Chapter 12
Switch
“You sure about this, brother?”
“I’m sure. Regardless of whether Joy was involved or not, it’s the only way for us to keep them all safe and concentrate on what we got going on,” I reply to Rhodie.
I know he’s nervous. Fuck we all are. But Petrov even without Thompson and McDonald, has proven to be a formidable opponent.
He has money, and men at his disposal. The way I see it he’s just like Roman, a heavy hitter in Russian crime, even if he doesn’t have the Pakhan title.
We need to shut him down and we can’t do that if we have the women and children to protect.
We need them away from the clubhouse, away from the DRMC until we get this shit done.
Shit, we can’t even send them to The Keep, not when they are affiliated with us.
They have a target on their backs just like we do, which is why their women and children are going with ours.
“Are ya’ll just gonna stand there or are you gonna come give your momma a hug?” A smile tugs at my lips and I push off the bonnet of the SUV I was leaning on to stomp up the porch steps and scoop up my momma.
“It’s good to see you, boy.”
“Thank you for helping Momma,” I whisper into her white hair before pressing a kiss to her crown.
“Nonsense. This is the kind of thing we’ve trained for.” She steps back, rubbing her palms up and down my upper arms, like she's trying to warm me up. “Now, are you going to invite all your little friends inside?”
“Momma -”
“Oh hush!” She shoves me back a little so she can look around my bulk. “Yoohoo! Come on inside, I’ve got lunch on for y’all.” Momma beams and then hustles inside.
“I think you should call your cousin.” Rhodie says, in a low voice, looking around at the land surrounding the house.
I know what he’s seeing. From the road Manning Ranch looks like every other run down ranch.
Until you drive down the long, dirt road and take a good look.
The solar panels covering the entire roof of the sprawling farmhouse.
The water mill further back on the property.
The propane tanks. The fenced off acres of vegetable garden with the small number of stock beyond that.
If they looked close enough they would have seen the hunting blinds on the way in and dotted around the house.
The reinforced windows and radio antenna poking up from the highest point on the roof.
“Do you think we really need him? My family has got this. I have three brothers and two feral sisters living on this land along with my parents. You don’t think that’s enough to keep them safe?” I crack my neck, a little worried that maybe Rhodie hasn’t told me everything.
His large hand lands on my shoulder and he squeezes it tightly.
“Brother, it’s not your family being able to protect our family that causes me concern.
It’s the fact that this will be like a fucking paradise to Chewy and some of the women.
They’re going to go bat shit bonkers once we let them out of the car to see where they’ll be staying.
” I raise a brow at him. “Dude, there’s a fucking shooting range and a bomb shelter with a black mark on the dead grass in front of it.
” He gives me a dead eyed stare. “If Petrov’s men end up here, they ain't coming back out. At least your cousin might be able to rein our women in before they terrorize The Keep families. And yours.”
“If we can’t control them, what makes you think he can?” I raise a brow in question.
“He’s a scarier motherfucker than all of us combined.”
I let out a snort before dipping my chin. “Get the families inside, I’ll call him.”
Rhodie slaps me on the shoulder again before whistling and waving at the SUVs full of our most precious cargo.
I wander along the wraparound porch, heading for the quiet corner that looks out at the water mill.
The gentle water swishes as it does its thing.
I forgot what this place smelled like. Felt like.
I had my first 18 years of life here, causing havoc and learning life lessons with my brothers and sisters until I got the bright idea to enlist. I may have come out a fully trained doctor, but the price I paid was higher than anyone should fucking have to ever pay. Even more so for my cousins.
Scrolling through my phone I find my cousin in my contacts list and hit call. He’ll know some shit is up seeing as we only ever message.
“What’s wrong?” a gruff voice answers abruptly.
“Well, hello to you, dearest cousin.”
“Cut the shit, Switch. What’s wrong and who needs to die?”
I chuckle over the line, thankful that even with the distance between us he’s willing to drop everything to help me. “You ever heard of a guy named Petrov?”
He’s silent. Too silent. “Trades in skin and has ex-military contacts. From what I’ve heard, he’s a bad motherfucker.”
“And we’ve pissed him off.”
He inhales deeply before blowing out a long breath. “When do you need us by?”
“No need to bring the whole crew, just need someone to keep an eye on our families. We’ve brought them to the ranch.”
“Fuck, you think they’re in more danger than our family can handle?”
“I think they might be more dangerous than our family can handle.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t ask. You’ll figure it out,” I reply with a smirk.
“Gimme 12 hours. I’ll bring Mercy. It’ll be good for her to get out for a while. She hasn’t seen Aunt Betty and the girls in a long time.”
“Ah, fuck. You think it’s a good idea to bring Mercy? Who’s looking after the club?” I nervously scrub at my beard. No club should have the Prez and VP gone at the same time.
“Don’t worry. I’ll leave mom in charge.” A laugh bursts out of me and it feels fucking good to laugh at something for a change. “See ya when I get there.”
“Thanks, Gallows. I owe you one.”
“Just introduce me to your woman.”
“What the fuck, I haven’t got -”
“Don’t bullshit a bullshitter. There ain't no way you’d drag the family into something unless you had skin in the game. See you in 12.”
With that he hangs up and I stare down at the phone in my hand. Well, shit.
Joy
I don’t like to judge people before I know them, but I think Reid’s family might be even more bonkers than the DRMC. Case in point: Kit is currently in the bomb shelter with the rest of the DRMC and Keep kids, while Reid’s brother Marsden is showing them his “little” bombs.
“Are you sure they’re going to be OK in there?” I ask nervously, picking at one of my less scabby cuticles. I’m not sure who I’m asking, I’m just hoping someone here will put my mind at ease.
