Once I get Trinity’s okay, I walk over to where Hannah is standing, her eyes downcast. I have to crouch a bit because she’s definitely tinier than both of us, but I want her to look at me. Lifting her chin, I’m not prepared for the shock that hits me when I touch her skin. “Hannah? We’ll get this for you, okay? Please let me…us…take care of it for you. If not for what that piece of shit did, you wouldn’t find yourself in this position. As for the jobs, how about you do the store during the weekdays, with me, so I can train you. And on Thursday evenings and Friday evenings, you can work the diner. I… that is, neither of us want you to wear yourself down.”
“I have money, Smokey. I can pay for what they’re getting,” she says.
“Doll, I know you can. This isn’t meant as a slight at all. Save that for a rainy day, yeah?”
I can see the moment it all hits her, and she lets out a sigh. I would give anything to pull her into my arms and tell her it’s all gonna be alright, but it’s too fucking soon. “Okay.”
Chapter Two
Bandit
I go up to the laundry room and gather up Hannah’s clothing. I’m not great at folding clothes, so I stuff them in her bag as neatly as I can. She seems a little hesitant about coming home with Smokey and myself, but we’ll ease her into trusting us, and hopefully she’s willing to give us a chance. I don’t think her life has been an easy one, and I want to change that for her. Once I’ve got her clothes packed up, I go back into the bathroom and gather up the few things she had in there. Seeing the nondescript, generic shit makes me angry. Our woman will have the best of everything, that I can guarandamntee! I’m sure, once we have her home, she’ll want to put a bra on now that they’re dried, but I’m not minding seeing those full, luscious melons swinging underneath the shirt she’s wearing.
Knowing that they’re waiting on me to leave, I hurry back downstairs and rush to their sides. I find them out in the back lot standing next to Hannah’s car. It’s run down, rusted and has definitely seen better days…wait a minute, is that duct tape holding her mirror together? Fuck me, it is! I know we’ll be getting her a newer, safer, vehicle as soon as we can, that’s for damn sure!
“Here’s your bag,” I state as soon as I’m standing close enough to them.
“Thank you,” she says, attempting to take the bag from my hands.
I pull my hand back and tell her, “I’ll put it in the back for you.”
She rolls her eyes and asks, “Is this what I have to look forward too?”
“Pretty much,” Smokey tells her.
“Great,” she mutters under her breath. “Alphaholes, just what the doctor ordered.”
“What the fuck is an alphahole?” I can’t help but wonder.
“Alpha and asshole mixed together,” she replies with a straight face.
“Hey, that’s a good one,” I tell her. Smokey and I begin to laugh.
“Oh, brother,” she says, blowing her hair out of her face.
“We have plenty of those,” Smokey tells her.
“You mean there’s more than the two of you?”
“Yep, both by blood and brotherhood,” I tell her.
“None as good looking as us though,” Smokey informs her.
“This is true,” I agree with him.
“Alphaholes and self-centered, I’m a lucky woman,” she states.
“You have no idea,” I tell her, opening up her door to place her bag inside, only to have a kitten come barreling out of the car and attach himself to my skin.
“I take it this is the infamous Duckie?” I ask, as the little tan and white fluff ball purrs in my ear then licks my chin before curling up. I can see his tail is full like a squirrel’s and it makes me laugh.
“Don’t laugh at him, he’s sensitive. Aren’t you, boy?” she asks, running her hand down his back, causing him to arch and dig his nails in further.
“Not keen on the nails, Khaleesi,” I tell her.
“What the fuck? Khaleesi? I think you should learn what my name is and use it, if you want to keep your balls attached, that is.”
“Yeah, you’re gonna be our queen, sweetheart. Get used to it.”
“Oh, that means queen? Now I feel stupid,” she mutters, kicking a rock that is loose on the pavement.
“Definitely not stupid, Doll,” Smokey states. “You had the wherewithal to scream and scratch at that bastard, otherwise today could have been a lot worse.”
“Oh, I’m street smart, just not as book smart as most,” she replies.
“Pretty sure you’re smart, Hannah. Now, get in your car and follow us, yeah?” I state as I hand the kitten back to her. I watch as she takes him and curls him into her arms as she kisses his head and whispers to him and cannot wait until that’s me…us.
