11. Chapter 11

11

Chapter 11

Lovely

Little snuffling sounds wake me up, not that I was sleeping heavily. Glancing at the clock on the bedside in the DRMC room I’m staying in tonight, I notice that not only is it early enough to feed Bee, but it’s also early enough to sneak out and put my presents under the tree for everyone to unwrap later this morning.

Rolling over, I get up, sitting on the edge of the bed and I lean into my daughter’s pack and play, her dark eyes shining brightly at me in the dim light.

“Hello sweetie, Merry Christmas!” I coo at Bee, collecting her up in my arms and giving her a cuddle. I can’t help but smile into her soft, dark hair, reveling in the miracle we’re living.

I’ve never had an actual Christmas before. At the Keep the way it was spoken about and celebrated was more subdued. We celebrated Jesus’ sacrifice. Here, we celebrate family and I’m all for it, as Blanche would say. I jostle Bee slightly, getting her into position, her searching mouth looking for breakfast. I place her on my breast and lean back against the headboard, thinking through the journey it’s taken to get us here. Most people would think I was silly, talking about Christmas miracles all the time, but in the Keep there wasn’t a lot to believe in, other than what we were told. Although that was less belief and more brainwashing I guess.

“We’re going to have the best Christmas ever, little Bee. There will be smiles and gifts and lots and lots of food. There will be so much love and laughter that we won’t know what to do with ourselves, it’ll be just like the movies!”

She stares up at me, one hand patting my breast, her little fingers opening and closing, as if grasping at me. Looking at her, all I see is me and my sister. And our siblings. Landry genes are strong. She’s a pure little soul and I cannot wait to spend many Christmases with her. She pulls away from me, obviously full, so I burp and change her, placing her in the middle of the bed so I can throw on some clothes. In the Keep I wore a lot of brown dresses. Now that I’m out I’m not sure what I should be wearing. I went shopping with my brothers after mine and Bee’s escape, and went for things that I thought people wore on the outside. Jeans and Tshirts, and sometimes an oversized jumper. My brothers and I thought it looked good, but since I’ve been hanging out with the Ol Ladies I’ve decided I want to look a little cooler. I’m going to ask them to come shopping with me in the new year I think.

Putting on one of Vic’s flannel shirts, I put on the baby front pack, place Bee in, and go to where I’ve hidden all my gifts.

“Come on Bee, we better put these out before everyone wakes up.”

We, well, I, tiptoe down the dark hall, making my way to the huge Christmas tree, glowing brightly in the corner.

“What are you doing?” Chewy’s slightly monotone voice asks, giving me one heck of a fright.

“Chewy! What are you doing?”

“I asked you first.”

I squint in the darkness to try and find her. Movement near the kitchen hatch catches my eye. “Oh, I see you now. I’m just delivering my presents before everyone gets up. Are you doing the same?”

“Maybe,” she answers enigmatically.

“OK then.”

“What the hell are you two doing up at this time?” A gruff voice asks, me and Chewy whirling around to look at the mouth of the hall.

“What are you doing?” I’m not quite sure yet who it is, I think it’s either Tank, or Judge. Both have deep voices.

“I’m guessing the same as you,” Judge steps into the light of the tree, holding up an armful of wrapped boxes.

“Whoa, that’s really nice wrapping.”

“Oh, the lady at the store did it,” I’m sure he’s blushing at that.

“Well, I’m going to just put the last of mine here and head back to bed,” I quickly place the last of my gifts, mixing them into the ones already under the tree, not wanting anyone to see mine just yet. “There. I’ll see you both in a few hours. Oh, and Merry Christmas!” I say softly before padding down the hall.

“Why the fuck are you all up? You’re meant to be asleep!” I hear Switch ask loudly, and I can’t help the laugh that escapes me.

“Oh Bee, this family of ours is crazy and I love it!”

Rhodie

“It’s Christmas everybody! Wake up! Santa came and he found me! He found me and Cove and Elio and Niko and Bee and Rose and Junior and all the grown ups! It’s Christmas! Merry Christmas!”

