“Have you seen inside yet?” she asks, still giggling.
“No, headed there now. What time is Donna Jo due?” I ask Caraleigh.
“She should be here any time, but then again, she’s horrible with directions so she could also be in Alaska by now. I’ll try calling her shortly.”
“Okay. Going to see what my mother has been up to inside the clubhouse,” I say before dropping a kiss on her head. No, it’s not where I want to kiss her but hopefully, it’ll keep those fuckers from eyeballing her any more. My intentions have been set in stone where the brothers are concerned.
* * *
Caraleigh
* * *
He kissed me! Okay, so it wasn’t a full-on lips and tongues dueling with me crushed against his body, but still...he kissed me! “You okay, Cara?” Paisley asks.
“What? Oh, yeah, I’m fine, why?”
“You look kind of shell-shocked. I take it that he’s not done that before?”
“No! I mean, he’s held my hand and all, but he was just walking us home.”
“And... he was holding your hand when y’all walked up to us earlier.”
“It doesn’t mean anything, Paisley. Hell, we haven’t even gone out on a date,” I say, wishing I could chug the rest of my wine cooler.
“Honey, bikers typically don’t date. They see what they want and they go after it,” she replies.
“I... see.”
“No, you don’t but I suspect you will. Just saying, Axe is a helluva good guy. Works hard, loves his daughter and his mom something fierce and is loyal to a fault.”
“He seems like a nice guy,” I cautiously admit.
“He and Twisted have been best friends forever so I can say with absolute certainty that he is a nice guy. Unless you cross him or hurt someone he cares about and then, all bets are off.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I tell her. “Should we be doing anything to help get ready?”
“Now, we’ve got an hour or so before they fire up the grills and start cooking. All the side dishes are ready. But I want to grab Tig something to drink, you wanna come with me?”
“Sure.”
* * *
Braxton
* * *
Walking into the clubhouse, I look at Hatchet and Twisted and say, “Okay, what did Mom do now?”
“Follow me,” Twisted says, a grin breaking out across his face. We go through the kitchen and he turns left before we get to the bar.
“All we have are storage rooms down here,” I tell them as we start down the hall.
“Not anymore,” Hatchet replies, before he bursts into laughter.
Oh for fuck’s sake, what did Mom do now? I swear I’m gonna be bald and what hair I have left on my body is going to end up grey! Stopping at the first door on the left, I see a sign on the door where there wasn’t one before that says “storage.” Raising my eyebrow, I open the door and my jaw drops. When we looked for a clubhouse, we bought an old school and knocked down walls and made it into what we wanted. The kitchen was already an industrial-sized one, but we upgraded the appliances and added a pantry, as well as a walk-in deep freezer. Several of the brothers like to hunt and fish, so we have wild game processed and packaged, in addition to the normal chicken and steak that we all enjoy. But this room here? There are rows of shelves neatly organized with non-perishable items. “What in the hell?” I ask, more to myself than anything.
“Your mom thought it made more sense to be fully stocked for any occasion,” Twisted finally says, before bursting into laughter.
“Like what? The zombie apocalypse? Christ on a cracker, that woman is going to make me old before my time,” I mutter.
“Christ on a cracker, what are we twelve?” Hatchet cracks up at my verbiage.
“Fuck, don’t give me hell,” I tell him. “I’m raising a little girl, I can’t continuously have the mouth of a sailor…continue,” I tell him. When he finally relents from his laughter he does.
“Anyways, there’s a method to her madness,” Hatch replies. “The grocery store was closing down so she got most of it at a deep discount. Plus, with it being early spring, we’ll be cooking out more and shit. It won’t go to waste, Axe.”
I’m busy counting the cases of paper towels. And toilet paper. We’re set if anyone comes down with Montezuma’s revenge. Sighing, a grin playing on my lips, I say, “Her heart is in the right place. And, we’ll let the prospects keep the inventory up. May as well, right?”
