you around here a lot.” And he liked to think he had gotten familiar with most residents who lived in Wilmington, either from his childhood or even from the shop.
“We were a mess.” The brunette said with a laugh. It was still shocking that between all those people she knew in high school, she had come out still having some kind of friendship with Lucas of all people. Life could be wild at times. Scrunching her face at the mention of birth, she shook her head. Somehow, it just rubbed her the wrong way and even the sight of a pregnant belly made her skin crawl. Plus, children were cuter when she could give them back to their parents. “That’s good. That you’re happy, I mean.” As for Isobel, she couldn’t be certain anymore. Maybe the key was a dog. Something she’d been thinking about for a while now. “I think I’d go to Paris.” She’d always loved it there despite the language barrier. “Maybe California. I’m not entirely sure. I think I’d just travel for a bit. What about you? If you weren’t here — where would you be?”
“Yeah but look at us now, we’ve got most of our shit together these days,” Lucas said with a faint smile. He certainly didn’t imagine their future being this way but it was easy to see how much worse it could have been. For now, Lucas just counted his blessings and moved on. “Well, it’s better than being a miserable old bastard” That title surely belonged to his father at this point. plus Lucas was happy for the most part, though arguably he could be happier. “Paris?” Lucas scoffed with a grin, “Of course, you’d choose Paris” He shook his head at her only teasing. “I don’t know, maybe Bali or Hawaii or somethin’ with lots of sun and a beach. Okay, how many drinks until you’re really hammered? After all these years I forget.”
“We’re all grown up, who would have thought.” The brunette said with a laugh given how far they’d come from being the drug dealer and the popular girl who bought drugs from him. A shoulder rose and fell at the mention of the perfect guy. She also felt like she’d found that but perhaps timing was off. “I don’t know, I guess not.” Leaning her head back against the head rest, she let her fingers drum upon the armrest of the chair. “I think it’s more the birth and the fact that my body will never look the same, but the sticky bits and fact that they can talk is horrible.” Plus they talked back. She wasn’t sure if she could handle a child talking back to her. “Good answer.” Isobel winked as she rose her glass to her lips. At the next question, she let out a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah. I think I could. I don’t really have anything keeping me here. My family doesn’t speak to me. I’ve lost some friends, there’s no romance holding me back.” Maybe it was time for a change. A place where she could start over. “A new life doesn’t sound half bad.” Peering back at him, she gave an half-hearted smile. “Are you happy with your life?”
“Yeah, I guess so. Definitely don’t miss those days” Lucas said with the shake of his head. While there were a lot of positive memories with his friends and family, he knew that he went down a very slippery slope that could have turned out a lot worse. The only positive was how different his relationship with Isobel seemed to transform from high school and now. “I get that birth is a beautiful thing but looks pretty fucked up to me” He cringed slightly, not faulting her for her decision. “Yeah, I think I’m happy. I mean things could be a lot worse” He answered. After all, he wasn’t dead or in jail, that was enough for someone like him to be happy. “Alright since that new life doesn’t sound so bad, where would you like to jet off to then?” He asked with the raise of his brow, a bit curious as to what her answer would be. If he had to guess, probably somewhere a lot bigger than Wilmington.
It was a loaded question but in all reality… the answer to it was yes. Mateo was brought up with strong convictions – convictions that were not easily challenged and he hadn’t had a chance to question them, nor did he want that. It was the one part of him that he was still unwilling to give up on. It was the loyalty in his blood that made him unable to see it any other way. ‘’I think that… maybe he had valid reasons, but none of those reasons were somethin’ we couldn’t tackle together. Simple as that.’’ He shrugged, but then winced at the freshly fixed up wound; a reminder. ‘’He’s here now.’’ He repeated. ‘’What about those months that he wasn’t here and he could’ve been dead in a ditch somewhere? Or could’ve been drinkin’ beer and playin’ poker with our enemies? There’s no fucking trust there, not at all, not once you take off with club secrets.’’ He shook his head, but he doubted that his point was going to come across as reason to Lucas. They didn’t see it the same way. His evasive response caused Mateo to actually look up at the President again. ‘’It does matter,’’ He maintained. ‘’So why can’t you answer it?’’ He couldn’t deny that there was a misplaced anger bubbling up in there, but he was incredibly bothered by Owen’s words. Bothered probably didn’t even come close to it. Hurt was more likely. ‘’Do you want the truth?’’
