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anactualcaseofthetruth · 4 years

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Friends Can Break Your Heart Too, Chapter 2 > Archive Of Our Own Link

Catch Up - Chapter 1 > Archive Of Our Own Link

Summary: Mia Flores flees to Santo Padre for one reason and one reason only: her godfather and the man who raised her, Bishop Losa. The last thing she expects is for Angel Reyes to come into her chaotic life and just maybe be the one thing that starts to make sense.

NOTE: trigger warning to abuse - the whole scene is in italics if you don’t want to/can’t read it

“Since when you got a kid, Bish?” Coco asks with cigarette smoke leaking from his nose.

Bishop turns to Mia and makes a show of looking her up and down. “Twenty-some odd years or so now.”

“Very funny,” Coco mutters to himself as he steps on the butt of his cigarette.

“You have something to say now that we know this young lady’s relationship to Bishop?” Taza questions while looking down at Coco expectantly.

“Sorry for the shit I said, how I acted. Didn’t know who you were, you know,” he offers half-heartedly.

“I wasn’t being very forthcoming either, but I wanted to surprise him,” Mia replies along with a hip check to her godfather.

Angel chortles in front of her, and she fixes her gaze on him as he takes a long drag from his cigarette. He meets her eyes but says nothing as the white smoke oozes from his mouth and nose.

“Now that we’re all acquainted and in good standing, I think some of us need to get to work,” Taza says with a pointed look at the two younger Mayans.

“God forbid the scrap piles up,” Angel murmurs before brushing past her and towards the scrap yard.

Coco follows, but Taza lingers with the two of them. “You two take some time, we can handle a couple hours without our fearless leader,” the VP offers.

Bishop nods. “Mia, you mind giving us a minute?” he asks in a voice that is almost too polite.

Mia looks around expectantly. “Uh…”

“Clubhouse is open,” Bishop says with a cock of his head. “No one’s in there, help yourself behind the bar.”

Mia lets out a breath of laughter. “Sure,” she agrees and walks up the few stairs to the clubhouse, but doesn’t help herself behind the bar, although it would help with the headache.

It’s exactly what she expects it to be, the clubhouse. There’s a bar, a pool table, various other tables and chairs, Mayan memorabilia adorns the walls, along with posters of scantily clad women. There’s a tattoo chair in one corner, a stripper pole in another, and a stained-glass door Mia knows leads to where they hold Templo.

She’s only alone for a minute or two before Bishop comes in behind her. “Sorry, club shit,” he apologizes as he goes behind the bar himself. He reaches for a beer, then seems to rethink it and puts it back. “Do you… breakfast, maybe?”

Mia shakes her head. “Maybe we should talk first, it has been a while.”

Bishop leans on the bar, his hands folded together. “More than a year since we spoke at least. Almost two since I’ve actually seen you, despite the fact that I’ve been up to Oakland three times to do just that, but since I didn’t know where you lived—”

“I know, I’m an asshole, I’m sorry,” Mia interrupts.

“I call every year on every major holiday, on your birthday, on the anniversary of—”

“I know!” she exclaims. “I know, okay?”

“Come to find that fourteen months ago your number changes, your cell phone account gone completely. You’re not listed anywhere, Esai hadn’t heard from you, you refused to tell me the name of that boyfriend you practically fucking worshipped. The boyfriend, who, if I recall correctly, lead to all this shit happening,” Bishop continues anyways.

“Do not blame this all on me!” Mia surprises herself by screaming. “Yes, I’m the asshole that didn’t call, didn’t reach out, but you made a choice and I—”

“Oh, no, we’re not going there,” Bishop states as he pounds a fist on the bar.

Mia jumps and silently berates herself for it. “You choose her, Bop, you choose her over and over again, every time,” she insists. “And I got fucking sick of it.”

“She’s your mother,” Bishop says quietly.

“Since fucking when?” she asks. “The moment that my,” she stops to clear her throat, “when he died she stopped being my mother and you know it.”

“She tried.”

Mia shakes her head. “I don’t know why I even came here. I should have known it would turn into this. Yes, I made mistakes. Yes, I am wrong for cutting you out, and believe me when I say I hate myself for it, but here we are, once again, and instead of trying to work things out with me you’re still choosing her.”

“She’s your mother, Mia, I’m not choosing—”

“You were my mother!” Mia cuts him off, and he looks up at her in surprise. “You,” she confirms as she steps towards the bar. “You said my prayers with me, you read me books until I fell asleep, you signed me up for dance classes, came to every recital. Jesus Christ, Bop, you had one of the old lady’s teach your how to help with my hair when I started kickboxing and needed it French braided every day.”

Her godfather nods but says nothing in return this time.

“Bop, you were my mother and my father, still are, and I came here because I,” she stops and blinks away tears. “I really do hate myself for cutting you out, please believe that.”

He’s out from behind the bar and she’s in his arms not even a moment later. “Sh, don’t say shit like that, pequeña,” he whispers in her ear.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” she repeats into his kutte.

“I’m sorry too,” he murmurs against the crown of her head before kissing it. “I shouldn’t have let this shit go on for so long.”

Mia pulls away shaking her head. “How could you have patched it up? You couldn’t find me.”

“I guess I taught you a little too well, huh?” he tries to joke, and Mia laughs to make him feel better.

She wishes she could tell him it was all her idea. Wishes she simply got a new phone plan in an effort to hide from him, moved so he couldn’t find her, stopped working so she wouldn’t have a paper trail for him to follow.

But none of it is true.

“I am sorry, Bop,” she insists while wiping the tear tracks from her cheeks.

“C’mon,” he leads her over to a table and pulls out a chair for her. “You didn’t come all this way to apologize, did you? My number hasn’t changed, you could have called, we could have arranged something.”

“No, I did need to come all this way to say sorry. You deserve a face-to-face apology. Respect goes a long way, you taught me that too,” she corrects him.

“We both said shit that day, from what I remember. I’m sorry too. I do…” he trails off and sighs. “I do make your mom a priority, sometimes it might feel like more than I do you, but it’s not true. I know you can take care of yourself, I raised you to be able to. Your mom…” he sighs again, “is a heroin addict and I enable her too much, I know that.”

Mia wants to cry all over again. Because she hasn’t been taking care of herself. Because she hasn’t been acting like the woman he raised. Because if he knew what Jay did to her, what she let him do, he wouldn’t think she could take care of herself so well. He’d be ashamed.

“It’s okay,” she manages.

“No, it’s not. You’re my top priority, always have been and will be. You know that, right?” he asks and for the second time in as many days Mia feels like her heart is lodged in her throat.

Not trusting her voice, Mia simply nods.

Bishop reaches forwards and takes her hands in his. “What’s going on, mija?” he asks in a soft voice. “I am so happy to see you, but you’re here for more than this. I’ve lived here for over five years and you’ve never showed interest in coming down.”

“I’m sure you’ve guessed by now, but me and the boyfriend are no longer a thing,” she confesses. “Just wasn’t working out.”

“He kicked you out?”

Mia almost laughs. “No, I left him, actually. He went on a trip with some friends and I decided to take a permanent one of my own.”

Bishop sighs and scrubs a hand down his face. “You think he’ll come looking? Should I talk to one—”

“No,” she stops him, lying through her teeth. “At least, I don’t think so. I tried to keep him in the dark about the club and Mom, all of it. He wasn’t very interested in my past, more of a look to the future type of guy. He always had plans and ideas and cared a lot about what people thought,” she goes on. “I felt stifled, I guess. I thought I wanted normal, I thought being with someone exactly the opposite of what I grew up with was what I needed. I had just started dating him when Mom OD’ed, again, and you jumped in to save her, again, and I was so angry. I was so angry I wanted away from Oakland, from the MC, all of it.”

“I don’t blame you,” her godfather tells her. “You haven’t had it the easiest, I didn’t shield you from as much as I should have.”

“No, don’t. All the good memories I have from my childhood come from you. It was hard sometimes, but I was loved and I had everything I needed to get through,” she assures him. “It took me almost two years, but I’ve realized I can’t forget who I am or where I came from, and I don’t want to.”

“I’m glad,” Bishop admits and gives her a smile.

“Normal is very overrated, I found out,” she tries to joke. “Boring Christmas parties, stuffy work functions, Sunday brunch at the club. It’s all very pastel and white with fake noses and bad dye jobs.”

“Sounds like scary shit to me, baby,” he insists. “I think I’d rather wear black and drink some beers with my brothers.”

Mia forces a smile. “It was nice in the beginning, I guess. All the restaurants and fancy galas, getting to dress up for more than a funeral or a court date, nice cars and all that, but,” she shakes her head as she thinks about it, “it was all a lie. That’s not who I am, and it took me too long to realize that’s not who I want to be either.”

“We all go through shit, Mia,” Bishop reminds her. “You didn’t choose this life, you were born into it, raised in it. It makes sense you wanted a taste of another life. I’m just glad you decided the old one was worth hanging on to.”

“It is,” she promises him quietly. “It’s a memory of you that make me realize I was in over my head, was living a life I wasn’t meant for and being someone I wasn’t.”

“A good one, I hope.”

“I was, uh,” Mia starts while staring at nicks in the table. “I was going through some shit from when I was a kid, pictures and stuff,” she partially lies. “And I found that one of me on my first bike the day you got it for me, do you remember?”

Bishop chuckles and nods. “It took me an hour to get you on it, then three hours to get you off at the end of the day.”

“I remember crying when I realized there were no training wheels and thought that meant I couldn’t ride it,” Mia says with small smile. “But you said I didn’t need training wheels, that I was a big girl, and by the time you were done with me I’d be riding like a pro.”

“And I was right, wasn’t I?” he asks with a proud smile already on his face.

Mia nods. “You usually are. Do you remember what you said the first time I fell?”

Bishop grins at the memory. “We were screaming at each other in the middle of the park. You were six, had pig tails, your arms crossed, and steam coming out of your ears. I really thought I was going to lose the fight there for a minute.”

“You let me fall! I felt betrayed,” Mia defends herself. “But do you remember what you said?”

Bishop lets out a long breath. “I told you life was going to knock you down over and over again, but you had to get up and keep going because that’s how you grow and move on.”

“I think you added something in there about proving all the fuckers who tried to keep me down wrong too,” she teases.

“Yep, I did,” Bishop recalls in a laugh.

“And then you told me,” Mia goes on, “that when I felt like I’d been knocked down one too many times and I couldn’t get back up all I had to do was turn around,” she says as tears fill her eyes again. “All I had to do was turn around because you’d be there to help me up and remind me how strong I was. Do you remember that?”

Bishop simply nods and squeezes her hands.

“I realized I got knocked down a while ago, and I needed help getting back up,” she tells him. “I’m sorry if it’s a bad time or if I messed up anything for you and the club—”

“Stop,” he orders, his tone firm. “You will never be a problem, you understand me? Never.” He brushes a tear off her cheek. “And I’m here, always, just tell me what you need.”

“I think I just,” she stops to sniffle, “I think I just need my dad to pick me up and tell me everything will be okay, and maybe a place to stay for a while. I don’t have much money or,” she’s cut off by Bishop’s arms wrapping around her.

“Don’t worry about any of that,” he tells her.

“I realized I wasn’t being the woman you raised me to be. I was trying to be someone else because I was so angry, and I don’t want to be angry anymore.”

Bishop holds her tighter. “Everything is going to be fine. I’ve got you now.”

Mia just lets herself be held by him like she did that day at the park when she fell again and again, hoping that when he lets her go she’ll be ready to stand up again.

~3 weeks ago~

Mia doesn’t even attempt to get up from where he left her on the floor, and instead curls into a ball. Ignoring the little pieces of glass piercing her skin, not caring about the blood threatening to seep into her eyes, and struggling for each breath, she just waits.

It’s less than ten minutes when she hears glass crunch underneath his shoes and smoke fills the air. The smell makes the tension she’s holding in her shoulders alleviate the smallest bit. Smoking usually means he’s done, that the battle is over.

“What am I going to do with you?” comes from above her. His voice is hoarse now, as it usually is after he’s spent hours yelling.

A hand slips into her hair and Mia can’t help but shrink away from his touch, but that doesn’t stop him or seem to bother him.

“Hm? Any ideas?” he asks with his hand still caressing her hairline.

When she still doesn’t answer he blows the skunk smoke in her face causing her to cough. She wants to tell him that his dealer sucks, his weed is weak, but stays quiet. It’s safer that way.

“Maybe I should get you pregnant again, huh?” he wonders aloud, his free hand now cupping her stomach, and at this she physically recoils. Jay pulls on her hair, hard, to tug her back in place. She winces at the little pieces of glass that are now embedded in her flesh. “But I can’t trust you with that, can I? Since you killed the last one.”

“It wasn’t a baby,” she mutters and waits for the pain, but none comes. “It was cells—”

“It was my baby,” he corrects her as his grip tightens on her curls. “It wasn’t cells or yours to decide what to do with. It was mine. You hear me?”

Mia’s eyes fill with tears because he’s wrong, he’s so wrong. She was barely eight weeks and it could have been a baby, her baby, but she couldn’t let it become that. Not with this father, not this life, not if she could help it.

He stands, accepting her silence as both cowardice and surrender. “No, I think we have some growing and learning to do before you have my baby,” he sighs, disappointed she doesn’t already know her place. “If you think this is going to ruin my trip, you’re wrong,” he says with the joint hanging out of his mouth as he reaches into his pocket. He drops a credit card and wad of cash on her. “This shit better be cleaned up by the time I get home, you hear me? Like it never happened.”

Mia only nods and he walks away back towards the bedroom, probably for his luggage. He was finishing packing when she came home. Of course, he can’t miss the annual weekend golf trip with his frat bros. That would be a shame.

It isn’t until the door closes behind him that Mia breathes easily and lets more tears fall from her eyes.

How the fuck did he find out about the abortion?

She’s gotten most of the glass picked out of her arm when a photo in the mess she’s supposed to clean up catches her eye. All she can make out is the top of her own head and hair of the man who is on her thoughts more than she wants to admit.

Mia’s careful to walk on the small path already cleared with the broom in her barefeet as she approaches the broken curio cabinet and reaches for the picture hidden behind all the photos of Jay at his law school graduation.

Her lip quivers as she looks down at the man who raised her, his arms around her as she sits on a purple bike with teal tires and handlebars, her favorite colors at the time. She looks so happy, innocent, unbroken.

It’s probably the only picture of her past in the entire house. The rest are all lies—them smiling at business functions, family barbeques, his brother’s wedding. What they don’t show is him squeezing her leg tight under the table in warning for her not to mess up again, a hand digging so hard into her neck it leaves bruises, and a look in his eye that makes her scared to go home.

But the picture in her hand is real. It contains joy, love, and it all feels like a lifetime ago.

Mia stands now, the picture never leaving her hand, and she knows what she has to do, because she remembers who she once was.

~present~

“We should make a list of the shit you need,” Bishop calls from the clubhouse kitchen as he goes to refill both their plates with the scrambled eggs and bacon he made.

Apparently, she isn’t the only Mayan daughter around. Coco has a sixteen-year-old that is in and out of the clubhouse regularly, which means there is more than beer and chips stocked in the kitchen.

“I don’t want you to worry about that. I’ll get a job and get it on my own,” Mia says as he returns.

He sets the plate down in front of her and gives her a look she knows means he isn’t going to lose this one. “Mia, you’re my kid, let me take care of you. We can fight about you paying me back later.”

She tries not to laugh with a forkful of eggs in her mouth. “When you put it that way.”

“You need a phone, right?” he questions, to which she nods as she chews. “I’ll put a call in, get you added to my plan. You can head down and pick out whatever you want this afternoon. You can toss the prepaid one you got. Smart move, by the way,” he adds. “Don’t want the asshole following you because you kept the phone he was paying for.”

“You never even met him, Bop,” she reminds him, then bites her cheek. Why is she defending him? He is an asshole.

“Doesn’t mean I can’t tell he’s an asshole,” he responds and she keeps quiet this time. “I got a room for you at my place, but since you’re staying awhile we’ll get you moved in to this small house I rent out in a few weeks,” he goes on. “It’s a shithole right now, but I’ll put the prospect on it, maybe a few of the guys. We have a warehouse full of shit too, you can go and pick what you want, make the place yours.”

“I hate feeling like a burden,” Mia mumbles.

“You kidding? I’ve been asking you to move down here for years. I’ve got it all worked out up here, baby,” he says with a finger tap to his head. “SPG is always hiring, you’ll have a job there by the end of the week, no problem.”

“SPG?” she questions as she sips at her orange juice. Her headache is gone, finally.

“Santo Padre General,” he fills her in. “If you want, I can put a call in. I know someone, Gracie, she—”

“I really appreciate all you’re doing for me, Bop, but I can get a job on my own,” Mia cuts him off. “Especially as a nurse. I want them to know I can do the job because I’m good at it, not because my dad called someone.”

“Alright, alright,” he mutters before lighting up one of his cigars. He usually only smokes during celebrations and Templo, so she looks at him with her eyebrows raised. “What? I can’t be happy my little girl is here?”

Mia can’t help but smile at him. “I’m happy I’m here too.”

Bishop grins back at her with a pat to her knee.

She looks back at her eggs covered with hot sauce and lets out a shaky breath. This is what she has been working towards for almost three weeks. She’s here, with Bishop, and he knows just enough not to be suspicious. She’s with one of the few people she feels safe with, in a place where she doesn’t have to look over her shoulder all the time because she never told Jay about it. He never cared to know about her ‘ghetto past’ as he liked to call it.

“You alright, pequeña?” he asks, breaking her concentration on the eggs.

“Uh, yeah, I was just thinking,” Mia tells him. “I need one more thing.”

“Name it.”

“The plates on my car, they are kind of fake,” she says before putting more eggs in her mouth.

Bishop takes the cigar from his mouth. “Kind of?” he questions, to which she shrugs. “I’ll have it handled by end of day. That piece of shit Chevy on the curb is yours?”

“No,” Mia orders, seeing the wheels in his head turn. “I don’t need a new car. It’s just old, that’s all. I haven’t really driven it in two years. I was using one of his cars, and I couldn’t very well take it when I’m leaving him, now could I? But the plates were off it, so I had to get new ones to drive it here.”

It’s a lie. It had plates, but Jay knew what they were, and he’d use them to look for her. There are perks to growing up in the MC, she knows quite a few tricks.

“Fine,” he mutters, but she knows it will be one of those fights saved for later.

“I also need to open a bank account,” she adds on. “I closed mine out when I decided to come down here. Figured it’d be easier that way, I mean, there aren’t many of the usual franchises in town.”

“Good call,” Bishop comments. “You look exhausted, mija,” he says a moment later.

“Thank you, that’s just what every girl wants to hear from her father,” she tells him as she finishes off her plate.

“Let’s get you out of here. We’ll stop at the bank and the phone place on the way to my house, then you can sleep the rest of the day, or do whatever shit you want to do.”

“I would not say no to sleeping for the rest of the day,” Mia agrees.

“And I’ve been thinkin’,” he goes on as they stand, “maybe on Sunday we can have a get together here with everyone, so you meet ‘em all. You know Taza and Hank, but not any of my other guys. We can fire up the grill, tell stories of all the shit you put me through as a teen—”

“Hey! I was not that bad,” she insists. “I was never officially charged with anything, anyways,” she corrects herself and he laughs. It’s full and hearty and makes her feel better inside than she has in months.

“You up for it?” he checks as they exit the clubhouse and are once again out in the blinding sunlight. He hands her the sunglasses clipped to his kutte without a word.

She puts them on and beams up at him. “Definitely. It’s been a while since I’ve been to a real clubhouse party. Think any of the guys will want to get in the cage? I haven’t seen a good fight in even longer.”

“Haven’t been in one either, I bet?” he teases. “Use any of those kickboxing skills I paid for lately?”

Mia looks down at the sand underneath their feet. She doesn’t want to tell him she’s been in fights, not the kind he’s talking about, and that she didn’t fight back. In fact, she barely put up one most of the time. “Not in a while, no.”

“I got a bunch of your old gear if you want to get back into it,” he tells her. “There’s some here, some back at the house, but it’s all yours if you want it.”

“You’re such a packrat, Bop,” Mia teases as they stop at the row of bikes.

There is a whistle behind them and they both turn to see Angel walking over, but he doesn’t look happy about it.