“Oh they’re gonna love that,” Twisted says. “But wait...there’s more,” he continues, sounding like one of those game show hosts. I half expect to see a woman in a sparkling gown come forward waving her arms.
We leave the room and he goes to the next door and opens it before standing aside. Taking a deep breath, I walk in and my jaw drops. There are multiple flatscreen televisions with every kind of game system available hooked up on one side of the room, and a long table with laptops on the other wall. “What the hell is this?” I ask.
“She found out that a few of the prospects didn’t have their diplomas and said that they had to work toward their GED so they can ‘become productive members of society and the club’.”
“How is playing video games helping them do that?” I question.
“Oh, they have to earn their playing time. She holds the controllers hostage until they’ve completed whatever assignment she gives them. Why didn’t you mention she used to be a teacher?” Hatch asks.
“Must have slipped my mind,” I mutter. “Hell, are the prospects okay with all of this shit?”
“Yeah, actually. Smokey and Bandit have been teaching them computer skills so they don’t delete the hard drive, and Law’s woman, Ava, has been coming in and helping your mom.”
“When does she find time to do this? She watches Lily for me!”
“Oh, she does it while Lily’s in school.”
“For fuck’s sake, I was gone for a week! Seven-motherfuckin’- days, how is possible for one person to get all this done in that time frame?” My mother both amazes and shocks me at every turn.
“There’s still more, Axe.”
“More?” I’m not sure at this point I can handle any more, but I decide to pull up my President boxers and motor on. “Show me.”
We head out of the new classroom with me still shaking my head in bewilderment at how my mom managed to accomplish all of this in a mere week. Sneaky woman!
“Okay, you know how we’ve got a few kids now, right?” Twisted asks.
“Uh, last I saw, we had two. Two children,” I reply. “Tig and Lily.”
“And... your mom is including Luca in all of this, apparently.”
Of course she is, the scheming matchmaker! “Go on…”
“She decided that the kids needed their own space inside in case we ever have to go on a lockdown.”
“A lockdown? What in the everloving hell is she talking about? We’ve never had to have one. Ever. We’re not that kind of club, for fuck’s sake.” I need a beer. Or ten. Hell, at this rate, I may as well drink a whole case.
“C’mon, Axe, you know we love your mom and if I hadn’t agreed, none of this would have happened,” Twisted says.
“She must think this club is made of money…” I mutter to myself, causing Hatchet and Twisted to crack up at my supposed joke, which it wasn’t by the way. We’re doing well financially, but that’s just the thing, we are right now, but we need to prepare for a rainy day. I have employees that would like to still be able to feed their families if we ever come into a rough patch.
We go back down the hall and to the other side where she has created two more rooms. The first one is an indoor playroom that is sectioned off to have a small ‘house’, and then a game area, a craft area, and a video game area. Games and puzzles are neatly stacked on the shelves, along with books. Leave it to Mom to create something like this for the few kids we do have in the MC so far. The second room is a bunk room designed specifically for kids. Along one wall
are cribs. Cribs? Oh for fuck’s sake. “Why are there cribs?”
“Wishful thinking on her part? I don’t know, man. I mean, right now, I’m the only one with an old lady, and you and I are the only two with kids. Then again, if we have any friendlies visiting, they might have kids, so maybe it’s not a bad idea?”
“She also set up a movie room,” Hatch blurts out. “But that’s for everyone, not just the kids.”
“Please tell me she didn’t go into our room where we hold church?” I ask. I’m normally a patient man, truly I am, but I think her antics have pushed every last button.
“Nope. But...that’s only because Chief stood in front of the door when she tried,” Twisted admits.
“That’s it, I’m taking her keys away,” I mutter, and her credit cards, I think to myself. “How in the hell can I command respect when my mother does something like this?”
