Thor (Thorny Devils MC Book 1)

by MLJ Quigg

  I held my hand out as Derrick stood and slid the ring on. It was a perfect fit.

  Derrick pulled me to him and kissed me like we were the only two people in the room. There were shouts and hollers from everyone.

  He pulled away and placed his forehead to mine. “I love you,

  Monique. You’ve made me the happiest man today.” “I love you, too,” I replied.

  “Stay here tonight, baby. I don’t want to be away from you again.”

  “Sure. Let me call Matt to take over for me tonight, and then I’m all yours,” I said.

  “Sounds good, baby,” he replied.

  I made the call, and after a quick chat, I hung up.

  “I’ve put in an order for a property cut that we’ll get soon,” Derrick says.

  “A what?” I asked.

  “It’s a vest that will have ‘Property of Thor’ with our club emblem on top of it on the back. You’re not really my property, and I would never treat you like that, but it is just for other clubs and members here to know not to touch you—that you’re mine in every way, and I am yours. In our world, it means more than that ring and a piece of paper, and I wanted it all,” he said.

  “Oh, that doesn’t sound too bad,” I said.

  As he hugged me and gave me another kiss, the kids came over to hug and kiss our cheeks.

  “Congratulations, Mum and Dad,” Madilyn said.

  “’Bout time,” the boys said at the same time with a smile.

  “What do you mean ‘’bout time’? It’s only been three weeks,” I said.

  “Hey, you’ve always loved each other, so why not? I know you aren’t going anywhere, so why waste time?” Jackson said.

  “True,” stated Connor.

  “All right, enough. Let me through.” Dave pushed his way to me and grabbed me in a hug.

  “Congrats, honey. He’s a keeper,” he said.

  “I know.” I hugged him back.

  Dave pulled back and shook Derrick’s hand while congratulating him.

  Then Mike came over and gave me a bear hug, saying, “Congrats, tiny. You too, Derrick.”

  We spent the next hour being congratulated by all the guys of the club. All of the old ladies of the brothers arrived with their families, and we set about getting dinner ready.

  I went to help, but I was ushered away by Hannah. “Go, honey, this is your day. You don’t have to do anything.” “Thanks, Aunt Hannah,” I said, hugging her.

  Music was put on, and I continued to talk to some of the others, then Dave walked up to me with a shit-eating grin on his face.

  “What have you been up to?” I asked.

  “Nothing. Come and have a dance with me,” he said.

  I spun around, looking for Dozer. I found him smiling at me cheekily.

  “You put him up to this, didn’t you?” I yelled at him.

  “Fuck, yes, I did. You can’t say no now.” Dozer laughed.

  I looked down at my pleated mini skirt with leggings underneath, peasant blouse, and high heels with straps. Well, not too bad.

  Okay, I could do this. “Fine.”

  I kissed Derrick and hugged him.

  “Excuse me for a minute. It seems your VP wants to see me dance. You can kill him after,” I said to him, and Derrick just laughed.

  I took Dave’s hand as he led me out to the dance floor.

  “What are we dancing?” I asked.

  “You’ll see,” he said.

  “You asked for it, Dozer,” I yelled.

  “Hell, yeah, I did,” he yelled back.

  Fuck, this could be anything—Cha-cha, Tango, or Quickstep. Jeez once we had nearly all of them in a dance. I heard the first beat of the song, and a huge smile came to both of our faces. We both loved this dance. I should have known. We started to move to ‘Into The Night’ by Santana and Chad Kroeger.

  By the first words of the song, we were sailing across the floor in a mixture of the Cha-cha and a Tango. Dave spun, dipped, and bent me in ways I should never have been able to move. We were smiling at each other at this stage, knowing what was coming up. When it got to the slow beat of the song, my back was to his front, and sensually, I lifted my left leg to my side and extended it all the way up. He grabbed my ankle and held me while I raised the other one and was bent in half in front of him. I lowered my leg, moving into a split in between his legs. He took my hands, and moving to the side, he turned me so I could move my legs together. I ended up facing him and grabbing both my hands, he helped me up. We did a couple more turns and twirls for flourish, and then we ended with me bent over his knee backwards. It was a very sensual dance, and if you didn’t know us, you would think we were a couple. I did love this dance, though.

