Chapter Thirty-Four
Ryder
“Babe, I’ve got church tonight. Do you want to come to the clubhouse?”
“I do. Let me get the girls ready.”
I watched my wife jump into action.
My wife.
I would never get tired of saying that. It had been almost a week since we got married and the honeymoon that we weren’t able to take right now was far from being over. I didn’t expect that stage to end for the next forty or fifty years, if my parents were any indication.
“You get Tabby ready, and I’ll help Chrissy.” I kissed her head as I walked past, looking for shoes and jackets.
Once everyone was ready, we drove to the clubhouse. Church was scheduled every other week for everyone, and the officers met weekly.
Tonight would be my first church since I officially joined the club, and everyone would be in attendance. I wasn’t sure what to expect.
Ushering my girls into the clubhouse, we were met by Amber.
“Hello, princesses!” Amber called out. “Are you here for movie night?”
“Movie night?” Ellie asked.
“Now that Charlie is here, and more babies are on the way, I do a movie night on church nights. Chrissy and Tabby are more than welcome to join us.”
“Can we, Mama?” Chrissy begged.
I would never get tired of hearing the girls say ‘mama .’ So far, that was the only word Tabby said, but it was a start. And music to my ears.
Ellie squatted down in front of the girls. “Of course you can. You do as Amber says, and if you need me, I will be right down here. Amber can call me anytime, and I will come running,” she assured them.
She gave both girls a hug and a kiss and sent them off with Amber to find Charlie.
I helped her stand and pulled her into my arms.
“Have I told you I love you today?”
“Once or twice,” she said with a smile.
“Not enough,” I growled and buried my face in her neck.
“Alright, you two, no one wants to see that shit,” Jingles snarked.
“Speak for yourself,” Romeo challenged. “Who doesn’t like a little porn in the clubhouse?” He waggled his eyebrows at Ellie and me, and Jingles hit him on the back of the head.
“Fuck off, Rome.”
Ellie laughed, and the sound was beautiful.
She was different now.
Lighter.
Free.
The sheriff had kept us informed about the case involving her parents. The State of New York had extradited them back home. Turned out, the doctor whose signature they forged had some heavy clout.
Matlock had filed a restraining order for Ellie and Jingles. Just in case they found a way to slither out of their charges. Their older brother Preston had already tried contacting them. He thought he could convince them to drop the charges. He was wrong.
None of us wanted any of the Livingstons coming back to Nebraska. To ensure they followed the letter of the restraining order, the sheriff had allowed a few Silver Shadows to deliver the message.
I was not one of them, nor was Jingles. King felt we were both too close to the situation. He was right. That’s why he was the president.
“Dinner’s ready,” Beck yelled out.
She had taken over planning dinner on Saturday nights after Grams passed away. Willow Washington was a force to be reckoned with, and we all missed her. Beck was doing a great job of stepping into her shoes.
Just as everyone was finishing up, King yelled “CHURCH” across the room. Ellie stood and started gathering plates. When I tried to take them from her, she scolded me.
“You have church, sir.”
Her eyes darkened when she said sir, and I felt my cock stiffen.
“Baby, you aren’t playing fair,” I said, wrapping my arms around her from behind, pushing my hard-on into her ass.
“You better go before you get in trouble.”
“I need a minute before I embarrass myself.”
“You stay pushed up against me like that and that thing will never go down.” Ellie laughed.
She was right. The longer I held her in my arms, the harder I became.
“Ryder! Let’s go.”
I growled into her ear, “You’re killing me.” I moved back. When she turned to look at me, I made no effort to hide the bulge or the motion to readjust myself. I walked backward, away from her, toward the church doors.
“Girl, that was hot,” Tiffany said to Ellie.
“Yea,” she whispered, her eyes locked with mine.
I laughed and turned to walk into church. I wasn’t sure where to sit, so I lingered against the wall until everyone found their seat.
“Grab a seat, Ryder, there are no assigned seats in here except for the officers,” Jingles said quietly beside me.
