22. 21 - Cramped Quarters

21 - Cramped Quarters

The clubhouse was on lockdown. It meant that all the club brothers, their families, and even some of the club’s whores were all piled into the clubhouse together. Since it used to be a factory space, it was large, but not quite large enough to house all the people who were there. The only people who were not forced to be on the property were brothers out handling business, and even then they had to travel with two to three members minimum before they could leave the compound. The other exception was the old ladies who ran the S.H.E. MC.

Steel had his kids at the clubhouse because JoJo, Keys, and the others were busy handling things at their own club. They would take turns coming to the clubhouse at night, but one of them had to be at the S.H.E. MC clubhouse every night to make sure things ran smoothly there as well.

Everyone was frustrated with the accommodations. A few of the old ladies complained that we were given the president’s suite, until Quickshot came down on them.

“Funny thing, I don’t see you here caring for all the kids. You’ve done nothing but open your mouth the whole time you’ve been here, Kim. Either you’re stuffing your face with food that needs to stretch for all the extra bodies or you’re running your mouth about what everyone else should be doing. What you aren’t doing is getting up off your ass and helping at all.” He turned a full circle looking for someone.

“Where the fuck is your old man?”

As if on command, the crowd around us parted until we had a clear view across the room of the couch near the front door where Q-Tip was sitting with a club whore on his lap. Kim’s face burned bright red at the sight.

“Q-Tip, get your old lady, your whore, and get the hell out of my clubhouse.”

“It’s lockdown, Prez.”

“Don’t give a fuck.” Quickshot pointed to the man’s lap where the woman clearly had his dick out. I quickly stood up to block my kids from being able to see it. “That shit is off limits with families here, asshole. Your woman is over here giving all the other old ladies a hard time while you’re getting off with a club girl in the middle of the common room full of kids.”

“Shit,” We all heard Q-tip announce. The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

“We’ll take a vote in church about whether you continue to be a patched member or not.”

“Come on, Quickshot. That ain’t right and you know it,” the man shot back as he zipped his pants up.

“Get your woman and get the fuck out of here before I strip it from your back without calling a vote.”

“What if she gets killed out there?” Q-Tip asked. I wasn’t sure if he was speaking about his old lady or the woman who his arm was still wrapped around.

“If she stays, she might end up suffocating in her sleep anyway.”

I rolled my lips under my teeth and clamped down to keep from laughing. It wasn’t funny at all, but dammit, it kind of was. Kim had been getting on my last nerve for two days because she thought, as the most senior old lady who wasn’t a member of the S.H.E. MC, she deserved the biggest room in the clubhouse.

She didn’t even consider that we had two preschoolers, two teens, and two adults in the room. Not to mention, we took in JoJo and Steel’s kids some nights because when JoJo had to stay with her club, Steel went there to be with her too.

I waved my fingers at Kim as she stood and huffed away from the table. “Good riddance,” my daughter muttered under her breath. I didn’t bother correcting her because honestly, we all felt the same.

After they left, everyone moved on as if nothing happened. My heart tripped over itself as I glanced across the room and saw Walker sitting there at the bar talking to Snake. They laughed and my hurt twisted inside my chest. It was a far cry from the man I’d met who was all on his own. My heart beat double-time as he threw his head back and laughed.

“You’re in love with him.” I turned to Griffon and offered him a smile. “I’m glad he has you. When I met him, I couldn’t figure out why he was so alone. It didn’t matter what he’d done in his past to mess up his relationship with his first wife. He was nothing but kind and patient with me. I love Spike, but if I’d been given a choice of who my dad was, I would have picked Walker out of the group that first day my grandparents brought me here and dropped me off.”

“I’m sorry they did that to you. I think your dad is going to need you more than ever now, though. Walker will understand that too, so don’t worry about hurting his feelings if you’re around less.”

“I’m not. He has you, Ariel, and Junior now.”

“That doesn’t mean he has less room for you.”

“I know that. He also has the club now. It wasn’t like this before.” Griffon pointed toward where Walker and Snake put their heads together as they quietly discussed something. “It’s good he has them. I think my dad is going to need all of them.”

“He’s going to need you the most,” I reiterated.

“I’ll be there. He gave me this new family, but I think I forgot to tell him that he’s a huge part of it. He’s the glue that keeps me anchored in this world, with these people, with him.”

“I think he’d love to hear that.” I reached over and covered Griff’s hand with my own as someone spoke from over our shoulder.

“I already heard it, Kid.”

I glanced back to see Spike standing there looking down at his son with so much love in his eyes. “Dad!” Griffon jumped up and hopped over the chair to get to his dad. “I’m so sorry. I love you.”

