CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
-:- Paisley -:-
Everyone is excited this morning because Eden and Silver are bringing home Harrison. Mia, the Three Stooges, Jo and I are buzzing, eager to get our hands on him. I’m really wanting to hold him, and have surprised myself because I’ve not had much to do with babies in the past.
“It’ll be good practice for when you have Harley,” Mia states as she walks past me into the kitchen.
“Who’s Harley?” TwoCents asks, and I shake my head and hurry past him, doing my best to look like I’ve no idea.
“I’m gonna kill you when you drop this baby and do the sessions on Sunday mornings.” I give Mia an evil smirk, then continue, “I have a lot of time to learn how to be a good fighter because what are you, three, four months along, hmm?” Giving her another smirk I grab a bottle of water and walk out of the kitchen hearing Mia spluttering curses behind me.
“What was that about?” Jo asks, and I fill her in on my ‘daughter’ thoughts, and she laughs before whispering, “You’ll have to train hard and keep giving Mia looks. That will keep her on her toes. I know you don’t mean it, mind you, and she probably does, too. She’s a prankster, so you’ll have to watch it. Oh, she’s a big buddy with Meat too, so maybe it would be an idea to get close to Star. She could be an asset.”
Giving Jo a nod of thanks, because she could be right. I’ll have to speak to Star about what could be happening. I’m sure she’ll be up for any shenanigans that may happen.
All thoughts about Mia are lost when the front door opens and Eden, Silver and baby Harrison walk inside. Eden is beaming, but looks tired. For some reason, Silver looks like he’s walking funny! Never mind about Silver, I need to get my eyes on this baby.
As soon as Eden is seated, she is swarmed by the Ol’ Ladies and the Three Stooges. Mia, as the First Lady of the club, gets to hold Harrison first, but my fingers are itching to get ahold of him.
“He’s beautiful, Eden,” I murmur when I get close enough to be able to see him clearly.
“Thank you, Pais. He’s doing well, but I can’t breastfeed him because my milk hasn’t come in. I’m hoping there is still time, but we’ll make sure he gets enough formula. He’s a greedy one.”
Mia passes Harrison to me and I hold him carefully, sitting next to Eden. Silver is standing close and watching everyone with a fierce expression. I understand him being protective, but everyone here would die to protect this little one.
“Silver, he looks like you,” I say, giving Silver a smile, I can’t help but notice his chest puffs out at my comment, and Eden snickers under her breath.
It’s only a minute before Harrison is being held by Amelia, so I step away, giving everyone the chance to hold him. I can smell the baby smell on me from holding him and I can’t help but think that I would like a baby. But maybe not just yet.
“Pais, can you come have a word with me? I need to update you about what we’ve found out.” TwoCents wraps an arm around my shoulders as he leads me toward and into Axel’s office.
Taking a seat in front of Axel’s desk, I give him a weak smile, because I’m not sure I’m going to be happy about what is about to be said.
“I’m not going to beat around the bush, Pais. Someone you caught on camera handing money or taking money from the Senator is after getting that photograph from you. But on top of that, he’s sold you to a buyer abroad as his revenge.” Axel is watching me closely, and so is TwoCents.
“What the ever…loving…” I take a deep breath, calm my racing heart and close my eyes to get a hold of my emotions. “Specs tried to tell me how serious it was, but I thought you were all overreacting.”
“We’ll not let anyone get to you, Pais, and we may have an extra pair of eyes on you that isn’t a brother, so has no club business to run. But do you know who we are talking about regarding the photograph?” TwoCents squats in front of me, holding both my hands in his.
“I’ve taken a lot of photographs, as you know, so you’d have to be more specific. But I saw Maurice pass money and accept money many times. It’s why I took the photographs, they’re insurance, so if anything happens to me, they could all be taken down. I’m not sure if it would happen because I think this goes high up the chain.”
“We’ll make sure you are safe, and we’ll make sure we get this ring taken down.” Axel has an expression on his face that makes him look like he’s been carved out of stone.
