CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
-:- BLAKE -:-
It has been a great Monday. Everything ran smoothly at work and I’m learning how to serve in the front of the shop. The coffee smells are amazing and when I leave work, I take the smell along with me as it seeps into what you are wearing. It’s a comforting smell if I’m being honest.
“Are you ready to leave, Blake?” Liam asks as he starts to empty the last load of the dishwasher.
“Yes, I’m done, Liam. There was only the dishwasher to empty, and that is the kitchen ready to close for the day.”
“Great. Get gone, and I’ll finish this. It’ll only take me a few minutes, and I’ll lock up the back door and set the alarm. When are you going to get yourself a vehicle, Blake?”
Sighing because I know I’ll be able to afford one soon, but with the van for my cleaning job, do I really need one? “I’m not sure, Liam. I will think about it.”
“You do that.”
I’m not sure what look I see in Liam’s eye, but I shrug and make my way out of the back door, waving as I leave. No cleaning work tonight, with it being Monday, so I’m going to make my way home and have a nice soak in the bath before Mav brings our meal. I’m looking forward to spending time with him, and I feel such a lot about him already. If I’m honest with myself, I already feel more for him than I did with Stefan. Tells me a lot about me settling instead of spreading my wings for more.
Walking along my mind is straying to things I probably shouldn’t be thinking. But, I’m wondering if I should jump in, both feet together and seduce Mav, or buy myself one of those battery-operated things which I’ve never had before. But, the frustration I’m building has me wanting one or the other, and I know which I’d prefer if I have the bravery to go for it.
“Stay away from my man…”
On hearing a screechy voice, and the comment, I turn and see Sharon. This is all I need to spoil a perfectly good Monday. Well, it was up until this point.
“What man is that?” I ask as I take out my phone and text a message to Mav that his ex is accosting me again on the main street as I head home.
“You know what man…Mav. He’s mine, I’ve had him and you are poaching my man. Thieving whores like you…”
Now, I’m a mild person, but nobody, and I mean nobody, calls me a whore. I also had promised Bitty I’d fight for my man, so that’s exactly what I do. I step toward this awful woman and slap her with my left hand, which isn’t my dominant hand. She grins at me because it was not that hard of a slap, but I follow it with a punch from my right hand and throw my shoulder behind it. Now her head does snap back and to the side, spittle flies out of her mouth as she screams in what I’m not sure may be fear, temper or pain.
Oh, she’s a playground fighter. She throws herself forward and grabs my hair, but I’ve watched movies and YouTube and I punch her in her privates as hard as I can. She screams again and lets go of me so she can hold herself between her legs, and while she does that, I punch her again in the face and she goes down yowling like a cat in heat.
“That was damn fine,” I hear and turn to see one of the cult members is standing watching with his arms folded over his chest. He holds his hand out to shake, and without thinking, I place my hand in his and give him a weak smile.
“She’s a pest, and I’m fed up with it. Just because Mav stuck his… you know what in her doesn’t mean she can keep being a bitch.” I was going to say cock but thought better of it, but I can see by the smirk this man is giving me he realizes I stopped myself.
“My name’s Chaos, and I’ll wait here for Mav and Sheriff Forest to arrive. I was in the shop over there when I got a message asking if anyone was near the Coffee House. Mav got your message and wanted someone here, but, girl, you didn’t need any help.”
We are both watching Sharon writhing around on the ground hugging between her legs. Now, I have to admit I feel sorry, but not sorry enough to not do it again if the need arose. Turning when we hear a bike I see Mav and the Sheriff’s cruiser behind him.
“Here you go, babe, Mav to the rescue,” Chaos chortles as he moves to stay beside Sharon, but allowing Mav to walk over to me once he’s gotten off his bike.
“Are you okay, Blake?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. It was over quickly. She isn’t a fighter, she’s all piss and cookies, like in the bottom of a stroller. Your cult person here came by quickly,” My face flushes when I finish speaking, as it’s a long time since I heard that, and it's something one of my old bosses used to say about her daughter, who was a real drama queen.
Sheriff Forest cuffs Sharon and drags her over to the cruiser, throwing her into the back and slamming the door. “Mav, I’ll need you to follow me. Blake, you okay?”
“Yes thank you Sheriff, I’m good.”
“Okay, Chaos, take Blake home, because I need Mav to follow me.” Sheriff Forest quickly walks away to his cruiser and Mav kisses me quickly before following the Sheriff once on his bike.
“Come on, Blake, you are lucky I have the truck. I’ll drop you at your house on my way back to the clubhouse.”
Later that evening, Mav has brought a meal, and we sit in companionable comfort. We talk about our day and then, of course, the mention of Sharon comes up.
“Sharon won’t be a problem again. She’s left town already and been warned if she comes back she’ll be arrested and she won’t have it easy from that point. She’s not a fool, well she may be, but she’s gone. The Sheriff put her on a bus himself and made sure she’s going three states away. He even put a tracker on her phone without her knowing so he can keep his eye on her.” Mav is grinning at the thought.
“I think she’s psycho, to be honest, Mav,” I push my plate away and rub my full stomach. “She wasn’t anywhere near prepared for me to launch myself at her. She called me a whore, and that is something I won't stand for at all.”
