by MLJ Quigg
“I know, Mum. I’m sorry. I’ll do as you say. I don’t know what else to say.”
“I know, baby. We’ll get through this. All of us. Together,” Tiny replied.
She hugged him one more time and then sent them off to do their homework in her office. After they had gone from the room, she looked at me, and I just shook my head and gave her a sad smile.
“Bloody kids. I love them, I really do, but I seriously wanted to beat the little shit. Did I do the right thing, Mike?” she asked.
“Yep, you did. I wanted to beat him, too. There must be something behind it, though, he’s never spoken to anyone like that before, let alone you. Do you want me to speak to him? See if there’s something there?”
“Let me have a chat with him first, and I’ll let you know. I better get back to it. See you Sunday night for dinner?”
“Certainly will, Tiny. You take it easy.”
“I will,” she insisted and left to gather her group for the training.
I was still shocked by what had happened, and couldn’t believe Jackson would say something like that. He was the funny one and always had a joke for everyone. This was serious, and I hoped Tiny could get to the bottom of it and get him help if needed. I would be there for her. I knew Dave would as well. It would probably be better if Dave talked to Jackson. They were really close. I knew they had a bond like I had with Madilyn. When you came to think of it, Dave’s like a father to those kids. He’d been in their lives from day one.
I went back to the recruits, and we continued our training sessions.
Sunday night we had our usual family dinner. Tiny and the kids joined us with Laura, Lisa, Johnathon, Harlow, Tweety, and Emma. I loved these times when the family would catch up on their week. After dinner, we sat at the table and were chatting with each other.
“All right. I have to ask. What the hell happened with you kids on Thursday?” Tweety asked.
“There were a group of seven kids who are in year ten, and they were picking on a year seven kid. This kid’s so quiet and doesn’t normally say anything. They had him surrounded at the back of the school. I couldn’t stand by and watch them hurt him, so I walked over and asked if there was a problem. The leader of them came over and tried to bully me. He was about Jack and Con’s size, so I just stood my ground and waited for what he was going to do. He’s always been a bully pushing kids around. I couldn’t watch anymore. We’ve told the teachers, and they have warned him before, but he keeps doing it. Anyway, he tried to hit me after saying some things that I just ignored. I defended myself and he got a sprained wrist for his trouble. Jack and Con came out of nowhere when his friends came over to get me, and they took on three each. I helped the boy out, and that’s when the teachers turned up and called an ambulance. Then the cops were called, and then Mum was called, and then we came to work with Mum,” Madilyn explained finally catching her breath.
“Well, you guys were lucky. Violence is not the answer, but if you were defending yourselves, I can completely understand. So, what about school? What’s going on there?” Tweety inquired.
“Mrs. Lambros… oh, my God, she’s a damn bitch. Sorry Mum, but she is. She doesn’t like the fact that we can answer the questions without looking at the book. She has to find the answers in the back of her textbook. She asked us a question, I can’t remember what it was about, but Jack answered it, and when she went to check the answer, I commented about how being a teacher she should know the answer. She shouldn’t have to look it up, and if she did, she should go back to school herself. She didn’t like that,” Connor relayed.
“Well, okay… not much you can say on that one,” Tweety replied.
“Can I change the subject, please?” Lisa wondered in a quiet voice.
“Sure can. What’s up, Lisa?” I replied.
“I want to run something past you guys,” she declared and took a breath before continuing. “I want to do something for Dave and Mike to say thank you for everything you guys have done for us. I can’t think of anything to say thank you enough. I heard a while ago that you guys want kids, and I’d like to offer a chance to you guys. If you’re interested, I’d like to be a surrogate mother for you. It would have to be pretty soon, though, as I’m close to menopause. I’ve already had the testing done, and I’m a good chance of getting pregnant and carrying,” she finished with a smile.
“Are you serious?” Dave blurted out.
“Absolutely. I know how much you both want children, and I’d like to give you this chance. Obviously, it will have to be Mike, but yes, I want to do this,” Lisa urged.
I was shocked.
Holy shit.
This was fucking huge.
This was our chance to be parents.
I was absolutely dumbfounded.
I couldn’t say a word.
I looked over at Dave, and he had a massive smile on his face. I must have had a shocked look on my face as everyone started to chuckle. I looked back to Lisa, and she smiled kindly at me.
“I want to do this for you both. I love you, guys. You get to be parents. If you want to think about it, I understand,” she said shyly.
I looked back to Dave, and he was nodding his head. He grabbed me and hugged me tightly. I wrapped my arms around him and whispered in his ear, “What do you say, babe. Wanna be parents?”
He nodded his head and whispered back, “Absolutely. Yes. A thousand times, yes. I would love to have kids with you.”
I pulled back and kissed him softly on his lips and turned to Lisa to give her a huge smile.
“Yes. We’d love that. Thank you so much, Lisa.”
“You’re more than welcome. We can talk about it later if you want, but I’m ready to go whenever you are,” she insisted with a smile.