“One sec,” Bishop says and meets him halfway.

Mia takes the moment to look at him. Angel, that is. She can’t believe she let that happen last night, hooking up with him in the bathroom. She smiles at the memory though.

How long had it been since she’d done something for herself? Besides the decision to come down here, that is? Too fucking long.

Maybe it was just what she needed—a good time and an even better fuck to remember what she’s fighting for, or rather show her the kinds of things she is missing. Of course, she doesn’t want or need a relationship, he likely doesn’t either, but some fun? She’s definitely down for that. After the hell she’s been through, she thinks she deserves some.

Mia hadn’t been joking or lying when she said he was her angel, because maybe he was. In that moment, he was exactly what she needed, and she doesn’t regret it for a second.

They only speak for a minute, then Bishop is heading towards the scrap yard and Angel is coming towards her. He looks good in his Romero Bros Scrap shirt. The sleeves are cut off and those veins she loves in his arms are popping in all the right places.

“Hey,” she greets while sliding the glasses up into her hair.

“Bish needs to talk to Taza, wants me to keep you company, introduce myself, you know,” he tells her and his voice is much harsher than yesterday. He pulls out his cigarettes and lights one.

“You think we should tell him we already got that out of the way last night?” she asks, and his mouth opens in shock, causing him to almost lose the stick hanging from his lips. “I’m kidding! Calm down, will you?”

“You knew exactly who I was, that I knew your ‘other Dad’,” he says with finger quotes and all. “And you fucking played me.”

“Are you seriously mad at me right now?” she asks. “Which part are you mad about? That I didn’t tell you that you were fucking your president’s daughter or that I let you play up the big, bad biker thing when I already knew all about it? Just so I know for the sake of the argument.”

Angel takes a long drag of his cigarette, then shakes his head. “I’m just sayin’ you knew all the facts going in, I didn’t know shit, thought you were just passing through.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, do you usually ask all your fuck buddies for their whole history, want my mother’s maiden name too? How about my record, that seems more your style?”

“Let me guess,” Angel starts with a pointer finger on each side of his head for dramatic effect, “you’re on the run for attempting to assassinate a high-ranking government official.”

Mia can’t hold back the smile from forming on her lips and doesn’t want to. “Wow, tall, dark, and psychic, a real triple threat,” she teases.

“Sometimes I fuckin’ wish,” Angel says while flicking his ashes. “Doesn’t change the fact that you played me.”

“Oh, come on, that is so unfair,” Mia insists. “I didn’t play you, I played my part. We all got what we wanted, didn’t we? I even made it easier on you by leaving before you did and skipping the awkward parts.”

“Or,” he counters while taking a step closer, “you skipped what could have been round two. Ever think about that?”

Mia’s cheeks flush. “Well, I am now,” she mumbles. “But, admit it, you like it, don’t you?”

“Like what?”

“That you fucked your president’s daughter,” she answers easily, and he shakes his head, fighting the smirk that wants to form on his face. “You do, it’s okay to admit it. Makes you feel a little bit like a rebel, maybe. When you’re sitting with him at Templo you’ll be able to look him straight in the eye all while thinking about how you know the noises I make, what it feels like when you’re inside me. After all, I’m not blood, right? So, it can’t be that weird for you.”

“Does blood matter when I’m thinking about fucking you in his chair too?” he asks, and now it’s her turn for her mouth to drop open. “Angel Reyes, nice to meet you,” he offers at her silence with a hand out and all.

“Mia Flores,” she replies automatically as her hand slides into his. “Are you still mad at me?” she wonders once she gains her bearings again. “Because if it counts for anything fucking you had nothing to do with you being a Mayan.”

Angel barks out a laugh and drops the butt so he can step on it, then lowers his head closer to her ear. “And I’ll fuck you again knowing you’re my president’s daughter, if that counts for anything,” he tells her, then steps back while dropping her hand.

Mia smiles up at him, but notices Bishop making his way back. “I’ll keep that in mind, but you never answered my question.”

Angel shrugs. “I don’t know, maybe we’ll have to find out a way to make it right.”

“Maybe we will. It was nice to meet you, Angel,” she says once Bishop reaches them.

“You too, Mia,” he confirms with a wink before turning around and heading back to work.

“Everything okay?” Mia asks her godfather as he reaches for his helmet.

“Yeah, just catching Taza up. You wanna follow me?” he answers with his leg already swinging over his bike. “You probably don’t want to leave your car here.”

“Sure.”

As Mia makes her back to her car she can’t help but look back, hoping Angel is still visible. He isn’t, but she wishes she could get another look.

She doesn’t know what it is about Angel, but he makes her forget what she’s running from, all the shit she’s been through. He makes her feel like the old Mia, the one before Jay, before she lost herself in all the anger she still carries. She feels safe with him, and it’s surprising, but she also doesn’t want to question it.

She’s had so little to be happy about lately, why overthink one of the few things making her feel that way?

-:-

“So, we’re standing in the middle of the best accommodation’s Oakland PD has to offer, Mia in the jail cell, me on the other side, if you can believe it—” Bishop stops to laugh along with the others gathered around them, much to her chagrin. “And she’s insisting it wasn’t grand theft auto, more like, what did you call it again?”

Mia looks down at the empty beer in her hand and shakes her head. She was such a fearless, stupid kid. What happened? “Mediocre borrow auto, I think it was,” she admits, and more laughter erupts around them.

“Right, and we start screaming at each other, mostly in Spanish, and the fucker who arrested her is laughing at us…” he goes on.

Mia squeezes Bishop’s shoulder as he tells the story. “I’ll be right back, I need a refill,” she mentions, and he nods, but keeps the telling of her past indiscretions.

It’s the day of ‘her’ party, as Bishop calls it. Even though she had met most of the club on the day of her arrival (and the one after it), he wanted a celebration in her honor, so here they are. Multiple bonfires are lit, girls are in every direction, and there’s probably more beer than they can all drink in one night, but she doesn’t want to underestimate the charter. It’s too soon to tell.

She could have gotten a beer at one of the many ice buckets around, but wants away from the crowd, somewhere she can hear her thoughts without loud music or pretending to smile. While she’s happy to be in Santo Padre, it’s a very different environment than the one she’s been living in lately.

Everyone is loud and rambunctious, unashamed and proud, and it’s wonderful, but takes some getting used to. She still finds herself looking over her shoulder every few minutes, biting her tongue to stop herself from saying whatever comment comes to mind, and second-guessing every other move she makes.

Mia knows it will take time to feel at ease in her life again but she’s taking the right steps, at least she thinks so.

As she makes her way into the clubhouse, it’s not empty as hoped.

“Need something?” EZ asks as he stands from the barstool in a hurry.

“Sit, please,” she urges, and he looks hesitant, but listens. “I’m not in the club, you’re not my prospect, I don’t need to be waited on.”

EZ smiles and nods. “I just wanted a few minutes away from…everything.”

Mia goes behind the bar and grabs herself a new beer. “Away from being everyone’s bitch for five minutes?”

“Right in one,” he laughs and they clink their bottles together. “So, you happy to be here, living with your dad?”

“Happy to be here, yes. Happy to be living with Bop, still up in the air,” Mia answers and takes a swig as he chuckles. “Surprisingly, he’s a clean guy, at least in his own way. Everything has its place. He’s a creature of habit and I’m throwing him all off.”

“Why do you call him ‘Bop’ by the way?” he asks.

“Well, when I was little I couldn’t pronounce Bishop, so I settled for Bop and it stuck. He’s my dad in every way besides blood, but calling him that…” she trails off, “felt kind of wrong because my real dad would have been around if he hadn’t died, you know?”

“I get that,” EZ agrees with a nod.

“I was lucky to have him, probably would be dead without him, or worse, like my mother,” she sighs, then takes a long swig.

“Sounds like there is a story there, but I think I’ll keep my questions to myself,” EZ decides a moment later.

“You know, they told me you were smart,” she teases and they both laugh. “So, how are you adjusting to the life? Aside from loving your bitch duties.”

“I do love my bitch duties,” he agrees, and she laughs again. She likes these Reyes boys. “It’s nice to be part of something, to feel like I’m working towards something. Being able to get close to Angel is honestly the best part…it’s easy to take the small shit for granted until you don’t have it anymore. Let’s just say I’m not taking anything for granted ever again.”

“You guys weren’t close before?”

“When we were kids we were best friends, I guess all kids close in age are. We grew up, got interested in different things—girls, sports, friends, and he’s still my brother, of course, but I took it for granted, so did he, I think. You think you’re invincible when you’re young. You think nothing bad will ever happen. It’s okay to skip out on family dinner to be with your girl because there will always be another one. It’s alright to flake on your brother because he’s your brother and you know he’ll get over it eventually. We don’t do that shit anymore. If I make a promise, I keep it. If I tell Pop I’ll stop by and help close up, I do it. If I tell the club I’ll be there when they need me, for whatever they need me for, I am,” he tells her.

“I like the way you think, EZ. I recently went through something that made me remember what’s important in life too. It wasn’t prison, at least, not the kind you went to,” she mumbles, “but still life-altering. There’s nothing more important than family, whether it be blood or the one you’ve chosen.”

“I will cheers to that,” EZ states, and their bottles clink together once more.

“Aye, prospect,” they both hear and turn towards the front door. Angel is walking up, that swagger being used with every step. “You might want to get out there. Coco is trying to set you up in a fight.”

“Of course, he is,” EZ sighs as he stands, and Mia giggles into her beer bottle. “It was nice talking to you, Mia, I hope we can get to know each other more.”

“Back at ya and if you need fixed up after let me know. I am a nurse. An unemployed one, but still,” she offers as he’s walking away.

When he reaches the door EZ turns. “I just might take you up on that. Thanks.”

Angel joins her behind the bar and grabs a beer of his own. “You flirting with my little brother, Flores?” he questions as he twists off the cap to his bottle.

Mia shrugs and tries to look innocent. “Well, I figured I might as well try for the whole set. Is your dad dropping by again later?”

Angel chokes on his beer and Mia laughs as he spits up a little. “Very fucking funny,” he grumbles while reaching for something to wipe his kutte off with.

“I thought so,” she agrees. “So, what are you doing in here? Aren’t you worried your brother is going to get his ass kicked by whatever patch Coco set him up with?”

Angel snorts. “The kid spent eight years in Stockton, he can hold his own. Besides, I hear we have this new nurse hanging around in case he gets in any trouble.”

“Oh really? Lucky guy,” Mia teases before lifting herself onto the bar. There’s a mirror behind it she can see herself in.

Her hair has held up in the somewhat tighter curls she tried for, thanks to the mousse, and her make up is still doing its job of hiding her ever-present eyebags and adding a little pink to her cheeks. The smoky eye is something she hasn’t attempted in a minute, but it’s not half-bad.

Her outfit is something she hasn’t worn in forever, since she lived in Oakland, actually. Jeans that are so tight they are a second skin and high-waisted, with a black top that laces and ties up the back like a corset. Still, a good bit of her stomach is showing, and some cleavage too. Bishop had given her a look back at his house, so a big black sweater was put on over top but has now fallen around her elbows.

“Shouldn’t you be out there enjoying your party?” Angel asks, breaking the objectification of herself.

“My party?” she questions before finishing off her beer and tossing it in the trash.

Angel looks around expectantly. “I’m sorry, isn’t all of this for you, or am I fooling around with the wrong girl?”

Mia shakes her head down at him, or directly at him more like, since at this height she’s in his eye line. “No, this party is for Bishop. We haven’t been on the best terms for a few years, so this is his chance to show me off, get the DILF card, if you know what I mean.”

“I don’t know, I think it’s more than that,” he tells her. “I’ve known the guy for years and I’ve never seen him smile this much. He’s genuinely happy you’re here, querida.”

Mia smiles down at her hands and picks at her black fingernails. “He is, huh?”

Angel lifts her chin so he can look her in the eye. “Mhm, but if I had a daughter that looked like you, I would not be parading her around in front of these fucks, that’s for damn sure,”

“Is that so?” she asks, her tone lined with laughter. Before she can stop herself, a hand reaches up and caresses his beard before tugging on it playfully.

“Not in those fuckin’ jeans, hell no,” he confirms.

“What’s wrong with my jeans?” she asks as her nails rub the underside of his chin. His beard is softer than it looks, he obviously uses something in it to make it that way, and she wants to tease him for it, but saves the information for later instead.

“I don’t know if you know this, but,” Angel starts and moves to stand between her legs, even pulling her a little closer by the backs of her knees, “if you put a quarter in your back pocket, I bet you could tell if it was heads or tails. That’s how tight they are on your ass.”

“You been starin’ at my ass, Reyes?” she questions with another light tug on his beard.

“Um, yeah,” he answers easily, and his face looks so ‘duh!’ that she can’t stop the laughter from bubbling up her throat. “Among other things,” he adds on, then takes another sip of his beer.

“It’s nice to know it’s being appreciated,” she whispers with both her hands cupping his cheeks now, and her forehead leans forward to rest on his.

“Among other things,” he repeats softly before nipping at her lips with his. It’s gentle and slow, pretty much the opposite of their encounter the other night.

“You know, I think I figured out how to make it up to you,” she murmurs when they pull away.

“Oh, yeah?”

Mia nods as a hand slips inside his shirt to scratch at his happy trail. “I know it sounds simple, but hear me out,” she whispers, to which he nods. “I can suck your dick.”

“That’s it, huh?” he asks with hands sliding up and down her thighs.

“Oh, but I’m really good at it,” she assures him, and he chuckles against her mouth. “Wanna see?”

Angel just nods and kisses her.

After a few moments Mia pushes him away and hops down off the bar. “C’mon,” she urges as she takes his hand and leads him down the hall towards the kitchen but enters the storage room instead.

“Really?” he questions and flicks on the light above them.

“What? You think you earned fucking me at the table where you hold Templo? Uh-uh,” she says while undoing his jeans and letting her sweater fall off in the process. “Besides, who says you get to fuck me? All I agreed to was sucking your dick.”

Angel grins at that and pulls her into a kiss that includes tongue and teeth and makes her feel dirty in the best way. “We’ll see about that,” he mumbles when they pull away.

“I guess we will,” she agrees and pushes his boxers down until his hard-on springs free. “I’m sure you heard this before, and I hate to boost your ego, but it has to be said,” she starts as her hand wraps around it and pulls just enough to make him sigh. “You really do have a nice dick.”

“I’ll keep that in mind—shit,” he swears when she drops to her knees and wastes no time taking him into her mouth. “Fuck.”

His hands thread into her hair and take hold to keep her in place. She’s able to take a large part of him into her mouth before he triggers her gag reflex and he moans at the flutter of the back of her throat.

She hums as her head bobs, one hand on the base of his cock, the other paying attention to his balls, softly massaging them with her fingertips. When his hands tighten on her scalp she pulls away from him, making a loud smacking sound with her lips.

“No, back,” Angel whines from above her and tries to maneuver her mouth back onto his cock, but she resists.

Instead, she pumps him with her one hand while her tongue swirls and plays with his tip. His hips buck and she can practically feel his impatience. Enjoying this side of him, Mia continues to tease. Her tongue curls and sweeps up and down the sides of his cock, her mouth even moving to suck on his balls lightly. They tighten against her tongue and she giggles a little—Angel Reyes likes his balls played with.

Before she can go on one of his hands pulls on her hair, the other lifting her from the armpit so she’s standing again and his lips are on hers, completely taking control of the situation until she’s the one backed against the wall and he’s attempting to undo her jeans.

“No, no, no,” Mia breathes, pushing on his chest, leaving him heaving in front of her. “I promised to make it up to you, remember? You’re finishing in my mouth, bebé.”

Angel shakes his head and crowds her against the wall, his lips hovering over hers. “I want to turn you around and take you right here, right now, mi dulce.”

“As lovely as that sounds,” Mia murmurs as her nose brushes against his, “I keep my promises. It’s my mouth or nothing, you choose.”

He leans down and kisses her roughly, biting at her lip in frustration. “On your knees, then.”

Mia grins, puckering her lips to kiss him once more before getting back into position. Pre-cum is leaking from his tip and she knows he’s close, even after their little intermission. She makes a show of licking it up and Angel groans while pressing his palms into the wall behind her, his hands threatening to turn into fists.

She takes him into her mouth after pumping him a few times, and he surprises her by bucking into her, triggering her gag reflex before she’s quite ready. A hand grabs onto her head, keeping her there, and she lets it happen even though it makes her eyes water. It only goes on for a moment before he’s emptying himself into her mouth and she opens her throat instinctually to swallow.

“Jesus Christ,” Angel huffs as he lets her go, his eyes closed and his face looking completely blissed out.

Mia wipes her mouth and picks up her sweater as she stands. “Told you I was good at it.”

He grins now, his eyes fluttering open. “Yes, you did,” he mumbles before kissing her and it shocks her a little, especially when he uses tongue because Jay never did that after she blew him, he didn’t like it. Of course, it didn’t happen regularly because the guy had a problem coming too quickly with even small amounts of foreplay.

Mia pushes the thought of her ex out of her head and lets Angel kiss her. It’s slow and drawn out, and his tongue is doing things that she wants recreated between her thighs. She forgot what it’s like to just be kissed, kissed really fucking well.

This guy cannot be fucking real.

“Well, I believe my job here is done,” she breathes after literally forcing herself away from him.

“Mine’s not,” Angel insists and tries to pull her back into his arms.

“That, my friend, is your problem,” she tells him while reaching for the doorknob.

“Seriously?” he asks and she bites her lip to keep from laughing at the sight of him. His pants are still pushed down below his ass, his dick is getting hard again, and he looks like a child who just got taken his favorite toy taken away.

“Weren’t you the one saying I have a party to get back to?” she questions and leaves before he does something to change her mind.

She stops in the bathroom to look herself over. Her lips are a little swollen, but not very noticeable, and she flips her hair a couple times so it’s not so apparent Angel’s fingers were in it. When she comes back to the bar, EZ is back, and Coco is there too, but no Angel.

“Wow, done already?” she asks as she reaches for what will probably be her last beer.

“It wasn’t really a fight,” EZ explains as Coco laughs. “He was pretty drunk. I tried to tell him it wasn’t a good idea.”

“Boy Scout threw one punch and knocked the fucker out,” Coco tells her. “He’s still laying in the cage.”

“I didn’t knock him out, I think he passed out on his own,” EZ insists. “I was wondering if you’d check him out though. We tried to wake him up and didn’t have much luck.”

“Sure thing,” Mia agrees and starts to follow EZ when Angel comes out from the back hallway. “We probably shouldn’t leave him there if he’s that drunk anyways.”

“Bro, you fucking missed it. Baby brother knocked someone the fuck out,” Coco boasts.

“I didn’t… never mind, c’mon,” EZ sighs and leads her out of the clubhouse.

Less people are milling around. She assumes quite a few either are sleeping it off somewhere, or a group headed back to Vicki’s for a whole different kind of fun.

“Hey, grab that,” Mia instructs EZ as they pass an empty ice bucket. He doesn’t question, just grabs it, and she thinks again, she really likes these Reyes boys.

He’s an older Mayan, the one passed out in the middle of the cage, and he’s snoring. He’s one of the guy’s riding through the area and stopped for the party. She opens his lids to check his pupils and shines her cellphone light in them—it’s so nice having a smart phone again, she thinks.

“Hey, Bop, this guy volatile?” she calls when she sees her godfather watching.

“No more than anyone else,” he answers with a shrug.

Mia nods and stands, the beer still in her hand. “Alright, EZ, pour it,” she instructs. A group has gathered to watch the show and EZ, once again, does as he’s told.

He wakes up screaming in Spanish and swinging at the both of them.

“Hey, watch it,” EZ threatens and pushes Mia behind him a little.

“The fuck was that for?” the man yells.

Mia crouches down to look at him. “If you would have rathered stay here and choke on your own puke and die all you had to do was say so,” she says sweetly.

“Get dressed and sleep it off in the clubhouse,” Bishop instructs the man, who still looks very grumpy.

“…definitely his fucking kid,” she hears him say as they exit the cage and she shakes her head, but is smiling all the same. She’ll never be offended by that statement again.

A few minutes later she finds herself away from everyone, nursing her beer, and looking up at the sky. There’s so much to see away from the lights of cities and pollution. All these stars aren’t visible in San Francisco, or even in Oakland. Everything is clearer out here, less complicated, and exactly as it seems.

