Chapter 52
Lark
“Okay, ladies! We have four virgin Bloody Marys, Wisconsin-style of course,” I say with a wink as Miracle and I hand a drink to Mae, Levi, Mama Astrid, and Elvira from our trays.
“And for Mary, Nikki, Susie, Miracle and me, regular Bloody Marys, also Wisconsin-style, with a snit,” I continue as we pass out the rest of the drinks.
I’m still a little freaked out about Loki’s visions from yesterday, but I’m trying to put it out of my mind as much as possible.
Mama C was right—Mae doesn’t need a cloud like that hanging over her right now.
My smile widens after taking a sip of my Bloody Mary.
The usual garnish for a Bloody Mary is olives and celery, but we mix things up a bit more here in Wisconsin.
A lot of places add extras things like pickles, beef sticks, sausage, cheese, mini sliders, and bacon.
Others… Well, some of them go overboard.
Hell, I’ve seen fried chicken added into the mix.
As for the snit, it’s a beer chaser. Another Wisconsinite thing to do.
As for our drinks today, Miracle and I kept the toppings fairly light with just olives, celery, pickles, beef sticks, sausage, and cheese. Because of course we added cheese—we’re from Wisconsin.
“So, what game are we playing next?” Susie asks as she takes the skewer of olives out of her drink and pops one in her mouth.
“How about pin the diaper on the baby?” Nikki asks as she points over at the wall where a corkboard has been hung on the wall and a mat with a picture of a baby is pinned on it.
“Yes!” a few of the ladies cheer and I laugh.
Nikki gets up and picks up a stack of what looks like pictures of diapers printed on cardstock and then laminated sitting on the end table near, but not too close, to the corkboard.
Nikki’s mainly been the one leading today’s baby shower games.
She’s Mae’s only aunt by blood relation while Levi, Sasha, and Susie are all aunts by claiming.
Well, and Mama Astrid as a second mom, since she’s Punisher’s mother and he claimed Mae as a sister.
Personally, I love that so many of the club brothers have claimed Old Ladies as sisters.
It makes for an even tighter club family feeling.
“Okay, we’re not going to go overboard on the spinning, but it’s basically Pin the Tail on the Donkey but with a baby and a diaper.
The closest one to get it in the right spot will win a prize.
We can play as many times as you guys want, but like the other games, we only have three prizes.
Now, get your beautiful pregnant self up here, Mae.
Like before, you’re starting off this game. ”
Mae pops an olive in her mouth before getting up and walking over to Nikki as we cheer. Nikki blindfolds her and carefully spins her twice before righting her. Mae sticks her arms out and slightly stumbles before her steps steady out.
We all cheer when she sticks her diaper on the mat, and she slips her blindfold off before groaning. At her groan, our cheers change to laughter.
She’s pinned the diaper on the baby’s face.
Shaking her head, she raises her hand that’s holding the blindfold in the air and turns. A huge smile is on her face and my grin widens at how much fun we’ve been having the last few hours.
“Who’s next?” Mae calls out.
Levi, who’s sitting next to me, moves to get up when gunshots ring through the air.
“Get down!” I yell as I throw myself over Levi and help her get down onto the floor. Well, as much as a pregnant lady with twins can get down on the floor that is.
I look around, my gaze roaming over each of the women and rage fills me at seeing blood on Mae’s left arm. Nikki’s placed her body over Mae’s but she hasn’t seen the wound yet. None of the other women seem to be hit.
“Stay down,” I tell Levi as I gesture to Miracle who is on the other side of Levi and she moves closer to her, shielding her.
I creep over toward Mae and take a look at her arm, relieved that it’s just a graze but then I curse at how much blood is flowing down her arm.
Nikki’s head whips over to me at my curse. “Fuck,” she hisses before covering her wound with her hand.
I glance around, looking for something that we can stem the bleeding with. Spotting a pack of diapers, I crawl a few feet over to them and rip open the package before crawling back to Mae. Nikki moves her hand off the wound and I wrap the diaper as tightly as I can over it.
“I know it’s not perfect, but this should help until Patch can take a look at you.”
A stampede of boots comes running down from upstairs. The guys were hanging out up there in a loft area watching football while we had the girlie part of Mae’s baby shower in the main room.
“Sunshine!” Timber cries out and I shift back, letting him take over.
The rest of the guys converge, all of them talking over each other as they close shutters over the windows from the inside. I creep over to the window by me and peak outside, instantly cursing before I close the shutter and lock it.
