CHAPTER SIXTEEN
-:- Paisley -:-
I’m excited this morning as I finally got TwoCents to do his husbandly duty, and I am struggling to hold back the smirk when I think about the shock on his face that I’m no shrinking violet when it comes to sex.
I don’t know how I know but my sex life wasn’t so great before. Well, if I remember right, but TwoCents knows what he’s doing and, oh boy, it made it a great experience. I’m not going to be letting my husband go, that’s for sure.
Walking into the kitchen, Meat passes me a bowl of oatmeal and a plate with mixed fresh fruit. I’d had this discussion with him about breakfast and this man’s memory is phenomenal. He can remember what everyone likes, and there are a lot of us.
As we are eating breakfast my mind wanders to TwoCents coming back from his meeting with Sheriff Forest. I have not gotten used to calling him just ‘Forest’ as yet, but that’s when I was informed I’d have to have someone with me all the time outside of the compound. I can’t argue with that right now, as I’m sure they all know things they have not shared with me.
TwoCents has finished his breakfast, kissed me soundly and said he’ll see me later as he passes me over to Sentry for the morning.
“I’m ready if you are, Sentry.”
“Yeah, I’ll grab the SUV and we’ll go. It’s Hannah working today with it being Saturday and you got along with her fine. You’ll meet Nina today too. She’s a new lady that Alf took on at the cleaning place. She’s been doing all the laundry for the Swap Shop, and I have to say she’s done a good job, too.”
Arriving at the shop, I’m fairly excited to be here and doing something useful. I enjoy being at the clubhouse, but I feel like a spare part, watching everyone doing what they do as a daily occurrence. It’s like watching others living their lives while I’m sitting watching mine pass me by.
“Morning, Paisley.” I hear as I walk into the back of the shop.
“Morning, Hannah. How are you and that husband of yours?”
“Oh, we are both good. Garth was discharged, so he’s under my feet all the time.” Hannah says this with a huge smile on her face, so it’s easy to see she is not upset at Garth being home.
“What is he going to do with himself now?” Curious because I know that most of the brothers at the club are prior military and mentioned they’d give Garth something to do if he needed it.
“Well, he said he’s going to fix all the things in the house I’ve been moaning about for the last two years. Like the bathroom sink tap continually drips, the shower needs looking at and the fence at the back of the yard needs replacing.”
“Oh, he’s going to have plenty to do then.”
We both giggle when Hannah rolls her eyes and states that he sure does, and she has more than one kind of plumbing that needs a good sorting out.
Nina walks into the back room and has an enormous basket of laundry in her arms. “Morning, can someone grab the other basket from the counter in the shop, please?”
Now, Nina is 5’ 1”, has an hour-glass figure and has a Hispanic look about her. Black hair, dark eyes and olive skin. She really is beyond pretty. She is stunning.
“Why thank you so much, that is very kind of you,” Nina grins, and I giggle because I realize I just said that out loud.
“I’ll get the other basket, Nina,” Hannah quickly says and walks out of the back room grinning.
“These are all washed, ironed if needed and ready for shelving either in here or the shop. I think we need to be careful what we accept because I had quite a few pieces of clothing that were ripped beyond anyone wanting to use them. I’ll speak with Sentry because it’s not good people that do that, when they are getting good clothing for next to nothing.”
“I’ll put a notice up on the front window that we accept nothing that cannot be recycled in our system,” Sentry states while standing in the doorway watching both myself and Nina.
The morning quickly reaches lunchtime and, with no issues, we have all the clothing out in the shop or in the back room on the shelving.
“Hannah, you watch the shop. I’ll take Paisley back to the clubhouse,” Sentry informs us.
As we step out of the front door of the shop, I smile when Jo is climbing out of an SUV parked there. “Well, hello Jo. What are you doing here?” I ask.
“I’ve come to take you into town for lunch and to do some shopping. Unless you’d like to go to the mall, we can eat and shop there?”
“Oh, okay, that would be cool.” I give Sentry a smile and head to the SUV, where Jo is holding the back door open.
