Taz was the Sergeant for the Savannah Saints, so he’d leave a hole for the time he’d be gone.
“We need to lock everything down,” Ronnie continued. “Keep your kids close. We’ve got recruits assigned to each of you, but if you feel weird about anything, let me know. This goes for any of the women in the club. I know there are a few who are intimidated by me, so they’re not gonna bring their concerns directly to me, but they will talk to you, so you have the autonomy to take action.”
Jules stood and picked up a couple of gift bags, handing them to the women present.
“What’s this?” Carmen asked, pulling out a sweet looking silver bangle bracelet.
“These are essentially homing devices,” Ronnie said. “If you press the tiny button on the side, it’ll send out an alert and we’ll be able to find you.”
“You know, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up kind of thing,” Jules said, and the group laughed.
“Look, the shit these assholes are pulling, I want to make sure you ladies are protected,” Ronnie said. “Plus, it’s pretty and no one would suspect it has the ability to rain down the power of a fucking army.”
As the women tried on their bracelets, I decided a conversation with Rabbit was going to happen in the near future, and then I sat with my women and listened to Ronnie, watching the way she commanded this group and taking mental notes.
It suddenly hit me that I held the same place within the Dogs, and even though I’d tried to fight it, I was the matriarch of our club and it was time I took that seriously.
* * *
Arriving home from the meeting three hours later, I walked into the condo and smelled something heavenly coming from the kitchen. I set my keys in the bowl by the door and made my way toward the scent. The room was empty, but the crockpot was on the counter, so I took a peek. Oh my god, it was Doc’s chili. I was in for an orgasm of the mouth.
“Don’t touch that. It won’t be done for a few hours,” Doc warned. “Hi.”
“Hi.” I smiled up at him as he kissed me quickly. “What prompted this act of pure unadulterated love?”
“Want to make sure you get a good dose of protein.”
“I can think of another way to get a good dose of protein,” I retorted, licking my lips. He wore a pair of joggers which hugged every inch of his long legs, and a tight, white T-shirt which showcased his muscular chest.
“That’s what got you in this situation to begin with,” he pointed out and I chuckled. “How are you feeling?”
“Good. No morning sickness yet,” I said.
“I picked up more prenatals for you and some meclizine.”
“Oh, thanks, honey. I totally forgot to do that today.”
“I know.” He grinned, handing me a glass of water. “Drink. How was Sunday School?”
“What’s that?” I asked, hoping I sounded convincing before taking a sip of water.
He raised an eyebrow as he lifted the lid of the crockpot and stirred the chili. “Sweetness, do you really think I don’t know what Ronnie and her band of lady killers do the second and fourth Sunday of every month?”
I sighed. “Are you gonna be a dick about me and my lady killers doing the same?”
He set the lid back on the crockpot and faced me. “Depends…”
“Jesus, I knew you were gonna do this,” I hissed. “This patriarchal gang of—”
“Liv, settle.”
I crossed my arms and glared at him.
“You’re the matriarch of this club, Liv, which means you’ll automatically be seen as the leader. You’ve been looked at this way since the second we began. You know this.”
I did know this. It was the conclusion I’d come to at Ronnie’s place. I’d tried to run from it, but it didn’t make a difference, the club women looked to me for answers if and when Doc wasn’t around. Even when he was around, I was often the buffer.
“I swear to—”
“That does not mean,” he interrupted, “I think meeting with the old ladies is a bad idea.”
“Oh.” I relaxed a little. “I was expecting a fight.”
“Yeah, I picked up on that,” he said, grinning.
I rolled my eyes. “Well, Doom totally flipped out on Lyric when she met with Tammy, so you can understand my confusion.”
He frowned. “If you’d met with any of the Spiders’ old ladies, baby, we’d be having a completely different conversation.”
“Tris—”
“But, meeting with our women or the Burning Saints’ old ladies is good. I’d prefer you don’t share anything with their old ladies, keep our club business proprietary, but it’s good to stay friendly.”
“Why the sudden change of heart?”
