7. 7
7
D awn
The days ran together lately, and I knew I had to find something to do with my time after the exam. My brother had made arrangements for the proctor to come to the shelter for the test. Cara was going to let us use her office. I was surprised they agreed to it but then when my brother’s club wanted something they made it happen. I had not seen Doc in days and that was probably for the best. I needed to focus on passing this exam. My bruises were almost completely faded away and were easily covered with a little makeup. So, I put on some jeans and a cute sleeveless top along with my boots and walked over to the Shelter. It felt good to be outside by myself. Of course, that wasn’t completely accurate since there were some newly patched members guarding the gate and one ran the guard shack with the cameras. When I got to the gate separating the Shelter area from the rest of the compound Remy opened the gate.
“Hey Dawn, how is our resident lawyer today?” Remy asked me as he stood outside of the guard shack and smiled at me. His thick Cajun accent rolling off his tongue. He was definitely a looker and very smooth. He was also closer to my age. Maybe I should flirt with him since Doc clearly doesn’t want me.
“I’m not a lawyer yet but I will be soon. You plan on getting into some trouble I may need to save you from?” I winked at him. He looked me over and I saw a pure lust in his eyes. Oh yeah, this could be fun.
“Nah Cher, just doing my job. Good luck with your test. We will have to throw you a party when you pass.” He smiled at me and then went back into the guard shack.
I saw the proctor’s car parked in front. It was eight in the morning and the Shelter didn’t open until ten in the morning. I opened the door and went inside. I saw Cara and Fang were getting supplies to go feed the animals that were living here at the time.
“Hey girl, you ready for today?” Fang asked me as he snagged me for a bear hug. “You know you’ve got this. When you finish, come find us and we will show you the ropes around here.”
“Sounds good Fang. Thank you.” I stepped back and was relieved that his quick hug didn’t trigger me as badly as I thought it would. Most likely because I had known him most of my life and he was family to me.
I turned to walk into the office, and I saw the proctor was a woman. I was instantly relieved because I couldn’t stand the thought of being shut up in a room with a strange man and trying to concentrate on my test.
“Good morning, Ms. Wilson. Are you ready for your final exam?” the lady asked me politely. She had everything laid out on the desk along with a few pencils. I noticed that Cara had a bottle of water and an apple for me. I had two hours to complete the test.
“Yes. Thank you for coming.” I wanted to show appreciation for her accommodating us on the location. “My brother is very protective of me since the abduction last month.”
“Quite understandable. They seem to have quite the set-up here. My name is Lauren Dutton. I will be sitting over here reading while you do your test. When you finish turn your papers over and put the pencil down on top. If you need a bathroom break just let me know.” Ms. Dutton said as she sat down with her phone in her hand waiting to start the timer. I took a deep breath and sat down behind the desk then nodded to her to start. “I’m starting the timer now.”
I focused on my test and the time flew by quickly. I was so thankful for the extra time to study because I felt very confident as I went through the questions. Even the essay style questions were easy. When I finished, I turned over the papers and put my pencil down. I stood and stretched. Ms. Dutton looked up at me in surprise.
“Do you need a bathroom break Ms. Wilson?” she asked me before she noticed that the test was turned over with my pencil on top.
“No ma`am. I’m finished.” I told her. I looked at the clock and realized it was only nine fifteen. I still had another forty-five minutes.
“Do you feel confident in your answers?” she asked me as she stopped the timer. I nodded my assent and opened the bottle of water to drink some. “Well, that’s great. I will take this back and submit it to the panel for grading. They will contact you by email with your final grade within the week. Good luck.”
“Thank you.” I told her as I watched her leave. I saw Blade pass her at the door and he stopped to stare. I giggled at his reaction to her. When she pulled away, he shook his head and turned to me.
“Hey peanut, you finished already?” he asked me with a smile. Blade was a big guy; he was about six feet two and was built like a linebacker. Broad through the shoulders with a barrel chest and muscular arms. People gave him a wide berth because his size was intimidating. I just thought of him as a big brother.
“I am and I’m starving. I’m going to eat my apple and then go find Fang and Cara. What are you doing here?” I asked him suddenly wondering why he was here.
“I thought I’d see about helping out once in a while. They put up a volunteer sheet for the club to sign up for shifts. It saves money for the shelter, and I just thought I’d pick up a couple of shifts when we get back from Denver.” He said as he walked with me to the back.
“Who all is going to Denver, is it dangerous?” I asked. I don’t know why I bothered as they never gave us details. He looked at me for a minute. I thought he was going to say something but then Cara came around the corner.
“Hey, you’re finished already?” she said smiling at me. “Come on back you two. Blade, the signup sheet is on the cork board by the kennels.”
“You really have an amazing place here. They did a great job putting it together so fast.” I told her as I looked around.
“Fang thought of everything, and he enlisted help with whatever he was unsure of. Blade and Kyle helped with the build out along with the crew they work for occasionally. It is so amazing.” Cara blushed as Fang came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, planting a kiss on her neck.
“Some of us are going to be gone a couple of days, we leave tomorrow. It’s good that you will be here to help Cara. She tries to do too much on her own.” Fang said as he smiled at me. “There will be a handful of guys that stay behind this round. You know we won’t leave our women and children unprotected.”
“I know, you guys be careful.” I whispered as I looked at Cara. “What is my schedule?”
“I have that in the office. Let’s leave the guys here to chat and we can go get everything set up.” Cara walked ahead of me. We stepped into the office, and she closed the door. “Have a seat.”
“How do you handle it?” I asked her as I thought of Fang being in on my rescue. “It must make you crazy worrying about him.”
