26. Vandal
VANDAL
I’m half asleep when the whispered voice outside my bedroom window drags me from the first decent sleep I’ve had in weeks.
“What the fuck am I doing up at this time on a Saturday morning?”
For a few seconds, I don’t move. Someone is in my yard, cursing about being there. And that someone sounds a lot like Sunny.
The room is dim, just allowing the occasional sliver of light around the edges of the blinds, and I feel so goddamn comfortable that opening my eyes feels like a bad idea. My body aches, but it’s from railing Daisy against the bathroom door and not from whiskey and pills.
Then it hits me that my first thought this morning wasn’t about wanting to get drunk or high.
It was Daisy and the way her back is pressed to my chest, her hair tickling my chin. Elsie is asleep facing her momma, one small hand curled beneath her cheek. And my arms, well, they feel fuller than I’m used to wrapped around the two of them, and I love it.
For a man who spent a lot of time telling himself he liked his own space, I’m having a hard time remembering why.
A second voice mutters, “Less talking, more edging.” Wait, that sounded a hell of a lot like Knox.
Carefully, I ease my arm from beneath Daisy.
She stirs, making a small sound, but eventually settles. I slide from the bed as quietly as a man of my size can, but then stand there for minute, looking at the two of them.
Yesterday, this room was mine. Now it’s ours.
Another scrape comes from outside, followed by Sunny loudly whispering, “You take one more chunk out of this border, and I’m gonna throw you in the canal over there.”
I cross to the window, lift the edge of the blinds with one finger, and peer out.
“Holy shit,” I mutter.
My yard is full of people.
There must be twenty of them moving around my lot.
Rainbow and Ridge are pulling what look like paint cans from the back of the truck.
Steffi and some of the girls are standing on the drive with mops and buckets and cleaning supplies.
Someone has given Reaper a chainsaw and he’s pretending to saw off Havoc’s arm.
And Sunny is crouched beneath the window, edging the border around a flower bed I vaguely remember thinking I’d plant at some point.
Meanwhile, Lock is pulling plants out of the back of his van like a regular landscape architect.
I let the blinds fall back into place.
Quickly, I tug on the jeans I wore yesterday and a clean T-shirt from my drawer before jogging down the stairs. My phone tells me it’s eight o’clock, and I’m confused as hell as to what’s going on so early.
I yank the door open just as Havoc raises his fist to knock. “Morning, sunshine.”
I glance over the yard and then back to him. “What’s…this?”
“The last thing you said yesterday before you left the clubhouse was that your house was a mess, and if you’d known you were bringing Daisy and Elsie back here, you’d have made better provisions.”
“Yeah?” I say carefully. “And?”
Havoc shrugs. “So, I called in some reinforcements.”
“Havoc.”
“What?”
“Why does Reaper have a chainsaw?”
Havoc looks over his shoulder, then back to me. “In his defense, he took it from Sunny, which we all thought was a good idea.”
Behind Havoc, Sunny straightens. “I hate the way none of you trust me sometimes.”
Knox pats him on the shoulder. “Leave the big equipment to the men,” he says.
Sunny grins wryly then grabs his cock through his jeans. “I already have big equipment of my own.”
Reaper fires the chainsaw, and a burst of birds fly out of the tree close to him.
“Progress already,” Havoc says. “They won’t shit on my truck all day now.”
I stare at my best friend. I should say something funny or sarcastic. Something that keeps this easy. But my throat tightens.
My club all showed up for me.
My brothers.
Their women.
The club girls.
People who could be sleeping in, or nursing hangovers, or literally doing anything else with their morning. But they’re here, at my house. With coffee, power tools, cleaning supplies, plants, and food.
My club showed up for me.
That’s the only thing I can think of while I try to choke down the tears.
Havoc’s grin softens as he steps up to me and just hugs me tight, my hands trapped down by my side. “Don’t make it weird,” he says. But his tone is filled with everything that makes him one of the most special human beings on the planet.
“I’m not getting weird, you asshole. I’m trying not to cry.”
Havoc laughs. “We’ll tell ‘em it’s because you hate the way Sunny is butchering your border.”
“I heard that,” Sunny says.
“Morning, sweetie.” Rainbow’s old lady, Katie, steps up onto the porch and pats my cheek like I’m a six-year-old, not a grown man with a criminal record. “We can whip your house into shape real fast if you’re happy to let us in.”
