Chapter 37
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
TRIXIE
Five years ago I escaped from an abusive husband. To stay safe and under their protection, I went for the lesser evil and became a whore for the Kings. Now, I’m an old lady to one of them.
I’d used the pocket money the club had given me and the savings I’d accumulated over the years to buy myself some clothes more fitting to my new status.
I gleefully threw out the skimpy bits of material that had been my old uniform, swapping them for more respectable shorts and a few full-length t-shirts.
Freak had bought me a leather jacket and boots for riding his bike and insisted that I purchase some figure-hugging jeans.
I loved them, feeling more sexy than I’d ever felt half-naked.
I’ve already experienced being his backpack, and quickly found there was no feeling that could compare to being on the back of his bike. I felt freedom like never before, and knew I’d soon become addicted. It brought a new closeness between us.
Unfortunately, there was a downside to being an old lady, and that was when I was around the club members.
Despite their initial congratulations, things had fast become awkward.
Now dressed respectfully, the transition from club girl to old lady proved difficult.
I carried on cooking, cleaning, and helping out where I could, but I was overly conscious that I needed to refrain from the teasing and flirting that I’d previously engaged in.
On the brothers’ part they’d tried to be mindful that I was now Freak’s and have the property cut to prove it.
But old habits die hard. For five years they’d been able to lay hands on me, a palm on my ass, a brush of my tit when I was serving them food, a knowing wink or a suggestive word.
It was Rat who first learned how volatile my old man can be where I’m concerned.
Whether he’d truly forgotten, or whether he’d decided he was going to wind up Freak, he’d stepped into my path, placed his hands on my arms, turned me around and had fondled my tits.
Unfortunately it happened right in front of Freak.
Rat’s now sporting two black eyes and a swollen out of shape nose, which Bronwyn had tried to straighten for him. From his screams she hadn’t been too gentle. He’d gotten off lightly, if Short and Tempest hadn’t pulled my man away, Rat might be more badly injured, or worse, no longer breathing.
It was a lesson they all learned, and instead of being the same friendly men I’d been used to, they started to keep their distance.
While, realistically, I knew it was out of respect for Freak, it didn’t stop me feeling devalued.
They joked with Pippa, were kind to Bronwyn, Trip, and Ace, but ignored me.
I began to feel I was no longer a club girl, but neither an accepted old lady.
Though I wouldn’t change a thing and loved being with Freak, I was also becoming increasingly unhappy.
Oh, Pippa and Bronwyn accepted me, but Pippa was busy with Jade and her work alongside Genie, and Bronwyn seemed always to be away at the hospital, or in their house with Short and Trip.
With Freak returning to work at the strip club and Ace attending a summer school program for computing studies, I was alone a lot of the time.
It was going to get worse. Soon he was going to be spending the nights with his nana again.
Both Freak and I had agreed, the bunkhouse wasn’t suitable accommodation for an impressionable boy.
I started to spend most of the days hidden away in Freak’s room, rather than venturing into the clubroom where I didn’t feel welcome.
Of course, when Freak was with me, I was the happiest I’d ever been, our relationship growing stronger by the day, and the sex being out-of-this-world amazing.
Freak had dusted off the handcuffs once my ribs had sufficiently healed.
I tried to remain friendly with Star, Heaven, and Sweetie, but whether they were jealous of me becoming an old lady, or simply didn’t know how they were now expected to treat me, our conversations were awkward.
I didn’t bother Freak with my problems, but I think he saw more than he let on.
When Ace came back to the club on Sunday, Freak mentioned the plot behind the clubhouse that had caught his eye, and showed me the ideas for a house he’d been working on before we’d gotten together.
I liked the basic style, but now we were going to put our heads together to come up with a layout that would suit us all.
For a brief time it had drawn me out of the funk I was sinking into, and I got excited about drawing up plans for a house for us to live in as a family.
Ace put in his demands, which predictably meant we would have a dedicated gaming room.
Freak wanted us to have five bedrooms, a far cry from his initial idea of building a far smaller house for just him and his son.
Why five? I questioned. It was in case we were able to have the two children that Freak wanted us to have.
