"Don't be a brat, Kim. You're just jealous," Ronnie shot back, making a face at her best friend. "But you can have that too, you know if you just got your head out of your ass."
I snorted. I couldn't help it. "That sounds familiar!" I turned to Lana, who was already flipping me off.
"I knew you were gonna fucking say that. Shove it, Lee."
Kim returned my sister's sentiment, giving both me and Ronnie her middle fingers on both hands enthusiastically. "Exactly. Shove it, pushy bitches."
"And here I just wanna get fucking laid," Camilla grumbled.
All of our heads turned to her, and as if a higher power blessed it, DT came striding into the room. We all turned to him then, and the four of us burst into laughter. Camilla, however, just glared at us, and DT looked confused.
"What the fuck?" he asked, raising one pierced eyebrow, holding out his massive arms. "I just walked in here!" He looked down at his crotch. "My fly isn't even down, though I guarantee if my cock was out right now, you wouldn't be laughing."
Oh my God. I couldn’t stop laughing, and neither can Lana. Camilla was calling us bitches but we could hardly hear over the hilarity that we had created.
"Whatever. I came out here because the kids are fighting, and my babysitting duty only goes so far. I didn't patch into this damn club to referee arguments over dance parties, okay?"
Kim sighed heavily, standing up, and Ronnie followed suit. "Well, I can guarantee it's at least one of ours."
As if on cue, three little girls ran into the room, all talking over one another. Sammy, Chloe, and their little tail Maisie seemed very distraught over something and we couldn't seem to make out what they were trying to say.
I jumped into control mode. "Okay, okay, one at a time. Chloe, what's going on?"
The oldest of the three, though not by much (she was only three months older than Sammy), took a deep breath and launched into their complaint. "We wanted to have a dance party in the playroom, but the older kids are playing video games on the TV and they've been on it all. day. and all we wanted is to play music but even when we try and use Daddy's phone, they tell us to shut it off!"
Kim shook her head. "I'll go tell them to turn it off."
"No, wait," I said, holding up my hand. I turned back to the girls. "Do you have to have the dance party there, or would somewhere else be good? Maybe somewhere...bigger? With an actual dance floor?"
The three little girls' widened their eyes, and Sammy gasped loudly. "YES!" Maisie screeched, jumping up and down.
"Well, you're in luck, because there's a dance floor right over there, and I've got some cool tunes on my phone we can dance to. Doesn't that sound better?"
The volume in the room rose as the girls cheer and shout, jumping up and down, practically vibrating with excitement. They took off, running to the open space across the room that was usually reserved for a dance floor when the club had parties. Laughing, I grab my phone and follow the stampede of eager little girls to join the dance party.
I plug the phone into an iPhone speaker dock after queuing up a few songs I thought would be good for the girls to dance to. "You ready?" I ask them, and as they cheer, I press play on my Spotify and Justin Timberlake's Can't Stop the Feeling comes out of the speakers. The girls squeal; I knew they would love the choice just from their love of the movie Trolls.
They begin to dance, which is mostly just a lot of jumping around, but Maisie immediately runs to me and grabs my hand. "Dance with us!" her little voice shrieks over the music, and I couldn't possibly say no to this adorable little four-year-old. Following her onto the squared off space I begin to dance with her, and then I look up and wave my free hand over to the other women.
"Mom! Come on!" Sammy yelled, and Ronnie laughed, grabbing Kim and heading over to us. Lana and Camilla follow, and soon all of us are dancing with the girls, laughing our asses off. It's at this moment, just letting go of everything, that none of us seem to have a care in the world. One song turns into the next and the older girls join us, dancing and joking around, taking turns showing off, spinning each other around, trying out new moves.
Something caught my eye off to the side and I turned my head to see Ward watching us, his arms crossed against his chest, a grin on his face. When our eyes locked, his grin widened. Without hesitation, I motioned to him, holding my hands out to him. Ward shook his head, but I insisted. "Come on!" I called, flexing my fingers in a grabby-hands motion. He shook his head again, but he was no match for me as I placed my hands on my hips and pouted. Laughing, Ward shook his head and walked over.
"You know I'm only doing this because I can't say no to you."
"Oh, I know." Grinning, I grabbed his hands and pulled him towards me. "Shh, you love it."
With a quick jerk, he pulled me against his chest. "I love you, I know that."
I melted right into him. My insides were complete mush. Locking my arms around his neck, I leaned into him, kissing him softly. "I love you, too. More than I could ever say."
Kissing me again, Ward nudged my nose with his. "You don't have to. I know." His eyes shifted to look at the little girls before he looks back at me. "You're so good with them. One day, you're gonna be dancing with our kids. Maybe not right away, but soon."
Well, fuck me. I blink back tears that suddenly popped up, and my face hurt from smiling so hard. "Kiss me, Ward Gibson."
"Gladly." Closing the gap, he kissed me, simply devouring me, and everything melted away. It didn't matter what was happening outside, inside, in the next city over. All that mattered was Ward and me, and our future together.
And we would have that future, no matter what.
