Chapter 5

Tav

" T his is a bad idea," I mumble under my breath. I know it is because my ass is starting to feel sweaty. It could be from all the clenching it's doing. How the fuck did Gus walk in there with Ana for the first time? I should have asked him before I jumped in the deep end and got excited about Blanche meeting my people.

"Come on Tav! Let's go inside. I want to see your grandpa. I bet he's really, really old, because you're really old."

I tip my head to look down at Cove's wide eyes pleading up at me.

"I'm younger than your mom,"

The little stinker throws her head back and laughs in my face like I told the funniest joke, Blanche joining in with her.

"Don't look at me like that, Tav Tombs. This was your idea."

"Fine. Just, don't judge me based on their behavior, OK?" I look at the Landry's five pairs of dark eyes staring back, giving me varying degrees of comfort. The little ones are wide-eyed with excitement, Sage's with amusement, Blanche's look slightly nervous before she rolls her eyes and pulls her shoulders back. All while Niko glares at me.

Gripping the little kids' hands tighter, Cove on one side, Elio holding mine and his mom's hands, we step closer to Pops' farmhouse; mine and my siblings' cabins behind us.

"How much longer are you going to take Fuck Knuck - OW! I mean Fudge Knuckle?" Pops' gruff voice calls out as Niko bursts into laughter. Well, I'm glad something makes this kid happy. And also snaps me out of my anxiety as the familiarity wraps itself around me.

"Yeah, yeah, hold your horses! We're coming!"

Leading my new family into Pops' house, we cram in the doorway of the dining room as I make the introductions.

"Blanche, kids, this is my family. That boring looking man is my big brother Gus, and the lovely lady next to him is his wife, Ana. She works for the Bratva."

They both smile and wave politely, and I try to ignore the sharp intake of breath from Blanche and the shocked look on her face when I introduced Ana.

"It's not really the Bratva," Ana says, waving her hand at Blanche, obviously ignoring all the Tombs family heads that snapped in her direction when she said she doesn't work for the Bratva. "What? I'm the secretary," she shrugs and then stuffs a bread roll into her mouth.

"Tamayto, Tomahto Ana. Anyway, that big, mean looking man is-"

"Yes, yes, that's Jules, woo woo. I'm Tuesday. Or Dayz or you can call me by my Ol Lady name, which is Chewy. This is my man Rhodie. We're enforcers. Nice to meet you. Hi Elio!" Chewy punctuates that word vomit by waving at Elio and patting the empty chair next to her.

He looks to his mom who seems a little shocked before she nods her head at him. He drops our hands and beelines his way to Chewy.

"Whoa, I've never seen him do that before," Niko whispers to Sage who nods at him.

"And last but not least, the head of our family, Sid Tombs, and his lady, who is also Ana's mom, Debs."

"Just call me Pops. Pops and Debs. Now let's eat. I could die at any moment, you know."

"Is that because you're really old?" Cove's little voice asks, her brows pinched.

Blanche's eyes are glaring death lasers at Cove in horror, but she needn't as my whole family roars with laughter.

"I like you, wee thing. Why don't you come up and sit next to my old ass? You can keep an eye on me," Pops says, winking at Cove, who smiles widely and races to sit in between Pops and Debs.

It's then that I notice the seating arrangement. Because I've brought the Landry's, Pops has put in the extra table leaves, extending the table from the usual 10 seater to more like a 15 seater. And instead of everyone sitting in their usual places, which would make sense, they've spaced themselves around the table, meaning any extra seating is between them. Sage takes a seat next to Ana, Niko, fittingly next to Jules, Blanche sits on the other side of Elio near Chewy and I'm on the other side of Rhodie, next to Pops, Cove and Debs on the other side. It's weird as hell and now I'm getting paranoid that this is a setup.

Pops starts carving the meat and Debs passes around the side dishes, helping Cove dish up her mac and cheese. The plates make their rounds, and before long our own plates are full and everyone is digging in. Everyone except me. This all seems a little too normal. Chewy is chatting to Elio, Sage is in conversation with Ana and Gus, even Niko and Jules seem to be sharing grunts at each other.

Leaning towards Rhodie, I hiss around his head to catch Pops' attention.

"What's going on?"

HIs head slowly turns toward me, a glint in his eye as he slowly chews his mouthful. "Whatever do you mean, Octavius?"

My head snaps back, shocked he'd call me by my full name when I haven't done anything wrong. Recovering quickly, I lean back again. "You know what I damn -" my eyes flick down to Cove before looking back at Pops. "I mean, darn well mean. What's going on with all this, this, normalness?"

"Oh, thank fuck! I thought I was the only one who thought this was weird," Rhodie rasps under his breath.

