Chapter 10
Nitro
“You moving to the front, or staying back there?” I ask Fox, peering at him in the rear view.
“Back here, I feel like a proper passenger princess,” he grins, his blonde hair flopping across his forehead.
If I didn’t know better, I’d think he couldn’t drive. Instead he’s lazy and prefers me carting his ass around whenever we’re in a cage.
“So, what do we know about lupus?” I ask, giving Jasmine one last wave before pulling onto the road.
“Just looking it up now,” Fox murmurs, brows pulled in.
I leave him to do the research, he’ll tell me when he’s well and good.
Whatever it is sounds painful, tiring, frustrating and like it’s sucked the life out of Jazz.
Not just life, but hope. Sure she loves her job and the kids, but outside of her work, I don’t know what else lights her up or brings her joy.
Fox hisses between his teeth, and my gaze flicks to him in the mirror. His brow is furrowed and his jaw clenched. His chocolate brown eyes meet mine in the mirror, and a look crosses over his face, before determination.
“Tell me,” I urge. I still don’t think I’m good enough for Jazz, or even Fox, but the thought of Jazz dealing with this on her own does something to me.
“It’s an autoimmune condition that she’ll have to live with and manage for the rest of her life,”
“OK,” I nod.
“I mean, it sounds pretty rough. It’s like her immune system is her body’s bouncer but instead of throwing out the bad guys it’s just like taking punches at her.”
I frown at Fox in the rear view but he’s so focussed on what he’s reading that he’s not even paying attention to the shitty look I’m giving him.
I turn into the long drive leading to the farmhouse and pull in neatly next to the other two DRMC SUVs, parked off to the side of the bikes.
It seems odd, seeing less bikes here than usual, but ever since Dex took the president position in The Keep chapter, along with a few of our members, it’s been like this.
I get out of the SUV, slamming the door behind me before stretching my body out, waiting for Fox. He wanders closer, eyes still glued to his phone screen. He scrolls a little more, then meets my gaze.
“If we do this, claim her, we need to be all in. This disease sounds like a real mind fuck, and stress makes things worse. We can’t be stressing her out,” His gaze bores into mine and I know what he’s telling me.
If we’re serious about this I need to leave my baggage at the door.
I can’t be bringing up my shit childhood and all the trauma that I’m carrying around.
I can’t hole up in my room when I don’t feel deserving or good enough.
I can’t ghost her or get stuck in my head or one of my moods.
Shit, even Fox doesn’t deserve it when I do those things but he’s known me long enough to accept my shortcomings and I try my hardest to show him I love him by sorting through my shit.
Jazz, though, she doesn’t know my history, and I almost don’t want her to.
I don’t want to taint her with that shit.
“Hey, look at me.” Fox grips me around the back of my neck, forcing me to look at him. “You deserve it all. Me, Jazz, anything your heart desires. And I’m going to make sure you get it.”
I nod, not able to find my voice just yet.
“So, no stressing out our girl, OK?”
I clear my throat, sniffing. “What do we need to do to take care of her?”
A small grin grows on Fox’s face. “Is that you saying…?”
“I want her. I want you. I want all of it.”
“Then you’ll have it, my love.”
Fox
“Have you finished being in love yet?” Rider’s voice calls out, all high pitched and squeaky. “Marx is calling church.”
I slap Nitro on the ass and follow him inside after he rolls his eyes. He also hits Rider with his shoulder on the way past because my man hates being interrupted.
“Oh, you wound me!” Rider whines dramatically, even dropping to his knees writhing in pain.
“You better not bring up the nip-”
“First I lose a nipple and then my brother, my brother of my own choosing assaults me as if I mean nothing, why? Whyyyyy?”
We leave Rider yelling to the gods outside, letting the door slam behind us, cutting off his wails.
Marx’s head snaps up, frown on his face. “Tell that fucker to hurry up.” Niko rushes out to pass on the message as Marx rolls his eyes as he heads toward Church.
