Chapter 3
Jules
W here the fuck is everybody? I’m meant to be interviewing Violet Davies, and my siblings offered to keep an eye on Juno for me. So far I’ve walked through the Tombs Security building and aside from our recon team, I haven’t seen anyone related to me.
Getting out of the lift on the top floor, I make my way through the offices, Juno swinging from the carseat in my hand.
“If you’re looking for everyone they’re at the clubhouse.” Dayz’s voice drifts down the hall.
“Why the fuck are they all there? They’re meant to be working. And keeping an eye on the kid while I interview Violet,” I growl, stomping my way into her office.
Dayz doesn’t even look up, eyes glued to her screen. “We’re always there. Which is why I’ve taken the liberty of changing the interview location to the clubhouse. We all spend large amounts of time there, and Juno’s nanny will likely visit on occasion. Meaning we need to know the cop’s sister is a safe person to have around the Littles.” I stare at her. “Oh, and Marx wants it there.”
“When did Marx become our Pres?” She looks at me as if I’m an idiot before rolling her eyes. “Besides, we’ve already run checks. We even did a deep dive into that harassment case that got her fired.”
Turns out that while the sergeant’s sister may be known as “the angry nurse”, she actually had a pretty good reason to threaten her patient’s daughter. Around 6 months after Violet was let go, said daughter was imprisoned for neglecting her disabled mother.
“I know, that’s why interviewing at the clubhouse would be best. The whole extended family is there, and we all gotta feel her out.”
I tuck my finger inside my shirt collar and loosen it a little. Heat spreads through my body and I can feel my pulse start to rise at my annoyance with the situation so I tell myself to lock it down. I’m not like August where I let the stress get to me. My family has decided to be a pain in the ass so I will deal with it. I am in control of the situation. I can pivot and do the interview at the clubhouse. I’m zen as fuck and have all the background information I need.
“It’ll be worth it,” Dayz continues, “Anyone can look good on paper. But is she a douche? Will she be mean to the kids or judgey to the brothers? Is she skanky? Will she want to mount Fox and Nitro, leaving your child in the corner with a bottle full of juice?” She sounds like she’s been spending too much time with Mira. Dayz turns to look at me briefly, before her eyes dart elsewhere. “More importantly will she wear perfume that gives me a headache?”
“I thought this was about the safety of the kids?”
“On a scale of usefulness, I bring more to the table than your baby. So my needs should come before hers.” Dayz replies, eyes back on her screen. “I’ve finished now. Drive me to the clubhouse so we can meet your prospective nanny. I will be sitting in, just so you know.”
I stare down at her as she puts her fidget toys back in their proper places. “Why?” As Tombs Security, my brothers and I panel interview every new employee. Dayz deemed it a waste of her time. Her wanting in on the interview is a new development.
“It’s part of my role in the DRMC. I need to manage the safety of our families and the club.”
“I thought that was Rhodie’s job as enforcer and VP?”
“We’re a package deal.” She stands and gathers her things. “I’m ready.” I give her a nod and she continues loading shit into her giant bag. “I’lI go easy on her. I won’t even ask hard questions. I just have to vet her for the club and whether or not she’ll be a safe person around Chomper.”
Chomper is a fucking alligator. Sure he might have a fucked up jaw so he has to be handfed, and he’s got toes that curl up so his mobility is an issue, but still. Who the hell would take on a gator? Not wanting to argue any longer I wave her out ahead of me and follow her through the office and out to the parking lot where my SUV is parked. Unlocking the car I lean in and make sure Juno is secure. I’m getting faster at putting her in and out which I’m fucking pleased about. I have to shave another 20 seconds off my time to beat Gus, but I think it’s an achievable goal.
“You’re getting better at that,” Dayz says in her emotionless voice, staring through the front windscreen.
“Don’t really have a choice,” I mutter back, shutting Juno’s door and getting into the driver’s seat .
“Sure you do.” Dayz replies, as I start the car and make my way out to the road. “Loads of parents realize they’re not cut out for this job and they give the baby to someone who is cut out for it.”
I side eye my sister, she’s sitting bolt upright, looking out the window paying me no attention. Dayz may not know how to read social cues or emotions very well, but she can read me. “My question is, why do you think you’re not cut out to be Juno’s father?”