“Hey,” someone greets from behind her causing her to jump and drop her beer. “Shit, sorry,” Bishop apologizes and picks it up for her. “You okay?”

“Yeah, sorry, just lost in my own head,” she attempts to laugh and takes the near-empty bottle from him. “What’s up?”

“You have a good time?” he asks, and Angel’s right, he hasn’t stopped smiling since she got here.

“A great time,” she confirms and looks up at the sky again. “It’s beautiful out here at night. There’s so many stars.”

Bishop looks up with her as an arm wraps around her shoulders. “I never really noticed before.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever stop noticing,” she murmurs.

“How much did you have to drink?” he questions and she smacks him on the stomach, and he laughs. “Listen, I don’t want you hanging around attempting to clean up after your own party. I asked around, Angel said he’d give you a ride home if that’s okay with you?”

“He did, did he?” Mia laughs and nods. “Yeah, that’s fine. But I’m happy to hang out and—”

“No, pequeña,” Bishop cuts her off. “We got this.”

“By ‘we’ you mean EZ?” she jokes and he laughs too.

“Something like that,” he replies. “I have a few things to take care of here, but I’ll be home in a few hours.”

They start walking back towards the clubhouse. “A few things to take care of, huh? Is that what they are calling it nowadays?”

“Ha-ha, you’re hilarious, you know that?” he tells her and bumps into her shoulder with his.

“Anyone I need to give a talking to? Let them know how awesome you are and that I’ll kick their ass if—ah!” she squeals when he tickles her.

“Enough, Mia Valentina,” he states, and she laughs loudly.

“Yes, sir, Obispo, sir,” she goes on with a salute and all.

“Alright, Angel, get her home, will you? She needs to sleep it off,” Bishop calls over and it’s only now she notices they are near their line of bikes and Angel is already on his with a cigarette hanging from his mouth.

“Will do, jefe,” the younger patch promises.

“Hey, I am not drunk,” she assures him as he kisses her cheek. “I’m not, I’m just in a good mood. Am I not allowed to be?”

“Yeah, just do it somewhere else,” Bishop tells her and she opens her mouth in fake shock. “Grab your helmet from my bike, don’t make him give his up, you know how I am about helmets.”

“Wow, I think you just lost about ten cool points,” Mia mumbles, but does as she’s told.

“There is nothing cool about splitting open your skull on the side of the road,” Bishop says in a firm tone.

“You really have a lot of confidence in my ride home, don’t you? You sure I shouldn’t pick a different one? Gilly, maybe? Or EZ?” she suggests while fastening the helmet to her head. “Oh, what about Coco, I’m sure he could show me a good time.”

“On the bike, Mia,” Bishop practically orders.

Mia grins. She missed teasing him. She’s one of the few who get away with it. “Fine, geez, if you’re gonna make me,” she sighs as she swings her leg over the bike and settles behind Angel.

“Make sure she gets in the house,” Bishop tells Angel. “And Mia, lock the door behind you, both bolts—”

“The cool points are dropping by the second,” Mia sing-songs and can feel Angel chuckling in front of her.

Bishop decides to ignore her and instead does that manly handshake they do. “Thanks for this. Safe ride home, brother.”

“Back at you, brother,” Angel responds as he kicks the engine over as he grabs ahold of the handlebars.

“So, I hear you selflessly volunteered to drive me home.”

“Well, I’m nothing if not a gentleman,” Angel assures her.

“Hm, I’ll be the judge of that,” she whispers in his ear and he revs the engine as they make their way out onto the road.

It might be the alcohol, or maybe the easy relationship her and Bishop seem to be falling back into, or even the anticipation of the sex she knows is going to happen again with Angel, but Mia feels happy.

It’s funny, the weightlessness of it, how her body is responding to it and making her giddy.

She knows that it’s fleeting—when she goes to bed bad memories will plague her dreams, she and Bishop will continue to not talk about her mother, that little voice in the back of her head will make her wonder what Jay is doing, how hard he’s looking for her, if he’ll ever find her.

But for now she gives in to the alcohol, the love she has for the man who raised her, and the growing affection for the man driving her home.

Mia gets caught up in watching the lights speeding by, reminding her of shooting stars in the sky, of the endless possibilities she has if she can stay hidden and keep her secrets. She doesn’t even notice they are slowing down until they are at a complete stop.

“What’s wrong?” she asks over the low rumble of his motorcycle.

“I don’t know about you, mi dulce, but I always stop at stop signs,” he insists.

She rolls her eyes at him. “Ha-ha, this is more than a stop sign, where are we going?”

“That’s what I was going to ask you,” he replies, his head turned back to look at her. “We go straight, I take you home. We turn left we pass my apartment and take the long way. Your pick, querida.”

“Your apartment, huh?” she asks and squeezes his middle. “You think we’re there, yet? Going from a bathroom, to a storage closet, to your bed is a pretty big jump, don’t you think?” she teases. “I don’t know if we’re ready for that step yet.”

Angel’s mouth curls up into a smirk. “Believe it or not, I got a lot of fucking surfaces at my place if you think the bed is too much of a commitment for you.”

Mia lets out a loud laugh. “Fucking surfaces, huh? Nice choice of words.”

He revs the bike’s engine. “Waiting on you.”

Mia leans in closer to his ear. “Turn left. I want the scenic route,” she whispers. She feels his chest rumble as he chuckles but takes off without another word.

A few minutes later they are pulling into a sprawling apartment complex and Angel parks in the very last spot on the end marked with a letter and number, she assumes his assigned parking spot.

“Not bad, any of the other guys live here?” she asks as they get off the bike and undo their helmets.

“Why, wanna make a house call?” Angel counters, and she tosses her helmet at him, hitting him square in the stomach. “Oof, feisty.”

“I’ll show you feisty,” she mutters with her arms crossed in fake anger.

“Not tonight you won’t,” he tells her before bending down and maneuvering her body over his shoulder.

“Ah! Angel!” she exclaims, holding onto his hips for balance.

“You had your fun earlier, I’m in charge now,” he warns with a smack to her ass.

“Watch my head,” she pleads, the amusement in her voice obvious, as he walks up the steps to his second-floor apartment. “I don’t want to ruin the mood with a concussion.”

“Haven’t you learned by now? You’re safe with me, querida,” he assures her while unlocking his door. He kicks it shut behind them before setting her back on the ground.

“Whew, head rush,” she breathes and flips her head until her hair is out of her eyes.

Looking to Angel she finds he’s already taking off his kutte and it reveals a concealed gun holster underneath. He quickly does away with that too, dropping it on the table next to the door for now. She tries not to be turned on by the sight of him with a gun but fails miserably.

Having grown up around guns, they don’t scare her—in fact, Bishop taught her how to use one at thirteen years old right before her first “real” date. If she remembers correctly, he also gave her an expensive looking pocketknife around then, telling her that if she’s ever attacked to stick it in her assailant’s gut and twist.

“Don’t look at me like that,” she speaks up a moment later as he stares down at her during the silence. “You’re in charge remember? I’m just waiting to be told what to do.”

Angel shakes his head at her. “You know exactly what to do, you taught me that earlier, remember?”

“I left an impression, huh?” she jokes while slowly undoing that buttons to his shirt, but instead of the bare chest she wants, it’s a wife beater underneath.

“Oh, long before that,” he assures her, making her smile to herself and push the button-up down his shoulders.

Soon after she’s lifting the tank top and he takes the hint, tossing it aside all together. “There it is,” she breathes, smiling at the sight of his chest. Her fingertips instantly reach forward to play with his happy trail, lightly scratching down until they hit the button of his jeans.

Before she can continue Angel twists her hips so her back is to him and starts to untie the laces going up her spine. When it’s loose enough she raises her arms so he can take it off her altogether.

“I’m in charge, remember?” he whispers in her ear as he moves all her hair to one shoulder so his face can nuzzle in the other.

“If you say so,” she sighs contentedly, her head falling to one side to give him more room. His lips travel along her shoulder and neck, kissing lightly, his beard tickling her just so.

Her entire body jerks when his hands take ahold of her breasts, pinching her nipples between his thumb and pointer fingers. “Didn’t get a change to pay attention to these the other night,” he says in a husky tone that makes her knees weak.

“What a shame,” Mia breathes and before she knows it Angel is scooping her up in his arms and dropping her on his couch none too gently.

“The couch okay? Or you think we should take this to the kitchen table?” he asks as he towers over her. “Don’t wanna skip too many fucking steps.”

Mia grins and takes off her shoes, socks included, before shrugging. “You’re in charge, remember?” she counters, being a brat and she’s fully aware of it. “Your call, papi.”

Angel licks his lips as he looks down at her, his dick obviously hard in his jeans, the area becoming so tight it looks uncomfortable. Mia lifts a foot and starts to rub the bulge slowly, teasingly. “As lovely as this view is, and feels,” he says as he takes ahold of her foot to stop her, “I have some payback to do.”

“Payback?” Mia questions and lifts her hips as he pulls on her jeans. “I owed you, remember?”

He does that licking his lips thing again as if he knows it’s driving her fucking nuts. “Mhm and leaving me there like that means now I owe you,” he says and slips her underwear down her legs too.

Angel lifts both her legs up in the air and wastes no time licking all the way up her swollen pink slit. “Fuck,” Mia pants, her toes curling as it feels like he’s devouring her.

Just as she feels her pleasure building, he pulls away causing her to whine. It’s faint, but he hears it, and grins down at her as he wipes her juices from his beard. “Up on your knees, face the other way,” he orders and on with shaky limbs she does as she’s told.

She hears movement behind her but doesn’t look back. Suddenly her knees are being spread apart and she feels his head settle between them. “Shit,” she breathes as he positions her opening over his mouth.

Maybe it’s the lack of foreplay in the last two years or any real pleasure actually, but even if she had been getting off more than just to her own vibrator, Mia thinks Angel has a gift. He knows how to eat a woman out. It’s like he’s showing her how good he is at it because of how she teased him earlier.

And she’s starting to regret it.

As his tongue licks and flicks at her clit Mia grips onto the arm of the couch, her nails digging in. “Right there, like that,” she chants and curls over the arm, and honestly considers grinding down on his face and cutting off his air supply. He’s so good she thinks he really might have some sort of gills.

She’s so close and it feels so good the muscles in her legs start shaking in need.

“Please, I need…” she trails off when she feels him shake his head at her request. “Yes, I can’t,” she stops when his tongue leaves her clit altogether and instead sweeps up inside her. “No, no, no,” she cries and before she even knows what she’s doing she’s off his face, off the couch, and on the floor crawling away from him.

“The fuck you think you’re doing?’ she hears above her and she just shakes her head with her eyes closed.

“I just need a minute,” she whispers, her body curling into a ball with her legs crossed to ease the ache.

“Here’s how this is going to play out,” Angel says, and she opens her eyes to see him dropping his pants and rubbing his own hard-on. The sight doesn’t help her situation any. “You’re going to come on my mouth first, or not at all.”

Her own words from earlier echo in her head and she curses herself.

“Your call,” he repeats her words once more.

Mia lets out a shaky breath and opens her legs to him. As he descends upon her she thinks that if he licks his lips one more time she’s going to slap him. Still, when those same lips pucker around her clit she threads her finger into his hair to keep him there.

He doesn’t tease much this time, because he probably knows she’s close to either hitting him or finishing the job herself if he doesn’t.

It’s at the exact moment he begins to hum with her clit in his mouth that she comes, and she comes hard. Her legs start to shake, fingers rattle along his hairline, and her eyes squeeze closed as he flicks at her nub through the entirety of it.

When he finally pulls away, Mia curls into herself once again and crosses one leg over the other. “Evil,” she manages to mumble.

“You ain’t seen nothing yet,” she hears him say before she’s being put back onto the couch belly down. “I got plans for you, mi dulce.”

“Not to purposefully play on words, but I’m screwed,” she sighs and feels his lips ghost up her spine as he chuckles.

“Yes, you are,” Angel agrees while lifting her hips until she’s on all fours.

“Can’t wait,” she replies and moans when he slides two fingers into her, curling just so. They exit her as quickly as they enter, but before she can complain about it his fingers are replaced with his cock in one swift movement. “Oh, my God, holy shit.”

Mia moves back and forth, up and down, noises exiting her throat every time he’s completely sheathed inside her, filling her up. He’s mumbling something in in Spanish, but she can’t make out what.

Angel grips her hips when her moves become frantic, taking control with his dick deep inside her. “Sh, baby, I got you,” he promises as a hand wraps around her throat and his lips kiss at her temple.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” she swears and holds onto the arm of the couch until her knuckles turn white. “Angel,” she moans, her voice low and needy.

“C’mere,” he murmurs and turns her head until their lips connect.

“Oh, my God,” she breaks the kiss in a moan and drops her head down to bury it in the cushions.

Angel pulls out of her and situates them so her legs are in between his and she’s lying flat. Mia pushes up on her hips so he can slide into her more easily and he does without warning. “Fuck,” he groans as he slides into the tight hole.

Mia sits up just enough so she can shake her ass in a way that’s proven successful in the past, but she only does it for a few moments before Angel takes over, leaning down over her and fucks her even deeper, making her cry out so loud she bites a cushion to stiffle it.

“You like that?” he questions in her ear and she nods into the cotton she’s still biting. “I wanna hear you, querida,” he urges, using his hand to pull up on her throat and let go of the cushion. He continues his movements and she tries to keep in her shrieks, but it’s not easy. He’s hitting a spot that’s only been felt once or twice before in happy accidents, but Angel’s not holding back.

“If you don’t… I’m gonna—” she manages between thrusts and cries.

“Do it,” he tells her and speeds up. “You have any idea what it feels like when you come on my cock, baby?” he asks as she feels herself start to spasm. “Your pussy—fuck,” he stops as she starts to come. “Just like that. Your pussy is so tight, and when you come your whole fucking body shakes, your pussy included.”

He let’s up when she screams, unable to hold back and her entire body sags, but he’s right, she is shaking. When her body settles Angel pulls out of her and she notices he’s still hard—he hasn’t come yet.

Seriously, he isn’t fucking real.

Mia flips over, still in between his legs, and finds him stroking himself above her. “I know, I know, you’re not done with me,” she sighs and he chuckles. “But a girl needs a minute to recuperate.”

“You want me to be done?” Angel questions while opening her legs and resting them on his hips.

“Fuck no,” she answers easily and links her fingers through his, pulling until he’s on top of her and presses her lips against his. “Now, fuck me deep and slow and don’t stop until you come too.”

Angel smiles against her mouth. “Yes, ma’am.”

CHAPTER 3

taglist:

@joalsglasses

@mrsamaroevans

@justahopelessssromantic

#angel reyes #mayans mc #mayans m.c.#angel reyes x oc #fanfiction #clayton cardenas #ao3 link #friends can break your heart too

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gulgbtqplus · 4 years

Text

EGM candidates

Our EGM is on October 9th, 2020. If you would like to run for any position, please fill out this form https://forms.gle/EMdnNa7Nr7ybah7E6! We will be updating this list as responses come in.

VP Secretary

1) Robyn (they/them)

GULGBTQ+ has been a real lifeline for me (like many others) since I started university and especially now in my 3rd year in the middle of a pandemic. And so I would love to be VP Sec to give back, support and uplift the community that’s had my back and been my safe space for the last few years.

I previously spent some time as Non-Binary officer last year so I already have an insight into the on-goings of the society. And I also attended Trans and Non-Binary coffees nearly every week. As VP Sec I would want to give more attention and accessibility to POC, disabled, and trans students in particular, especially right now. I would love to continue to work with the SRC and GUSocNet in particular, and reach out to others also. As a home student, I know the importance of having a network and so I would love to keep strengthening the network we have built as a community and expanding it. But of course most importantly working alongside our already amazing exec and committee to put ideas into motion. (And maybe make a zine or two ya know).

I realise the massive responsibility that is being part of the exec but I’m more than willing to rise to that challenge this year. Overall I want everyone to feel like they have a safe space within the society and that this is their community too. It would be a joy to be your VP Sec this year and continue to help carry on the community we have here! :) (And stay safe!)

2) Liam (he/him)

I’d be the right candidate as since I’ve joined I’ve been active in the society whether it be events or discussions going on in the server. This is important as there always has to be an open channel for discussion and chat no matter the topic. Being the VP Secretary is a big undertaking and in that i'd love to be able to chat to you all whether it be in coffees, direct messages, or an anonymous poll every now and again to find out what direction you want the society to move in. The priorities of a society are fluid in a changing world and I believe i'd be the one to step up and give people the voice to help us steer in the right direction

Events Officer

1) Robyn (they/them)

As Events Officer, I would love to continue the work previous folk have done over the last few years in running more accessible and ever creative events. Moreover this would be incredibly important with the on-going Covid situation and I would love to have the challenge of creating new events with the committee and in the society to adapt to the new online environment. To find new ways of fundraising for the society and also making online events just as exciting as in-person events were. I’m a very creative, inventive and adaptable person thanks to my degree, the projects I do outside of university and work I did with charity events back at school. Last year, I spent some time as Non-Binary officer, attending trans & non-binary coffees throughout the year and so I have a decent idea of running events already in the society. I would strive to continue to make events more accessible and welcoming to POC, international and disabled students etc., and also manage the issues that previous years may have had by taking on constructive feedback consistently. In all, I want to create a space and event for everyone by solidifying communication inside the society and outside the society.

Communications and Technology Officer

1) Evelyn (they/them)

I’m a social and economic history student. I have found it really valuable to meet people through GULGBTQ especially the craft group. I really don't know what I'd have been able to do otherwise as I found it quite difficult making friends etc when I first came to Glasgow last year. On that note I would like to contribute to the society... Mostly I'd really like to improve the website e.g. the calendar is in need of a bit of TLC!

2) Liam (he/him)

As a technologically oriented person, I believe I would be able to do the Communications and Technology role justice by setting up regular channels for communication. The website as cute as it may be is dated and could do with a freshen up. This is however easier said than done, after evaluating with everyone what priorities for it we should have the slow process of neatening it can begin. To bring people to any events, the weekly announcements message could be posted on the page along with a link to the Discord server. The page is a representation of what we do as a society yet it lays bare with nought but who is on the committee and manifestos of who would like to be. Be gay do crime, thanks for listening.

Men’s Officer

1) Ethan (he/him)

Hi, I’m Ethan - a graduate and now first year medical student, who has been involved in student representation as some kind of liberation officer for the past 4 or 5 years. I came out as transgender in 2016, and since then have openly shared my transition and experiences on a small YouTube channel. I’m tired of the narrative that as a trans man I am not a “real” man, and the barriers faced by transmasculine individuals in accessing things that are typically put down as 'feminine' needs (sanitary bins - I’m looking at you!). I am incredibly keen to push for change in the teaching of healthcare subjects, so that it is less awkward accessing things such as cervical smears and menstrual care, and that healthcare teaching in general stops being focused from a cis-het viewpoint. Whilst that may be one of my personal main focuses, wider campaigns and work around challenging stigmas particularly associated with men’s mental health and sexual health is really important. So I’d want to make sure there is involvement in these too.

2) Liam (he/him)

GULGBT+ has so far done a great job of having everyone feel accepted and have a space to chat but at the moment there isn't a Mens Officer and from anecdotal experience there is a significant lean in the societies demographic to female students at least in terms of activity in the society. My aim as this years Mens Officer would be to make the society a welcoming place for all, whether this is through running events directed towards those who aren't aware of the society or aren't aware of its purpose.

International Officer

1) Alexandra (she/her)

After moving to the UK last year, there were so many new things that I had to learn and there was plenty of confusion and mistakes along the way. Now that I've settled in and I feel comfortable as a resident of Scotland, I would love to have the opportunity to give advice and guidance to those who are still figuring things out, or are just looking for solidarity during a difficult adjustment period. It can be so disorienting and isolating to leave behind your family and friends to move to a new country, and I hope to let some folks know that they're not alone and they can talk to me and all the other wonderful people in GULGBT. This club made a huge difference for me in this regard, and I want to make sure others get that opportunity as well!

2) Pat (they/them)

I've been an international student in different countries over the years and it's had a profound impact on how I can conceptualize and relate my own queer identity. Listening to and supporting each other as international students who are far from home and potentially in a very different situation culturally and linguistically is so important, when it comes to LGBTQIA+ issues as well as the bureaucratic and everyday. I want to make sure that the society is providing a space for international students and potentially make connections with other societies for international students to reach new members and share resources.