  “Holy fuck, that was awesome,” Dozer yelled.

  “Thanks. Holy shit, that dance takes a lot out of you,” I said, puffing.

  “Sure does, but I love that dance,” Dave said as we walked over to Derrick and Mike.

  “Prez, should she be doing that with him? Looked like they were gonna go for it,” someone shouted.

  “I would if I were into girls and didn’t have a husband, but there are no worries of me ever going there,” Dave yelled back.

  “Foreplay for me, though,” Mike said.

  “Fuck, yeah, that was hot,” Derrick said, wrapping his arm around me.

  As Dave wrapped his arm around Mike’s waist, Mike’s arm went around Dave’ shoulder, and he whispered in Dave’s ear loud enough I could hear, “Fuck, that’s always hot. It gets me every time you dance that with her. I want you so bad right now.” Then he kissed Dave’s neck.

  “I agree with him. I’m as hard as a rock,” Derrick whispered in my ear as he nuzzled my neck.

  Dozer came over to our group and smiled as he asked, “So what other kinds of dance can you do?”

  “Ballroom, ballet, contemporary, hip-hop, and jazz,” I answered.

  “And pole dancing. She’s really good at that.” Dave laughed.

  Dozer’s eyes bulged out of his head. “Pole dancing, really? Demonstr—”

  “Hell, no,” I stated, putting my hand over his mouth and stopping what he was about to say.

  “Fine, but what about the other ones?” He pouted.

  “We could show them the hip-hop, Mum,” Madilyn said.

  “Not in these shoes, I can’t. Never again. I broke the last pair I tried to dance hip-hop in, and these are expensive shoes. Nuh-uh, no way,” I stated.

  “Your dance bag is in the car, Mum,” Jackson said.

  “Fine, but if I have to do it, you’re all joining in.” “I’m in,” Madilyn said.

  Connor ran off to the car after I handed him the keys.

  “Okay, silly question. Do you have a stereo that can hook up to a phone?” Madilyn asked, shaking her phone.

  “Sure do, honey. Come with me,” Wombat said.

  Madilyn followed him, and Wombat showed her the stereo. She smiled and hooked her phone up, telling him when to play the song.

  Connor raced in and handed me my dance bag.

  “Here, Maddi. I grabbed your sneakers since you’re only wearing sandals,” he said to Madilyn.

  “Thanks, Con.” Taking the sneakers, she put them on.

  “Be right back.” I kissed Derrick.

  I walked into the ladies and changed my top. The dance one was a little revealing, and I didn’t have a sports bra on, but oh, well. Not much I could do about it. I quickly put the sneakers on and took off my skirt so I was only left in the leggings.

  I walked out and put the bag down beside the table where Derrick was sitting with Dozer and Mike. Madilyn and I walked into the middle of the dance floor, and she nodded to Wombat to press play, and ‘Timber’ by Pitbull and Kesha started.

  As the harmonica began to play, Madilyn and I rolled our bodies, and when Kesha began singing, we slowly dipped and rolled our bodies. When Pitbull came into it, we moved faster. When it repeated on Keisha’s part, the boys and Dave joined us, and then we all danced the same rou
tine. Madilyn, Dave, and I stepped back, put our hands on our hips, and moved our hips from side to side. The boys then took the lead and backing up, they ran to each other, doing a couple of flips. They ended up crouched to the ground then they rose up. We came in and continued the dance. Madilyn then took the lead and did a few turns and body dips, and when she repeated it, we followed her. We ended the dance with one hand in the air and our legs apart. Putting our other hand over our stomachs, we all bowed at the same time.

  Everyone clapped and whistled.

  With a smile on his face, Derrick came over and hugged and kissed me. “Fuck, you can all dance.”

  “I guess my parents had the right idea. Fight and dance.” I smiled back at him.

  “Now I gotta see you pole dance if that’s any indication,” he said.

  “Fuck, yes... I wanna see, too,” Dozer said.

  Derrick and I glared at him.

  “Fuck, no. You are not ogling my woman, Doze. So fuck off,” Derrick stated.

  “I won’t do it in public, anyway. It was to help with rehab, so it’s only for fun and strength training now,” I said.

