Chapter 14 #2
I gave them a small smile. “It’s alright. I just have to get used to people knowing about it. I spent the past two years hiding it for official and unofficial reasons. It’s hard for me to get out of that mindset. And I think you could handle anything, Sloan.”
To break the tension, the conversation was steered to other topics.
One of them was their children. I learned all about the various ones the Dark Patriots had.
They were back home with sitters. Their parents would rejoin their kids tonight.
This wasn’t to be an overnight visit, it seemed.
We caught them up on who else was pregnant here.
They hadn’t known about Haven and Alisse’s pregnancies.
After a good twenty minutes of chatter, which included others who came and went, the light mood was broken by Reaper.
“Not that we’re not having fun, but I know there was a reason for you stopping by other than you wanted to see my handsome face. And since you’re not staying the night, time isn’t our friend. Want to tell us what it is that brought you here?”
“Always so impatient, Reap. Well, since you asked, we’ll tell you. We’re here due to Astrid. There are two things we wanted to talk about,” Gabriel admitted.
“I thought that might be the reason. Okay, tell us. We’ll get that out of the way so we can have fun before you have to leave,” Mayhem told Gabriel.
“The first thing is an update on Radley Baker. He’s still over there.
Our intel from our person on the ground is that he’s been going around, retracing footsteps.
It’s like the guy has a goddamn map of everywhere you and your squadron were, both before that fateful mission and after your rescue.
Initially, he asked a lot of questions about his brother and the night he died.
He wanted to know what kind of mission he was on and if anyone knew what exactly happened.
Lastly, he wanted to know if there were any survivors.
He hadn’t made any progress on the last part until yesterday.
His questions changed, and he went directly to the location where you were rescued, Astrid,” Sean explained.
“What do you mean his questions changed?” I asked.
“He started asking about the woman in his brother’s squadron and what people knew of you. Did they like you? How had you acted? Just a bunch of questions like that,” Griffin supplied.
My heart jumped and sped up. I had been holding Mayhem’s hand. My grip tightened down. He squeezed back in support.
“Does he know her name?” Mayhem asked gruffly.
“As of yesterday, no, it doesn’t appear that he does. But it’s only a matter of time. When he has that and final confirmation you lived, he’ll be tracing his way to you,” Undertaker told me.
“Son of a bitch!” Mayhem snarled, slamming his fist down on the table. It made the drinks on top dance.
“Honey, calm down. We expected this to happen. If he gets the answers he wants from there, he’ll return home, and you can go see him.” I attempted to soothe it over.
“So, you’re gonna go have a heart-to-heart biker style with him. Good deal. Do you think it’ll help?” Sean asked. He and the other Patriots exchanged amused looks.
“We’re not confident he’ll listen to reason even if he has to stay in bed for weeks.
If that’s the case, it may get to the ultimate point.
We’re trying not to allow it to go that far,” Ink explained.
The rest of the club had migrated over to stand and sit around us. They knew when to be quiet and listen.
“If things have to get truly ugly, we’re here if you need us. Our guy on the ground is trying to throw up roadblocks and spread fear that Baker is an enemy they shouldn’t talk to, but who knows if it’ll work. We’ll keep you informed through Reaper of any new information we get,” Sean promised.
“Thank you so much for all you’re doing. And for someone you don’t even know,” I said to them.
Cassidy shook her head. “You haven’t gotten used to what it’s like to be considered family to these guys and the other clubs we’re all friends with. Once someone is in, they’re ours to protect.”
I gave her a grateful smile.
“You could’ve called us with that update. What’s the other thing you wanted to talk about?” Reaper asked.
“You’re right, we could’ve. We wanted to speak to Astrid about something. She’s the only one who can answer our question,” Griffin announced.
Not knowing what they could possibly want that I’d be able to answer, I gestured, “Go ahead, ask.”
“We want to know, now that you’re settled here with Mayhem. Do you plan to work?” Griffin asked.