First Year Ordinary Member

1) Ethan (he/him)

Hi, I’m Ethan - a graduate and now first year medical student, who has been involved in student representation as some kind of liberation officer for the past 4-5years. Having already spent a fair bit of time getting to know many of the LGBT+ freshers’ community at UofG this year, I’d love to be able to act as a linked voice for them to help make sure they still manage to have a great first year’s experience. This certainly wasn’t the year anyone expected, and I’m really keen to try and help make the best of what we can so everyone has a positive start to their course.

Postgraduate and Mature Students’ Officer

1) Ethan (he/him)

Hi, I’m Ethan - a graduate and now first year medical student, who has been involved in student representation as some kind of liberation officer for the past 4-5years. From completely relaunching my previous university’s LGBT+ society, to starting its first separate dedicated group for trans students, and being elected as the first trans rep for students across Scotland… my undergrad was busy! I’m really keen to bring the experiences I’ve had, and lessons I’ve learned, with me to GULGBT+ and get involved through my next 5years studying at UofG. Being a postgrad and/or mature student comes with its own unique challenges and I want to work with the committee, SRC, and wider university to make sure you are well supported in achieving all the things you want to whilst still being able to balance everything you have going on outside of university. Aside from that, something I am keen to work on during my time studying medicine, is making the curricula of healthcare subjects more inclusive of LGBT+ patient scenarios and education.

2) Pat (they/them)

Community is really important to me and has become even more so since the suspension of in-person meetings. When I came to Glasgow last year, I found that the vast majority of people I met through freshers events and societies were a good few years younger than me and it seemed like I was the only postgraduate/mature student around. I would like to continue facilitating a space for postmat students in the society and ensure that people older than the average student will feel welcome and at home in the society.

---

Preferences of those running for multiple positions:

Robyn

1. VP Secretary

2. Events Officer

Ethan

1. Men’s Officer

2. Postgraduate and Mature Students’ Officer

3. First Year Ordinary Member

Pat

1. Postgraduate and Mature Students’ Officer

2. International Officer

Liam

1. VP Secretary

2. Men’s Officer

3. Communications and Technology Officer

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jessi-novel-idea · 5 years

Text

The Family Business: Chapter Two - First Day

Description: Jax Teller’s sister makes an unexpected return, will she be able to settle back into the life or will it all be too much?

Warnings: smoking, language, not really anything too bad

Word Count: 3,116

Jenna’s POV:

Did I get hit by a bus last night? Well that is what it felt like, clearly last night’s party did not disappoint.

Where am I? I thought as I looked around I noticed I was in the apartment in the clubhouse, but when I rolled over I saw someone under the sheets and realized I was naked. Great, classic Jenna...one-night stand with a Son, never ends well. My rule was to avoid the Charming Sons, other chapters were fair game. That was still a bad idea given who my brother and stepdad are.

Whoever it was rolled over and grabbed my waist and my first instinct was to punch him in the nose, that is when I realized it was Juice. SHIT.

"Oh my God, I am so sorry" I said getting up to get a towel.

"It's okay babe, I love the spunk" Juice replied sitting up in bed.

All I could do was laugh, I hadn't been home 24 hours and I had already slept with Juice and punched someone. This place is always the same for me, sister of a Son, not just a Son but the VP...I have to maintain a hard reputation. Too bad Juice got in the way.

When I found all the clothes I was wearing yesterday, I got dressed and headed out into the clubhouse where I saw Jax and Opie seated at the bar surrounded by at least 20 people passed out all over the room.

"Look who stayed over...how is Juice," Opie asked with a smirk on his face as he wiggled his eyebrows at me.

"He has a broken nose and is trying to find his clothes, so I say it was a good night," I responded with a grin.

"Damn..." Jax and Opie responded in unison as Juice rounded the corner.

"Fuck off," Juice shot back, rolling his eyes.

I went to the kitchen to find something to cook us for breakfast: eggs, bacon and toast is the menu, I guess.

As I finished cooking breakfast I came back to the bar and sat down the plates for the four of us. It was silent as we ate the pitiful excuse for a breakfast. If I make it a habit of being here for breakfast, I need to remember to stock the fridge better.

Opie broke the silence, "Hey Jen, what do you have planned for your first day back in Charming?"

"Have to go to the Courthouse and sign some papers so I can start work, what time is it anyway?" I asked looking around for a clock.

"Oh yeah, misses lawyer lady...it's about 11:30," Opie responded.

"Shit,” I said dropping my fork on my plate. “I have to be there at 12:30, well I will see you guys later," I said as I ran out to my car.

As I drove to my hotel I kept thinking how I needed to find a more permanent living solution now that I will be in Charming for a while. That was a task for later, maybe I could convince Opie to go with me.

I pulled into the courthouse parking lot at 12:15, how I showered, ironed and got ready in such a short period of time amazes me.

I got through the metal detectors and found my way to the human resources department. It was odd being in the Charming Courthouse…for a job.

"Hello, can I help you with something?" The blonde behind the desk asked.

"Hi, I umm… I’m Jenna Teller and I’m here to fill out the entrance paperwork for the DA's office"

"Right this way, miss" she said as she walked from behind the desk and down the hall to an office marked 'District Attorney, Wesley Rush, J.D.' in white letters. She knocked and showed me in introducing me to him and then closing the door behind her as she left. Her interaction was kept as brief as possible.

"Miss Teller, it is so good to finally meet you in person, we are so excited for you to be here, we are in need of a fresh perspective." He said with a smile.

"I am so happy to be here, thank you for this opportunity," I respond with a shake of his hand.

It was an hour later and I was signing the last form, thank goodness I couldn't take much more of this. I start tomorrow at 8:00 AM with clerk duties with Mr. Rush. I have to start as a clerk with him so I can get more familiar with their processes, then I could start taking on cases as able.

"Here is your sign on bonus Miss. Teller," he said handing me the check for $15,000. I thought my eyes were going to pop out of my head.

"Thank you, Mr. Rush, but this is more than we agree to on the phone."

"First of all, please call me Wes, Mr. Rush is my dad. Secondly, you come highly recommended from your professors and we could really use a young point of view around here" he said with a laugh.

As we said our goodbyes I noticed the Harvard Diploma hanging on the wall. "Harvard?"

"Yes Miss. Teller, that is how we found out about how outstanding you were in all of your classes."

"Well, thank you again, and please call me Jen." I said turning to leave, I have always hated compliments they make me feel awkward.

It was 2:00 pm and I knew the boys would be working at TM, so I decided to head back there and see Gemma for a while.

Juice's POV:

I looked up from the car Jax and me were working on to see Jenna getting out of her car and making her way across the lot. She looked so good in that dress; I loved how it hugged her hips. I had hoped this morning would have went better, I wanted to show her that I can be in a serious relationship this time. I don't want to just hook up anymore, even if the sex with her was amazing.

"Hey, Jen how was the work thing?" I asked, giving her a smile and wiping my hands on a towel.

"Good, I start tomorrow bright and early," she responded as I walked over and kissed her cheek.

She seemed to shy away though, and all I could think was good job Juice push her away now. I wish I could have told her a long time ago how much I cared about her, but the timing never seemed to work out.

"Have you seen mom," she asked Jax, putting a hand on his shoulder to get his attention away from his work.

"She is in the office, I am sure she wants to hear about your day" he said with a laugh.

I rolled my eyes and flipped him the bird as I strode off toward the office.

Jenna's POV:

Gemma never cared about my day and I didn't care about hers, it was mutual. We never talked much, our relationship was…complicated, but neither of us wanted to fix the situation.

"Hey mom" I said as I walked through the office door.

"Hey sweetie, why are you all dressed up? Already got yourself in trouble again?"

"No mom, I got a job with DA and had to fill out paperwork," I said rolling my eyes and leaned against the door frame.

"Don’t roll your eyes at me…so the rumors are true, you are going to stay for a while?"

"Yes, I am staying, I am going apartment hunting later," I responded with no emotion.

"Why don't you just stay at Jax's? He would love to have you."

"Because if I am going to stay I need to be independent, especially of the crazy shit that happens in Jax's life." I shot back as I left the office. “Plus, I don’t want to have to hear Jax’s late night antics.” I said over my shoulder.

I went back to my car and grabbed a change of clothes and went to the clubhouse to change and look for Opie. I was hoping he would come with me to look for apartments so that we could catch up. I missed Op.... I missed him anytime I was away from him. If it wasn't for me getting in trouble with the law in high school and being shipped off to school, he probably wouldn't be married to Donna, but that isn't the point. I need to move on from the past.

"Hey Jen, you look like you are on a mission" Opie said from the bar, distracting me from my thoughts.

"Oh hey Op, I was actually coming to look for you… I was wondering if you would mind going apartment hunting with me?" I asked while giving him a hug, taking in his scent, nothing to strong, just the small of his body wash and cigarettes.

"Of course, but only if we can take my bike," he responded with a smirk.

"I would never object to that," I laughed as I walked into the apartment and changed.

I loved riding behind Opie, more than anyone else, he made me feel safe and free. Juice was good too but I have always ridden behind Op if I was with the guys. I do love Juice but I think he was always my go to person, the one that made mom and dad mad, I know that makes me a horrible person but oh well, that ship sailed a long time ago. Plus, Juice was very immature and I couldn't risk a relationship with him compromising my job. Opie, on the other hand, was the one you could bring home to the parents. There was only one problem, Opie was Jax's best friend so unfortunately off limits.

We rode downtown to look at a couple of apartments that were over a few of the stores and businesses. The one above the pharmacy and general store in particular; I have always wanted to live here but could never afford it until now. It is one of the few places left in charming that has the good ole American small town feel and untouched by club business.

It was surprising to find that they had recently renovated some of the apartments on main street as part of the 'revamp the city' plan a couple of years back. I had called the realtor to see if she could show it today and with some luck she could.

It was a one-bedroom loft/studio style apartment with a killer kitchen, which is a plus because I love to cook. It also has a good view of the town. Opie seems so unimpressed right now, but who cares I want this place and he will grow to love if it was my home, hopefully. I know I should look around for more places, but that's not my style, plus Charming doesn’t have many options.

"How much a month and what is included?" I asked the realtor.

"$1,500 a month and that covers everything, with a $3,000 deposit, which is the first and last months rent" she responded, looking from me to Opie and back. She clearly seemed to be thinking that the price was way above what I could manage…well joke is on her.

"Great I will take it!" I said with the biggest smile in the world.

"Sweetheart you and this biker thug can't afford something like this." She said in a condescending tone. Making Opie tense and take a few steps toward her until I stepped in between them.

"Well actually me and him aren't buying this place together, it will be my home. And he isn't a thug, also I am a lawyer who just signed on with the DA’s office, so I think I can cover this and any expenses you should fine. Now do we have ourselves a deal or what?" I said extending my hand, which she quickly shook and handed me the contract. Obviously, I had made my point and she didn't really want to deal with me anymore. She made the statement earlier that they really needed to rent the space so the process went quicker than normal.

As I shut the door behind the realtor, I held the keys to the apartment in my hand, I turned around and smiled at Opie and shook the keys, "It's mine!"

"It suits you too!" he said wrapping me in a hug.

We sat down on the floor where it raised into the bedroom and talked about life and his kids and how hard it had been with Donna since he got out of prison. Needless to say, she was giving him a very hard time and she didn't want him to go back to doing club business, but once you patch in you are in.

The sun had set and I finally looked down at my phone and realized it was 7 o'clock and we were supposed to be at Gemma and Clay's for a "family" dinner tonight at 8.

"Op, we better head to Gemma's, I don't want to be late.”

"Yeah you are right! I hate to be on that women's bad side!" Op said holding the door open for me to step through.

"Does she have a good side?" I said with a smirk.

"Hey, she is your mom, you should be nice."

"That ship sailed a long time ago Op!" I said as we walked out of my apartment and locked the door.

When we got to Gemma's I noticed that everyone was here except us, this was going to be hard to explain. After being greeted by Gemma, I saw "the family" seated around the table. By that I mean Clay, Jax, Juice, Tig, Chibs, Luann and Opie. There was a spot saved for me between Juice and Jax, which was also across from Opie, my three favorite men, my protectors.

Gemma smirked at Opie and me as we sat down, "What took you two so long to get here?"

"I took Jenna apartment hunting this afternoon, she found a place, too. She got the nice place over Roller Pharmacy and the general store." Opie said with a glance over toward me.

"Opie took you?" Juice said looking at me, which was a look of pure jealousy and disappointment.

"Yeah, Op took me, you were working and I didn't want to burden you with the boring task." I said to Juice, giving him a reassuring smile.

"Well, I am glad you found a place sweetie," Gemma interrupted.

There were small conversations happening down the table but Juice was silent and it was uncomfortable, but I didn't know what I could say to him to make it better, so I just stayed quiet.

"So Jen, when are you moving into your place?" Jax asked, nudging me with his elbow to get my attention.

"Probably going to look at furniture and stuff for the apartment tomorrow after work. Which reminds me…hey Op, can I borrow your truck to move some things from storage?" I said looking from Jax to Opie.

"Of course!" Op said with a grin.

"I need to get some stuff from storage for Abel when he gets to come home, so maybe I can tag along?" Jax asked, giving me and Op a pout, like either of us would ever tell my brother no.

"I am cool with it if Jenna is." I just nodded my head

Gemma had an announcement to make..."I think we should throw Jenna a house warming party, how about this Saturday?"

"Is that really necessary?" I asked her

“Of course, it is…it is the new start of your adult life here in Charming.” She retorted and I just nodded, no point in arguing with her.

"Great, Opie, you and Jax are in charge of finding out what she needs for the place."

With that Juice went back to looking at his food, jealousy was not a good look for him. I wish he would get over this, I mean yeah Juice was one of my best friends and we had hooked up several times, but nothing too serious in my eyes. It was for the fact Opie was my brother’s best friend so very off limits, so I had to have a little fun with someone. I always thought there was a connection between Op and me, but I am beginning to think it was all me and he didn't feel that way.

Another hour went by and I was washing dishes trying to think of an excuse to be able to leave and head back to my hotel, but I couldn't think of anything.

"Hey Jen, I need to probably head home soon, want me to take you back to your car on my way." Opie said from the other room, always saving me without knowing it.

"That would be great, let me finish the dishes and we can go." I responded as I dried the last few dishes.

"Ok, I am ready!" I said grabbing my jacket and following Opie out the door. I saw Juice come outside lighting a cigarette as I got on the back of Op's bike and wrapped my arms around him.

About 20 minutes later Opie turned into the parking lot of TM

"Thanks Op, for everything"

"No problem, anything you need you can always count on me."

"I know, and I really appreciate it. Hey I know you and Donna needed some money, so here is something to say thank you." I said handing Opie an envelope with $2,000 in it.

"Jenna I can't take this," Opie protested.

"Just think off it as your fees for letting me use your truck tomorrow," I said pushing the envelope back to him.

"I guess that works, but it is still too much.” I just stared at him until he accepted the money. “Thanks Jen, it will help out more then you know" he said wrapping me in a hug, and when I looked up at him, he bent down and placed a kiss on my lips. That kiss was brief but it confirmed that he did in fact have feelings for me. I reconnected our lips, but we were interrupted by the sound of Opie's phone. It was Donna wondering where he was, perfect timing, as always. We said our goodbyes and I waved as I watched him ride away.

Well today was quite productive, new job; new apartment and a goodnight kiss from Opie. I was all smiles as I started my car and headed to the hotel I was staying at.

Goodnight Charming.

#sons of anarchy #Jax Teller #opie winston #soa #fanfiction #SAMCRO

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carisi-dreams · 5 years

Text

the next part in nick’s storyline [Cartel makes contact | demands | rescue ]; previous parts can be found in my au masterlist on my blog warnings: mentions of past sexual assault, mentions of past violence

Razor pierced himself with the sewing needle for as many times in the last five minutes. “¡Hijo de puta!”

He shook out his hand before popping his finger in his mouth with a grumble and a dark look at his kutte. Veronica pulled her gaze from the television to level another amused look in Razor’s direction. He caught her this time and his frown deepened.

“You know, some old ladies sew on the patches,” he pointed out. She arched an eyebrow and returned his pointed look.

“Feel free to find another old lady, if that’s your new requirement,” she countered. “I work with my hands. If I puncture a hole in my finger from trying to slide a sewing needle through leather and attach another patch, it makes my actual job a lot more difficult.”

“You saying my hands aren’t as important as yours?” Razor sniped back.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” she replied smugly. She leaned closer to him on the couch and draped her upper body against him. “But,” she added in a softer voice, “I’m very proud of you, if that counts for anything.”

Razor looked down at the ‘vicepresidente’ patch currently looking up at him. It had only been two days since their encounter with Fernando, but there had been a lot of things shaken up in the club. His eye was still incredibly swollen and he had been wrestling with the patch and kutte impatiently on her couch for the last twenty minutes. She pressed at the skin close to his eye gently with her fingers, but he still pulled away slightly with a hiss through his teeth. It hurt and he hoped that them nursing facial injuries for the other wasn’t going to become a trend.

“I wish I could do something,” Razor said lowly.

“What do you mean? Come on, baby, the patch is—”

“I’m not talking about the patch,” he interrupted harshly. He softened his tone and wrapped his arm around her in apology, letting his head drop to her shoulder. He inhaled her shampoo and let both eyes fall closed as the silky strands of her hair brushed against his face. “I wish I could do something.”

She remained silent as she finally cottoned on to his meaning. She pulled out of his grip minutely and her body tensed. In response he dragged calloused fingers over her leg and sighed.

“This isn’t on you,” Veronica said quietly.

He clenched his jaw as the memories of watching Nick being kicked and his old lady screaming flooded back in. Razor lifted his head and let his eyes trace over Veronica’s profile. “Nick needed me to—”

“Nick needed to think his plans out more thoroughly,” she interrupted sharply. She pulled completely out of his grip and got to her feet. He was taken aback by her outburst and watched as her body language closed off to him. “You do, too. You can’t just go around beating up and killing people because you feel like—”

“Because I feel like—!”

“And jumping from one harebrained scheme to the next. Seriously, Andre. You traipse off to some warehouse where no one, not even me, knows you’re going to be. You don’t have a solid plan for if things go sideways?” she continued, steamrolling over him. “You know, when we first started dating I was really, really naive. I thought the biggest hurdles we’d be facing were your club’s transphobia or comments and harassment from other people. I didn’t know that in actuality I’d be worrying every night if you were going to come back to me alive! Or maimed! Or if you were digging a shallow grave in the desert somewhere!”

“You knew that—”

“I didn’t know shit,” she cut him off again with a wave of her hand. “I thought I knew, but I didn’t. I’m going to worry and wonder now every time you’re not in my sight.”

“V, I’m okay,” Razor pressed. He got to his feet slowly and lifted his hands out to her.

“You’re not, Andre. You’re not, okay. You look like hell and you’ve got a cartel leader out for blood. For your blood and probably mine as well, now,” she pointed out lowly. She stepped out of reach of his hands.

“You said you wanted to know what was going on, that you didn’t want to be in the dark,” he reminded her slowly.

She nodded. “I know. I felt like…maybe it would be less scary if I knew the boogie man that was coming after me. I thought I could be like Sonny’s fiancée and be in the know and be badass and not afraid of anything.” She shook her head now and looked to the side. “I don’t know if I’m built for this. I’m so happy that you’re VP. I know this is important to you. But the higher up you get, the bigger the target on you widens. I don’t want to lose my fingers. I don’t want to be raped because someone wants to use me to get to you. That is scary to me.”

Razor took another step forward and reached for her again. “I would never let—”

“Don’t finish that sentence,” Veronica cut in. “Don’t make a promise you know you can’t keep. I don’t want to have to hold it against you later.” Razor closed his mouth and sucked his teeth in displeasure. “God forbid something happen to Nick and then you’re el presidente. What then?”

“What do you mean—nothing’s going to happen to Nick. I’m not going to be prez. I don’t want the seat or the gavel. I just want my kutte, my bike and you. Why are you still acting like there’s a shelf life on us?” Razor asked urgently. He brought up his hands to Veronica’s shoulders and shook her gently.