I move to follow him, only stopping as the women come rushing past, all dropping the kids off to Niko, Sage and Mama Debs on their way into Church.
Each and every one of them have earned their place behind that door, however they don’t usually all sit in.
Well, not if it’s just business as usual.
More often than not Chewy, Remy and Blanche will attend Church while Lovely, Nat, Vi and Ana opt to look after the kids.
Mira will sit in if she’s not working on a new novel and Kaia, Judge’s woman, seems to be still finding her place.
She’s got a temper and doesn’t take fools gladly, so I can see her making regular appearances as she settles into club life.
My mind drifts to Jazz and what she would want as I follow the women in.
She’s strong and sassy, that I do know, but much like her sister they have a soft streak that runs through them.
And a history of dating shitty men from what I’ve heard.
Vi’s ex made her feel like shit and used her pretty much for her looks, and from the way Jazz behaves I wonder if the same has happened to her.
Or maybe with her illness she ended up with some jackass that dumped her because of it.
Judging from what she told us and what Fox read out in the car, lupus puts a strain on relationships.
Especially if the man you’re with is actually a little boy who can’t take care of his woman.
Marx’s giant fist slams against the wall behind him and we all snap to attention. Well, all of us except Chewy who covers her ears with a frown. She’s not known for loving loud noises, and given Rhodie’s place next to his brother, and Chewy’s place on his lap, I’d say it’s a little loud over there.
“Sorry Chewy,” Marx grumbles before addressing us. “I’m sure you all heard what went down at the PD. Pops is still in holding while Miss Candice works her magic.”
“What the fuck they haul him in for anyway?” Savage asks, looking disgusted that the police would arrest a retiree. Even though Pops is probably the most dangerous retiree there is.
“It was a laundry list of bullshit charges,” Nitro answers before turning to Chewy. “Why does your grandfather impersonate people so often?”
“He’s a celebrity. Disguises are the best way to move around town without people stopping him for mind-numbing small talk about inconsequential matters.”
“No offence Chewy, but I think Willy Nelson is a much bigger celebrity than your grandfather,” Tank snorts.
“I have no idea who that is,” Chewy says with a completely straight face.
The whole room goes silent and I can’t tell if she’s fucking with us or not.
“Right. Anyway, Pops will be spending the night at RGPD and Moss has agreed to let Mad Dog stay with him.” Marx says, looking around the Church table.
“How did you manage that?” Blanche asks, looking impressed.
“Miss Candice told him Mad Dog was his carer,” Tav cracks up, his brothers joining him.
“It was the best way to make sure nobody fucks with him.”
I knock on the table, agreeing with Marx. “Until we know exactly how widespread the problem in RGPD is, we have to assume they’re all involved. Pops is a tough bastard, but he’s also an old man.”
Nods go around the table, and it’s not hard to see the concern on everyone’s faces. Well, other than Chewy’s who perks up all of a sudden. “Oh yeah, forgot to say, Pops managed to get me linked into the bug in your locker room. I know where they are.”
“Wait, what? How the fuck did he do that?” Savage asks, sitting forward a little.
Chewy turns her gaze to me and Nitro. “When he was in there did he do anything out of the ordinary?”
“Oh I dunno, I think pissing himself is probably out of the ordinary,” Nitro says.
“Not really. He pulled that stunt at the funeral home that one time,” Jules answers with a smirk.
“He showed us a mole shaped like Jesus,” I add.
Rider claps loudly and laughs before pointing at me. “It so does, it’s crazy how much it does.”
Marx closes his eyes and takes a deep breath as Gus slides a pack of antacids his way.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen Gus share those things.
Although I guess it’s also been a while since Church was like this, and I have to say, I missed it.
We’ve been dealing with shit for so long now, it’s kinda nice to be this relaxed.
Well aside from the fact Nitro and I are at the PD to flush out cops on the take and we have Pops in the cells.
