“No,” I answered quickly. “You need to stay away in case there are eyes on you. I got it. She’s just a spoiled princess.”
Shona nodded. “She may act that way, Rebel, but she’s not really. She’s had to go through the worst upbringing, always on guard, always wondering when my dad would push her into some bastard’s arms to pay off some kind of debt he had. It’s not exactly a fun life.”
I softened a little, hating that both Shona and Darby had that bastard as a father. “Yeah, I guess. It won’t be long and she can live on her own, do her own thing. It’ll be good for her.”
Shona’s eyebrows drew together and she continued to look at me like she was trying to read my mind.
“Church,” Viper slapped me on the shoulder as he and Savage came through. I was glad for the interruption. I don’t know what the hell Shona thinks she saw but it was putting me on edge. Fuck, this whole situation had me on edge and I didn’t like it. I headed in the room with the boys and sat down in my seat. Ace cleared his throat to silence everyone.
“We haven’t got a trace on Bran, Shona’s brother, as yet but he has left Belfast with his family. He hasn’t gone through Dublin or Galway, so he could only be in a few places undetected. We’ll find him. We need to keep Darby safe, which Rebel is doing in a safe location.”
Everyone turned to me, and some had the nerve to have smirks on their faces.
I rolled my eyes.
“She keepin’ ya busy?” Viper laughed.
“She’s annoying as fuck,” I said. “Pampered princess. I’ll ride up and meet Bran head on if it means I don’t have to babysit the pastel unicorn anymore.”
Everyone laughed, including Ace. Everyone except for me. Who knew babysitting a woman would cause me so much unrest.
“Fair enough. We can spell you whenever you need. Just send us word.”
I nodded.
“Next order of business. The Destructive Sons are no more which means Bran is operating as a free agent. Belfast is open. We are the strongest MC to take a hold there. With the funding from the Kings and the O’Farrell’s, we can set up chapters in all the main hubs. This would mean some of you would be given your own chapter to run and that does mean separating from this chapter. How we feelin’ about that?”
The brothers were all murmuring amongst themselves. I’d never felt like I fit anywhere before until I joined the Nomads as a wayward dickhead, taken under the wing of Hawk and Bear, and taught right from wrong. I didn’t want to go anywhere, but I did have to admit I was getting restless here in Kilkenny while all my friends found women to be with. Even Fury had a kid now. I barely saw the guy anymore. I wasn’t daft enough to think I could run a chapter by myself, but I could easily move to another chapter if they needed me. I had nothing holding me down.
“Sounds like it’ll be tabled for another session. Think it over boys. How are we going on the runs, Bear?”
“Good, we have a shipment coming into Dublin next week, so I’ll need the boys to accompany me on that one,” Bear said. “We have a couple of drug runs through Galway with the help of Killianwhich I’ll hand over to the Nomads. I know Trigger has been keen on getting his hands in that trade for a while.”
“Sounds good,” Ace nodded. “Hawk?”
“We need a new Chaplain,” Hawk said. “We also need new prospects. Now that we can focus on growing the club again, I think we need to get some word out. We’re down all our prospects and a man with Razor.”
My eyes drifted to Chains who still struggled with his loss. Razor and he had been tight, growing up together in the MC. Even I missed the fucker. It was getting better as the days dragged on, but we still hadn’t a clue who had killed him and that was hurting us as a club.
“We could look at some of the Nomads,” Savage offered. “They are booming, and I know some of them wouldn’t mind settling into one place.”
Ace nodded. “Yes, can you ride out there and look into it?”
He nodded. “I’ll take Shona. She’s good with people.”
I smirked at Savage. He hated social shit and yet his woman lived for it. Together, they were quite the pair. A pang of something foreign hit me but I pushed it down. I don’t know what the hell was happening with me lately.
“That’s it,” Ace said. “Any other orders of business we want to bring to the table?”
No one spoke and Ace dropped his gavel on the side. We all stood and headed out into the clubhouse.
“You going to stay for a drink?” Savage asked me.
“I don’t want to punish Brogan any longer than I have to,” I told him. He laughed and waved me out of the clubhouse. I headed down to my bike, wondering how much longer I would be away from this place. I missed it and yet the house they had us in was secluded, quiet, and stocked full with food and drink which just happened to be a dream of mine.
I guess babysitting duties couldn’t be that bad after all.
TWO