This is the exact reason that I fucked the life outta my girl last night nice and early. I knew that at least one of the kids would be up at the ass crack of dawn and I don’t blame them. I remember waking the whole clubhouse at Christmas when I was their age.

I kiss Chewy good morning, smiling at her grumbles. She rolls over and I know it won’t be long before she realizes what day it is. She makes a quick inhale and her eyes fly open “It’s Christmas Rhodie!” She bounces up out of bed, hair flying everywhere.

I admire her heart shaped ass as she rummages around, grabbing her gator onesie I gifted her last night as an early Christmas present. Not that she wore it for long before she was naked under me and it was on the floor beside us.

“Merry Christmas Chomper,” She coos at her pet. I wasn’t that keen on keeping a gator, but given his disabilities, he’s actually more like a fat, lazy dog. He spends most of his time carried around by us, or in his pen sleeping. “Hurry up babe! We have gifts to open! I can’t wait to see everyone’s faces when they see what we made them,” she beams, strapping on the baby carrier. She’s dressed as a gator with a baby gator strapped to her and it’s fucking adorable as hell.

I pull on my jeans and tshirt with my cut over top and open the door for her and Chomper. She leads the way into the common room where everyone is starting to gather in various different states of undress. Fox, Nitro and Jules looking like they’ve just rolled in.

“Aunt Chewy! Uncle Rhodie! Merry Christmas!” Jovie sing songs, throwing her little arms around my waist, squeezing tight.

“Merry Christmas, munchkin. I can’t believe all these gifts are for me!” I exclaim. Jovie throws her head back and laughs.

‘No silly, they’re for everyone! I saw one for Uncle Marx in there and some for Bee and some for Mama Debs and you and everyone!” She spins and dances around in her dinosaur PJ’s, wiggling her butt where the tail is attached. Cove comes running into the room and they both squeal at each other, reaching a pitch so high I think only dogs can hear them.

“You know, watching their excitement kinda makes Christmas way more exciting,” Rider says, carrying a cup of coffee and plopping down on the couch. “Usually we wake up at noon and eat Chinese takeout. This year we have all this to look forward to,” he gestures to the tree where the three littles are on their knees pointing out whose gifts are whose. Well, the girls are. Elio is putting them in tidy piles, presumably depending on who they belong to.

“Merry Christmas everyone! Merry Christmas my babies!” Mama Debs lights up the room as she greets everyone. She kisses the kids on the head, even the older sleepy looking teens. She then kisses all the brothers on the cheek and pulls them in for hugs wishing them all a Merry Christmas. I wait for my turn and I soak it up. I haven’t had a mom in a long time, but Debs fills that space, not just for me either. I mean, sure my dad, Mad Dog has his girlfriend, but Molly isn’t quite the motherly type. Or really the family type. Hence why they’re living it up in Hawaii for Christmas this year.

Chewy makes a beeline for the Ol Ladies so I take a seat on the couch next to Rider, shoving his leg out of the way, making sure to be rough enough that he sloshes coffee on his cut.

“Fucker,” he grumbles before shoving me back.

“Merry Christmas Uncle Rhodie! Merry Christmas Uncle Rider!” Cove yells in our faces before thrusting party hats at us.

We take the flimsy paper things and … just sit there with them.

“I’m not leaving til you put them on,” she says, hands slowly raising to her hips as she stares us down.

Rider and I share a look before I paste on a smile and stick the paper hat on. Hopefully it won’t mess up my hair. Cove claps her hands and then whizzes off to find a new victim.

“She’s going to rule us all one day,” Rider mutters, making sure his hat is on securely.

“I think they all are. Even Elio. Dude may be quiet but I think that’s because he’s busy plotting.”

“OK, it’s present time!” Jovie yells fist pumping the air.

The rest of the adults all make their way to the couches and chairs, anyone missing out on a soft seat taking up positions on the floor. It’s a full house, what with the dozen or so of us DRMC, the whole Tombs family, Wire’s mom and the Landry brothers. Its crazy how we went from an MC of 9 to this big almost overnight

The kids work like a well oiled machine, handing out gifts to the appropriate people, which is easy enough seeing as Elio has already sorted through them all.