I nodded my thanks and dropped into a chair between Banshee and Zero.
King strolled to the front of the room. Sitting in his chair, he tapped his gavel against the table and started the meeting.
“Ok, first things first.” King pinned me with a gaze and a slow smile spread across his face. “I want everyone to welcome Ryder. He finally got smart and accepted our offer.”
The men around the table began pounding their fists against the top, whistling and hollering.
“Thank you,” I said, uncomfortable with being put on the spot.
Once everyone settled down, King began the meeting. He went over the businesses, the accounts, upcoming events, opportunities to give back to the community.
Sitting there listening to everything gave me a new respect for the club. I knew the surface stuff, the loyalty, the club runs, the parties, and the girls.
What I learned was that King ran the club itself like a business. A well-run business. Business I understood.
“Anyone have anything they want to bring up?”
“We still don’t know where the drugs are coming from. Three more women have been drugged in the surrounding towns since Sam’s incident,” Gunner said.
“We need more men hanging out at The Queen’s Diamond,” Ghost stated.
“Ideally, we need half a dozen guys there on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights until we find this asshole,” Gunner suggested.
“Or assholes,” I added.
“What?” Colt asked.
“Or assholes,” I repeated. “I doubt this is one guy. More likely a group.”
“Ryder’s right,” Blade said. “Given the perimeter and frequency, it has to be more than one guy.”
“Ok, Gunner, put together a rotation. Add the prospects to it as well,” King said.
“Are we telling Grace why we’re there?” Cash asked.
“No.”
“You don’t think she’ll—”
“I said no,” King interrupted. “As far as she knows, the guys are there to drink and find new pussy.”
“Don’t let Grace serve you anything you aren’t familiar with,” I scoffed.
Jack threw his head back and laughed. “What are you complaining about? You got a woman and a baby out of it. Fuck, I still can’t remember anything from the night I drank that shit.”
“What the fuck is he talking about?” Jingles leaned forward on the table and glared at me.
“We are not doing this fucking shit. He married her. He planned to marry her before he knew about the baby. He fucking let her adopt his kids, Jingles. He’s committed. LET. IT. GO,” King bellowed.
Jingles grumbled but said nothing more.
“That said, nothing stronger than beer while you’re at the bar,” King insisted with a smirk.
“I have something I’d like to discuss,” Jack piped up.
“Go ahead, Jack,” King said, waving his hand in Jack’s direction.
“Sammy and I have been talking about buying a house. With the baby coming, and honestly, even with Charlie, we can’t stay in the clubhouse,” he said, looking at King. “We haven’t had much luck finding what we like, so we started talking about building a house.”
“What does that have to do with the club? You need a loan?”
“No, I don’t need a fucking loan. We want to build here,” Jack said.
“Here in Diamond Creek?” Cash asked.
“No. Here on the club property,” Jack corrected.
“What? You wanna build a house on club property?” Zero asked.
Jack never took his eyes off King. “The club is my life. I’ve been a Silver Shadow for almost half my life, and that ain’t gonna change the older I get.”
“Anyone else wanna build a house on club land?” King asked.
“I mean, I’d have to talk to Ellie, but we can’t stay in the apartment. Not with a baby coming. I like the idea of my family being behind the gates,” I added.
King looked over to Blade. “Yea, right. Like my old lady would give up her grandmother’s house.” Blade laughed.
“What about you?” King asked Cash.
“We’re good where we are.”
“What about the rest of you? I know you don’t have old ladies, but any of the rest of you interested in building?”
“I am,” Big Ben replied.
“Me too,” Zero added.
A few more guys said they would consider it, so King took a vote. It was unanimous.
“Ok, Jack, get a surveyor out here and let’s mark off some plots. Do you know who you’re gonna get to build it?”
Jack took a deep breath before saying, “I would like Derek to build it.”
“Fuck no!” Mimic barked out, jumping to his feet.
“Boy, sit your ass down.” Banshee reached over and grabbed Mimic’s arm, slamming him back into his chair.
