Chapter 10
Vex
My gaze is trained on Loyal as she has her head bent toward Mama Debs, soaking up whatever Mama Debs is telling her.
“You good?” Dex asks, coming to stand beside me, his shoulder brushing mine.
“Yeah. Just making sure Loyal is all good.”
I ignore his gaze, boring into the side of my face.
“Loyal is a lot stronger than you think, brother. She’s taken to those two little girls like a duck to water.
Her friend ends up here, shit kicked outta her and instead of bursting into tears she checked her over and relayed everything to Switch so he could assess her.
She’s going to make one hell of a paramedic one day.
” He slaps me on the shoulder. “And one hell of an Ol Lady.”
Without looking back he stalks off, headed for one last word with Marx.
The rest of the DRMC family are busy hugging each other, saying their goodbyes before they get on the road.
It’s busy and loud and even though I know I’ll miss them when they leave, I also look forward to the peace that will descend upon us so we can keep things calm and light for the girls.
Flicking my gaze around the room, it lands on Bree and Addy, sitting quietly with Elio and Judge’s daughter Annie-Bella. She’s a sweet kid, too sweet for her own good, but the twins look at her as if she hung the moon, and she pays them the attention an older sister would.
I arch back when something bony jabs me in the ribs, swinging to catch Saint and he jerks away laughing.
“You asshole,” I growl, taking another swipe at him.
I miss him as he dodges away from me, but it doesn’t matter. The moment I had, which I admit was me perving at Loyal from across the room, is now gone.
“So, you doin’ something about that?”
I jump at Mad Dog’s soft rumble, a little too close for comfort.
“If by that you mean Loyal, then yes. I am. I’m letting her lead.”
“Good. Cos I don’t want to see you fuck this up,” Pops says, on the other side of me.
I have no idea what made the Tombs family so sneaky and terrifying, but whatever it is I guess I’m glad they’re on my side.
I study Pops, eyes narrowing the longer I stare at him. “Why are you two so invested in our love lives anyway?”
“Love makes the world go round, son,” Mad Dog says, clapping a hand on my shoulder before moving toward the door.
Pops stares me down and I return it. He takes a breath, letting it go slowly.
“Look. My grandbabies are all coupled up, living their best lives. The rest of you shitheads? Well, I look at you all like you’re all my grandbabies.
I know what it’s like to be lonely. Now that I’ve found love again,” he turns, gaze finding Mama Debs across the room.
She blushes prettily under Pops’ gaze before he turns back to me.
, “I want everyone to have what I have. The person that understands them. And no one understands you better, than that girl over there,” he tips his head toward Loyal, who beams when she sees Pops and my attention on her.
“Oh, and if you tell anyone I told you that, I will punch you in the dick so hard you won’t be able to use it for months. ”
“Noted,” I say with a curt nod.
Pops grins at me. “Call me if you need help.”
I give him a mock salute and he rolls his eyes on a growl before wading through all the kids to reach his woman as she migrates toward the door, the rest of the DRMC moving in that direction alongside her.
The Keep all assemble outside the doors, offering last handshakes, bone jarring back pats and in Chef’s case, longing glances toward the woman he can’t have.
Yet. Judge, as road captain, starts his engine first, the rest of them following a moment after until the air is nothing more than a deafening roar.
Marx holds his hand up, circling his finger in the air slowly pulling out.
We watch as one by one, the riders head down the drive, the DRMC SUVs following close behind until silence descends over the Keep.
“So, when can we see them again?” Damian asks, the mastiff dog by his side.
Dex looks at him, then at the dog at his feet, brows raised. “Where the fuck did he come from?”
“I think you’ll find he’s a she, mon ami,” Damian replies smoothly.
Dex stares at him, before taking a deep breath, “Where the fuck did she come from?”
“Yeah, Damian, where did she come from?” Justice asks, a bored look on his face.
“We went on out to get Miss Joe’s dog. When we pulled up, there’s two of ’em sittin’ there, just lookin’ at us like we were the ones lost. She ain’t never said nothin ‘bout there bein’ two, so we didn’t know which was hers.
I looked at ‘em and said, nah, a woman like Miss Joe, she’d own that one.
Turns out she owns the little one and I don’t know why this one was chillin’ with Mosely. ” He shrugs.
“Who the hell is Mosely?”
“Miss Joe’s doggy,” Damian answers as if that’s obvious.
Dex pinches the top of his nose. “So then who the fuck owns this one?”
“What does her tag say?” Loyal asks, voice smooth like silk, stopping Damian from answering with riddles or nonsense.
“Huh?”
