Chapter Seven

Mike/Pops

A week later, I was still trying to come to terms with everything Taz had dumped on us. I knew about the Brotherhood. Or, at least, knew of them. That last was the worst part. The fact that I knew about the Brotherhood made me a marked man. No one outside the Brotherhood was supposed to know they existed. And I most decidedly wasn't part of them. With Taz being with them now, I worried about his son, Liam. Then there was Gracie and her baby.

At any other time in my life, I might have scoffed at the idea of a family. After my first tour in Nam, I decided I never wanted to have to go through what my mother was going through. I could have a woman and companionship, but I didn't have to bring children into the world. And, honestly, this was the first time I ever realized I could actually have people in my life closer than blood. Not having kids didn't help me at fucking all. Alex and Gracie were definitely tugging at my heartstrings as much as they did my mama tiger's.

Looking at Liam as he made his bond with Gracie warmed my heart. The pair had both seemed more than a little lost, but they were helping each other. Along with Mama's gentle insistence they be together, they seemed to genuinely like each other. Mama said it helped Gracie learn what she'd need to do after her baby was born, and Liam needed a mother figure. I suspected it was a way to help both our young charges feel normal again.

In the week since I brought Mama and Gracie to the compound, I could already see signs Gracie was relaxing. She'd stopped jumping every time one of the men barked out a laugh, or spoke to her, or approached her in any way, really. A couple had tried to make a move on her, but she'd shut them down. Then Mama reinforced the shutdown. That always made me smile. They were a good lot, but a little lackadaisical in discipline.

"What the fuck are we gonna do with this bunch?" Mama muttered under her breath as she stomped inside the common room, which was supposed to be under construction. Currently, me and Mama were the only ones working on it. It would be a perfect place for the guys to hang out together and drink beer. Maybe watch a ball game or play pool. Or, as evidenced by the women who seemed to have descended on the place, fuck to their hearts' content. Assuming we ever got the fucking room finished. Currently, they were doing everything ass backward. Pretty sure they'd done it on purpose too. Just because they could.

"I'd say whip ‘em into shape like a batch of new recruits, but I'm not sure these guys'd appreciate it." I shrugged. "They just got outta the service. I doubt they want reminders this soon."

She stared at me hard, her gaze contemplative. "Or maybe that's exactly what they need. Lord knows if they don't start working on the clubhouse again, we're never gonna get the rooms done."

I shrugged. "We can try. Taz is leaving today. I'll run it by him."

Instantly, her gaze hardened and she glared at me. "He don't like it, he needs to keep his ass here. He's left us in charge for the time being, he'll have to live with any changes we make."

"God, that tone of voice makes me hard."

She jerked her head up where she'd been scrubbing on a freshly installed counter -- which should have been done last on this job -- to get the gummy glue off of it. No sense wasting the work already done. I thought she might lay into me, but, to my great and utter delight, she stalked toward me, gripped my face, and pulled me down for a heated kiss.

I tunneled my fingers through her hair, fisting the silky strands in a tight grip. The strawberry-blonde curls sifted through my fingers as I adjusted my grip. Mama clawed at me, trying to get my shirt off. Her little grunts of demand were music to my ears.

When she finally did get my shirt off, I pulled her to me, looping my arm tightly around her back while I found the crook of her neck with my mouth and sucked. She cried out, leaning her neck back to let me have better access while she raked my skin with her nails.

"Guessin' I ain't the only one horny as a motherfucker."

She grunted, her hand going to the front of my jeans where she squeezed and kneaded my cock. I found her breast with my hand under her T-shirt and gave it my own rough squeeze. This was the woman I knew was inside her. She was aggressive. Dominant. And I'd let her be because she needed to be.

Until it was time for me to be even more dominant than she was.

I shoved her bra over her tits to grip soft, warm flesh in my palm. I squeezed roughly, a grip that might well bruise. It was a test. To see how hard she needed this to be. I wanted to give this woman everything I was, and I needed her to know I could take charge when she needed me to.

Mama's hands went to the fastener of my jeans, undoing them and shoving them down my hips. "Get inside me, Pops." Her voice was a husky groan. There was still that demanding bite that made my cock ache, but there was also a helpless lust she didn't even try to hide.

My hand shot to her neck and she tilted her head back, baring more of her skin to me. My gaze bore into hers. "You're not in charge, woman."

"I said fuck me, you bastard!"

"Oh, I'll fuck you all right. I'll fuck you hard and messy. That what you want?"

"Just give it to me!"

I spun her around and bent her over the counter she'd been cleaning, holding her shoulders down when she would have pushed up. "Stay." I bit out my command at the same time I swatted her ass.

With one hand I unfastened her jeans before pushing them past her ass. Once I got them down far enough to swipe my fingers through her pussy lips to test her wetness, I made my cock follow the path my fingers had taken, slowly shoving myself inside her hard and deep.