Before I can process any of this, Knox steps up onto the porch behind her.
He’s got work gloves tucked into the back pocket of his jeans.
“Let ‘em in, Vandal,” he says. “Unless Daisy and you would rather do it yourself. But Havoc said that right now, that little girl doesn’t have a bed of her own, so we brought one.”
“Let me do what?” Daisy says, slipping beneath my arm, placing her palm on my chest. She’s still warm from sleep, and her eyes are soft. Makes me want to pick her up and take her back to my room and…
…wait. Knox is right. Life would be easier if Elsie had her own room.
“Oh my God,” she says when she realizes how many other people are here.
“Club’s come to clean up and help you guys get settled,” Maren says, appearing behind Knox. “We know it’s a lot.”
Daisy looks up to me, her eyes showing she’s as overwhelmed as I feel. “That’s one word for it,” she says quietly. “I don’t mind. But why would they all do this?”
“Because we’re family,” Knox says.
Three months ago, I might have said that family was the people willing to bleed beside you. The people who rode when you called and stood shoulder to shoulder with you against trouble.
But I realize it’s much bigger than that.
I nudge Daisy onto the porch. “Thank you. We’re grateful for the help.”
Havoc claps his hands once. “Great. Emotional moment over. Everybody back to work before he gets inspired to hug us all.”
“I’m not hugging people. You’re the one who pinned me.”
“What’s the noise, Momma?” Elsie says. I turn and look at her in her pink pajamas. Her hair is sticking up on one side. Sir Bearington Boo Boo Bear is in one hand; the other hand rubs her eye. She looks smaller than usual as sleep clings to her.
I let go of Daisy and pick Elsie up. “They know my house is a bit of a mess, so they came to help.”
She looks at Havoc. “Even him?”
I chuckle. “Yeah. Even him.”
“Els-bells,” Havoc groans. “I thought we were friends.”
She raises an eyebrow. “Are we?”
Havoc winks at me like a child. “Absolutely.”
Her small body presses against me, and I gently put my hand on top of her head. “Are those pastries?” she asks, pointing in the direction of the food setup.
Havoc nods. “I could take you to get one, but you’d have to let go of Vandal for half a heartbeat.”
“Fine.” Elsie wiggles in my hold, her feet clicking out for the floor. Then she glances to Sunny. “That isn’t straight.”
Sunny looks down at the border he’s been digging. “Jesus, everyone’s a critic.”
“Fruit first,” Daisy shouts. “Pastry after.”
Havoc places his hands over Elsie’s ears. “She can’t hear you.”
And then the two of them chuckle as they hurry to the table.
“Careful, Havoc,” North shouts. “She smells weakness.”
For the next few moments, the house and yard seem to move around me.
Katie and Maren disappear inside with Daisy after I reassure her that I’ll keep an eye on Elsie. Rainbow and Ridge bicker about the best way to treat some broken patio furniture. And Havoc and Elsie debate the pastry options.
Knox tips his chin in the direction of the side of the house, and barefoot, I follow him, presumably so we can talk without the whole club hearing us. The noise drops. From here, I can still see Elsie, but I know my best friend won’t just walk away and leave her without handing her back to me.
“Cristian woke up,” he says.
All the warmth that built in my chest cools fast. “Yeah?”
“I slept on it, and I’ve decided I’m going to hand him back.”
“As bait?”
“As leverage. I’ll use his phone to broker a deal. I want peace. Alvarez had no business starting trouble with us. But I want to use Christian to end it.”
“Alvarez so far hasn’t shown any willingness to make deals.”
Knox nods. “I know. But we stripped Cristian’s phone.
We know every detail about them. So the alternative is going to cost them a lot more.
I spoke to Cristian this morning. He’s important to Alvarez.
This, trying to get intelligence by pretending to be a hangaround interested in becoming a prospect, was the equivalent of him patching in for life.
He’s been hanging around since Alvarez got the drop on you.
But admitted that because we’re tight as a club, he barely learned a thing. Kid’s convinced we’re gonna kill him.”
“You feel sorry for him?” I ask.
Knox shakes his head. “Wouldn’t go that far.
But I think we’ve all done things to become members of the clubs we wanted to that hurt someone else.