“OK, I’ll take that as a yes,” Chewy says. “It’s proven that when people listen into devices like the Dropmire that they’ll speed past the random, mundane or gross to get to the good stuff. While he was showing you Jesus he was tapping into its frequency so I can run a reverse trace.”
She says this all like it’s a normal every day thing for her, and shit, I dunno, maybe it is. She’s a fucking genius and I sometimes forget that.
“So, do you wanna know where they’re at?” She looks up from her phone briefly.
“Safe to say the answer would be a fuck yes, thank you Chewy,” Marx replies, as if he needed to.
We need to know who these people are so we can shut them down, clean out the PD and then get back to our lives.
“Yeah, I don’t quite have the answer to that just yet. I have the roundabout location. Gimme 24 hours to pinpoint the exact address.”
“What the - actually, you know what? Don’t worry. We’ll wait.” Marx picks up the antacids, shakes a couple into his palm then throws them back, swallowing them down without chewing. “Wire, how are you getting on with the guy you were looking into?”
Wire fiddles around with something on his laptop then looks behind Marx, a photograph of a bearded man projected on the wall.
“Matthew Thompson.” He looks at me and Nitro. “You were right. Matthew Thompson, dishonorably discharged after holding the Commanding Officer role in the Seals for five years. If anyone has the ability to get his hands on the Dropmire bug, it’s this guy.”
Marx runs a hand down his face, while Rhodie curses under his breath. Everyone around the table except the women, have all served. We all know what this means. Fucking trouble.
“Any idea who he’s working for?” Rhodie asks, chin resting on Chewy’s shoulder as he holds her tightly to him, probably to calm himself.
“Do you need me to get Chomper for you?” She quietly asks him, looking at him with soft eyes. Rhodie shakes his head and presses a kiss to her temple.
“I’m still digging brother. As soon as I know, you’ll know,” Wire answers, eyes never leaving his laptop.
Marx blows out a breath. “Switch, what’s happening with Hitchens’ wife?”
My eyes land on my brother and he’s looking rough. He may have gotten off an overnighter at the emergency room, so I’ll cut him some slack.
“Slow. Fucking slow. Almost no movement at all. I’ve been spending time with her and the girl while her piece of shit husband is on shift, outside of the house, at the park, McDonalds, that sort of thing.
She’s desperate to leave but the home has cameras and she’s terrified that he’ll notice something is up.
” He runs a hand down his tired face. “She’s beginning to trust me, so I guess I’ll just keep working on her. ”
“Is there any way you can find out what type of cameras are in the home?” Gus asks, sharing a look with his brothers.
“You think you can help?” Switch asks, perking up.
“Depends on the system,” Jules counters.
“If it’s one that we’ve worked with before, we could hack in and put it on a loop for a set amount of time whenever he’s on shift. That way she’ll have time to start squirreling away items she and the girl will need when we get them out of there,” Tav answers.
“Can you do all that remotely?” Savage asks, looking impressed.
The Tombs all share a look before Blanche clears her throat, “If it isn’t, I’ll go in. A woman will look less suspicious than any of you men, and I have experience with cameras with my PI work.” Tav looks around the table, a proud as punch look on his face that his Ol Lady is badass.
Marx nods slowly, face stoic. “It’s a good plan.
Keeps everyone safe for the moment and gives Mrs Hitchens time to get her affairs in order, so to speak.
Once they’re free we’ll send them to the Keep where they will gain new paperwork for their new lives.
The timeline’s not ideal for her or the kid, but it’s not like we can kidnap her or anything.
” Marx looks around the table. “Chewy, get us that location. Wire, keep digging.”
“What about Pops? He’s the only reason I came to Church,” Vi says, looking spitting mad.
“Miss Candice is working to get Pops’ offenses thrown out, we don’t need this shit to go to court. Pops is too fucking unhinged for that to go well. Sorry, Tombses,” Marx adds at the end.
“Why? We all know what Pops is like.” Gus grins.
“Right. Church over. Get outta here and get some rest because we all know it won’t last long before all hell breaks loose.”