I’d really like that too, but there’s a doubt in my mind I’d ever be able to fall pregnant or carry a baby to full term.
But I’d kept that worry to myself, buried it, and enthusiastically bought into the dream.
Oh, and the last room? That was for Freak’s ma, in case she became unable to live on her own.
Personally, I thought that would never happen.
They’d be prising her guns out of her cold dead hands.
And that was only from what Freak and Ace told me about her. I hadn’t yet met her myself.
That was rectified the following Sunday when I went with Freak and Ace to meet her.
I was nervous, unsure whether he’d explain exactly how we’d met, or how much he’d already told her about me.
I dressed as conservatively as possible, in knee-length shorts and a flowing top.
I was shifting nervously from foot to foot when she’d opened the door carrying a shotgun.
I’d taken a step back when she’d raised the barrel and pointed it straight at me.
Freak had broken out in laughter, as I only just resisted putting my hands up.
She’s his mom. Surely, she wouldn’t just shoot me?
It was Ace who’d saved the day. His words had tumbled out one after the other as he explained, how, like her, I’d had my suspicions about Toni, and had put a tracker in his clothes which had saved him when he’d been kidnapped.
Oh, and that I was apparently a hero for going into the clubhouse of a rival MC, and only my actions led to his rescue.
I felt he’d exaggerated my bravery and could feel the blush rise on my face.
Freak had seemed to shrink at Ace’s exposé.
Apparently, Ma, as I quickly became used to calling her, had been ignorant of anything untoward going on.
I hid a smile when Freak earned himself a well-practiced clip around the ear for not telling her at the time, and was embarrassed when she gushed her admiration for how I’d protected her grandson.
At least it had meant that she’d put that damn shotgun down.
When she’d pulled me aside, I was worried, but had followed her into her bedroom.
And then I became bemused when she’d unlocked, then delved into a drawer, and came out with what Freak later told me was a Glock-19 9mm, a good weapon for a woman like me.
He also told me it was a compliment that she’d shared part of her armoury with me.
After just that first visit, I fell in love with the old woman, and couldn’t wait to get to know her better.
Unfortunately, without having any ID, I was unable to get a permit to legally own the gun she’d gifted me.
And being caught with it would open a whole can of worms. I took it though, and Freak promised to keep it for me, and get me lessons at the gun range the club owned.
We’d left a protesting Ace at Freak’s ma’s, reassuring him it was only temporary. Then, when on our own and halfway back to the clubhouse, Freak shows he had empathy.
“It’s not working out.” His tone is serious.
For a second I think he means our relationship, and I feel like I’d been kicked in the teeth. My throat catches and it’s hard to breathe.
He reaches out his hand to hold mine, squeezing it briefly.
“I’m not blind, Trix. I know it’s been hard for everyone to adjust. We could do some space between us and the club, and I can’t wait six fuckin’ months plus to get our house built.
” He pauses, then adds, “Ace wants to live with us, and Ma’s given up a decade and a half while she’s been looking after him.
She’s getting on, and wants to enjoy life while she’s still healthy and active.
” He shakes his head. “I’m an asshole for letting the arrangement go on so long, but it was easy, you know?
A babysitter whenever I needed it, and a place for Ace to stay away from the club. ”
A wave of relief goes through me. “You want to rent somewhere?”
“Yeah.” The word doesn’t carry the emotion I was expecting.
So I wait for him to expand, he doesn’t disappoint.
“I’ve got to take it to the club, Trix.” He takes his eyes off the road for a moment and gives me an appraising glance.
“You’re still legally married to that bastard, and he’s Mafia.
If there’s a chance he might find you once you’re off the compound, and if he finds out you’ve been sheltered by the Kings, it could bring heat down on the club that they might not want to deal with. ”
“I wish he was dead,” I murmur.
He sighs loudly, looks over toward me again, then gives my hand a shake. “Hey, I just need to test the waters on this. In my view, the risk is minuscule, but making a wrong decision wouldn’t just affect us.”
Why can’t I be a normal woman? It’s embarrassing that everyone knows my baggage, and, more than that, it could pose a danger to everyone.