CHAPTER 42
WARD
AS I STOOD THERE watching Leah dance among the other girls, I couldn't help but let my imagination run wild. Admiring the look on her face as she got lost in the music, letting the beat take her. Leah may have been joking around this time, but she was still so graceful, so effortless.
Watching her with the kids, though, that made me feel things that I never thought I would feel. I pictured her with our own little ones, dancing around the living room of the house I had built for her. And they wouldn't have a care in the world, because I would protect them, with every ounce of my being. They wouldn't have to worry or want for anything. I'd do everything in my power to make sure of that.
Leah had me so messed up in the head that I was making promises to children that didn't exist yet.
Just seeing the look on her face when I told her that she would be dancing with our kids eventually proved to me that this wasn't just some dream I made up in my head. She felt it and wanted it as bad as I did. We were in this together without even talking about it. That was the connection we had, and someone would have to pry it from my cold, dead hands to take it from me.
As I held her in my arms, the urge to protect her grew deeper and more critical by the second. I wasn't going to let another thing get close enough to Leah to scare her, to harm a single red hair on her head.
This thing with Los Chingados would be taken care of.
This thing with The Forgotten would be erased.
I had so much more to lose now, and now that I finally had her, my entire world, my entire future.
I'd die before I'd let them get to her.
I didn't plan on dying anytime soon, though, so I guess they were going to have to go instead.
CHAPTER 43
LEAH
"I SWEAR TO THE spaghetti monster in the sky that if we don't get out of here soon, I'm gonna stab myself in both eyes."
Normally a statement like that would come from either Lana or Camilla, with them being our resident drama queens. No, this time it came from Kim, who had just come back from taking a phone call and looked stressed, on edge, and a little haggard.
"That doesn't seem practical," Ronnie said as she stood at the massive metal island in the kitchen, filling plates with spoonfuls of pasta. It was dinner time and we were putting the finishing touches on the m
eal and then handing it out to the waiting masses.
We were currently a full week into lockdown and it seemed like there was no end in sight, which was frustrating for everyone.
Lockdown wasn’t an everyday occurrence. The women and children were getting cabin fever and even the best of friends wanted to strangle one another. Kids were complaining they were missing out on their team sports, adults were being hounded by their bosses from work, and those of us that had to close businesses down - well, let’s just say it’s been extremely stressful. All we wanted to do was get back to our lives and the everyday grind. The MC was doing everything in their power to protect us, and we knew that. I was completely amazed and impressed at the lengths they had gone to in order to do just that.
If only we knew when the end was near, though.
"David's starting to get pushy about seeing the boys. He was understanding for a while, but he missed his weekend with them and they were supposed to go somewhere with his parents." Kim seemed exasperated as she told her story. "Needless to say, his mother wasn't happy, and now he's hounding me. But I don't have an answer for him, so that isn't pleasing anyone involved." Shaking her head, she walked back over to the spot she had abandoned when she got her phone call and continued dishing out bowls of salad. "The boys want to see their dad, I need to get back to the case I'm working on so I can actually have face to face meetings and renew the trust my clients have in me."
"I don't think it'll be much longer," I offered, trying to be helpful. "This gave them enough time to step up security and change what they needed to change in order for us to be safer. They can't keep us here forever, so we should be able to get back to our lives really soon."
"Spoken like a true President's Old Lady," Mama Rita's voice boomed from behind me. She shuffled over to the island with the big pot of pasta she had just finished cooking and cooling off. "Don't worry, gals. I know you're going stir crazy, but before you know it you'll be back to real life and wishin' there were more hands around still to help you with your little ones."
We laughed because it was true. At least, for the moms among us. There were built in babysitters everywhere in the clubhouse. They didn't have to worry about getting someone to keep an eye on the kids when they needed to take care of something or get some work done.
"I'm just ready to be back to work," Lana added in, and I definitely agreed with her. In the days since we had come up with our plan for the 'Welcome Back' party we were throwing once we reopened, we had finalized all of the details, brought our employees up to speed, and booked everything we had to book. We had even already sold a bunch of VIP tables without people even knowing when we were reopening. All we needed was a date and we'd be set to dive right back into things as if we had never left.
"Ladies, we've got a big tribe of kids and grown men bitching about dinner. Are we almost ready?" Crow appeared in the doorway, a small smile playing on his lips as he waited, knowing he was about to get an earful.
"You could have left it at kids and it would be accurate," I joked at him with a roll of my eyes.
Rita, however, had a wooden spoon in her hand and was going after Crow. "You tell those boys that dinner is ready when it's ready and they better shut their mouths before I make them eat it off the floor like a buncha' dogs!"
The rest of the girls in the kitchen whoop and holler in agreement, laughing as Crow held his hands up and backed away, most likely going to relay the message, verbatim, because no one minces Rita's words.
Eventually, plates are piled high with food and distributed among the tables; pasta, meatballs, garlic bread, veggies, and salad. Families sit together as the parents attempt to get their kids to eat and finish their plates. Sweeties sit at tables among some of the single brothers, still attempting to flirt while remaining clothed, classy, and fairly respectful. Finally, the couples without kids were sprinkled around, chatting away.