“After what he did to Sam—”
“Sammy was the one who suggested it. You got a problem, take it up with her,” Jack cut Mimic off before he could say more.
King slammed the gavel against the table to get everyone’s attention.
“Listen, I know what he did. I’m not making excuses for him, but I could have just as easily been him. Sammy wants him to do it. She forgave him. After what he did for Charlie…”
Jack stopped talking and hung his head. I knew what he was feeling. The fear that encompasses you when your child is at risk is something people without children will never understand.
“Sammy said what he did to her was irrelevant. He more than made up for it by saving Charlie. That’s what parenthood is. You sacrifice everything you know, your safety, your happiness, everything for your child. You guys didn’t see him that day. You didn’t see him holding Charlie. He protected her. He killed for her.”
Jack reached his arms out in front of him, his palms flat on the table.
“I never had any family. Never thought I would ever find any.”
That was all Jack said. Blade laid his hand on Jack’s shoulder.
“Let’s take another vote. All in favor of Jack’s brother building his house?”
The votes went around the table. There was no question that I would vote in Jack’s favor. Everyone else did as well.
Except Mimic.
“I can’t,” Mimic said, before he stood from his seat and walked out of church.
Banshee put his hands on the table, ready to stand and go after him, but King stopped him.
“Let him go. This isn’t the type of vote that needs to be unanimous. Jack, call Derek and ask him to come. The girls can make up a room for him here.”
“I think he’d rather stay at the motel, given everything.”
King nodded. “Anything else?”
When no one spoke, King hit the gavel on the table, and we all filed out.
Out in the main room, Sam walked toward us.
“What’s wrong with Mimic?”
“He doesn’t want Derek here,” Jack said. “But everyone else voted yes, so I’ll call him tomorrow.” Jack sounded defeated. It couldn’t be easy finding out you had a brother that not only was married to the woman you loved, but that he beat her and put her in the hospital.
“I’ll talk to Mimic,” Sam said.
I left the two of them and went to find my wife. She was curled up in the corner of the couch, a blanket over her legs.
“Hey, you ok?”
“Yea, just a little tired.”
“Bitch isn’t right. She hasn’t been sick; she only gets tired in the evening. It isn’t fair.”
I looked over, and Beck was pouting on the other end of the couch Ellie was sitting on. I heard Ellie giggle. I was glad she wasn’t upset. I didn’t want to get into it with Beck or Blade about her calling my wife a bitch.
I sat down between the two of them and shook my head.
“You’ve really taken to this whole biker chick persona, huh? You have the mouth of one anyway,” I said with a smirk.
Beck glared at me. “I prefer to think of it as my Irish roots having a mind of their own.”
“Actually, it’s the hormones.” Sam laughed.
I looked over to the other couch, not realizing she and Jack had followed me over.
“Hormones make you weepy or stabby. Beck obviously got the stabby hormones.”
I looked at my wife. “So did you get the weepy ones?”
“I’m afraid so. This morning, I was crying over a TikTok video of a puppy.”
I threw my head back and laughed. I didn’t know if there was scientific proof about the hormones, but I knew my wife. She was gentle and kind. It made sense those emotions would be exacerbated during pregnancy.
Beck, on the other hand, aside from when she was grieving Micah, had always been a little stabby, as Sam put it. I didn’t envy Blade over the next six months. He would have his hands full.
“You wanna go home?” I asked Ellie. She looked exhausted, and I didn’t want her feeling awful.
“No, this is your first biker party—”
“Not my first, babe.”
“—as an actual biker, is what I was going to say.”
“Sorry.” I leaned over and kissed her lips, hoping to soothe her irritation with me. I didn’t need her getting ‘stabby.’
“Could we stay here tonight? Amber texted and said the girls were asleep and that they could stay in her room with Charlie.”
“Yea, we can stay. King gave me a room permanently.”
We stayed for the party, and Ellie was a trooper. Around midnight, I forced her upstairs to bed. Tomorrow was Sunday, and the bookstore was closed. We could have breakfast with the club before heading home and getting ready for a new week.