Climbing in, I’m taken by surprise when Knuckles is in the driver’s seat. “Oh, hi, Knuckles, I didn’t see you there.”
“Hi, Paisley.” Knuckles smiles and my eyes immediately target the dimple on his cheek. When he chuckles, I feel the blush rush into my cheeks.
“I know. They get everyone,” Jo giggles.
“I don’t know how I missed him in the vehicle. I mean, look at him. He’s huge! Shit, I don’t mean you are fat or anything. Goddamn, I’m digging a hole…” I mumble, more to myself than to Jo and Knuckles, but when I hear a deep, rumbling laugh I look at Knuckles, who winks before starting the engine.
After lunch, we walk around the mall, checking out the window displays before stepping inside. I was more than happy that I’d taken my purse with me to work or I would have been in a position where I couldn’t have purchased anything.
I get four t-shirts, two pairs of jeans, some underwear, at which point we had told Knuckles to turn around and not watch us shop. Rolling his eyes, he did as Jo asked, but he stayed with us the whole time, even if he wasn’t looking at our purchases.
Feeling eyes on me, I look around, but see nothing out of place. I have a creepy feeling running over me.
“What’s up?” Jo asks.
“I don’t know, but it feels like someone is watching me.”
Knuckles’ stance changes immediately. His body language tenses and he scans our surroundings. “I see nothing wrong,” he mumbles and I’m not sure if it was to himself or us.
“Let’s go back to the clubhouse. We have what we came for,” Jo squeezes my arm and I give her a small nod.
Walking back to the SUV, we stop when we hear a woman screaming. Turning, we see a van and a man attempting to drag a woman inside.
“Get in the SUV,” Knuckles states and hands the keys to Jo as he takes off running toward the van.
Jo unlocks the SUV. We throw our purchases in and climb in quickly. Jo hits the locking system and we look over to see what’s happening.
Knuckles is fighting with two men, and the woman takes off running while everyone is distracted. I can see Knuckles is used to fighting as he has an aura that shows he can take care of himself.
“Should we not go help him?” I ask Jo.
“Nah, he’ll be fine. He’ll spit feathers if we get involved. You know his name is Knuckles because he can use his fists better than most people,” Jo informs me, with more than a little pride in her voice. “It’s sexy as all heck to watch, too. I’m going to have to get myself some of him when we get back to the compound.”
Now, I must be gaping at her because she gives me a second look before grinning. “Come on, Pais, get with the program. They are bikers and we are biker babes. You need to get your kutte and your tattoo.”
Blinking hard because my God, I don’t know where this version of Jo came from. She has been all cute, sweet and cuddly up to now. This person I’m looking at is hot, forward and couldn’t care less.
Banging on the window has me jumping, and I bang the side of my head on the window. Shit, that hurt. Then a flash of memory hits…
“You’ll sign this NDA and then I’ll allow the divorce to go through. You say nothing about the three women that just got out of that vehicle. You hear me, you forget it all.”
Rubbing my forehead, I’m trying to think what that memory is about. Three women were in the back of a van and I remember dragging them out and telling them to run. Someone tries to stop one of them and I jump on his back, screaming at her to go. I am slammed against the side of the van and bang my head hard. That’s the last I remember of that, but did I stop a trafficking attempt? Divorce means the Senator, and I need to get my memories back.
Back at the clubhouse, TwoCents is waiting for me at the front door. As soon as the SUV has stopped, he’s opening my door and pulling me to him.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” He asks while looking me over.
Knuckles glares at TwoCents and I hear a feral growl, but Jo is the one that speaks.
“Honestly, TwoCents? You don’t think Knuckles can take care of us both? And I’m okay too, thanks for asking. Arsehole!”
TwoCents blusters a bit that he was just concerned and that he wasn’t doubting his brother’s abilities.
“Arsehole?” I ask, frowning so hard my eyebrows must meet in the middle of a mountain of wrinkles.
Jo laughs at me and explains that they are all picking up British-isms from Star. Arsehole instead of asshole, rubbish instead of trash, oh, and of course everyone”s current favorite, KNOB!