We drive in silence. Dayz doesn’t care if I take the time to think my answer through. Hell, she doesn’t even care if I never answer her. I roll my shoulders and then glance at her. “I’m not soft. A kid needs softness.”
“No they don’t. Pops isn’t soft and we turned out fine.”
I slowly turn to look at her, but she’s still gazing the other way. Nobody would ever look at us and say we were fine. Although they probably wouldn’t look at us and say we were fully fucked up either so maybe she has a point. Suddenly she turns in her seat to look at me.
“You’re scared and you need to not be. You need to change. Remember when I was just me, back before Rhodie? I was awesome then, but then I fell in love and found friends and now we have a big family full of people that are better at some stuff than we are. I’m a better person now, on all levels. Probably too good. You need to level up, Jules. Let our people help you.” She turns back to the front. “And maybe this nanny. But I reserve judgement. We don’t need snitches in our lives.” She looks thoughtful for a moment. “Actually, if she snitches as bad as her brother polices, then we should be fine.
“Dayz, you know that Sergeant Davies is actually pretty fucking good at his job, right? ”
She snorts, “He lets perps ride in the front seat. I haven’t researched it but I’m pretty sure that’s illegal.”
“He lets people he knows are innocent ride in the front. There’s a difference.”
Her brows pinch and she squishes her bottom lip, a tell tale stim that she’s thinking through what I’ve said. We travel the rest of the way in silence, the only sound the snuffling of Juno in the backseat. Flicking my eyes to the rearview my gaze catches her intense dark glare, making the corners of my lips twitch. Her little face softens for a moment, and I’m surprised at the sweet look on her face, transforming it from what I see every time I look in the mirror, to what I see when I look at my sister. I get a weird tightness in my chest and I tell myself to breathe and settle down. There is no way in hell I’m going to start taking antacids like Gus.
“We’re the same, you and me. We weren’t born to know what to do with feelings, but we can learn. I learned how to love Rhodie and all the men in the clubhouse. With help you can learn how to love Juno,” Dayz murmurs as we pull into the DRMC lot. She turns to me, her gaze holding mine. “You’re one of the best men I know, Jules. If anyone can successfully raise a baby conceived at an orgy, it’s you.”
“Thanks, Dayz.”
She gives me a nod, her eyes looking over my shoulder. “Come on, let’s interrogate the new nanny. ”
Violet
Pulling into the clubhouse parking lot, where the man on the gate directed, I’m overwhelmed by the number of bikes and cars here. And the fact that thanks to Jazz’s kids and my tight scheduling, I have arrived at a job interview with two bright green hand prints directly on my boobs. Moss was right, those kids are feral.
I take in my surroundings and admit to myself that I have no idea about MC life or even Tombs Security life. I have two options. Panic, or think of this like all those times we had Christmas with my mom’s side of the family. People and kids everywhere, chaos, noise, cooking smells and laughter. I can do this. This is just a big family, waiting to get a look at the fresh meat hoping to be employed. Easy does it. I take some deep breaths, inhaling and exhaling. On the last inhale I choke on air as my eyes meet the dark glare of a true to life god. I’ve seen Jules Tombs in passing, I mean he’s been into my mom’s shop a few times when I’ve been out the back trying not to murder her plants, but holy shit, having his dark gaze on me has sent an electric pulse straight to my crotch and momentarily wiping my memory of sweet, cute, blonde accountant Josh.
Shit! Josh! I look down and quickly whisper to my vagina that she’s taken, and to pull herself together, then tip my head up, smile at Jules Tombs and exit my car. Like a normal person. I am Violet Elena Ximena Davies, I can do anything and my mom and dad believe in me, I whisper as I try to pull myself together. I’m here to score a job looking after a sweet little girl, and maybe kick start my passion for a new career. Not ogle her dad. Besides, I’m suspicious of overly good looking people. They have terrible personalities a lot of the time. They never had to cultivate a personality or sense of humour because people have always fallen over themselves to do whatever hot people tell them to do. Well not me.
“Jules?” I ask, playing it cool, holding my hand out to shake.
