Chapter 8

Tav

I watch as Pixie's head swings between Marx, me, and the kids. I know she is weighing up her options. She may not have wanted to be my Ol Lady, but she accepted she needed the extra security that brings. I can only hope that she accepts the help the MC can give her as well.

Marx's gaze lands on me, tipping his head toward his office. I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding, take Blanche's hand and lead her down the hall. I'm glad he didn't want to do this in front of everyone. My pixie is a private person. It took me months to knock down her walls before she shared a sliver of information about her past, and I know that what she told me didn't even scratch the surface.

Pixie walks into Marx's office, head held high, and I shut the door behind us, effectively shutting out my MC brothers and nosey siblings.

"Take a seat. Would you like anything to drink?" Marx asks, holding up a bottle of whiskey.

Blanche nods once, then sits in the leather chair across from Marx. I sit in the one next to her, resting my hand on her thick thigh. I'm not sure if the gesture is to calm her or myself. Blanche takes the whiskey from Marx, shoots it and gently puts the glass back down, her face screwed up as the amber liquid goes down.

"Ask me anything you like. I'm an open book," she says, looking Marx square in the eye.

"How's your boy?" Marx asks, leaning his large as hell frame back in his office chair.

I notice Blanche stiffen, then give me a quick glance. She didn't expect this from the Pres. She expected the head of the MC. The gruff, grumpy fucker that barks orders. She'll soon learn that Marx may be all those things, but he's also a man that is utterly dedicated to the family he has made here.

"Oh, he's OK. Thank you for asking. Thanks for letting us shelter here, too."

"It's what we would do for any of the Ol Ladies. We're a family here. Because you are Tav's Ol Lady that extends to your children. But make no mistake, just because Tav trusts you, doesn't mean I automatically do. I have a lot of people depending on me for their safety."

Blanche sits frozen in her chair, assessing Marx. She sits silently for what feels like an eternity, Pres staring straight back at her.

She nods once before addressing him. "I understand completely. That is why I am willing to make a deal with you." Marx's brow raises at this. "I will give you Hammer and some of the people involved in the trafficking ring."

Marx runs his hand over his beard, tugging when he gets to the end strands. "What do you want in return?"

"I want to personally end the men in the council and all the men in my family line."

Her thigh under my palm is tense, the only sign that she's nervous.

Marx grunts. "How many men?"

"Luckily for you, the bulk of the council is made up of my family. Six. I get all six Landrys and the other two council members."

"Why." Marx states. Not a question, a demand. This is where Blanche is going to have to trust us with her past, her secrets.

She chews her lip, brow furrowed before she blows out a breath and murmurs "Fuck it," under her breath.

"My father is Mercy Landry. He is the prophet of Eden's Keep. It's a compound hidden in a nondescript woodland about 3 hours from here, on the outskirts of Louisiana. It started off innocuously enough, like most cults. Then they got greedy. The ones with the power got all the wives, and the young fertile women. The boys got shunned, abandoned in their teens on the side of the road, left to fend for themselves. My brothers were some of the first. We communicated in secret until I was married off at 18 to Royal Landry."

My head snaps around to stare at Pixie. "Hold up, isn't he Mercy's brother? He's your uncle!"

"Yup. That doesn't matter in the Keep. The woman I rescued last Sunday, she's my half-sister. Also, married to our uncle."

"Fuck."

"Fuck is right," she says on a tired breath. "She needed outta there because Royal has a buyer for their three-day-old baby. That's why he has to die."

I curse under my breath, feeling anger and bile rising. Who the fuck forces their nieces, and I know it's forced because no one would willingly fuck their uncle, but who forces young women to have sex with them and then try to sell their babies? I look at Marx, who looks cool, calm and collected, but I can tell he sure the fuck isn't any of those things.

"OK, and why does he want your boy?" Marx asks after a moment, a frown marring his face.

"That I don't know. He has other sons, like Valor, who, until recently was on the council," she answers with a smirk. "He's come after us a few times before, and he only ever asks for Niko, never the others. Not even Elio."

Marx and I look at each other in confusion. "Wait, you told me you escaped to your brothers when you were pregnant at 19."

"I did." She turns to me, her large dark eyes darting between mine, trying to work out where I'm going with this.

"So why would he want Elio? Or the others, for that matter?"

"He's their father. Sage, Cove and Elio aren't my biological children. They're all rescues."