She looked at him grimly and opened her mouth to respond.

Sonny turned off the bike and kicked out the stand. It leaned and stabilized as he took off his helmet and slowly unfolded himself from his motorcycle. Nick was sitting on the front porch and Sonny squinted in a futile attempt to read his expression. The only acknowledgement that Nick gave him was a slight tilt up of his chin and Sonny returned the greeting with a wave of his fingers as he made his way up the front walkway.

It was a cool autumn day. The heat wave had finally broken and they were staring down the barrel of cooler days with less sun. Even now in the middle of the afternoon the sun was a warm orange glow instead of the searing brightness of the summer. The air was still and Sonny couldn’t shake the feeling that they were standing in the eye of the storm; ignorant of the destruction and wind that was funneling around them.

“Didn’t expect you to be out here,” he greeted once he finally hit the top step of the porch.

He made his way to Nick’s side and sat down heavily in the other chair on the porch. Sonny scanned his surrounding lazily, noting the camera he saw blinking that was perched by the new front door. Olivia and Amanda had done a good job on the house and Sonny was thankful that at least this could be a safe space for Nick.

“Needed some air.” Nick’s voice was brittle and reminded him of the sound of wind through dry palm leaves. “Feels like a fucking morgue in the house. I just—I just needed to catch my breath.”

Sonny leaned over and clapped a comforting hand to Nick’s shoulder where he was resting his elbows on his thighs and half folded into himself. The posture must have been uncomfortable with his cracked ribs and it pained Sonny to see Nick so defeated. He remained silent for a few moments, honoring the truth of the words instead of trying to rush past them. This was a familiar pain he was sorry to know all to well.

“Speaking of,” Sonny finally said after several minutes of silence, “Felipe taken care of?”

“Prospects,” Nick spat out.

“Who was the one who…?” Sonny let the question trail off.

“Me. It was a table vote—unanimous—but I was the one to put the bullet between his eyes. Not that it matters now. Not that it made me feel better or gave my old lady any comfort. He’s not the one I want to flay like a fish,” Nick ground out. Sonny tightened his hold on Nick’s shoulder.

“Nothing on Fernando?” he asked even though he already knew the answer.

“Nothing,” Nick confirmed with a shake of his head. He finally straightened up and Sonny let his hand fall back into his own lap. He watched as Nick’s gaze darted from house to house and then down the street when a car back fired. His posture was rigid and even now he was on high alert.

“I don’t know what to do,” he admitted. He glanced over at Sonny quickly before looking away. “I can’t sleep more than two, maybe three hours at a time.”

“Thought we gave you painkillers,” Sonny replied with a frown. He was fumbling with his phone before he even finished his sentence, already typing out a message to send to his old lady. Nick stopped him with a hand to his forearm.

“I don’t want them,” Nick said lowly. “It’s not…it’s not fair for me to be able to take medicine to take my pain away while she’s still in agony. The least I can do is—”

“You’re no good to her if you don’t take care of yourself,” Sonny pointed out.

“I’m not good to her at all,” Nick bit out harshly. Sonny’s heart clenched at the pain in Nick’s voice. “I’m no good for her. This is my fault.”

“It’s not—”

“Yes it is!” Nick yelled. His chest was heaving and Sonny remained quiet. “It’s my fault. I wasn’t fucking smart,” fingers jabbed at his temple roughly, “enough to get out of the situation. I should have lied to buy us time. I should have told someone where we were going. There’s a million things I did wrong and if I had thought it out, she never would have been dragged into this. She wouldn’t flinch away from me when I bring her food to try to get her to eat. She wouldn’t have panic attacks if the house is too dark. It’s only been two days and I’m already unraveling. She has nightmares…and in the space between me trying to wake her up and her being fully awake she looks at me and her eyes are so full of—terror, sheer terror,” Nick paused to take in a gulping breath. “She looks terrified of me and then she wakes up fully and she cries and shakes like a leaf until she tires herself out. Then the cycle continues.”

“You will get through this,” Sonny replied lowly in an insistent voice. “I know what it’s like, trust me. I know exactly what you’re feeling. Every time I look at my fiancée’s engagement ring I see her missing finger. And I know that’s my fault. I know how you feel.”

“How do you do it?” Nick asked in a defeated voice. He looked over at Sonny helplessly. “How do we do it? How do we let them stay with us?”

Sonny felt his own heart rate starting to rise, but he pushed down his alarm. “What do you mean?”

“We’re not good people,” Nick hissed. Sonny flashed back to the time when Nick had asked him that question. It felt like ages ago now. “We’re not. If we were good people we’d take ourselves out of the equation. Resign ourselves to cheap pussy and let our old ladies have a life. Let them have a good life!”

Sonny remained silent and looked away. He watched as curtains in the house across the street fluttered in the thin breeze. He resolutely did not remember the moment he opened a ring box and found a finger inside of it. He pushed back the feeling of helplessness from then.

“I’m getting married,” Sonny decided on finally. He turned back to Nick and pinned him with his gaze. “My old lady has made it pretty clear that if I make a decision for her, she’ll kill me herself.” He shrugged helplessly. “I know what kind of man I am. I know I should leave her, but I can’t. I can’t leave her. I can’t imagine living without her. So I do what I need to do to take care of her the absolute best I can. It’s the only thing you can do.”

Nick made a disgusted face at that, clearly not satisfied with the answer. “Maybe that works for you two, but…I can’t provide her any sense of security, do you get that? You took out everyone even a little bit involved in her kidnapping—”

“Wish I’d been the one to slide the shiv between Ryan’s ribs,” Sonny muttered darkly.

“None of them are alive. I can’t even find Fernando. And when I do, what then? I kill him? Who’s to say I don’t cut off the head of the snake and it grows two more in it’s place. I’m out of my depth. There’s nothing for me to do, but wait. I don’t even know what I’m waiting for,” Nick said wearily.

Sonny leaned forward on his elbows and smiled a little. “That brings me to the reason for my visit. I think I have a solution to how we take out Fernando.”

Nick nodded his head towards the empty chair at the table and Snake made his way to it slowly. “So you know that you have three months left, right?” Nick asked as Snake sat. The other man nodded and Nick tapped his finger against the wood table. “You also know that we can revoke your bid at any time?” Snake nodded again, this time with a look of trepidation on his face.

Nick looked away and traced the smooth wood surface before running his finger along the gavel sitting before him. Around the table the rest of the members had stoic expressions on their face. Snake’s gaze flicked to Razor before landing back on Nick’s face. The president looked weathered in a way that far exceeded his actual age. Where there used to be something playful in Nick’s expression it was now all granite. Every so often something painful made itself known before he closed the veneer once more.

“Your sponsor…” Nick let the words draw out. “Your sponsor suggested that with some of the recent…events…over the last day that we should patch you through early.” Nick met Snake’s gaze. “The club voted and it was unanimous.” Nick inclined his head and Razor tossed a set of patches across the table to Snake.

“You’re in the club.”

check out the mc!au tag & au masterlist on my blog for more!

#mc!au #my writing #trying something new with new links for this part #as a test #sonny carisi #nick amaro #mc!sonny #mc!nick #razor #veronica #reader a #au

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daynamartinez22 · 3 years

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Weekly SEO Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 326

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Click on the video above to watch Episode 326 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.

The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://semanticmastery.com/humpday.

Announcement

Welcome everybody to Hump Day Hangouts Episode 326. Today is the 10th of February 2021. I was about to say if you’re watching live and you can’t see this refresh the broken debris fresh the page, but don’t really do you much good if you’re watching live and can’t see this. So if you’re ever watching live and you can’t see it, just make sure that you refresh the page. And that takes a little bit for the page to get updated. So, as usual, we’re going to go through we got some announcements. We’ll keep that short and then we’re going to get in we got a bunch of questions of pretty good, wide variety. So we will start we got I know Marco’s out taking some time with the family. Hernan must have gotten held up somewhere, but the rest of us are here and ready to go. So we’ll start off with Chris, how are you doing today?

thing, Goodyear super happy here today. Lots of new snow. So like, everything is right. Everything is more bright and stuff. So I really enjoyed it.

Very nice. Nice. Nice. All right. And Bradley, are you readily available for comments?

Oh, yeah, I’m trying to get logged into stuff. But yeah,

gotcha. How are you doing? I’m good. I’m glad to be here. Cool. Let’s jump into it. I got a couple of things I want to go over before we start answering questions. First of all, if you’re new to semantic mastery, thanks for watching. You’re in the right place every Wednesday at 4 pm Eastern. You can check us out either live on semantic mastery comm slash h v questions or you can subscribe on the YouTube channel and stay up to date that way. And check out the replay. We also put out little clips of the questions. But the best way to do it is to come to live or if you can’t make it live. You can ask your questions ahead of time. Yeah, semanticmastery.com/hdquestions, and then check out the replay we understand you there got things to do got a job got clients, whatever. Last but not least, I want to name a few things that we get asked a lot. And to kind of talk on that real quick. If you are new to semantic mastery, you’re new to MGYB you’re new to heavy hitters club, then you should find out how to shield your site. I’m using the air quotes here because the shield comes up a lot, right. But this is if you don’t want to worry about algorithm updates and you want to find out what the hell the SEO shield is go over to the SEO shield.com that’s the word de Seo shield.com. And then beyond that, if you want to expand beyond that and get our step by step processes for getting SEO results, then check out the battle plan. And you can find out more about that at battle plan dot semantic mastery comm kind of moving up the list, what we also get asked a lot is Hey, I’m either consultant or I’ve got a small agency but I want to get more clients, I want to grow my revenue, I want to scale my team. I know I fit into that core category I think a lot of other people do. But if you want to find out more about that there’s great training available at two x your agency.com. And then if you’re ready to grow your digital marketing business, or you even have a brick and mortar physical business, you’ve got people working for you, or you’re more experienced with the agency or consulting model than the mastermind is definitely the place for you. And you can find out more about that at mastermind dot semantic mastery.com. And last but certainly not least, I’ve mentioned this before mg y b.co that’s placed to get done for you services. All right, I recently, you know, this is the stuff we’ve used ourselves and we do use ourselves I recently bought the deep keyword research package for a new project I’m working on. I love that it saves a ton of time you get a bunch of not only just great keywords, but it’s also organized very well you can find out more about that at mg y b.co. And beyond that you can get the SEO shield syndication networks, press releases link building all sorts of good stuff. So before we jump into it just gonna say hi to Hernan looks like he made it here. How you doing, man?

I’m good, man. Sorry about the slight delay. I was in a meeting that runs late. It was supposed to be five minutes by the end of being seven. That’s all right. You’re gonna get detention, but I hate that man. I hate that. So anyway, happy to be here. Awesome. All right. Well, that’s about it. Let’s get into it unless anybody else had I think we got one more thing.

What’s up, man? especially for all our full being Muslim mastermind members. So for the next two weeks, if you’re struggling with your Facebook convergence API, I will help you for free but only for the next two weeks and with no trial subscription. So like you need to be a fully subscribed mastermind member. And I will post a link where you can subscribe to the mastermind. If you’re struggling or needs help with that just hit me up in the Facebook group. The semantic mastermind Facebook group and yeah, that’s it. Awesome.

Hell of a deal.

Definitely.

I guess. Let’s get into it. Bradley. You’re good to go. Yeah, I’m good. Now let me grab the screen. You know, I’m still fighting through. I got a new PC last week and boy, and I remember why over six years, I kept my old one for six years because it’s a nightmare, transferring everything from, you know, one PC to another just takes forever. It’s been a week and I’m still not done.

So I got a question for you, Bradley. And hopefully, some other people can relate. And I know the answer, like from her nine, because I know he plays PC games. And so I bet you know, he nerds out on like putting together his PC or like getting a new one. Do you do that to Bradley? Or is it has it always just been like a work machine for you? And it just works. Okay. So like I transition because I used to, like, nerd out, you know, I’m like researching and doing all this and building my own PC. And now I’m like, dreading upgrading, because I’m like, Oh, my God, I don’t want to deal with having to like download programs and do this. And I never understood people who were like that before. Now. That’s to me, like one of the things I’m like, shit, I’m getting old. I know. Yeah.

Well, I used, I used this program, but it’s a company called Laplink. It’s called PC mover. And I use the professional version, which like 60 bucks or something like that. But it was great. It had it was overnight, it transferred everything from one PC to the other, all programs and everything, but you still got to log back into the programs, and then kind of like reset them or re-register them and all that kind of stuff. So and then obviously, some of the settings aren’t all the same, but it definitely helped. You know, before I’ve always done that shit manually, and it would literally take days of doing nothing but working on the PC like the transfer stuff. And this made everything a lot easier. But it’s still you know, I’m still going in and have to modify things. Do you know what I mean? So

that’s cool. What was that called? Again?

It’s called a sea mover by Laplink.

Awesome. I’m gonna write it down. It’s pretty cool. What saved me a ton of time. It lets me transfer overnight. And it took about six hours for it to transfer everything from one to another. But once it was done as I said, it definitely sped up the process still working my way through some bugs, but it was definitely a lot easier.

Sure. What rockets Did you get like that’s the curious question on everybody’s mind? The what? What kind of rocket computer did you get? Well, I got a good one was 64 megabytes RAM because that was my biggest issue. I use a browser to still, God forbid. And when I got a shit ton of Chrome profiles open, it slows my computer way down. I went from 32 gigabytes ram to 64 and it’s um, it’s definitely better. It’s faster. There are no questions.

I got a recommendation for you there right there. Was that is a fucking VPS man? Now to float the whole thing of like, 500 open tabs.

I just bought a new PC, so I don’t need to do that shit. So you can even do this like a week Chromebook and run that operation.

moving into question.

There we go. Alright, guys, we’re gonna get into it. Now. We’re gonna start with chassis that GIF anyways, maybe we’ll get to it. Keep going.

Which one?

Nevermind, just keep going.

I don’t see it.

Okay.

Is It Okay To Add A Company’s Wiki Page To Its Schema Data In SEO Ultimate?

All right. Anyway, moving on. Chad says Hey, guys. Well, it looks like I don’t remember answering this one last week. So we’ll go with this one. If a company has a Wikipedia page or something similar, like Crunchbase Is it a good idea to include it as a link in things schema using something like SEO ultimate for the name of the brand and variations of the brand to help with branded SERPs? Or is this a stupid idea and better to just put in sameas schema? Yeah, I mean, I’m I don’t fully understand the question or what you’re attempting to do. So if you want to clarify that, I’ll try to give you a better answer. But honestly just put it in the same as schema. That’s sameas schemas. Actually, it’s for your primary social accounts. However, we’ve had for years now we’ve been listing all of what we did, we feel are the most powerful properties that are, you know, branded profiles for a project to brand a company. And so I’ll use what I consider to be the most powerful citations, so to speak, or places where I have a profile, so it’ll be the main social media accounts, YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr, or excuse me, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, you know, Instagram, if you have it, I typically don’t use Instagram, but so the main social media accounts and then, like the Google Site GMB website, if you’re if you have a GMB the GMB map URL, you can also use the hash map designation and schema for that also, but I also put that in same as the Google site if you got an SEO shield, which you should press advantage organization page part of the SEO shield, right. And then also, I’ll put in top-level citations, if it’s for local, I’ve talked about how to do this many times. But typically, what I’ll do is just go to Google and search for the company name plus the phone number and then whatever listings or citations show up or any sort of profiles period that show up in the top two pages of Google search results for that brand plus phone number. By the way, if the top two pages are filled up with a lot of pages from the company domain, right from the, from that entities domain, then you can always put in a modifier like minus, then the domain name right the domain itself, so you know, mydomain.com, so minus the minus sign, then my domain.com, and it will strip those from the results that it shows. So again, I’ll do a search for the brand name plus phone number. And then I’ll do the minus domain comm as part of it, and then whatever shows up on those top two pages, I’ve just put those in my same as click through and make sure that they’re relevant. You know, if there’s not really any data on the page, then it’s unnecessary to put it in the schema, same as schema. But if it’s got the name, address, and phone number listed, and preferably with the link back to the site, and I will put that back in, or I’ll put that in the same schema. So again, top-level social media, the top syndication, network profiles, not all of them, but I put the top ones in like blogger, Tumblr, WordPress, for example, about me is another good one, press advantage, Google Site GMB website, GMB map share URL, or preferably the CI d equals URL not to share URL, and then the top two pages of citations or when I say citations, I don’t just mean structured citations like business directories, I mean, any anything that Google determines in the top two pages for that type of a search, why I just do the top two pages, because those are the ones that Google thinks are the most important, or the most authoritative, that are referencing your project site, right the brand itself. So that’s why I just stick with those. I don’t spam it to death. I know some people that will put everything that they ever create for their brand and same as, and it’s like super long. And I don’t think that that hurts it. But I just think that’s overkill. And there’s some sort of diminishing return there. So I like I said, I just stick with the top-level ones. And that’s basically it and typically gets really good results. And that can all be done with sameas schema. I wouldn’t attempt any of these other things that well first of all, I’m not 100% sure what you were asking, but you run the risk of ambiguating the entity if you start messing with it, so that’s why sameas is a particular designation that works well for that kind of thing. comments on that, guys, I know. It’s probably gonna be mostly me today.

How Do You Get The Twitter SEO Profile Addon When You Purchase The SEO Power Shield?

Nope, no, man. Okay, looks good. All right, moving on. So Chad says, Hey, guys, I’m looking to purchase a done for you SEO power shield. I noticed that with our ys reloaded package, there’s a Twitter SEO profile add on option since the SEO power shield includes an RYS stack? Is the Twitter SEO profile included? And if not, how do I go about adding that before or during checkout? Last thing? Fuck Google? It’s funny. Marco would be proud jazz? Um, that’s a really good question. Honestly, I know, I don’t typically use the Twitter SEO add on. And it’s just because I don’t really like Twitter. I know it’s good for SEO and all that. I’ve never been a fan of Twitter. So it’s just something I don’t use. If it’s something that you want to add to an SEO power shield, and that that does not come with it. Okay. If you’re ordering just a drive stack, then you can have that as an add on right? Or you can buy that package with the Twitter SEO and the SEO power show because it’s not something that people commonly purchased the Twitter SEO network, then we don’t include that in the SEO PowerSuite. Because again, those are like the bundled services, which people mostly purchase, right. So that’s the SEO shield packages are bundles that are the most commonly purchased bundles, so to speak. So if you want that add on, I would just contact support and ask how they want to handle that because I don’t think we have a that’s kind of just customization but I’m sure that support will accommodate you just contact [email protected] and tell them what you’re trying to do and they’ll get you sorted I’m sure. Okay.

Would Creating Online Tools Like WhoIs Checker Inadvertently Benefit Competitors As Their Domains Will Be Crawled?

Okay, the next question is from Pierce he says, Hey guys looking to build out some online tools for my web hosting business like an online who is checker, etc. which will create new domains with info about different domains. With info about different domains, okay, with doing this inadvertently benefit my competitors as their domains may get crawled and listed on the Whois tool. Won’t there be any links going to the domains just information like brand name image of the homepage and who is registration? I don’t fully understand that question Is anybody else? You guys probably weren’t even paying attention. Were you? I know I don’t fully understand this question. So we try one more time. Hey, guys, looking to build out some online tools for my web hosting business like an online who is checker, which will create new domains with info about different domains. I don’t understand the point of that.

I’m just wondering if that’s like, sorry, I don’t know the right terminology for this, but like you’re creating pages on the fly, like as people query it, you’re like, hey, let’s find out about this page. And then it builds a page with the information that, you know, in, like, builds it on the fly, maybe, but probably not a different domain. I mean, it could be a subdomain, but it probably is a page, but I don’t know.

Yeah. Yeah, I don’t fully understand the question. I don’t understand what creating new domains with info about different domains means. So just go, let’s assume he’s talking about subdomain. So like, every time someone does a query, he goes to go to his site, to go to domain.com, and say, Hey, tell me about semantic mastery. And it did some information on semantic mastery. And it creates a page called semantic mastery.is domain calm, and it shows some information about it. And just as of right, then that page is created on the fly and the domain exists.

As their domains may get crowded, listed on. Yeah, okay. If that’s what you’re, and that that was a great interpretation, Adam, because that may very well be what he’s trying to do. And I’m just going to assume that that is the case. For now. Maybe there’s some clarification down further?