“There’s nothing sudden about it,” he countered. “We’re married to some of the smartest women on the planet and we know that. I have always valued your input into my decisions, and I know Alamo and Doom feel the same way about Jasmine and Lyric. Dash and Badger are younger, so I’m not as hip to what the millennials are into these days, but they respect their women. If they didn’t, I’d have something to say about it. We might not divulge much in the way of club business, but you know I share more with you than most men do with their old ladies.”
“Yeah, why is that?”
“Because I trust you. You’ve never repeated anything I’ve told you. You don’t freak out, and you often have insanely wise insight I don’t. You’re the best partner I’ve ever had.”
“Wow, that’s high praise, considering Alamo’s your ride or die.”
He chuckled, pulling me against him. “Baby, you’re my ride or die.”
I slid my hands under his T-shirt and up his back. “Back atya.”
“You pissed?”
“No.”
“Damn.”
I leaned back and met his eyes. “Why?”
“Want you freaky horny.”
I grinned. “I don’t need to be pissed to be freaky horny.”
“Yeah, but you’re freakier when you are.”
“Are you saying you purposely rile me up in order to get me freaky horny?”
“I would never say that… out loud.”
I chuckled as I tugged on the waistband of his sweats, sliding my hand inside and wrapping it around his already hard cock. “Just how freaky do you want me to be?”
“I do love fucking your ass.”
“Then fuck my ass.” I squeezed him gently before kneeling in front of him and sliding his sweats down his legs. “But after I have a little protein.”
I wrapped my lips around the tip of his cock before running my tongue up his length, but before I could have any fun, I was lifted off the floor and carried back to our room.
“Hey, I was promised protein,” I protested.
“Oh, you’re gonna get a shit load of protein,” he said, setting me on my feet, but before things could get interesting, morning sickness reared its ugly head.
“Oh my god, I’m sorry,” I rasped, and made a run for the bathroom.
As my head was in the toilet, I felt my hair gently pulled back and secured in a scrunchy. “I’ll get you some pop and saltines, sweetness. Hang in there.”
Once I felt like I could stand up, I washed my face and brushed my teeth, then walked back into our bedroom. Doc had set out saltines and Sprite on the nightstand, but he wasn’t in the room, so I pulled on some clothes and went to find him. He was pacing the living room, phone to his ear.
“When?” he demanded, hand to his forehead, rubbing it like he was warding off a headache. “Jesus, Alamo, first Doozer, now Sweet Pea? Why the fuck did no one call us when it happened? Yeah. I think we’re gonna need to head out to Portland. You good to hold down the fort? Okay, brother, Liv and I’ll fly out tomorrow.” He paused in his pacing. “Sure. No problem. Okay, we’ll talk tomorrow. Bye.”
“Why are we going to Portland?” I asked as I made my way into the living room.
“Sweet Pea had a near fatal wreck on his bike.”
�
��Oh my god,” I said, unable to control my tears as Doc slid his phone into his pocket. “What happened?”
He closed the distance between us and wrapped his arms around me. “Not sure of all of the particulars, but he was life-flighted to OHSU and it’s still touch and go. It all happened the night Doozer was killed. Apparently, not calling me immediately was an oversight.”
“But Sweet Pea’s alive, right?”
“Yeah, sweetness, he’s alive. Remember, he’s a giant and a fuckin’ Viking, they’re hard to kill.”
“Not funny, Tristan.”
He kissed my temple. “I can’t assess the extent of his recovery until I get eyes on him, sweetness, and I figured you’d want to come.”
“You figured correctly.” I met his eyes. “Does Minus want us in their business? I mean, we’re not part of the Burning Saints.”
“Yeah, but we’re Savannah, Liv. He’s Savannah. And he and I are tight.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Hey, Hatch. Yeah, man, Alamo filled me in. Yeah, keep me posted. Thanks, brother.”
“God, this is such a mess,” I said. “Poor Minus.”
