by Erin Osborne
I’ve finally made my decision. I have to be at the clubhouse in a few days to get my money from this run. No matter what, I’m getting my full share. If my father doesn’t pay me, I’ll take it to the table for a vote because Grifter is done fucking me over. I’m going to continue on as I am, going to church, going on runs, and not showing up a second more than I’m absolutely needed at the clubhouse. He’s either going to accept that shit or be out of the President’s chair. There’s more than enough of the younger men to get me the vote I need. I’ll use the fact he’s not paying me the full amount of money owed me to sway their votes. Because if he’ll do that to me, his son, he’ll sure as fuck do that to the rest of them. Even the men who are following my father blindly into hell.
Making my decision about how I’m going to live my life, I feel lighter than I have in months. The anger, confusion, rage, and pain I’ve held onto for so long evaporates. Tonya was right, I needed to make a decision, figure out one way or another what I was going to do about my life with the club. It’s probably going to result in me beating the fuck outta my father, but I couldn’t give two flying fucks about that.
Today is Thanksgiving, we’re celebrating the holiday with Maddox and Martha. The women have been cooking, baking, and shopping for days now. I’m surprised there’s any room left for the turkey with the pies, cookies, and other goodies they’ve been making for today. My favorite is Martha’s cupcakes; they’re vanilla cake with chocolate frosting. She’s decorated them to look like they’re turkeys. Colt loves them, too.
“Is the turkey in?” I ask, walking in the kitchen to pull Tonya’s body into mine.
“Yep. Been in there for a few hours now. The Wilkes will be here soon. Martha called me a little while ago. Something is going on with her,” she answers.
“Why do you say that?”
“She was giddy and rushed off the phone. It’s as if she has something to tell me but wasn’t ready to do it yet.”
“I see. I’ll head over there now to make sure they don’t need any help. You good here with the boys?”
She nods her head in response before turning back to work on peeling potatoes. My woman is cooking to feed an army when there’s only going to be four adults and Colt eating dinner. At least that’s what I’ve been told about today. If anyone else is coming over, I have no clue about it.
Leaving the house, I make my way across the street. I meet Maddox at the door with his hands filled to capacity with dishes. Holy shit!
“Need a hand there?” I ask him, making sure not to startle him.
“Yeah.”
I grab the top dishes from his hands as Martha comes out the door with her own dishes. I’m staring at the food they’re bringing over as if I’ve never seen anything to eat before in my life. To this capacity, I haven’t. This amount would be enough to feed every guy in the club to the point they’re full as fuck, with leftovers remaining.
“Martha, is this all you’ve been doin’?” I question her with a smile on my face.
“No. I’ve been doing other things too,” she answers with a blush covering her face. “What all is left to make?”
“Not sure. I’ve been stayin’ out of Tonya’s way. I’m not stupid enough to get in the middle of her cookin’ like this. Unless she asks me for help that is.”
The three of us laugh because they know I’m right about Tonya when she’s cooking or baking. When we walk through our front door, Colt runs at us. He stops short when he sees the dishes we’re all carrying. My little man’s eyes bug out of his head as his mouth drops open. We begin laughing once more at his look.
“You okay, buddy?” Maddox asks him.
“Yeah. A lot,” he responds, pointing at our arms.
“Yes, it is,” Martha answers. “You gonna help us eat it all?”
He enthusiastically nods his head in response. Before we can say anything else to him, he’s running back to the living room. Peeking in, I see Logan sitting in his little bouncy chair. That’s why Colt didn’t stick around. He’s always with his baby brother. I’m so proud of him, he’ll never understand what seeing him act this way shows me. I’ve done something right in my life for him to be this protective of his brother so young. It’s the same way I was when Victoria was born.
Shaking my thoughts from my head, I make my way into the kitchen so I can set the dishes down on the table. Tonya is now cutting up the potatoes and placing them in the pot to cook.
“What can I do to help?” Martha asks her.
“You can tell me what’s going on with you,” Tonya answers, looking at her friend while putting more potatoes in the pot.
“Well, we do have some news,” she begins, looking at Maddox. “I just found out I’m pregnant.”
For a second, silence settles all around us. Tonya is the first one to move and talk.
“I’m so freaking happy for you!” she exclaims, as she runs around the table to get to her best friend. “I’ll be there every step of the way to help in any way I can.”
“Thank you,” Martha answers as my wife hugs her tight.
Maddox and I make our way into the living room where I turn on a game. It’s just late enough one’s already playing. Neither one of us are really paying attention to it as we listen to our wives laugh and talk all things baby while they put the finishing touches on our Thanksgiving Day feast. Knowing the potatoes are cooking means dinner will be ready soon.
When it’s time to pull the turkey from the oven, I make my way into the kitchen so I can pull it out for Tonya as she doesn’t need to be lifting that heavy as shit pan from the heat. I’m rearranging the rolls and green bean casserole immediately afterward. If I can make things a little bit easier for her, I will. Always.
