Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
The day had been full and fun. I got to see Henri and Sawyer, who had both been kidnapped. They were with Henri’s man, Blaze, and little Arlo. They made such a sweet family. It had made my heart ache from wanting to see my own.
However, until they arrived, I’d kept myself busy getting to know Saint and Gun more while they took me on a tour of the compound outside where their stunning rides sat.
Saint was true to his word and had picked my brain about his bike.
The more I told him what I could do to her, the more he got giddy over the ideas while Gun watched him with amusement.
I loved that this club was like my family’s and didn’t discriminate on the brothers loving who they wanted.
But being surrounded by awesome people all day really did make me miss my people from home.
Saint snorted when I glanced at the clock on the wall again. I shoved him. “I should have gone with Country to pick them up.”
“Nah, it’s probably best the tearful reunion is here than at the airport.”
Nodding, I picked up the controller to the gaming system again. Earlier, when Saint had asked if I gamed and he saw my excited look, he’d taken me to this bedroom, and since then, we’d been playing.
“You’ve got a good set-up here,” I told him as I pressed the button to start another race.
Saint grabbed the other gamepad. “It ain’t mine.”
I stopped, saw my character crash, and looked to Saint.
“Whose room are we in? Will they mind us being in here? If they’re anything like my brother, I know he doesn’t like his things being touched and would kick anyone’s arse if he caught us.
Will my arse be kicked? If they come for me, Saint, I’m totally throwing you under the bus and claiming innocence since I am actually innocent.
You should have told me this room wasn’t yours.
Why was the door wide open when we got here?
Anyone could just stroll in like we did. ”
Saint roared with laughter, his whole body shaking. He patted my thigh when he started to calm down. “Relax, Rommy.”
“Relax? Sure, okay. I’ll totally relax because you said so.”
He grinned wide. “This is Quake’s room, and he leaves his door open so the brothers who want a little downtime can come in here to play with his set-up.”
Quake’s? That made me want to study every detail in the room, but first I had to make sure I’d be welcomed in my wet dream’s space. “Saint. Did you by any chance notice that I’m not a brother? I don’t have a peen between my legs, so are you completely sure I’m welcome in that luscious man’s area?”
Saint laughed again. “Luscious? Quake?”
I gave him wide eyes. “Ah, yes.”
He snorted. “Sure, Rommy.” He made it sound like I needed to get my head checked. The time to do that was long past. “But to answer your question, Quake won’t care you’re in here playing. He and Dusty used to game a lot before she and Country became joined at the hip.”
“Dusty games? I’ll have to ask her to play when she’s got some free time.” She had a baby boy bundle of joy to take care of when she wasn’t cooking or running the club house with Country.
“Yeah. She’s pretty good at it too.”
“Cool, cool.” Nodding, I grabbed the controller once more and sat back on the couch. “All right, you ready to lose again?”
“I won the last game.”
“Only because you cheated.” I glanced at the clock again.
He scoffed. “I don’t cheat. I’m just that good.”
A knock sounded, and we looked to the doorway where Quake leaned.
I dropped the gamepad on the couch and stood. Pointing down at Saint, I yelled, “He dragged me in here to play the games.”
Saint snorted before scrubbing a hand over his face.
Quake grinned for the first time. Immediately, my heart stumbled over a beat as my belly fluttered. He was already stunning, but when he smiled, it made me want to throw a bag over his head so no one else saw how special it was.
“You’re droolin’,” Saint muttered out the corner of his mouth.
Kicking back, I hit him in the shin.
“All good.” My attention went to Quake as soon as I heard his low rumble. “Anyone can game. I just stopped by to let you know your family’s here.”
Pumping the air, I cried, “Yes,” then bolted out of the room.
My family, my family, my family.
Tears filled my eyes, but I was smiling too. I wanted to hug Mum and Dad so damn bad.
I was halfway down the hallway when I heard Quake call, “Wrong way.”
Turning, I raced by Quake and Saint and made my way to the stairs. When I heard the voices, I took two at a time. Familiar voices that had my heart clenching.
Voices I missed and loved.
At the bottom of the stairs, the crowd parted to reveal Mum and Dad.
I gripped at the material on my chest as I grinned and let the tears fall.
“Kid, get your arse over here,” Dad ordered.
With a sob, I ran at them and barrelled into their bodies as we wrapped each other up. I clung to them both, burying my face into their arms.