Doc’s phone buzzed again and he glanced at the screen. “Speak of the devil. Hey, Minus. Yeah, brother, Hatch filled me in. I can walk Gina down the rehab line. I’ll email her the equipment list and then check out her space. Surprisingly, it doesn’t take long to set up, it just takes money.” He nodded. “Yeah, I figured. Okay. We’re catchin’ the first flight out tomorrow. Nah, we got it, brother. Okay. We’ll see you soon.” He hung up and slid his phone back into his pocket. “You feel up to booking the flights?”
I chuckled. “Yeah, honey, I can do that.”
“How are you feeling?”
“Better.”
“Did you eat those saltines?”
I shook my head.
“Go do that,” he instructed. “I’ll grab those anti-nausea pills.”
“I wasn’t sick this soon with Mandi. Do you think something’s wrong?”
“No.” He smiled. “Every baby’s different, Liv. Don’t freak out.”
“Don’t tell me not to freak out,” I grumbled, and headed back to the bedroom to grab the saltines.
I gathered the food and took it back into the kitchen where Doc met me, taking everything from me and setting it on the counter before wrapping his arms around me. “You wanna go into the clinic and hear the heartbeat so you feel better?”
I bit my lip and met his eyes. “Can we?”
“Yeah, sweetness, of course we can.”
I bobbed my head. “Then, yes, I want to.”
“Okay, grab your shoes. We’ll take your car.”
We headed to the barn and back to Doc’s clinic. He patted his table for me to hop up onto and grabbed gel and his heartbeat monitor.
“On second thought, maybe I should just do a quick ultrasound.”
I clapped my hands. “Can we see the sex?”
He smiled. “Not quite yet, but I can get some measurements and make sure everything’s progressing normally.”
“Well, that would make me feel better, so, yes, let’s do that.”
He pulled his phone out of his pocket, fired off a text, then pulled the ultrasound machine close to the exam bed.
“Who were you texting?”
“Alamo was checking to make sure it was me back here,” he said as he tucked a towel into the waistband of my yoga pants and tugged them down slightly.
“Sir, did I say you could do that?” I admonished.
He grinned, leaning down to kiss my belly. “Are you seriously trying to play dirty radiologist right now?”
I chuckled. “Depends. Who gets to be the dirty radiologist?”
He squirted the gel on my belly and I let out a quiet squeak.
“Sorry, it’s cold,” he warned too late.
“You’re going to owe me.”
He grinned, placing the wand on the gel and moving it around my belly, instantly finding the heartbeat, then letting out a, “Holy shit.”
“What?” I snapped. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” he said, turning the screen to face me. “We’ve just got two.”
“Two what?”
He chuckled, pointing to the two tiny beans on the screen. “We’re having twins, Liv.”
“We are not. You must be seeing double on the monitor, try checking the vertical hold.”
“Do you want me to adjust the rabbit ears too while I’m back here in 1962?” he retorted. He moved the wand a bit more and then turned the sound up and I heard the strong beats of two very distinctive hearts.
“Oh my god, Tristan,” I breathed out. “Are we really having twins?”
“Yeah, we’re really having twins.”
“You fucking did this on purpose,” I hissed.
“How did I do that, exactly?”
“You have extra potent splooge. You probably had it tested. In a lab somewhere,” I accused. “Probably had it genetically modified.”
He raised an eyebrow. “I genetically modified my sperm?”
“Yes.”
“And then I did what with it?”
“Shoved it up my hoo-haw.”
He chuckled. “That’s kind of how it works, sweetness.”
“Except you didn’t ask me if I wanted bionic jizz, Tristan. I wanted organic, non-GMO sperm. What will our children be like?”
“We’ll raise our kids free-range, baby, it’ll all be good.”
“Don’t make light of this,” I ground out. “Twins, Tristan. You and your extra lumpy man gravy put twins in me. As if I wasn’t freaking out enough already, now I’m going to have to double my efforts.”
“Baby, the world can’t handle you doubling your efforts.”
I bit my lip. “What am I going to do with twins?”
“Oh, I don’t know…love them?” he retorted. “We’re a good team, Liv. We got this.”
“Are you sure they look okay?” I asked.