Shouting out to Specs, Axel asks him to supply all the photo evidence that I had in the folder. It only takes a minute and Specs drops a large number of photos on Axel”s desk.
Rifling through the photographs that TwoCents and Axel hand to me, we find one that shows Irvin and the Senator with a bag of money, then three that show Irvin with the Senator and another man, who I remember being called Boardman, or Broadman or something like that, also with a bag containing cash.
“This man never came to the ‘parties’, but he came and spoke to Maurice now and again. This was the only time I saw him at the same time as this man Irvin. The meeting with the three of them didn’t seem to go down well. They argued, and Maurice was storming around for two days afterwards.”
“Irvin was supposedly impersonating an FBI agent. He looks very cozy in these photos and I’d be surprised if the Senator wasn’t aware of the subterfuge. He’s never struck me as a dumbass.” Specs throws his comment in and we all look at him, waiting for an explanation. “Oh, I’ve never met him, but going through all Pais’s evidence, I just don’t get that impression.”
“You’re right, Specs. Maurice never showed any side of him that you could call dumb or weak. In fact, I’d say the exact opposite. He was always one step ahead of his opponents, whether in politics, sports or in his private life. His one weakness was women, and he tried extremely hard to be discreet there, too. It was the number of women that he associated with that let him down, because people are not foolish, they notice these things. You couldn’t hope to keep that under wraps.” TwoCents gives me a look that seems to be asking if I’m okay. I give him a grin and my interpretation of a brother”s chin lift. Giving me a smile and then a chin lift of his own, he knows I’m good with everything. I may look dismayed at this, but not what you’d call upset.
Taking the four photos, Pres calls an end to the meeting and states that he’ll discuss it further with Forest, now we think we have the relevant photos in hand.
Just as we leave the office, a hand grabs my arm and almost pulls me off my feet. Shrieking a high-pitched squeal in fright, all the brothers rush to see what has me screaming. Mia stands there beaming at me and looking at the brothers as if they’ve lost their minds.
“What’s your problem? I just made her jump, that’s all. Get over it, Pais. You’ve got to come with me now. I need you to see something. It can’t wait. I’m so excited.”
Dragging me through to the kitchen and over to a table, I’m almost knocked off my feet.
“Look what I’ve got, Pais.” Mia excitedly says as she walks up to where Jo is eating a bowl of soup for lunch.
“What is it?” I ask because whatever is in the box she has, she’s waving the darn thing around.
Ripping the box open, she starts to wave around a handgun. Not any handgun, but a copy of my Sig Rose. She’s gushing words out like a fountain. “Rose gold trigger, highlights, rose patterns on the grip. It’s so cool. Can’t wait to fire it, going to show it off at the range.”
It’s when she says she’s gonna beat my ass that things start to get serious, in a competitive way.
“Oh yeah? You get a copy of my weapon and that makes you think you’re gonna be better with it, huh? I’ll show you, First Lady of the Club, who’s gonna be First Lady of the Range.”
Before things can degenerate further, TwoCents scoops me up from behind and has me squeal again. Dammit, I gotta lose this habit.
Taking me to Mensa’s office soon has me calming the hell down. I can only be here for one reason. My baby, my trike. This has me getting excited in a whole new way.
Mensa is standing behind his chair and there’s a guy I don’t think I recognize sitting there, tapping away at the keyboard. Mensa grins at me and introduces me to the new guy.
“Pais, meet Clay. Clay, meet Pais.” Clay stands up and shakes my hand.
“It’s a pleasure, Pais. Been hearing a lot about you. All good, I must say.” He grins at me with what I think, could be, a wicked sense of humor.
“Hi, Clay. Mensa hasn’t had a good word to say about you. In fact, no one’s said anything at all.” Giving him my best smile, I hope we’ve just established a friendship based on banter that will grow in the future. Seeing him bust out laughing, I think we’re gonna be good.