No. All right. Well, I’m gonna run with what Adams interpretation of that question was, if that were the case, then, you know, that’s a good question. I don’t know 100%? No, if you’re not linking back to the competitor domain, then most likely not I mean, it’s still considered a citation. Right? If you’re listing information about the brand, the domain itself, right, then it could be considered a citation, which would be you know, remember, a citation doesn’t have to include a link, it’s just the publishing of entity information, typically name, address and phone number, right NAP. Sometimes the link sometimes without but just publishing that, even if it’s not hyperlinked is not clickable, none of that can count as a citation that’s more beneficial for local projects than it is for like national or global or whatever. But it still is it can help with SEO. But since if there’s no link whatsoever, you’re likely it’s likely that it wouldn’t, you know, it wouldn’t move the needle and is what I’m saying for your competitors. So I don’t think that that would be a problem. And again, that’s just me assuming that that is what you’re trying to do is create a subdomain page anytime somebody doesn’t create a query because I don’t really fully understand the question. So anyway, that said, hopefully, that answers your question. I don’t think it would be an issue if it’s just listing like text-based data about that domain. But again, still not 100% sure why you would want to do that.

Will You Get Topics Related To Law When You Submit A Deep Keyword Research For Lawyers?

So anyway, there he says, Lanre. I think I got it right this time, man. Landre, right. I think so. Anyways, if I need to do a keyword for divorce lawyers, if I need to do keywords, or key okay for divorce lawyers, do I need to submit for keyword research for lawyers or divorce lawyers? Okay, so if you’re going to order a keyword research package because I’m assuming that’s what you’re asking if you’re going to order a keyword search package from MGYB. for divorce lawyers do I submit for keyword research, for lawyers, or for divorce lawyers? Well, if you’re going specifically after divorce lawyers, then if you were to just submit lawyers as your keyword, then it’s going to pull back divorce lawyers and personal injury attorneys and family law and, you know, criminal attorneys, and it’s going to pull all that back, which would be not relevant to your project, right. So if your project is all about divorce lawyers, then I would use divorce lawyers or attorneys, you know, they’re kind of interchangeable as your keyword. And then they’ll start pulling it from there and extracting all of the keywords, you know, subsets or theme sub-themes from divorce lawyers. And I’m kind of compiling and optimizing the keyword file for you that way if it’s the, you know, the top whatever the top-level keyword packages, so that’s, that’s what I would suggest because remember, if you’re going with the broader term, you’re going to get broader results too, which aren’t going to be relevant to your product or your project, excuse me. So I would go with divorce lawyers. Okay, don’t include any local modifiers though. We don’t need that for the deep keyword research.

If I submit for deep keyword research for lawyers, will I be able to select various areas of law to build my site or Well, I have to build a law site that covers various ways I’d be able to select various areas of law to build my site? Or will I have to build a law site that covers various areas of law Okay, um, all right, I won’t be able to select various areas of law to build my site? Yeah, I mean, as I said, if you go with the lawyers like for D word, if you just went with lawyers, right, which is very broad, then it’s going to return everything. And there will be suggested silos and all that, which then, you know, you can determine whether you want to use them or not. It’s up to your, you know, what, what your project is about? Because you, if you again, if you go with lawyers, there’s going to be all kinds of environmental law, immigration lawyers, there’s going to be all kinds of stuff in there, that is probably not going to be relevant to you. I mean, again, I don’t know what you mentioned in the previous question, divorce lawyers. So I’m assuming that you want to be optimized more for that. more specialized right. So I would go with just divorce lawyers. But again, if you want to do a more general type of law website that covers multiple subcategories for attorneys or lawyers, then you want to go with the broader term. Does that make sense? And then you can just select which, you know, silos or suggested silos that you want to use. And again, they’re suggested you still have to go through and, you know, stack the content or the keywords, the way that you want them to be, we do our best to give you you know, things and keyword groups or keyword themes, which would be suggested silos essentially. But it’s still up to you to go through and actually, you know, choose which ones of those keywords are fully relevant to your project, and to select which ones you’re going to create content for or optimized content for is that if that makes sense? Okay. All right. Moving on. hopefully, that answered that question. It was a little bit of a difficult question, I guess.

Is It Wise To Point Tier 2 Links From MGYB Or Other Sources To Bit.ly Linking Back To The Money Site?

Christopher says, Hey, SM crew, when it comes to pop pushing power behind links, is it wise? Is it a wise idea to point tier two legs from MGYB? or other sources to Bitly? linking back to the money site? Or is it better to direct somewhere else? Okay, Christopher, that’s a good question. But there are a few things that I would recommend. So tier two links from MGYB or other sources to Bitly. Okay. Bitly, I don’t recommend using Bitly for shortening links, your money sites, and stuff, because this has been a known issue with Bitly. Now, it may have changed, it may be updated. And they don’t do this anymore. I don’t know. I just know from years ago, I’m talking like, you know, six, seven years ago, Bitly was infamous for. They’re supposed to be 301 redirect URLs, short shorteners, right, which creates a 301 redirect, but for whatever reason, and there was no like, rhyme, or reason behind it. Bentley will sometimes convert some Bitly redirects to three Oh, twos, right, which is it, it doesn’t allow PageRank to pass. And if that’s the case, then building links to Bitly shortened URLs that have been tagged as 302, you know, have been converted to 302 redirects, then you lose all of any potential benefit from the link building to that short link is completely lost at that point. So we have for years and years, we stopped using Bitly for short URLs other than like, when you’re using them for SEO purposes, I use Bitly all the time in like internal documents and things like that. Because it’s not SEO related, right? It’s but when I’m doing when I’m creating redirects for SEO purposes, I don’t like to use Bitly. Because of that very reason. There’s sometimes you’ll look at Bit.ly links and through like a redirect checker and it’ll be a 301. Other times you’ll look at Bitly links, and there’ll be 3.0s in Bitly just does that on their own, at least they used to again, it’s been many years since I’ve really tested any of that because I just stopped using Bitly years ago because of that reason. So I don’t know if that’s still the case or not. But I know that at some point, they were doing that and so it made Bitly not a good tool for SEO purposes. That said, Remember, MGYB has a link shortener, right. And that’s why we use it because we do a lot of what you’re asking about here. For example, if you go to mgyb.co/s, which is the link shortener, you’ll see what I’m talking about, okay.

And that was not what I wanted to do. Right there, mgyb.co/s is the link shortener. So you can sign up, you know, you can have a free account or you can pay for a paid account, which is very, very inexpensive and gives you some additional functionality. But that’s part of the reason when we deliver like an SEO shield, for example, all of the five links that were included in the order originally like your syndication, network profiles, then all of the files and folders that are created throughout the building of the drive stack. All of those links also get shortened. And if you take a look at like for example, the links sheet That comes with an SEO shield order. You’ll see on the so the Google Sheet when I say sheet, that’s what I mean. You’ll see on there, there will be all of the URLs listed for all the files and folders in the drive stack in one column. And then in the column to the right of it, there will be all the short URLs that are MGYB. Seo short, shortened URLs. And the reason why we do that is that, you know, with all the link building that gets done to drive stacks and everything else, people will also submit link building, you know, the target, the mgyb.co short URLs as target URLs. And so over time, this has gotten really, really powerful. In fact, there’s, it’s funny, but oftentimes, the MGYB.co short URLs will rank in search results as opposed to the unfurled or the target destination URLs. So like, for example, Google, My Maps, my map URL, typically I see for a lot of the projects that I have SEO shields done when the mind maps are ranking. It’s the MGYB.co short URL, as opposed to the actual Google URL. Does that make sense? that’s showing in the search results. So if you want to use a link shortener use ours, because that’s specifically why we set it up was for that reason, and there is some benefit to that. Now, remember, there’s a little bit of PageRank, that drops through redirects, right, you lose a little bit of loss PageRank loss through every redirect, I don’t know what that number is. It’s, you know, a small percentage, like 10 to 15%, or something like that. And I don’t know that that’s completely accurate anyways. So there is a little bit of a loss there. But there is some benefit to it as well because again, our short URL link URL, and probably all the big ones Bitly probably has a shit ton of power built to it. But if it arbitrarily converts it to a 302, you’re not going to benefit from that. Does that make sense? So there are other options out there, there’s ours, then there are other options out there that won’t arbitrarily assign a 302 redirect? Okay. That’s a good question.

What Other Places Where We Can Secure Citations For Local SEO Clients Aside From Yelp And Manta?

Okay, moving on. George, the SEO, aside from places like Yelp Manta and other directories and press releases, where are some other places we can see secure psychic citations, excuse me, for local SEO clients? Um, well, you know, there’s the normal business directories. But one of the things out here, I’ll, I’ll go through a little exercise with you guys. And this works really well for stuff to remember, there are a few things that you guys should be doing for citations, besides the standard citations, which everybody and their brother is on, you should be looking for niche-specific directories. So like industry-specific directories, let me pull this up. Industry directories and also local directories. Right. So what I mean by that, so for example, if I, you know, Tree Service stuff is what I do. So if I say tree service business directory, go through here and see. I don’t understand what that means. Anyways, look at that later. Okay, so what I would do is go just do a search for you know, your industry business directory, and just start clicking through and see which ones you can get listed on, some are going to be paid, but many of them will be free, and compile a list. If there are similar or tangent industries, that would also be good places to get listed. So for example, a tree service business directory, I could get listed on as many of these in here that I could find, that makes sense that, you know, again, some are going to be paid some of they’re going to are going to be free. just compile a list of industry-specific directories. then like I said, look for a tangent market or industry directories. So for example, I could look for landscaping, business directories, right, those could be some of the other ones that I could get listed on because of tree services. Oftentimes, landscapers also provide tree services, and oftentimes tree services also provide landscaping services. Right? That makes sense. So that that’d be another word one, something else for in the tree service industry would be like maybe land clearing. Let’s do this. Right. So just you guys understand what I’m saying. Right? I was and I don’t know, because land clearing isn’t probably searched enough on its own for it to have specific directories, maybe it does. I’d have to do some research. But my point is just going through and try to compile a list of what could be industry-related or somewhat related industry-specific directories that you can try to attempt to get listed on so that’s going to help okay for talking relevancy, but then for location, relevancy, or geographic relevancy, then you could look for local business directories. So for example, if I was going to look for, you know, say, Fairfax, Virginia, I’m just going to use that or Richmond, Virginia, which is the capital of Virginia. So let me do that, let’s say Richmond, VA, or Richmond, Virginia, Business Directory. And then I would just go right on through here and just start clicking through and opening up, that’s richmond.com, the Chamber of Commerce, obviously, that’d be another good one. There, all of these different try to put it back over there. This is this is richmond.com. This is the Chamber of Commerce 804 area.com, Richmond gov.com, you might even be able to get listed on like the local municipality or local government site, Richmond light pages in like all of these does that make sense, you just go through and look for your city business directories. And then you could also even look for not just your city, but your state, right, you could go like, in my case, Virginia business directory, and then go in and start getting listed on those. So there you go, you’ve got three additional options right there, something else you could look for is local blogs, it doesn’t have to just be directories. You could also look out for local blogs, local event, local events would be something else that you might be able to get listed on. So you just got to click through and do a little bit of research. But guys, these types of citations are actually way more powerful than the big ones like the big national directories because those are general business directories that cover all types of business categories. And all over the United States, sometimes even more. So those are there’s a place for those. There’s no question. But I found for SEO purposes, you get better results from industry-specific and local business directories. And even you know, state business directories are also helpful. Does that make sense? Does anybody want to comment on that?

And nothing, man. Okay.

Should I Use A Gsite Or Buy A Domain For Local Service Lead Gen Site?

bb’s up? Hey, guys, should I use a G site Or buy a domain for local service lead gen, please explain for short term and long term strategy. Okay. Um, you know, Rob, he does everything with just a G site, he doesn’t do any, like self-hosted sites at all. And he’s, you know, he kills it. There’s, I like to still build a brand with a self-hosted site. For the most part, if I’m doing a standalone GMB lead gen, that isn’t going to be like some brand that I plan to expand, then, which I try not to do that anymore at all. If I’m going to start building lead gen assets, I try to always create a brand that I’m going to use across multiple locations. Okay, because, as we’ve talked about many, many times before, now, you don’t have to have a self-hosted site for that, though, right? You can create it and here’s the thing BB. Whatever route you go, whether you want to self-hosted site, right, so by domain for that, or just use Google sites and drive stacks, you know, the SEO shield, essentially, without a self-hosted site, you can do it, either way, it doesn’t matter. It’s up to you. I tend to like to have a WordPress site still because it gives me additional functionality. But I know that you can do it with just a G site. What my recommendation is, is that you target just a brand on the primary g site, if you want to go that route where you’re you don’t have to buy domains, you don’t have to have a hosting account. You don’t have to set up and maintain or manage WordPress, you can do it with just a Google site. But what I recommend is instead of localizing the Google site, for the initial, the initial one, you want to set it up as a brand, right? So essentially, let’s just call it Bs, lead gen, right? We’re gonna call it that. So your first your G site and your SEO shield, I would set it up on to where it’s optimized for specifically the brand. That’s it. All right, so that you order the SEO power field for Bibi’s lead gen. So that’s the brand so that Google site would be sites.google.com slash views, slash Bs, lead gen. And I wouldn’t add or associate it with a particular location. At that point, if there’s going to be a standalone, then you could do that. You’re right, you’d want to be maybes lead gen for whatever you’re sitting in, right? So plus city. But if you’re going to create a brand out of it, which is what I recommend and create, that you can expand from multiple locations, then I would do it for just the brand at the top level. And then for every location. Even if you’re starting off with just one location, I would create that as an inner page of the G site. So it’s optimized, you know, has it like basically a location page and inner page on the sight as well as an ROI is expansion. White, which you order that an mg y b as well, which would be optimized for that particular location. And then for each subsequent location that you add, it gets another ROI is expansion stack, or ROI is expansion. Stack expansion, excuse me, whatever you get what I’m saying I would have an expansion for each individual location. And each location would be optimized for that, you know, whatever your primary keyword is plus the location. That’s the way I do it. And the reason why is because you can really build that entity up that brand name up, so that initially, it’s all going to be the same. But over time, as you add more like you continue to link build into it and everything else, it’s going to start to gain authority. And each time you want to add another location expand to a new area, then when you add another ArcGIS expansion, another inner, you know, inner page on the G site, it’s going to instantly benefit from all of the power that’s been accrued into that branded stack, and G site. Does that make sense? So initially, your workload is going to be the same. In fact, it might even be a little bit higher initially, because instead of optimizing the drive stack and the G site homepage for a particular location, you optimize it for the brand only. And then you have to have an expansion to target the specific location. So upfront, it might be a little bit more work just a tiny bit, but over time, it’s going to pay off, it’s going to produce a significant payoff, because each time you add a niche, another location is going to instantly benefit from the power of crude and will be a hell of a lot easier to get results from then starting over from scratch each time. So that makes sense. So that’s why I prefer to do it that way. I mean, I still like to have a WordPress site, guys unless like, as I said, it’s just a standalone, like a test project or something like that. But if it’s something that I plan on expanding, I like to have a WordPress site. But that’s just personal preference. As I said, Rob does everything with just g sites and just crushes it. So it’s up to you how you want to handle that. Okay.

Should You Use A Branded Or A Service Name For A Local Business Lead Gen?

What name should we use for local business Legion branded or service name included or end this limits locality? wanting to know if that will rank faster? Yeah. I don’t recommend Well, I reckon Semantic Mastery has been talking about branding for years, we got away from using EMD his exact match domains A long time ago, I always go for a brand. There can be a partial keyword in the brand name a lot of tree contractors do that. Like, you know, though, a lot of tree contractors will have the city name and their, their, their company name or, or Tree Service, obviously, what we’ll be at, which is a keyword tool. But I prefer to go with branded domains and brands, you know, I don’t like keyword stuffing the name. Why? Because think about this, guys. A lot of the times company names are like, especially for service contractors is really just a keyword. Right? It’s like, again, like call pepper Tree Service. If I was going to run with that as a name, right, I live in Cole pepper, called pepper Tree Service. That’s a keyword. So it’s hard to make it a brand. Because there’s ambiguation right off the bat because it’s technically a keyword. Right? It could also be a brand, but you have to overcome the fact that it’s a keyword in Google’s eyes to be recognized as a brand. Does that make sense? So you’re starting from an entity-based SEO standpoint, you’re starting at a disadvantage when you try to go after a generic or keyword-based type entity name. You’re better off going with something unique, that’s branded, it can have a partial match keyword in it, that’s okay. But my point is like I wouldn’t, especially if it’s going to be like you plan on expanding outside of a particular location that I wouldn’t want to include a location name, a specific city name in the brand name, because then you’d be pigeonholing yourself or limiting yourself to that one location. Right? So hopefully that makes sense.

Can You Target A Keyword That Is Searched On Google Even If It’s Not Understandable To Humans?

Can you target a keyword that is searched on Google, but there’s no meaning of it for humans, and they will not understand it. Yeah, sure, you can. That’s how a lot of people do single variable SEO tests. Again, why would you want to do that BB, you always ask these theoretical questions. And I have to ask you why I don’t understand why you would want to target a keyword that is searched on Google, but there is no meaning for it to humans. I’m not sure what you would want to do that for but yeah, sure you can. But no meaning to humans. Why? Like I don’t understand what the point of that would be. Anyway.

Let’s say that I want to change your phone number. I have a business and they’re one place that does not live. And there there’s one place that does not let me do that will putting on another place old number.

And the new number and company name. Will Google understand that the other place was a mistake. Not No. I don’t. And again, I don’t fully understand that question either but

No, because here’s the thing, if you’ve got an old phone number that’s outdated, and it’s published on the web, you know, all those places that are published, how you’d have to update all of them is my point. That’s why it’s better if you’ve got like, for example, NAP errors, right? We have data inaccuracy is for NAP for a particular business, it’s better, it’s wiser, it’s more effective to go clean up or correct. Incorrect citation data than it is to start publishing new citations with the correct data. Because all you’re doing at that point is diluting bad data. Right? You get weight. And trust me, I’ve, I’ve over the years, I’ve dealt with a lot of clients that had significant NAP issues. When I when they came to me, and I’ve learned over the years, the best thing to do is not start building news. I mean, starting to build new citations is going to happen naturally anyway, from the content marketing that we do. But the best way to get results from you know maps pack issues or maps ranking issues when there are any NAP data issues inconsistencies. The best thing to do the most effective thing to do is to update existing citations with correct data, which for that the best service that I’ve ever used is Loganix’s service. So if you go to semanticmastery.com/loganix, that’s L-o-g-a-n-i-x. It’s going to take you to their service, and they have a citation cleanup service, which I think 500 bucks might even be 600 bucks. It’s really good, though. It’s the best one. I’ve done this a number of times for clients over the years. And their services. I’ve used a bunch of services to do citation cleanups. And I’m telling you there is by far the most thorough service period. And to this day, every time I got a project or new client that has nav issues, the first thing I include the cost of this service, right in the proposal, when I get a new client, and typically I mark it up, and I also purchase through their account Loganix account that I set up for them through my own affiliate link as a Loganix affiliate, so that I get a markup Plus, I think it’s only 10% Commission, but I get a 10% commission as well. And then Loganix does all the work, and they’ve got their citation cleanup service, which is really, really good. Okay. So if their page loaded a little bit quicker, I’d show you that. Let’s go here, local SEO. And then they have some citation cleanup right here. And it looks like it starts at 497. And it takes about they say a six-week campaign, and they typically will run it for eight to 10 weeks, though. And it’s multiple stages, and it works really, really well. Okay.

How Would You Deal With Existing Social Profiles And Drive Stacks If Your Client Decides To Rebrand?