He grinned. “From what I can see, they’re healthy, sweetness. Strong heartbeats and their measurements are right on track. I’m guessing you’re at about eleven weeks.”
“That’s around about the night I threw Bonnie out,” I mused.
“Yeah,” he said, wiping the gel off my belly and sliding my pants back up.
I bit back tears. “And you.”
“True.” He leaned down and kissed me. “But we’re not goin’ there. We’re permanent now, right?”
I smiled. “Sure, we’ll go with that.”
He lifted my left hand. “This ring never comes off, Liv. It’s permanent. Say it.”
“It’s permanent.”
He kissed me again, smiling against my lips. “You’re lucky you’re having my babies, or I’d slap the shit out of your ass.”
I shivered. “Why should having your babies make a difference? I’d personally like a little ass slapping… especially if it comes from a dirty radiologist.”
He laughed. “Okay, slugger, slow down.”
“Oh, wait, baseball.” I sat up and slid my legs over the side of the bed. “How about I be the dirty umpire and you be the naughty slugger?”
“Jesus,” he hissed, his mouth covering mine as he lifted me off the table. Pushing my pants from my hips, he turned me to face the table and slapped my ass before pushing my legs apart as far as they could go. “Brace, Liv.”
I braced and he slid into me, gripping my hips before thrusting deep and hard. “Yes, baby.”
“This is gonna go quick,” he warned, slapping me again, and I groaned.
“Harder,” I begged, and he obliged, slamming in deeper and when his hand connected with my ass again, I could no longer hold back an orgasm. He wasn’t far behind me, his grunt low and gravelly as his dick pulsed inside of me.
“Don’t move,” he ordered, sliding out of me and grabbing tissues to clean us both up.
After adjusting our clothing, Doc put his clinic back to normal, and we headed into the club to check in. Alamo wa
s shrugging his leather jacket on as we walked in.
“Hey,” he said. “I was just headin’ out.”
“Us too,” Doc said. “Olivia wanted to check the babies.”
“Babies?” Alamo asked.
“Doc,” I growled. “You are worse than an old church lady at keeping secrets.”
“Shit, sorry,” Doc said with a chuckle. “Ah, yeah. She was feelin’ sick. I figured I’d do an ultrasound and we found out we’re havin’ twins.”
“Holy shit,” Alamo said. “Congratulations.”
“Thanks.”
“Let me tell Jazz, okay?” I asked.
“You better tell her now, babe, because I won’t be able to keep that from her once I’m face-to-face,” he warned.
“Okay,” I said, and pulled out my phone, firing off a text. “Done,” I said just as my phone rang. “Hey, Jazz.”
“Oh my god! Twins?” she screeched.
I smiled. “Looks that way.”
“When did you find out?”
“Just now,” I said. “Doc took an ultrasound.”
“Oh, honey, that’s amazing. Are you freaked or excited?”
“Both.”
“You’re gonna totally rock this.”
I sighed. “Lordy, I hope so.”
Doc wrapped an arm around me and pulled me close and I leaned heavily against him.
“You’re gonna be great, and remember, you’ve got all of us to help you,” Jasmine said.
“This is true. I’m going to need you.”
She chuckled. “We’ll be there. Where are you?”
“I’m at the club.”
“Is Mo still there?”
Alamo shook his head and I grinned. “He just left.”
“Liar,” she said, and laughed. “Tell him to be safe, but get home soon. Sebastian’s asleep and I’m naked.”
“Jesus,” Alamo hissed out. “Leaving right now.”
He walked out the door and I grinned. “He seriously started running for his bike.”
Jasmine giggled. “Good. Okay, I’ll talk to you later.”
“Bye.”
I hung up, sent Clementine a quick text, and smiled up at Doc. “You ready to go home?”
“Yeah. You okay?”
“I’m good, honey.”
He kissed me gently and took me home. Clementine called while we were in the car and I filled her in on the news. Her reaction was much the same as Jasmine’s, and by the time I fell into bed, my heart was full and my worries eased, knowing my family had my back.
Keeping the Biker's Oath (Dogs of Fire: Savannah Chapter Book 5) Page 8