Maddox and Martha set the table while Tonya and I work on getting everything else ready. Just as we’re about to sit down to eat, Logan wakes up, so she makes her way in to feed him, as we play with Colt keeping him entertained while we wait. I’m not about to eat without my woman at the table with us. Even knowing she wouldn’t mind us eating without her because of our son, none of us are going to do that. We’ll all wait for her because she has feeding time down to a science and it won’t take her long to emerge from the nursery with our son in her arms. He’ll get his tummy time while we eat.
The rest of the day is perfect as we continue to laugh and talk, the game playing quietly on the TV in the background. Our boys keep us entertained as Colt tries to play with his baby brother. He never gets frustrated with him or upset when Logan doesn’t do as Colt wants him to do. Instead, he alters the game to play with Logan. I’ll never get tired of watching our boys, hoping they continue to be this close as they grow older and get into all sorts of trouble together. Because I don’t have a question in my mind about the trouble they’ll create as they grow, their minds figuring out the ways of the world. I’m sure Martha and Maddox’s child will be right there with them.
Chapter Eight
Tonya
SINCE BLOOD AND I talked and he made a decision regarding the club, life over the last few months has been peaceful. Yeah, he still leaves once a month on the runs, but I’ve gotten better dealing with him leaving. Especially when he’s not angry, upset, or rage-filled when he gets back. There’s no more leaving for hours at a time with no clue where he’s at either. He’s home or at the garage working.
Even Tom had words with him when he got back from a run a couple of months ago. He didn’t want him pulling any more fourteen-hour days because Tom understood it was taking time away from the kids and me. Blood was already away from us ten hours a day, so Tom wanted him to work no more than ten hours before leaving. According to him, the cars would still be there when Blood, Ashton, and he got back to work the next day. They weren’t behind in work so there was no reason for my man to kill himself over trying to prove he belonged working there; in Tom’s mind, Blood had already done that.
Martha is so close to having her little angel. She’s miserable because we’re having a horrible
summer as far as how hot it’s been here. My friend has about a month left before her little girl is going to be born. Colt loves Martha coming over, or him going to see her, so he can feel the baby move in her stomach. When we go shopping, he looks at little toys and things for a baby girl. I can’t even imagine what’s going to happen once she’s here so he can see her. Logan is almost a year old now. He’s all over the place walking and trying to talk up a storm. Even if most of it’s just baby jabber.
Blood went off on his father. Brought all their shit out on the table so to speak. About the money he’s been getting shorted, though it was all in the safe in envelopes with his name on them, about cancelling him from runs, and finally about him doing no more than going to church and working on the runs. Apparently his contacts weren’t happy again with the club, they were moving slowly back toward only communicating with my husband. Grifter suffered some bruising, cuts, and a few cracked ribs. Everyone knew Blood was over the shit by the time he left the clubhouse that day.
He’s still worried because he sees Grifter and the rest of the guys still using, not changing any of their old habits. Blood gave them a year to make these changes, they haven’t, and that date is coming up quickly. It’s a burden he wants to carry on his own, but I refuse to let that happen. We talk more and he lets me in on some of the shit he sees going down at the clubhouse. Including the newer, younger men, he sees promise in. His plan is still to take over the club as soon as his father steps down or gets killed because once again that’s becoming a real possibility. Blood is going to make a ton of changes to the club. When he’s done, I’ll be the one coming in to clean house with the sweet butts. They’ll all be under me and if they don’t listen, I have no problem laying the smack down on their asses. Our day is coming and I’m dreading it every single second of the day. It means leaving behind my best friend and our small family life we’ve built here. There’s no way in hell I’ll let them come near the club until it’s where it belongs and we have everything cleaned up completely.
Today, Blood and Maddox are working, so Martha and I are taking the boys to the beach. It’s a five-minute walk from our homes. We spend as much time there as possible. Martha loves it because she sits on the shoreline to cool her pregnant ass down. Colt splashes and plays around her with his little floaties on while I hold Logan close to me as the water splashes up around him. We laugh, play in the sand, and enjoy ourselves while we’re there. It’s fun as hell. On the weekends, our husbands come with us. That’s when it’s not so fun. Both men are sexy as hell. Women don’t give two shits about Martha and me being there with them; they only see our men.
Last weekend, Colt threw sand at a woman who wouldn’t leave Blood alone. Then he tried to bite her. That’s when she finally backed off because she saw a side of my man not many people see these days. He yelled, got in her face, and threatened her. It didn’t help that she raised a hand to our son. I was out of my chair, stalking over there because I was gonna wipe the sand with her skinny, bony, whining ass. She didn’t know my husband would never lay hands on her, or any female. I laughed my ass off while she glared then stomped off to talk shit about us all. Personally, I don’t give a shit what anyone thinks of me other than my man and the Wilkes family.
The only family I ever knew doesn’t give two shits about me. They disowned me when I started seeing Blood. Growing up, I was raised with class, money, and parents with rigid, strict views of the world. No mixing races, classes, or any of that shit. It’s something straight out of the dark ages if you ask me. Being that I was old enough to make my own decisions, I left all that shit behind because I chose my love for Blood over my own flesh and blood. My sister won’t even have anything to do with me. She chose to be a trophy wife for some douche canoe who beats on her. Blood and I tried to get her away from him, but she found out she was pregnant. That made her go back to him to suffer at his hands even more. At this point, I don’t even know if she’s alive or if she had the baby or what it is.
