Chapter 16 #5
Steel tried to stay away from the clubhouse, letting members come to him and Jenna rather than interfering with club business.
The more time that passed, the more Steel kept thinking about Papaw’s words to him at that colonial home in Philly.
Ghost could never be the President this club needed him to be if he reigned from Steel’s shadow.
One night in May, an idea came to Steel, and it was one that he couldn’t quite let go of once it took hold.
“What are you looking at?” Jenna asked him that night.
Steel was sitting up in bed with his socked feet crossed at the ankle.
He had on a pair of pajama bottoms after dressing Jenna in his matching button-down top.
Now that he was back, he’d fully taken over Jenna’s care and hygiene needs.
While they didn’t say it, Steel knew that both Lilly and Jenna were grateful for this.
And as he’d told her once before, he was the only one allowed to perform a panty check on his wife.
Jenna loved the page-turner remote Steel had gotten her for her Kindle.
He’d also recently gotten her a body pillow that looked like a giant marshmallow man with an oblong hole in the center.
No doubt the surviving Gavigan brothers knew or suspected that Steel had taken Kelly’s and Eoin’s fortunes.
It was too big of a coincidence otherwise.
Steel didn’t mean to leave that extra angst on Ghost’s shoulders, but he had every intention of using Melanie’s murderers’ money to help fund her mother’s healthcare needs.
And there was a good chance that the Gavigan brothers were too scared to come after the club after seeing what Steel had done to their father, brother, and two of their employees.
Seamus might have killed the other four execution style, but that was a quick, almost merciful, death in comparison.
Not that Seamus was a coward, but he probably didn’t want to be dragged behind a motorcycle either.
Steel tilted his iPad towards her.
Jenna’s legs were twitching under the sheets as she had massaging compression boots on to help with her circulation.
Their new bedroom, the old den, was a bit smaller than their master upstairs had been, so her chair had to remain outside the room or there would be no direct path for Steel around their bed.
Getting to the other side of Jenna in case of an emergency was more important than her chair sitting empty beside her bed, especially when Jenna didn’t have the strength to get herself in and out of it on her own.
Curiosity hit her, sending her eyebrows up to nearly her hairline. “Really?”
“Do you think I’m crazy?” Steel asked her, a little nervous.
“Yes, but you make crazy look sexy.” She carefully dropped the remote to her page-turner device in the tall basket by her bedside. “Bring it over here. I want to see.”
Steel scooted closer, careful of the wires that connected the leg massagers to the power outlet. He lay the back of his head down on her left breast, bringing her arm over his chest as he held the iPad up so both could see the screen.
As he flipped through the gallery, Jenna asked, “Is this permanent? What about Ollie?”
“I was thinking so. This house should have been Ghost’s the moment he took the patch, but he let us stay.”
“And you don’t want him to feel like you’re watching and judging his every move?” Jenna added.
Steel turned his head and kissed the valley between her breasts.
They hadn’t made love since the night before Melanie died.
And that was okay. Jenna’s symptoms were sporadic and unpredictable.
Some days, just the act of waking up exhausted her.
Their intimacy came at times like bathing, cuddling, or motorcycle rides.
And while Steel believed that he had to work towards and earn Jenna’s forgiveness, Jenna continued to insist that there was nothing to forgive.
“You know me too well.” Though it came out like a complaint, it wasn’t. Steel loved that he was predictable to Jenna. “Ollie’s done with school in a few weeks. Then Aaron leaves for basic. I think he’ll be happy to get away.”
“And when school starts up again?”
Steel tipped his head back to look up at her. “How do you think he’ll feel about homeschooling?”
“Honestly, other than leaving Bree, I don’t think he’ll mind. He’s got his eye set on Juilliard or NYU for drama, but he’s also been talking about starting photography after Aaron leaves.”
“Think about all he’ll be able to photograph if we do this.”
Jenna bit her lip. “I’m more than half convinced. Tell me more.”
The air around the club’s property was somber at best. Aaron had left a few days before for basic training. Cage was going a little nuts, especially with more than one club baby making an appearance. Of the four club pregnancies, three had been born.
