The Club

Layla POV

As we pulled into the Den's parking lot, I felt the familiar spread of anxiety in my stomach and heart. I hoped that all of my father's and brother's friends would like me. I knew that I wasn't like them mostly due to my mom forcing me to be someone I'm not. I'm sick of being the perfect girl and I needed to find out who I truly am. I was hoping that this move would help me with that. I didn't want to be a completely new person just a more authentic one.

I noticed how full the parking lot was, there were a few cars and trucks but it was mostly full of motorcycles. Leo parked next to dad and we took our helmets off and got off the bikes. I took off Leos jacket and handed it back to him. He frowned at me. As we walked in, Leo must have noticed my anxiety or maybe he was feeling the same way because he grabbed my hand and held it.

Dad opened the door for us and we all walked in. I swear that everyone stopped talking as they looked at us.

"Everyone, this is my daughter, Layla. Layla these are the Watchmen and friends. She is living with Leo and I now so I would appreciate it if we could all treat her like family, because she is." Dad announced. Everyone stared at me for a moment. A middle age man rushed forward and smiled at me.

"Layla is a Watchman by blood and deserves to be treated as such." He announced. Everyone else cheered as the man looked down at me and held out his hand.

"It's wonderful to meet you, Layla. I'm Luke, the leader of this ragtag bunch. I'm sorry for everyone staring but after hearing about you for nine years without seeing you, we were all beginning to believe that Bear and Leo made you up."

I shook his hand and said, "It's nice to meet you, Luke. Thanks for watching out for my Dad and Brother. I know that they are a couple of troublemakers."

Luke laughed and said, "That they are. Hopefully they will finally calm down now that you are here."

"Or now there are three of us to make trouble" I said with a shrug.

"You are going to fit right in around here, I can tell. Please let me know if you have any problems." Luke said.

"I will. Thank you." I said with a smile.

Luke and Dad took me around and introduced me to lots of people, mostly guys while Leo went to sit with Sally and the group we met at the Diner. Everyone was very welcoming and kind.

As I was talking with a guy named Tiny, I noticed I dark haired boy at the end of the bar, staring at me. I looked at him and we made eye contact. I noticed his deep blue/green eyes. I blushed and looked down. I looked over to see if I could find Leo and saw him chatting with Eve. I noticed Vander looking at me and I smiled at him. He grinned a beautiful grin back. For a small town, Porter sure had plenty of hot guys.

What was I thinking? I wasn't here to scope guys and I definitely didn't need a love life this year. After my nightmare of a last boyfriend, I was off relationships for a while. I was here to reconnect with my dad and brother plus I really needed to concentrate on academics and extra things to make my college applications look good. I already had early acceptance to one of my choice schools in New York but it never hurt to have more options.

I looked away from Vander and continued talking to Tiny who was actually quiet large and in his thirties. He was telling my about a garage that a Watchman owned that was looking for a part time mechanic. I had worked as a mechanic in Chicago and I needed to get a job around here.

"His Dad owned it but just retired so he took it over. He's only 19 so his dad still helps him oversee it. Let me see if I can find them" Tiny said as he looked around.

"Oh, there they are! Hawk! Gunner! Come here, there's someone I want you to meet."

"This is Layla, Bear's kid. Layla this is Hawk and Gunner." I shook their hands. They were both blond haired and blue eyed. Hawk looked to be in his late 50's and Gunner was a handsome 19 year old with a mess of longer blond hair. Of course. Was anyone ugly in this town?

"Layla was working at a auto shop in Chicago and is looking for a part time job here. I know that you are looking for some extra help." Tiny said as my Dad came over to stand next to me.

"Hmm. We could use a receptionist" Gunner began and I sighed.

Dad started laughing and explained, "She is great at organizing things but you would be wasting her talent at a desk. She's the best mechanic I've ever seen. I started teaching her when she was five and by the time she was seven, she knew more than me. She's a certified mechanic."

"Really?" Gunner looked doubtful but Hawk nodded.

