Chapter 2
Switch
“Shit, put it down, need to grab my phone,” I grunt out to Tank as we try and maneuver a big fucking antique chest into the house.
Placing it down I snatch my phone out of my pocket, and frown when I don’t recognise the number. “Hello?”
“Is this Dr. Manning?”
Holding the phone back I double check the screen, but I still don’t recognise the number. “Yeah.”
“We have one of your patients here at Bedder Than Ever, and he says he won't move for anyone but you. He’s here with around eight women and one man who have been very hard to calm down.”
My eyes close as I blow out a long breath. “Lemme guess, he's around 70, in chinos and a polo shirt, with a foul mouth?”
“Yes! That’s him. Can you please come quickly before everyone, ah, escalates again?”
“Be there in five.” I swipe the call to hang up and then close my eyes taking a deep breath.
“You all good brother?”
I nod at Tank before bellowing, “We gotta roll out!”
Footsteps thunder from around Joy’s quaint little home until all my brothers are standing shoulder to shoulder in the living room Tank and I are standing in.
“What you got, brother?” Marx asks, face like thunder.
“Girl Gang shenanigans at Bedder Than Ever.”
Everyone groans but no one says anything as we all head outside, mount our rides and wait for Judge to lead the way through Rose Grove to the Mom and Pop owned store in town.
I know exactly which one it is even if I’ve never shopped there before.
It’s the one with a frazzled dumpy bald man out the front pacing back and forth.
“Oh thank god you're here!” He sputters as we park our bikes, our engines shutting off one by one. “I tried calling Rose Grove PD but Sheriff Davies said to call you instead. The nice redhead lady was good enough to give me a number to call.”
“Fucking Moss,” Marx mutters under his breath before turning back to the man. “Alright, lead the way.”
We follow behind Marx and the owner who is wildly gesticulating and I don’t hear a word of it. Not when I spot Joy in the middle of absolute chaos.
“What in the fuck is going on?” Rhodie whispers.
There’s a mountain of pillows on the floor, two staff falling over themselves to clean them up with two more staff trying to stack them in a pyramid next to where the women are cackling and yelling.
There is a sheet hanging from the ceiling, blowing wildly thanks to the air conditioning and one pair of boots sticking straight up in the air on what looks to be a king size luxury hospital bed.
Oh, and it’s vibrating wildly because of course it fucking is.
“Do you think lube will help?” Mira asks the bed before the women roar with laughter.
“No, it wont fucking help, you smart ass! Just get me out of this fucking thing!” Mad Dog roars and it’s only then I notice his bulk next to Pops.
“Um, sir, perhaps if you could roll you might be able to roll off the side?” A little spotty kid suggests.
“There's fucking sides on this thing!” Mad Dog roars, shoving Pops.
“Don’t fucking touch me you fat bastard! It’s your fault we’re stuck like this! My chest hurts, I think I’m having a heart attack!” Pops wheezes.
“Get me out now! I don’t want to be anywhere near his fucking corpse when he dies, he’ll fucking haunt me and I’ll never get away from him.”
“I have never seen Mad Dog this panicked in my life.” Rhodie chuckles, watching his father flailing around next to Pops who has dramatically added that he wants all his earthly belongings to go to Chomper and Laney May.
“Please, can you just, like, fix this?” the store owner pleads and I snap into action.
I nod once, moving through the wall of my brothers to get a good look at what is going on.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” I mumble to myself.
“Do you want to help Mad Dog out first and then I’ll be able to reach the remote thing,” Joy says from beside me, pointing to somewhere in between the mishmash of Pops’ and Mad Dog’s limbs.
“The remote is in there?”
“Yeah, they were fighting over who was in charge and somehow they dropped it and I think it ended up being sat on. Not sure by who.”
“It was Mad Dogs fat ass, obviously,” Pops says through gritted teeth. I think he’s giving Mad Dog the stink eye too, but it’s hard to tell with Mad Dog's ass against the side of Pops’ face.
“Tank and Judge, you’re the biggest fuckers, get Mad Dog outta there so Joy can get the bed sorted and Switch can check Pops over and Rider can stop fucking laughing,” Marx growls.
Rider doesn’t give a shit. He just collapses on the next bed over as the noise level rises again with the Ol Ladies either joining Rider, or offering Pops and Mad Dog soothing words.
Judge and Tank get a good grip on Mad Dog’s arms and legs and with a hard yank manage to get him out of the V-shaped bed and onto the floor in a heap next to it.
“You good?” I ask, brow raised.
Mad Dog answers by straightening his cut and flipping everyone the bird.
“Oh, not so fun anymore, huh?” Blanche snorts.
“Yeah, whatever happened to ‘how hard is it to buy a bed’?” Vi says, putting on a deep voice as the women all cackle.
Mad Dog gives them all a Jules-worthy stink eye before taking one look at Pops and dissolving into a fit of laughter.
“Fuck you, fat ass!” Pops growls, although his breathing does sound a little better now that he doesn't have Mad Dog crushing him.
“Do you think you can get in there and find the remote?” I ask Joy.
She gives me a smile then reaches into the crevice of the bed.
Whatever she touches must be tickly because Pops lets out a girlish scream before the bed stops vibrating abruptly.