I nodded my head. I was ready, so ready. I was still shocked, though. I honestly didn’t know what to say or do. I just got up off my seat and walked around to Lisa and knelt on the floor next to her. I wrapped my arms around her body and hugged her tight. She wrapped her arms around my neck.
“Thank you, so much. This is such a wonderful gift you’re giving us,” I whispered in her ear.
“You’re welcome. I’m truly honoured to be doing this for the both of you. You have no idea how much you’ve changed my life. I can’t thank you enough,” she whispered back.
I pulled away and wiped the tears running down her cheeks. She did the same as I came to realise I was crying too. So what, I’m a man, but this was a reason to shed a tear or two. I wasn’t made of stone. I cried like everyone else.
We continued chatting for a while longer, and Tiny and the kids went home with their congratulations and well wishes.
I was stunned but excited.
After everyone had left for the night, Dave and I went to bed and talked about all that had happened. We both couldn’t wait and decided we would go ahead with the surrogacy as soon as possible.
I loved this man and couldn’t wait to add to our family.
Mike
The next morning, we gathered for our weekly meetings, and we all sat in our usual places.
“Morning, guys. We have two new clients coming in tomorrow from Bright Entertainment. Apparently, they love how Ando and Grey are handling things. Both have been reporting in constantly and haven’t come across any problems so far. Grey is currently in New York and is checking in on our office while he’s there to see if they’re having any issues. Ando has reported no problems. Looks like the perp has quietened down. Maybe it might be enough to stop knowing she has protection, who knows, only time will tell. Um… apart from that I have a meeting tonight and Wednesday night. And, that’s it for me. Mike?” Tiny started the meeting.
“Only have day jobs for this week. We will divide them out evenly. I need some of you guys to stick around again. We have the rest of the week to go with the recruits. The rest have assignments. Here…” I commented passing them out.
They all nodded their heads agreeing.
“That’s about it for
me. Guy, you got anything?”
“I have a bug detector prototype that will pick up any listening devices in a room or on a person that I’m testing, so that should be available in about a week. We have the upgraded mics and listening devices ready to go, and the upgraded trackers that are being distributed this week. Apart from that, nothing else. Everything is clean on surveillance. And all background checks are positive. I’ve found nothing out of the ordinary come through,” Guy gushed. The guy loved his toys.
“Good. All right, guys, you know your assignments. We’ll see you this afternoon. If anyone wants to join in the training at any time, you’re more than welcome. That’s it, have a good day and be safe,” Tiny said to us all.
We started the training in the laser warehouse and continued until around midday. After lunch, we all gathered together and trained in hand to hand. I took a phone call from a guy on my team, and it was a potential client who wanted to see if he could hire us. I told them that they’d have to come in and see us or they could make an appointment afterwards if they wanted. They said they would be in soon. I had to take another phone call so I asked Tiny to let me know when they got there as I wanted to sit in on the meeting. I had a feeling something was going to happen. I didn’t know if it was good or bad, but we would have to wait and see.
At about three, I heard a huge ruckus going on in the main room and bolted out of my office. I was surprised to see about thirty guys all in leather vests in a standstill with Tiny and the rest of the guys.
“What the fuck is going on in here?” I shouted taking the scene in front of me. There was a guy who held a gun to Tiny’s head. I zeroed in on him and couldn’t believe my eyes.
No, it couldn’t be. Could it?
Someone muttered something, and I ignored it but didn’t take my eyes off the guy with the gun.
“Holy fuck! Tiny, is that who I think that is?” I inquired.
“Yep.”
“Buddy, you might want to lower that weapon before you get into a whole world of hurt,” I urged, knowing what was going to happen.
“Not on your fucking life. This cunt attacked me first,” he replied still holding the gun on her.
I looked at Tiny and knew exactly what she was going to do. I had to do something to defuse this situation. She would kill him.
“Tiny, hon, calm down. Don’t do—” Before I’d even finished the sentence, she grabbed the gun, twisted his wrist and disarmed him, bringing the gun to his forehead.
All of his guys pulled their weapons out and pointed them at us while all of our guys reciprocated. We were at a stalemate.
“Calm down, everyone. There has to be a reasonable explanation for this,” I insisted trying to defuse the situation.
“This bitch started it, but we’ll finish it,” he hissed.
“Try it then,” Tiny snorted at him.
“I don’t think she likes you, boss,” muttered the guy next to him.
Just as she was about to reply, the door opened, and we heard excited chattering going on.
“Fuck,” Tiny muttered. She disabled the gun by ejecting the chamber and magazine, then I put my hand out and she handed over the gun.
“Thank fuck for that,” I whispered.
Everyone else quickly put their weapons away.
We all turned and watched as the kids all ran up and crowded Tiny, talking over each other.
“Hey, Mum, guess what?” Jackson said.
“What, Jack?”
“Con and I made it into the senior rugby team, and Maddi got the leading role in the school play,” Jack commented.
Smiling, Tiny said, “That’s fantastic, kids. I’m so proud of you all. Now, I distinctly remember Uncle Dave was going to take you to get a treat.” She looked pointedly at Dave.
