Shain

It was hard to believe Tenillo was my home for a month already. On top of this, it was the beginning of my second week working at the local fire department. When I came in the Monday after the confrontation with the hang around, the chief offered me a job on the spot at the end of my interview. That's when I found out he'd already checked my references and had my background check ready to go. He had me do my fingerprints that same day. Fast forward, and they had me in orientation in no time.

A lot of the tasks and setup were familiar no matter where you worked, so it didn't take me long to catch onto the differences. One of them was the fact I was working twelve-hour shifts rather than twenty-four. How it worked was we worked twelve-hour shifts four days in a row and then got four days off. I went home not absolutely dragging ass when we had a busy day. It was amazing.

I assumed being the newest team member, I'd be working the second shift. It didn't matter to me but I knew it did to Daredevil. He would prefer me to be home when he was but life didn't always give us what we wanted or deserved. So you can imagine my astonishment when I was told I would be working from six a.m. to six p.m.

Another surprise was in the state of Texas. They'd not long ago passed legislation that permitted a firefighter to carry a gun while on duty. We went into sketchy situations, and depending on the area and the calls the police were handling, we might get there first and have to contain the situation. There was some training involved and paperwork to complete, but since I had a concealed carry permit in Nebraska and Texas granted reciprocity for my home state, transferring to get mine here wouldn't take a lot or hopefully long. It made Daredevil feel better, knowing I had one more way to protect myself. I shouldn't have let him overhear some of my stories about people we'd tangled with.

While I'd been working on the whole job thing, he'd been busy with his work at Ares Forge and finding us the perfect house plan. The man was determined to get our house started. I told him we had time, but he was a man on a mission. I enjoyed debating our needs and hunting for a house plan.

The one thing he stayed quiet about was Laz. Whenever I brought him up in conversation, he'd either change the subject or tell me not to worry. Laz would get what he deserved when the time came. I even tried to be sneaky and ask Moose on a couple of our calls, but he did the same thing. They were plotting, and I hoped they'd clue me in before they did anything. I wanted to be there when they gave him this lesson. I was the injured party, so to speak, and I deserved to see him pay and have more than a cursory part in it.

I found last week my new colleagues were a nice bunch overall. I was the only woman on my shift, which wasn't unusual. A few of the guys hit on me as soon as I started. I suspected it would now be stopped since they saw me being dropped off by Daredevil and me removing my property cut prior to starting my shift this morning. I don't know how they missed this fact during the four days I worked last week. He insisted on driving me so far every time. Their eyes almost popped out of their heads this morning. I had to smother my chuckles as I put my stuff away in my locker. I barely made it to the kitchen before Frank and Grey, the two who had been flirting the hardest, gathered on either side of me as I grabbed my cup of coffee.

"You're with one of those Infidel bikers?" Frank asked. Actually, it sounded more like an accusation than a question.

"Yes, his name is Daredevil. Why?"

"I'm just shocked. I thought you just moved here."

"I moved here officially a month ago. I first came down with my cousin and his club two months ago. I met Daredevil and the Infidels then."

"And you've already hooked up with one of them? You said your cousin's club. So, are you one of those women?"

"What women?" I knew where this was going, but I wanted one of them to say it. What fucking idiots.

"You know. The kind who sleeps around with all the different bikers," Grey asked.

I was about to bite his head off, but I was beaten to it by the last person I ever would've guessed being nearby to do it.

"You'd better pray her old man, my brother Daredevil, doesn't put you in the hospital for saying that shit, Grey, Frank. Shain is an old lady, not a club bunny or hang around. You'll treat her with respect, or you'll not only answer to her man, but you'll answer to the whole damn club," Saint snarled. What was he doing here? He came over to stand next to me.

"Saint, what're you doing here?" Frank asked uneasily.

"I'm here to talk to the chief. He's another one who won't be happy you're talking shit to Shain. Last I heard, firefighters who're paramedics are more in demand than those who're EMTs," he smirked as he said it. They took it as an insult and a threat, just as he meant it.