“It does a little, but I have faith that he will do everything in his power to come home to me. That means he won’t be reckless or take unnecessary risks. I also know his brothers have his back.” Cara looked at me and smiled. “You worry about your brother, but you are worried about Doc too, aren’t you?”
I looked down blushing and nodded. Cara read me, so easily. Doc and I have not been in contact since he came by the house, and I apologized to him. I’ve decided that I am going to focus on getting better and maybe having a little fun with Remy. I had my first time taken from me so maybe I could at least have a say as to who I gave my first kiss to. I always thought it would be Doc, but he didn’t want me.
“I just don’t want any of them to get hurt, but I appreciate what they do more now. If it wasn’t for them, I would have been sold to a brothel. I tell myself that if they can save other women or children from that fate then it’s worth it.” Cara looked at me and started to say something but apparently changed her mind. “I have you scheduled for half days this week from six to ten in the morning. You will be feeding the animals and letting them out for a run in the yard. I’ll be with you for a couple of days until you get the hang of it. It doesn’t sound like much but there are quite a few of them and some of them have to be let out separately. Some animals come to us abused and require more care before they can be adopted out.”
“Can I start tomorrow?” I asked her, knowing I needed to get out of the house before I went nuts. “I just need to be doing something. There is only so much cleaning I can do at home and cooking dinner just doesn’t really keep me very busy.”
“That would be great. I am usually down by then, so I’ll meet you at the front door. We will get you a security code so that you can get in when it’s just you. There’s almost always at least two people here at a time. The guys have been a great help.” Cara got up and walked me out. “Be sure to get some rest.”
“See you tomorrow. Thank you.” I gave her a little hug and headed back to the house. Austin and Sophie were likely enjoying some alone time, so I changed direction and headed to the clubhouse. There was a common room and a huge, stocked kitchen. I could hang there for a while and give them more alone time. I sent a text to my brother letting him know where I was.
I walked in and saw some of the guys playing pool in the back of the room. They had some music playing in the background. It was a nice relaxing atmosphere. I wandered over to watch them play and enjoy the music. I swear I think being hot was a prerequisite for being a Ripper. All of the guys were easy on the eyes. As I hopped on the stool with a bottle of water in my hand, I saw Remy aka Cajun, look up from where he was lining up his shot. He gave me a smirk and then cleared the table. A couple of the guys groaned, and he shrugged. Handing the stick to his brother Lucas aka Bolt he came over to where I was sitting and climbed on the stool next to me.
“How are you doing Cher?” he asked in his sexy voice. The nickname was cute, and I was surprised to be so attracted to him. I wondered if I was just nursing a schoolgirl crush on Doc since I seemed to be able to enjoy Remy’s attention.
“I’m good, are you going with the guys tomorrow?” I asked him. Remy was hot he had wavy long dark hair, dark eyes and tattoos all over his sexy body from what I had seen. He was charming and attentive.
“Nah, someone has to stay behind to make sure none of you ladies get into trouble.” He smiled at me, and I knew he was teasing. “Are you hungry?”
“I’m starved, I guess I need to go fix something to eat.” I said as I started to get off the stool. Remy put his hand on my arm and shook his head.
“We ordered pizza, it’s at the gate and Gator is bringing it in. There is plenty to share. Will you eat with me?” he asked me. I bit my lip and nodded. “Good, you stay here, and I’ll go fix us a plate. Anything you don’t like?”
“Just no anchovies.” I said with a smile as he winked and went to fix our plates. I watched him head to the kitchen and thought about how nice it was to have the attention of such a handsome guy. I knew my brother would probably have a hemorrhage when he found out, but I’m an adult and he needed to get over it.
Remy came back with our food, and we ate while chatting about what he did for a living. Seems he was a Master Plumber and HVAC tech. He and his brother ran their business and had a couple of employees to cover when they were out on missions or needed time off. I knew all the members paid tithes to the MC to help keep it running. He had a lot of funny stories about some of the jobs they got called on. We had been talking for over an hour when I saw Axle come in followed by Blade, Hawk, Fury, Fang and Doc. They all headed to Axle’s office; Doc glanced at me when he passed by but didn’t say anything. Well fuck him, I didn’t need his damn attention anyway.
“I guess that’s about their job tomorrow.” I said as I looked back at my companion. He had a funny look on his face as he studied me.
“Are you involved with the Doc?” he asked me curiously. “I’m not stepping on a brother’s territory, am I?”
“I’m nobody’s damn territory or property. I can talk to who I like when I like and no, I’m not involved with Doc. He just took care of me after they brought me home. He doesn’t even see me like that.” I said vehemently as I hopped off the stool to go throw away the paper plate and the empty bottle of water. I turned to see that Rider had stopped him from following me and was saying something that seemed to piss Remy off.
“If Gears has a problem with me dating his sister, then he needs to take it up with me himself. Dawn is a grown ass woman and should be able to date who she wants. If I’m lucky, that will be me.” He turned around and saw me standing there staring at him. “Dawn, I know they don’t want you to leave the property right now, but would you like to watch a movie with me later here at the clubhouse?”
“I’d love that. What time?” I asked him. I wanted to go home shower and fix myself up a little. I wouldn’t look like I was trying too hard, but I wanted to make an effort.
“I’ll pick you up at six and walk over with you, is that okay?” he asked me. “That will also give me a chance to talk to Gears and clear the air.”
“I’ll be ready.” I said as I practically floated out the door. That will show Doc, I don’t need his attention. I was going to get better, and I would do it my way.