“Actually, Axe, I approved all of it, and the guys? They’re thrilled. They’ve been around more, hanging out, shooting the shit, that kind of thing. She wanted to start a Sunday movie day, but I told her we had to vote on that,” Twisted says.
“Hmm, yeah, like we won’t say yes,” I reply, looking at all she accomplished. Next thing we’ll be having weekly dinners if she keeps this up. In addition to the cribs, she has bunk beds throughout the room, not just the twin-sized ones either. Nope, she has the twin over full-sized bunk beds.
“Tell me we still have our gym?”
“Yep. Although she ordered a hot tub. Said something about it helping our muscles relax once we’re done working out.”
“I’m taking her credit card away as well.”
“Axe, your mom has been more alive this past week than I’ve seen her in years,” Twisted says. He should know. He was there when my dad died and he saw how she grieved. She spent three months making pickles and baking bread. I know when I had her move in with me to help with Lily, she started coming back even more.
“And the guys are all really okay with it?” I ask, running my hands through my hair. Shit, is it falling out? I wonder if Caraleigh likes men who are bald.
“Yeah, man, they really are,” Hatch confirms.
“Okay, let me go tell Miss Mischief Maker to slow her roll a little bit. Maybe she can clue me in on what else she envisions for our clubhouse so I can bring it to a vote?”
“You can try but she’s in her element. Hell, Chef has been singing her praises ever since she put in the garden.”
“The...what?”
“Garden. She said fresh veggies and herbs would be good for all of us and you know him, he loves to cook, so he helped her get it planted and everything. Be prepared, man.”
“Fuck my life.”
* * *
Nan
* * *
I see Braxton walk out with Twisted and Hatchet and smile. Guess he figured out that I’ve been a bit busy this past week while he was gone. I just want him and the boys to be comfortable. Maybe if they were, more of them would settle down. Now I need to stay away from him for a little while until he calms down.
Walking toward the women, I see Caraleigh and Paisley laughing at something one of the kids is doing and I smile. She’s going to be good for him JB. I know if anyone knew I still had conversations with my dead husband in my head they’d commit me, but what they don’t know won’t hurt them, will it? Caraleigh has the sweetest personality, but I know there’s a feisty side to her waiting to come out and my son is just the man to make that happen. And that little boy? What a sweetie pie he is! Always looking out for my Lily and so polite. She doesn’t know I overheard him talking to Lily one day when he was over playing. If she did, it would break her heart. I know it broke mine. He knew how his father and grandparents treated her and he hated it.
“Lily? Can I tells you something? If I does, can you promises not to tells Nan or your daddy?” he asked.
“I promises,” she replied, sticking out her pinky. “Pinky promises, Luca!”
“I misses my daddy because him is in Heaven, but you knows what? Him was mean to my momma all the time. So was my grandparents.”
“How was they mean?” Lily asked.
“He would tells her she didn’t do things right or that she was fat. Lily, he made her cry!”
“I’se sorry, Luca, that wasn’t nice of him even if he was your daddy. Daddies are post to love mommas, right?”
“I thinks so, yes. I don’t thinks him loved Momma, though. It’s why we moved away, but Momma doesn’t know I know.”
“How did you find out?”
“I heard my Uncle Chan talking on the phone to my other gramma, the one who loves me. He was really mad when he was telling her what he heard them say to my momma.”
“Your momma isn’t fat, her is just right! And her is pretty and I likes how she laughs and plays with us.”
“I knows! I thinks if my daddy hadn’t died, they would have gotten a diborce.”
Lily looked at him and he looked back at her before they nodded at each other. “Let’s go see if Nan will let us have a smoothie!” Lily said.
I had quickly stepped back and made my way into the kitchen before the kids got in there, and was able to wipe the tears from my face. That poor sweet woman had been degraded by the one person who was supposed to love her unconditionally! Well, if I know anything, and I’ve lived long enough to learn a thing or two, I can guaran-damn-tee that once my Braxton gets his head out of his ass and makes her his, she’ll know what that feels like.
