CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

-:- ROCK -:-

Waking next to Red was a great way to start the morning. I’d not meant to stay overnight, but we’d ended up in bed together and when she snuggled into my side, wrapped around me like a little monkey, my eyes closed and I was asleep.

Kissing Red before leaving is a delight and sets me up for a good day. Arriving at the clubhouse I’m surprised to hear shouting going on, and heading in the direction of the chaos, I step into the kitchen, which brings me to a stop.

Ruger, Sting, Brag, Wings, Buzz, BS, Sentry and Mav are lined up as though they are in detention. Meat, however, is standing in front of the sink, arms folded across his chest, and smirking. What the ever-loving… The fuckers have installed a new kitchen. Now that in itself isn’t a surprise, but they’ve done it overnight and it seems without Axel’s permission.

“You are all on call. Any trouble and you lot are the first to be called out. You get me?” Axel snarls, and he’s pacing, has a wild look in his eye too.

Mia is sitting watching all this going down while watching the twins feeding themselves. If you can call it that? It’s more like hit the mouth if you can, and wear the rest. She’s biting her nails every now and again, but she’s not attempting to calm Axel at the moment, but I’m sure she will if things get worse.

“We are going to invade a town, and you lot are going to be at the forefront of that invasion. I’ll speak to you all later about how we’re gonna do it. Oh, and Meat, you are paying for fifty percent of all this shit.” Axel stomps out of the kitchen, and looking at Meat, he shrugs, grins, and has a totally satisfied look on his face.

The kitchen looks great and I know it was old looking, but it’s now a kitchen to be proud of. It’s commercial enough without taking the comfortable feeling away from it. The industrial appliances will last for years so I think it’s been a good move, and if needed, I’ll say we should not be making Meat pay for half the cost because it’s for the benefit of the club.

Grabbing breakfast, I quickly eat, run up to my room, shower and change, ready for work. The cages side of the business is set for us to work, and I’m looking forward to seeing what Fist does with the pickup truck for Raven. He has been in discussion with Grease on what exactly it needs to look like as the finished project. It’s costing Grease a fair amount of green, but he doesn’t give a shit, so it’s great that we can use the best quality of everything to get it perfect.

Splash walks over to me when I arrive at cages and gives me a printout of what he wants for the door. “Perfect. Can you do it Sunday when everyone else is away from here?”

“Yeah, that would be great. Siggy is going to give me a hand, too. That way, it won’t take all day. It needs to be completely dry before you open shop on Monday morning.”

“Okay. I didn’t know Siggy painted?”

“Oh, yeah, she’s a well-known graffiti artist, but she’s done all sorts of things art-wise. She is a fully certified tattoo artist, and has done some incredible work. I’ve tried to get her to open her own shop, but so far all she’s wanted to do is build her own paint business.”

“If she is living on that income then she’s doing good. Does she have plenty of customers?” I’m asking as I’m giving Siggy all our orders and I can push her name out if she needs more work.

“She was telling me last week she has all the customers she can handle at the moment, and she doesn’t want to take on an employee, so she’s going to continue as she is for now. But if she decides it’s too much, she’s going to keep the MC as her sole customer, and think about opening her own tattoo shop.”

“She could work part-time at Rolling Thunder Tattoo Shop with Reuse and Hashtag. They have a fuck ton of clients, and Reuse was saying he may need to take on another artist.”

“Hm, I may have a word with Reuse, and see if Siggy is interested. It would be a suitable solution for Siggy, as she wouldn’t have the worry of running two businesses.” Splash walks away and I head to the office, where I’m sure I have paperwork to finish.

An hour later, I walk around to speak with Fist, who is in the office on the cage side of the business. We’re gonna have to decide on a name for the new building because to keep saying or thinking the cage side of the business is a real ball ache.

“How’s things going over here, Fist?” I ask.

“Good. I’ve organized the office as I like to work. I’ve got Bren to do me a calendar where I can see what’s booked in and how many days we’ve given to get it done and ready for pickup. I’m not a computer geek at all. I know I’ll have to use it more now, but I really hate the fuckin’ things.” Fist slides a large week-to-view appointment book towards me, and the first few pages are full of cages booked in for work.

“It’s a fuckin’ good job you have Raw, Griff and Splash with you. You would never have coped with all this work. I’ll still give you a hand when you need it. We have two years of custom work booked for hogs next door, and if you get the same way, then we’ll have to consider taking on a larger building and more workers,” tapping my finger on my bottom lip as I’m thinking.

“Rock, I reckon if we take on too much work and too many new people, it will stop being as ‘custom’ . At this point, people are eager for us to work on their vehicles, whether it be hogs or cages. If we expand too much we’ll not be as exclusive.”

Fist has obviously thought about this, and I have to agree. “Yeah, I see what you’re sayin’. I’ll go with that Fist, keep it smaller and have them begging for us to work for them, instead of us rushing around trying to find work.”

“Exactly,” Fist nods.

“Okay, I’m going to get some work done.”

Heading back to the hog I’m working on, I quickly pull up my coveralls and get started. I want this finished today and get the invoice paid. It’s costing a fair bit, as it was in a hell of a state when the client brought it in.

Two hours later, I’m wiping my hands on a rag, happy that this job is finished. I’ll contact the owner and get him to get the payment made and pick her up.