“Lead the way, HN1 and HN2.” The fuck?
“You’ll need to explain that one darlin’,” I tell her.
She gives me a ‘duh’ look before saying, “Hottie number one and Hottie number two.”
Oh great, she’s got jokes. This should be good because Smokey and I have survived most of our lives joking around. My mother used to call us the clown jesters of the MC and family. Then again, for us, it’s been somewhat of a defense mechanism, so perhaps hers are as well.
Hannah
As I’m following these guys, I can’t help but wonder what the fuck I am thinking. I never do this, but for some reason I’m instantly comfortable around these two and trust them which I thought would be impossible. I don’t trust easily, not being raised in the Jefferson household. And I’m not talking about the funny family on television, no that would be the one I was birthed into. I learned at an early age to lock and bar my door because mommy dearest often brought home ‘friends’ whenever Dad was out on a bender. Her friends were creeps and I shiver thinking of how they would look at me as if I was a piece of meat. “So, Duckie Wuckie, looks like we’re gonna be living with these two and their dog. Now, don’t be scared of a silly little dog, you’re a tough boy, y’hear?” Yeah, I talk to him. Don’t judge. He’s been the one constant in my life since I found him outside one day as a small kitten, drenched from the rain and filthy from the puddle he had tried to jump over. He loves to jump and ‘fly high’ as I like to say, but that day, he was too weak and landed in the puddle at my feet. I took one look at him and his fluffy pluffy tail and was lost. Seeing as I found him on Easter Sunday, I named him Duckie. The ‘wuckie’ is because it rhymes. Good thing I was still working when I got him fixed and he got all his shots, at least I don’t have to worry about that for another few months and hopefully by then, I’ll have money saved up. They may not want me paying rent, but I pay my way and if that means I take care of the household chores and cooking, so be it. Now, to learn how to cook.
I pull up to a house behind them and am stunned at what I see. It’s a huge, sprawling, ranch-style log house with a deep front porch and what looks like a tin roof overhang. Empty flower beds line the front and I can see several rocking chairs with small tables in between across the porch itself. Both men pull their bikes under an attached carport. There’s also an enclosed garage. I’m still sitting there when Smokey comes up to my door. I know they’re identical, but I know instinctively which man, is which, for some reason. They don’t even have a birthmark that’s different, or any outward scars that are apparent. He opens my door and I hand him Duckie. I can hear his low chuckle and the rumble sets off something deep inside of me. Dammit, it’s not like I’ve never been around good-looking men before, but these two men have butterflies dancing. I even feel the effects of the fluttering in my vagina. Get your shit together Hannah, I mentally scold myself.
“Anything else you need out of here?” Bandit asks, coming up alongside Smokey.
“Just my clothes and I have to get Duckie’s stuff from the far back. I have his covered litter box and food bowls. Granted, not much food lately, but it sounds like their friends are going to hook my little man up.
Smokey walks away and heads up to the f
ront door and opens it. I was slowly walking behind him until this beast of a dog comes leaping out of the house. I instinctively turn to run only to have the damn thing follow me. He jumps on my back and I faceplant into the grass. He begins to lick my neck and ears and I try to wipe it away as his slobber trickles down my neck.
“What is this, get it off!” I scream out, terror taking over me.
“Jester, get off of her! Heel!” Bandit bellows. The dog/horse removes himself from me and I get up on my hands and knees. I look up at them and give them my best death glare.
“That…” I say, pointing at the dog in question, “is not a dog! That is a miniature horse!”
“Jester is a bull mastiff, Doll,” Smokey states. “He’s still a puppy.” With that, the two of them double over, laughing their asses off at me. I know I likely now have grass stains to add to my bruises. I start giggling imagining how I must look with a face that’s multi-colored, my hair all curly and flying everywhere, and the girls bouncing free under my t-shirt. Soon, the three of us are laughing so hard that we cannot talk. That’s how everyone finds us when they start pulling in.
Smokey
I can’t help but notice how beautiful she is, all matted up, covered in bruises, but that doesn’t deter from her beauty that is shining from the inside out. She literally takes my breath away, and I cannot believe after everything she’s been through today, that she can still let loose and laugh at herself.
