Free Steel Me Away by Vivian Lux

looked pleased, but Lupe pouted.  "Call me first," she simpered and shrieked giddily when Crash smacked her ass as she walked away.
    Allison emerged from the kitchen, carefully balancing a handful of drinks.  "Hey, what the fuck?" she called when she saw her friends leaving.
    "Party's over ladies," Case barked, clapping his hands like a schoolteacher.  "Out, out out."
    J. grinned at the shocked and scandalized reactions of the girls when Emmy emerged from the kitchen.  She was carrying two drinks.  One for her and one for him, he suddenly realized. 
    "Fuck," he sighed.
    "Yeah," Case agreed.  "Want me to be the heavy?"
    J. was momentarily tempted.  It would certainly be easier to just hang back and let Case throw her out.  "Naw man, I gotta tell her.  Not sure where she's gonna go though."
    "She can sit in the office, long as she keeps the door closed," Teach piped up and J. felt a rush of gratitude.
    Emmy sidled up to him and slipped the drink into his hand.  "Is the party over already?" she asked, taking a sip of her cup.  There was a note to her voice that he couldn't quite place as happy or sad.
    "Em, is there anywhere you can go?" he blurted, then cursed himself.  He knew very well that she didn't.  Why the fuck did he have to poke that wound?
    She looked at him sharply over the rim of her cup, but deliberately finished the sip of her drink.  "Actually no, J." she hissed sarcastically when she was through.  "I pretty much don't.  Thanks for asking."
    He deserved that sarcasm.  He knew he did.  But he didn't have time to hash out all the reasons why.  The meeting was going to start very soon.  He could see the rest of the Sons gathering in the corner of the garage.  Doctor D. was dragging a folding chair across the cement floor, its metal shrieks echoing off the high ceiling.  J. could feel their impatience.  He should be over there already.
    "I'm sorry," he replied hastily.  "I shouldn't have said that."  She huffed her acknowledgment and he pressed on.  "You need to get out of here though.  Club meeting.  Teach says you can wait in the office."
    "You're kicking me out?"  It wasn't so much a question as a bland statement of fact.  And she didn't seem upset so much as disappointed. 
    And that made him angry.  "I'm not kicking you out, I just told you, you can go sit in the office.  Just close the door."
    "And do what, wait for you to be done?"
    J. heard the tapping of a booted foot on the ground. Impatiently he spat back at Emmy.  "Yeah.  Wait.  What's the problem, did you have some other plans I didn't know about?"
    The minute he said it, he regretted it.  Her blue eyes widened in shock at the low blow, but J. couldn't help her now.  "Emmy, just fucking go wait for me already.  You're lucky Teach is even letting you be in the building right now."
    "That's just it, right?  You're letting me stay here.  Fuck," she laughed bitterly.  "Nothing has fucking changed."
    "You stop that shit," J. growled.  "Don't you fucking lump me in with that asshole."
    "And why not?" Emmy's voice was shaking.  Two spots of color flamed in her pale cheeks.  J. recognized the air of trapped desperation.  He hadn't seen it since he'd taught her to fight.  He looked down at her tiny hands and grimaced when he saw they were balled tightly at her sides.  He wondered briefly if she was about to hit him, but instead she just laughed hysterically.  "I took back control of my life from one guy only to hand it over to another." She shook her head, her platinum hair falling loose and unnoticed into her face.  "What a fucking joke I am.  How pathetic can I get?"
    "You stop that shit," J. hissed again and shot a look over to where his brothers sat.  Case raised an impatient eyebrow and J. felt his fury rise.  All he wanted to do was have her leave the fucking room, how hard was that? "Just go.  Find someplace else to be for the time being."
    She sniffed back her tears and straightened her shoulders.  J.