“Oh shit, she’s on speaker. She wants a word, Prez.” Rhodie holds his phone out to me.
“I need a word with Roman too. We’re gonna need all the help we can get.”
I settle back into my pillow and wonder if it’s too late to pretend I’m asleep again.
“OK, so here's the plan…”
Switch
I rush into Church and take my seat next to Rider, waiting for everyone else to filter in. It’s going to feel fucking weird without Marx here, but after what happened, we need to nail down a plan, STAT.
I eye Rider who is looking a little worse for wear, and realize that after the hospital I never saw him again. Not that I guess I would have, I spent my time with Joy and Kit. I don’t know how it happened, or even why it hit me so fucking hard, but one day I was living my life, in my same old routine. The next? I was doing everything I can to fucking orbit a tiny woman and her child. I swore I’d take it slow, but last night, and again this morning, she surprised me. I’m starting to think that yeah she may have spent years being a punching bag for her dick of an ex, but Joy is stronger than I think she even knows.
“Joy is good for you.” Rider says, not an ounce of teasing in his tone. Which makes me suspicious, so I frown at him. “I mean it, brother. I’m happy for you.”
I study him as he stares at the wall across from us. “You all good? Need to talk about anything?”
He gives me a sad smile. “Nah, just thinking everyone is pairing up and I’m the last man standing, is all.”
“Fuck brother; when it’s the right time, you’ll find her.”
“What if I already have?” he asks, but I know by the look on his face that it’s complicated. We’re the DRMC. Shit is always complicated.
I open my mouth but slam it shut when Rhodie comes stalking in, Chewy behind him and the rest of our brothers and Ol Ladies, including Joy.
“Sage and Niko are with the kids,” Mama Debs says, laying a hand on my shoulder.
Settling back in, I wait for the Ol Ladies to make their way to their men, my brothers pulling their women down onto their laps. Joy hovers nervously beside me but fuck that, I hook my arm around her waist and pull her down onto me. She makes a cute little squeaking sound and Rider gives her a wink. She huffs a little before melting into me, her back against my chest and fuck she feels so right.
“We are gathered here today -”
“Chewy-”
“Sorry, babe.” Chewy gives Rhodie a fake ass smile and we all chuckle, not realizing we needed that to break the tension.
Rhodie runs a hand down his face before looking around the table. “Fuck, I never thought I’d be in this position, but Marx has agreed to what we’re about to do. Computas, update us on these fuckers.” Rhodie waves in Wire’s direction.
“As you know Matthew Thompson and his business partner Richard McDonald make their money from bodies and military grade weapons. They also have a lot of men at their disposal. What you may not know is Chewy questioned three of the men we picked up from Joy’s house.”
“What!? You did it without us?” Blanche screeches like she’s been seriously offended at being left out.
“I needed answers and you needed to be with your children,” Chewy answers in a bored tone.
“And what about your children?” Kaia asks.
“Laney May was asleep and Chomper came to work with me,” Chewy shrugs.
“Like Bring Your Kid to Work Day,” Rider snorts.
“Chewy went to work and, color me surprised, but they didn’t speak English,” Wire continues.
“What?” Savage barks.
“The swat team didn’t belong to Thomson and McDonald. It would seem that Petrov has decided to do things himself. And he doesn’t just want Kit. He wants the other two he paid for as well.”
“Fuck.” Nitro bangs his fist on the table.
My arms tighten around Joy as she tenses against me. “This is not on you,” I whisper, her auburn hair tickling my nose.