“OK kids, how do we want to do this?” Marx asks, knowing full well that the littles have a plan.

“I say we all open one each so everyone can ooh ahh over them and then we move to the next person. It won’t take too long cos you growed ups didn’t get too many presents,” Jovie nods matter of factly.

Marx’s lips twitch a moment before the big man yells “You heard her, one at a time and we all oohh ahh. Let’s do this!”

Everything starts out reasonably tame. The brothers get guns and ammo from Mama Debs and the Ol Ladies who banded together to do the shopping for us this year. We also get some cool bandanas, butterfly knives and an assortment of video games. I mean, yeah we’re grown ass men, but we like all the fun shit too. The kids get way too many Nerf guns and Blanche gets new weapons, courtesy of her Ol Man. The ex-pregnant ladies are gifted pamper packs, full of whatever stuff goes in one of those. Lovely’s eyes well up when she unwraps it and it’s then, in her wobbly voice she explains that this is her first proper Christmas. Well, shit. If we had known that I’m sure the brothers would have gone all out. She’s much like Remy, a total sweetheart. I’m also fairly certain Marx likes her. As in likes her likes her, but he’s a stubborn bastard so I’m sure it’ll take a fucking miracle to get these two on the same page.

“Chewy you didn’t!” Blanche gasps and our attention swings in Elio’s direction, who is standing with a huge box, the picture on the front is a kid in a lab coat. “My First Chemistry Lab” emblazoned in massive letters.

“What? I took the black powder out,” Dayz says defensively.

“Wait, isn’t that gun powder?” Tank asks, Judge nodding in confirmation.

“He’ll be fully supervised by me and Pops.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Marx answers drily before giving Elio a smile and thumbs up, not wanting to ruin Elio’s obvious excitement.

“What the fuck?” Nitro grumbles, looking perplexed as he pulls a dildo out of the box he’s just opened, holding it by the knob. He pulls and we all see that there is a chain attached to the taint of the dildo.

“What the hell is this?” Fox asks. He too is holding a knob, but he’s holding his up high in the air so we can all see that the chain is not only attached to the dildo in his hand, but also another dildo on the other end.

“Merry Christmas! They’re dongchucks!” Dayz yells. “You know, like nunchucks, but with dongs! Also, they’re super heavy so they’re bound to do a lot of damage.”

All the brothers move to their gifts, rummaging around until they are all holding dongchucks up in the air.

“Well, that’s one way to get rid of them,” Nat whispers to Ana and Remy, the two of them cackling, while Blanche wrestles Tav’s out of his hand so she can give them a go.

“Score! Even we got some!” One of the Landry’s yells out. I’m not sure which one, they all look the same.

“While we’re on the dildos, Jules, would you like to open your gift?” Chewy says, her cheeks pink with excitement.

“Yeah Uncle Jules, open it! Open it” The kids then start chanting to perhaps the grumpiest of all the grown ups.

Jules complies, carefully unwrapping the gator decorated paper, revealing two dildos. One has a blonde mullet with a red bandanna over the top, a yellow vest, and the balls have been painted red. The other one has a brown mullet, tiger print bandanna, and tiger and leopard print on the shaft and balls.

He stares at it for a moment before throwing his head back and laughing, a rumble shaking his whole body.

“Holy shit, I’ve never seen him do that,” Ana says, wide eyed.

“Wait, are those dicks dressed like Hulk Hogan and Macho Man Randy Savage?” Dex asks incredulously.

“Holy shit! They are too!” Tav yells, pointing while the brothers burst into laughter.

“He always wanted the dolls when we were kids and never got them,” Dayz says seriously.

“Well, shit. Now he does,” Pops cackles, leaning on a laughing Debs who’s rocking one of the babies in her arms. It’s dressed in blue so I’m guessing it’s Junior Pops.

“Those things are badass and insane in equal measure,” Switch loudly points out.

I smile to myself and wait for my Ol Lady to give me the signal.

“Babe, would you please bring in the clubhouse gift?”

“As you wish, baby.”