“Oh definitely. My kids go in there all the time with their uncles. They’ve set off bigger explosions than those ones and they’ve all come out fine.” I eye the tow-headed set of three boys who seem to be poking each other with sticks that Reid’s sister Margo gestures to.
“They’ll be fine, babe,” Reid says, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.
I snuggle in deeper, angling my head slightly and inhaling the scent that is all Reid. Leather, antiseptic soap, and something uniquely him.
“Did you just sniff me?” he whispers, his chest shaking, bouncing my head where it rests.
For some reason physical affection with Reid isn’t scary.
It’s warm, safe, and gives me butterflies.
Something changed between us last night and again this morning when he wrapped me and Kit in his arms and we slept.
The crush I had on him before seems to have settled into something deeper, something stronger and I know that I should be running for the hills, pushing down my feelings and swearing off men forever after what happened to me.
But instead, I want more of this, more cuddles, more touches.
I want to feel his lips on mine, on my body. I want to feel him on me and inside me.
“You good, babe? You’ve gone all red,” Reid says with a chuckle and I hide my face.
“Why do you talk to her in a normal voice but then bark at us?” Reid’s other sister Martha asks, in a booming voice.
Reid shrugs. “Joy actually listens to what I have to say.” I arch my head back and he gives me a devastating smile. “And I don’t have five other noisy fuckers to talk over.”
Margo and Martha both flip their big brother the bird before two of his other brothers, Riker and Riley come out of nowhere with a cattle prod and a hat with beer cans attached.
Reid makes a noise similar to a squealing pig and then takes off, his siblings after him, laughter bouncing off the walls as the Ol Ladies and their men all watch in fascination.
“Is it me, or are they way worse than us?” Tav asks, staring at the five fully grown red heads all wrestling on the floor while their momma swats at them with her tea towel.
“They’re most definitely worse than us. More hillbilly even,” Rider comments as he leans against the porch railing, a chicken drumstick in his hand.
“Did you see their set up out here?” Chewy says, her gaze darting everywhere.
“They’re set up for self sufficiency,” Vex’s woman, Loyal says.
I’ve had the pleasure of meeting her before.
She is the adoptive mother of Kit’s half sisters.
The sisters Kit was over the moon to meet when they were introduced to each other earlier.
It should have hurt my heart to meet them, the twins that my late husband fathered with another woman, but it didn’t.
It actually made my heart feel lighter. It’s good to know that there are more people in the world related to my daughter, and that they have two amazing parents who dote on them.
“How do you figure that?” Kaia asks Loyal.
“We have the same set up at The Keep.” She smiles.
“Trust me, I get how crazy it sounds,” her friend Joe says, “but it seems to work.”
With the Keep chapter having been called in to backup the DRMC, the Keep women and children have landed here, at Switch’s family ranch, with the rest of us.
Along with Loyal and Joe is another woman, Nell, who seems about as jumpy as I was when I first left Travis.
It seems crazy how over such a short period of time I’ve gone from that fearful, jump at my own shadow, woman, to, well, someone who washes men in the shower and invites them to cuddle.
“Oh, she’s got the blushes, ladies and gentlemen!” Mira calls out, a huge grin on her face. “Tell me, have you been thinking of a big, bearded ginger?”
“Of course she has! I’m fucking handsome!” Reid’s brother Riley calls out, throwing me a wink.
A growl sounds out before a thick arm bands around my waist, and I know it’s Reid without looking. He pulls me against his hard chest and I can’t help but laugh at his possessiveness. This isn’t like how it used to be with Travis. He saw me as a possession. Reid sees me as a treasure.
“Whoa, I’ve just noticed how many fucking gingers are running around this place,” Rider says, wide eyed.
“We are seriously outnumbered,” Savage agrees, grinning so wide that I’m sure he’s not bothered.
“It’s like a cult,” Fox says, flipping Reid the bird.
“All we need is Rodney and we’d have a full set,” Jazz laughs and we all join her.
“Oh don’t even start! He wanted a playdate with the kids and I had to let him down gently,” Blanche says, eyes wide.
“You and gently in the same sentence doesn’t really compute, babe.” Tav grins, then dodges his Ol Lady’s backhand to the gut.
Everyone from the two MC’s settle in, laughing, chatting, some of us getting to know each other better, all of us knowing that this is the calm before the storm.
Before the men ride out to help rid the world of evil men.
Reid pulls me down onto his lap as he takes a seat and we watch small explosives go off in the yard, his siblings bickering, the kids who aren't in the bomb shelter attacking each other with Nerf guns, the MC brothers all ribbing each other and the women doing much of the same.
It turns out that I had nothing to be nervous about.
Well, not in the way I thought I did. I thought I wouldn't fit in, that no one would like me, that all the things my father and Travis had told me I was over the years was true. Instead I have friends, a family even, and that in itself makes me nervous because I so very much want to keep this family, this life, and I worry that somehow it’ll be ripped away from me.
“Are you happy?” Reid’s voice murmurs in my ear, stopping my spiralling thoughts.
I think for a moment, chewing my bottom lip. “I’m not happy about the situation, but I am happy that it brought you into my life. You and your crazy family.” I grin.
“Which ones? It seems I’ve brought about 100 people here tonight.” He huffs.
“And I can see myself loving each and every one of them.”
He stiffens for a moment, before his voice softens, “I hope one day I will be one of those people that you love,” he says quietly, so quietly I might have missed it.
“You don’t have to wait for one day. You’re already there.” I feel his lips tip up as he presses his face into my hair, squeezing me just a little tighter.
“Fuck this, I can’t stand watching it anymore.” Pops grumbles, getting up from the step he was sitting on, dusting off the back of his chinos. “Kids, let me and Aunt Chewy show you what a real bomb looks like.”