Chapter 40

CHAPTER FORTY

Jigsaw

Last church, we spent most of the time rehashing the shit that went down in Deadbranch. Then Dex told everyone he wanted to bring Emily and Libby up to the clubhouse.

Didn't seem like the right time to make my announcement.

But today, I'm doing it.

Personal shit usually goes last, although my news kind of blurs the line between business and personal.

Club business is light this week. A lot of logistical stuff about who's working where. This week, I don't volunteer for any shifts at Crystal Ball when Dex says he needs some bodies. If Dex is desperate for help, either Z or Rock will tag me in. But I'm not volunteering any time soon.

"All right." Rock's gaze sweeps up and down the table. "Anything else?"

Nut up. Let's do this. Teller's gonna kill me. I dart a quick glance his way. He lifts one blond eyebrow in a what the fuck's up sorta way.

"Ahhh..." I lift my hand in the air to get Rock's attention before he declares church is officially over. "I have a request."

Rock inclines his head my way. I quickly glance down the other end of the table at Z, my president. He frowns slightly and leans forward.

"I got you," Rooster says low enough for only me to hear. Under the table, he taps his fist against my leg.

"What do you need, Jigsaw?" Rock asks.

"I'd, uh..." I sit up and clear my throat. Jesus fuck, this shouldn't be that hard. "I'd like to bring Margot up here next Friday for the bonfire."

One corner of Rock's mouth twitches, but otherwise his face remains stone cold.

"Cedarwood's daughter?" Teller asks slowly. "That Margot?"

As if we know any other women named Margot. "That's the one."

Across the table, Dex ducks his head and snickers.

I slouch lower, intent on kicking him, but Wrath's scary gaze narrows on me. I freeze with my foot in mid-kick.

"So, you were told not to fuck with a club asset and you decided to, what? Date her?" Wrath's tone lands somewhere between amused and murderous.

Huh. I expected Teller to get more annoyed about my news, since Cedarwood's Funeral Home is action he brought into the club.

"Date's a little…" Fuck it. "Yeah, I'm seeing her. Often. We're together."

"Duuude, are you that desperate for pussy?" Ravage moans. "She touches dead people all day."

Stash lifts out of his chair with a full body shiver and a disgusted groan.

I narrow my eyes at Ravage and Stash. "I'm not askin' for any opinions."

"You sure as fuck didn't ask for permission, either," Grinder says.

Great, now my sergeant-at-arms is pissed. I slide my gaze between Wrath and Grinder. I'd survive a beating from one of them, but probably not both of them at the same time.

Suddenly all the co-mingling the upstate and downstate charters have been doing since Z took over our club seems like a bad idea.

Rock chuckles and I turn his way again. "This is on me, I guess." He dips his chin. "I asked you to keep an eye on her, didn't I? Keep her out of Teller's way?"

At least one of our presidents is amused. I shrug. "You mentioned something about me being charming."

"Her expectations must be in hell." Hustler smirks at me. "Perfect for you."

"Jesus Christ." Teller shakes his head as if he's finally checked into the conversation. "You fuckin' serious, Jigsaw?"

"I can see it." Murphy chuckles. "They probably make a cute couple." The way he says cute sounds more like he means deranged .

Dex shoots a quick glare at his VP. "She's actually a nice woman." Dex smirks at me. "Has your quirky humor too."

Pleased someone else noticed, I dip my chin in thanks.

"You know about this, Rooster?" Z asks.

"Ahh, not until recently," Rooster answers slowly, walking a fine line between not lying to our president and not throwing me under the bus. "I knew he'd been gone a lot lately. Didn't realize who he was with at first."

Now's probably not a good time to tell anyone she's been to Zips with me.

"Shiiit." Suds punctuates the curse with a shrill whistle. "He must be into her. Jiggy's never officially brought a woman to the club who wasn't free ass."

"Shut the fuck up," I growl.

"You ain't sleepin' with her, are you?" Butcher asks. "I'd be scared she'd try to embalm me in my sleep or somethin'."

"Watch it, asshole," Rooster says.

"No, get all those obvious jokes out now, fuckletoes." I jab my finger in the air toward Butcher. "That right there is why I brought this up today." I slowly slide my gaze up and down the table, looking each of my brothers in the eye. "If anyone cracks corpse jokes, says inappropriate shit to her, or makes her uncomfortable in any way," I slip my knife out of the sheath resting against my leg, hold it up for everyone to see, and tap my finger against the tip. "I'm not gonna take too kindly to it."

"For fuck's sake," Rooster says on an exhale.

"Are you threatening your brothers at the table?" Rock asks with the barest hint of amusement lurking in his voice.

"Not a threat." I turn and hold his steady gray stare. "Just sharing information." I let my gaze slide around the table again. "Same as any of my brothers would do for their women."

Bricks lets out a low, shrill whistle of amazement.

Dex nods at me, like he's a proud papa.

"All right." Rock slaps the table to grab everyone's attention and let them know he's about to issue an order that better be followed. "Margot is Jigsaw's guest. She's also a club asset. I expect everyone to treat her with respect when she's here."

Wrath picks up Rock's unspoken threat. He stares at Ravage. "Don't make me discipline you in front of everyone on friend and family night."

"Why are you singling me out?" Ravage's overly outraged tone suggests he knows exactly why.

"You gonna make me say it?" Wrath cocks his head. "Really?"

Rav's gaze slides between Wrath and me. "I won't say anything to her."

Wrath turns my way and raises an eyebrow.

"Yeah, okay." I nod.

"Everyone can go," Rock says.

I hop out of my chair and weigh my options. In either direction, I have to pass one of our presidents. Which one's less pissed with me?