My jaw drops at her confession. This woman, this brave, fierce, amazing momma bear, not only saved these kids, but has raised them all. Looking at Marx I notice he has a look of respect on his face.

"Where are their mothers?"

"I'd like to hope they're safe in the Keep. But there's a chance they could all be dead."

Marx scowls and fists his hands. "Eight men, that's the number you need to kill?"

"Yes sir," my Pixie says, her lips curling up slightly.

"This will have to take place out of state. With the police breathing down our necks we're keeping our noses clean."

Blanche tips her head side to side, in an almost nod. "Looks like we have a deal."

"I'll call church."

Blanche

I follow Marx and Tav out of the office, my legs a little jellified, but nothing I can't handle. I know these men would never hurt me, but that interrogation, or negotiation or whatever you want to call it took me back to the years I spent in the council room, all those men looking down at me because I was "touched by the Devil", which is old fucker language for willful, independent, and not a fucking doormat.

Shaking it off, we come to a stop in the common room, everyone quieting down when Marx's large boots land heavily on the wooden flooring. I have to admit, this place is a hell of a lot nicer than what I was expecting. I expected nicotine stained wallpaper, gross carpet and furniture with god knows whose body fluids all over it. Instead, it's a clean, welcoming place, like the gruff men and women in it that have taken care of my kids when I couldn't.

"Blanche, I know you come from a place where women aren't in positions to speak for themselves, so I'm going to ask if you would like to address my men in church?"

I stare at the Pres, impressed that a man in a position of power would even think to ask.

"I would like to check in on and feed my kids. Can I ask that Tav represents me in church? He knows enough about my past to be of use. Between the two of you, I'm sure you can handle it without me." I try to keep a straight face but I feel my lips twitching the longer I stare at Marx.

"You're going to be a pain in my ass, I can feel it already," Marx says with a sigh before tipping his chin at Tav and bellowing "Church" so loud my ears ring.

"Thank you for trusting me with your past," Tav murmurs in my ear, sending a shiver down my spine straight to my vagina. "I'll see you in a bit, Pixie." He drops a kiss to the top of my head and joins the line of men filing into church after dropping their phones into a box by the door.

I wait for the heavy door to close behind them before I head down the long hall to Switch's clinic room. Pushing the door open gently, I see my two eldest babies, heads together, murmuring to each other.

"Hey bigs, everything OK in here?"

Sage nods her head, her brother's eyes still a little glazed, but he's noticeably less pale than earlier.

"Yeah Mom, we're fine. Just watching some crap on TikTok." Her eyes dart to her brother's, where they share a look.

"Spill it, Sagey, I know you two are up to something." I plop down into a chair next to Sage, arms crossed, giving them my meanest mom look.

"Are the DRMC going to help with Royal? Because if they're not, we've decided we are going to help you. He needs to die, Mom. He could have taken Elio and Cove straight off the street and I'm not sitting around waiting for that to happen. We end it now," my big girl says, her eyes full of fire, her attitude all piss and vinegar.

"There's no goddamn way I'm letting you two get involved! No -" I raise my hand to stop Sage from arguing, "This is my path, not yours. I can handle the weight of taking a life. You two, you are just starting your lives. I won't let this touch you." I lean over and drop a kiss on Sage's head before standing and leaning over my eldest, kissing him on his forehead, the anger rising when I see the small cut in his hairline. I sit back down with a sigh. "The DRMC are on board. They're going to help and we are going to trust them, OK? I need to know you are all safe. Tav and his brothers can provide that safety for you. It'll be over soon. I promise."

They share a look before Sage nods, and Niko raises his thumb.

"Good. Now, I need to feed you both. What do you feel like?"

"No need Mom, Mama Debs already fed us. She brought in dinner about an hour ago,"

"And dessert," Niko adds, his smile all goofy.

I roll my eyes. "That woman is going to seriously spoil you kids."

"Hells yeah she is! She said we're her grandbabies and she's so happy we're safe that she gave us extra ice cream," Sage laughs at this and I shake my head. "You should probably check to see what she gave the littles," she says with a sly grin and I give her my best mom glare before booking it down the hall to find my youngest two. If Cove's had ice cream she's going to be hell on wheels all night. I come to a stop at the mouth of the hall and look around the dining room, trying to spot the dark heads of my children.

"If you're looking for the kids Mama Debs has them. Cove seemed a little wired after dessert, so she's having a jump rope competition with Jovie out back. Elio is the judge," a beautiful brunette says. "I'm Nat. Savage is my Ol Man," she steps toward me, her belly bump prominent in the tight DRMC T-shirt she's wearing.

