Chapter Four
Maisie
“IS THERE ENOUGH freezer space for all of that?” Poppy asked.
“Flea’s got that covered,” Razor said. “We’re getting a bunch more added.”
“That’s awesome,” she said. “Then maybe we should get more meat.”
“Not a bad idea,” I agreed. “And let’s get more cake mix, muffin tins and cake pans, in case we need to distract the kids with sweets.”
“And the boys,” Poppy said with a wink.
I laughed. “Them, too.”
She glanced at Razor’s cart full of toilet paper. “Are we sure we have enough?”
“We have more in our garage, so we’re already stocked at home. We also have bidets at home, and at the new compound, so we shouldn’t need as much. Big Ernie’s is already stocked. I think we’re good.”
“Knight’s handling alcohol,” Razor said. “Booker’s got the hook-up through Blush.”
“I’m still grabbing some wine,” I said. “I would like a few bottles of our favorites on hand.”
“What’s left?” Poppy asked.
“Diapers, wipes, and rash cream,” I said. “Oh, and formula.”
“We might want to get some pack and plays too.”
“Good idea.”
In the end, because my daughter and I were the worst when it came to shopping, and we tended to overdo everything, we left with four Pack-and-Plays, copious decorations for bedrooms and bathrooms including bedding, bathmats, soap dispensers and the like.
More diapers than either of us had seen in a year, and hopefully enough food to keep an entire MC and their families alive for a century should we need to lockdown for that long.
Bloody hell, if we had to lockdown for any longer than a week, I’d find Warlock myself and rip his dick off.
Razor and Flash loaded everything into the truck, and then Flash, Poppy, and I climbed into my car (which I’d finagled my way into bringing), while Razor followed behind us.
We made the decision to head straight up to the new Ridgefield compound, but we had to take back roads, ensuring no one was following us as we drove.
It was a pain in the arse, because it took us twice as long, but we made it, and since Poppy hadn’t been here yet, seeing it through her eyes was a delight.
“Holy crap, Mummy, this place is amazing,” she breathed out as she carried in bags from the garage and set them on the giant kitchen island.
The kitchen was one made of dreams, and nicer than my one at home, truth be told.
Hatch had said I had full rein and a somewhat unlimited budget, so I went crazy.
This was more chef’s delight than biker compound and since most of the women did the lion share of the cooking, I made sure we all had the best of the best to do our magic.
Our club was expanding, over two-hundred members now, plus the ever-hopeful chance that they will meet their loves and have kids, so we needed to have somewhere that could fit everyone.
This place could accommodate that. The land was over a hundred acres, but right now only forty had been developed.
The building was twenty-thousand square feet over four floors, including a basement that housed four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a theater, a gym, and a playroom for the kids.
There was also a giant room with a pool table, pinball machines, a snack room with a soda fridge and candy bar, which kids had to get permission to use.
We also had a room that had three freezers, two giant refrigerators, and another area for pantry items. Basically, our own storehouse for dry goods and canned foods.
The first floor was where our giant kitchen was that had a scullery with two extra dishwashers, a stand-up freezer and additional refrigerator that was identical to the one in the kitchen.
We had a prep station with sink, and another island, along with additional wall ovens, and another gas range, then in the kitchen we had a double oven with eight burner range, dishwasher, and walk-in pantry.
We had two microwaves, one in the kitchen and one in scullery, two mixers, and everything was tucked away so that everything looked neat and tidy.
Now, I just had to figure out how to keep it that way.
Also on the first floor were two bunkrooms, three bathrooms, a great room, a big kids’ hangout space, the officers’ offices, a conference room, plus the holy of holies meeting room.
The second floor housed eight bedrooms and private bathrooms, plus another two bunkrooms and bathrooms, the third floor had six bedrooms and seven bathrooms, and the top floor had six private apartments that each had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a little kitchenette and living room space, plus balconies off each primary bedroom.
Hatch and Booker made the call on who got to ‘live’ or even ‘sleep’ in these rooms on any given night, although Hatch and I had one room that was ours to use exclusively, as did Booker and Dani.
Hatch and I’d already moved some clothing in, so it was already feeling like home. Sort of.
