Chapter Twenty-Eight #2
“Give me a hot chocolate. I’d like a drink, but I need to stay present so I can keep an eye on Carter.”
“I’ll keep an eye on the kid too, so how about I spike that with some Baileys? It will help you unwind just a little, but won’t make you unreliable if something happens?” David offered.
Tania stared back at him with narrowed eyes for several seconds, then nodded. “All right. I’m in.” She turned to Jordon.
Jordon looked around the table, down at the baby, then to David.
“Can I get one of those hot cocoas too?”
“Spiked?”
“Please.”
“I’ll be right back with those,” David turned and headed for the bar.
“You’re drinking?” Andy asked, her gaze on Taylynn, clearly thinking the same thing Jordon had earlier.
Taylynn rolled her eyes. “No. Watch. He’ll bring me a virgin one.
No one is going to serve me anything they don’t think I should have.
” She sighed. “I almost had to stab Hunter this morning when he got between me and the coffee pot. He’d read somewhere that pregnant women should avoid caffeine.
Probably just read a headline and not the whole article.
Anyway, he decided to take it upon himself to make sure I didn’t hurt my baby with one cup of coffee a day, which is perfectly safe!
” she snorted. And when she spoke again, she’d calmed a little.
“Anyway ... he figured out real quick not to get between me and my coffee.”
“Did you do it or did Raven hand him his ass for crossing you?” Tania asked.
“Both,” Taylynn said before burying her face in her hands.
“I didn’t mean for him to get in trouble, I just wanted a cup of coffee.
” She lowered her hands after a moment. “Raven is not tolerant of anything that upsets me lately. And I’m feeling far more emotional than usual.
This is a recipe for disaster and I’m not sure how we’ll get through it.
I don’t doubt that we will, I just wonder how.
” A tear streamed down her face. Andy reached across the table and covered one of Taylynn’s hands with her own.
“You’ll get through it. We’ll be here to help, all of us will. You know that.”
Taylynn nodded. “I know,” she sniffled, then wiped a hand over one cheek, then the other.
“I better dry this shit up or he’ll be out her yelling at you all.
Then your men will get involved. I don’t want to deal with that mess.
Plus, Carter doesn’t need to see it.” She turned her gaze to the kid still playing contentedly, smacking blocks against each other then stacking them and knocking them down again as he laughed.
Jordon watched the way the four women interacted. It was nothing like how she and her brothers got along, but closer to her and Marci. Maybe she wouldn’t feel so out of place if she moved out here with Spider.
“You must think we’ve lost our minds,” Tania said, turning to her. “We haven’t but I understand why you might think so. I’m so glad you guys decided to come back for the weekend. I was glad to finally meet Fletch.”
Jordon frowned. She’d thought all these women had been around a while. Why hadn’t she met Fletch? Tania was with Smokey, and Carter was clearly his, so how had Tania not met Fletch?
“Tim—I mean Smokey—and I have only been together for a couple of months.” She glanced down at her son, then back to Jordon.
“Well, this time. Smokey didn’t know about Carter until then either.
I didn’t tell him I was pregnant. It’s a long story, but I was—no, still am—married to someone else.
Fletch has been handling the paperwork for my divorce.
It’s good to meet the man who’s helped me so much. ”
Jordon blinked. Clearly Tania was going through something but as curious as she was, Jordon would never ask. It wasn’t her place. Maybe later, if the two of them grew closer, then she would find out, but for now, she let it go.
A moment later, David came back, a tray balanced precariously on one hand.
“Here you are. A virgin daiquiri.” He set the first drink down in front of Taylynn, then continued, giving each woman what she’d ordered, ending with Tania and Jordon and their hot cocoas. “Anything else I can get you?”
“We’re good for now,” Taylynn said after glancing at each of the girls. “We’ll let you know if we need anything else.”
He nodded, turned, and went back to whatever he’d been doing.
“Told you,” Taylyn said, lifting her drink in Andy’s direction before taking a sip.
“Raven told the prospects weeks ago that we were trying and not to give me anything with alcohol, but not to advertise it. I haven’t had anything with alcohol since I found out.