Jose says Hi there, say you have a client that decides to rebrand and merge multiple websites together or change over to a completely new brand for the domains, I would throw one. everything over to the right place. But how would you deal with social profiles and drive stacks? Would you rebuild from scratch? don’t want to waste link juice from the old stacks? Ooh, that’s a really good question. Um, well, with the drive stacks, remember, if you’re wanting the target the original site URLs to the new one, that you consolidate it, everything right, so the other domains that were now all redirected to the new one. So what I’m saying is that drive stacks are going to be targeting, if you had drive stacks built for these other brands or these other domains, right? That was pointing to those domains. And now those domains are 3012, the new money site, then all of that link flow is still going to be going through that redirect to the money site. The problem that I see with that, though, is it’s not from it from a link juice point, there’s no problem but from the data point and the information like the entity information, right, if you’ve got stuff out there from older brands that have now been consolidated into something new, and you’ve got those still remember on SEO from an SEO juice, right, so like a link equity standpoint, it’s flowing through the 301 redirects to your new domain, your new brand, it’s fine, you’re still gonna benefit from that. But you could ambiguous the entity information of the new entity because all of that is flowing from previously published stuff that had old entity info on it. So again, if you think about it from an SEO juice point, it’s fine. It’s still all flows through. But at the same time, I would worry about having all that other published data about an entity that no longer exists because it’s been consolidated in the new one. So that’s a really good question.

I’m not sure how I would handle that, I understand not wanting to lose all that power, but without, without going in and you know, editing the file, like the text and stuff like that on the phone, the files, essentially, the G sites and stuff too. You know, mentioned the entity information like NAP, for example, name, address phone number of the new entity, then I would be concerned that that might ambiguous the data, which in my case, and I’ve done that in the past, I’ve just killed the folders like just set them to, you know, not know, not public, so that the SEO juice will still flow, but they’re not, you know, being indexed and all that kind of stuff. So I don’t know, that’s the way that I’ve done it in the past was I’ve just set that in the folders too, you know, private, essentially. But go in, but again, it’s either that or kill it altogether, but I understand not wanting to waste the juice, but at the same time, if you want to, if you want to keep the public, then you’d have to go in and actually edit all and from what I know, I would want to go in and edit all of the, you know, published data about the old entity and update it with the new and that would be a shit ton of work. There’s a lot of there’s no question about that. That’s how I would do it. What I rebuild from scratch Yeah, I would have a new drive stack built for the new brand new consolidated brand. Absolutely. It but I understand not wanting to waste all the power built to the previous ones. So that’s about the only thing I could think of to do with that would be to you know, in the past, like I said, I’ve just set them to not public and kept them but they weren’t, you know, indexable or killed the folders entirely. Which sucks because then you lose all that juice, but it is what it is. Okay.

How Are You Managing Freelancers When You Start To Grow Your Team?

Jays up. He says, How are you guys managing freelancers, writers, Link builders, etc. When do you start to grow your team? Are you just using something like up work with teams? Or something better? Yeah, I mean, I, I just my team has only two people now. Well, I’ve got bloggers, but they’re, I don’t really manage them much. I’ve got two assistants that work for me on you know, Monday through Friday, though. And I just manage everything through slack. We’ve got a CRM that we use, Well, a couple of CRMs. I’ve got a high level for agency staff. And then I use a different CRM for real estate stuff. And then I’ve got slack channels that I manage everybody in, you know what Adam would be the better one to answer this one.

Yeah, I think it’s a this is this could be its own, like, full-on conversation. So I’ll try to keep this somewhat short. But I think it depends on what your needs are, like, Don’t go looking for a problem to solve before you have one. So if you’re feeling the crunch, and it sounds like j, you’re maybe looking at you’ve got a small team and you’re growing, you know, if it’s not working, then now’s a good time, you got the pain point. So I would start simple though, like for me right now I use ClickUp. And I work, you know, between full time, part-time and contractors have had like seven or eight people from different groups. So that’s one there’s a lot of these services like ClickUp Monday, trying to think of other ones, but you know, those are two good examples, you can go and check out and they usually have some sort of free tier, but they can get complicated and you can spend a lot of time figuring them out. So Trello is definitely a good place where you could get started with the simple like maybe you have one list of ideas or things or templates and then you have one have in progress and one has finished or needs to review something like that just to get you in the mindset of delegating more, because as you build up your team, your time should shift towards more effectively delegating and doing a very good job and spending a lot of time on that upfront so that you don’t spend as much time doing or as much time fixing because you gave someone shooting instructions and I say that because I’m you know growing pains myself going from a couple of people to more you know, shrinking, growing, you know, seeing that again and again. So just make sure that you have an actual need for this don’t do more than what you need, but be aware of what your options are and stay simple rather than get complicated fast.

That was a good answer. And I like what you preface everything with is don’t look for a solution or don’t try to find a solution for a problem you don’t have yet I’ve tried Monday and click up in some of those and you know I quit because exactly what you said you they there’s so much stuff that you can do with those and there are different ways that you can build them and all that different you know, you can go down a rabbit hole and get lost and just tweaking the platforms and so you know, my point and trying to use them was to be more efficient. But then I found that it was taking so much time just learning how to use it and setting it up and all that kind of stuff and working it in you know creating workflows and all that that you What’s working for me what a small a very lean team like I have is just something super simple, which is just slack. And I’ve calendar notifications. And then we have tasks and stuff that my CRM will automatically assign to, you know, the appropriate, you know, a person for projects and things like that. So I use just those tools were, which were things that we were already familiar with, I didn’t see the need, after trying like Monday and click up, I saw that it just was overkill for my lean operation. So, you know, do what’s easy and simple. And, you know, if you’re going to be growing a big team, you might need to look into something like that, for sure. But just, you know, keep it I like what Adam said, is that you got to just be careful, because you’ll you could end up, you know, in an effort and in the pursuit of trying to be more efficient, you could kill your productivity. You know, yeah, it’s taken us a while, like, I’m glad I went with ClickUp. I used Monday, I switched to click up, and I’m glad I did, but it was a learning curve. And, you know, there’s a lot of time invested in that and figuring out how best to use it. So I can teach the team how best to use it. Now they’re helping out too. But you know, someone’s got to figure it out, start with the thing I will say is investing time and effort in your processes upfront. So if you go to SEOshield.com I believe Bradley, you built that in process three, right? That’s a checklist.

No, that’s an mgyb.co/process finger there that you’ll see. You gotta it’s behind an opt-in. Well, now guys, you got to submit your email to get to it. But if it’s MGYB.co/process and that was built in process Street, yes,

gotcha. Okay, yeah, I have that mixed up. And so I would just say, if you’re going to spend time somewhere, to spend it on the process side, and it doesn’t have to be paid service, could be Google Docs could be Trello. With a checklist, or, you know, if you like something sleek, like process Street, something that you can easily duplicate it’s made for this. But yeah, put your time and effort into the processes. And then you can fill out the rest of that over time. And for years, all I did for process docs was Google, Google Docs, and screencast, which I would upload to YouTube screencast recorder, and that would so for years, that’s all I did. And to this day, when I’m first developing a process, that’s where I do it the same way I record a screencast video and I type, I start typing out the steps in a Google Doc. And then once I get the rough draft of the process, done, the process documentation is done, then I transfer that now to process street, and I process Street, it’s paid, I think I only pay like 35 bucks a month or something. So it’s worth it to me. But it makes it much more polished. And you can create checklists and things like that from and embed videos directly into it. And you know, all kinds of really cool stuff that you can do with process Street. But still to this day, when I’m first starting to develop a process document, I do it with just Google Docs and a screencast video until I get my first you know, the rough first draft of it done. And it works really, really well guys, and for many years, that’s all I did was Google Drive, and YouTube, well, you know, screencasts that I would upload to YouTube. And that worked for years. So you don’t need to overcomplicate that either.

One thing I will say is two things rather a little bit of shiny object. But check out the notion as well. If you like putting stuff together yourself, that’s a great one took me a while to realize the power there. I’m using that for marketing calendars and some other stuff too. And then last but not least, if you do Google 360, the numbers 360 delegations, there’s a great article, I forget who it is or who referred me, but it’s profitfactory.com/360delegation, it’s a fantastic article on why you should be delegating and doing the processed stuff and where you should be spending your time. And you know, kind of directed my attention for. I really do need to be putting in more time. For example, the vision of a project, you know, this isn’t for a tiny little task, but for maybe a project, like what do I want? You know, what does it look like? Why are we doing this and sharing a little bit with the team? So it’s not just, hey, go build this. And this doesn’t have to be some complex product process, but sharing with the team, so they understand a little bit of the bigger picture, because anyone who’s involved in this type of stuff, probably would like and benefit from a little bit of it. And then the resources like what resources do they need? Do you already have LastPass? or whatever? are you sharing all the passwords? Do you need to record anything? Do they need software? like running through this checklist? And then going and what’s the definition of done? Do you have screenshots of what is a good done project or task is do you have an example? Do you have something they can compare it to? Is there a schedule? And he was going through this and saying, Oh wow, for myself? who’s like, Yeah, I got to spend more time upfront so that I spend less time getting involved in it down the road when it Yeah, I just told him to get started and lucked out 20% of what they needed.

Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, it sucks. Because, you know, a lot of the times it’s so much easier just to do with, you know, completed a task on your own than it is because it’s, it’s like, you know, this is only going to take me 20 minutes. And if I got to create a process, you know, process documentation, it’s gonna take three hours, you know, if to do this 20-minute task, I’ll just do the damn task. But the problem with that is, then the next time that task has to be done, guess who does it again? Do you know what I mean? And so it and I have I struggle with that all the time. Because, you know, sometimes some of the processes that I want to go develop are super complex. And I know that it’s gonna take me days, literally days to develop that process out. And so I’m like, Fuck, it’ll only take me two hours to do this, I’ll just do it myself. You know, because I don’t have the time to create this process don’t train right now. But then the next time that situation occurs again, it’s me that has to do it again. And so you know, and I’ve got invest the time again. And so it’s like, you have to constantly Wait, like, should you just go ahead and execute the task, and move on to the next thing? Or should you invest the time to develop the process, so that number one, if it’s you, that has to do it, again, you’ve got it’s done consistent, right? That the quality is consistent because you’ve got a checklist now that you can run down to make sure that you don’t miss anything, or whatever. But second, and more importantly, you can hand that off to somebody else to where you never have to do it again. And so to me, even the really complex tasks that require sometimes multiple levels of process docs, you know, I try to at least start working on those like plugging away at them a little bit at a time where I might know more complex tasks, I might say, Okay, look, I’m gonna spend 30 minutes a day or an hour a day over the next, you know, two weeks developing this, this process training. That way, I don’t feel like it has to be done today. But at the same time, I’m making progress on it a little bit at a time, if that makes sense.

So yeah, very true.

Is There Any Harm In Running Too Many PRs In A Short Period Of Time?

We’re almost out of time, let’s run through the last couple. Let’s see, we’ll say hey, gents, I have a client that wants to run one press release every three days, the manufacturing plant is supplying a range of new products, and they want to be number one, before any other supplier, I did a test with four times or four PRs in four weeks, and it worked a treat. He now wants me to push that further and do about 10 PRs in one month. These are four different products, and each has a separate landing page. Is there any harm in running this many PRs?

No, not at all. I’ve got a few projects that I typically publish eight PRs per month on and then I know Rob has done. He’s just spam the shit out. Like I say, spam, it’s not really spam, but he’s done a whole bunch of press releases in a week. Like, I don’t know what the number is, but I know he’s done multiple press releases in a week for a particular project, just to test it and it always produces good results. So no more won’t hurt you. Okay. Good question. By the way, Gordon says, Hey, guys, hope everyone is still well and COVID. Free. I believe it used to be imperative for a local business to have their site ranking on the first page of Google or at least on the second page. In order to rank in the GMB three-pack, is that currently essential? Or can their site rank way down and organic search results and you can still get a three-pack ranking by doing completely on-page GMB listing optimization. And by targeting the GMB listing itself, with press releases, citations, drive stacks, etc, from MGYB? And if so, can you do it with the middle of the road quantity and quality of reviews? Thank you very much. As usual for you. Yeah, no, I know what you mean about there’s been a connection between maps ranking and organic ranking, but I could talk for years, all I did was optimized for maps, and I didn’t give a shit at all about organic rankings, I’ve started to do more on the organic side of things now because the maps proximity filter is much tighter now it’s much narrower. So getting maps listing to rank, you know, outside of its immediate physical location area is more difficult now. So that’s why I’ve started working also on organic rankings again. Because it’s but long story short, I know what you mean about the connection between the two, but I’ve got a ton of GMB assets that the organic rankings are basically nonexistent like I just didn’t even try ever. And so some of them are ranking in the three-pack. But I’ve got you know, it’s page four before you find the first organic ranking for that, you know, keyword, for example. So I don’t know that the connection is still there. I know that I will, you know, I try to do a balance of the two now for, you know, new projects, but for older projects that all I did was focused on GMB ranking. I’ve got many, many examples of that, that the organic rankings are just really shitty, you know, page three, page four, whatever. But it’s ranking in the three-pack if that makes sense. So I don’t think it matters. Honestly. I could be wrong. They might, somebody else might have some now, if you get your organic ranking to rank well, will it help to benefit the maps ranking? I think so. But if you’re just focusing on maps, I don’t think that the organic rankings make much of a difference, at least in my own experience. Now, again, there might be some other data out there that conflicts with But for my from my own experience, it doesn’t really matter for maps rankings. That makes sense.

What’s The Best Use Of A Newly Acquired Domain With 100+ Links?

Okay, the last question is going to be from Robert and we’re going to wrap it up. Robert says, Thanks for continuing Hump Day hanging out with us all. You’re welcome. We enjoy this. If I have a money site, I just acquired a domain with 100 plus links, mostly follow links with high authority and relative anchors. Great. What’s the best way to use this newly acquired domain 301 redirects? Yeah, if it’s relevant, you can do that. I don’t like to do that a lot. But if it was a domain, where it was topically relevant to what you’re going to be forwarding it to, or 301 redirecting it to, then that means the inbound link profile from that domain that you purchased is likely relevant. Also double-check that if it’s relevant, then yes, do a 301 redirect directly to the money site. If it’s not fully irrelevant, but there’s a lot of power built to it, then what I would recommend that you do is 301. redirect that to a buffer page, like an ID page, for example, hosted on an s3 bucket and Amazon s3 bucket as opposed direct, instead of direct to the root domain, the multi-site domain, that makes sense, it’s fully relevant. And it’s got a clean link profile with you know, the inbound link profiles topically relevant and yes, you can redirect directly to the money site, the root domain is fine. But if it’s not 100% relevant, but it’s got a lot of power and a somewhat clean link profile, but it’s just not fully relevant, then I would 301 redirect that to a buffer site. I prefer to use the Amazon s3 hosted ID page for that. But you could do it like a G site would be great for that. You know, pretty much any one of your tier one branded entity profiles. You could redirect to that but the G site would be a really good one for that Id page. Might is one I typically use for that. That makes sense. Okay, guys, so I can get to all the questions but most of them did get answered. So thank you guys for being here.

Source: Semantic Mastery Weekly SEO Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 326 published first on your-t1-blog-url

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localwebmgmt · 3 years

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Weekly SEO Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 326

youtube

Click on the video above to watch Episode 326 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.

The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://semanticmastery.com/humpday.

Announcement

thing, Goodyear super happy here today. Lots of new snow. So like, everything is right. Everything is more bright and stuff. So I really enjoyed it.

Very nice. Nice. Nice. All right. And Bradley, are you readily available for comments?

Oh, yeah, I’m trying to get logged into stuff. But yeah,

Hell of a deal.

Definitely.

that’s cool. What was that called? Again?

It’s called a sea mover by Laplink.

I got a recommendation for you there right there. Was that is a fucking VPS man? Now to float the whole thing of like, 500 open tabs.

I just bought a new PC, so I don’t need to do that shit. So you can even do this like a week Chromebook and run that operation.

moving into question.

There we go. Alright, guys, we’re gonna get into it. Now. We’re gonna start with chassis that GIF anyways, maybe we’ll get to it. Keep going.

Which one?

Nevermind, just keep going.

I don’t see it.

Okay.

Is It Okay To Add A Company’s Wiki Page To Its Schema Data In SEO Ultimate?

How Do You Get The Twitter SEO Profile Addon When You Purchase The SEO Power Shield?

Would Creating Online Tools Like WhoIs Checker Inadvertently Benefit Competitors As Their Domains Will Be Crawled?

Will You Get Topics Related To Law When You Submit A Deep Keyword Research For Lawyers?

Is It Wise To Point Tier 2 Links From MGYB Or Other Sources To Bit.ly Linking Back To The Money Site?

What Other Places Where We Can Secure Citations For Local SEO Clients Aside From Yelp And Manta?

And nothing, man. Okay.

Should I Use A Gsite Or Buy A Domain For Local Service Lead Gen Site?

Should You Use A Branded Or A Service Name For A Local Business Lead Gen?

Can You Target A Keyword That Is Searched On Google Even If It’s Not Understandable To Humans?

And the new number and company name. Will Google understand that the other place was a mistake. Not No. I don’t. And again, I don’t fully understand that question either but

How Would You Deal With Existing Social Profiles And Drive Stacks If Your Client Decides To Rebrand?

How Are You Managing Freelancers When You Start To Grow Your Team?

So yeah, very true.

Is There Any Harm In Running Too Many PRs In A Short Period Of Time?

What’s The Best Use Of A Newly Acquired Domain With 100+ Links?

Source: Semantic Mastery Weekly SEO Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 326 published first on your-t1-blog-url

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duaneodavila · 5 years

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Highly Agile Team Training: It’s A Jungle Out There

As much as I bemoan the inevitable spring arrival of our fresh-faced consultants (shameless plug: check out “Baby-Birds: A Care and Feeding Guide for In-House Counsel”), I can usually find a way to insulate myself from their never-ending fountain of theoretical opportunities for efficiency. What I can’t seem to duck is the quasi-mandatory trainings with outside consultants. You know the ones I’m talking about, the perky Stepford types who come armed with their seasoned smiles, personality quizzes, and pop-psychology theories that are targeted at making you a better version of your corporate self.

Since my company apparently signed up for one of those “consultants of the month” clubs and hasn’t figured out to how to quit yet, I’ve been subjected to quite a few of these. To date, I’m a blue INTJ eagle with reformer and Ravenclaw tendencies who is best suited to being a lawyer, reality television producer, or honey badger patronus. Thank goodness, I paid attention on career day in high school. I just don’t have the stomach for 90 Day Fiancé.

These days, I apparently also don’t have much of a stomach for consultants peddling what I can only describe as the “it’s so obvious, I can’t believe we’re paying good money for this” method.

Enter Highly Agile Team training. Allow me to summarize the three tenets of this method which will purportedly make you better suited to be a part of such a team.

Point one: Show up on time to meetings. End the damned things on time.

Point two: Set an agenda for said meetings. Send out the damned thing in advance of meeting so people have time to read it.

Point three: Be honest, open, and truthful (or, to use one of my new favorite, not at all an HR issue, acronyms — H.O.T. Yeah, that’s right. Go forth and be H.O.T.)

There, I just saved you half a million dollars in consulting fees.

Here’s the jaw-dropping part (okay, I grant you that the price tag is pretty jaw dropping in itself, but wait, there’s more): the business lapped this up like they’d never heard of such radical, outlandish behavior. Imagine, being punctual and prepared for a meeting, and saying what you mean instead of saying one thing at the meeting and dissecting it like an episode of Thrones the minute the meeting is over. What novelty! We could change the world! Or as I like to think of it, we could all be attorneys!

Seriously, I sat there watching my internal team members scribbling notes in their H.O.T.-branded notepads and gazing up at the consultants like they’d just cracked the code for calorie-free pizza. I started to wonder if maybe I’d grown too hard, too cynical, too unwilling to appreciate fresh perspective when it was offered.

And then the consultant wrote asses on the white board instead of assesses. So, no then.

I will say this for Arthur, consultant extraordinaire and purveyor of Highly Agile Team training and all things H.O.T., he could read the crowd well enough to know there were more than a few doubtful faces (thank you Quality and Safety VP). It didn’t take him long, but Arthur eventually narrowed his consultant’s gaze on me, taking on his most professorial tone.

“You read skeptical to me,” he says. “Crossed arms and closed off posture are body language symptoms indicating I don’t have your full buy-in.”

Instead of pointing out that body language symptoms make it sound like I have the fever and chills and in dire need of a decongestant, I offer Arthur a broad smile. “Oh no,” I say breezily, “I’m really enjoying this session. I just should have brought a cardigan with me.”

He eyes me, debating whether to move on and let it go or try and use me as some sort of shame-based teaching moment. He goes for the latter.

“So, Kay,” he says, squinting at my name placard, “how would you assess your H.O.T. behaviors? On a scale of one to 10.”