“What has you two laughing over here?” I ask as I sit down with the two younger women.
“Well, Lily was playing by herself since Tig grabbed Luca. When Luca looked over and saw she was by herself, he went over to get her and Tig said something. Luca turned around and told him that it was their job to take care of the girls and Lily was his bestest friend so he was going to play with her too. Tig, instead of getting all huffy? Said okay and the three of them have been playing some crazy game that I think they’re making up as they go,” Caraleigh said.
“That’s sweet of him. You’ve done a good job, Caraleigh,” I tell her. I should know, I raised a good man myself and I see the signs of one in young Luca.
“Thank you. I worry that he doesn’t have enough of a male influence though, especially since my brother is so far away now.”
“Nonsense, between Braxton and all the boys, he’ll get all he needs from them.”
“She’s right,” Paisley said. “These men love kids and of course, now that Tig knows of Luca, I anticipate sleepovers as well.”
I’m about to say something when I see Braxton heading in our direction. Time to make my escape. “Gonna run and see if there’s anything else to be done before the guys start cooking.”
* * *
Braxton
* * *
I watch my mother scamper off in the opposite direction. She can run but she cannot hide forever. I’m not really upset about what she did. Everything was on my to-do list, I just hadn’t gotten to it quite yet.
“We’re about to fire up the grills, ladies,” I say as I reach Paisley and Caraleigh. She looks so fucking pretty today with her leggings and oversized t-shirt. She looks up at me and smiles. I’m taken back at how her whole face lights up.
“So, did you see what Nan did?” Paisley asks, a grin on her face.
“Yeah and I’m guessing that’s why she took off,” I reply, before I start chuckling. “Like I won’t eventually catch up to her!”
“What did your mom do?” Caraleigh asks.
“She took advantage of the fact I was gone all week and had some things done around the clubhouse that I’ve been putting off,” I tell her. “C’mon, let me show you.”
“Okay, I’d like that. I’ve only really seen the bar and the kitchen.”
“You two have fun, I’m gonna keep my eye on the kids,” Paisley says as I lead Caraleigh away, my fingers weaving their way between hers.
I don’t miss her glance at our hands and I give hers a gentle
squeeze. “You okay with this?” I ask, nodding at our hands.
“I... I guess, why?”
“Just curious. I was never much for holding hands but find that I want to hold yours,” I admit as I walk us through the back door of the clubhouse.
She starts to giggle when she sees the storage room filled to the brim with non-perishables. The game room has her chuckling. By the time we get to the kids’ bunk room, she’s laughing so hard she has tears running down her face. “She...she did all this in a week?” she stammers out.
“Yep. Give that woman a credit card and keys and she’s apparently hell on wheels.”
“I’ll say. I’m pretty impressed at what she accomplished, to be honest.”
“I am too, but I’ll deny it if you repeat it,” I tell her. “There’s one more room, too.”
“Another one?”
I nod as I take her into the movie room. “Oh wow, look at this,” she says as she walks around the stadium style seats. There are smaller, kid-friendly ones set up in the front with the adult sizes at the back and there are enough that each brother could bring someone. At the back, there’s a huge popcorn popper and... wait a minute...oh for the love of all that’s holy! A drink machine? Caraleigh, seeing the look on my face, starts laughing again and soon, I’m laughing alongside her, with her pressed along my side.
“So fucking pretty,” I whisper as I tuck a wayward curl behind her ear and wipe away the tears from her laughter.
She looks down and I use my hand to gently lift her chin so she’s looking at me again. “You are, Cara. I’m not the kind of man who blows smoke up anyone’s ass, so when I say something, you can believe it’s the truth.”
“Okay,” she quietly says.
Stroking her cheek with my thumb, I lean down until our lips are nearly touching. “Been wanting to do this since the first day I saw you,” I murmur before I capture her lips in mine.
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