“Love you too, Kid.” Spike mouthed, “Thank you,” to me and then gathered up Diesel too.

“Where’s Momma?” The little boy asked, and I swear the entire clubhouse held their breath as we all felt the moment Spike broke open. He hadn’t been prepared for the onslaught of emotion or the innocent question from his son that held so much more meaning than any of us could anticipate.

Spike’s knees hit the ground as he sat his youngest son down on the ground in front of him. “She can’t come home anymore,” he tried to explain but choked up. Griffon’s hand came down on his father’s shoulders, as if the touch could give his dad the strength he needed to explain the situation to an almost 5-year-old who couldn’t understand why his mom wasn’t coming back.

“Daddy?” Diesel asked as he reached out to wipe away his father’s tears. “Why? Where’d she go?”

Spike’s shoulders started to shake, and my heart broke for the scene they made. I remembered having to explain to Ariel why her father wasn’t coming back home. My boy was still so young then that he couldn’t even ask the questions that Diesel was. I stood, ready to go lend a hand because I understood how difficult it was, but Walker beat me there.

He wrapped an arm around Spike as he sat down on the floor beside him. Then my man pulled Diesel onto his lap and snuggled him. “Why’s my dad so sad?”

“There was a car accident,” Walker started to explain. “Your mom was in the car, and she got hurt really bad, buddy.” Spike broke down and sobbed there on the floor and I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house. Diesel glanced around and noticed too. That was when the first tear fell from his eyes. “She got hurt bad?”

“Yeah, buddy. She got hurt so bad that the angels came down from the sky and they took her away to a better place where she wouldn’t hurt anymore.”

“Can they bring her back?” He asked and my heart squeezed tight in my chest as Walker rubbed his back and held onto the man who had become his best friend and mentor.

“Your mom can’t come back now. She was turned into an angel.”

“Why? I want my mom,” the beautiful little boy cried out. The agony in his voice ripped my heart to shreds.

“Remember when I said that your mom was hurt so bad that angels had to come and take her away so she could feel better?”

“Yeah,” Diesel whispered as tears streamed down his face.

“Well, she’s going to be the angel that rescues other people who are hurt too bad to get better, buddy. If she doesn’t stay, no one will be there to help those other people the way the angels helped her.”

“But I want her. It hurts a lot in here,” he tapped his chest, and more sobs rang out around the room because we all felt that pain with him.

“The kind of hurt you have for your mom will get better. Even though you can’t see her anymore, she’s watching over you and helping you to heal your hurts, so you can stay here with your dad. She needs you guys to look out for one another. You, your brother, and your dad have to love a little harder now that your mom isn’t here to do it. Okay?”

“I don’t want her to be gone.”

“She knows that, buddy. Your mom doesn’t want to be gone either, but it is her turn to be the angel for someone else.”

Diesel crawled out of Walker’s lap and into his dad’s. They hugged onto each other and Griffon dropped down to wrap his arms around his father and brother as well. Ariel came over to me and leaned her head on my shoulder. I hugged her to me knowing she remembered having to hear the same kind of news. “That was really sweet what Walker told him.”

“He did better than I did,” I mentioned.

“You did your best, Mom. I love you and I’m glad you’re still here with us. I’m glad you chose Walker, too. He’s a good man and we all needed that.”

We hugged one another as my son, who couldn’t comprehend what was going on made his way to his new buddy. “Diesel?” He questioned. “We can share my mom.” Walker grabbed hold of my son and hugged him in his lap as Joshie held his hand out and Diesel took it.

After a few minutes, Spike’s sobs slowed, and Walker stood with my son in his arms. He reached a hand down and spoke softly to the broken man on the floor. “Come on, man, let’s go get you cleaned up.”

Griff and Walker helped Spike to his feet and Snake came over to scoop up Diesel. All six of the boys and men made their way down the hallway to where our bedroom was located. I wanted to go to them, but didn’t think it was a moment that they would want anyone else in on. Instead, I stood up and pulled Ariel with me.

“Let’s get this place cleaned up.”

For once, my daughter didn’t throw a fit about helping out and neither did anyone else. I think it was just the shift everyone needed to try to take their minds off the loss they all felt. We pulled together and tidied the common area together.

Later, when Walker finally made his way back out to me with my son in his arms, I immediately wrapped him up in my love. “I am so damn proud of the man you are.”

He shook his head. “Same thing anyone else would do.”

“But it was you who was there for him when he needed you most. He will never forget that. None of them will. I know I won’t. If I hadn’t already fallen in love with you, that would have clenched the deal.”

He stopped in his tracks and held me at arm’s length for a minute as he stared down into my eyes. “Did you just say that you fell in love with me?”

“Yeah, I guess I did.”

