Chapter 9
nine
Ace
I'm a twenty-five-year-old guy getting overly excited over pushing a stroller.
If I'd been told a week ago that this is what I'd be doing, I would've thought whoever thought I'd be taking care of a kid and a mother was on something.
Yet, here I am, walking with Penny on my arm and Leliah waving to every passing car. Everything feels good in life.
It feels good to see Penny more focused on what's in front of us. Despite her grip on my arm starting stiff at first, she's slowly relaxed as we moved along with the rest of the foot traffic. During the daytime, this part of town isn't too bad.
Occasionally, there's the familiar rumble of a bike in the distance, but she doesn't even flinch.
If any of my brothers caught me in the act, I don't think any of them would let me live it down. Those who chose the bachelor's life would be doing a double take. Hell, they'd be looking at Penny like she was secretly holding me hostage.
Maybe in one way or another, she does have me locked down. I'm definitely here by choice, though. Especially here, out in public.
I need everyone to get a good look at how I've got it. A gorgeous woman on my arm and a cute kid. I want them to be jealous.
God, I'm going to have a permanent jaw strain for how much it hurts from smiling.
When we make it to the small shack, Leliah insists that she doesn't need to be in the stroller anymore because of how she wiggles and struggles to get out. Her grunts and groans are pretty easy to read.
Penny leaves me to help her, amused to let her out to run in the direction of the large menu posted on the wall with plenty of sugary treat art to catch any kid's eye.
"She's going to want everything," she warns with a little sigh as she watches me pull out my wallet. "She's going to have a sugar rush for hours."
"And then she'll crash hard, yeah?" Lifting a brow, my mouth curves into a smirk. "Then it'll be just us two. Oh, what will we do to pass the time?"
Learning how easy it is to make this woman blush, she turns such a lovely pink at my words. Then she nods, and it's my turn to feel heat on the back of my neck.
"Yeah?"
Another nod. "Yeah."
This kid needs to eat a lot of ice cream, stat.
At the vibration of my phone, I pause when seeing who it is. The perfect bonerkiller, my smile tightens.
"Everything okay?" Concerned, her brows lift when I plant my wallet in her hands.
"Get whatever you want. I need to step back for a second." Reassuring her with a nod, my smile falls when she takes Leliah's hand to decide on what they want.
Returning my eyes to my phone, I take in Hex's message.
She's sent a few green check mark emojis, a target one, and a... house? Why in the hell can't she just text like a normal person? I'd call her, but without doubt, she'd ignore it.
'Someone could be listening', she says, opting to play a game with pictures instead. The best way to confuse the enemy is to confuse her friends, I guess.
Smoke's better at this than I am. Assuming the check marks mean she's found what I asked of her, my smile returns for just a few seconds before I realize what it means to find the guy.
Nooo. Fuck. There goes our alone time.
Sighing, I shoot out another message, this one looking for a ride.
"Change of plans." Nudging her arm once I return to her side, I tuck my phone back. "How would you feel if we visited the warehouse again?"
She tries not to grimace. "We're going to have to ride in the delivery van again, aren't we?"
"Until I get that SUV." Nodding, I pick out a flavor that looks pretty good. "We can eat on the way there. Oh, and don't worry about if she makes a mess. We've got a fantastic cleaning company that does detail work at a great discounted price."
It's the prospects. They do it for free because Havoc scares the shit out of them.
Hoping to make her feel better with a joke, I get a real grimace this time. "Do I want to know what they clean up?"
Ah. I think I need to rework my dark humor to match hers.
"Uh, grime and dirt." Not a lie. Some of the guns we get in transport are covered in god-knows-what. I don't need to mention any bodies or our club members bleeding in the back.
Repeating my words, she shakes her head. "We've traveled in it once. We can do it again."
"That's the spirit." Looking at the bored teenager running the stand, I add my cone to the mix. At Penny opening my wallet, she nearly drops it when seeing the bills inside.
Looking between the teen and me, her fingers tremble. "Can you break a hundred?"
In my defense, I haven't gotten the chance to do anything with my winnings from the casino since she's come into my life. Plus, I didn't know she'd be shocked by a couple of thousand dollars.
She should see me when I'm on the floor. Showing off to her may be deemed a distraction, but I'd still bring home enough for them to live however they wanted.
Chuckling under my breath, I can't help but think how cute this woman is. Now I just want to spoil her.
But first, I need to prick this annoying thorn of a problem out. After that, I'll spoil them both.
The warehouse is busier during the day than at night.
Dante's brooding on the U-shaped couch, accompanied by Casper, his sister, and Killer. Butcher's throwing darts hard enough to risk breaking them if he misses. Devil must be his opponent from the way he's kicking his legs back and forth from his seat on the pool table.
My family. My brothers. And right now, every single one of them is a potential threat to her comfort.
Looking around, I debate which direction to head toward.
Butcher's going to scare the hell out of Penny, but Leliah might like the arcade games. Dante is going to make Leliah cry if she sees that wicked scar on his face. Hell, he makes plenty of men cry just by looking their way.
I'm already running damage control in my head, and we haven't even crossed the room.
"So, listen..." I suck on my teeth and grimace. "I need to take care of something, but I need to leave to do it. Therefore, I'm going to have to leave you here to make sure you’re safe. As great as Smoke is, I can't rely on him all of the time."
