CHAPTER 7
SKINNY
“Where are we going and why am I not allowed to see?” Josie mutters as she grips hard onto my arm.
As if I’d let her fall. I knew going in this was going to be hard for her.
She hated having her eyes covered with anything, and it caused her massive anxiety, but there was no other way to get her to her surprise.
“You know I hate having stuff over my eyes,” she continues to grumble.
“You’re going to love it, I promise,” I cajole her. “We’re nearly there, not much longer.”
It had taken a bit of organising, but today was the day. It was Josie’s birthday. I’d been liaising for weeks with the Russos, Falcon, and Jaq to make this happen.
I’d set my alarm for four a.m. since Jaq and Falcon would pick us up just after six a.m. Last night, I packed a backpack for us and had Bull keep it.
Having woken Josie, I hurried her out of the house after ensuring she ate.
I had her ginger sweets in my pocket and salted crackers in the backpack.
I hoped that she’d be okay and that she’d love what I’d arranged for her.
Falcon and Jaq were leaning up against the helicopter waiting for us and waved as soon as they saw us.
I waved back and stopped walking, holding Josie in place, telling her, “Okay, are you ready? I’m going to take your blindfold off, and while I’m doing that, I’ll tell you what your birthday surprise is. ”
Josie claps excitedly, bouncing on her toes, “Hurry, hurry, what is it?”
Chuckling, I start to undo the knot on the blindfold, “It’s not something you can see, Tiger; it’s something we’re going to do. What is something you’ve always wanted to do?”
Josie goes still as she thinks. Walking around so that I’m in front of her, I pull the blindfold off her eyes; she blinks up at me as her eyes refocus in the early morning light.
As the early morning sun hits her face, it makes her look as if she’s glowing.
“Fuck, baby, you are gorgeous,” I tell her, wrapping my hand around the back of her neck.
Tilting her chin up with my thumb, I lower my lips to hers, taking her mouth in a soft, deep kiss.
Josie leans in, wrapping her arms around my waist under my cut, gripping my shirt.
A throat clearing reminds me we’re on a time limit.
Removing my lips from hers with one last peck, I step back slightly so that she can see Falcon, Jaq, and the helicopter. “Oh,” Josie lifts her hands to her mouth and her eyes flood with tears. “Are we going on the game capture and relocation?”
“We sure are, baby,” I reply with a smile as she squeals in excitement and throws her arms around me in a quick hug before rushing over to Jaq and Falcon, who laugh when she hugs them, thanking them and hurrying them all at the same time.
I walk over to Falcon and shake his hand before hugging Jaq. Josie is already in the helicopter strapping in.
Jaq laughs, “Hey, Josie, you’re not going anywhere until I’m in the driving seat.”
“Well, stop wasting time and get us in the air, woman,” Josie orders Jaq. “I’ve been waiting years for this.”
“Okay, okay,” Jaq laughs, “I’m getting in.”
There’s a lot of laughter and chatting as we fit our headsets over our ears so that we can still talk to each other as well as have protection from the noise, and before long, we’re in the air.
Josie grips my hand hard as she peers out the window at the rapidly fading ground.
Jaq does a sweep over the hotel, and there is our MC family holding up a Happy Birthday banner the kids had made for Josie.
They are all shouting and waving at us. Laughing, Josie waves back,even though she knows they won’t see her.
“Oh, Skinny, this is perfect,” she turns back to me, her lip trembling slightly. “Thank you.”
Lifting my hand, I run a finger under her eye, wiping away a tear, “You’re welcome, baby. Happy Birthday.”
“Thank you, Falcon and Jaq, for making this possible for me,” Josie tells them emotionally.
“You’re welcome, Josie. Besides, this is helpful to me too because we can work together on getting the data so that you know from the start the condition of your animals.
We’ll be tagging some of them because some may get off the reserve, but at least this way we can keep track of their health and such.
This will give you experience, and I’ve been chatting to your new vet.
He’s got experience in this already. He’s working with Bull as we speak to ensure that everything is ready for their deliveries throughout the day.
He was a great hire, by the way,” Falcon replies.
“He was,” Josie agrees. Other than the background check we’d had done on her new vet, I hadn’t dug into the man too much.