He stares at me, his gaze moving from the top of my head, to the tips of my toes, only hovering for a moment on my hand-printed tatas. He nods once, then ignores my hand, tipping his head towards the door. I was right! Hot guys are rude. And I guess I’m following him. Which is fine because I get to see the backside of him which is as delightful as the front side. The man is the epitome of tall, dark and handsome. He stops abruptly inside and I bump into his hard body, eliciting a grunt from him.
Peering around his large body, the body that smells divine and has me reminding myself again that I have a boyfriend, I notice a large group of people staring at me. Well, a large group of women staring at me. The men are all pretending to not stare but I can still see their eyes darting to my boobs and away, in a not very stealth way.
Taking the bull by the horns I wave and give them all my best smile. “Hi! I’m Violet, nice to meet you. Ignore the shirt, I was helping out in my sister’s art class.”
“Oh, you were the latest victim,” A short-haired pregnant woman snorts. I vaguely remember Jazz saying Tav Tombs’ kid was in there.
“Your kid isn’t ginger with glasses that make his eyes look huge is he?” I ask, indicating my boobs and praying that she’s not because that Rodney kid is a menace and I can’t be in the same vicinity as him and hope to keep my sanity.
She barks out a laugh, shaking her head. Phew .
“Have a seat, Violet,” Jules says gruffly, abruptly cutting in and indicating a seat at a table in the middle of the room.
Everyone who isn’t a Tombs seems to make themselves busy, milling around in this sort of common room area, while Jules sits down across from me. A chair scrapes the floor and Tuesday sits next to him. Then Sidney Tombs, who I recognize from around town, takes another seat, and before you know it the whole Tombs family is sitting across from me and this whole thing is feeling a little Shark Tank-y. If Shark Tank had Lori Greiner with an alligator strapped to her chest.
“Quick fire, what would you do if you locked the baby in a car on a hot day?” Grandpa Tombs asks with a squint, one bushy brow raised.
Relishing the fact that he’s dived straight in and saved me from nervous chit chat, I dig around in my bag for my keys and hold up the tool attached to my keyring, “Smash the driver’s side window to get access to the vehicle, the keys and the baby.”
He purses his lips and nods slowly.
“Juno has a rash, isn’t eating and is running a fever. What do you do?” One of the brothers asks. I’m not sure which one, but this one has a beautiful tanned woman beside him with a baby on her lap.
I work hard not to roll my eyes. I’m a trained nurse, this is easy shit. “Depending on her age I would assume she’s teething. I’d give her Baby Tylenol, something cool to chew on and make an appointment for her with her pediatrician if I was concerned or needed further medical advice.”
They all share a look and the one I’m guessing is Tav Tombs, because he has the short-haired lady in his lap, leans forward. “Sometimes we share care of the kids together. Are you open to having two extra children around even if one of them enjoys blowing things up?”
Wait, what? What sort of question is that? I don’t think about it, I just answer. “As long as you are happy to have things exploding then I’ll be sure to keep an eye on them and keep the baby away from exploding stuff. I guess.” I shrug, I mean, surely that’s hypothetical, right?
Throughout this weird quiz Jules Tombs has sat silently, watching me answer his family’s questions one by one.
“Your brother is a Sergeant. Perhaps the worst sergeant in the world, but the law nonetheless. If you were to see questionable things would we be able to trust you not to snitch?”
I stare at Tuesday Tombs thinking through her question. Moss might say that the MC is full of good men, and women, but I know they can’t always be above board. I’ve read MC romance books. I know that sometimes there are grey areas. I’m guessing sometimes DRMC, and in turn the Tombs family, may have to step into the grey every now and then.
“If it’s questionable but for a good cause I doubt I’d need to say anything to my brother. I mean, I might snitch if I saw you hurt someone who didn’t deserve it. But outside of that scenario, not a word.”
They share a look, and I notice the MC men and women who are trying not to eavesdrop share a look as well. The Pres, sits in the background, arms crossed, intense look on his face. I would feel intimidated but given that I’m still sitting here, I’m guessing they don’t see me as a threat. Yet. Taking their silence as approval, I lean forward, holding Jules’ dark gaze.
“What else you got?”