"We didn't mean anything by it. We were just surprised she's seeing someone so soon," Frank tried to backpedal.

"When you know, you know. Shain, if you're still here when I get done with the chief, I'll come to chat for a few minutes. Wanna see some of those plans you and Devil have been looking at for your house."

I knew what he was doing. Saint was hardly innocent despite his road name. He was rubbing it in their faces, showing how serious I was with Daredevil. I wouldn't call him out in front of them, but I would let him know I was more than capable of defending myself later. These two were harmless. They needed to stop acting like horny frat boys who thought they were God's gift to women.

"Sure, I have a few I'm still debating over. If I'm not here, I'll show you back at the compound when I get home."

"Deal. Later, you two," he gruffly told them.

I watched him stride confidently off. I wanted to know what he was here to talk to the chief about. Grey and Frank hurried off with mumbled excuses they had to get started on their cleaning and maintenance.

Unfortunately, we got called out before Saint came back, so I didn't end up talking to him. The shift overall wasn't terribly busy, so when I got off at six that evening, I still had some energy left. Daredevil was astride his bike in the parking lot. I was wearing my cut again. He'd informed me he needed me to wear it anytime I was outside of the compound. Of course, he knew I couldn't at work, but anywhere else, yes. Knowing how this worked, I had no problem complying. It was more of a protection than a target maker ninety-nine percent of the time.

I knew Tenillo was a very clean and safe place. It hadn't been until the Infidels and another club had joined together to clean it up and expose the corruption that ran deep. So deep, in fact, the citizens had no idea who was really behind most of the crime. Hell, the clubs hadn't either until they unraveled it. It was headed up by a well-known and highly thought of philanthropist and his whole family, I'd been told. A family Cami was part of. Thankfully, she wasn't raised with her siblings or evil father for long. Now, the club spent their time watching for new criminals to pop up, trying to take over the illegal businesses they destroyed. Discovering the things they'd been involved in astonished me and made me proud of them.

He opened his arms as I got to him. I stepped into them and let him bring me flush against him so we could kiss. When he was done, he said rather loudly, "Which two are Grey and Frank? Saint said you were having an interesting conversation with them this morning." His eyes snapped with anger as he asked. I sighed and swore when I saw Saint. He was getting a piece of my mind along with my foot up his ass.

Responding much softer than he'd spoken, I answered him, sort of. "Saint needs to keep his mouth shut and let me take care of my own business. I'm trying to settle in here and make my job a good place to be. Don't start anything, Rome. Please," I whispered.

He studied me for several moments, then slowly nodded. "I will as long as it doesn't begin to be another Laz situation. If you even have an inkling it might, you tell me. Swear you will." He knew from our conversations if I swore to something, I would do it.

"I promise I'll tell you immediately if it does. Can we go, or do you want me to really point them out?"

"Show me. The least you can let me do is mean-mug them."

Rolling my eyes to show him I thought he was overreacting, I swiveled to scan the lot. I spotted them standing close to the front door. They were watching us, and by the looks on their faces, they were sweating bullets. "They're the two by the front door staring." They weren't the only ones staring, though.

I observed him make eye contact, and just as he said he would, he mean-mugged them. They dropped their eyes and shuffled off toward two vehicles parked next to each other. I patted his arm to get his attention.

"Ready to get out of here and back home? I'm ready for a shower, some food, and then some sleep. "

"I think you forgot something. Where's the dirty you up and make you scream part?" he asked with a huge grin.

I had to laugh. I swing onto the back of the bike. Maybe tomorrow, as long as the weather is still nice, I'd see about either riding my bike alone or with him. Might as well let my new colleagues know from the start how heavily entrenched I was in the biker lifestyle. Not that it made a difference in how I did my job, but this way, no one was caught off guard again. What I did outside of work was my business.