“How do you figure that?” Kaia asks Loyal.
“We have the same set up at The Keep.” She smiles.
“Trust me, I get how crazy it sounds,” her friend Joe says, “but it seems to work.”
With the Keep chapter having been called in to backup the DRMC, the Keep women and children have landed here, at Switch’s family ranch, with the rest of us. Along with Loyal and Joe is another woman, Nell, who seems about as jumpy as I was when I first left Travis. It seems crazy how over such a short period of time I’ve gone from that fearful, jump at my own shadow, woman, to, well, someone who washes men in the shower and invites them to cuddle.
“Oh, she’s got the blushes, ladies and gentlemen!” Mira calls out, a huge grin on her face. “Tell me, have you been thinking of a big, bearded ginger?”
“Of course she has! I’m fucking handsome!” Reid’s brother Riley calls out, throwing me a wink.
A growl sounds out before a thick arm bands around my waist, and I know it’s Reid without looking. He pulls me against his hard chest and I can’t help but laugh at his possessiveness. This isn’t like how it used to be with Travis. He saw me as a possession. Reid sees me as a treasure.
“Whoa, I’ve just noticed how many fucking gingers are running around this place,” Rider says, wide eyed.
“We are seriously outnumbered,” Savage agrees, grinning so wide that I’m sure he’s not bothered.
“It’s like a cult,” Fox says, flipping Reid the bird.
“All we need is Rodney and we’d have a full set,” Jazz laughs and we all join her.
“Oh don’t even start! He wanted a playdate with the kids and I had to let him down gently,” Blanche says, eyes wide.
“You and gently in the same sentence doesn’t really compute, babe.” Tav grins, then dodges his Ol Lady’s backhand to the gut.
Everyone from the two MC’s settle in, laughing, chatting, some of us getting to know each other better, all of us knowing that this is the calm before the storm. Before the men ride out to help rid the world of evil men. Reid pulls me down onto his lap as he takes a seat and we watch small explosives go off in the yard, his siblings bickering, the kids who aren't in the bomb shelter attacking each other with Nerf guns, the MC brothers all ribbing each other and the women doing much of the same. It turns out that I had nothing to be nervous about. Well, not in the way I thought I did. I thought I wouldn't fit in, that no one would like me, that all the things my father and Travis had told me I was over the years was true. Instead I have friends, a family even, and that in itself makes me nervous because I so very much want to keep this family, this life, and I worry that somehow it’ll be ripped away from me.
“Are you happy?” Reid’s voice murmurs in my ear, stopping my spiralling thoughts.
I think for a moment, chewing my bottom lip. “I’m not happy about the situation, but I am happy that it brought you into my life. You and your crazy family.” I grin.
“Which ones? It seems I’ve brought about 100 people here tonight.” He huffs.
“And I can see myself loving each and every one of them.”
He stiffens for a moment, before his voice softens, “I hope one day I will be one of those people that you love,” he says quietly, so quietly I might have missed it.
“You don’t have to wait for one day. You’re already there.” I feel his lips tip up as he presses his face into my hair, squeezing me just a little tighter.
“Fuck this, I can’t stand watching it anymore.” Pops grumbles, getting up from the step he was sitting on, dusting off the back ofhis chinos. “Kids, let me and Aunt Chewy show you what a real bomb looks like.”
Chapter 13
Switch
“Buckle up, motherfu-” Pops eyes the kids standing around beside him, “fuuu-dgers, this is going to be epic!” The kids all cheer like he’s just announced that he’s buying them all unlimited milkshakes or some shit.
“Whoisthat man?” My momma asks, brows furrowed as Pops, Elio and Chewy stop to have a serious looking conversation next to some contraption they’ve made.
“That would be our grandfather,” Gus mumbles, running a hand down his face and scooping Jr up from the ground where he was about to eat another fistful of dirt.
“Isn’t he too old to be doing that?” Jules smirks when Gus death glares him.
“Just picked Gallows up on the cameras, he’s at the end of the drive.” My little brother murmurs, eyes on what's happening in the middle of the yard.
“Tadaa! She’s finished, and what a beauty she is,” Pops says proudly as Chewy holds it up so we can all admire it.
“Chewy, baby, put the fucking explosive down,” Rhodie growls, pinching the bridge of his nose. Gus backhands him in the gut and holds out his Tums which Rhodie takes. Immediately.
