I watch as Ford walks her over to us, explaining who we are. She’s very different from my Ruthie, who had been a petite blonde. This woman is of medium height, slim, with firm arms. She’s probably a few years younger than my sixty-six, dressed casually in jeans, boots, and a purple t-shirt, with a long, thick braid of silver-grey hair hanging over her shoulder and stormy grey eyes. Eyes that didn’t show any trepidation at approaching a bunch of bikers. They do show determination, though.
This is not a weak woman. And her voice.‘Jesus Christ.’Her voice hits me right in the cock. Deep and husky, soundingsimilar to the Janis Joplin records that Ruthie loved so much. She shakes Maestro’s hand, introducing herself. “I’m Emily. Ford tells me he and my Poppy girl are moving in with you. Other than you’re obviously related, tell me why I should trust my grandkids to a motorcycle club.”
Nope, not a weak woman—just the kind that I find interesting. And Emily was interesting in spades and becomes even more so when I brush Maestro aside and introduce myself. “My name’s Red, darlin’, but you can call me Deck.”
Not that she’s easily swayed by my charm. And if that doesn’t make me want to know everything about her. All the reasons she’s so wary. Wary but not scared.
“And why would I do that?” she queries, brow raised. “Only Old Ladies get to use your government names.”
Oh, yes, very interesting. I know that Maestro or Cash will already have Hard-Drive looking into her. As far as I was concerned, she was coming home with us no matter what. But I’d find out what I could first.
Taking Poppy from Cash, I hand her to Emily and thread her free arm through mine. I turned us back towards her trailer, saying, “It seems you’re not a stranger to MCs, darlin’. Why don’t we go and sit on your porch and have a cool drink while this lot finishes packing up my grandkids? And before you ask, we didn’t know about them before today, or they’d already be living with us. You can tell me how you came to be here and look after them.”
Emily sends a narrow side-eye glance at me. She’s not fooled at all about what I’m about. She knows I want information, but that doesn’t mean I can’t get it while we sit in the cool shade having a drink and watching the youngsters pack up the trailer.
CHAPTER 2
EMILY
I heard them before I saw them. The sound was so familiar that I got goosebumps. The only motorcycle club in these parts was the Queens Wraiths. They’d once been a one-percenter club but I’d heard that they’d recently pulled out of all illegal activities after the President’s son got killed. That didn’t mean they weren’t dangerous though. I’d lived amongst bikers long enough to know that some were just bad to the bone no matter what.
Trepidation fills me as the four bikes, their riders’ cuts depicting them to be Queens Wraiths pull up in front of Ford and Poppy’s trailer. Now they might not be mine by blood but they’ve been my only family since they first stepped foot in this trailer parkall those years ago. I’d been Ford's safe place when he needed it. From the first time I’d seen him as a baby. I’d already been living at the park a few years when she’d arrived with Ford in tow.
He'd crept into my heart and stayed there. His mother hadn’t been the best there was, but the one thing she had done was make sure he was safe when she was out partying. When she’d first approached me about baby-sitting I’d been unsure but I’d agreed. Over the years as she escalated, Ford spent more and more time with me until he was all but living with me until his mother had fallen pregnant with Poppy. He'd moved back home and we’d worked our butts off trying to make sure she kept clean while she was pregnant.
And then the one day that I’d gone to get groceries and Ford was at school she’d given birth to Poppy in the bathroom of their trailer. She hadn’t survived the birth. Her body was too weakened by drugs. To this day I’m not sure how that baby survived but she had. Ford had found them and had immediately called me. One thing I can say about the trailer park when the chips were down, we rallied together and knowing that child services would remove Poppy we kept her birth quiet. Thankfully, even though she was born early, she was healthy. Ford used the free clinic to get her seen. They didn’t ask as many questions with how understaffed they were. I’d changed my shifts at the local store I worked at to night shift so that I could look after Poppy during the day while Ford was at school and then he’d take over afterward while I went to work. We were making do. It was tough and money was short but we managed.
I watched as they removed their helmets, sucking in a breath when I got a good look at two of the men. Their resemblanceto Ford was uncanny. That they were related wasn’t a question. Why this was the first time they were making themselves known was something that would need answering.
The two resembling Ford disappear after him into the trailer leaving the other two with the bikes. So far, I’d not seen anything suspicious but time would tell.
My attention is snagged by the older of the two men coming back out of the trailer with Poppy in his arms.
Surprisingly for the first time in years, interest flares in me. He’s a good-looking guy, still fit by the looks of the muscles he was sporting and he obviously knew babies with the confident way he was holding Poppy. That didn’t mean that I wasn’t concerned though.
Opening my trailer door, I step out onto the small porch shading my eyes with my hand as I look over at them. It’s not long after that the younger of the two men appears in the doorway. Now that I’m outside I can clearly see his President’s patch.
I know as soon as they’ve seen me because the President calls out for Ford, who hastens out the door looking over at me before he nods and starts over.
“Hey, Ms. Emily,” he puffs out a shaky breath as soon as he’s on my porch running a hand through his thick dark hair. He’s looking frazzled and not a little uncertain. My heart beats with trepidation wondering what the MC being here means for him.
The bruises on his face are worse today. I know why he has them and I’d never been prouder of him than I was when he told me how he got them.
“Talk to me, Ford,” I say softly. Gripping his hand, I pull him deeper into the shade of the porch. Reaching up, I cup his cheek and gently turn his face towards mine. “It’s okay. Whatever this is, we'll deal with it together.”
He shakes his head and takes another deep breath. “You don’t understand. They’re my family. My uncle and grandad. My dad is dead.” He says this last bit with a slight tremble of his lip. It’s at times like this that it hits me that he’s only sixteen. Only sixteen but has had the responsibility of a man for most of his life no matter how much I’d tried to protect him.
“Ah, Ford I’m so sorry.” And I am. If ever a boy needed a family, it was this one. “Tell me why they’re here now?”
“They didn’t know about me,” he whispers and I know how much that must hurt him. “They want me to go home with them, both me and Poppy. I’ve got cousins. We’ve got more family than just me and you.”
This boy. My heart is overwhelmed. But I’d not let them out of my sight until I met this family. I’d fight them all if I had to.
“Well then. You’d best take me to meet them,” I tell him. Taking his arm, I turn us and we walk down the stairs together. I had no idea how much meeting Ford’s family would change my life.
I could feel his grandfather's eyes on me the whole time we walked from my place to Ford’s. And I can’t lie, it was a turn on that at my age a man still found me attractive. Especially as I hadn’t made any effort in the least. I was dressed in my usual uniform of jeans, t-shirt, and comfortable boots.
I had to hand it to them; they didn’t seem to mind my demanding information before I let my grandkids go with complete strangers. I hadn’t missed the looks that passed between the President and his VP nor the phone call that happened straight after. I knew they’d want to check on me as soon as I’d laid claim to Ford and Poppy.
