“I’ll grab Dax and we can go as soon as we get this thing unloaded.”
Smokey wanted this done as soon as possible before that fucker got home and realized Tania and Carter were gone and not coming back.But he wasn’t going to say it in front of her.His phone vibrated as they pulled through the gate and into the yard around the clubhouse.They were in the process of making this place more of a compound, somewhere safe for their families, but it would take time.For now, he would make sure his family was secure in the clubhouse.
“Where are they going?”David asked as he popped the trunk.“Where should I put all this shit?”
“My room.Take it all up to my room.I’ll figure out what to do with everything later.”
“You got it,” David said, looping his hands through the handles of the grocery sacks.
“Groceries go in the kitchen as always, though,” Smokey called after the prospect.Who knew what he would have found if he hadn’t clarified that.Prospects weren’t known for being the brightest.
He let Tania pull Carter from his car seat, then put a hand on her back and steered her inside.He wanted to hold on to his son, he’d already missed the first eight months of his life, but this was new to her and he got the feeling she would be more comfortable if she was holding their son and knew they weren’t trying to take him away from her.
Smokey had no intention of taking Carter away from his mother, but at the same time, he also wouldn’t let that piece of shit she’d married have a chance to hurt the baby in order to hurt her.
Inside, he guided her out of the walkway as David would be going back and forth as he hauled things in.Then he reached for Carter.
“Here, let’s get you two out of your coats.It’s plenty warm in here and then they’ll be next to the door when you’re ready to go out.”He lifted the baby out of her arms and started wrapping him while Tania unzipped her coat.She had her coat off and handed it to him as she took Carter back, finishing stripping the jacket off, she handed that to Smokey as well.Smokey hung the jackets then reached for her scarf, unwinding it from her neck and hanging it beside her coat.
“Smokey!”Raven called from across the room.“My office!Bring her too.”
“Come on, Shell.Better see what he wants.”He used a hand on her back to guide her through the common room.“I’ll introduce you to everyone here when we’re done with Raven.”
“Why does he get to order us around?”she asked.
“He’s our president, babe.He’s in charge.”
She nodded once, but slowly, as if she understood his words but didn’t really get it.
He knocked on the open door when they reached it.
“Come on in,” Raven said, looking up from whatever he’d been looking at on his desk and leaning back in his chair to watch them.Smokey ignored the scrutiny as he guided Tania to a chair and made sure she and Carter were comfortable before he sat and turned his attention back to his president and made the introductions.
Raven glanced back and forth between the two of them.Smokey turned to Tania to see how she was taking it and realized she still wore her sunglasses.Without saying anything, he reached over and slid them off.She blinked at him as he folded them and hung them from the collar of his shirt to give back to her later.
Raven’s gaze lingered on her face and then flicked down.
“I take it this is the husband’s doing?”
“It is,” Tania said, her hands fisting in Carter’s clothes as she held the baby on her lap.
“I want to say you can stay as long as you want, but I have others I need to think about, others I won’t put at risk unless I have to.”
“I totally understand, sir.I don’t want to put anyone out.”
Raven glanced at Smokey and then back at Tania.
“Do you have any intention of going back to him?”
“No.I would have left months ago, but I had nowhere to go and no one willing to help.”
“Your family wouldn’t help?”
“Daddy picked Rod for me.And Momma does whatever Daddy tells her to.I couldn’t even tell them what was going on.Well, I could, but it wouldn’t have done any good.”She glanced up, meeting Smokey’s gaze for an instant before dropping her eyes again.
“If we take you in, protect you, are we going to have him claiming we kidnapped his child?”
Tania shook her head.
