“You could probably squeeze two.” I guess. I mean, it’ll be tight, but what do I care?
Judge nods once, following Rhodie out.
“Angel, Imma need you to come with us,” Mad Dog says gently, ignoring the look on Willa’s face. She opens her mouth, most likely to give him a tongue lashing but nothing comes out as Mad Dog huffs and throws her over his shoulder. “Ain’t leaving you here to fend for yourself.”
I watch, wide eyed as Willa doesn’t say a word, just gives me an upside down wink on her way past.
“Well, I expected there to be a bigger fight than that,” Marx mumbles, wrapping the last device in foil.
“Oh, I wouldn’t say the fight is over,” I reply, watching as Mad Dog plops Willa on the back of his sled, her smile huge as she winks at Joy through the windshield of her car. “I’d say it’s only just beginning.”
“In more fucking ways than one,” Marx sighs. “Let’s roll out!”
Joy
I’ve been chewing my thumb nail since Switch and his brothers ran into my house.
“It’ll all be fine, girly. These big fuckers know what they’re doing,” Pops says. “And if they don’t, they’ll just use their sheer size to beat whoever is in your house into submission.”
“That doesn’t really make me feel any better. What if they get hurt?”
Pops pats my knee gently. “They’ll be fine. You have to remember all of them are ex-military. They've faced down more than just three jackholes creeping around a sweet woman’s home.”
“I guess.” I eye him for a moment. “This is why you wanted me at the clubhouse, isn't it?”
Pops chuckles. “Picked up on that, did ya?”
I roll my eyes and give him a smile. “You weren’t really that subtle, you know?”
“Psh, I was as subtle as a sledgehammer.”
I giggle and Pops grins at me from where he’s sitting in the driver's seat. “Do you trust me, girly?”
I search Pops’ face, seeing nothing but goodness. “I’ve trusted you since the first moment I met you.”
“That’s because you got good instincts in ya.”
I snort so hard I almost choke. “If that was the case I would have never given Travis a chance,” I say bitterly.
“Joy, life is hard and shitty sometimes, but those things get thrown into our paths so we can learn, grow and become stronger. You have every right to isolate yourself, grow a hard shell no one can penetrate and look at everyone with suspicion, and yet you don’t. You’re sweet, kind, would bend over backwards to help and you trust me. That means something in my book.”
I look at his profile as he watches my house through the windshield. “What does it mean?”
“You’ve given me your trust and I’ll protect it til the day I die.”
“I don’t want you to die; not on my behalf. I don’t want anyone to die on my behalf.” My mind flits to the DRMC, to the Ol Ladies and to Switch. People who in a short space of time have come to mean so much to me.
“Joy, I don’t know if you know this, but everybody dies,” Pops says with a cheeky grin.
I sniffle. “You’re terrible.”
“Oh I know! And I can’t wait for you to be terrible with me.” We share a grin before movement from my house catches my eye.
Rhodie is striding across the front lawn, a limp man dressed in head to toe black slung over his shoulder.
“Oh goody, shit’s gonna get interesting,” Pops says, rubbing his hands together before getting out of the car and literally skipping to meet Rhodie halfway.
They share a conversation, both men turning to look at me in my car. Rhodie has a frown on his brutally handsome face, whilePops is grinning like a mad man. He skips back to me, throwing open the back door.