Seeing the cars pull up has me reaching my hand out to help her up, Duckie still in the curve of my other arm. “C’mon, Doll, looks like we’ve got company.” I see Axe with Nan and the two older kids get out of the first vehicle, followed by DJ and Hatch and their brood in the other. Chief and Trinity pull up as the others are making their way toward us.
“Axe,” I say, nodding at him since both hands are full. One with a kitten and the other with the woman who will be ours until we draw our last breath. Granted, she doesn’t know that yet and honestly, I haven’t run it by Bandit, but it’s gonna happen.
“See you’ve got your hands full, brother,” he states. Looking over at Hannah, he says, “Name’s Braxton Callahan, but my club calls me Axe. This is my mother, Nan, and my children, Lily and Luca. My wife apologizes that she isn’t here, but we just had twins and she’s home dealing with them right now.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Hannah says. She introduces herself to Axe, Nan and the kids.
“Look at the kitty!” Lily says, pointing to my shoulder, where Duckie has taken up residence. I’m glad he didn’t take off because we’ve got a lot of acreage and I don’t wanna be tracking him down. He seems to be content right where he’s at though, which is good.
“Jester, get down,” I hear Luca chuckle, and look over to see him slobbering all over Luca. Jester is a big baby, he loves kids and anyone who pays even a sliver of attention to him.
“Let’s go on inside,” I state. I’m kind of nervous about the kitten and would rather we were inside in case he chooses to bolt. When all the humans and animals are inside the house, I notice that Duckie jumps down and begins exploring. Jester, deciding he needs to explore the new animal, has his nose buried deep in Duckie’s backside. Duckie arches his back and I think there’s going to be a full out animal brawl, but instead the kitten starts entwining himself between Jester’s legs. When Jester leans down and puts his nose against Duckie, Duckie reaches out a paw and bops him, prompting Jester to lick Duckie’s face. The sight of the kitten’s face, fur now smooshed down with dog slobber, has me laughing again.
“What’s so funny?” Hannah asks. When all I can do is point toward the two animals, she nearly screams before saying, “Duckie! He could eat you without even trying, you little goober!”
“Oh please,” DJ says, “that damn dog wouldn’t hurt a fly. That’s no attack dog, that’s a big baby in a horse-sized body.”
“Where should we put these bags at?” Nan asks, and I suddenly feel like I’ve already become a bad host.
“That’s too much stuff,” Hannah insists, seeing all the bags that have been brought into the house.
“Horse hockey, a woman has needs. Now hush up and let us take care of you.” I love this old woman. “Now, first things first, let’s make sure these clothes fit you,” she says ushering Hannah out of the room. She looks back at us over her shoulder and has a deer in the headlights look. Yep, she’s been caught, she is now officially one of Nan’s adopted kids. I laugh at the thought of her being caught hook, line and sinker. Now I just have to reel her into the dark side, that would be where she’s mine and Bandit’s. The smirk that appears on my face is mirrored by his, yep, definitely time for the wooing to begin. Of course, our way of wooing isn’t the typical kind, our mission is to make sure that she can’t live without us, we need to become necessary to her existence, she needs to eat, sleep and breath us. This is one conquest that I won’t give up on or lose, she will be ours, I know in my bones that she’s ‘our one’, now we just have to convince her that it’s her who’s chasing us. Let the motherfucking games begin!
Hannah
This woman has a screw loose somewhere, she is literally dressing me. I don’t know her, only met her literally fifteen minutes ago, and she has hands everywhere…she’s as fast as a rattlesnake and I can’t seem to shake her no matter what I do. “I think I got it,” I say to her, when she tries to put my bra on me, I mean, where are the boundaries?
“Hush up, girlie, we all have the same parts,” she huffs. I swear if she puffs, she’ll blow the damn house down. And it’s such a gorgeous house, I’d hate to see it go up in an explosion.
“I’ve been dressing myself for a long time,” I say.
“And have you ever had the trauma like you did earlier? Hmm?” she asks as she continues to tear tags off of things and then put them on me, like I’m a two-year old. Realizing that I’m getting nowhere fast, I decide to humor her, lifting my arms or legs, whichever she asks for. The sooner we get this over with, the better. I feel like I’m being molested by a woman past her prime.