I head out of the common room and into one of the spare rooms Chewy commandeered for “Christmas Crafts”. I really need to get her someone to torture because I cannot take another trip to Hobby Lobby. No way. Gathering up our surprise gift I laugh to myself. Shit I can’t wait for the brothers to see this. We were clever enough to mount this thing on wheels so I wheel it into the common room.

“Is that a wrestling ring?” someone asks.

“Yup! Elio, would you and the littles please hand out the boxes with gators on them please?”

The kids nod, then race around delivering the gift boxes.

The brothers dig in, each box that is opened is met with raucous laughter. Chewy in her spare time, has made dildo wrestlers for each and every brother. The Rock, The Undertaker, Batista, Stone Cold, and pretty much any title holding wrestler you can think of. Between them and the dongchucks I think she may have finally exhausted her supply of rubber dicks.

The brothers all pull my Ol Lady in for a hug, making sure not to squash Chomper, wishing her Merry Christmas and she beams, her face lit up from within. I catch her gaze and she gives me two thumbs up.

“See Rhodie! I told you the Cricut was worth it!”

Chewy

I take it all in. The way the room seems to burst with laughter. This is my family and I love them. Even if they did do a little too much hugging.

“Nice job, girl.”

“Thank you Pops. I just had to think about what wrestler each person would like. Or what each kid would like. It was fun trying to get into their heads.”

“I’m proud of you. Look how far you’ve come, kiddo. You have an Ol Man that I don’t want to kill. You have all these friends,”

“Family, Pops.”

He nods at me, “Yup. Family. You even have a gator baby.” He rubs his hand down Chomper’s body, and then gives me a smile.

“Well, after those awesome gifts, it seems right to give Dayz hers,” Mama Debs says.

I don’t know what it could be. I haven’t really told anyone what I wanted for my first DRMC Christmas, mainly because I already had everything I wanted. Having a surprise gifted to me means that I have to remember to look and act excited and appreciative so people won’t think I hate it. Even if I do. It’s the thought that counts.

Mama Debs and the Ol Ladies all leave the room, then come back pushing a stroller. But it’s not any stroller, it’s been pimped! The ergonomic stroller has had the main part where the baby hangs out elongated some, long enough to accommodate a tail. There’s fun toys clipped to the shade cover, good thick silicone ones that Chomper will be able to snap at, and maybe even gnaw a little. His jaw is quite weak because of his severe underbite, but he does like to try to bite things. Maybe these chewies will help strengthen things? But that’s not all. The whole thing has been reupholstered in a nice green, with a gator pattern running through it. It even has cup holders AND like a skateboard thing at the back so I can use it like a push scooter.

My eyes are darting everywhere trying to take it all in. “It’s beautiful,” I croak out. There is something wrong in my throat, it feels tight but not in a bad way. “Rhodie, did you see it? It, it’s wonderful.”

My eyes are feeling wet and I have to blink to try and stop them from welling up. I’m not sure what’s wrong but it just feels… odd. I was prepared to do my good acting because I thought it would be something nice, but something that I wasn’t particularly interested in or needed. But this is the opposite. It’s thoughtful and everyone put effort into it because it’s something they knew I would love. They did this for me.

A warm weight presses up against my leg, and I look down at the top of a dark head.

“The feeling is big, Chewy?”

I nod, then realize I have to use words. “The feeling is very big, Elio.”

“That’s what it feels like all the time here. It’s big in a good way.” He pats my knee then heads back to his boxed up lab, rubbing his hand over the picture.

“Come on baby, let’s test her out, huh?” Rhodie’s scent wraps around me as he takes his big warm hands, and presses down on my shoulders, the pressure bringing me back into myself a little.

“Yes, let’s do it!” I start unbuckling Chomper from his front pack, then maneuver him into his new ride. He settles into the soft mattress with a little sigh, before relaxing and promptly going to sleep.

“It’s a hit!” Rhodie yells, fists in the air. Everyone starts cheering and I push Chomper around the room, saying thank you first to my girl gang, and then to all the brothers.

Everyone deserves my thanks. Not only did these people befriend me, the weird kid, but they also put up with my gator and then gifted me the best Christmas gift ever!