“She’s gone now, and I wish I’d never set eyes on her. But let’s put that behind us and move forward. So why are you calling the MC a cult?”
Mav totally takes me by surprise by asking that, and I open and close my mouth a few times before I respond, “Well, you all wear the same jackets, and they all have the same logo thing on them. You mostly all live in the same building, too. I’m not sure what else I’m supposed to think.”
“The jackets as you call them are kuttes, you can look it up on the internet, but many of us call them a cut, you know c.u.t. and not the k.u.t.t.e. Depends on each club what they call them, but they all mean the same thing. It’s showing we are a member, fully paid up so to speak and you’ll see we all have our names on and other things besides. A patch jacket, battle vest or cut-off are other things they can be called.”
“You mean like that Sons of Anarchy thing on the television?” I ask, because now I’m getting nervous.
“Well, it’s the same sort of thing, but we do nothing illegal, or get involved with clubs that are illegal. We are mostly prior military and love the brotherhood, so we find comfort and peace living amongst each other.”
“Oh, that’s not so bad then.” I must show how relieved I feel as he chuckles and then continues explaining.
“The women at the club are mostly Ol’ Ladies, and I don’t mean old as in age, you know, like Bitty, Amelia and Sybil. The Ol’ Ladies of the club are like, and often are the wife of a brother. Like Knuckles and Jo, Forest and Heather, Hammer and Tilly.” Leaning forward, Mav picks up one of my hands and rubs his thumb slowly over it, soothing me as he speaks. “And, hopefully, one day, it’ll be Mav and Blake.”
Now, I sit up straight and look Mav in the eye, not sure if I heard him right, but he gives me a slow nod to say that I had and I must look like an owl because my eyes feel like they are going to pop out of my head. But Mav waits patiently while I mull over what he has said. Then, without even thinking about it, I smile, “Actually, that would be nice. But let’s see where this leads, because we’ve only just started seeing each other.”
“Hey, most of the brothers meet their woman, and that is it. We know immediately she is the one, and we don’t waste time because none of us know how long on this earth we have. I think you are my one and only, and you’ve just got to catch up quickly.” Now the smile he gives me lights up his entire face, and for the life of me, I cannot hold back the smile of appreciation that appears.
My phone rings and seeing it is Heather, I quickly take the call. “Hello, Heather.”
“Blake. I’ve spoken with Bitty, and she said it’s okay to go in and remove everything from the house Yax was living in. Then to clean every inch of the place. I just wanted to verify with you if that’s what you wanted done?”
“Oh, yes, that is good. I was going to speak to you during the week. But, yes, the place needs everything removed, then cleaned before I put it up for sale. Bitty has organized a realtor for her place, so I could use them,” I add to the conversation.
“Alf has a friend who sells property. He is a good realtor. Let me speak to Alf and see if we can get your place up and sold quickly, and I’ll also speak to Bitty about her place.” Heather speaks to someone on her end, but she must cover the speaker to her phone, as all I hear is mumbling. “Let me organize everything, Blake, and I’ll get back to you, and keep you up to date.”
“Okay, thank you.” Before I can say more she’s gone, and looking up at Mav, he is smirking so obviously knows Heather just went without saying goodbye.
The evening quickly passes, and Mav kisses me thoroughly before he leaves, but as he’s leaving, I notice he has mud on his biker boots. That’s odd because I don’t think it has been raining.
-:- Mav -:-
Earlier this evening , before I came for the meal with Blake, I was standing in a farmer’s field watching Sharon digging a hole. Forest is standing at the side of me and we are amused at how slowly she is digging.
“Get digging, Sharon. Because once that grave is dug you’ve got a huge decision to make,” Forest states and folds his arms over his chest, taking an easy stance.
“What are you making me dig this for?” Sharon asks, and I roll my eyes at Forest because if anyone can’t work out why they are digging a grave in the middle of nowhere, and certainly where the farmer won’t see, then they’re probably brain dead, anyway.
“Come on, get a move on, my woman’s waiting on me at home.” Forest snarls. He didn’t answer her question, I noted, but I keep quiet as this is very amusing and I’m imagining any moment she’s going to piss her pants.
Twenty minutes later, Forest speaks again, and I’m sure Sharon has worked out what is going on as she’s crying a river and pissed her pants. But me, I keep quiet still because she caused all this herself.
“Now, you can stop digging and decide. You either fuck off out of town, where I’ll drop you at the bus depot and you move at least three states away, or I put a fucking bullet in your brain now and we bury you here in the grave you just dug.”
“I’ll leave. I’ll leave and never come back.” Sharon is pissing again and you can see it running down her skinny jeans. Jesus Christ, she was brave to have words with Blake, but she is a coward when it comes down to it.
“Okay, put your legs and ass in that bag because you ain’t leaving no piss on the cruiser’s back seat for me or anyone else to clean up,” Forest snarls and pushes her to the vehicle, watches her hop in the bag and into the back of the cruiser. Turning to look at me, he winks, “You got a hole to fill, brother.”
That’s exactly what I do, at double speed, as I have to get the meal and get to Blake. I try to kick off the mud that is clinging to my boots and hope it is not mud because of the piss mixed in with it.