I sat with Ward, Lana, Eddie, Mary, Crow, Camilla, and Joker, which reminded me a lot of our dinners at their house growing up. Crow was in the middle of telling a story, and like always, we were all enthralled in what he was saying. I couldn't help but sit back and take a look at everyone around the table. They were the most important people in my life. There was a smile on my face as a nostalgic expression crossed my features. After a few moments of getting lost in thought, I looked to the side and saw Ward staring at me. I smiled and he grinned, reaching over to me to grab my hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.
Before he has a chance to say anything, the front door opens quickly and Tank comes rushing in, right towards Ward.
"Prez, gotta talk to you." He held up his phone and jerked his head towards the side of the room. Ward set his utensils down and got up, following Tank with urgency. We watched as the two spoke, looking over whatever was on Tank's phone. Ward's face turned serious before he whipped around, motioning for Tank to follow him.
"Church, right NOW!"
The men wasted no time in getting up and following their President into church with his same urgency.
Those of us that remained at the table looked at one another with concern. Whatever that was, it wasn't good, and I suddenly had a sick sense of foreboding come over me.
All we could do was wait and speculate if something terrible was going to happen or not.
CHAPTER 44
WARD
Woodchuck: That Mexican guy is at Morton's right now, asking more questions about The Aces. Got him talking with me, I'll keep him distracted. Unless you want me to tie him up!
The relief I felt when Tank showed me the text filled my body, but there wasn't any time to let it get to my head. This may be the chance for us to get the upper hand and figure out what was going on. We had known that this guy could be the key to the information we needed, but he seemingly eluded us. By Woodchuck's quick thinking, we would be able to grab the guy that not only could be our first step in the right direction but also had been behind the attack at Velvet.
Either way, the guy was in for a rough night.
As soon as the door to the church room was shut and all of the brothers were inside, I went right into business mode, not even bothering to take a seat.
"Tank just got a text from Woodchuck saying that our last target is back at Morton's asking question. We still believe that he's the one behind the attack at Velvet, and possibly connected to Los Chingados. Chuck's got his ear and is stalling. I'm taking a crew out now in a cage." There were murmurs of agreement from the guys, so I continued. "Joker, Bear, and Kang are with me. Jekyll, Hyde, get the box ready and send me the screenshot from the surveillance footage that night at Velvet. Tank, I want you here with the rest to stand guard in case this is a distraction. Any questions?”
I was met with a chorus of no's. Nodding, I started back towards the doors. "Let’s move out so there's no time for this fucker to run."
There were eyes on us once we walked back out into the main room of the clubhouse. We had been interrupted during dinner, but there wasn't time to give an explanation.
I turn and stop Silver. "Let Crow know what's going on, and tell my mom and the girls only the very basics. Got me?"
Silver nods; his jaw is clenched, and I can tell that it's bothering him that I didn't call for him to accompany me. This may involve him and his family, but the fact of the matter is that he's still a new patch. I can't go treating him differently than I would the others.
Clapping him on the shoulder, I give him a nod and walked towards the table I had been previously sitting at dinner. Unable to waste any more time, I stop just to lean down and kiss Leah quickly. "I'll be back."
"Is everything alright?" she asked, concern in her eyes.
"Eddie will explain." I kissed her again. "Love you." And then I walked away.
You never know what can happen, and I made a promise to myself, and a silent one to Leah, that I'll never leave her without telling her that I love her.
We wasted no time, Bear practically taking off before Joker was fully inside. I send
a quick text to Woodchuck letting him know that we were five minutes out. It may take ten minutes to get to Morton's, but we were breaking every traffic law and as long as it got us there, I didn’t give a fuck. We couldn't run the risk of letting this fucker go. He may very well be our only link to getting answers, or at least the upper hand against Los Chingados.
"Chuck says he's still got the guy at the bar talking," I speak up from the front seat, anxious to get there already.
"What's the plan, Pres?" Joker speaks up from the back of the van.
"We'll drop you and Kang off in front and drive the cage in the back. The two of you go in the front door and block the front exit, Bear and I'll come in the back. Chuck said there's not a lot of people, so if there's a struggle we won't be causing a scene. We'll grab the guy, drag him out back, toss him in the cage and go."
Bear pulled the van up to the sidewalk just before the bar so Joker and Kang can hop out, then heads down the side alley to pull up in back. I send one final text to Woodchuck before getting out and heading through the back door.
This is where the other side of me that I honed in the military comes to the surface. The side with the ability to shut down my morality, to shut myself down and focus only on what needs to be done in the moment – whether that was getting information hurting someone. The side of me that came out only when needed, when we were dealing with someone who’s threatened my club or my family. I was a weapon then, overseas, working for the government. Now, I was a weapon for my club, but only when necessary.
I set my jaw firmly, letting the calm, manageable rage I've been holding onto simmer just before it all starts to boil over.
Heavy boots thud underneath me as I walk through the back hallway, ignoring everything around me until my gaze focuses on Woodchuck and the man next to him. Slicked, jet black hair pulled in a low ponytail behind his head, the profile of a pointed, tanned face, all matching the capture from the surveillance footage from the night of the attack on Donatella. This is definitely our fucking man.
Heart of a Rebel: Rebel Aces MC Part 1 Page 23