Chapter 16

Mace

T he past few weeks with Alicia had convinced me that although her life was complicated right now, I wanted to be there for her. I knew I was falling hard and fast for her, and I was pretty sure she felt the same. We’d known one another for a month and a half, and for the past three weeks we’d gotten much closer. I felt a gnawing need to stake my claim on her so none of my club brothers thought she was available. Because, according to our club traditions a woman is available until she’s wearing a wedding band, or a property cut.

Now, I knew that my club brothers would sometimes throw the woman they’re chasing into a property cut just to make her happy and cover her with an additional layer of protection. But I was always of the opinion that should only come after you’re reasonably sure she’s your one, and she’s verbalized her intent back to you. If you threw a property cut at every woman you’re infatuated with, the symbolism lost its meaning.

However with everything that had happened, and knowing what could be coming for us, I decided to ignore my rational brain which was telling me to wait a few more weeks, and I went and got a property cut made for her. The black leather was buttery soft, at the top it said, ‘Dark Slayers MC’ and underneath, ‘Property of Mace’.

I hope it met with Alicia’s approval. I couldn’t believe that I would have an old lady by the end of the day. I didn’t think that would happen for me anytime soon. But if there’s one thing I’d learned from watching my club brothers settle down, it was that you had to strike while the iron was hot. If not, some other brother might steal her right out from under you. All’s fair in love and war after all.

I didn’t want Alicia to move back to Mexico, so I was giving her an incentive to stay. As far as incentives go, I hoped I was a pretty good one. If the fact that I was finally a fully patched member of the Dark Slayers MC and a respected member of my tribe wasn’t enough, there was always the fact that I had the ability to keep her and her mother safe. At least I hoped that I would be able to prove that correct.

I tucked the cut under my arm, filled us up a plate of breakfast food and balanced a couple of cups of coffee on the side before heading upstairs. Once again, I found her sitting on the bed with her arms draped loosely around her knees. I couldn’t help but grin. “You spend a lot of time waiting around for me.” The lighthearted tone of my voice made her smile up at me.

Her response was bittersweet, “You’re the first man I ever trusted to come back.”

I set the tray down on the edge of the bed and leaned over to give her a kiss. “No matter what, I’ll always come for you, sweetness. Don’t you ever worry about that.” Taking the cover off our platter of our food, I told her, “I know you love crispy bacon, so I brought extra.”

Her eyes lit up as I handed her a piece to munch on while we talked about the property cut. I didn’t even need to bring it up because she noticed immediately that I had something tucked firmly under my arm.

“Is that what I think it is?” she asked excitedly.

I whisked it out from under my arm and unfurled it for her to see. “I hope you don’t think I’m moving too fast. Everyone always tells me I overanalyze stuff too much, that I take my time. But with you I don’t need to, because I know. I would be proud if you would wear my cut and be my old lady. What do you think?”

She put down the piece of bacon and wiped her hands on a napkin before sliding off the bed and walking around to where I was standing. Her eyes were shining brightly as she reached for it. I watched her struggle into it wearing nothing but her underwear. She looked mouthwatering wearing my cut and her pretty black panties.

I knew in my own mind that I shouldn’t keep going back to her appearance in a moment such as this, and instead I should be concentrating on how proud I felt knowing she’d agreed to be mine, but damn, Alicia looked eminently fuckable wearing my property cut and very little else this morning. Without taking my eyes off her, I picked up our breakfast tray and set it on the coffee table. When I turned around, she launched herself at me. I couldn’t keep the smile off my face or my emotions from leaping into my chest. Alicia was becoming downright playful with me and deep down inside I knew it was because she felt safe with me.

She helped me get my clothing off and we fell into bed again. Even after having sex several times last night, my cock was hard and ready for another round from seeing her wearing my cut and not much else.

However, that was not to be. We’d barely gotten warmed up when my phone buzzed. Glancing at the caller ID I saw I’d been cockblocked by Storm, Reluctantly I answered, “Mornin’ Prez.”

“I’m calling church in half an hour. Be there, we’re burnin’ daylight.” With that he hung up.

We were all still searching for Alicia’s father, so I couldn’t just skip out on joining my club brothers in their quest—even if my cock had other ideas. It wasn’t just the matter of Alicia’s mother that my club was looking into, the bigger picture was the cartel making a push into our territory. We didn’t know if this was just something her father had cooked up or was part of something larger and much more dangerous. Until we figured that out, Storm and the other club officers were going to be like a dog with a bone.