Looking up when Siggy scurries past. I can’t help but frown as she’s scanning the area as though the bogeyman is after her. “What’s up?” I ask, which has her jumping badly.

“Fuck's sake, Rock. It’s a good thing I’m not a girly girl, or I’d have screamed like an idiot and peed my pants.”

Now, this is not the quiet, confident Siggy that I’m used to, so I do what any brother would. I frown, fold my arms over my chest and give her the ‘look’. “What’s fuckin’ going on?”

“Is Jig here?” Siggy asks, looking around again.

“No, why would he be here? He works at the club's garage, not here.”

“I’m going to kill Splash. He told Jig where I live and gave him my damn phone number. Now I can’t get rid of him.” Siggy looks frustrated.

“Oh. I see. Jig has taken a likin’ to you. Well, he is a good brother and you don’t need to be frightened of him. But if you want me to tell him to back off, I can do that,” I offer, but hope she says no because Jig really deserves a chance.

Sighing, Siggy leans on the wall, repositions her ball cap and considers before replying. “No, I’ll deal with it. I like him if I’m honest. He’s just a little full-on, you know.”

“He is a good man. He’d make someone a fuckin’ good husband or Ol’ Man. He just needs the opportunity.” Yeah, I’m going to bat for my brother.

“Okay. I’ll speak to him. He is kinda cute.” Siggy's cheerful smile is followed by her determined exit from the building, only to reappear shortly after with the paint cans we had been waiting for. I keep quiet because it’s a case of the more you say, the more you could derail it.

Closing up shop, I’m well ready to head back to the clubhouse, shower, eat, and get to Red’s house. I’m more and more aware that I am going to love this woman, and love her hard. She’s my one, and I knew it the moment I saw her, but I never realized how fierce my feelings would be.

Showered and eaten, I’m ready to leave the clubhouse when Axel shouts everyone to church. Now, that is something we cannot ignore, so I walk into church and take my seat, tapping my fingers on my thigh with a little agitation as I want out of here as quickly as possible.

Watching all the brothers walk in and take a seat, it’s obvious that Axel had made sure those that don’t live at the clubhouse would be here for the meeting. Forest isn’t here, I notice, so he must be busy at the Sheriff’s Department tonight.

Axel takes his seat and quickly speaks. “Okay, brothers. I’m calling you all together to put in place the plan for Friday evening. We are all going to invade this Stone fucker’s town. I want him and his gang members to see a brother everywhere and anywhere in the town throughout the evening. I want you in the bars, riding the streets, watching the gang working. Speak to some of the women if you can. I hear he has a lot of them on street corners. Dig deep, because we’re gonna take this fucker down.

“Oh, Nell’s boys are in, so we’ve made the three of them kuttes on a temporary basis. It’ll just bring the MC count up another three. So, let’s get a look at the town map and plan our mission.”

Ninety minutes later, we know where we have to be and what we have to do. Of course, Axel didn’t forget about the kitchen and who was going to be the front line of assault. That is when I make my mistake.

“Pres, I’ve got to give my thoughts on the kitchen. I reckon it was needed because it looked old and used. Now, it’s a top-of-the- line kitchen, but still has that home feel to it. I’m not up for Meat having to pay half the cost. It’s for the benefit of every brother and Ol’ Lady of the club. I vote he does not have to pay half the cost.”

It seems the brothers agree as every hand goes up, and an ‘aye’ with it. Axel looks like he wants to kill me, but I’m standing my ground. Meat looks shocked, right before he smirks and gives Axel a fuckin’ wink, which makes it even worse.

Turning to me, Axel gives a feral grin. Oh, fuck…

“I’ve decided that the road trip that you all are going on next week will lose Rock. He’s going to be hanging around here, making sure all the chores that you do are covered. That right, Rock?”

Again, Axel gives me that fuckin’ grin. “Yeah, that’s right, Pres.” I don’t have an option, and every brother in the room knows it. But, hey, the others will still go on the trip, and I’ll get to see Red, so I’m not going to throw a tantrum about it.

PT hands me a box, and I know what’s in it. Flipping the lid, everyone cheers, even Axel smiles when I hold up the ‘Property of’ kutte for Red. Yeah, this is what I’ve wanted for years, and I’m more than happy that I found Red.

Looking around, I notice Hammer isn’t here. “Is Hammer okay?” I ask the room in general.

“Yeah, he took Tilly and Quinn home. He’s going to have a week away from the clubhouse and work. Time with his family,” Axel says, and we all know we’d want that, so don’t have a problem with it.

“You gonna cope okay with Rock’s cabin?” Fox asks Sting, who is sitting next to him.

“Yeah, it may delay us a few days, but nothing major,” Sting replies.

Fox continues speaking, “Well, if you need help, I can give you a couple of hours in any evening and I’ll work Sunday.”

“Yeah, I can do that too,” I speak up, because it is my cabin after all.

One brother after another offers help, and Ruger, Sting and Brag give thanks and will call out if and when help is needed.

I’m out of church, the clubhouse, and on the road to Red’s before anyone can waylay me again. I need my girl, and I want to see Jessica before she goes to bed. I’m goin’ to miss her when Garrett takes her from Red. But she belongs with him and Jerica even if we don’t like it.