“OK, we have more gifts! Open these ones next,” Jovie bosses, her and her little minions dropping little wrapped packages in all the brothers laps.

“I wonder what the kids have made,” Blanche ponders.

“They have been spending a lot of time in Jovie’s tent, scheming,” Remy answers.

The guys start opening the little gifts, all while the kids watch with rapt attention.

“Hey, it’s a guardian bell!” Flack says, jingling the little bell in the air.

“A bell? What for?” Ana asks the room, looking perplexed.

“It’s a guardian bell, Aunt Ana. You gotta put it on your bike and it’ll protect you from bad stuff,” Jovie answers matter of factly.

“That’s exactly right. And you can’t buy one yourself, it has to be gifted to you,” Flack says, before scooping Jovie up for a hug.

“It’s to protect you grandpa. And all my uncles,” she says. “It was Elio’s idea. He wanted everyone to be safe.”

I flick my gaze to Elio who is looking very interested in anything that isn’t all the big men looking at him. I push Chomper closer to him, and then take a seat, my leg touching his.

“Big,” I whisper down to him.

“Big,” he whispers in return.

“Thank you kids, this is awesome. I’m going to put mine on my bike right now,” Marx says, then leaves the room, all the brothers thanking the kids and leaving the room.

“Aw kids, that is so sweet of you,” Remy says. Nat and Ana wipe away tears. They do that a lot now.

“I’d love to know how you three littles went shopping without any of us knowing about it,” Blanche asks, her dark brow raised extra scary like.

“Don’t worry mom, I was with them. So was Takoda. They were safe the whole time,” Niko answers. Blanche squints at him and then nods slowly.

The brothers all file back in, taking their places again.

“We are onto the last of the presents,” Cove announces, “and they’re the ones from Santa!” she adds extra loud in case people in the next town didn’t hear her.

They all get passed around and I brace myself to most definitely find something that I will have to pretend to like. Taking the wrapping off carefully I find a Mr Creepy Magic kit.

“No way,” I breathe out. I wanted one of these so bad when I was a kid, but after one too many failed magic shows in front of my parents, they kinda gave up trying to encourage me. In all fairness the main issue was that Tav was my beautiful assistant and he was bad at following directions.

There’s whooping and laughter from the rest of the room, and more than one person exclaiming that it’s something they always wanted when they were a kid.

“Mama Debs! Was this you and the Ol Ladies?” Sniper asks.

Debs holds up her hands, “It wasn’t us. We bought you guns and stuff.”

Hmmm. Interesting. I stroke my imaginary beard, seems like someone pulled a Secret Santa.

“Look babe! I can make us cookies in bed!” Rhodie says, holding up his Easy Bake oven, snapping me out of my pondering.

I hold up my magic kit, “And I can saw a man in half!” I reply across the room to him.

“You do that anyway, Chewy!” Someone yells out and I have to laugh. I mean, he’s not wrong there.

The gifts are all open and the big kids start clearing up the trash. The babies are being fed, Rhodie has ripped open his oven, Elio is wearing his safety goggles, Cove is making something out of Playdoh, the teenagers are on their new phones, one half of the brothers are playing with their dongchucks, the other half are playing with their dildo wrestlers in the ring my Ol Man made. And holy crap is that a dog? Jovie starts wailing, her parents hugging her, introducing her to the largest puppy I’ve ever seen. The Landrys stare and I get it. These guys came from a cult and now they’re here. With all these people enjoying a nice, normal Christmas.

“You know, I should find this weird, and yet I really don’t,” Chris says to me, Dom nodding in agreement.

“I think we’ve been brainwashed somehow,” Vic adds.

“It happens.” Marx says, coming to stand with us. “Not long ago I had an MC that was small and well disciplined. Then we met the Tombs’ and now we’re this big weird family and watching guys use dildos as ninja weapons seems completely run of the mill.”

“Would you have it any other way?” Vic asks, brow raised.

“Fuck no,” Marx replies, sending a wink in my direction.

I agree. I wouldn’t have it any other way either.