Chapter 17
Sadie
“Go ahead and get dressed in the clothes you took off yesterday,” she whispered. Oliver gave her a thumbs up, letting her know he heard her.
From the towel slung over the shower curtain rod and the dirty clothes on the floor, it looked like Jed had showered last night before coming to bed.
Her clothes were still neatly folded where she left them on the sink after she slipped into one of Jed’s long-sleeve tees.
She dug around his drawers until she found two toothbrushes still in their original packaging.
“Perfect.” One for her and one for Oliver.
She brushed her teeth and used the toilet before she quickly put yesterday’s clothes back on.
She was going to have to see if Jed or one of the prospects had time to run her to her apartment today, so she could pick up some clothes for her and Oliver, along with a few other things.
She didn’t even attempt to try and entertain the idea that she would be going back to her place to stay for at least the next couple of days. Not after what Tinker did yesterday.
Because she was on lockdown, she'd had to call Dick yesterday to tell him that until Tinker was caught, she wouldn't be able to work.
She hated to give such short notice and to leave him short-handed, but he'd understood.
He'd been grouchy about it, but he'd understood.
He'd heard the news about a woman's body being dumped outside the Sons compound, and until he'd heard her voice, he'd been worried that it might be her.
He knew Tinker's history with women and wouldn't put anything past him.
He said she could come back whenever things were resolved; her job would be waiting for her.
Crossing her fingers that she hadn’t been in the bathroom long enough for Oliver to find something to get into and possibly wake Jed up, she pulled the door open to find him sitting on the floor putting on his shoes. He tipped a smile in her direction. “He’s still sleeping,” he whispered.
“I know. Why don’t you go brush your teeth while I put my shoes on? I left a toothbrush on the sink for you. It’s the green one.”
By the time she finished tying her second tennis shoe, Oliver was exiting the bathroom.
She wasn’t sure if anyone else was awake, but she figured at least some of the old ladies might be up, considering they had kids, too.
She opened the door as quietly as possible, pushing her nephew through first. She looked back at Jed one more time, wishing she could climb right back in bed with him.
With a heavy sigh, she closed the door and wondered if her life would ever be normal again.
She thought that after her brother died, her life would be biker club-free.
Then in walked Jed and the Sons of Redemption.
Following the sounds of kids talking quietly, she found Calliope and Lindsey and most of the kids already up and moving around the common room.
Both women sat on the couch, giving their babies their bottles.
The television was turned on low to a cartoon channel, and even the bigger kids seemed to be absorbed in it.
She moved closer with Oliver, but didn’t take a seat. “Where are the others?”
“Ginny and Jane are in the kitchen fixing breakfast, and Bellamy is still sleeping,” Calliope answered. “And I think Kylie is sleeping, too.”
“What time did the men get back?” she asked.
“I’m not sure. The last time I checked the time, it was after two o’clock, and Trick still wasn’t in bed.” Lindsey raised Declan to her shoulder and tried to burp him.
“I wonder if they had any luck finding Tinker last night?” she asked no one in particular.
“I don’t think so or Race would still be in bed and not looking like the weight of the world was sitting on his shoulders.” Calliope placed the finished bottle on the end table, then settled her girl on her shoulder to burp.
Sadie’s attention moved to the bar where Race sat with a cup of coffee cradled between his hands. “How long has he been up?”
“I don’t know,” Lindsey replied. “He was there when I came out to feed Declan. I’m not even sure if he went to bed.” The sweet baby boy on her shoulder let out a very big burp for such a little thing. “Your daddy would be so proud,” she laughed.
Sadie’s heart skipped a beat when it hit her that she would be feeding and burping a baby in another six months.
Why she was freaked out about it, she had no clue.
It wasn’t like she didn’t have experience with raising babies.
From the day her brother brought Oliver home from the hospital, she’d been there.
She was the closest thing to a mother the boy had, his own mom washing her hands of him the minute she pushed him out.
She was a crazy, selfish bitch, and Sadie was glad she was out of the picture.
Her stomach growled, reminding her that she was hungry and still needed to feed Oliver. Might as well help the ladies in the kitchen. The sooner breakfast was finished, the sooner everyone could eat. “I’m going to go see if they need help in the kitchen.”