“I’m a solid eight, Arthur.” I know, I know. I’m a total 10 and so are you, dear reader. At least when compared with my seatmate, Andy from Sales, who I’m pretty sure hasn’t been able to find an open and honest conversation with two hands and a flashlight since the Reagan administration. But I don’t want to invite Arthur to pick on me further. We’re paying this guy by the hour.

“Pretty confident in your assessment, Kay.”

“She’s definitely an eight,” pipes up Randy from R&D. Thanks, buddy. I’ve never been so thankful to be described as an eight in my life.

“She’s the lawyer,” Jim from Finance adds.

Sensing a fellow bullshit artist, Arthur withdraws and declines to make eye contact with me for the remainder of the morning session. Smart move, Art. Smart move.

Once we’ve all had a turn assessing our H.O.T. behaviors (and that’s assess, friends, not asses), we move on to the part of training that everyone loathes — role playing. I brace myself as Arthur dutifully proceeds to move small teams through conflict-resolution role scenarios that are frankly as pleasurable as a root canal when the anesthesia has worn off.

Still, I learn a few things from watching my fellow business partners struggle. This is tough stuff for them. They don’t want to be blunt. They don’t want to have the difficult conversations. They don’t want to be perceived as anything other than amiable team players. And that’s where we add value. We’re not afraid of conflict — conflict and resolution is what we do best. We know that when two parties are motivated enough, there’s always a path forward, even if it means cutting our way through a jungle of barbs and ankle-turning twists to find it.

Hours later and sick to death of role playing, we reach the pinnacle of our H.O.T.ness. We use our newly acquired skills to look inward and decide … what animal would I be in the corporate jungle? Seriously, I’ve been waiting my whole life for this moment, since as you regular readers know, I love to wax poetic in these columns as to my trials and tribulations in the in-house jungle.

My business partners pick solid, if predictable picks: Lions (courageous leaders), cheetahs (fast and agile), and monkeys (fun and clever). Bless the Quality and Safety VP who deadpans that he’s the baboon from The Lion King, a little wild-haired and crazy, but generally in the right.

Warily, Arthur turns to me. “What about you, Kay?”

“I’m an African honey bee,” I say sweetly.

“A honey bee?” He doesn’t want to ask, but he just can’t help himself. “Please elaborate.”

“I’m a hard-working team player with just a bit of a sting when needed.” Actually, what I really want to do is have my watershed Network moment here and tell him I’m the one-eyed crocodile you never see coming, rising from the murk to rid the corporate watering hole of the weak all in the name of keeping the company herd strong. I don’t say this, mind you, because I like my job and it’s easier to do my job if my business people think I’m a nice person. Or at least a useful person who can help them navigate their way out of the jungle to yes.

I do get at least one other unexpected joy out of this particular training. I get to decide what jungle animal Arthur (and others of his ilk) would be. After much deliberation, I settle on the majestic capybara. Not because I have any idea what their function is in the jungle, but because they are the largest of the rodent species.

Kay Thrace (not her real name) is a harried in-house counsel at a well-known company that everyone loves to hate. When not scuffing dirt on the sacrosanct line between business and the law, Kay enjoys pub trivia domination and eradicating incorrect usage of the Oxford comma. You can contact her by email at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @KayThrace.

Highly Agile Team Training: It’s A Jungle Out There republished via Above the Law

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deepcleaningdublin-blog · 5 years

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7 Simple Secrets to Totally Rocking Your house cleaning dublin

ten Cheats (you most likely You should not know) to wash household as you must

Dwelling cleansing is often skilled in a problematic way: you understand that there's a want to wash up, but often procrastinate, then, finally, you decide, you need to do, but the house is usually soiled. But beware: Some goods might not are actually cleaned effectively and, soiled, could impair your wellness.

one. Lavatory

Even when your shower and bathroom may perhaps seem impeccable, You will find there's toilet region that you're missing. It is the back Component of the WC. It is not difficult, in truth, that here can sediment residues of urine, barely then eliminable. Believe in the HuffPost Council United states: Roll up paper towels and, as though it have been flossing, consistently go this "cord" in the area right until it appears cleanse and glossy.

two. Waste bin

It's important to clean the dustbin no less than at the time each week. The squander you gather while in the plastic baggage can escape and soiled the container. Also, instead of working with any retail outlet-purchased detergent, You may use it to clean handmade ice with vinegar or simply a jet of cold drinking water with citrus peel.

3. Towels

The designer of luxurious lingerie, Nancy Koltes, advises not to make use of softener for washing towels. These, actually, produce a enveloping patina across the linen that traps the Grime and make the towel considerably less absorbent.

4. Dehumidifier

Over the winter, the dehumidifier is absolutely handy, even to avoid the indicators of psoriasis. But It's important to clean it to get helpful. The Mayo Clinic suggests To begin with to alter the water of your respective dehumidifier everyday and after that to clean it each and every 3/4 times. If possible with water and vinegar.

5. Animal Hair

Here is among the excellent annoyings of housecleaning. The standard indicates Will not usually operate. One of many tips is usually to moist the rubber gloves and clean Using these the home furnishings: they should operate definitely much better than the broom.

six. The garments you employ from the health club

If you believe you're going to eliminate the odor out of your gymnasium clothes just by using any detergent, You will need to adjust your intellect. Donna Smallin, author from the One particular-Minute Cleaner Basic & Simple, suggests making use of it to destroy the stinkier bacteria including white vinegar and bicarbonate.

7. The Purple wine stains

An individual thinks that to remove the pink wine stains It is good to employ white wine. Clearly it is a Wrong belief. Mangrid Johnson, professor and vp in the Office of Textile Improvement at the Fashion Institute of Technologies in The big apple, advises us to unfold salt around the wine stains just dropped in advance of it will get absorbed. Along with the dry stains of oxidizing merchandise.

eight. Espresso maker

The espresso maker, based on the professional cleaning dublin Fantastic Housekeeping Exploration Institute, need to be washed with warm drinking water and detergent. A further tip is usually to boil white vinegar as opposed to water once per month inside the coffee pot.

nine. Knives

The dishwasher is certainly a quick and successful means. But you'll find things that should be washed preferably by hand with lukewarm h2o. One example is cutlery, Primarily knives, which-you will have recognized-are significantly opaque just after every clean.

10. Sheets

It really is approximated that men and women expend a third of their life sleeping. It's important, thus, to maintain the bed linen constantly cleanse. There are actually people who advise to clean the sheets no less than after each week, but authorities say that it is good to clean them each a few times. Also witnessed the routine of somebody taking in in bed.

To attain very good results, cleansing do the job, like every other exercise, implies the appropriation of the know-how. Similar to a cleaning enterprise that relies on its work on specialized systems, any housewife really should know particular simple information while in the cleanliness of Areas and surfaces.

In the following paragraphs, we existing some beneficial strategies and guidelines that permit Each individual of us to take care of cleaning as a real Skilled.

1. Be cautious with details

The day by day anxiety along with the shorter time that we have at our disposal make us overlook the small print, and so they make the distinction between a "so and so" cleaning and a truly comprehensive 1.

We have to watch out on the places and objects that hide the Filth simply because they are loaded with germs, germs, molars and odors that Otherwise eliminated will unfold all through the household.

The following time you clean up, don't forget any time you final cleaned the doorways and windows, the handles with the clans, doors and drawers, the rubber or plastic seals of your kitchen area objects and appliances, the remote controls Electrical appliances, keyboard and inside the desktop computer, mobile phone along with the like.

These are just many of the things that the world "Overlook " when cleansing. And of course, once we clean up an item or maybe a floor, we have to do our best to really make it definitely clean.

2. Use merchandise and consumables ideal for area styles

Ensure that you possess specialized merchandise for cleaning Wooden surfaces, glass, natural stone, tile/ceramic, leather, textile. We don't advise utilizing solutions marketed nearly as good for all simply because more often than not they do not present the envisioned outcomes.

Also, you need to have cleansing utensils: washers, spons, buckets, mop, vacuum cleaner. We don't advise employing only one cloth or just one mop for all rooms in your home as you chance spreading micro organism and disagreeable smells throughout the house.

three. Require relatives within the cleaning activity of your home

Should the Area by which you would like to carry out cleanliness is great, it is nice to request the assistance of a colleague, other loved ones or it is possible to order professional cleansing expert services from the specialised organization.

Common cleanliness in a very dwelling is tough operate, it involves many work and it is best to request assist than to discourage and Stop without having accomplishing the job.

four. Remember these small ideas.

Defend your palms with latex gloves when cleaning

Utilize cleansing alternatives within the cloth, not over the cleansing area

Home windows clean Home windows with a cloudy day, although not wet

The walls with the tile and also the tiles are cleaned greater after the steam in the bathroom softens the dirt

Stains on textile components instantly just after their creation

Deal with Each and every area partly in order to avoid remaining confused by the workload

Takes advantage of disinfectants suitable for flooring

5. Maintain cleansing

Cleanliness will not be carried out, but is preserved, claims a phrase with the men and women. If you would like eliminate the grueling times in which You must clean up the whole property and always Have a very clear residence, try out to keep up the cleanliness.

Thus, generate a routine of cleaning the dishes and meals with the kitchen just after use, thawed and clean up The within from the fridge as soon as per month, clean up the stove Once you have utilised it, clean up the tub soon after use, disinfect the bathroom bowl at the least the moment every week, Make use of the vacuum cleaner a few days, try out to lower the number of beds and carpets and various things that generesis dust.

Naturally, the listing proceeds, but The concept is to eliminate the Filth as soon as you observe it and adopt a actions that prevents its accumulation. So, you are going to always Use a clean up dwelling and the risk of ailment introduced by many pathogens is going to be minimized.

These guidelines were offered by the cleaning business Teamwork Services in Bucharest that offers cleansing products and services on demand and membership for the two businesses and men and women.

Just about every spring, near Easter holidays, common cleanliness is among the compulsory pursuits for the majority of families.

It's not at all simple to make exemplary cleaning all around the house in only every day or two, And that's why you need to know some methods which make your mission Substantially less difficult and quicker. Here is what to try:

Works organized

To decrease the time used on cleaning, experts recommend us to implement an effective method. And Meaning to clean the home in the identical get every time: commence by cleansing a single room at any given time, commencing and ending every time in the identical spot on the place so as to not squander time operating unnecessarily from a person corner to a different. When you do this every time, you develop a program that should then be simpler to stick to. You are going to get more quickly and a lot quicker.

Start out from best to bottom, from remaining to appropriate

Will not begin by deleting the espresso desk, then deleting the blinds, and finally getting which the coffee table is stuffed with dust... A vital rule is to begin cleansing from best to bottom, clean the ceiling and superior home furniture, then slowly to the floor. In accest way you prevent unnecessary do the job and wasting time.

Clean new house cleaning service the Home windows with a scrapbag

The dirty windows are less difficult to clean using a rubber scrapers than which has a window and paper Remedy. Place a fall of dishwashing detergent in the bowl where you place three liters of drinking water, stir perfectly, then utilize on the windows with a fabric or sponge. Use the scrapbag to eliminate the liquid and with it and Dust. It can be an excellent approach for big or pretty filthy windows. When your Home windows are a bit dusty, then It truly is simpler to use paper towels and window cleaner.

Keep the utensils useful

In case you are usually along with you the cleaning methods and the mandatory utensils you are going to help you save a lot far more time than if you have to generally walk within the dwelling in quest of them. Put all of them in a basket and consider them along with you in each home you clear up.

Act Preventative

The most effective Alternative to create general cleanliness A lot less difficult is to avoid the accumulation of Filth. A Distinctive spray for washbasin and tub stops the deposition of limestone and Dust.

All You will need to do is spray on surfaces, then rinse. The bath and sink will stay thoroughly clean for for a longer time because the Dust will now not adhere to them.

Swiftly fight mildew

The oxygenated drinking water eliminates in a few minutes the mildew to the partitions, which commonly seems in the bathroom, in which the moisture amount is superior. Place oxygenated drinking water in the spray container and after that spray on the mold stains. Permit it act for five minutes. Mildew will disappear completely, but to prevent recurrence it's important to vent the home commonly, In particular right after taking a shower.

Cleans limestone deposits

Do not use abrasive cleaning goods to eliminate the limestone from your faucets or even the shower mainly because it can scratch. There is a A lot more simple and a lot quicker approach: Pour white vinegar on the cloth and use it to erase the faucets. Enable the vinegar act for a few minutes, then rinse. The limestone will likely be dissolved promptly.

Keeps the shiny inoxy

The fingerprints and traces of limestone are classified as the enemies of the sinks and stainless steel surfaces.

But mineral oil can assist you prevent them. Place a few drops of mineral oil over a fabric and wipe the chrome steel sink. The oil will reject h2o droplets, which can no longer stain the floor, but simultaneously stops dirt from adhered to your sink. You can also use child oil for this purpose.

Invests within a magic sponge

Make outside of a Distinctive foam, these kinds of spams can be a new prevalence on the market, but they are as practical as you can. The Magic sponge allows you eliminate resistant stains from any surfaces even without the need of detergent. All You will need to do is moist it with a little bit h2o. Its regularity lets the friction of stained regions as well as the removal of resistant Dust.

Retain cleanliness

The most important rule to produce standard cleanliness less of a challenge and faster is to circumvent the accumulation of Filth. Should you thoroughly clean more often, even superficially, It will likely be much easier that you should do then standard cleansing.

Strategies and policies for a quick cleansing

Will you be a busy person who doesn't have time to clean up your home? Perfect. Now we have for you the ideal tips on how to clean up up rapidly, with no consuming your Power and valuable time.

As you understand, your house is your card. She will be able to expose about you In case you are an orderly, caring, flirted human being, attentive to element or In case you are the opposite. Not surprisingly, the easiest factor to do is to implement the assistance of a housemaid or even a cleansing enterprise, but why do it, when you'll find far more functional strategies to deal with the home, every single day. Place in observe our ideas and procedures of fast cleaning and you'll never ever get the prospect to complain that you don't have time to scrub up.

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1. Organise your time

Are you aware why cleansing experts can perform all the get the job done in the house in just a few several hours? Because they Arrange their time nicely and know what exactly to begin with and how to proceed with their responsibilities. Even if you're a active person, you'd much better create a rule of allocating a particular time to wash up. Even ten minutes daily will let you have a far more orderly home.

2. Make sure you have anything you require for cleansing

Cleansing solutions ought to under no circumstances be deprived of your property, so if you would like thoroughly clean up speedily and carefully, you should definitely have all the things you require for this. If you do not have all the necessary merchandise, improviate to the place from purely natural merchandise. Lamaile, vinegar, baking soda are the a few eco kings of cleanliness, so rely on them at almost everything (cleaning the sinks and batteries, cleaning the outside from the domestic appliances, cleansing the flooring, etc.).

three. Make close friends While using the vacuum cleaner

It's time to stop observing the vacuum cleaner like an enemy, but like a reliable Buddy. He is vacuuming the flooring at the least after in a handful of days, in the night following supper. As a result, you will be able to burn energy speedier, but concurrently you'll have a cleaner and more healthy household.

4. Works from major to base

Absolutely nothing is a lot more annoying than performing the exact same matter two times. Saves time, working from best to bottom. For example, inside the kitchen, disconnecting the area of avoidable things, put matters in place, wipe, cleanse and disinfect the suspended bodies, then sink, countertop and electrocasnices, to make sure that eventually you clean the ground.

5. Hold Buy and willpower

Somebody using a busy program, who receives house late and however desires to deal with kids, can never have your house ordered, since there will almost always be points still left at random. This chaos provides the home an uncaring look, but when you make buy everyday, you will surely experience extra convenience and you should have the feeling that you're keeping in a cleaner household. So, order and self-discipline!

six. Be multitasking

There's no point in acquiring crowded with all the cleansing of the house in one day, when you are able to do a little something regularly. By way of example, inside the evening, though talking about using your lifestyle associate concerning the situations in the day, fill a washing machine with filthy dishes and clean up the sink. Or, As you're speaking with Mother about the cellular phone, wipe the stove. Or, during the information go browsing Television set, type the laundry for washing or ironing the clothes for the next day. In the event you learn to be multitasking, you'll have far more time for pleasing actions.

seven. Perform during the staff

Your few husband or wife is kind of out of your domestic chores? The heels are about to change. Make a rule of housework, and you will stop it twice as fast. Established certainly one of you to handle the dust and one other to just take out the garbage or a person to lift the desk and another to clean the dishes.

When you have small children, they could contribute for the cleanliness of your home. As an example, they could tidy up their rooms or from the closet, make the bed in the morning, aerate rooms, etcetera. That way, You will be exempt from organization that eats you extended enough.

eight. Clean up right after use

A golden rule for folks rushed and occupied Is that this: clear every little thing straight away just after use. You might be finished taking in, washing dishes. You employed the sink in the lavatory, rinse it promptly with a good amount of hot water and a fabric. You applied the tub, rinse it to eliminate the soap deposits. You spilled coffee over the stove, wipe the stain straight away.

When you respect this rule, your property will always be cleanse. Not to mention The point that stains and Filth are much easier to eliminate when they're new, than move in cleaning service when it dries and receives older.

9. Think ahead of time

In regards to cleansing your house, It really is often very good to Believe upfront for the following day. If you have many laundry, kind them out these days and place the car inside the wash tomorrow. Should you have a persistent Grime cooker, spray the night a degreasing Alternative, add h2o and wipe anything each morning.

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studylifeusa · 5 years

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From Student Blogger, Ayaka: Beyond Your Expectations

This semester is almost ending.

Time passes so quickly! I feel like this semester began a month ago!

This semester was really challenging for me, compared to the last semester. I can’t count how many pages I’ve read for classes. But a good thing is that it makes me aware that I’ve improved little by little.

In addition to academic activity, I run the Japanese Visual Culture Club at CSI this semester. We call it “JVCC.” We usually watch Japanese anime, create questions regarding Japan, and sometimes I teach Japanese since I became Vice President of the club.

It is great that there are active clubs on campus which allow you to make friends. It worked out for me, especially because I’m an international student. I didn’t have any friends who were born and raised or have lived in New York for a long time. Many of my friends at first were international students like me. So, we really knew what we should do nor how an American university works.

Besides, as I wrote before in my blog, I was heavily homesick. I came to the U.S. in January of this year, so the last semester was my first academic session. Someone told me about the JVCC at the beginning of last semester and suggested it as a way to meet other Japanese students. Although there were no Japanese students, I met a lot of American students who had similar hobbies.

Since I enjoyed this club, I decided to run for the leadership position of the JVCC at the end of the semester.

To become the Vice President, however, I needed a lot of courage.

During the election, I was very anxious. My mind was full of anxiety and questions: “Can I run the club with my limited speaking skills?” “Can I manage it with my academic work?” “What if I fail at something?” I started questioning whether I should run for the VP next semester. And then I realized that it was all my bad habit! I was procrastinating! Then, I tried to change my mind. If I miss this opportunity, I would never become the VP and I will end up regretting it. So finally, I decided to do it.

I won the election and everyone welcomed me. The Vice President’s job is to support other officers so I often work with the President. We agreed that the club should be more active and we implemented new initiatives. For instance, we invited a professor who had published online comics, co-organized a joint meeting with the International Students Club, went to Karaoke, taught Japanese phrases every week, and so on.

This is when I presented about Yokai, or Japanese traditional ghosts.

I felt a little bit nervous when I stood in the front, but it turned out that everybody enjoyed it. It was interesting that we had different perspectives and feelings. Some club members asked me something that I’d never considered before. I’m glad that many people are interested in my home country’s culture. The reason why I came here is to learn American culture but I think I need both input and output. I love these weekly cultural exchanges. (Maybe that’s why I chose Sociology as my major.) I’ll continue being an officer of the club, so I’m already excited that I will be able to get new experiences next semester.

Many people around me told me that I changed in a good way. Someone said, “Now you have many friends and you became an international student peer advisor and VP of the club! What happened to Ayaka who always cried?!” Well ... even I didn’t expect that such a big change would occur in me. And I’m happy about not crying most of the time.

Although there might be a barrier where I’m heading, I know that I can overcome it. By challenging yourself, you will find that you can achieve what might seem impossible at first.

Ayaka is a Japanese 24-year-old transfer student at the College of Staten Island, the City University of New York. She is majoring in Sociology.

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siliconvalleysuccesses · 6 years

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