“Fuck,” Dad clipped, voice tight with emotions. His hand cupped the back of my head, and I felt him kiss against my hair. “Christ, Rommy.”
“I know,” I whispered. “I know.”
“Holy goddamn shit,” Mum cried, hugging me tighter. “My baby girl. Scared the life outta me.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Not your fault. Not anyone’s fault but those fucking monsters who nabbed you.” She cupped my cheeks and pulled my head up. “I know you said it, baby girl, but tell me honestly, did they hurt you?”
“No. I promise. They wanted us untouched for our buyers.”
Mum’s jaw clenched, and she looked over my head. “Tell me we have these fuckers.”
“Low,” Dad warned. I glanced back to see the Diamond MC president standing with his arms crossed.
“It’s fine, Dodge,” Country said before he looked at Mum. “We’ll make sure their business is shut down one way or another.”
Mum nodded and went back to cupping my cheeks. “Did you kick arse?”
Dad groaned and palmed his face while I grinned up at her. “I sure did.”
“That’s my girl.”
“Can I get a hug now?”
My eyes widened. I hadn’t noticed anyone else but my parents. They moved to my brother and Maya.
“Guys,” I whispered, fresh tears welling.
Texas swallowed thickly as he reached out, snagged my wrist in his hand, and yanked me into him, hugging me tight.
“Fucking hell, Rom. You’re never going anywhere on your own. You’ll have someone at your back when dealin’ with customers too. This shit will never fuckin’ happen again.”
I nodded against his chest. I didn’t care if he organised someone to glue themselves to me, I knew how worried my family would have been, and I was willing to ease their stress in any way I could until the day I died.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, voice thick with emotions.
He gently smacked the back of my head. “You think I wouldn’t come help get my pain-in-the-arse sister from America?” His hands went to my shoulders, and he pushed me back to turn me to where Maya was waiting.
With a watery laugh, I clung to her.
“Thank you for coming,” I said.
“Nothing would have stopped us from coming,” she said.
With a sniffle, I held her tighter. I really did have the best people in my life.
“I think this calls for a drink,” Mum announced.
I moved out of Maya’s arms to stand beside her and hold her hand, smiling. My body felt light from seeing my family here with me.
Country chuckled. “Sounds good to me.” He turned to the bar and called, “Prospects, take orders.” Three guys, who looked a little younger than me, went into action at Country’s words.
We were led to a seating area away from the benches where they all sat for dinner. I stood behind the couch and rested my hands on my brother’s shoulders where he sat on the sofa with Maya and Mum. Dad was in his own chair and so were Country, Saint, and Wreck.
I saw Mum eyeing Wreck. “Jesus, you’re a big one.”
Wreck stared at her while I laughed before telling her, “You should see Blaze. He’s Henri’s guy and ginormous.
Henri, who is French, along with their boy Sawyer, but he’s not French, just Henri, got kidnapped and taken to the ship too.
You’ll get to meet them before we leave hopefully.
I really like them. I like everyone here. No one’s been a dick, so it’s good.”
Dad grinned. “Hell, kid, you’ve been missed.”
Lifting my hand, I blew him a kiss.
“Rommy was tellin’ us she’s a mechanic,” Saint said. “She’s given me some ideas for my ride, and I’m hopin’ she’ll be stickin’ around long enough to show me.”
I’d confessed to Saint that I wished I could stay longer to take in the town and make a family holiday of it. However, I knew Mum and Dad were busy with the club and businesses. Texas also owned a tattoo shop in Ballarat. I couldn’t keep them away from their responsibilities.
Not unless it wasn’t my idea in the beginning.
Dad shared a look with Mum before he said, “We were hopin’ to stick around for a while.”
“Really?” I asked loudly while shaking my brother’s shoulders.
Dad chuckled. “Not sure about Texas and Maya, though. Low and I are covered for the garage and compound. Texas?”
“My clients understand why I’m not there and that I shut the tattoo shop for at least a week.”
Gasping, I shook my brother again. “So, we can all stay for a week, at least?”
“Jesus, Rommy,” Texas complained, tapping my hand.
“Oh my God, we can do so much. I’ve already asked about the places we can go.
There’re shops, a museum, and nature walks.
Mum, I already know you won’t be doing those.