Lucas often saw him and Mateo as two sides of the same coin. They were both obedient to a fault, meticulous in their plans, and turned to reason in times of distress. It was what made them work together so well and what made them natural leaders. However, it was beginning to dawn on Lucas that perhaps they did have one difference –– their ability to forgive. People within the club might’ve thought that Lucas threw everyone a forgiveness card –– Sydney, Owen, and anyone else who wronged the club and were still alive to talk about it. Lucas might have had his reasons for each case but it was clear those reasons didn’t seem to line up with Mateo, not this time around. “You think you’re the only one who was pissed off during those months? You weren’t. But I was never worried about him tellin’ our secrets or forgetting about all of us. Because he didn’t, not really anyway” Did Lucas wanna punch FItz for never calling and checking in? Absolutely. Despite that, Lucas never stopped trusting the guy and he thought that Mateo could say the same but it seemed like it was the opposite. Even looking at Mateo now, battered and bruised for his own sake, there was no question that he still trusted Mateo with his life despite their disagreement, but it was becoming more clear that their sense brotherhood was slightly skewed. “Yeah, I do. What’s the truth?” he asked, though there was a part of Lucas that wanted to let things go, to admit their wrongs and move on, it didn’t seem like either of them was on board for that tonight. Lucas didn’t expect to hear anything new, after all, he wasn’t completely ignorant to the chatter amongst the club the last few months but what he really wanted to know was if Mateo agreed with the gossip or if he still remained on his side.
It’d been some time since she dropped in and paid Lucas a visit, so, taking note of it being fairly quiet on the inside, she had decided to just that. And with goodies, for that matter. The brunette carrying a bag of baked deliciousness from a few blocks over. “I come bearing snacks, Luc.” She confirmed, smiling to herself as she did so, assuming he was probably out back, considering he wasn’t obviously within her eyeline. So, making her way over to the chair, she decided to take a seat, the normal kind, not the kind that would potentially leave her coming out with a tattoo, that is. Thankfully, it hadn’t taken long for the blonde male to emerge, causing the woman to rise to her feet as she held up the bag, rustling within her grasp as she did so. “If you’ve already eaten, that’s tough. ‘Cause you will be eating more.” This, the woman who could easily out-eat truckers triple her size, and proud of it for that matter.
With no more clients in the appointment book for the day, Lucas decided to sit in the back office and finish up some sketches. He managed a few before the bell on the door and the familiar voice rang through the building. Shutting his sketchbook closed, Lucas eventually made his way back out to the front of the studio to notice Cleo sitting quite comfortably in one of the chairs. Letting out a sigh as he crossed his arms over his chest, Lucas shook his head at her, “Why is everyone ‘round here trying to feed me?” He asked with the raise of his brow. It was mostly rhetorical and mostly meaningless since a few seconds after he spoke he was reaching over to grab the bag of baked goods. Soon enough his face was stuffed with cookies and he found his curiosity still lingering, “Alright so why are you sulking around here anyway. Thought you’d be off at The Hideaway with Bree or somethin’” Unless Bree had already taken the new job then that would surely explain it.
“You’ll get over it, I’m sure.” Isobel said with a sly grin on her lips as she peered over at him once more at the mention of the playboy mansion. “For a day, maybe. Could be fun. Maybe you’d spend your last few minutes in an orgy. Though, that might be enough to kill you on its own.” Pushing a strand from her face, she nodded her head and lifted her pinky as if to signal that she was ready to pinky swear on it. He wore black and leather pretty well that she felt she didn’t actively want to change his style. At least not yet. Shockingly, he turned down the concept of marriage and children. Somehow, she’d always expected for some girl to finally wear the male down. “That doesn’t sound half bad. At least you’ll have a dozen of bitches. Maybe even better than the playboy.” She teased as she hoisted herself back up on the nearby bench. When he echoed the same question, she let out an exhale. “I’d marry the right guy if he came along.” As of right now, she’d only seen that with two people. “I can’t my head around kids so I’ll have to say no to that.” Chewing on the inside of her cheek, she thought up another question. “Biggest regret?”
“I don’t know, doesn’t sound as appealing to me now as it did ten years ago” Lucas shrugged his shoulders. Perhaps that was a testament to how much he had grown over the last decade or maybe half-naked women in a mansion just weren’t his last dying wish. “Yeah, and I take it the right guy hasn’t come along” Otherwise she’d be taken up for sure. “Yeah, I figured you weren’t a kids person, they’re always sticky and never shut up, sounds like your worst nightmare actually” Lucas added with a faint laugh, only half-joking. “I don’t have any regrets. Life’s too short for ‘em” Lucas answered straight away. He used to think he had a lot of them but the older he got the more he realized it was best to live in the present and make up for the past. Thinking of another question, Lucas went silent for a moment before asking Isobel, “You ever think you could leave Wilmington for good? I don’t know, like start a new life somewhere else?” He asked the same question he had been asking himself lately.