"Listen kid, this is the first time your two families are meeting, so we are being our usual hospitable selves. Debs even made brownies," Pops says with pride, but I don't miss Blanche's eyes darting to mine when he mentioned my two families.

"Oh, we're just friends with Tav," Blanche says, staring at me before smiling at my bastard family members around the table.

I hang my head, taking cleansing breaths. I know that I'm going to be exposed at any moment now. The kids and my whole family know that I've claimed Blanche. Everyone at this table knows, except the woman in question.

Looking up, I find Niko staring at me. Not in the angry or suspicious way he normally does. No, this is worse, because this is the look of a kid who knows the shit is going to hit the fan at any moment and he's ready for it. His lips twitch a little and a snort escapes. Frowning, I realize the snort didn't come from him. No, it came from my asshole brother sitting next to him, with a damn near identical look on his ugly face.

"I hate you Julius Marion Tombs," I say to him through clenched teeth.

"Whoa! Your middle name is Marion?" Niko says incredulously.

"Shut it, kid,"

"Excuse me, did you just tell my kid to ‘shut it'?" Blanche says calmly. A manner that belies the fire in her eyes and the fact she is now holding the carving knife.

"How the fuck did she get the carving knife when the meat is all the way over there?" Rhodie muses.

I expect Gus to say something, but he's too busy leaning back in his chair, eyes flicking between Jules and Blanche and their standoff.

"See, Elio? People are weird. They get butthurt about all sorts of things that don't matter," Chewy says to Elio matter-of-factly as he nods his dark head and shovels another spoon of mac and cheese into his mouth. That's when I notice his plate is full of mac and cheese and little else.

"Jules! Pull your head in! Yes, Marion is a pansy ass middle name, but it's yours so suck it up and stop enraging my future grandbaby-in-law," Pops growls across the table at him, causing Jules to mumble a not very heart felt "sorry," in Blanche's direction.

She nods at him, still scowling, and slowly puts the carving knife on the table before Pops' words sink in.

"Hold on, Sid. That's a nice sentiment and all but we aren't Tav's future anything," she says gently.

Pops waves a leathery, wrinkled hand at her. "Psh, course you are. You're his Ol Lady. He claimed you at the club the other night."

Blanche

"You fucking what?!" My head whips around to look at Tav, not even caring that I just swore in front of my kids.

Actually, I admit it, they've heard worse out of me. I watch as Tav, the handsome bastard, swallows a couple of times, his eyes darting around the room, stopping for a moment to glare in Pops' direction before settling on me.

"Um, maybe we should take this somewhere private?"

"Hell no! You, Tav Tombs, are going to do this right now. What the hell did you do?" I know that I have the angry eyes on. That's what the kids call them. And I feel like it's warranted. A man has claimed me. As if the shit that I went through in Eden's Keep isn't bad enough, I get out for this shit to happen again. Oh, hell no. "Kids, finish up, we're leaving. Pops, Debs, everyone, thank you for a lovely and interesting evening." I go to stand and realize that my kids are still seated.

"Pixie, take a seat, and let me explain?" Tav says, his whiskey colored eyes pleading with me.

I dart my gaze to Sage and then Niko. They're the eldest. They know the shit I've been through. They know my background and where they came from. I have kept none of it from them. It's for their safety that they know. My big boy looks around the table before meeting my eyes and giving me a small chin tip. Looking at Sage, she does the same. Looks like I'm staying.

I drop my weight back into my chair with a huff, and then cross my arms over my chest like a petulant teen. "You have 3 minutes to make your case."

He clears his throat, looking around. His slightly unusual sister grins broadly before giving him two thumbs up.

"You know how I feel about you. Shit, everyone knows how I feel about you. I know you have …reservations. I also know that you have a goal that you wish to achieve. Let me help you. Let me have your back. That's all I want." He runs his hand down his face, rubbing at his jaw. "OK, look. In the Devil's Rose MC bylaws, it states that an Ol Lady is special. It's actually written into their bylaws."

"What does this have to do with you claiming me, Tav?" my voice hard.

"When the kids turned up, you'd been gone for 12 hours. We didn't know where you were or if you were OK. I claimed you so that I would have the whole MC at my back if I needed to ride in and get you. I didn't do it to stifle or own you, but to be your backup if you need it. With you as my Ol Lady, it offers you and your kids a higher level of safety than you or I alone can provide." And there goes another little piece of the wall I had tried so valiantly to put up so Tav wouldn't smash it down.

"I mean, as someone special to Tav you would have had us, anyway." Chewy says with a shrug, her siblings and sister-in-law nodding in agreement. "Although we're not that scary."

