Chapter 1

Walking down the street, my duffle on my back, trying to find somewhere to hide for the night. A little ways off the road is a building. Maybe I can hide behind the dumpsters there. Hiking towards the building, I toss my duffle over the fence and slip though. Picking up my duffle, I see some vehicles outside so I slip to the side of the building and out of sight before being seen. I slip behind one of the dumpsters and hunker down for the night. I sleep with one eye opened and am gone before the sun comes up. Sneaking out of the fence, I walk around town looking inside dumpsters to find something to eat.

I spend the day walking around and before the sun goes down, I go back to the same building and toss my duffle over the fence again and slip back through and slip to the side of the building again and to the dumpsters thinking no one was there. This time I was wrong. Hiding behind the dumpsters again, I hunker down and start to doze off, using my duffle as my pillow.

I'm startled awake feeling someone trying to pull my jeans down. I start to fight back and start to scream and the guy covers my mouth. I bite his hand and he punches me. All of a sudden he's being pulled off of me and pinned against the wall and another man is in front of me. "Are you okay?" he asks and I back away from him and against the dumpster behind me. "What's your name?" he asks and I don't answer. "I'm EZ. We're not going to hurt you." he says. I see a couple of other guys walk away carrying the guy that attacked me and I start to stand up. A man walks up beside me and EZ and asks "What's your name sweetheart?" I look at him and he has a patch that says Presidente on his leather kutte and I don't look him in the eyes and softly say "Charley." EZ walks back over to the other men and another one walks over and he has a patch that says El Pacificador. He's tall, broad and tattooed with a crew cut. "Charley, I'm Bishop and this is Hank. What are you doing out here?" Bishop asks. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been here. Please just let me go and you won't see me again." I almost beg. "Hey, we're not going to hurt you. What were you doing out here?" Hank asks. Looking down, I say "I've been sleeping behind the dumpsters for the last couple of nights but I promise I won't do it again." I say. "It's okay. Do you have anywhere else to go tonight?" Bishop asks. "I'll figure it out." I say but still don't look at him. "Stay here a minute." Bishop says and he calls EZ over and says "Stay with Charley." He nods and Bishop and Hank walk over to the rest of the guys that are there.

Over to the side, Bishop tells the guys, "We can't just leave her out here." The guys are quiet for a minute and then Hank says "I'll claim her." The guys look at him shocked and he says "Tired of being alone and she needs a home." Bishop smirks and says "All in favor of Hank claiming our new friend?" he asks and everyone raises their hands in agreement. "Go get your Old Lady." Bishop tells him. Hank walks back over to me and he's alone. "Head over prospect." he tells EZ and he walks away. "Are you letting me go?" I ask. "We can't just let you go knowing you don't have anywhere to go so I claimed you with my club." he tells me. I look at him shocked but say "You don't have to. I'll figure it out." He shakes his head and says "Look, I've been alone for a long time. Tired of being alone and you need somewhere to stay. We both get what we need." he says. I look at him for a minute and ask "Are you sure?" He nods. "Okay then." I say. I hold out my hand and say "I'm Charley Hastings." He shakes my hand and says "Hank Loza" He picks up my duffle and carries it to his bike. Tossing it to the EZ, who ties it to his bike, Hank gets on his bike and hands me his helmet. Putting it on, I get on behind him, wrapping my arms around him, we head to my new home.