“No, not exactly,” I reply.
“What do you mean by ‘not exactly’, young lady?” she responds.
“Well…let’s just say that home life wasn’t all a bed of roses, okay? It’s why I left. Had to get out of there before it got worse for me.”
Before I can say anything else, I’m engulfed in her arms. The hug itself is surprising because I usually shy away from touch. I’m not anti-social, but where I come from, touches usually cause bruises. Instead, her arms are rubbing my back soothingly and she’s quietly crying. “Nan? Are…are you okay?”
“Honey, you picked the best possible place to land. My boys will make sure no one ever fucks with you again. Ever.” Well, alrighty then. What can you really say to that type of statement?
I figuratively pick my jaw off the floor from her words because who on earth would expect someone like her, a matriarch if ever I saw one, to say the word ‘fuck’? Certainly not me. “They’re only helping me because of what happened earlier. It’s nothing more than that.”
She starts laughing at me before replying, “Um, not sure you realize it yet, but you’re gonna be a part of the RGMC family.” What the fuck? How? Why? All these questions are still swirling in my brain as I try to process what she has said when she states, “Okay, we can go back out to everyone else. Not sure if this is going to be your room or not, but it has the look of a guest room so I think we’ll presume it will be, at least for now.”
“What do you mean, for now?” I know this woman is not expecting me to become the middle of a man sandwich, but yummy, just the thought of those two having their wicked way with me has goosebumps forming on my arms. Something her sharp eyes don’t miss, she laughs and pulls me behind her out of the room. I need to keep a poker face around this old biddy it seems. Then again, she doesn’t really look old, just mature. She’s trim and fit and her hair is done in a becoming style, which makes me wonder why she’s still single. She picks up on eve
rything, even your deepest, darkest fantasies. With my background, and family’s reputation, this isn’t a fantasy I should be having or wanting. I want to get away from the ‘white trash’ reputation, and become known for the person I truly am. I am a good person dammit, I don’t sleep with every Tom, Dick and Harry I cross. In fact, other than some fumbling around with a high school boyfriend, I’m still a virgin, so there’s that, right? However, I do have more class in my pinky toe than my mother and sister have in their entire body. We make it out to the living room where everyone has now found a place to sit, with the kids in the middle of the floor watching Jester and Duckie play. Their antics have me giggling, because every time Duckie nuzzles Jester, he licks him. Duckie looks like he’s had a bath, but is purring his head off. Looks like my worry about these two getting along was unwarranted, because they’ve quickly become the best of friends.
“C’mon, boy, let’s get you outside,” I hear Bandit call out to Jester. I watch in amazement as Duckie gets up and follows him to the backdoor.
“Silly kitty, you don’t go outside to use the bathroom, let’s let Jester do his business and we’ll get your litter box and food set out.” He looks up at me as if I’ve suddenly become the enemy, traitor.
“Let me show you where we got his litter box set up,” Smokey says. I follow him after scooping up Duckie and he takes me to a laundry room that is bigger than I’ve ever seen. Cabinets line the wall and there’s a space where an ironing board is set up, along with countertops for the folded clothes. They’ve even got inset racks for hanging clothes that can’t go in the dryer. He leads me over to the corner where they’ve got his box set up and I see that they put a placemat that one of the girls must have bought on the counter, along with a water dish and a massive bowl full of food.
“Look, Duckie! You’re getting your favorite,” I say to him as I set him up on the counter. He immediately shoves his head in the bowl and starts eating, causing Smokey to chuckle. The timber of his voice isn’t something I can readily explain, but it’s like smoked chocolate poured over the finest alcohol. All dark and hot. I could come from him talking, he won’t ever need to touch me to make my body soar. Dammit, now I sound like a hussy, I need to stay as far away from these two as I possibly can. I know I’ll be living with them and having to see them on a daily basis, but I need to erect that wall and keep it solidly in place. It will be made of concrete and stone, no possible way of them penetrating it or tearing it down…right?
Smokey & Bandit: Rebel Guardians MC Page 3