The outdoor space was set up for partying with grills and badminton nets, along with turf so the kids could play putt-putt golf (or the adults could), and then there were outbuildings set up as garages right now to house cars, bikes, and trucks, along with poured concrete pads for RVs if we didn’t have room for everyone to sleep inside the building, and the plan was to expand in the future.
With Cannabis not being federally legal, the money we earned from our grow business wasn’t federally insured.
Stupid as all get out, in my opinion, so buying real estate was a great way to shelter the money.
And with Mack being one hell of an attorney, he did it all in a way that was above-board and totally legal.
“This kitchen is unreal,” Poppy squealed from the scullery.
“Oh, I know.” I laughed. “Just wait until you see the basement.”
“Go give her the tour,” Razor said. “We’ll handle the shit.”
“What’s that?” Poppy asked, pointing to the corner of the great room.
“The lift.”
“You put in an elevator?” she breathed out.
“Two, actually,” I confirmed. “There’s one on the other side as well. We’re all getting older, and I think about Razor and how hurt he was. Plus, it’s not easy to carry kids up and down copious amounts of stairs, so we’ve got two lifts.”
“Wow, you thought of everything.”
“I didn’t do it alone, poppet.” I smiled. “Dani, Payton, Cass, Dare, Kim, all of us had input. And Katie gave us her wish list for a clinic, then your daddy and uncles had to build both the compound and her clinic based on our hand drawn plans. I think they’re the real heroes.”
Hatch’s brothers owned a construction company and did the lion’s share of the work, although, many of the club brothers also chipped in and did a lot of the manual labor, bringing the cost of the build down substantially.
Poppy laughed. “Oh, god, let’s not tell them that, their heads are already big enough. Jesus, Devon’s been reminding me he did the wiring in the theater, and I know Uncle Cullen watched him like a hawk through the whole thing making sure he didn’t fuck it up. You know, because...”
“Yes, I know. Poor Sparky.”
Devon, aka ‘Sparky’ got his name because as a prospect, he kept forgetting to turn off the breaker box before installing a couple of lights. It happened two or three times, so the club decided to bust his balls permanently with his new nickname.
He was, in fact, a great electrician, but old habits die hard, and bikers never gave up their ball busting ways, so Devon would always be subjected to their shit, unfortunately.
I was halfway down the second-floor stairs when I heard my man bellow, “Where the hell’s my woman?”
“Up here, love.”
Hatch appeared at the bottom of the stairs with a frown on his face. “Did you forget something, Sunshine?”
I cocked my head. “I don’t think so.”
“Woman, when you don’t tell me you’re switchin’ locations, I get twitchy.”
I bit my lip. “Buggar. I did do that, eh?”
“Yeah, you did.”
I finished my descent, and closed the distance between us, gripping his cut. “I’m sorry.”
He sighed, leaning to rub his nose against mine. “Please be better.”
“I will.” I smiled up at him. “Did you call Razor?”
“I did.”
I raised an eyebrow, tugging on his beard. “Okay, then you can calm your tits.”
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Maisie—”
“Darling husband, I have been out all morning, hunting and gathering for our family, so if I forgot to ring you because we decided to drop things here instead of stopping at home first, then you need to calm the hell down. I was with both Razor and our son, and Razor was on it as far as getting you the memo. I’m also wired with GPS.
I was totally covered and perfectly safe. ” I cupped his face. “Right?”
He sighed, sliding his hands around my waist and down to my bottom.
“Right, Connor?” I pressed.
“Workin’ it out, Sunshine.”
I smiled gently. “I love you.”
His body finally relaxed as he leaned in to kiss me. “Love you, too, Sunshine.”
“Right, did you see everything we grabbed?”
“Don’t give a shit. Just wanted to get eyes on you,” he said as he released me and hugged Poppy.
Poppy rolled her eyes, hugging him back. “You’re out of control big man.”
He chuckled. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
Her phone rang and she slid it out of her jeans’ pocket. “Hey, honey. Yeah, um, hold on. Are we eating here? Should Devon bring the kids?”
Hatch held his hand out and Poppy set her phone in his palm. “Hey, bud. Yeah, you can bring everyone, just take eleventh, then the backstreets from there. Switch cars, at one-seventy-ninth. Yeah. Good. Okay. See you soon.” He handed the phone back to Poppy.
