CHAPTER 19

REAPER

I watched my woman's swaying hips snug in a fitted pair of jeans with a smirk on my lips as she bounced out of the Gym after laying a hot-as-hell kiss on me.

Congratulations were passed around, and I reckoned my back was bruised from all the back slaps.

Sam was grinning at me. We'd had a long chat regarding his mum. I had made it clear that I loved his mum, and I knew they came as a package deal, and I wanted to know where his head was at with me wanting to make it permanent.

"As long as you love and put mum first, Reaper, I'm happy with you getting married. And before you ask, I'm happy to have Ben and the girls in our family, and if you decide to add more to the four of us, that will be okay too. You'll only have me for four more years before I'm eighteen," he'd grinned at me.

I'd snorted at that comment, "Lad, if you think that just because you turn eighteen, you won't still be her baby, you have another thing coming. She'll still be checking on you and getting involved in your life when you're forty, with your own woman and kids."

I'd taken him with me to choose her ring but hadn't told him when I would propose. I'm not one for drama or public proposals. Plus, I wasn't going to give her a chance to say no, not that I thought she would.

That morning I'd woken up after a long night of making love to my woman. She was lying sprawled across our bed on her stomach, her hair in disarray over our pillows, and I'd known it was the right moment. I'd opened my bedside drawer, pulled out the ring box, and proceeded to slip the ring on her finger. It fit perfectly, and it looked right sitting there on her hand. I looked forward to her reaction and hoped I'd read her right. I didn't think she would want to make a big deal out of it.

The last few weeks had been busy, the new men had arrived, and it was good to see them. They all had bikes now and were settled into the cottages. They had fit in with no major drama, including not caring about the woman being part of the MC meetings on the business, which made me feel better about them joining us.

Once they had been brought up to speed on the situation, we'd got a handle on securing all the properties owned by us, adding additional cameras to them all to include internal and external coverage.

We had gone to the extra expense of installing a ram-proof security gate on the front of the manor and another at the back entrance.

The back entrance was manned by the prospects on rotation with an intercom into a temporary guard hut that we'd set up. We'd build a better one when we had more time.

Hawk, Bull, and Draco had gone to the farm next door and seen to secure it as much as they could. While we didn't own it yet, I didn't want Molly and her grandfather to be in danger as they were our neighbours.

Because of the size of the farm, we'd opted to add an anti-climb fence around ten acres for now, as there was no way we could afford to fence in the entire farm.

According to Hawk, Molly had given Draco a mouth full regarding the fencing and had only calmed down once Bull had explained what was going on.

It seemed Draco and Molly were like oil and water. It was going to be interesting watching that unfold because, according to Bull, one minute, they looked like they were going to kill each other, and the next, they looked like they wanted to rip each other's clothes off.

We were planning a raid of all the meth labs within a forty-mile radius of us in the next two weeks. We'd been watching their routines such as they were, and it looked like they had a batch ready every two weeks for transport. We were planning to hit them two days before the transport went out.

While I knew it wasn't ideal because we didn't know the prospects. We'd had to bring them in on the raid as it meant more bodies to lay the explosives leaving Dog, Gunny, and Thor with my dad at the hospital or with the women and kids at the house.

We'd not be leaving them unarmed, all the women could shoot, and we'd been teaching the kids over the last few weeks. Rogue had spoken to a friend of his on the police force in the next town regarding the drug issue. They were so understaffed that they couldn't get a handle on it, plus there seemed to be pressure from higher up to turn a blind eye. He had said that if we could do anything about it, he'd arrange a bomb tip to come in, ensuring that all officers would be out on that call.

It was the best we could do for now. We'd be hitting six of the labs at one time, I knew this would rattle some cages, and we'd be getting backlash from it.

But that was a worry for another day. Today was a day for celebration and a welcome to the new members. I had a barbeque planned for tonight. Behind the new clubhouse, the prospects had built a barbeque area, including a spit and fire pit.

Tonight, it would just be family and close friends, but once this was over, I would see about inviting some of the village out. Maybe have a charity day. We needed to get back the community spirit that had been missing.

Our workouts finished for the day, we'd all showered and were meeting back in the main room. I was standing watching Carly and Sam train in the ring. She was a good teacher. He'd really filled out the last few weeks and was more confident.

Hawk leaned against the ropes next to me. "She's good," he commented.

"Yeah, she is. She will stay working at the Gym once we buy it."

He grunted in approval, "It's a nice thing you have going here, Reaper. I'm happy for you and appreciate you allowing us to join. It's been good to have somewhere to call home."

Seeing the others walk out of the changing rooms, I clapped him on the shoulder. "It's no hardship, man. Glad to have you. Just wish we didn't have the ACES to deal with," I said.

He shrugged, "If not them, it would be someone else. There's always someone who thinks they are bigger and better."

Clapping my hands to get everyone's attention, "Right, you fuckers, barbeque tonight. Dragon and Rogue, you're in charge of the meat. Onyx and Draco grab two prospects and get drinks and ice. The ladies are making salads and garlic bread. Hawk, that leaves you guys to set up the fires and get shit ready. Ben, Alec, and Sam, you three are with me. Apparently, you all need new shoes for school."

They all groaned in dismay. I shook my head, not looking forward to it either. "Don't moan at me. Take it up with Abby. I have my orders, so hit the showers."

Bull laughed, shaking his head as the lads went to the locker rooms, "Rather you than me, brother. Explain to me how you were free and single six weeks ago, and now you have a woman, two sons, and daughters and another cousin?"

I grinned at him before replying, "Just lucky, Bull, so fucking lucky."

That night, with my woman on my lap under a blanket by the firepit, chatting with my sister and Noni, I watched Ben, Sam, Alec, Carly, and Bella on the other side of the fire chatting about school. The lads had started working as a team and brought Carly and Bella into their little world. Bren was huddled beside Ben under a blanket, watching and listening to what they were saying. My girl was still quiet but not as fearful anymore. Her eyes, however, were straying to Alec on the regular, and my gut tightened. She was twelve, but with her upbringing, she was older than her years. And Alec, well, he was a young lad and completely oblivious to how Bren felt. I could see hurt coming her way, and it killed me.

My attention on that little scene was broken by Ellie running around like a rocket. Somebody had bought sparklers, and she was doing a pretty good job of decimating the packet.

The only thing that would have made me happier was if my dad had been sitting here with us.