  “Spoilsport,” Dozer said with a pout on his face.

  “Um, yep. Get over it,” I said.

  As we were finishing dinner, Dozer stood up and clinked his beer bottle with the flat of his knife to quieten everyone. “I have a toast to make. You all know that the prez is my best friend, so I feel it’s my right to do this—so get over it. Anyway, Thor was such a downer when he first came here, always moping about and not getting to know anyone. I persisted and wouldn’t stay away from him until he opened up to me and told me some pretty shitty things that had happened, and we’ve been close ever since. He slowly got to know all of you, and he became happy here, but there was always something missing for him. He always kept us at arm’s length, but all that changed when a certain little lady with three smartarse kids came barrelling into our lives. Fuck, she would have taken us all on if she wasn’t stopped—crazy broad. Fuck. The woman can fight, but she did not take me out twice, nope, didn’t happen. She swears like a trooper and can pole dance even though she won’t show us. Fucking spoilsport. She smiles all the fucking time. Well, hell, I’ve seen Prez smile more in the last three weeks than I ever have. Always fucking smiling, which is fucking awesome, by the way. This is the happiest I’ve ever seen him. So, Monique, keep that smile on his face, and welcome to the family, and, Prez, for the love of God, please, pretty please with a cherry on top, get her to pole dance for us.” Everyone laughed then yelled out congratulations.

  We stood as Dozer came over, grabbed us both, and hugged us. We hugged him back, and Derrick whispered something in his ear that I couldn’t hear. Dozer nodded, then gave me a kiss on the cheek before letting us go.

  We sat back down, and Derrick kissed me to cheers and whistles from everyone.

  “Speech, speech, speech,” was chanted by everyone.

  “Okay, okay. Fuck, guys, give me a minute.” Derrick kissed me again and then laughed at the boos he was getting this time. He stood and cleared his throat.

  “When I came here, I made the biggest mistake of my life. Not by joining but leaving someone behind.” He brought my hand to his lips and kissed my knuckles. “The best decision I ever made was hiring her company. She kicked me in the balls, but I deserved that and so much more. When she forgave me, and I found out I have three beautiful, talented, and smart as fuck kids—it was the best feeling ever,” he said smiling at them.

  “We love you, Dad,” the three of them said.

  “I love you, too, kids,” Derrick said, then continued, “Monique is the first and only girl I’ve ever loved. She’s gorgeous, smart, and talented. She can kick arse and is just an all-around nice person. When I found out the hell you’d been through, baby, it broke my heart. Just ask Doze—he was there. You are so strong and loving, and I’m the luckiest man on earth at the moment. So raise your glasses, bottles, or whatever to my beautiful fiancée, soon-to-be wife, mother of my children and more to come—and my old lady,

  Monique. I love you, baby.”

  “To Monique” was yelled.

  Derrick pulled me up and kissed me.

  “Even though she won’t pole dance,” was muttered.

  “Shut up, Dozer,” Derrick and I said at the same time when we pulled apart.

  We sat back down.

  “So when’s the wedding,” Hannah asked.

  “We haven’t discussed that,” I said.

  “In a month,” Derrick replied at the same time I spoke.

  “A month? What the fuck? Are you on drugs?” I said to him.

  “Fuck, no, baby. We have to file a Notice of Intended Marriage, and there’s a waiting period of a month. I want this as soon as possible,” he said.

  “You don’t give a girl a month to organise a wedding, Derrick. It takes longer than that,” I argued.

  “Nope, a month. That’s all you’re getting,” he replied.

  “You’re sticking to that, hey?” I asked.

  “Hell, yes, I am. If I could marry you tomorrow, I would.” “Okay. A month, then,” I replied.

  Turning to Hannah, who had a huge smile on her face, I laughed.

  “Looks like a month.”

  “It does, doesn’t it,” she said, laughing with me.

  When the old ladies started clearing the tables, I got up to help but was once again told to leave it, so I just shrugged okay.

  “Wombat, it’s time,” Derrick yelled at him.

  Wombat looked at us, smiling, and said, “On it, Prez.”

  He walked over to the stereo, grabbed a manila folder, then came over and directed us to sit down.

