Chapter 7
Sadie
Jed let Oliver out on his side of the truck when they dropped him off at school. He said something to him that she didn’t hear, and pushed something into his hand. Her nephew smiled huge at him, then ran around the front of the car toward the school.
“What was that about?” she asked as Jed climbed back into his truck. She followed her nephew’s progress until he disappeared inside the building.
"What is it?" Her heart sped up at his tone.
"Tinker was cleared out by the time the brothers got to the clubhouse last night." A deep V dipped between his brows as he frowned.
"Okay. What's that mean?" It couldn't be anything good.
"It means he's giving up all pretenses of being a part of the Sons. He's in the wind." He glanced her way. "I'm sorry, Sadie. That wasn't the news I was hoping to give you."
She nodded her head. She should have been expecting something like that to happen. Catching Tinker at the clubhouse would have been too easy.
He pulled up to the gate and waited for one of the prospects to open it, offering a wave in greeting as he passed through.
Parking his truck close to the front of the building, he met her at the hood before escorting her to the door.
He pulled it open and allowed her to enter first. She glanced around the large area and saw a few of the old ladies sitting at a table.
She didn't see any of the brothers, which led her to believe they were already in church and waiting for Jed.
It was no secret that since moving to Redemption, Sadie had been actively avoiding anything and anyone that had anything to do with the Sons of Redemption.
It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate everything they’d done for her; it was just that, given her past experiences with the Phantom Furies, she was too afraid that whatever stuff they had going on could come back and bite her and Oliver in the ass.
She’d come too close to losing her nephew once, and she would never do anything that could jeopardize her life with him.
Although the more time she spent with Jed, the more she could see that the two clubs were nothing alike.
Comparing the two was like comparing apples to oranges.
And twice, Race had rallied the troops to come to her rescue when someone had broken into her apartment.
If she were completely honest with herself, the biggest reason she’d been avoiding coming here was the fear of running into Kylie.
After everything that went down between her and Darren, she highly doubted the woman would want to lay eyes on her.
With a hand at her back, Jed steered her toward Bellamy, Jane, Calliope, and her baby, Harper. “Ladies. How are things this morning?”
“Good.”
“Great.”
“I’m tired of being pregnant.” The last came from Bellamy, who was due in the next couple of weeks, if she remembered correctly. She definitely looked like she was ready to pop any moment.
“Well, I’m sorry to hear that, Bellamy. I’ll let Race know he needs to be extra nice to you today,” he shot her a playful wink, causing Bellamy to roll her eyes.
“Whatever. Go to church.” She waved him away.
He pulled a chair out for Sadie and waited for her to have a seat before he took off.
Her eyes followed him as he disappeared down the hall.
She turned back to the table and found all three women smiling at her like they’d caught her doing something shady.
It made her uncomfortable to be the object of their attention.
“So, you and Jed, huh?” Bellamy asked. “How long has that been going on? The last I knew, you were still pissed off that he cost you your job at Bottoms Up.”
Sadie wasn’t sure how to answer. “Um. Whatever this is,” she waved her hand, searching for the right words, “started a few days ago.”
“Only a few days ago?” Calliope asked. “Because you guys seem awfully comfortable in each other's company.”
Hmm. How to explain her and Jed. “We’ve known each other a lot longer, but have only recently been together.”
“What do you mean you’ve known each other a lot longer?” Jane asked.
“And what does recently being together mean?” Bellamy rubbed the side of her belly.
Oh boy. This was where having friends would have come in handy.
She hadn’t had any close girl friends since high school.
While everyone went off to college, got amazing jobs, or moved away, she’d been helping her brother raise Oliver.
She was way out of practice for this sort of female sharing thing.
“Okay. Let’s see. I met him one night at Bottoms Up when I was being blackmailed by Crockett to spy on the Sons.
I gave him a lap dance. Then he came to Taos pretending he didn’t know me to see if I knew where the Phantoms might be keeping Darren.