“I did, didn’t I? Come on, kids. Let’s go get pizza,” he relented, sensing the tension.
She gave the kids one last hug and a kiss on their cheeks.
Just as they were about to leave, Dave walked over to me, and I kissed him quickly. “You okay, baby,” Dave asked.
“Yeah, all good, hon,” I replied.
“You okay, Monique?” Dave turned to Tiny.
“What the fuck?” We heard from the guy.
She nodded at Dave, and then he walked out with the kids.
When she turned back, the arsehole was studying her.
“Monique, is that really you?” he asked.
“Hello, Derrick,” she answered.
“Holy fuck! You look good,” he said.
“Don’t even fucking go there, Derrick.”
Five Years Later…
I stood on the back porch and saw my husband and smiled as I watched him and the kids playing in the yard. I was so thankful and blessed to have had our wonderful family. I proceeded down the steps and came up behind Dave and wrapped my arms around his waist from behind.
Grace, our three-year-old daughter, saw me first and came over to hug me around the legs. I lifted her up and drew her to my chest and hugged her tight.
“Daddy. You’re squishing me,” she groaned out and squealed loudly when I slightly tightened my hold on her.
I wasn’t really hurting her, and I never would. I kissed her on the cheek and set her on the ground. Her twin brother, Alex, came over and did the same, hugging me tightly. I loved these kids more than anything in this world, and couldn’t have been prouder than I was at the time.
I had the love of my life with Dave and two beautiful children we had between us.
Derrick and Monique (Tiny) are featured in the already published book:
Thor (Thorny Devils MC Book 1)
Buy Links:
AU: Click here
US: Click here
UK: Click here
CA: Click here
BLURB
After being separated for fifteen years, can they let the past be in the past, or is there too much hurt to forgive and forget.
Monique
Fifteen years ago, he broke my heart, leaving me to put my life together after he disappeared. Then out of the blue, he waltzes back in like it didn't matter. I knew I couldn't keep him away because it wasn't just me anymore.
Derrick
I made the biggest mistake when I left her. Now she's back, and I'm going nowhere. She will be mine again. She just has to get with the program.
Chapter One
As I looked around the table at my brothers, I became more pissed off by the second. We had been at this for over an hour and still hadn’t found a solution. The club’s businesses had been getting hit with break-ins and vandalism, not to mention the drug set-up with the cops. Luckily, nothing came of that since we were a clean club—thank fuck. Then there was the drive-by shooting where we had lost a brother.
Goddamn, motherfuckers.
I’d had enough of this fucking shit.
It had been going on for the past two months, and it was time to end this. We needed to find out who was hitting us once and for fucking all.
“We have to do something. This is beyond a fucking joke. We don’t have the men to keep security and to find out who’s hitting us. These fuckers have to be stopped,” said Dozer, my VP and best friend, from his seat next to me. His face reflected the fury we all felt.
“We’re down on manpower at the moment. With the hits we’ve been getting, what do you suggest?” I replied, looking towards him.
“We could outsource security to help, and then we can all concentrate on finding the fuckers and dealing with them,” commented Trigger, our enforcer. He was always short and to the point.
“What the fuck, man? You can’t bring outsiders into this,” relayed our road captain, Bluey.
“No, he may have a point. We don’t need to tell them club business, just the basics,” said Hulk, our sergeant-at-arms.
“Alright, alright, calm down, brothers. We need eyes on the ground. Someone out there knows something, and I don’t want to lose anyone else. We need to be able to concentrate on finding who these
fuckers are, and if we can get outside help on keeping our businesses safe, I’m all for it,” I replied.
“Okay, who we gonna call?” asked Dozer.
“Ghostbusters!” we all yelled out, collapsing into fits of laughter.
When Dozer returned a ‘get fucked’ expression on his face, I knew he regretted his words.
After we calmed down, we grew serious once again.
“My cousin works for Henderson Security. They have worldwide contracts and are all ex-military. He said if I ever needed help, I could ask him for anything. It might be worth a try,” said our newest brother, Kid, giving a small shrug.
“I’ve heard of them. They’re a huge company,” expressed Blade, our secretary.
“I agree. I’ve heard nothing but good things about them. All in favour of asking, say aye,” I requested.
From around the table came a chorus of “Aye”.
“Alright, Kid. Make the call, and we’ll see what they’ve got to say. You might as well do it now while we’re all here. Does anyone else have anything to bring to the table?” I asked, looking at everyone. When no one said anything, I nodded and declared, “Guys, let’s chat while Kid makes the call.”
Kid took his phone out while we half listened to his one-sided conversation.
“So, what’s going on with you and Trina?” Dozer asked me.
“Fucking! That’s all. The bitch is starting to get clingy. It was alright years ago, but fuck, man, she’s a club girl. She spreads her legs for everyone. She thinks I’m gonna go exclusive. Fuck. No way. I like my variety. There have been some fucking wild chicks coming through lately.”
“I know. The new redhead is fucking hot. Fuck! You can bend her in shapes never seen before. Wild little minx that one, that’s for sure.” He sighed.