Glancing at all the kids sitting on the floor watching television, she saw Oliver sitting between Ryker, Jackson and Calliope’s son, and Keegan, Trick and Lindsey’s oldest son. They were all so engrossed with the cartoons, she doubted he would miss her at all.
On her way to the kitchen, she detoured to Race. He looked up from his coffee when she approached. “Good morning, Race.”
“Mornin’, Sadie.”
“I was just wanting to tell you how sorry I am that you all lost someone yesterday.”
“Thank you. She was a sweet girl. She’ll be missed.”
Not knowing what else to say, she dipped her chin. “I’m, uh, going to see if they need help in the kitchen.”
He nodded his head and went back to drinking his coffee.
Ginny and Jane were hard at work preparing breakfast when she entered the kitchen. Ginny was flipping pancakes at the industrial-sized stove, and Jane was scrambling eggs in a large bowl at the island. They both looked up when she entered.
“Good morning. I was coming to see if you needed help.”
“Bless your heart,” Ginny smiled. “We can always use help. If you want to finish cooking the bacon in the microwave, that would be great.”
“Sure.” She washed her hands in the sink before moving to the counter with the microwave.
Two packages of bacon were already thawed and waiting to be cooked.
A paper-towel-covered platter next to the microwave held what looked like three pounds already cooked.
Holy smokes. The Sons of Redemption were serious about their bacon.
“How are you feeling, Sadie?” Jane asked while pouring the scrambled egg mixture into a heated skillet. “The morning sickness settling down any?”
“Well, so far so good this morning.” She finished placing the slices of raw bacon on the tray, covered it with paper towels, and shoved it into the microwave. She punched in the time and turned around. “I'm hoping I'm done with my morning sickness now.”
“I remember when I was pregnant with Jackson. I threw up all the time. Or at least it felt that way. It was probably more like six weeks, but it felt like six months at the time.” Jane continued stirring the eggs.
“I remember being pregnant with my first girl. I was sicker than a dog with her, and when I got pregnant with my son, I cried because I thought I was going to be throwing up all the time again.” Ginny flipped another pancake on top of the pile growing in an aluminum serving pan on the counter next to her.
“You didn’t have morning sickness with your son?”
“No. But I was so sleepy all the time, I couldn’t get anything done.
I would have to put my daughter in a playpen so I could take a nap.
I’d sleep for ten minutes or so, then crack my eye open to make sure she was still alive.
Then, when the third and fourth babies came along, I wasn’t sick or tired with either of them. ”
Four kids and the woman looked amazing. Sadie hoped that after she gave birth, she could lose her baby weight quickly.
Who knew? If they could ever catch Tinker and she lost the weight, maybe she could go back to dancing at Bottoms Up?
Naw. That wouldn’t work. Jed would never let her go back to the strip club to work.
Oh my God! What if she got stretch marks?
She definitely couldn’t dance with stretch marks.
Then another thought hit her. What if Jed didn’t like them?
Would he be turned off and not want anything to do with her anymore?
Maybe she should throw that out there now and get a feel for where his head was at on the subject.
If they were going to break up again, she would prefer to do it sooner rather than later.
The longer they were together, the harder it would be when he walked away.
“There you are.” The sound of Jed’s voice drew her attention to the door. Spotting her, he pushed his way inside, heading straight for her. With his hands on her hips, he turned her to face him, dropping his mouth to hers in a very nice morning kiss.
“Mmm. What was that for?” she asked, momentarily forgetting Ginny and Jane were in the room.
“That’s my good morning, happy to see you.” Jed’s smile was damn near blinding when he was relaxed and happy. He reached behind her and snagged a piece of bacon, popping it into his mouth before she could stop him.
“Oh. I see how it is. You were just working your wiles on me so you could steal bacon,” she teased.
“No. The bacon was just a bonus.”
“Uh huh,” she countered playfully.
He grinned and growled. “Ladies, I need to borrow Sadie for a minute or two.” His eyes never left hers as he told them his intentions.
“Jed. I’m helping cook breakfast. I can’t just walk out.”
“You’re right. You can’t walk out.” He bent his knees and swooped her up into his arms, heading for the door.