Chapter 3
TWO MONTHS LATER
The holidays came and went. As promised, Steel took Jenna to the Bahamas for Christmas.
She was not allowed to lift a single finger regarding the club’s annual Thanksgiving or Christmas festivities.
In fact, Steel bought her a massage chair that was placed in the seating area of the clubhouse for Jenna to stay in while she directed everyone else.
Following the shell casing bringing no new leads—Ranger and Star had swapped out the real casing for an identical one that would not match any rifle in the database—the DEA had been forced to drop their interest in Steel.
Toni Anderson, the club’s criminal attorney, had even gone as far as to demand a letter of apology from Agent Strouse, which had pissed the man off to no end.
In truth, Steel hadn’t needed it, but he’d sure enjoyed the seething look on the man’s face when he’d handed the letter to Steel.
In the past two months, the only thing of disturbing significance that had been discovered was evidence of two sniper perches outside the club’s property.
They were in two different areas, but both had a clear line of sight to Steel’s house.
The club took measures to protect their property and destroy the perches.
Unfortunately, there was no way to remove all the trees surrounding the property, but Keys had already purchased the land across the street to build his new security firm on.
He took down the trees he needed, as well as some ones he didn’t, to prevent such an easy line of sight to the club.
Additionally, he created an electric field around the club’s property.
While such technology would not stop a bullet, it could—theoretically—slow it down or change its trajectory.
The field wasn’t on all the time. It activated at the sound of a gunshot or when it sensed something moving towards it at over five hundred feet per second.
So far, it had never been activated outside the tests the club had done to ensure what the brothers were calling Keys’ Mad Science Experiment actually worked.
Darrin and Viktor, the club’s prospects, sole responsibility was to protect Jenna. They were on her like white on rice, much to Jenna’s annoyance. Steel didn’t care, though. She could be annoyed, so long as she was safe.
No one new had appeared in Ollie’s life, nor was there any backlash from Dixie’s murder. It was like that month had never happened and Dixie had never returned. Keys did not drop the surveillance on him, or any of their other kids.
Ghost took the presidency on the first of the year, though technically he could have claimed the title two weeks earlier when Steel and Jenna had departed for the Bahamas.
After months learning everything Steel had to teach him, Steel was more confident than ever that the club had voted correctly.
Ghost was a natural leader, and Steel was proud of the man.
Ranger had been voted in as the club’s new Enforcer. No one was surprised by this. Ghost and Ranger were inseparable, as friends and brothers. There was no doubt that, when Lucky was ready to step down as VP, Ranger would take his place.
Technically, the house Jenna and Steel had lived in for the past eight years was the club President’s house, per the bylaws.
Unlike the others who owned their plots of land and the homes they built on them, Steel and Jenna rented their house at no charge from the club.
When Steel had announced he was stepping down, he’d offered the house back to the club.
The Officers, including Ghost as the Enforcer, had refused to hear of it.
Jenna and Steel could remain in that house as long as they wanted, regardless of who held the title of President.
They’d even signed a legal document so no one could insist Steel vacate the property. The gesture was sweet, and appreciated.
Lilly had only stayed for about a week, and even made time to stop by to visit Melanie and Jordan at college and Carter, Lucy, and Drew at their home before heading back to South Africa. It was bittersweet to see her, because Steel had no idea how long it would be before she’d be back again.
Jenna was doing really well. She had one more pseudo-exacerbation, or flare-up, around Thanksgiving but no new symptoms. They were falling into a steady routine and were likely being more cautious than necessary.
If it kept Jenna’s symptoms down while also keeping her mobile, Steel couldn’t give a shit. Bring on the caution.
The Bahamas was amazing. They went for three weeks, leaving just before Christmas and returning just after the New Year.
Three weeks of beach, sun, and days in bed.
Jenna worried about missing Christmas, but after last year and how much stress the holidays had put on Jenna, Steel was thrilled to get away.
To just be them. No kids, no club, no responsibilities.