Mama screamed, pushing back against me as she gripped the countertop. I supposed this moment made it worth the fact that the guys had built it before they should have. I gripped her shoulder in one hand, her hip in the other, and fucked her. Hard. Letting loose all the pent-up lust and longing and joy and gratefulness I had inside me. How the fuck had I done enough right in my fucking life to be given such a woman as this?

I continued fucking her, both of us grunting with each jarring, staccato smack of flesh on flesh. She screamed again. This time her pussy clamped down on me, squeezing and squeezing until my cock exploded with cum inside the haven of Jo's body.

Mama .

I knew the names we'd taken would stick. I also had the feeling Jo and Mike would cease to exist, and it would be Mama and Pops in this world we were being dragged into. Surprisingly, I found I was looking forward to that.

When we both finally came to our senses, it was to catcalls and whistles from a few of the men who'd finally shown up. Likely not to work.

With a vicious snarl, I bared my teeth to all of them. "Get the fuck out. Line up outside the garage in five minutes. Things are gettin' ready to fuckin' change ‘round here."

"You don't get to tell us what to do, Pops." One of the younger, smaller men smirked. "You might be all badass and shit, but we're younger and stronger."

I tucked my cock away and stalked toward the kid with every intention of throttling the little bastard. Thankfully, the kid and a couple of his buddies around him weren't complete dumb shits. They all backed up several steps. I still got in the punk's face, shouting at him like any drill sergeant at a new recruit.

"You wanna stay in this outfit, boy? Do you? Because I got no problem sendin' your fuckin' smart ass out the fuckin' gate."

"You're not our leader."

"Yeah? You might wanna tell Taz that. He's leavin' for a while. Puttin' me and Mama in charge o' you fuckin' dumb shits until he gets back. That fuckin' makes me the fuckin' leader of this fuckin' heap of maggot shit." The kid looked surprised and wary, but didn't push back. Probably because I could be a scary motherfucker when I wanted to be.

"Right. Yeah. We'll get everyone together at the garage."

"You'll fuckin' line up in two Goddamned lines at attention. Then you will wait for Taz and me and Mama. You will not say a fuckin' word and you will not fuckin' move. If you do, I'll take it as a sign you don't wanna fuckin' be here."

"Yes, sir." The youngster snapped to attention before spinning around and marching double time out the door. Everyone followed him without question.

"Well. That was… surprising." I wasn't sure if I wanted to laugh or shake my head in amazement. "Don't let anyone ever say you can't read people, Mama. You knew what these kids needed."

"They didn't realize it when they were in the service because everything went to shit over there. In Nam. I suppose some people know what we were fighting for, but I just wanted to get out alive. Guessin' these guys felt the same way."

"What did you do over there, Jo?" I reached out to stroke her wild hair away from her cheek. "Why does the CIA want you? And why do I get the feelin' you were more than a doctor?"

"Because you're smart." She sighed, straightening her clothing. I expected her to be embarrassed to have been caught by the kids fucking. And, let's face it, that's exactly what this group of hooligans was gonna be to us. Our kids. Yeah. For someone who never thought he'd have a family, I was acquiring family by the gaggle. "Rest assured, I did nothing through official channels. When the orders coming in for the unit I was with ceased to make sense and men were being thrown up a hill for nothing, slaughtered for nothing, I took matters into my own hands. We rescued more than one unit from ambushes when intel was bogus and they walked into an area that was supposed to be cleared, only for the VC to start a killing field. A bunch of ‘em in Colonial Gill's outfit. Can't say we saved more than we lost, but we managed to get a few out who might not otherwise have come home. That was why the general was really at my field hospital. Taz is right. I'm sure that fuckin' general baited me. I was never quiet about my opinions and my opinion of leadership was that they were fuckin' shit. Now? I guess I know why."

"You think people in the government know about the Brotherhood?"

"Not sure. My gut says no, but there's always that possibility. At least, anyone who knows of them doesn't know the full extent of what they do and how much power they really have. If we're aware of them, there have to be more who know. How much they know is anyone's guess. I'm guessing anyone in the government knows just enough to think they can control the Brotherhood. They can't."

"Which, again, might be the whole point. The Brotherhood wants to recruit you. Get you to go back. Then you either join them or disappear."

She shook her head immediately. "No. If they know me at all, the Brotherhood knows I'm not the kind of person they want in their ranks. I think too freely and I'm not too great at taking orders. Especially if I don't agree with them. If they're trying to get me there, it's to take me out."

"You think Taz will tell them about you?"

Mama gave me a hard stare. Yeah. She would make sure Taz never said a word.

"Understood." I grinned at her. I might have been mistaken, but I was pretty sure I saw her lips twitch before she finished straightening her clothing, then stormed outside to face the "recruits."

Yeah. I was looking forward to this.