  “Okay, I’m a certified marriage celebrant, and Prez was asking about the process of going about a wedding legally. So I just need to fill out the forms and get you both to sign them. I have copies of your birth certificate, and I just need photo identification,” Wombat explained.

  “Huh, how did you get my birth certificate?” I asked.

  “That would be from me, Tiny,” Mike said.

  “Okay, then,” I said.

  After we filled out and signed the paperwork, we gave him our driver’s licences, and he walked off. Wombat returned not even five minutes later and handed the birth certificates and driver’s licences back to us.

  “All right, all organised. You have a month, and we’ll go from there,” Wombat said.

  “A month from this Saturday, no later. I want you as my wife ASAP,” Derrick said and kissed me.

  “Okay, baby. You win. A month from Saturday,” I replied.

  Later in the evening, we were all standing around talking, and I was having a conversation with Sarah, Beef’s old lady, who was asking about dance lessons for her six-year-old daughter, Lisa, when the front door slammed open, and gunfire erupted. I grabbed Sarah and covered her, then looked for my kids. They were under a table, and Derrick was covering them.

  “You okay,” I asked Sarah.

  “Yes,” she replied.

  “Stay down, okay,” I told her, and she nodded.

  I crawled over to the table and grabbed my gun out of my bag. Derrick had his gun in his hand, and we nodded at each other. When I looked around, I saw a few of our guys bleeding on the ground. Turning to the shooters, I aimed at one and pulled the trigger, the bullet going straight into his chest. Trigger killed the guy next to him, and Dozer shot another guy. I looked around again, and there didn’t seem to be anymore, so I stood and walked over to the kids. They were calm and listening to what Derrick was telling them. Just when I was about to reach them, Derrick looked behind me and shoved me to the ground, coming down with me.

  “Fuck,” he yelled.

  Another shot was fired, and then it went quiet. Derrick didn’t move. It was so still, and not a word was spoken.

  “Find out if there are any more. Help the wounded,” Dozer yelled.

  “Derrick, you can get off me now,” I said.

  There was nothing, no
reply just silence from him.

  “Derrick, you’re squashing me, honey. You can get off now,” I said a little louder.

  Still nothing.

  “Derrick, please, wake up,” I yelled.

  Nothing.

  “Dozer, something is wrong with Derrick. Help me, please,” I yelled loudly.

  “Hold on, honey, I’m here. Fuck, there’s blood everywhere. Who was shot?” Dozer asked.

  “I think Derrick was. Please, get him off me,” I cried out.

  While Dozer lifted Derrick, I slid out from under him and turned. Dozer had Derrick’s shirt ripped open, and there was a bullet hole in his shoulder and one in his right side.

  “Oh, fuck. No,” I cried out.

  I checked for a pulse, and it was strong, which was great, but fucking hell, he wasn’t in good shape. I checked for exit wounds and found one on the upper part of his right shoulder, but the bullet hole on the right side was high and had no exit wound. I covered the wound on his side, which was bleeding badly.

  “We need an ambulance now,” I yelled.

  “Already on the way, honey,” Trigger said from next to me.

  Looking past him, I saw the kids standing there. I hadn’t even noticed anyone else turning up.

  “Are you okay, kids?” I asked, looking at them. They were pale but seemed to be okay.

  “Yeah, we’re good, Mum. Is Dad, okay?” Connor asked.

  “He will be, baby. He has a strong pulse, but he needs a hospital immediately. Can you run and grab me some towels or something for the wounds?” I asked them and watched as they ran off to do so. Turning, I asked, “How many others were hit?”

  “There are four maybe three members with superficial wounds. A club girl didn’t make it. Medi is taking care of the others,” Trigger answered.

  “Fuck, not good. Who is Medi?” I asked.

  “He’s our medical officer. He has training, and he’s always patching us up,” Trigger replied.

  “Okay, no problem. Are all the shooters dead?” I asked.

  “Yep. I got one, Dozer another. You got one, and Mike killed the last. Looks like the Semenov family. You shot Alexi. I shot Anton, Dozer got someone, but we have no idea who he is, and Mike shot Ivan,” Trigger said.

  Fuck, this was a shit storm and a half.