Page 63 of Pumpkin
Frankie had been able to snag one of the rare tables available in the crowd and had saved a seat for Dosia. JJ was sitting on her lap with a coloring book and Frankie was feeding SJ some mashed pears and carrots. Other ol’ ladies had been around and would greet Frankie, but none of them looked twice at Dosia. She didn’t feel ignored or slighted by that. Most likely, they thought she was a random woman who had taken a seat next to Frankie. It wasn’t like she was wearing a cut like they were. She noticed a number of kids and teenagers with denim cuts too, including Scotty.
“Does a denim cut mean something different?” Dosia asked Frankie. “The ladies’ cuts are leather but they both say ‘Property of’ on the back.”
“I don’t know if there’s a specific reason why, but denim is for the club kids and leather is for the members, prospects, and ol’ ladies. Before Sissy, Lucky’s daughter, became an ol’ lady herself, her cut was also denim even though she was an adult. Same with Steel and Jenna’s adult kids, though I rarely see them wearing them, even at club parties.”
Dosia nodded. “But you don’t have one?”
Frankie shook her head. “I’m an employee, not a member.”
“Doesn’t seem right,” Dosia said, shaking her head. “If someone was to look at you, they would have no idea you’re protected by the club or have a club kid with you.”
Frankie bobbed her head side to side. “Fair point, but also not like I’d ever ask for something like that.”
“I will,” Dosia stated boldly. “As soon as I’m an official ol’ lady, it’s the first thing I’ll ask for.”
Frankie gave her a sweet smile. “Youarean official ol’ lady.”
“I don’t have a cut,” Dosia pointed out. “Neither does JJ.”
“Pumpkin has them,” Frankie told her. “They came in weeks ago.”
Dosia frowned. “He seems really intent on keeping me away from the club. Do you know why?” Pumpkin had asked her on a date and had even kissed her earlier, but he never introduced her to any of the club. Not even the couple they met outside the pony ring.
Frankie scraped what little was left inside the baby food jar before lifting the spoon to SJ’s mouth. “Pumpkin’s been through a lot recently. I know something’s going on with him and his club brothers. In a weird way, they don’t pick on him like they used to.” At Dosia’s raised eyebrow, Frankie rolled her eyes. “It’s like their love language or something. I don’t get it either, but I know it’s getting to Pumpkin. He thinks they’re babying him.” Frankie’s expression turned guilt-ridden. “I get where he’s coming from because I was doing it too, in the beginning. The night we met you at the restaurant, he confronted me and asked me to stop. I honestly hadn’t even realized I’d been doing it, but I can see now how it might have upset him.”
Dosia nodded slowly. “And you think my presence in the club will change that?”
“I’ve only been around for a little over a year. From what I’ve seen in that time, a lot changes when one of them claims an ol’ lady. And the club is big and boisterous. They can also be extremely nosy. I think Pumpkin wanted to wait until the two of you were an actual couple before he said anything. Otherwise, he’d never know if you wanted to be with him for him or if you felt pressured by the others to be with him.”
Dosia looked towards the stage where the lady with the microphone was trying to talk up her own son to the women bidding below. Her eyes narrowed when the man flexed his enormous muscles and she saw a wedding band on his hand. “Isn’t he married?”
“Oh, yeah.” Frankie chuckled. She looked around until she saw a willowy redhead in the shade of a tree and pointed. The woman was surrounded by other women in leather cuts. They had a large blanket on the ground where toddlers and infants played. “That’s Abby. Trust me when I say, there’s no danger to their marriage here.”
Dosia looked at the woman in question. “She doesn’t seem to mind that her husband is currently getting bid on.”
“First, because Bulldog is so entirely devoted to Abby that there’s not even thepossibilityof him being unfaithful,” Frankie said with a hint of awe in her voice. “Second, because Bulldog is up for labor only, not a date.”
“Ohh,” Dosia let out. “Makes sense.”
“The only reason Lucky put down that he was available for a date was because the entire town knew Scotty would win. He would never actually take another woman on a date.”
The level of devotion the VDMC men showed their women was awe inspiring. Dosia bit the inside of her lip before she admitted, “Pumpkin asked me on a date.”
Frankie spun around, her eyebrows raised. “Well, it’s about damn time. I’m honestly surprised he waited this long.”
“I asked him to,” Dosia sheepishly confessed. “I specifically told him I only wanted to co-parent with him.”
“So when he sleeps over your house, you two aren’t…?” Frankie let the question trail off.
Dosia shook her head, but also kept her mouth shut about what she was internally calling The Bookstore Incident. “We just…talk. But every morning, I wake up to him holding me. I lay really still until he wakes up. Then he scoots away like he doesn’t want me to know he was holding me during the night.”
Frankie nodded slowly. “That’s one reason. Or he is trying to respect your wishes but keeps going to you in his sleep.”
As Bulldog’s bid was won by an elderly woman in a wheelchair, Dosia asked, “Really?”
Her friend shrugged. “It’s a possibility.”
Next up was Pumpkin. Dosia sat up straighter. “Whatever happens, I need to win this bid,” she told Frankie. “I promised him. He thinks all he’s going to get are pity bids.”