"I beg to differ," Ana says drily, Rhodie agreeing with her.

"Why the hell are you agreeing, Shit Stain? You're the fuc- I mean fudging enforcer for the MC. Unless you're agreeing that you aren't as scary as us, in which case, you would be correct. Pussy." Rhodie rolls his eyes at Pops' comment, a smile playing on his lips. "I swear, all I wanted was for my grandbaby to fall in love with one of those Bratva badasses. Now they know how to torture."

"You better take that back, old man," Rhodie growls out. "Or I'll swap your dick pills with sleeping pills."

"Jokes on you, asshole. I got the pecker of a teenager!" Pops crows.

"I don't think that's quite the brag you think it is, dear." Debs says, patting Pops' hand while Rhodie's eyes shine with glee.

Looking back at Tav, he holds my gaze, "What do you say, Blanche? Be my Ol Lady?" His face screws up and I know he thinks I'm going to shoot him down. I know I should shoot him down. I look at my littles, then my bigs, then the rest of the table, all waiting for my next move.

I clear my throat. "Do you mind if the kids and I have a quick meeting?" Tav's lips curl up a little and Debs rises, pushing her seat out from the table.

"Follow me," she smiles gently and tells Elio and Cove that we're just going for a quick family chat and when we get back she'll have dessert ready.

I follow her down the hall with my teens flanking me on either side and I realize that these two are almost adults.

"Here you go, make yourselves at home and I'll see you in a bit," Debs winks at the kids and moves to leave the room, not before laying her hand on my shoulder and giving it a squeeze. "Give him a chance, e hoa . He needs this as much as you do." She pats my shoulder and then leaves, pulling the door closed behind her.

"OK, listen up team. What do we think?" I ask the room. My two five-year-olds are sitting on the couch, feet sticking straight out.

"I like Chewy," this from Elio. "She likes playing my game with me. She's good."

Tipping my head, I look at the big kids. They both frown at their brother, then back to me, shrugging. Elio's game has been on our dining table for weeks. None of us can understand the rules or how it works, and he's getting so frustrated that we can't figure it out.

"Well, there's one upside to accepting, Mom," Sage puts forward. We all know how hard it is for Elio sometimes.

"I love Tav and Pops and Debs and Gus and Chewy and the growly man and the other growly man and the lady with the fat belly,"

"Ana isn't fat, she's having a baby, Cove," Niko says with a little smile at his baby sister.

"A baby? Whoa," she breathes out.

"Niko, Sage?"

Niko blows out a breath. "I don't like that he claimed you, but I think it means something different to what it means in…there."

"Yeah, Mom. This way someone has your back. I didn't like it when you didn't come home. I couldn't sleep. I need you to be safe and if you have to become a biker's Ol Lady to do that, then I want you to do it," Sage tells me, her voice wobbling a little.

Shit. I'm on this mission because it will make the world a better place, but I don't want my choice to ruin my kids' lives. I try to keep both sides of my life separate. This is the first time it hasn't worked out as planned.

"I hate to say this but, he seems like a good guy." Niko says with a grimace. I let out a snort because I know how hard that would have been for him.

Niko has been overprotective of me since he was a little boy. For the first few years of his life, we were on the run from Royal, using the networks my brothers put in place. Royal caught up to us three times, and all three times he tried to take Niko with him. The very last time there was a hell of a fight, Niko witnessed the whole thing and has never forgiven him. That was when I decided it was time to fight back. Eden's Keep hates anything to do with law enforcement. They want to draw as little attention as possible to themselves, so the restraining order I slapped on Royal, combined with my threat of going to the media, had him backing off. After that I moved to Rose Grove, joined my brothers' network and have been rescuing people ever since.

"Just, lay down the rules. You're your own woman. You don't take orders from men." Sage parrots the words I told her when she started dating.

"Well, looks like you lot are gonna see me on the back of a bike," I snort at the mental vision.

"Cringe, Mom."

I turn to open the door and find the surprised faces of Tav and his family, minus the in-laws, before they look everywhere but at me.

"So we're thinking of going with a light floral wallpaper for this hall," Pops says waving his arm around the hallway as the others "hmmmm" and "ahhhhh" and nod. Well, Tav and Gus play along. Jules stands like a statue and Chewy keeps asking what he's talking about.

Niko gives me a look that screams, "Are they for real?" before shaking his head. His shoulders shaking as he tries to hold in his laughter.

"Oh, you lot ready for dessert, then?" Gus says to my littles who whoop and run back into the dining room followed by the older kids.

Tav hangs back with me, his large hand brushing against mine until I grip his, giving it a comforting squeeze. The tension melts from his body and he gifts me with a brilliant smile.

"You won't regret this, Pixie."