They even went to a nudist beach, because it had always been something on Jenna’s bucket list. And fuck it, they were on vacation.
As freeing as Jenna found the experience, Steel had a hard time—no pun intended—not popping wood every time he looked at her.
He spent a good part of the day with a towel over his lap.
Other than when Melanie had visited over Christmas Eve and Day, Ollie had stayed at Angel and Cage’s while they were away.
This was for his protection as well as company.
Cage assured Steel that Ollie would not be sleeping in Aaron’s room.
Steel and Jenna had assumed Ollie would be sleeping on their couch, but later discovered that Aaron had given up his room to Ollie and had claimed the couch for himself.
Per Cage, Aaron did not like the idea that Ollie was sleeping so close to the front door and wanted to put himself between Ollie and any potential danger.
Steel had a hard time admitting that he really liked his son’s boyfriend. Because fuck, it was his job as Ollie’s father to make his boyfriend’s life miserable. And Aaron was taking that joy away from Steel by being too fucking honorable.
Didn’t change the fact that Steel had Bulldog run Aaron exhausted at their next training session. He still had to have some fun.
Returning was interesting to say the least. Steel had left as the President and had returned as…
He wasn’t really sure. They hadn’t actually declared a title for him.
He wasn’t a member. The offer to be a part of the club had been there, but Steel had declined.
If he remained in the club, he would feel obligated to participate, and it had been a long time since he’d taken orders from anyone. It was better to have a clean break.
Calling himself an ex-member seemed morose. He supposed classifying himself and Jenna as friends of the club was the best thing. They were still living on property. Neither Jenna nor Ollie had turned in their cuts.
He’d felt equally displaced when he’d left the Marines after so many years. It was that awkward transition period. Regardless, he knew he’d made the right decision and could now devote the entirety of his time to taking care of and being with Jenna.
The only club business he asked to be kept in the loop on was if there was anything new on the sniper, who hadn’t been seen or heard of since October when he’d killed Dixie Gilbert.
Ghost promised, as well as swore that Jenna, Ollie, and their adult children would continue to have their protection.
The Mountain Mutineers were also doing discreet check-ins, but with no current threat, they were pulled elsewhere.
Heavy snowfall came in the middle of January, including one night when they got over eight inches.
The pond behind the clubhouse was usually frozen from December to February most years, and this winter was no exception.
When the snow day was announced, none of the kids were interested in participating in the online lessons the school had set up.
The ol’ ladies, including Jenna, worked under the pavilion to set up a hot cocoa bar, including spirits for the adults who wanted some.
The club kids and some of the adults spent the afternoon ice skating.
Tall, outdoor heaters were placed around the outside of the pavilion as well as smaller ones by each picnic table.
The firepit just outside the pavilion was also lit for when the kids were ready to have s’mores.
Paths had been dug so the smaller kids, Jenna, and Scotty did not have to fight to walk around in the high snow.
Steel was constantly checking on Jenna to ensure she was warm enough.
He was not thrilled about her being outside in this weather, but Jenna would not be swayed.
She was feeling really good, and she wanted to see the kids skating.
She had heating packs inside her snow boots and gloves as well as a battery-operated heated snow suit. Her headband was also heated. While he was not pleased to learn she’d given away her heated scarf to Scotty, he couldn’t fault her for it. The lovable teen was hard to say ‘no’ to.
All in all, it was a great afternoon. Some of the club members slipped up and still called Steel ‘Prez’ out of habit, but it turned into a running joke.
Neither Ghost nor Steel minded, though. As Jenna had reminded him only that morning, regardless of titles, the club was still family, and that was all that mattered.
The pond wasn’t actually a ‘pond’ by scientific standards.
It was just what the club called it when they bought the property and found the water area.
It was approximately fourteen feet long and sixteen feet wide.
There were no fish or wildlife that they knew of that called the pond home outside of some frogs and the occasional visiting duck family.
The bottom was mostly mud and sand. The previous owners hadn’t said much about it, only that it had been their hope to one day turn it into a koi pond.