” She smoothed one hand over her belly again.
“I wouldn’t do anything to harm this little one, not if I can help it. ”
“I didn’t think you would,” Andy said, “Which is why the way you ordered surprised me. I should have known Raven was way ahead of us all.”
“Enough about us,” Taylynn waved one hand as she turned to Jordon. “Tell us more about you. Spider seems serious.”
“He is. He asked me to move in with him while he’s in Bozeman, then come back here with him.”
“Well?” Andy said.
“Are you going to do it?” Tania asked.
Jordon bit her lip as her gaze flicked from one face to another as she met each woman’s interested gaze.
“I think so. I’m not one hundred percent sure yet but I’m at about ninety.
” She sighed. “I want to. I’m just worried about whether it will work.
How will my family react? And that’s not about Spider.
Daddy seems to really like him. He’s the only reason I even know Spider.
But he doesn’t live alone. If I move into a house with two or more men, what will people say?
There will be people who judge, even when they don’t know the facts.
Will my decisions have blowback that affects my family? ”
“That is a lot,” Andy said, slumping back into her seat.
“I have a question,” Taylynn spoke up.
“What?” Jordon was happy for anything that might help her decide.
“If you asked your dad what you should do, what would he say?”
Jordon blinked a couple of times, thinking about it. But she didn’t have to think for long before she knew. She could actually hear her father’s voice in her head as he told her to live her life and not worry about the rest of them. They knew the facts and everyone else could get over it.
“He’d tell me to do what makes me happy.”
“Then why are you hesitating?” Taylynn’s look was kind as she watched Jordon.
Jordon opened her mouth to say she’d already told them, but realized she’d just admitted Daddy wouldn’t care. What was holding her back? She closed her mouth and tilted her head as she thought about it, really thought.
It was fear.
Her eyes went wide as she continued to look at Taylynn. Taylynn nodded, a small smile curving her lips before she turned to the others.
“Tell me what you’ve been reading this week? I just finished Winter Traver’s Devil’s Knights series, so I’m on the prowl for something new.”
They talked for a while about books. Jordon pushed away her worries about taking things farther with Spider and enjoyed the talk, even making note of a couple books she needed to pick up.
By the time men’s voices came down the hall, letting Jordon and the other women know whatever meeting the men had been in was over, they’d all finished their drinks, with Jordon and Tania having ordered more.
That spiked hot chocolate was to die for.
She had to wonder why she’d never tried anything like it before.
“Hey, wildcat,” Spider said as someone pushed him next to her. She turned and found him sitting in a wheeled office chair, someone behind him. A quick glance at the man’s cut told her he was Hawkeye. She didn’t think she’d met him yet.
“Hey, name’s Hawkeye,” he said, holding out one hand. She shook it then turned to Spider.
“You’re done?”
“We are, well, mostly. We need to hang around here for a few more minutes, then we can do whatever you’d like.”’
“I’m good here, but let’s find a table for both of us. You want to stay in that chair or move to one of the others?”
“This is good for now. When we’re ready to go somewhere, whether back to the house or anywhere else, I’ll get one of the prospects to fetch my crutches.”
She shook her head but couldn’t hold back the smile that crept across her face. “You’re spoiled. Don’t think I’m going to wait on you hand and foot. I’ve got other things to do.” She moved behind his chair and turned him to face an open table.
“Like what?” he asked, tilting his head all the way back so he looked up at her.
“I’m not sure yet, but I’m sure I can find something.
If I’m going to move into town, I’m going to have to find a job of some kind.
I can’t sit around all day long, and you’ll have Dax around—you don’t need anyone else waiting on you.
” She patted his shoulder before moving to sit at the table she’d positioned him at.
“I get the feeling we’re waiting for something specific? ”
“Yeah, but I can’t tell you what. We won’t have to wait long, just until everyone gets inside.”
David appeared with her second cup of hot cocoa and set it in front of her.
“What’s that?” Spider asked. When she told him, he said, “Oh, that sounds good, but I want it a little different.” He turned to David, “I’ll take one of those, only instead of water or milk with the chocolate, use coffee.”