“Hi. You might as well pack a few bags, so they have stuff here. I grabbed some books, movies, and toys at the store, but if you wouldn’t mind packing some of our clothes and things as well, I’d appreciate it.” She blushed, then let out a quiet snort. “Behave. Okay, baby. Thank you. Love you. Bye.”
“Hey, Pop,” Flash said, waltzing into the great room.
“Hey, kid,” he said, hugging him.
“I’m gonna go meet Tate. Are we eating here?”
“Yes,” I said. “If you want to pack a bag or two to have familiar stuff here just in case, you can do that tonight. Daddy bought extra car seats last week, so you can leave your own in your cars. We can all stay the weekend, if we want.”
He made his way over to Maisie and kissed her cheek before pulling Poppy in for a hug. “Family sleep over, awesome.”
He walked out just as Booker, Dani, and their son, Archer, walked in, followed closely by Flea, Grace, their kids, along with Flea’s sister, Katie.
* * *
Hatch
Maisie let out a quiet squeak and made a rush for Dani and Katie. “I didn’t know you were coming.”
“Got a second?” I asked Booker as my woman had her reunion.
“Yeah,” he said, and we walked outside. “What’s up?”
“Sundance is sending a couple of guys our way. They should be here anytime now.”
Booker frowned. “Nice of him to do that considering he’s goin’ through his own shit.”
“One of them’s Rooster.”
He chuckled. “Maybe not so nice.”
“I’m hopin’ he’s grown up a little.” I shrugged. “Isn’t that why Crow sent him out to Colorado in the first place?”
Rooster was a Dogs of Fire Portland Chapter member who Crow sent out to Colorado after an incident with Tillie, Ace’s daughter.
Rooster had always been a solid member but lacked maturity.
Crow and I both agreed Rooster had officer potential but knew we already had too much on our plate at the time to invest in his growth as a Dog.
We had just started our business relationship with Sundance and the Howlers, so we sent him to Colorado as an emissary of sorts.
Sundance took a shine to him and it was decided after some time that he would patch over to the Howlers while retaining his club status with the Dogs.
“I’m more concerned about Katie,” Booker said.
I cocked my head and frowned. “Why are you concerned about Katie?”
“Oh, shit, brother, you don’t know about their history?”
“I do not.”
“How could you miss that? He and Flea worked for you. You didn’t notice how close the two of them were?”
I shrugged. “The three of them were always together. Had been since they were kids. Never saw anything else. At least, he and Katie didn’t show me anything other than friendship.”
“Well, shit.” He settled a hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “Not my story to tell.”
“Fuck,” I hissed. “Talk to Dani. She can fill Katie in.”
“Okay.” Booker nodded. “Archer has a buddy he wants to bring into the fold. Has asked if he can bring it up at church on Wednesday.”
I shook my head. “Let’s push that out a couple of weeks. Need to get past the Warlock shit. Have Mack add it to the agenda for the end of the month. It’s an open meeting, so prospects are welcome to join. Archer can bring it up when we open the meeting up to new business.”
“Thanks, brother.”
We were about to walk back inside when raised voices caught our attention.
“What now?” I growled, following Booker back inside.
Before I could figure out exactly what was happening, Katie turned on me. “Did you have something to do with this?”
“What?” I asked.
She waved her hand toward the two men standing next to Flea, Howlers’ cuts on.
I recognized Pokey (or Pookie), I could never remember.
The Howlers women called him Pookie, because he was six-foot-six and built like a brick shit-house, and I’m pretty sure most of the men had started to follow suit, so by now his name was either, or.
And then there was Rooster, now all grown up, grinning like an absolute idiot.
Well, fuck me and call me Sally.
“Hey, Hatch,” Rooster said.
“Rooster,” I said on a grunt.
“Wipe that grin off your face, asshole,” Katie ordered.
“Can’t do that, Kate,” Rooster said. “You went and got prettier. Can’t stop smilin’ when the prettiest girl in the world’s standing in my presence.”
“Jesus,” Flea hissed. “Take that down more than a fuckin’ notch, bird brain.”
“I want him out,” Katie ordered.
I sighed. “Sweetheart, why don’t you take a breath—”
“Darling,” Maisie interrupted, sliding an arm around Katie’s shoulders. “I’m going to borrow Katie for a minute while you figure this out.”