"Come by the shop Monday and we'll give you a try." Hawk said and I smiled.

"Thanks. I'll be there." I replied.

Leo came over and nodded at them. "Hi Hawk, Gunner. What's going on?" he asked.

"We were just offering you sister a trial job at the shop" Hawk explained.

"What! Are you sure, Layla? What about school?" Leo exclaimed.

"I think that I can handle it. I worked at a few different shops in Chicago and was fine." I said with a frown.

"What shops did you work at?" Gunner asked. I listed off the last three and Hawk nodded.

"I know those shops. A couple of those are run by some rough guys." Hawk said and I nodded.

"That's why I worked at a few before finding the right fit." I left out the fact that I usually left because either a coworker or customer would say inappropriate things to me or make a pass at me.

"Steve is a good guy, though." Hawk said referring to my last boss.

I nodded and said, "I agree, that's why I stayed the for the last year and a half. I was sad to leave. Steve offered to give me a reference so if you want to call him, he could tell you all about me."

Hawk nodded and said, "If you can handle Steve's shop, you should be fine at ours. We don't get nearly as many customers and it's mostly bikes"

"Bikes are my specialty." I said. I told them about a few of my favorite repairs that I had done and we traded shop stories. Even Gunner looked impressed but Leo just frowned.

After a few minutes Leo grabbed my arm and said, "I need to speak with my sister for a minute." He pulled me aside into a dark corner.

"What's wrong with you?" I demanded.

Leo glared at me and said, "I don't want you to work with Gunner. He's a player. He isn't a guy that you need to spend time with."

I was about to lay into him when I heard a dark voice say, "I get the impression that Layla can take care of herself" I turned to see the dark haired boy from the bar standing close behind me.

"Finn, this isn't any of your business." Leo said angrily and stepped toward him. I put my hand on Leos chest.

"Stop, Leo. I'll be fine, okay? I promise to tell you if anything happens, deal?" Leo looked at me and sighed.

"Fine" he spat and stomped away.

"I'm Finn. Leo and I are friends, sometimes at least." Finn said.

"He told me all about you. You're the writer, right?" I said and he nodded.

"You are on the school paper? Are you looking for any writers? I used to be the editor of my old school's paper." I asked.

"Of course! No one else around here seems to be interested in the power of the written word." he replied, happily.

I smiled and said, "Great! Oh and FYI, don't ever try to get in between me and my brother again. As you said, I can take care of myself and I don't need a hero." I walked over to Leo and his other friends.

Finn followed me over and I noticed a smirk on his face. Everyone greeted us and Sally introduced me to yet another two gorgeous dark haired guys named Jake and Hart.

"It's nice to meet you, Layla. Leo talks about you all the time but he never mentioned how beautiful you are." Jake said.

I blushed and said, "Nice to meet you too."

Hart smiled and said, "I love your hair. You have to show me what conditioner you use."

I smiled and said, "Thanks. I will"

Vander ran and pulled up another chair and offered it to me.

"Thanks, Vander." I said with a smile. He smiled back and I noticed that he put my chair right next to his. Finn grabbed another chair and put it on the other side of mine and sat down. I smirked and noticed Leo glare at both of them.

"So Layla, what are your plans for this week?" Vander asked.

"Just settling in and unpacking really although I just got a trial job at Hawk and Gunner's shop on Monday." I explained.

"Really?" Eve asked.

"She did although I'm not happy about it. To be honest, she's a great mechanic, I just don't want her around Gunner that much." Leo said with a frown.

I shook my head and said, "Leo, relax, I'll be fine." He rolled his eyes and muttered. We all laughed at him.

"You know that you're being ridiculous, right?" I continued, "I've been without you for nine years in Chicago and guess what? I was fine."

"She's right" Sally said

"Plus she already has all of us to help her out if she needs it" Vander added.

"That's what I'm afraid of" Leo mumbled.

"So Layla, the girls and I were planning on going to the mall tomorrow, do you want to join us?" Hart asked.