He deserved privacy after everything he’d been through.
And he’d stepped up big time at the clinic while Josie had been struggling with morning sickness.
All of us liked him and hoped that he’d be happy enough to stay.
He’d only signed a year’s contract, but I hoped that he’d stay when that was up.
“What’s the plan for today?” Josie wants to know.
“We’ll land on the Russos in about twenty minutes,” Falcon tells us.
“They already have the bomas set up and the trucks ready. We’re going to do a few different runs over different parts of the property.
Initially, we were only going to do a herd of impala, but we were able to get additional experienced hands from the chief, and the fish and wildlife rangers asked if they could come out and use it as part of their recruit training, so we’ll also be moving zebra and kudu today.
For this first run, you’ll go up with Jaq as she uses the chopper to herd the animals into the boma and down the funnel into the trucks.
Once that’s done, then she’ll land, and you can help me before we’re onto the next site to repeat it all.
At the next one, you can decide if you want to go up in the chopper or be down on the ground.
I’m good with either. It’s going to be busy, and we’ll be working fast, but I think you’re going to love it. ”
The wide smile gracing Josie’s face tells me she already is. “There they are,” Jaq tells us, pointing towards where we can just make out a line of trucks and a cone-shaped canvas structure. Jaq does a once-over so that we can see the scale of what we’d be working with. It’s impressive.
“Oh, wow. This is amazing,” Josie breathes as Jaq slowly lowers the helicopter to the ground, kicking up dust that has those outside shading their eyes. Once we’ve landed, Jaq starts to power everything down.
“Careful getting out, people; the blades will take a little while to stop,” she warns us.
I get out and help Josie down before we walk over to where Anton and Luca are standing and greet them.
“Hey, how are you both doing?”
“All good here, brother,” Luca replies, then turns to Josie, “Happy Birthday, Josie, I hope you enjoy today.”
“Are you kidding?” Josie exclaims, “It’s like all my Christmases have come at once.”
We chuckle at how excited she is. It’s been a little while since I’ve seen my wife so animated, and it makes my heart happy that I’ve been able to give her this before our baby arrives and our lives change again.
Falcon and Jaq walk up hand in hand, greeting the Russos before we go over what was going to happen today. When everyone was happy with what they would be doing, only then did Falcon, Anton, and Luca let everyone leave.
“You ready, Jaq?” Falcon asks his wife, grabbing her and laying a loud kiss on her lips. “I was born for this,” Jaq replies with a laugh and turns towards Josie. “What about you, Josie? Shall we get the show on the road?”
“Fuck yes,” Josie exclaims, rolls to her toes, kisses me quickly, and jogs away all in one motion, only to suddenly stop, turn, and point her finger at me, shouting across the space between us, “You are getting so lucky later, Skinny Adams.” I bark out a surprised laugh, along with everyone else.
While her first words hit me right in my cock, her next words fill my heart, “Love you, William, thank you for the best birthday present ever.”
And then the two women are gone, leaving us men shaking our heads and laughing.
“Come on, brother, let’s get you up on that truck until you know what to expect,” Anton says, clasping my shoulder and turning me toward the waiting truck.
“Lay flat on the roof and watch and learn. You can help with the next one.”
I’m happy to do as instructed. The last thing I want to do is get in the way.
Because we are so far away from civilisation, everyone is using radios to keep up.
It’s controlled chaos, but once Jaq is in the air and doing her thing, it moves fast. I’m torn between watching the acrobatic manoeuvres of the chopper and the way those on the ground work like a well-oiled team to close off sections of the boma as the animals run through and into the truck before slamming shut the truck’s doors.
Falcon, Anton, and Luca seem to be everywhere at once.
When we have them loaded, Falcon climbs up next to me and shows me how the roof opens.
The inside of the back of the truck is sectioned, something I hadn’t realised.
He darts a few of the males and females before he climbs into the truck with them once they are completely sedated, adding plastic pipes to the males’ horns so that they can’t damage each other as they wake up.
He tags a few of them before making notes and moving on to the next ones.
I’m so engrossed I don’t realise that Josie is back and in the thick of things, taking down data that Falcon’s barking at her.
As always, she amazes me with how she adapts so quickly to the situation.