My head whips around and I spot my backpack nearby. Unzipping it, I pull out Ol’ Faithful and my bag of shells that I secure onto my belt.
“Oбрезанный дробовик (circumcised shotgun),” Sasha cackles and I blink, wondering what the fuck she just said.
Levi, Thor, Dragon, Alexei, Ethan, and Mary all snicker but I shake them off as Thor composes himself.
“Ladies, to the panic room now. Dom and Erik, too. The kids are already down there,” Thor orders before kissing Levi and following Smoke over to a table where he sets up a laptop.
Patch guides Mae toward the kitchen with his kit in one hand. Timber’s close behind him, not that I blame him one bit.
“Darlin’,” Reaper says as he comes over and inspects my hands.
I shake my head. “It’s Mae’s, I’m not hurt.”
He picks up my bag and leads me behind the bar. Setting Ol’ Faithful down on the bar, I scrub the blood off my hands at the sink. Reaper pulls me into his arms after I’m done and leans down, kissing me. Reluctantly, he pulls away as his lips thin, and his gaze bounces between me and the guys.
“Head down with the others to the panic room, Darlin’.”
“Be safe. Come back to me.”
A look I can’t quite describe comes over him and he hesitates like he wants to say something. After a few seconds, he dips his chin. “I will. You be safe too.”
I frown as I watch him go over to the guys. I don’t think that’s what he wanted to say, at least not entirely.
Heated voices have me blinking out of my thoughts and my frown deepens as the guys hover behind Smoke, Bones, and Ryder as all three do something on their laptops. I mean, I get that they have security cameras, but shouldn’t someone be getting eyes on the situation now?
I bite my lip and make a split-second decision.
Picking up my bag and Ol’ Faithful, I walk into the kitchen where the ladies are about to head down into the panic room. Mae, Timber and Patch aren’t with them so they must already be down there and getting her graze looked at.
“Here, Mama Astrid,” I tell her as I hand her Ol’ Faithful and the bag of bullets off my belt. “Protect the ladies and the kids. Sasha and Miracle,” I say as I point at them, “you’re with me and I need one other. Who’s a better shot, Lex or Ethan?”
“Lex,” Levi answers as a sly grin forms and she slowly nods.
Has she figured out what I plan to do?
“Though, Ethan is an excellent tracker. Keep that in mind depending on what you see.”
I return her grin. Yeah, she figured me out.
“Okay, you guys get down to safety and we’ll make sure the door is firmly shut behind you and put the bags back in place.”
Normally, one of the guys would have done that step for the pantry entrance to the panic rooms, which is probably why Sasha, Lex, and Ethan were hovering toward the back of the kitchen before.
There are two other entrances to the panic room, one in the kids’ playroom and the other is in through the hallway that’s the most direct route into the Sticks as Levi likes to call their interrogation room.
Thank fuck Anthony had insisted I know all the escape routes for Forest Creek since our clubs are so close.
Levi’s the last to head down and she pins me with a look. “I get why you’re doing it, but be careful. With being Reaper’s Old Lady, your thumbprint will get you up there.”
With that, she gives me a quick hug and descends. I push the door closed behind her, making sure the locking mechanism secures and move the bags of potatoes back in place in front of it.
Straightening, I find Miracle and the Prospects all lined up behind me, almost standing at attention.
“Ethan,” I say as I point to him. “You’re on standby in case we need to head outside discretely. Do you guys have whites?” I ask, knowing they should have white snow suits, but wanting to verify.
He gives me a chin lift. “We do, enough for every club member and five extras.”
I dip my chin in return before my gaze bounces between Sasha and Lex. “Where do you guys keep your sniper rifles? And how many do you guys have?”
Levi had told me about when Mary’s late husband had attacked the club and detonated a bomb from under the street. Sasha and Lex had picked off some of their attackers with sniper rifles. I just don’t know if they only have those two or not.
“We have six. All in same place,” Sasha replies, her Russian accent thickening with emotion. Now that I look more closely, it’s like a mask has descended over her face. A quick glance at Lex shows his face is masked the same.
Ethan steps closer and tilts his head toward the twins.
“You aren’t asking them to do something that’s against their morals.
They always get like this when we train, and now, when something happens like this.
” He pauses and seems to come to some decision.
“I’ll be up there with you guys too. It will be easier to have someone help with the cartridges and making sure they are in easy access to each of you and refill them as needed. ”