“No need to bring the whole crew, just need someone to keep an eye on our families. We’ve brought them to the ranch.”
“Fuck, you think they’re in more danger than our family can handle?”
“I thinktheymight be more dangerous than our family can handle.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t ask. You’ll figure it out,” I reply with a smirk.
“Gimme 12 hours. I’ll bring Mercy. It’ll be good for her to get out for a while. She hasn’t seen Aunt Betty and the girls in a long time.”
“Ah, fuck. You think it’s a good idea to bring Mercy? Who’s looking after the club?” I nervously scrub at my beard. No club should have the Prez and VP gone at the same time.
“Don’t worry. I’ll leave mom in charge.” A laugh bursts out of me and it feels fucking good to laugh at something for a change. “See ya when I get there.”
“Thanks, Gallows. I owe you one.”
“Just introduce me to your woman.”
“What the fuck, I haven’t got -”
“Don’t bullshit a bullshitter. There ain't no way you’d drag the family into something unless you had skin in the game. See you in 12.”
With that he hangs up and I stare down at the phone in my hand. Well, shit.
Joy
I don’t like to judge people before I know them, but I think Reid’s family might be even more bonkers than the DRMC. Case in point: Kit is currently in the bomb shelter with the rest of the DRMC and Keep kids, while Reid’s brother Marsden is showing them his “little” bombs.
“Are you sure they’re going to be OK in there?” I ask nervously, picking at one of my less scabby cuticles. I’m not sure who I’m asking, I’m just hoping someone here will put my mind at ease.
“Oh definitely. My kids go in there all the time with their uncles. They’ve set off bigger explosions than those ones and they’ve all come out fine.” I eye the tow-headed set of three boys who seem to be poking each other with sticks that Reid’s sister Margo gestures to.
“They’ll be fine, babe,” Reid says, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.
I snuggle in deeper, angling my head slightly and inhaling the scent that is all Reid. Leather, antiseptic soap, and something uniquely him.
“Did you just sniff me?” he whispers, his chest shaking, bouncing my head where it rests.
For some reason physical affection with Reid isn’t scary. It’s warm, safe, and gives me butterflies. Something changed between us last night and again this morning when he wrapped me and Kit in his arms and we slept. The crush I had on him before seems to have settled into something deeper, somethingstronger and I know that I should be running for the hills, pushing down my feelings and swearing off men forever after what happened to me. But instead, I want more of this, more cuddles, more touches. I want to feel his lips on mine, on my body. I want to feel him on me and inside me.
“You good, babe? You’ve gone all red,” Reid says with a chuckle and I hide my face.
“Why do you talk to her in a normal voice but then bark at us?” Reid’s other sister Martha asks, in a booming voice.
Reid shrugs. “Joy actually listens to what I have to say.” I arch my head back and he gives me a devastating smile. “And I don’t have five other noisy fuckers to talk over.”
Margo and Martha both flip their big brother the bird before two of his other brothers, Riker and Riley come out of nowhere with a cattle prod and a hat with beer cans attached. Reid makes a noise similar to a squealing pig and then takes off, his siblings after him, laughter bouncing off the walls as the Ol Ladies and their men all watch in fascination.
“Is it me, or are they way worse than us?” Tav asks, staring at the five fully grown red heads all wrestling on the floor while their momma swats at them with her tea towel.
“They’re most definitely worse than us. More hillbilly even,” Rider comments as he leans against the porch railing, a chicken drumstick in his hand.
“Did you see their set up out here?” Chewy says, her gaze darting everywhere.
“They’re set up for self sufficiency,” Vex’s woman, Loyal says.
I’ve had the pleasure of meeting her before. She is the adoptive mother of Kit’s half sisters. The sisters Kit was over the moon to meet when they were introduced to each other earlier. It should have hurt my heart to meet them, the twins that my late husband fathered with another woman, but it didn’t. It actually made my heart feel lighter. It’s good to know that thereare more people in the world related to my daughter, and that they have two amazing parents who dote on them.
