18. Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Eighteen
Sophia sat at a table in the clubhouse. It had been a week since her date with Tack and the fire at the barn. Tack’s time off had been up yesterday, but he’d promised as he kissed her goodbye that he’d meet her at the clubhouse for a get-together, barring any calls late in the day.
She understood. They both had jobs that entailed other people.
If one of her clients had an emergency with their animals, she would leave the gathering and take care of them.
When her dad was alive, they rotated on-call weekends.
Maybe it was time to see if there was someone with whom she could share her clinic or even another clinic with which she could trade covering each other’s patients on the weekends.
Having Tack in her life had her reconsidering how much free time she had.
Adley walked in carrying a huge pile of presents, with Ruthy and Tack’s Aunt Charlie following behind with a cake and trays of cookies.
Adley laid the presents on a table. “Anybody seen Justice?”
Ariel walked in the front door, pushing a double stroller with the cousins sitting side-by-side. “The guys just pulled in. I want a good seat for this.”
Sophia wondered what they needed a good seat for and why.
“Oh, because a year ago today, I saved Justice when he was arrested. I decided that we should commemorate it. I bought myself presents from Justice and made a cake and cookies,” Adley said, dusting her knuckles against her Property of Justice cut.
Sophia couldn’t wait and got up to see the cake. She chuckled. The cake had a stick figure stuck behind bars. Another stick figure with a skirt and a cape flying behind her was outside the bars with Adley saves the day written across the top of the cake. “I love that.”
Adley grinned. “I was pretty proud of myself.”
Tack, Justice, Pit, and the other members walked in together.
Tack spotted her and made a beeline to her, tugging her into his arms to give her a kiss.
She fought a moan at feeling his full lips against hers after not getting to wake up beside him this morning.
She’d gotten used to having him next to her and waking her up with a kiss and a cup of coffee. He pulled away, sighing deeply.
“Missed you, babe.”
“I missed you too,” she admitted softly, texting Lake and Freedom to head over. They were bringing her surprise slash ambush. She hoped no one would be mad.
Tack looked over at the cake just as Justice turned toward it after greeting Adley the same way Tack had greeted her.
“Happy Adley saves the day,” Adley chirped.
Justice laughed, shaking his head. “And the presents?”
“For me, of course, because without me doing my magic and saving you from prison, we wouldn’t be married. Well, one of the presents is for everyone,” Adley said.
Justice slipped an arm around Adley, kissing her cheek. “Let’s celebrate Adley saves the day because she’s right. Without her, I’d probably be serving time for a crime I didn’t commit.”
Oh, now Sophia would need to find out about that because everyone had been asking questions about all her issues. Adley and Justice’s story sounded interesting, and she loved a good love story.
Ruthy and Charlie served everyone cake and cookies. Everyone settled into seats to watch Adley open the gifts she’d bought herself.
“Oh, my, look—Justice bought me that new leather backpack I wanted for court. It’s exquisite,” Adley cooed.
Justice shook his head. “Laying it on a bit thick there, aren’t you?”
“Well, this is the only year that we’re celebrating, and I’m buying my own gifts. I expect you to learn this year unless,” Adley said, turning her hand until she was flipping him off.
“No, no, no… I’ll learn. I do not want to go back to you ignoring me and flipping me off as you drive away,” Justice said.
Sophia grinned. “Did that really happen?” she asked Ruthy.
“Oh my, yes. She did not want to have anything to do with a motorcycle club or Justice. It was quite the adventure watching them,” Ruthy said.
Ruthy leaned closer. “I don’t know if Tack has had a chance to update you, but so far, Jolene and Rufus aren’t talking. Now, we’re just detaining them and asking questions while allowing Cuffs and some others to dig deeper into them.”
Sophia was glad for an update. Before Tack had left yesterday, he’d mentioned they’d made no headway, but Ruthy was a little more forthcoming.
“And this is for both of us,” Adley said, handing Justice an envelope with a smirk.
Justice’s brow furrowed as he opened it, but then he whooped and picked Adley up, spinning her around in his arms.
“Whoa, don’t make me nauseous,” Adley pleaded.
Justice paused, letting Adley slide down, and then turned to everyone. “We’re having a baby,” he crowed.
Sophia jumped up with everyone to congratulate the couple. Tack hugged Justice while she embraced Adley.
“Congratulations. I’m so happy for you,” Sophia said.
“Thank you,” Adley replied.
Once everyone had their turn congratulating the couple, the club settled back to relax. Cue was delivering barbecue for supper in a little bit, and Sophia’s surprise should be pulling in.
At the sound of a horn honking, Sophia stood up.
“Umm, my surprise isn’t as special as Adley’s, but I hope you all will take it in the spirit it was intended. If you absolutely hate what I’ve done, you can say no,” Sophia ventured softly.
“Babe, anything you do will be fine,” Tack reassured her.
“I hope so,” she breathed, walking out to get the first present. Freedom and Lake had given them baths before bringing them.
Sophia took the two that Ruthy had mentioned but were too sick to even leave the clinic last week. A dark gold male cocker spaniel and a Blenheim-colored Cavalier King Charles Spaniel female, who Sophia had discovered was pregnant. She led the two into the room, walking over to Ruthy.
“Happy Fostering Day! You can totally say no, but these both are okay for fostering. The female is pregnant, and they seem to be bonded because they cry if they are separated. Would you be willing to foster?” Sophia asked, slightly worried Ruthy might say no.