With a gentle whirr the feet and head of the bed start to lower and Pops red face finally comes into view.
We all stare as he’s slowly revealed, his usually perfectly side slicked hair is mussed up and he’s looking crumpled as fuck.
I let out a long sigh when Pops’ gaze meets mine and he smirks. “I’m ready for my check up now, Doc. Pants on or off?”
Joy
I can’t help the snort that escapes me at the look on Pops’ face when he asks Switch that. And Switch, being the patient man he is, just gets on with it. He goes straight into doctor mode and starts checking over Pops.
“Well, while that’s happening, have you decided which beds you wanted, Joy?” Tank asks, gently. I’ve noticed all the men do that, talk to me as if I’m a baby deer caught in headlights. I want to tell them that they don’t have to do that. I’ve seen real evil and it’s not these men.
“Um, yeah, I was about to pay when all this happened.” I wave my arm at the chaos around me. And then burst into laughter when I notice the sheet hanging from the ceiling.
“How in the hell did that get up there?” Gus asks, clearly used to Pops’ antics as he and his brothers and Chewy don’t look bothered in the slightest. Not even when Pops was yelling about having a heart attack.
In fact, I’m pretty certain it was Jules who yelled back “You can’t be having a heart attack if you’re yelling at us.
” I’m not sure if that’s true or not, but looking at how healthy Pops is as he presses the button for a gentle massage as Switch feels behind his neck, I think Jules may have been right.
“I actually don’t know how that got there,” Jazz says, frowning.
“Oh, that was me and Chewy,” Mira says, her hand raised. “Remember? We were wafting them to cool them down once they got stuck and that air conditioning fan thingy went thwoop and sucked the corner up.”
“Wafting?” Rhodie mumbles to no one in particular.
“We calculated the height of the ceiling wrong,” Chewy says, coming to stand next to the rest of the group. She’d wandered off mid crisis, more interested in a display of a cross section of mattress.
“Um, so how’s he doing?” the lovely little man who owns the store asks timidly.
“He’ll live,” Switch answers in his outdoor voice.
“Unfortunately,” Judge mumbles and then lets out an oof when Kaia backhands him in the gut.
“I will live, but what sort of life will I lead? I’m sure there is some permanent damage in my back from being left in such an unforgiving position for so long,” Pops laments as the whole of the DRMC stares at him.
“I mean, I keep myself in good condition, lift weights and all that and alas, I was damaged in an unfortunate accident with a top of the line bed.”
The store owner's eyes narrow at Pops. “You’re after a discount?”
“Well, I mean, I feel like it’s only fair. If not for me, then perhaps for Joy? She’s a single mother, a widow even, and she’s had to swoop in today to save me from an even worse fate.”
“Oh, no.” I raise my palms to face the lovely shop owner and I shake my hands and my head, “No, no, it’s fine. I’ll just take the two beds I was looking at.”
“The beds for the main bedroom and your daughter, right?”
“Yeah, just the nice simple beds, nothing too fancy, and I’ll pay full price.” I offer a smile and side eye Pops, pleading him to be quiet.
“I’ll give them to you as long as you take that man with you and make sure he never steps foot in here again. Ever. Can you do that for me?” he pleads.
“Um, I’d still like to pay -”
“No! It’s alright, we’re closing soon and don’t have time to complete the paperwork -”
“It’s 11am?” Ana points out.
“Oh yes!” store man laughs overly loudly, “it’s a special anniversary day for us, we close at 11am on those days.
” He spins, wildly looking around until his gaze lands on Marx.
“You, sir! You’re the one in charge. Get some of these large men to load up the two beds the lady requested, in fact use our delivery van!
Bring it back whenever you like, just never, ever let that man come back here. Please.”
Marx stares at him for a beat before shrugging his shoulders. “You heard the man, boys; load up their delivery van, and get Niko down here to drive it to Joy’s.” He turns to the store owner. “Sorry about that.”
Everyone starts to disperse and I take my purse out of my bag, pulling out the exact right amount of cash for the things I needed. Putting my hand out to shake Mr Bedder Than Ever’s hand, I slip the money to him. He opens his mouth to argue, but I shake my head.
“Please, you were nice enough to put up with us testing out the beds, and you remained calm when Mad Dog and Pops got stuck,” I reassure him.
“I don’t feel calm,” he mutters, taking the cash from me and giving me a shaky smile. “I guess I did get a good work story out of it.”
“That you did.” I grin at him and watch as the DRMC once again jumps into action.
The men move out the beds I purchased while Pops and Mad Dog both soak up all the attention they are getting from the Ol Ladies. And by attention, I mean teasing.
“You ready to get back and finish setting up your place?” Switch asks, coming to stand beside me, the heat of him warming my left side.
“Yeah. Is it bad that after all this I just wanna set up my bed and have a lie down?” I gaze up at Switch and I’m sure I see heat in his eyes before he looks away.
“After this excitement? You’d probably wanna sleep for two days to process the trauma.
” He snorts and I finally let out the laugh I had been holding in the whole time Mad Dog and Pops were stuck in that bed.
“You wanna ride back with me? Get a little wind therapy before we dive back into unpacking boxes?”
I’m not sure whether I answer out loud or not as all I can hear behind me is Switch’s booming laugh as I rush toward the most beautiful bike I’ve ever seen.