"That went better than I expected," Rooster says.

"Yeah, thanks for having my back, dick."

He cocks his head and I swear somewhere under that bushy beard, there's evidence I hurt his feelings. "What exactly did you want me to say?"

"Nah, I appreciate what you said." I resist the urge to glance over Rooster's shoulder. "You know I'm not escaping without gettin' drilled for more info."

He snorts. "Yeah, especially after you pulled out your knife, genius."

The weight of Z's stare pushes against me, but I turn and head toward Rock's end of the table. He's busy talking to Teller. Perfect. I slide behind Murphy's big, ginger ass, still planted in his chair. My cut whispers against the wall as I squeeze by.

Almost home free.

As I round the corner of the table, Rock steps in front of me and presses a hand to my chest.

" You , stay for a minute."

So close.

Rooster steps next to me, making it clear he's staying too.

Wrath still hasn't left his chair, so I guess he's also sticking around.

Murphy stands and claps a hand on my shoulder. "If she's not comfortable here, you guys can always come over to our place. Or stop by early and Heidi can talk to her." His mouth tilts sideways. "Warn her what to expect."

Warmth replaces my annoyance. I wasn't expecting that from Murphy. He's got enough going on at his house with his kiddos and his endless quest to impregnate his wife again. I nod quickly. "Thanks."

Finally, everyone clears out and it's just Rock, Z, Wrath, Teller, Rooster, Grinder, and me.

"Have a seat." Rock nods at Murphy's now empty chair.

Z moves into the chair next to Wrath. Rooster sits on my left. Teller returns to his chair on my right. Grinder stands behind Z's chair with his arms crossed over his chest.

No escape.

"I take it this is serious?" Z starts the inquisition.

Serious? Do I even know what that means? My shoulders jerk up in answer.

"She's already been vetted," Wrath says. "Because of our relationship to the funeral home."

"She's literally opened up the crematorium for us when we've had bodies to burn," Teller adds. "She can be trusted."

I blow out a relieved breath. Thank fuck. Rock's son reminding everyone about that night will go a long way to helping everyone move on to acceptance on this issue.

"What else?" Rock asks. "You seemed concerned about something more than just bringing her to meet everyone as your girl."

I lift my head and meet Z's interested stare across the table. Then Wrath's and Rock's. Should I share this? It's not a big deal.

"Margot's sensitive," I answer slowly. "Doesn't have a lot of people in her life. Growing up in the funeral home, she got bullied a lot as a kid. Even now, people are kinda weird to her when they find out what she does." I shrug again. "I don't want anyone making her feel bad when she's here. It's a really hard job." I absently rub my hand against my chest. "She sees a lot of nasty shit, so people poppin' off dumb jokes just makes it worse."

Understanding, not pity, lights Rock's eyes.

Z hums a sound of what might be approval.

"I shouldn't have said anything." I lift my chin toward the door. "Now that Rav knows it's a sensitive spot, he'll probably razz her more."

"No he won't," Wrath promises.

"Insults are our love language." Z smirks.

"Lilly teach you that, Prez?" I ask.

Teller holds out a hand like he's hitting a Pause button. "We all like ragging on each other but we usually don't give the girls more than they can handle."

" Usually is the key word there." Rock shoots a glare at Wrath who grins in response. " Some people don't know when to quit."

"What?" Wrath's eyes widen with the realization Rock's talking about him . "Hope handled herself just fine." He stabs a finger against the table. "Besides, I had a good reason for trying to scare her away."

Z lifts his hands toward the ceiling. "Finally! You admit it."

Rock chuckles.

"Rav gets into it with Charlotte," Teller says. "But?—"

"He's showing up to a battle of wits unarmed," Z finishes for him. "That's on him."

Teller laughs. "That's not quite what I was going to say."

"I don't know." Rooster bumps my elbow. "You're always teasing Shelby."

I glare at him, but he's grinning at me. "Shelby loves our witty repartee. It's our thing."

"She does," he agrees.

"Don't take this the wrong way," Z says.

The smile slides off my face.

He holds one hand up to go with the warning. "You're smart enough to realize she has an unusual job. No one likes to think about their own mortality. Some people will be naturally curious."

"Curiosity is fine. She doesn't mind answering normal questions." I cross my arms over my chest and sit back. "I don't want Ravage asking her if she jerks off the corpses or something."

Everyone groans.

Z shoots a look at Wrath, then Rock. "Let's not act like he wouldn't ask something like that."

"Or exactly that," Wrath adds. "Hand gestures and all."

"This is serious, though?" Rock asks. "If you two split, is she still able to keep what she knows to herself?"

"I think so. She's a practical woman. She didn't have a problem doing stuff for the club before we got together. You all saw her the night of Carter's rescue. She didn't hesitate to help us out. Honestly, she's never brought it up to me again, either."

"So you're saying you guys actually talk?" Z asks.

I shoot a glare across the table. "Yes. We talk about stuff."

"Yes, but if she feels betrayed or disrespected in some way, is she still able to be practical ?" Grinder asks.

I consider his question, what he's really asking. "I'm not planning to fuck this up, G."

Wrath snorts. "She goes to the cops, then she and her father get in trouble too. What's she going to say, ‘I've known about some potential crimes that I participated in months ago and I'm just coming forward now?' Cops aren't wasting their time on that."

"Besides." An evil grin spreads over Teller's face. "There's no evidence anything even happened, and she doesn't know who went into those ovens."

"Right," I say. "I really don't think it's an issue."

"Okay. Bring her up," Rock says.

Convincing the club was easier than I expected.

Now I hope my little lady of death is ready to come party in the woods with some bikers.