“Do I get first chance to adopt them?” Ruthy pressed, crouching down on the floor to scratch behind the ears of each dog.
“Of course,” Sophia conceded.
“Then yes, I’d be happy to, but if you have any cats or kittens that get along well with these sweeties, then I’d take a couple,” Ruthy said.
“Hey, does this mean we all get to be fosters?” Ariel asked with a grin.
“Umm, yes. Please don’t be mad,” Sophia pleaded.
“Why would we be mad? You went shopping for us,” Ariel replied.
Sophia opened the door to accept the next animals. She walked them over to Shield. “I know you hadn’t agreed to training yet, but hopefully, after you foster these three, you’ll be convinced that you can’t live without having dogs to train.”
Shield grinned and nodded at her. “Thank you,” he said, crouching down to love on the three dogs.
Sophia led the next puppies over to Ariel and Pit and to Justice and Adley.
“Now these are only fosters, so you’re not committing to anything unless you want to,” she informed them, handing the leashes to each woman.
Sophia grinned at Justice, introducing Ian to the dog.
They all had collars with their names engraved on them to help them keep the dogs straight.
The puppies she’d picked for the boys were Australian Shepherds and were so friendly.
She’d known they’d be perfect for the boys, with Teddy turning one this month and Ian being eighteen months.
“Thank you, Sophia,” Justice said.
Sophia nodded and took the next handoff from Lake.
She walked toward Charlie with the carrier.
“You mentioned you loved the cats you’d had growing up, so I thought you’d be perfect to foster these sweet ones.
From what I can tell, they’ve all had multiple litters.
They’ve all been spayed so they can enjoy being cats, and you don’t have to worry about any more kittens except for the one that hangs out with them.
He cried when I put them in the carrier to bring them, so I brought him too.
He’s neutered, but if five cats are too many, I can see how he does separated from them,” Sophia explained.
Charlie leaned down and peered into the carrier. “Oh, aren’t you all just so cute. I’ll get you a cat tree or two and you can enjoy hanging out,” Charlie cooed. She stood up and hugged Sophia. “I’d love having them all as long as I get them after I foster them,” Charlie said.
Sophia nodded. This was working out better than she’d hoped.
“What about me?” Stinger questioned.
Sophia grinned and motioned to the door. Stinger took off running to the door, opening it. “Which one’s mine?” he asked.
She pointed to the two golden retriever puppies. They were the two smallest ones from a litter and had been too young and small to be at the adoption event.
Stinger picked them up, cuddling them to his chest. “Boys or girls?” he asked.
“Girls,” she informed him.
“Oh, are you going to be my good girls?” he crooned, bringing them up to kiss their heads. “Thanks, Sophia,” he replied, carrying them back into the clubhouse.
She finished handing the fosters out. Even though she’d brought multiple animals to the clubhouse, she still had so many at the clinic. There truly were never enough fosters for the animals.
Once they were finished, Lake and Freedom came to her. “Hey, boss lady, we’ll head back and take care of the evening feeding and anything early tomorrow. Why don’t you stay the night and be with your man?” Lake suggested.
Sophia thought about getting to stay in the clubhouse with Tack and not being at the house.
“Are you sure?” she asked. She didn’t want them to think she was taking advantage of them.
“Oh yeah, we’ll probably feed the animals and kick back in pajamas with a pizza,” Freedom said.
Sophia hugged the women whom she’d helped but who had become such amazing friends. She didn't know what she would do if she hadn't met them.
"Be safe and thank you,” Sophia said. She waited until Lake and Freedom had pulled out of the parking lot before joining Tack inside. She spotted him at a table with Pit and Justice. She picked up one of the drinks from the cooler and then settled beside him.
She was looking forward to an evening hanging out with Tack and his MC and getting to sleep in his arms tonight. Of course, if he wanted to bang her up against the wall, she wouldn’t say no.
Pit paused speaking and stared at her. Justice chuckled. Sophia blushed, ducking her head against Tack’s chest. Fuckity-fuck-a-duck, she’d spoken aloud again.
“No reason to blush. Tack has always needed a roadmap to know what to do, so you speaking your thoughts aloud will help him,” Justice said.
“Thanks, big brother,” Tack deadpanned.
Tack slid his finger under her chin and tilted her face up. “Up against the wall right now, or are you wanting to hang out with this lot?”
She stared at Tack. She didn’t want to hurt his feelings, but she’d really been looking forward to getting to know everyone better.
Tack nodded and winked at her. “Hanging out it is.”
“Food’s here,” Cue called, walking in with large boxes of food. He set his box down and started looking around the room. “Hey, why does everyone have animals?”
“Some of us are special,” Shield called out.
Cue put his hands on his hips. “What the fuck? I don’t get one?” he whined.
Sophia winced, feeling horrible that she hadn’t brought him one, but she needed to know the people before she could match them with a foster.
“You’re fine. I’ll let him know,” Tack said, patting her arm and heading over to Cue.
She appreciated Tack taking care of it because she abhorred disappointing people.
She’d been so worried about how they would accept the fosters, but she hadn’t needed to.
Cue felt left out. Sophia only wished that Freedom and Lake were here and getting to enjoy the evening.
She was thrilled she could stay the night, but she felt bad her friends were missing the fun.
“Who wants some mixed drinks with the barbecue? I’m thinking rum and coke,” Charlie called.
She hadn’t had one of those in forever. “I’ll take one.”