I’m gonna hold him for another day or two, just so they know what it feels like to think he’s been harmed.
Left Sidewinder and Grit on him this morning, but he’s secured. ”
“Think? We have harmed him. I broke his fingers.”
Knox shrugs. “More than harmed, then.” And then he laughs.
“SUNNY!” North yells, and Knox rolls his eyes. “We don’t need to worry about someone killing Sunny because we’re more likely to do it ourselves.”
I laugh at that as I see an utterly drenched North chasing Sunny through the yard.
Havoc walks over to us with some masks and two electrical sanders. “Elsie has been handed back to Daisy. You said you wanted to refinish your deck. Let’s go.”
Knox nods and then heads off to separate Sunny and the usually stoic North.
I can’t imagine a better way to spend the day. Being physical, shirt off in the sun, with my best friend. We laugh at shit jokes, Sunny getting harassed by a hornet, and how Reaper thinks no one notices when he takes Cindy Lynn into the trees for thirty minutes.
The applause that follows when he returns is everything I feel I’d been missing.
Elsie periodically comes to sit with me and Havoc while we’re sanding.
She calls out things I sometimes forget to pay attention to like a spider making a cobweb.
And she asks questions about everything, like why are clouds white when the rain is clear?
We had to look up an answer to that, and even then we didn’t fully understand it.
Something to do with wavelengths scattering the rainbow of colors equally to make clouds white and raindrops being too small to scatter anything hence they’re clear.
At least, that’s what I think it meant, because Havoc and I barely made it through school.
When the pizza arrives for lunch and I see Elsie sitting amiably with Maren, I grab Daisy’s hand. “Quick. Come with me.”
She glances around. “Don’t you want pizza?”
I lean close to her ear. “I wanna eat you more.”
“But…” She never finishes her sentence as I drag her back into the house. It’s blissfully cool and thankfully quiet with everyone outside.
I hurry us to the bathroom that adjoins my bedroom and pick her up and sit her down on the twin-sink counter, before I lock the door.
“They’re gonna look for us,” Daisy says.
“Don’t care.” I slip my hands into her hair, then tug her lips to mine. I’ve been thinking about them all day. The way they tasted last night in the bathroom. Then I’ve been watching her in the fitted T-shirt and cute shorts all morning.
My cock hardens instantly. She’s hot and sweaty. So am I. And the shower is right there when we’re done.
Daisy wiggles to the edge of the counter, and I pull her tight against my cock.
“This is a terrible idea,” she mutters against my lips. “They’re going to know what we’re doing and I’m going to die of embarrassment.”
I shake my head as I strip her T-shirt off. “They’re not, and I can’t wait to fuck you. Been thinking about it all morning.”
I drop my head and lick the vee between her breasts before pulling the cotton down to release her nipple so I can suck on it.
Daisy busies herself undoing my belt and jeans before slipping her hand inside my boxer briefs to…
“God, Daze,” I say as I suck in air. I love the feel of her hand around me. I drop my head to her shoulder for a moment to adjust to the glorious feeling.
Then Sunny’s voice, just outside the bathroom window, starts sing Foreigner’s, “I Want to Know What Love Is”, only he changes the second line of the chorus.
“I want Vandal to show me,” he sings.
“Oh my God,” Daisy gasps, her face filled with horror. She releases my cock at the same time I burst out laughing.
Then Daisy does too.
I press my lips to her neck and kiss it once. “We could still finish this,” I say.
But Daisy playfully pushes me away. “Absolutely not.” She punctuates it by grabbing hold of the neck of my T-shirt, tugging me back to her for a quick kiss. “But I will take a raincheck for when they’re gone and Elsie’s asleep.”
I look down at my hard cock. “What am I supposed to do with this?”
“Save it for later.” She jumps down off the counter, tugs her T-shirt back on, and fluffs her hair in the mirror.
I straighten the hem of her T-shirt for her so it sits flat. “You’re going to leave me in here alone?”
She smiles, so fucking pretty. “No, I’m going to tell them I haven’t seen you and don’t know where you are.”
With that, she walks out of the bathroom, and I track her ass until I can’t see her anymore.
But when I turn and see myself in the mirror, I’m smiling. And it’s a surprise. Because for the first time in a long while, I’m actually bone deep happy.