“Her tag,” Loyal gestures toward the dog’s collar.
She kneels down beside the dog, holding her hand out to sniff. One whiff of her and the dog almost throws itself in her lap, her stub tail going wild, shaking her whole body with her happiness.
Loyal giggles and the sound hits me square in the gut.
“OK, well it looks like her name is Barbara. There’s a number and an address on the tag, but it’s not Joe’s number. You might want to take her back Damian. Her owner might be missing her.”
Damian’s shoulders slump a little and I can see written all over his face that this dog already has his heart. The man looks like he’d rather have teeth pulled than return that sweet girl.
Offering Loyal a hand up, I lean into her space, my lips brushing her ear lobe.
“Keep an eye on the girls, I’ll be back soon.
” I press a kiss to her temple then step back, eyes focused on Damian.
“Damian, let’s go.” I tip my head to the road and try to ignore Loyal’s eyes dancing as she tries to hide her smile.
“You’re a good friend, Vex.”
“Probably too good,” I mumble, stalking toward the club’s SUV with the big blonde behind me, whispering sweet nothings to the big, drooly dog.
“Hey, Vex!” I turn when Dex calls me. “Good luck with that.” He grins while the rest of the crew cackles.
I close my eyes briefly before yanking the car door open. I mean, how bad can a quick trip with Damian be?
Loyal
As soon as I enter the clubhouse Addy and Bree rush up to me and curl themselves around me. I hold them tight to me, knowing full well that without the chaos of the DRMC and the other kids to keep them distracted, all the feelings of seeing their Aunt Joe have come rushing back.
“Sorry, Loyal, I tried to keep them occupied but, well -” Nell gives me a tight smile and I reach out and lay a hand on her arm.
“Thank you, Nell. It’s been a big day and the DRMC are quite good at making you forget what’s going on.”
She brightens at this. “You can say that again.” I huff out a laugh as she turns bright red, obviously embarrassed at her comment. “Oh my gosh, I don’t mean it in a bad way or anything,” she cringes.
“No, I know what you mean. They’re just unapologetically themselves.”
“That they are. I kinda wish -” Her voice trails off as color rises on her cheeks and she shakes her head, eyes on the floor.
“No need to wish, Nell. With enough time, you and I will be women like them one day. Fun loving, mischievous, loved.”
Nell’s large brown eyes meet my own. “Loved,” she whispers back, barely heard above the men walking into the clubhouse.
“Loyal, can we see Aunt Joe?” Bree asks, chin tipped up.
I run my hand over her hair. “Aunt Joe isn’t feeling too well, sweetheart.”
Her face darkens. “Was it her boyfriend again?”
Addy tugs on my hand. “We can help, Loyal. We have looked after Aunt Joe before. We know what to do.”
I really want to say no, but these kids have been through more than enough and they clearly love their aunt.
I guess a quick peek to make sure Joe doesn’t need any more pain killers or fluids might be enough to get them to relax.
It’s hard when you’re miles away from everything you know, with strangers and your aunt turns up.
I would imagine they’ll want to spend time with her, someone familiar.
Well, barely given what their father did to Joe’s face and body.
“OK girls, we’ll go check in with your Aunt Joe, but just a quick visit so she can rest and get better. Agreed?”
Both their heads bob, copper curls bouncing with the movement. I take their hands and lead them down the long hall to Justice’s room. He’s sitting next to the bed, talking in hushed tones, eyes on Joe.
“Aunt Joe!” Bree shouts, running into the room and interrupting whatever Justice was talking about.
“Bree and Addy! My favorite little munchkins, have you been behaving for my friend Loyal?” The eye that isn’t swollen shut twinkles as she greets the girls gingerly wrapping them in her arms.
Justice growls at the movement causing all our eyes to shoot in his direction. “Ah, sorry, just, be careful girls, your Aunt Joe is a bit sore,” he says softly, eyes on Joe.
“It’s OK, we know how to look after her,” Bree says.
“Lucky Joe, to have the cutest nurses around,” Justice says, slipping back into his easy going nature.
“Anyway,” Joe says, rolling her one visible eye, “You never answered me when I asked if you were behaving for Loyal.”
As soon as Switch gave Joe pain medication she relaxed into her bed and then demanded I tell her why I had her nieces in my custody. Safe to say, once she heard the plan, she was onboard.
“Yes,” the girls chorus at her, ignoring her pitiful raised eyebrow in my direction.
“They’ve been perfect little angels, Joe,” I reply, with a wink.
“Good. Now, I got to listen to Mr. Justice’s nice story. What say we cuddle up and let him tell us another, huh?”