I rolled out of bed, got dressed again and re-braided my hair. Before going downstairs, I stopped to speak with Alicia. She was sitting with her back against the headboard and Nine had joined her with his head on her lap, and unless I missed my guess she was pouting.

“Come on, sweetness. You know I have to go out today. The quicker we find your old man, the quicker we can rescue your mother and get on with living our lives.”

She scooted forward in one smooth motion and ran one hand up my cut and up to the side of my neck. Toying with the shell of my ear, she spoke in a disappointed tone. “I know that. I just wish this were all over and my mom was safe, so we could spend more time together.” Glancing away, she murmured, “That sounds so selfish when I say it out loud.”

I cupped her cheek with one hand. “Naw, it’s not selfish. I feel exactly the same way. Right now, our first duty is to rescue your mom and bring down the cartel to keep folks here in Griffinsford safe. After that, my first duty will always be to you.”

When her eyes found mine again, there was such a depth of emotion there, that it made me want to hold her close and never let her go.

Finally, she turned her face and kissed the palm of my hand before pulling herself together. “You always know just what to say to make everything alright again.”

I gave her a soft kiss on the forehead and lifted the tray off the table. I flipped the legs out and set it on her lap. “Try to eat a little, sweetness. It’ll help you feel better.”

She sighed when she looked down at the food. “I’m not hungry. My stomach feels weird, shaky.”

“You’re probably just nervous about your mother. Just eat a little and try to get through this. Hopefully, we’ll find her real soon.”

She took a deep breath and nodded. “Alright, I’ll try.”

She handed a bit of bacon to Nine who wolfed it up enthusiastically.

“Don’t be feeding it all to the canine trashcan here, he’s already eaten.” I swear if that dog could speak he’d be telling me to shut my damn mouth right now, if the side-eye he just gave me was anything to go by.

Alicia rolled her eyes. “I’ll take good care of myself while you’re gone. Don’t worry about me. Besides Rosie worries over me like a mother hen.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah, she’s like that with everyone but I can see she’s more protective with you because she genuinely likes you.”

A smile jumped onto her face, and she grabbed a piece of bacon. Using it as a pointer, she said, “I’m going to eat this bacon and go downstairs and hang out at the bar all day. What do you think of that?”

Grinning, my chest ached with love for her. “I think that’s a really good idea. If you want to borrow my laptop, maybe you could look for college classes for when this whole debacle is over. You know, start thinking about what you want to do with yourself.”

She froze with the piece of bacon almost to her mouth. “You mean you want me to stay here with you forever?”

My stomach dropped but I pushed through, forcing myself to say what was on my mind. “Yes. That’s exactly what I want. My family has land. We all live together, mostly in separate houses. We eat together, spend time together, and our grandparents tell stories that were handed down in our tribe. I want us to spend more time with my family so you can decide if living my way is right for you. If not, I understand but I’d like you to at least know what you’d be turning down.”

Before I could stop her, Alicia moved the tray aside and climbed into my lap again. She kissed my face a bunch of times before pulling back. “That sounds amazing, kind of like how I grew up with a lot of people around. Only this time there would be no assholes or men leering at me, right?”

Pleased that she saw value in the life I was offering her, I gave her a tight hug before agreeing. “I can pretty much guarantee there are no assholes in my family. My gran would have dealt with them all. Hey!”

Alicia turned to see what had caused me to be distracted. Nine was chowing down on her discarded breakfast plate, I couldn’t blame him though, he’s used to hunting so I suppose I put temptation his way.

She laughed and said, “I guess I need to get up and find more breakfast. Alright, I truly am good. You go with your club brothers and look for my mom. If you find her, try to rescue her without getting yourself killed. I’ll be right here, waiting for you and wearing your cut.”

I waited while she jumped into the shower and got dressed. I shouldn’t have, especially as Storm had called church, but I felt we’d finally gotten to a really good place, and I wanted to do everything humanly possible to maintain it. Storm’s always impatient, but I was sure even he knew that we weren’t all sitting around fully dressed at all hours, waiting on his call.

As we walked downstairs together, my heart sank when I saw my mom and grandmother at the bar talking to Rosie. I love my family to bits, but my grandmother can be a loose cannon, and I didn’t really have time to supervise them today. Rosie seemed delighted to see them and was busy pouring them coffee when we came down.

As we approached, I greeted my mother first with a kiss on the forehead. “Morning Inna .”

She smiled at me. “Good morning Huri. Your motorcycle place is really nice.”