“Can do. I’ll be right back.”
Jordon watched as David went back to the counter and got to work on Spider’s drink. While she watched, a couple of the Fallen Angels stepped behind the bar and helped themselves to whatever they were after.
“He didn’t even talk to anyone else. And they’re getting their own drinks. Why is David waiting on us?”
“He’s a prospect, so we’re back to that earning their place thing, but they all know that to the Angels, our women get priority, then anyone who’s injured or less able to get for themselves for whatever reason, unless that reason was their own stupidity.
After that, officers get priority, so Raven. Jersey, Hawkeye and the like.”
“What do you mean?” she turned her gaze back to Spider. “What is their own stupidity?”
“Basically, if they’ve done something they knew better than, or they’d been told not to do by one of the officers, that would be doing something stupid.
If you do something stupid and you get hurt, that’s kind of a fuck around and find out, and you don’t end up with extra help because then, how would you learn? ”
“I’d think the pain of getting hurt would be a decent lesson.”
“For some it is, others not so much. It’s not punishment. More like facing the consequences of your actions. That’s something we all need to learn, whether we learn it before we become Angels or after.”
“Like Daddy making Levi walk back to the barn when he failed to tie up his horse.”
“Exactly.”
She nodded and opened her mouth to ask if he’d ever had to deal with facing the consequences while he was an Angel, but Raven clearing his throat and stepping up onto a chair stopped her. She turned to him, eager to see what they’d been waiting for.
“All right, it looks like everyone’s here. Dax, I need you to come up here.” Raven scanned the room, then nodded when he saw the prospect already heading his way.
“This was a little overdue,” Raven continued as Dax made his way through the room, “but Dax has been busy. He’s spent most of the last few months in Bozeman with Spider and we wanted to wait until they were both back.” He clapped a hand on Dax’s shoulder when he came to a stop in front of him.
“You have been with the Fallen Angels for, what, almost fifteen months?”
“About that,” Dax said.
Raven’s gaze scanned the room then turned back to Dax. “Like I said, this is overdue. We took a vote and decided you no longer fit in as a Fallen Angels prospect. I’m going to need your cut.”
Dax’s shoulders slumped as he slowly peeled off the vest.
Jordon’s chest ached. She couldn’t imagine having worked for so long just to be told, in front of everyone, that she no longer fit in, that she was no longer wanted. It made her wonder if Spider might ever do that to her. Would he just decide one day he didn’t want her anymore.
Spider’s hand covered hers and squeezed.
She looked at him. He mouthed something that she couldn’t make out.
He must have seen that because he repeated it more slowly, this time she could tell he was asking her to trust him.
She could do that, at least until they proved her wrong.
She turned her attention back to what Raven was saying at the front of the room.
“In the last fifteen months, you’ve done everything you’ve been asked.
You handled shit better than some of us would have in your shoes.
As a whole, the Fallen Angels have decided they no longer want to call you prospect.
” Raven held one hand behind him, as someone handed him another leather vest similar to the one Dax had shrugged out of.
Raven pulled the vest forward and held it up so everyone could see the winged, haloed skull on the back. “We want to call you brother instead.”
Tears sprang to Jordon’s eyes. Around her the room erupted in cheers.
She wanted to let her head fall forward to the table as she regained her composure, but she couldn’t.
Instead, she kept her head up and her gaze on Dax and Raven.
It took a moment for the cheers to die down, but when they did, Raven continued.
“Dax the prospect is no longer. From now on, you’re Echo, the Fallen Angel.”
“Echo?”
Laughter sounded around the room.
“And that’s why. It’s not a bad thing, but you’re the only one who will repeat orders to make sure you got them right, so Echo it is. Go get a drink then join me over here.” Raven waved a hand indicating the tables in the general area. Dax, no Echo now, nodded then hurried off.
Raven stepped off the chair and came to where Jordon sat with Spider.
“Mind if I join you?”
“Not at all,” Jordon said, wondering what was up now. She liked Taylynn and had no reason to dislike Raven, but she was leery—she didn’t know him well enough not to be. Not yet.