He studies me for a second, then nods. “Fair enough.”
The other bikers hang back. Jonesy keeps his voice calm. “I want you to know something up front. We have no problem with you or your wife.”
My stomach twists when he mentions Poppy.
“We don’t like your dad,” he continues. “Don’t like hers either. Men like that cause damage wherever they go. But you and her. You’re good people. No one messes with your family.”
I take a step closer. “Why are you doing this?”
Jonesy doesn’t blink. “The minute your woman came on club property asking for protection, she got it. For whatever reason, Grave likes you folks, and he wants to make sure nothing happens to you. The club used to be something good. I was around when it first began and my dad was in the original club. Sully got involved, and it went to shit not long after. Grave has been cleaning it up. He also grew up with a dad who tore that club apart. So, you can see we appreciate when kids of these bastards don’t have to shoulder their parents’ consequences. Those consequences aren’t ours.”
My teeth clench. “What do you want in return? I know there has to be something.”
He nods once. “That’s a fair question. You need to understand that we’re not your enemy.”
“Everyone has a price,” I say, giving him a shrug like I didn’t just get emotionally blackmailed by a biker with a mustache.
“The price is being a decent human and accepting the friendship,” Jonesy says, shrugging right back. “Also, just so you know, no one has ever been able to crack Bandit. We figured that dog was broken until your woman showed up. Then he kept trying to run away back to town, and we figuredout he was looking for her. When the bike came back smelling like her, he went nuts.”
I snort before I can stop myself.
“Turns out,” he continues, “he just wanted to live with you guys.”
“I thought he was supposed to be a mean guard dog,” I say.
Jonesy grins. “Oh, he can be mean as hell. Just not to you guys. But if anyone tries to come near your family, Bandit’s gonna give them hell.”
I shake my head. “Great. So, the toughest guy in your club is a dog who emotionally ghosted everyone until he found Poppy.”
I do like the dog.
“How do I know you won’t come back asking for something?” I shake my head, still not sure I believe them. I watched my dad hang around people like this and they always came around and threatened him or stole from us.
“You don’t owe us anything,” Jonesy says. “Poppy doesn’t either.”
I scoff. “Then why are you involved? It doesn’t make any sense.”
“Because Sully owes her,” he says. “And we’re making damn sure he pays her back.”
I don’t disagree, because he does owe her. But we also don’t want any of his bullshit, so we’d rather have nothing to do with him. It’s not worth it.
I stare at him. “You shake him down?”
“We collect what he stole and return it,” Jonesy says. “That money goes to her. Clean, no strings attached.”
“And then what?” I ask.
Jonesy tilts his head. “We’ll take her skills if she has availability. She’s a damn good mechanic, and we need to take our vehicles and bikes to someone we can trust.”
That surprises me more than anything else. He’s right, she is the best mechanic. I’m so damn proud of her.
I study his face. “No contact with the kids. No intimidation ever. If you ever threaten my family, I’ll remind you that I’m still a Kendrick and whatever my father did will look like fuckin’ child’s play compared to what I’d do to protect my family.”
“Agreed,” he says immediately with a grin. “Damn, Ollie. I didn’t know you had that in ya.”
I just stare at him and he stares back for a beat.
“Okay,” I say finally. “When you see Sully, can you get him to go to Weston Jessop to sign away his rights so that Poppy and I can adopt Owen?”