The weather was pretty forgiving and Isaac took the time to just sit back and watch the people go by, trying to get a closer look at it all. Sometimes when you were in it, you couldn’t get the full picture, so stepping back was a great way to figure out what was really going on. The people were pleasant, living their own American dream and often it seemed a little too good to be true from where he was sat. As a particular guy walked past him, he heard something thud to the ground and catch his attention. “Hey,” he called out, pointing to the fallen item. “You dropped that.”
Lucas was on his way back to the tattoo studio after grabbing lunch with some of his biker buddies down the street. Walking past the busy downtown area, Lucas lit up a cigarette and figured he’d take a quick break on the corner to finish up his smoke before returning to work. Somehow Lucas managed to let his receipt from the copper penny and loose change slip out of his pocket when he pulled out his lighter, which was brought to his attention by a stranger, “It’s alright. It ain’t important” Lucas responded with the shrug of his shoulders, “Want one?” He asked, extended the box of Marlboro’s to him.
“Jesus,” Owen scoffed with the shake of his head, though he was far from surprised seeing as social media was running rampart with that bullshit nowadays. Maybe it was because Owen was overall a pessimistic kind of a guy, or because he was overtly religious, but he found the whole thing laughable. “Don’t see how a bunch of stars are gonna tell me things about myself that I don’t already know – and to get a tattoo of it? That’s some voodoo shit, man.” Now he was just complaining to complain, but what else was one to expect from the eldest Fitzpatrick? “Ha-ha, funny. Seriously, though, kid needs a hobby other than poker ‘n askin’ me every five minutes to take their shirt off at work to get tips – so, tread lightly,” he smirked. He loved Jamie, and of course he supported him no matter what, but there came a time where Owen wondered when he was finally going to go off on his own path. It was no secret that the deli was more of his baby that Jamie’s, and while he wasn’t about to push him out, he was curious when the other shoe would drop. “You’re tellin’ me, man. Can’t even talk her down, she’s a stubborn woman.” He shook his head, knowing that Lucas knew his family probably as much as he did, having grown up around the craziness alongside of him even if they didn’t share the name. Pressing his lips together, Owen nodded at his friend’s declaration, glad that he still trusted him enough to share official business even if the other guys probably wouldn’t have been happy with it. At the end of the day, he was still a Dark Skull at heart and he’d never do anything to betray the ones who gave him so much in his life. “Atta boy,” he concurred. “You’ve been watchin’ him all these years, workin’ on the inside. You know what shit flies and what doesn’t, what needs to be worked on.” It was the truth, at least as far as Owen is concerned. “They should be damn lucky to have you leadin’ ‘em, Reeves. Seriously. And John should be countin’ his fuckin’ blessings that his son ain’t a headass.”
It was hard not to laugh at Owen’s take on the astrology tattoos, but truth be told, it was closer to how Lucas felt about the whole ordeal as well. However, turning away customers when you were a small business, to begin with, was frowned upon so despite the fact that he thought it was stupid or beneath him, Lucas did it anyway. “What? You don’t believe your fate is defined by a bunch of stars in the sky?” He said sarcastically with a chuckle, “You already sound like your Ma now, too.” Didn’t they say you turned into your parents when you got older? Because it seemed to be ringing a bit true in both of their cases now. “Well, we’ve got a strict no shirt, so shoes, no service policy around here. If he can abide by that then he’d fit in perfectly” Lucas hoped at least. Jamie always seemed a bit scattered but he figured if he took an interest in the process and the art then perhaps all his focus could go into that and he’d find himself in less trouble. While Lucas had all the dark skulls bikers to look after, that same brotherhood was extended to not only Owen but Jamie as well. In the end, they were family, no patch could tell them otherwise. Continuing with the tattoo gun, Lucas was happy to be able to chat with his friend since it seemed like they didn’t do much of that ever since Owen had left the group. Suffice it to say, Lucas missed having him around. Ever since he had taken over, Lucas had been through the wringer. Members questioned his leadership and his orders, doubted his intentions, some even went as far as to alert John about it. However, in the last few months, Lucas liked to think he earned his place at the top and it was nice to hear that Owen thought so too. It was that appreciation that caused the faint smile on Lucas’s features to light up, “Yeah well, you know John, loves finding the bad in everything instead of the good. It’ll be fine. Pretty sure the only thing I gotta worry about right now is Mateo” He sighed, “You really didn’t help talkin’ all that shit to him by the way. Do me a favor, just make things right with him, okay?” It was probably a big ask since it meant putting aside his pride, but Lucas needed to nip this issue in the bud before it began to rot within the group.