“I want to show you what we have in mind for your trike, Pais. I’ll need to know how you’d like it sprayed, too.” I take a seat next to Clay at the desk and shake myself because I don’t want to be daydreaming while designing my trike.
“You know I don’t know what I’m looking at, right?” I say, while giving Clay a wide-eyed look.
“Well, yeah, but you should be able to say if you like the look of it, or will when it’s completed.”
“Okay, show me then.”
“Now this bike you’ve bought is a bit rough around the edges, but overall, it’s a good machine. Mensa showed me a picture of the style you liked and I think you’ve nailed it. You’ve a natural eye for this. The donor machine will lend itself to that style, perfectly. The only thing I’d change from that picture are the rear wheels. I’d go with spoked chrome rather than alloys. It will keep some of the period look and I think two-tone paint will be the dogs” doodads, but that’s going to be down to you.”
“I saw a picture of one that was all cream and it looked awesome, but I like blue, too.”
“Heather has an all-blue trike. It has all shades of blue throughout, and they melt into each other so well that you can’t physically see a color change,” Mensa drops into the conversation.
“I don’t want something the same as someone else. How about red?” I state firmly.
“Okay, how about this?” Watching the colors appear on the drawing is fantastic. It”s almost as though he’s painting it. The bike’s tank turns red and then the rest of the metalwork. A Raging Baron”s logo appears on the tank. As I watch, flames start appearing, first around the logo and then edging everywhere else.
“That’s it. That’s perfect, Clay. You’ve absolutely nailed it. That’s what I want.”
I see TwoCents shaking his head. “Well, if you want to be part of the project, don’t stand at the back of the class keeping mum.”
Hearing my name being called from the kitchen, I recognize Sentry’s voice. Thanking Clay and Mensa once again, I grab TwoCents by the hand and drag him off to the kitchen to see what Sentry wants.
Entering the kitchen, I see Hannah and her husband, Garth, standing there. “Hi, Paisley. Sentry invited us over.” Hannah looks a little uncomfortable being here, but Garth looks like he belongs.
“Hi, guys. You’re welcome anytime. Just give one of us a call so we know to expect you. The gate is there so we can be selective of our visitors.
“So, Sentry, not that you need a reason, but any reason for the visit?” I smile at him as he nods at Garth.
“Well, yes, there is. I asked Garth to become our security guy for the shop. It will rotate between the two of us. Three days of the week it will be both of us, and the other four one of us will be on a day off. We’ll rotate the days we’re doubled up to cover the busy periods. He said he’d love to and so I thought I’d bring him over to meet Specs and to swap some digits for his cell. He might need to get hold of one of us quick at some point.”
“That’s great news. Are you guys staying for the evening meal? You’re more than welcome.”
Before they get to answer me, Meat and the Three Stooges come barreling in from the garden. Meat is red in the face and bearing down on the Stooges with a handful of veggies, as though he is going to beat them to death.
“You stay away from her, do you hear? How many times do I have to tell you the same damn thing? Stay away. Do not touch. Do not get involved. LEAVE HER THE HELL ALONE.”
“But Meat…we were helping. She’s been standing around doing nothing for days,” Amelia crows at him.
“It’s not right seeing her that way,” Bitty states and tries to stand her ground against the man mountain bearing down on her.
“What they said,” says Sybil from behind both Amelia and Bitty.
“I don’t give a damn. You are not putting veggies in her. For the last time, you do not touch my smoker.” Throwing the handful of veg on the floor has the Three Stooges squeal in fright and then head off, I’m guessing, to the sanctuary of the nursery.
Hearing them squeal has me feeling somewhat better. At least I’m not the only one that does it!
Everyone looks around to see what’s going to happen next, but it’s an anticlimax as Meat grunts, then walks out the back door. I give a small giggle that has Hannah and Garth look over at me with blank faces. I’m sure they think the place is crazy and they’ve only been here a few minutes.