"That would be great, thanks!" I said.

"I need some clothes, can I come, too?" Vander asked and Eve nodded and said, "Sure"

"Why don't we all go?" Finn asked and Sally turned and stared at him.

"You never want to go to the mall!" she said.

He shrugged and said, "School starts soon and I figured that we all need some clothes or something" he mumbled.

Keri shrugged and said, "We can all squeeze in my car from the car service. Let's all meet at the Diner for breakfast around 9?" We all agreed.

After talking for a bit, Leo, Jake, Vander and Sally all got up to play pool. I got up to get a drink from the bar and Finn followed me over.

After getting our drinks, we sat down and he looked over at me and said, "I'm sorry if I offended you earlier. I love to bug Leo and saw an opportunity"

I chuckled and said, "Yeah. I get that. I do the same thing."

He looked over at me and said, "I'm glad that you're here. Leo really does talk about you all the time. I feel like I already know you."

I nodded and replied, "He's a great brother but we haven't lived together for nine years. Hopefully we won't end up killing each other."

Finn smiled and said, "I'm betting that you will have some epic fights but it's obvious that you love each other so it will all work out."

"I hope so" I said.

We talked for a long while. I was surprised to find out how deep and smart Finn was under his layer of sarcasm and snark. We compared favorite books, authors, movies and music and found that we had many of them in common. As we talked, we leaned closer and closer to each other. Suddenly, the music kicked on and it got really loud in the bar.

"Do you want to come outside so we can hear each other?" Finn said in my ear and I nodded. I followed him out and we sat on the curb a bit away from the door.

"That's better" I said and he nodded.

"Sorry, they always put on the music when it gets later." he said.

"It's okay. I needed some fresh air anyways. Plus I was getting kind of sick of everyone staring at me. Do I have something on my face or something?" I asked.

Finn chuckled and replied, "I think that you surprised us all. You aren't what we pictured."

I shrugged and said, " I get that a lot." He smiled and I shivered. He took off his jacket and put it around me.

"It's okay, I'm fine" I said but he insisted.

"We can't have you catch a cold on your first day here, princess." He scooted closer and leaned in. He told me all about the paper and his book that he was writing. We kept getting closer and closer, like magnets. I couldn't help it. I shivered again and Finn looked worried.

"Are you still cold?" he asked.

"A little but it's alright. I don't want to go in yet." I said.

He grinned and said, "Well, maybe I can help." Before I could react, he put an arm around me and pulled me so I was sitting between his legs with his arms around me.

"Is that better?" he whispered and I shivered for a completely different reason.

He noticed and smirked darkly. I leaned back into his chest and felt his chiseled chest even through the jacket. He pulled me closer and I felt butterflies in my stomach.

"There you two are." I looked over to see Fangs standing at the door.

"Leo is looking everywhere for you, Layla." Tom informed us.

I shook my head and said, "Shit! I better go" Finn got up and helped me up. We walked back into the bar with Tom and Leo rushed up to me.

"Where did you go? I was worried." he demanded. All the rest of his friends came over.

"Calm down, I was outside with Finnie. We were talking and it got too loud in here" I said and Finn grinned. I didn't mean to let the pet name slip out.

" 'Finnie' huh? Is that who's jacket you're wearing?" Leo asked

"She got cold. It's no big deal" Finn shrugged.

"Speaking of. Thanks, Finn." I took off his jacket and handed it back to him. He smirked and took the jacket. He then put it back on my shoulders.

"Nah, it's cold out and you need it, Princess. Keep it, I'll get it from you tomorrow." he whispered and I smiled.

"Plus, it looks good on you, doesn't it, Vander?" he continued in a louder voice.

"Umm yeah, I guess" Vander mumbled while Jake and Leo glared at Finn.

"Come on, I'm tired" I said to Leo. We found Dad and headed out after saying our good byes. We drove home and I got ready for bed quickly. I flopped down on my bed and fell into a deep sleep