"Oh, Blanche."

"Yup, Tav's Ol Lady. We know," she smirks at me. "Wanna come join the girls while the kids are occupied?"

I follow her to the table where Ana, Chewy and Remy are sitting.

"Are those dildos?" I ask, pointing at the thing that looks very much like a dildo.

"Yup. Chewy's order of mini silicone penises for Ana and Nat's joint baby shower somehow got mixed up and she ended up with life-sized dildos," Remy shrugs.

"Wait, first off, why would you even need penises for a baby shower?"

Chewy looks at me as if I'm simple, "Because the baby could be a boy."

"OK. What if it's a girl?"

"Well, that's where I had an issue. It's very hard to find silicone vagina party favors. I was thinking maybe boobs will do," Chewy replies.

"Chewy, I love you like a sister, but my baby shower is not having fake tits in the goody bags."

"Without the boobs, the penises don't make sense," Chewy says, her brow furrowed.

"Yeah, because that's what doesn't make sense," Ana snorts.

"You had other questions?" Chewy says, turning toward me but not actually looking at me.

"So many," I say, not sure where to start.

Chewy gives me a funny look before brightening, "Actually, it's a good thing the girl gang is assembled. I need help with the dildos. With the men in church, we have about an hour."

Nat nods for a moment before her brows furrow slightly. "Speaking of church, why are you out here with us and not in there? I thought you'd be all up in there, what with the shit that's going down," she gestures toward Chewy.

"Meh. Rhodie will tell me what they got up to. And no doubt Wire and the Computas will be given a task and I'll find out then," Chewy answers, holding up an average sized penis. The balls resting in her palm as she wiggles her hand around, making the whole dildo jiggle, the mushroom head whirling hypnotically.

"Why would you be in church? Isn't it for the patched members? The brothers?" Everything I've seen or read says it's a no woman zone.

"If it was for patched members, Tav wouldn't be in there," Chewy points out, her eyes on the knob in her hand.

She has a point there.

"Anyway, we don't have much time. I need you lot to help me come up with a plan for these dicks. Marx wants them out of the clubhouse but the company won't take them back, so I have 100 dildos that need to be repurposed,"

"100!? Holy shit, that's a lot of dildos," bursts out of me. Clearly, the other women knew this because no one seems overly bothered by this news at all.

"Yup," Chewy says, popping the ‘P'. "Do you think that weird religious cult you were in might want some?"

"Wait, you were in a religious cult?" Nat asks.

"Pretty much. Eden's Keep started out as a small flock. Then it got larger and the main council got greedier and needed more and more wives. My father, the so called Prophet, has 13 wives,"

"Ew," someone says under their breath.

"Well, I'm glad you made it out, and with your babies, too," Remy says, smiling at me. My god, she is the nicest woman in the world.

"Yup, I'm glad you're out too, but again, do you think this place, Eden's Keep, might want some dildos? Get those ladies breaking free of their repressed backgrounds and all that?"

"Yes Chewy, everyone knows the best way for people to break free from the shackles of a religious cult is to do it with an anatomically correct, average sized penis." Ana says with a snort.

"Really?"

"No!" Ana, Nat and I all say in unison.

"Well, it would have worked on me, just saying," Chewy grumbles.

The back door opens and closes and we all look up to see if the kids are back, but it's just Pops wandering through.

"Ladies, what problems are we solving tonight?" He asks, plopping down in a seat next to Chewy, picking up a dark brown dildo and copying Chewy's exact movements, his large palm cupping the dark balls, eyes on the tip while he jiggles it.

"That is so wrong," Ana mumbles to no one in particular.

"We are trying to figure out a way to repurpose 100 dildos," Remy answers.

I jump when Pops slams his down on the table with a thump and then watch closely as he pokes it. It bends one way before bouncing back up again.

"There you go. They suck on to things," he says as if he discovered gravity.

"Ah, yup."

He looks around at our blank faces before picking up another dildo, grabbing a cap off the back of the couch on the way past. He steps up to the wall, pulling his arm back and thumping the dildo into the wall, causing it to suction on. Pops nods once in satisfaction and then hangs the cap on the end of the dildo.

"Taadaaa!" He waves his hands around like Vanna White.

"Well, it's not a terrible idea, I guess," I shrug and then join the rest of the ladies in creating a row of dicks ready for coats and hats to be hung on them.