CHAPTER 7

NAVY

Content, I watched as the women pulled Gia into their fold and made her feel comfortable. It was beautiful to watch as she bloomed under their attention, making me wonder if she’d ever had anyone other than her grandmother in her corner. I had a feeling that she hadn’t. Well, from now on there was no need for her to worry, I’d take that on.

“What’s happening today, Navy?” Reaper asks from across the table, taking my attention from the woman, who in a short time, seemed to have already imbedded herself in my heart. Gia turned to me as soon as she heard Reaper say my name. I winked at her and she blushed, lowering her eyes before turning her attention back to Julia, who asked her something.

Smiling, I turned to answer Reaper. That smile turned into a grin when I saw how they were looking at me. Amusement clear in their eyes. I didn’t give a fuck. I’d never made it a secret that I wanted a woman of my own. And they all knew that any woman of mine was going to be spoilt as fuck. If they thought I spoilt their women, they didn’t know what I would do for my own.

Deciding not to say anything about why I was smiling, I answered Reaper’s question instead, “I’m going to go follow Bas and Hope home so that Gia can see her gran. We’ll contact her brother once we get there. If Skinny has the documentation ready, we’ll meet him halfway at one of the services to get them from him. Then on Monday we’ll go see the solicitors and get everything settled for her and her brother. After that, it’s up to her. If she wants to stay with me, I won’t say no, but I also won’t force it. It’s entirely up to her.”

Hawk gave a snort and shook his head at me, “Brother, that girl isn’t going to let you go. I can see it just by how she looks at you. You’d best consider your single life over.”

Catching and holding his gaze, “Like I said, brother, it’s up to her, but for me there’s not a question on how much I want her to stay with me. As far as I’m concerned, she’s mine for as long as she wants me.”

“Well, that’s good, considering we’re married now. And just so you know, I’m not going anywhere,” an amused voice says from behind me.

I’d been so caught up in our conversation that I hadn’t noticed that Gia had left the table where she’d been sitting with the other women and walked over to us.

Turning, I wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her onto my lap, where she sat with a small, surprised squeak. I ignored the outraged gasp from the old bat in the corner who’d been looking down her nose at us since we walked in for breakfast with our cuts on.

Running my hand through her long hair, I turned her to face me, “That what you want, sweets? You want to stay with me and see where this goes?”

Gia’s gaze softened when her eyes met mine, raising her hand to cup my cheek she ran her thumb gently across my face, “Yes, Navy, I’d like to stay with you, if you’re still okay with that.”

“I’m good with that, babe.”

“Yes!” Hope shouts out, hands in the air, then points at our end of the table, ordering, “Paintball party at ours next weekend to celebrate. Mr. President, make that happen.”

Reaper salutes her, “I’ll get right on that, Hope.” Turning to Rogue, he orders, “You heard the lady, get on that, Road Captain.”

“Yes!” Hope hoots loudly, hands waving in the air.

Bas laughs and shakes his head at his wife, before taking her mouth in a kiss, “The things I have to do shut you up and to keep us from being thrown out of here,” he teases her.

Hope snorts in a totally unladylike way and slaps Bas on the chest, “Yeah, yeah, like kissing me is a hardship.”

Gia giggles leaning against my chest she whispers in my ear. “I love your family. They’re a lot of fun.”

I’d been right; Hope and Bas fit in with my MC family like I’d known they would. Reaper nods at Rogue, “Best you get on that route, brother, the lady has spoken.”

Rogue rolls his eyes at Reaper’s teasing, “Already on it, Pres.”

“Paintball party here we come,” Molly grins, I’d known this would suit her blood thirsty nature. “I’ll bring the knives and train your kids. I mean, being able to shoot is cool, but knowing how to use a knife is way cooler.”

When Gia had come to me, the rest of the women had stood up and left where they’d been congregated to be closer to us. So, it wasn’t a surprise when Draco groaned, reached out and pulled Molly onto his lap, “Firecracker, you can’t just say you’re going to teach their kids how to throw knives.”

“Why not,” Hope demands. “I think it’s a great idea.”

My laughter tumbles out of me. I’d always thought Hope and Molly were sisters separated by birth. They were exactly the same. Hope just hid her blood thirsty side better.

I guess we were too much for the snobby old biddy because she got up with a huff and left muttering about making a complaint to the manager. For me, I was content with my girl in my lap, which she didn’t seem in any hurry to leave, and I was all right with that.

We were just getting ready to leave the dining room as breakfast was almost over when a nervous-looking manager went over to Bas, bent over and whispered something to him. My cousin grinned.

“Ugh, I’m guessing we’ve outstayed our welcome,” Abby muttered from across the table to me.

“Comp the old harpy her room and breakfast, then put her on the blacklist, Joe, we don’t need judgmental people staying here,” Bas ordered.

“Yes, sir,” the manager said with a smile and left to do as bid.

“When did you buy this hotel?” I asked in surprise. Not sure why I was surprised. My cousin was one of the best businessmen that I knew.

“We bought the hotel,” Bas smirked at me. That comment had me sitting up and taking notice, “What the hell, I didn’t buy shit,” I frowned at him.

“Sure, you did,” Hope said, taking a dainty sip from her cup of tea, “I got your signature and everything. You really need to read the shit I give you to sign, Alan, and not just trust me.”