I didn’t even correct her about it being a MC clubhouse because there was no use.

When I stepped over to my gran, she pointed to her forehead. I gave her a kiss as well. “Good morning, Unna-Inna . I hope you’re well this morning?”

She just stared at me. “Huri Shetland, what is wrong with you? Have you forgotten your manners? You should offer us a table so we can become better acquainted with your new girlfriend.” The look on her face was so stubborn that it made me rethink my words about there being no assholes in my family.

Before I could answer, my mom broke the silence. “Yes Huri, we’ve spent so little time with her, just that first time on the phone for a few minutes and at the party she threw for you.”

“Yes,” my grandmother added. “The party was nice, but I still remember the day she called to find out if you were a serial killer.”

I closed my eyes and counted to ten. I dreaded to think what kind of stories my mom would tell her, but against my better instincts I turned to Alicia and said, “I’ve got to go to a meeting, would you like to spend some time with my mother and grandmother today?”

She was all smiles because clearly, she did not know what she was getting herself into. “Of course! That would be wonderful.”

Rosie spoke up, “See, I told you she would want to spend time getting to know you.”

When my head snapped around to gape at Rosie, she cringed a little. “Alright, don’t be mad. I might have bumped into your grandmother shopping this morning and mentioned that you were putting Alicia into your property cut. Naturally, they would want to congratulate her and have a little visit. You wouldn’t want to begrudge them getting to know each other, would you?”

Stretching my neck to get rid of the stiffness building there, I gritted my teeth and said, “Of course not.” I turned to Alicia and said, “My mom’s name is Wren Shetland. Our family calls her Inna as it’s the word for mother in our language. You can use this word to address her as well if you like, because we’re together now. It’s a mark of respect.”

Alicia stepped forward with a beautiful smile on her pretty face. “It’s so nice of you to visit Inna . I hope you can stay and talk for a while.”

My mom looked like she was about to explode with happiness. Me settling down and making babies had been her dream for a long time. Clearly, she saw that was a real possibility now that Alicia and I were together.

My grandmother cleared her throat, so I quickly explained, “ Unna-Inna is the word we use for grandmother, this is my Unna-Inna Ruby Marks.” Trying to be clever and rile my gran up, I leaned closer and whispered loudly, “Of course you can call her anything you like as long as it’s not an obscenity.”

That got me a sharp poke in the ribs from my grandmother and mom said sharply, “Huri, you’re being rude.”

My gran huffed out an exasperated breath. “He’s always had an odd sense of humor, that one.”

Turning to my grandmother, I smiled at her with genuine warmth. “And I always save my strange jokes for the ones I love and respect the most. Even though I joke with you, and you joke with me, you know I love you and I always will.”

I watched my grandmother get a little emotional. She was used to me teasing her in public but not speaking our truth for others to hear. I reached over and gave her a hug. She held me tight before pulling back. “You got your tendency towards joking around honestly. I can say that much about you. Will you stay and visit with us?”

Looking down at her, I replied, “I would love to but unfortunately, club business calls me away.”

“What could be more important than spending time with your family? We’ve hardly seen you lately.”

Before I could get into an argument with my gran about that, Alicia spoke up. “My mom is missing. Your son has been out searching for her.”

Suddenly, my family couldn’t get rid of me quick enough. “Why are standing here talking? You must go, Huri,” my gran insisted.

“I’m going,” I grumbled to her. I leaned forward to whisper in my gran’s ear. “This woman has my heart. Please don’t scare her away before I get back.”

She gave me an indignant huff but gave Alicia a quick kiss and I stalked out the door before my grandmother could respond. My mom was smart, sweet, and kind. My gran was a cat of a different stripe. She loved to huff and puff about everything. Dramatic was the word my father had used to describe her. Still, I loved her, and it was nice to give as good as I got for once.

***

After church I strapped Nine into back seat of my truck and rolled down the window for him, my club brothers had all set off on their bikes, and I hit the road to join them. My mind immediately turned to my mission. My belief was that if me and my club brothers searched diligently every day, our hard work would eventually pay off. And I was reasonably sure that Juan Ramirez would not risk burning hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of his drugs by hurting Alicia’s mother. I had to admit that something didn’t seem quite right about this situation between her parents. I have never known a man who would so easily harm his wife and threaten to kill her to get his way with others. Perhaps I didn’t run in the same circles as her father and my unfamiliarity with such men was why his behavior struck me as odd. Or it could be that there was something going on that we did not yet understand.