Part of me longs to have my family in my life, so they can see how much Blood loves our boys and me. I want them to get to know our children. They’ll never accept any of us though, so I leave them the fuck alone. To me, they’re as dead as they treat my family and me. The other part of me loves they’re not in my life because I don’t have to deal with the drama, bullshit, or anything else that comes from being a part of my parents’ lives. I don’t have to worry about going to all the social gatherings or functions they wanted us to attend and everything else. Blood would never go for it because that’s not who he is. I would never want him to change because of what my parents’ expectations are.
I’m thinking about all of this as Martha sits in the water while I stand by her side. The boys are playing right next to us. Colt is trying to splash the rest of us as I look down at my friend sitting next to me. She’s not laughing or playing back like she normally would. Instead, she’s been constantly shifting and acting as if she can’t get comfortable. When I tried to ask her what was going on, she grimaced and simply shook her head.
“What’s wrong, Martha? Do we need to go home?” I question her, worry filling my face as she looks at me.
“I-I-I think so,” she replies, holding her stomach as she again cringes.
“Are you in labor?” I question her again, thinking that’s what’s wrong with her right now.
Martha nods her head as she looks at me. Pain and fear are filling her eyes as she looks around the beach.
“I’m gonna call an ambulance. I don’t want to take any chances,” I inform her, pulling my phone from the bag sitting not too far from us. “Then I’ll call Maddox.”
“T, it’s too soon. I still have a month to go,” she states, fear making her voice tremble as tears pour down her face.
“You’ll both be okay, sweetheart. Let me get an ambulance here,” I say, keeping my voice low and free of the fear that’s currently coursing through my own body.
Placing the call, I explain to the operator on the phone what’s going on with Martha. She assures me in a calm collected voice that an ambulance will be here soon. In the meantime, she’s also going to dispatch emergency beach services to us. Looking up, I see a lifeguard already running in our direction. Further behind him is the four-wheeler they patrol the beach here with headed toward us, also. Colt is no longer playing in the water around us, he’s sitting with Martha. One of his hands is resting on her belly while his other one is on her back. Logan is sitting by my feet playing in the sand without a care in the world.
As soon as the lifeguard gets to us, I hang up with the operator. Kneeling down next to Martha, I keep my boys next to me. While Martha is important right now, so are my boys. If I turn my attention from them for a second, there’s too much that can go wrong. Especially with us on a crowded beach and sitting in the water. Martha will be a protective mom with her daughter too. I just thought we had a little more time until we met the little one. Even though that excites me, I’m scared because she’s scared and still has a month to go.
“Ma’am, can you tell me what’s going on?” the lifeguard asks as the officer on the four-wheeler comes to a quick stop, spraying sand up.
“I think I’m in labor. It’s too soon,” she informs him, her voice breaking as another contraction takes over her body.
The entire time, she continues to chant that it’s too soon. My heart is breaking for my friend. With the two men surrounding her, I begin to hear the sirens coming our way. That’s when I realize I forgot to call Maddox. Shit! Pulling my phone out from my pocket, I pull up his contact information and hit send.
“Tonya, what’s going on?” he asks, his voice showing me he’s alert.
“I have an ambulance coming to get Martha from the beach. She thinks she’s in labor,” I inform him, trying to keep an eye on everything going on.
“I’ll meet her at the hospital. What are you gonna do?” he asks as I begin to hear shuffling and movement on his end of the line.
“I’m gonna head
home and get the car. It’s gonna take you a bit to get there. I’ll make it there before you do. I’m gonna call Blood to come get the boys from me. Tom won’t care if he leaves for this. Be careful, Mad,” I say, knowing he has to get off the phone. “Ambulance just got here.”
“I’ll be safe.”
Pulling the boys back away from Martha, now that I’m off the phone, the lifeguard and officer clear a path of the onlookers who are trying to figure out what’s going on. The nosy fuckers! I grab our things out of the sand while the EMTs make their way toward us. It’s slow going for them because of the sand and people not moving out of their way fast enough. I want to scream and yell at them to get their asses out of the way, but that’s only going to stress Martha out more. She’s already scared shitless because she went into labor early.
My phone rings before I can even think about calling my husband. Looking down, I see his face staring back up at me from the screen. Mad must have called him.
“Baby, what’s goin’ on? Is Martha okay?” he questions, with silence in the background.
“Um, she thinks she’s in labor. Babe, she’s scared because she still has a month to go. EMTs are here at the beach to get her,” I respond, hanging onto my boys as everyone helps my friend.
“I’m almost there to get the boys and take you to the hospital,” he states. “Mad called and Tom let me take one of the cars. I just grabbed the car seats, so I’ll be right there.”
“Okay. Thanks, babe.” The relief that courses through me, knowing Axel is almost here, shows me how truly worried I am about my friend and her little girl.
I hang up as the EMTs load Martha onto the stretcher. Her eyes are wild as tears leak from them. Her face is red from the pain of the contractions while the rest of her golden skin is almost completely pale. Martha’s eyes lock onto mine as they begin to wheel her away from the water.