We’re taken to Axel’s office so we can explain what happened. Knuckles does all the explaining, but when Axel seems satisfied I put my hand up to be heard. TwoCents gently pushes my hand down and I snap at him, sharply.
“Don’t you stop me from having my say. That ‘property shit’ ain’t gonna wash with me if this is how you behave. I’ve got something to say, and it’s going to get said!”
TwoCents grins at me and the rest of the room. “Feisty as fuck! Pais, I’m not trying to stop you from speaking. We just don’t put our hands up, my love. It’s not school. If you have something to say, say it. We’ll always listen.”
“Oh. Okay. I thought… Never mind. I had a flashback when I banged my head in the SUV.” Explaining the memory has everyone sitting more upright and taking it all in. Axel pays particular attention and when he’s confirmed that is everything I have to say, he dismisses us. As we leave the room, I hear him talking to Sheriff Forest on his cell phone.
Grabbing a soda from the kitchen, I drag TwoCents upstairs to our room, letting him think he’s in for a good time, judging by the grin on his face. Once we’re in the room, I push him onto the bed. As he reaches up for me, I take a step back and shake my head.
“Conversation only this time. And not dirty talk either. At the mall, I got the feeling I was being watched. None of us saw anything out of place, but I swear to God, someone there had their eyes on me. It was such a gut feeling that I’d bet my life on it. Maybe I did because I mentioned it to Knuckles and Jo, and he had us out of there immediately. That was how we came across the men with the van.”
“Jesus, Pais. We need to tell Axel that, too.” TwoCents starts to get off the bed, but I stop him.
“NO! I’m not going to be confined to barracks, which is what he’ll do to me. I’m worried as all hell, but I’m not being stopped from getting on with my life. It’s only when I’m out doing things that these flashbacks happen. If there’s someone looking for me, I need to know why. How have they found me? And more importantly, what is their goal once they have me?”
“Barracks? You mean clubhouse.”
“I never got ‘grounded’ when I was a kid. My dad always ‘confined me to barracks’.” A tear rolls down my cheek with that thought, remembering my father was dead.
TwoCents is off the bed in a second and wraps me in his arms. I cry into his chest for a couple of minutes and then pull myself together.
“I’d like to have met your dad. He seems like someone I would have liked.”
“I think he would’ve liked you, too.”
“We need to speak to Specs. He may be able to tell us how they were able to find you and who they are.”
Going into Specs’ office, he looks up and greets us. “What can I do for you guys?”
Explaining the mall incident to Specs, he immediately tells us to inform Axel. I look at TwoCents and I give a sigh and a nod. I know we’re going to have to do it.
After tapping on his keyboard for a few minutes, he reads something on his screen and then swivels his chair to look at us.
“Sienna Roseberry. That’s how they found you. Someone cracked your alias and then connected you to the Swap Shop. You need to be careful, as I’m sure you were right. I think someone in town is watching you.”
“But who is Sienna Roseberry? I don’t know anyone by that name.” I’m confused as hell all over again. As if having amnesia wasn’t enough, I’m having to recall what seems like an alternate reality as well as my real identity.
“When you went to the hospital, I made you into Carrie Wilson, my wife, because it was the only way the hospital would let me care for you. While you were there, we checked your purse and found that you were Sienna Roseberry. After you left the hospital, you remembered you were Paisley Ann Sanders, which threw us all a curve ball. Before that, you were Paisley Ann Brooks, married to Senator Brooks.” TwoCents looks at me and all I can give him is a blank stare in return.
“For…Fucks…Sake! This is all so fucked up. How can my life be so utterly fucked up? Fuck, fuck, fuck. My head”s spinning. Take me back to our room. I need to rest and digest all this. Specs, can you fill Axel in on me being watched, please? I can’t take much more today.”
Crashing out on the bed in our room, I finish my bottle of water and curl up. The last thing I remember is a warm, safe fuzzy feeling as arms wrap around me and then I’m fast asleep.