“I’m with Hammer.” I say as I look to my left and confirm with my VP. “Drive by sound like a good plan to you?”
“I don’t see why not.”
“Alrighty, boys. Tomorrow morning then. Whose team wants to take a field trip?”
Ring raises his hand. “I got nothing on the books at the brewery or bar tomorrow. I’m in.”
“Ring’s Enforcer team is him, Wrecker, Cypher, Tiny, Smoke, and Mountain.” Hammer is the club’s Sergeant-at-Arms, so divvying all of us into teams with the greatest strengths and pairings is part of his job.
Tiny raises his hand. “Please tell me we’re taking the vans and that we don’t have to get our bikes out of storage. I’m too old and it’s too damn cold to ride that far.”
“I’m older than you are.” Mountain raises his hand too. “And I call shotgun.”
“Should we take one vehicle or two?” Ring asks.
“That’s up to you guys.” I reply, looking at Hammer.
“I suggest two. That way you can make multiple passes around their shop and they won’t see one vehicle multiple times.”
“Smart.” Ring nods.
Hammer laughs. “I am the SAA for a reason.”
“Smart Aleck Asshole?” Kraken cracks the joke and we all bust out laughing.
“Fuck you all.” Hammer flips us the double bird.
“I need a motion,” Brewer reminds the room.
“Motion to check out the Gearheads and see what we can find,” Smoke starts.
“I second.” Haze backs up his Old Man.
“Motion carried.” I grab my gavel and slam it down. “Hammer and Ring, since Saddle isn’t here, you two are in charge of planning the route for tomorrow. Get together with Cypher and look at the map he’s got put together. Everyone else on Ring’s team, meet me, Cypher, and Hammer here in Church at eight a.m. We’ll give the plan a last minute once over, then you guys will head out. Sound good?”
A chorus ofyupandyesandgot itecho around the table.
“One last thing. This stays quiet until if and when we need to tell the families.” I slam the gavel one last time. “Meeting adjourned.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
DUCHESS
SECOND MONDAY OF FEBRUARY
Days like today are why I wanted to open a bakery. I love the smell of cakes and frosting. The combination of the sweetness of sugar, rich vanilla, warm butter, chocolate, cinnamon, and various other ingredients are a balm to my soul.
The Cake Butcher is closed on Mondays, so when my schedule allows me, I like to come in and prepare various things for the week ahead. I probably should use this time to do the bookkeeping, but that is no fun. I can do that boring paperwork any other day, and often times at home while Krew is napping, so I instead use this time for what makes me happy.
Whiskey is spending his day doing office stuff at the salvage yard, which is his ‘day job’, so Blue is watching Krew. Mountain is on a club run with a few other guys today, so I think she was feeling a little bit lonely and jumped at the chance to spend some one on one time with her first grandson.
Things around the clubhouse have been a bit off the last few days. Something happened last week Wednesday, but of course the men aren’t saying anything. I have a feeling that Raven knows something about what is going on, but she has been tight lipped about it. Either she was told by her guys to not say anything, or I could be imagining things and she actually knows nothing . . . I don’t know.
The club keeping things hush hush isn’t anything unusual, but I am using it to my advantage a little bit. With Whiskey being extra distracted, his attention being elsewhere has worked in my favor in that I have uninterrupted time to work on putting together the clues for his birthday and Valentine’s surprise. I’ve been researching things online, planning where everything is going to go, and he doesn’t seem to suspect a thing.
Blue knows I’m pregnant. She practically blurted it out this morning when she came over to watch Krew. As soon as she walked in, she gasped and kept saying “oh my god” over and over. There was no use in denying it. She was there so Angel and I could go to my OBGYN appointment, plus I know she can keep a secret, so I confirmed her suspicion. While Sunshine, Angel is the only one who knows everything. Until I can tell my husband in five days, the less who know all the specifics, the better.
As one of the clues for the scavenger hunt, I decided to bake all of the cupcake flavors that I dedicated to a specific few bikers in the club. There are ten specialty flavors at the moment, but I have no doubt there will be more in the near future. The rule of thumb is that when a Brother claims a new Old Lady, I ask what his favorite dessert or flavor is, then make a new cupcaketo match. So far we only have a few that are similar, but I have found a way to make them different enough that they are awesome and delicious for different reasons.