“Yes, absolutely. I can’t stay home doing nothing. I’ve been helping Mayhem out at Eden, but that’s just because I need something to do.”
“Would it be safe to say that the job you want is in aviation? You’re trying to find a job as a pilot?” Gabriel asked.
“That would be correct. I might not be able to, but that’s my dream. I love flying too much to give it up.”
“What would you say if we told you we know where you can get a job flying?” Sean asked.
I sat up straighter, and excitement hit me. I tried not to get too excited. “I’d say, where do I send my resume?” I exclaimed. There were numerous chuckles at my response.
“Good news, there’s no need to send your resume. It’s already been reviewed and is just what is being looked for,” Gabriel replied.
“Well, tell me, who? Where is it? I don’t want to travel all the time and never be home with Mayhem.
I was about to send my resume further away from here.
It doesn’t have to be with a huge airline.
In fact, it would be better if it weren’t.
While I can fly the big planes, I love the smaller ones.
Or if someone is looking for a flying instructor, I’d do that.
If I can’t find something I can live with, then I’ll start searching in other fields. ”
“Does it have to be full-time?” Hadley asked, and I was surprised. She, Gemma, and Cassidy had remained very quiet.
“No, it doesn’t have to be. If not, I can fill in with something else or even help out in one of the club’s businesses if they’ll have me.”
“Fantastic. Then we have a proposition for you, Astrid. How would you like to fly for Dark Patriots, and sometimes, that would include flying for Hadley? We use her planes and pilots, though the pilots aren’t always hers.
If needed, she flies herself, but that’s mainly in a helicopter.
I don’t like her to do it alone,” Griffin admitted, casting a protective glance over at his wife.
I sat there trying to decide whether I’d heard him right. I blinked several times before I found my voice.
“Guys, I appreciate you making the offer, but please, don’t feel that you have to just because you’re friends with the Punishers. I’m sure I’ll find something eventually.”
“There’s no damn way we’d ever offer you a job of this magnitude because your old man is our friend.
Your background and experience make you ideal for us.
We’ve been talking about getting someone else.
We were going to add another plane to the ones we have, because we compete for them more often, but we need another pilot to do that.
When we read your file, we knew we had to ask.
Sorry, we didn’t run it by your old man first, but if you’re like our wives, you make up your own mind,” Undertaker stated.
I looked over at Mayhem. He was watching me. “What do you think?” I asked him. I was struggling to comprehend that I’d been offered a job out of the blue, and like this.
“It’s up to you. I know how much you want to be back in a plane.
If you work with the Patriots, you’ll be with good people.
Many of their employees have also served in the military.
It’ll be familiar to you. However, if you prefer to wait and find something else, that’s fine.
They won’t hold it against you if you say no.
And I agree, I don’t want you flying and staying overnight for days on end like some commercial pilots do. ”
“You don’t have to give us an answer today. Think about it, and if you could let us know one way or the other by Friday, we’d appreciate it. Seeing your experience got us all excited,” Sean added.
“I can’t thank you enough for the offer. I will think it through and discuss it with Mayhem.” I was thankful for the opportunity to digest it before making a decision. The last thing I wanted was to say yes, start, and then quit.
“Excellent. Now that we have that out of the way, let’s relax and have some fun. We need to be back at the airstrip by seven,” Gabriel said, grinning.
Talking and getting to know each other was what we did for the next hour or so.
It stopped when a conversation between some of the guys—Reaper and Undertaker were part of it—ended in a challenge.
It seemed that there was a friendly rivalry between the men to see who was the toughest. As a result, they wanted to go to the boxing ring in the basement.
I’d discovered it last week, along with the safe room down there.
I’d even been in the gym working out a few times.
Mayhem was incredible with what he could do.
I aspired to be like him one day. I knew I’d never be able to lift as much weight as he did.
However, the number of reps and his level of tone made me jealous.
When I told him this, he growled and said he wanted me to stay soft.
He loved that I wasn’t all hard muscle and sharp bones.
That earned him a kiss that quickly turned into much more.