But there’s so much more to do, and we have to try all the food we can while we’re here.
And then Vegas isn’t far away, and we so have to check that out. This is gonna be epic.”
“Kid, I think we’ll need a little longer than a week to get everythin’ in,” Dad said.
“What do you mean? What does that mean? Are we staying longer? But Texas—”
“Rom, Maya and I have to head back in a week, but Dodge and Low want to hang longer.”
I was already nodding. “Yes. Please. Me too. I’ll stay longer. Where are we gonna stay? Is there a hotel close by?”
“We have enough rooms here,” Country offered.
Mum and Dad shared a look before Dad said, “Yeah, that’d be cool. It’ll give us a chance to get to know each other, and I can help the kid go over some of the rides for whoever is interested.”
Mum groaned before she asked Country, “Please tell me your old lady loves to shop?”
Country chuckled. “I’m sure she’d love to take you, and no doubt there’ll be more partners willing to go too.”
“Do you have them go on their own?” Dad asked.
“There’s always someone followin’. That’s if West, Lucas, and Gun aren’t going. If they are, Adrick and Wreck will tag along.”
Wreck grunted.
I cocked my head to the side. “West? I haven’t met West yet, right?”
Saint snorted. “Believe me, you’d remember if you had—”
“What the fuck does that mean?” Gun asked as he walked over.
Saint grinned. “Boo, you gettin’ jealous?”
“No, dickhead. But explain in long detail what you mean.”
I grinned at an amused Mum and Dad as they watched Saint and Gun.
“What I meant, lover, was that you would remember West because he has this Russian dark lord followin’ him everywhere.”
Gun huffed and sat on the armrest of Saint’s chair as Saint wound an arm around Gun’s back. “I guess that works.”
“I see no one but you and your pretty face,” Saint told him, staring up at him with such love it made my heart stumble.
But Gun glaring down at him had me quietly giggling.
“Shut up,” Gun said.
Saint winked. “Take it out on me in the bedroom later—”
“Can you not announce your activities?” Lucas asked as he approached. “I don’t want to hear what my brother and friend get up to.”
“Lucas!” I cried. “My family is here.” I shook Texas’s shoulders again. “This is my brother, Texas. My mum, Low, and my dad, Dodge. Lucas belongs to Wreck.”
“Holy fuck, you’ve gotta be into size kink,” Mum blurted.
Laughter roared around us while Lucas blushed. Hell, even Wreck’s lips twitched.
Mum winced. “Sorry, I can be inappropriate sometimes. I’ve got to remember we’re not at home anymore.”
“Now we know where Rommy gets it from,” Saint teased.
I grinned. Mum had been in my life since I was seven, and Dad, who was actually our uncle, took us from New South Wales to live in Melbourne with him.
Mum and Dad were new at dating back then, but they were committed to each other. Not only did Dad take us on, but Mum too.
And since I’d been around her for so long, we were close, so of course I’d end up having some of her traits.
Dad snorted. “Welcome to my world. They’re as bad as each other.”
Mum and I grinned.
“Yet, you wouldn’t have it any other way,” Mum said. She stood and went to sit on his lap, curling into him. Dad placed his arm around her waist and kissed her temple.
“Fuckin’ right.”
This here was what I wanted.
Or even what Texas had with Maya.
Witnessing the love they held for each other in their gazes made me feel all warm and nice.
I stilled.
Had Texas announced about Maya?
While Dad chatted with Country, I leaned down and whispered in my brother’s ear, “Before I got taken, did I guess right with Maya?”
Maya, having heard it, smiled up at me.
I gasped. “I did, didn’t I? Have you told Mum and Dad?”
Texas sighed. “You did, but can you keep in contained for a bit longer? Now isn’t the time. We need all families together.”
I thinned my lips, but an excited meep escaped as I shook Texas’s shoulders once again.
He reached up and tapped my hands. “You’re givin’ me whiplash.”
I wrapped my arms around them both and hugged them tightly as I whispered, “Congrats. You guys will make great parents.”
“What are you three plotting over there?” Mum asked.
I straightened and yelled, “Nothing!”
Laughter sounded around us, but my gaze landed on Quake, who was smirking and shaking his head at me.
Okay, I wasn’t the best liar, and under pressure, I’d fold.
But I couldn’t for this.
Even when I was bursting to shout it out, I wouldn’t.