Laughter filled the room at her words.

Rubbing a hand down my face, I mutter, “For fuck’s sake.”

Gia let out a muffled giggle. I opened my eyes to look at her, “You think this is funny?”

She shrugged, “It is a little bit, but mostly I love that your family loves you.”

“What else do I own that I don’t know about?” I ask Hope with a frown.

“Umm, let me think,” she taps her nail on lip, eyes to the ceiling. “What else is there, oh, yeah, the gin distillery and restaurant, the stables and the four holiday homes we rent out during the summer months. I think that’s it,” she grins at me.

“What am I going to do with you and Bas?” I groan out with a beleaguered sigh.

“Nothing, cousin, absolutely nothing because without you there is no way Hope and I would be able to give our children the life they have. We’re paying it forward in the only way we know how, by looking out for you and ensuring your grumpy arse has enough cushion for when you’re an old fart and can no longer ride a bike. So, you need to suck it up and just accept the fact that we will continue to add your name to any investments we make. Okay!” Bas said, his eyes and tone serious.

Holding his stare, I know I’m fighting a losing battle. No matter how many times I tell them that I don’t need anything from them, they ignore me and do what they want and send me money every month. Most of which I gave away to charity.

Nodding at Bas that I understand, I still reply, “Okay, Bas, you guys do what you got to do. Besides, I’m married now so you know I might need the extra cash. Oof,” I grunt when Gia’s elbow hits me in the stomach, making me laugh as she glares at me. “I don’t need your money,” she mutters, dark eyes flashing in ire as she struggles to get up from my lap.

Chuckling, I wrap my arms tighter around her so she can’t escape before answering, “I know, sweets, I’m teasing.”

“Hmph,” she grumbles but settles back down. “Just so you know, I have my own money. I don’t need to be kept.”

“You tell him, Gia,” Molly shouts out, throwing her thumbs up to another round of laughter. Looking at my watch, I see that it’s getting late and if we want to get to Somerset before dark we’re going to want to leave soon.

Catching Reaper’s eye, I tap my watch. He immediately gets what I’m about and whistles to get everyone’s attention, “Let’s go people, be in the carpark ready to roll out in thirty minutes.”

Giving him a nod of thanks, I help Gia up and take her back to the room so we can get our belongings and drop the key back off at reception. Twenty minutes later, most of us are back in the parking garage. The cars are loaded with those that drove and the rest of the brothers are riding with some of their Old Ladies.

“Do you want to ride in the car with Hope and Bas or on the bike with me?” I ask Gia.

“With you,” she answers.

“Have you ridden before?”

Gia nods, “Yes, but not in a while and I may not be able to go the whole three and a bit hours, but I’d like to go as far as I can.”

“Okay,” I agreed. “We’ll need to stop and get you better clothes, though. Leggings and my hoodie aren’t good enough for riding the distance we’ll be going.”

“I’ve got my spares in the back of Abby’s car. I forgot to take them out last week,” Julia says, already walking towards Abby’s car.

She comes back with the trousers and jacket, no boots but the trainers Gia’s wearing will do for now.

“Are you sure they’ll fit,” Gia asks, looking worried. Julia smiles in understanding, “They’ll fit just fine, Gia, I promise. Put them on over your leggings, but you may have to lose the hoodie.”

Not long after, Gia’s kitted out and fuck, she looks hot. I make a mental note to get her her own leathers in a colour that she likes. Abby comes towards us with a helmet, holding it out towards Gia, “This should fit, it’s Bren’s but she won’t mind you borrowing it. And here, I found a spare hair band, you’ll need to tie your hair up or you will regret it in when the ride is over.”

“Thank you,” Gia says softly to Abby, “You’ve all been so nice to me. I can’t believe it.”

Abby wraps Gia in a hug, “Get used to it, sweetie. We’re a loud bunch, but we’d do anything for family, and as you’re Navy’s, that makes you ours.”

Letting go of Gia, Abby smiles at her before walking away calling over her shoulder, “Enjoy your ride and we’ll see you in a week.”

I’d known the women would take Gia under their wings as soon as they got to know her. Turning her gently around so her back was to me I split her hair in three and quickly braided it before tying it up at the end.

“You did that quick,” Gia remarked in surprise.

“I’ve got lots of nieces, sweets, and they aren’t patient about waiting, so when they want their hair plaited, they want it done now. All of us had to learn.”

Reaper lets out the whistle he uses that means he’s ready to roll. Getting on my bike, I hold out my hand for Gia, we’d ride as far as we could with the MC. Skinny was going to meet us halfway with the paperwork he’d got for us showing that we’d been married over a year. From there, it would just be us, Bas and Hope, going on to Somerset.

Not sure what excuse we would use for me being away for nearly a year, but we’d wing it and see. Unless Skinny had made something up, which was a possibility, he was imaginative like that.

It was slow going getting out of London and I didn’t relax until we were on the motorway and could finally spread out a little. It made me glad that I didn’t live in the city. Open roads and trees were where I was happiest.

I couldn’t wait to get Gia home to Crow Manor. I was still in one of the cottages, so we’d at least have some privacy. I was hoping that once her situation was sorted out that she’d want to stay. I know she said she did but that was now when everything was up in the air. We’d see where she stood once everything was settled.

For now, it was enough that she was wrapped around me on the back of my bike.