After everything with the Phantoms went down, I came back here to Redemption, got my old job back, and Jed got me fired.
From there, I got a job at Big Dick’s, and he’s been coming every night to hang out while I work.
I think he’s making sure Tinker doesn’t find me there. ”
“That’s the CliffsNotes version, isn’t it?” Calliope grinned.
“Pretty much.”
“How did you guys move from being just friends to a relationship?” Jane asked.
“Honestly, I wouldn’t call what we’re doing a relationship. Is there chemistry between us? Yes. Are we having a good time? Yes.” She shrugged her shoulders.
“Have you had sex yet?” Bellamy certainly didn’t pull any punches.
“Yes.”
“That’s it? You’re not going to elaborate?” Bellamy appeared to be disappointed.
“No, I’m not going to elaborate.” And the woman could keep being disappointed. Sadie wasn’t comfortable discussing her sex life with anyone. It was private and personal.
“I thought I heard Mav and Dagger talking about someone breaking into your apartment last night. Are you and your nephew all right?” Jane thankfully changed the subject.
“Yes, although think I was more afraid of what the intruder might do to Oliver than what he might do to me. But Oliver was scared half to death.”
“The alarm didn’t scare them off?” Calliope’s husband, Jackson, had installed her security system.
Harper lay with her head on her shoulder, sleeping with her mouth slightly open, her legs scrunched up like a frog.
Her adorable little butt fit in Calliope’s hand.
She remembered Oliver at that age, and it made her sad how fast he was growing up.
“No. It was weird. The alarm went off when Tinker broke in, but somehow, he knew how to destroy the security system panel to shut it off.”
“Tinker was the one breaking in?” Jane’s eyes widened.
“Yes. I recognized his voice when he was trying to draw me out by calling my name, and then Jackson confirmed it when he checked the recorded footage on the system.”
“What happened after he got inside?” Bellamy asked.
“I could hear his heavy steps coming closer, and I remembered I had an app for my car on my phone. I activated the alarm and prayed it would scare him off. The next thing I know, someone is working the doorknob on the closet. I thought it was Tinker, and I freaked out. So when the door started to slowly open, I leaned out far enough to use my stun gun on him. Unfortunately, it was Jed, and I tased him in the nuts.”
“What?!” They all three screeched, causing baby Harper to jump in her sleep. The prospect behind the bar looked their way with a slight dip of his brows.
“Yeah. I felt really bad about it, but it was also hilarious how he dropped to the floor, cupping his junk in his hands. He rolled around, whining about how he thought his dick was going to fall off and how he thought it was broken. Of course, Oliver heard this and wanted to know if his dick would really fall off. Between the two of them, I thought my head was going to explode.”
“He actually said the word ’dick’?” Jane chuckled.
“Yes. Apparently, he learned it from Nickle, the brother who was keeping Oliver away from me on Crockett’s orders. Oliver said he would tell his wife to suck his dick.”
“Seriously? In front of the kid?” Bellamy shook her head in disgust.
Her stomach started acting weird again, and she wished she hadn’t eaten that slice of bacon this morning. “Okay. You all know how I met Jed. How did you meet Race?” she asked Bellamy.
The three of them shared another look. One that hinted at a shared history. “I moved in next door to him, so not only was he my neighbor, but he was my landlord, too. And if I have any problems with my rental, I'm supposed to contact my landlord. You know what that means?”
“You had to contact Race?” she guessed.
“That's right. When my water heater went out, and my refrigerator started working about half the time, I told him about it. Over and over and over again. It got to the point that I was downright nagging him to fix them. By the time he finally came over to check them out, I was taking cold showers and debating on showing up at his house every morning to use his. Once he installed the water heater, he jokingly mentioned he’d had it in his garage for weeks. I was so mad that when he told me to go pick out a refrigerator and send him the bill, I picked out the most expensive one they had.” She smiled wistfully.
“The look on his face when I handed him the bill was priceless.”
“Oh yeah? What did he say about the bill?” Sadie asked.