She pales and hugs her sticky daughter. That instant fear guts me every time.
"You met Casper, he's pretty cool." He might be willing to do me a favor if I owe him one in return. Though I don't know if he's the best guy to watch over her, he's better than most. "Yeah, let's talk to Casper."
My movement encourages her to follow, but she's shy enough to cling behind me. Using me as a shield, I like it more than I should.
Dante, of course, is the first to notice us. His brows immediately furrow as he looks past me at both of them. His eyes narrow, and Leliah waves to him in return. Surprisingly, his scowl cracks. Guess he's got a soft spot for kids. Seems Leliah is as brave as her mother.
Or maybe she's just impossible not to love with those plump, flushed cheeks.
Casper tilts his head back and lifts his brows above his dark glasses. "Oh, hey, the kid returns. That's the one, Prez. Cute, right? When I told him someone actually brought one here, he couldn't believe it."
At his grin, I swallow thickly. Even more so when Dante turns his eyes on me for a minute.
Killer and Cassia lift their gaze before she's gasping when she's waved to next. "Oh my goodness. Killer, look."
While Killer's reminding her that he already met them, Penny's letting out a shaky breath.
"This is Leliah." She steps aside to introduce her daughter. "Thank you for having us. Um, I'm Penny."
Hearing her say her own name to my family does something to my chest. Like she's becoming real here. Like she's becoming mine in front of everyone.
While Cassia is awestruck and trying to beckon the girl to come her way, I'm shifting closer to Dante and Casper. Leaning over the couch, I'm thankful when Penny creeps toward the couple. "I need to leave them here for a couple of hours. Maybe a little more."
Dante's scowl is right back in place. "Not exactly a good place for a toddler."
Casper swipes his hand toward him but misses completely. "Ignore him. Better to ask what kind of shit you're about to stir up. You're not about to bring trouble here, are you?"
"Of course not. I just need to... pick up a package and deliver it to those Outlaw assholes. That's all. Simple as simple is."
Dante seems to disagree from the way he stands. Rounding the couch, he slaps his hand on my back and makes me take a few steps away, much to Penny's dismay.
My wink doesn't reassure her in the slightest. I'm not about to get chewed out by the scariest dude here, am I?
"Want to tell me why I had Axel breathing down my neck about a few of his rats with broken noses?" He smiles at me then, and I think it's far worse than his frown. "As much as I wish I could’ve been there in person, you know how I feel about that asshole complaining to me."
"I broke one nose." Trying to defend myself, he squeezes my shoulder tighter and makes me wince. "In my defense, I explained why I was there, and they chose violence first."
Do I throw Killer and Devil under the bus? Their knuckles were as bad as mine.
They touched what's mine. They got what they deserved. I wanted to kill them for scaring her, and showed mercy instead. I deserve a gold star or something, damn it.
He sighs and releases me when my smile returns. "When you went there, I thought you were settling something."
"It's a work in progress. Oh, but there's an update. Hex found him, so I'm going to go deliver. Smoke's busy with the casino, so how about you just give me a couple of guys, and we can wrap this up."
I don't need an army. I just need enough to make sure I come back to her.
He stares at me for a moment before lifting his gaze, and I know he's staring at Penny. His brows pinch together. He's going to say no. He's going to tell me to put her somewhere else. He's going to—
My smile tightens, and I shift in front of him to take his view. "They're special to me, Dante."
Dante's eyes narrow on the brief agitation that crosses my face before he looks like he's weighing something heavier than club rules.
"Special," he repeats, flat. "That's what you're going with?"
I’m not the kind of man to bite his tongue, but for Penny, I’m forced to stop myself from saying something snarky.
“She’s mine.” Saying the words out loud feels so much better than repeating them in my head. “Therefore, she’s special. They both are. I'll do this on my own if that's what it takes to get the job done, but I'd rather have someone watching my back.”
If he wants to be such a rule follower, then he knows we protect our own. If that means getting Johnny out of the picture to do so, then he should be able to see why this is important to me.
Or, maybe he’ll just think I’m impulsively jealous of the guy, who knows?
He stares at me for a long, heavy moment. Long enough to make me uncomfortably shift from one foot to the other.
Finally moving, he lifts to pinch his brow. “Don’t start anything and stay low. I don’t need the cops sniffing around for a kidnapping.”
Fuck yes.
"Talk to Hex. She'll give you whatever intel you need." He glances past me toward Penny, then back. "I'll talk to Devil. Don’t let him kill anyone."
Relief hits me so hard I almost forget to breathe. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet." Dante's voice drops lower, meant only for me. "You bring trouble to my door because of this, we're going to have a different conversation. But you've never given me a reason to doubt your loyalty, Ace. I'm trusting that hasn't changed."
"It hasn't."
"Good." He claps my shoulder once, harder than necessary. "Now go handle your business. And when you come back..."
He looks at Penny again. From the way she's watching me from across the room, worry etched into every line of her face.
"When you come back, introduce her properly. Warn her about the others. They’re going to swarm that poor little girl. She is cute."
My chest swells so full I think it might crack open. "You got it."
Dante steps back, returning to his spot on the couch as if nothing had happened before curling his hand at Penny, telling her to join them.
Hardly to my surprise, Penny shyly listens.
She’s going to be okay, they both will. When she sees that I’m not the only one who loves them, she’ll realize just how much she can fit in with our group of misfits.