At the end of May, Abby gave birth to Winnifred “Winnie” Louisa Santiago.
Two days later, Sophia gave birth to Charles Vane Sager, though Sophia would not admit if her son was named after the real pirate or Zach McGowan’s “fucking hawt” character in Black Sails.
And in the middle of Aaron and Scotty’s high school graduation ceremony, Dosia had gone into early labor with River Journey, or “RJ” to match his siblings JJ and SJ.
Angel had passed her due date and was now officially late. Aaron was off to basic, Bree was antsy about starting senior year, and Cage was acting like he was the one who was pregnant. And as amusing as his antics were, it didn’t change what today was.
Steel handed the keys to the president’s house over to Ghost, which were a lot since nearly every member had a key, plus Jenna, Steel, Carter, Lucy, Jordan, Melanie, Ollie, and Lilly.
Lilly had stayed for a few days following Steel’s return, and then she’d departed. As much as she loved her brother and Jenna, it was time for her to get back to work. She had plans on stopping in Europe on her way east to check in on Jordan, who had extended his trip on a more permanent basis.
Carter, Lucy, and Drew were also present. Lucy wasn’t due for another two months, but they’d been helping with packing up the house when they could.
A brand new Newmar Dutch Star class A motorhome was currently idling in the clubhouse’s parking lot. The fifty-four foot camper was a beauty, and its most unique feature was the wheelchair lift on the side of the chassis.
Behind the camper was one of the club’s former SUVs. The exterior, though, was no longer black. The hood was now painted a striped rainbow and the rest a bedazzled gold. A new decal on the back windshield said I’m so gay, I can’t even drive straight.
Following Ollie’s accident, it had taken a bit to get him comfortable driving again.
When Jenna and Steel had sat him down to discuss the possibility of them going on the road as full-time RVers, Ollie had obviously had some questions.
With Aaron leaving for basic, Ollie’s single regret had been leaving Bree behind for their senior year.
Bree, though, had insisted that she not be the reason Ollie didn’t go on this great adventure.
She’d even given a chunk of her swear jar money into purchasing Ollie a Canon EOS Rebel camera to show her support.
After that, things happened pretty fast. Steel and Jenna had never owned a camper before, so they wanted to do as much research as possible and talked to other families online who were full-time with kids.
Additionally, Steel needed to know that the camper worked with Jenna’s needs.
The dealership offered to let them take a used one that they had on their lot for a test run one weekend.
There were definitely some learning curves, but the biggest obstacle they found was that the mobility model did not have a second bathroom.
In the non-mobility models, most had half-baths in the units as well.
The lack of a second toilet caused a bit of an issue, which resulted in Ollie having to pee outside in the middle of the night because he didn’t realize the campground’s bathhouse had a code that required entry.
So back to the drawing board they went. As much as all three of them liked the experience, the lack of a second bathroom was more of a problem than the fact that Ollie didn’t have his own bedroom.
They’d already planned on towing Steel’s motorcycle, either on a hitch rack or a flatbed, but that meant two at max could go anywhere without requiring another vehicle.
That led to the question of whether a motorhome was the best camper for them, if it left them without a separate vehicle.
They looked into accessible fifth wheels and toy haulers, even traveling to a giant RV show in Tampa, Florida, to look at some.
But in the end, neither Steel, Jenna, nor Ollie liked any model as much as they had the Dutch Star.
Then Grumpy had called Steel up a few weeks ago and told him that he’d seen a small travel trailer for sale while out on a tow. From the outside, it looked to be in good condition, and he suggested Steel head over to take a look at it.
It was a small nineteen foot Forest River Wolf Pup toy hauler. And even though it was a 2016, it was barely used, and the owner just wanted rid of it. Steel hadn’t even asked Jenna first before he bought the camper, and then called Grumpy to help him tow it home.
Some might consider needing two campers for a family of three extreme, but Steel didn’t give a fuck.
Ollie got his own space and bathroom, though he was welcome inside the motorhome at any time for any reason.
The toy hauler meant that Steel could store his motorcycle without needing additional equipment.
There was more storage space, and because the travel trailer needed to be towed, it solved their lack of a vehicle problem.