“That’s really fucking good, baby because I am so gone for you. I fuckin’ love you, Ree.”

“I fuckin’ love you too, Momma.” Walker laughed as I stared at my son who started to giggle.

“That’s a bad word, Joshie.”

“I love you, though.”

I rolled my eyes. “I love you to, but if you say the “f” word again you’re going to be punished.”

“No. Punish Walker. He said it first.”

“Damn, kid. You just threw me under the bus.”

Josh shrugged his little shoulder as if to say, “Them’s the breaks.”

Much later, after everyone turned in for the night, I worried because Walker hadn’t come to bed yet. After checking that the kids were all asleep, I left the bedroom and wandered down the hall toward the common room. There was a prospect posted up a couple doors down. He turned and looked at me.

“Evening ma’am. The kids will be fine. I won’t let any of them past me.” I nodded and walked past the young man, whose name I didn’t know. The music was down low, not like the way it was normally blasted during a party. There were couples here and there that appeared to get a little closer than would be acceptable if the kids were out and about. No wonder they had a prospect stationed in the hallway.

“As soon as I rounded the corner and moved further into the room, I saw my man standing in the same corner where I’d first spoken to him. He wasn’t alone this time. He was with his friends, and it was a good look for him. I nearly turned around and went back to the room with the kids, but Walker must have noticed me standing there. He said something to the other men and left them there to come join me.

As soon as he got within reach, his hand shot out and caught hold of mine. “Come with me.” It was a demand, but there was room for me to deny him if I needed to. “Prospect is watching over the hallway where all the kids are sleeping,” he explained when I hesitated.

“I know, he already told me it was okay to come out here. Where are we going?”

“Outside for a while.”

“Are we allowed to go outside?”

“Yeah, baby.”

I followed my man out the back door of the clubhouse and around the few outbuildings that were scattered back there until we made our way toward the forest at the back of the property. We passed a large fire ring that looked as though someone had been working to set up for a bonfire before they abandoned the job.

“How far are we going?” I asked as I shot a worried glance back over my shoulder.

“Don’t worry, they’ll be fine. We’re just going right here,” he stated as he pulled me into the trees where we blended with the shadows until we were deep enough that no one in the clubhouse’s yard could possibly see us.

“We haven’t had a lot of time to ourselves with everything going on. If you want to go back to the clubhouse and just wait for a better time, we can, but baby I need you.”

“I need you too, honey. It’s been too long.”

“Damn right, it has.”

“Wish I’d known we were going to sneak off into the woods, I would have worn a skirt or something,” I teased.

“No worries, baby.” Walker wasted no time and pulled my pants down and my panties with them, then he twisted me around until I had no choice but to hug the tree in front of me. Walker pulled his pants down far enough to pull his cock out and then he used his fingers to tease my body until I dripped for him.

My man made sure that I was prepared for him, but he also took the time to see me to a gushing orgasm before he finally eased his fingers out of me and quickly replaced them with his cock. The way he slammed into my body made me cry out into the night as if my voice wouldn’t echo back to anyone who happened to be outside.

“That’s it, baby. Let me feel you.” Walker wrapped his arms around me and rocked his hips into me over and over again. He was careful not to slam my body into the tree in front of me as he did it. That meant he used my body as his own personal fuck toy. Each time he slammed into me; he also yanked me back onto his cock with just as much force. I would probably have bruises along my hips later, but I’d cherish them because each brutal thrust left my body feeling tingling, electrical impulses that warned another orgasm was on the horizon.

Before long, Walker’s thrusts became more erratic, and his pace quickened as he chased us both to the edge of our release. Then, he slapped my ass and caused me to clench tightly around him. It sent him off and I tipped over the edge with him as he leaned over me and pulled me up straight with my back to his front.

“Love you, Ree.”

“Love you, too, honey,” I whispered breathlessly.

“You’re all mine, only mine. Need you to know there’s no going back now. You and the kids are my family. Forever, Ree.”

“That’s good because we all adore you.”

“Fuck, never thought I deserved this.”

“You do, honey. You absolutely do.”

“Thank you,” he whispered against my hair as he held onto me a little longer. Before long, he softened and we were no longer linked together, so Walker helped me pull myself together again before he worried about tucking himself away.

He smiled as his hand reached out to me again. I didn’t even hesitate to give him my hand and he rewarded me by giving a tug as he pulled me into his embrace and danced us through the trees under the moonlight. The only music was the symphony the bugs and birds created around us.

“I kind of never want to leave this moment,” I whispered.

“Locking it away in my memories, baby.”

“Me too. How about if we ever get in a bad fight, we bring this moment out and relive it instead?”

“Yeah, that sounds about right, Ree.”