Chapter Eighteen

Remy

A fter the quickest shower in the world, I bounce out of Wire's room and head to the main room. The early morning buzz drifts down the hall and the smell of bacon wafts toward me. Hitting the mouth of the hall, I look into the room and take in my family, both old and new.

Savage, Dex, Bones and my dad are all mixed in with the DRMC brothers. My sister and Nat are hanging out with Ana and Chewy. Grabbing a seat next to Chewy and the girl gang, I take in the very domestic scene. Tank and Sniper, my usual breakfast table buddies, give me grins and chin ups. Mama Debs and Pops are in the kitchen serving and my heart almost beats out of my chest and flutters into my stomach when I see Jovie in Wire's powerful arms. She may be six, but she looks tiny perched on his tattooed forearm as he points at all the breakfast options.

"That's a mighty fine looking man, huh sis?" Sunny whispers as she nudges me with her elbow.

I can't even speak, so I just nod wide eyed at her.

"It's black magic, Rem. As soon as you put a kid in a man's arms, they get 1000 times hotter. My cooch is gonna combust when I lay my eyes on Savage with our little nugget," Nat says, rubbing her non-existent baby belly.

Wire leans down and gently puts Jovie on the floor, who squeals and comes racing up to me as soon as she sees me.

"Miss Remy! Wire said I can have three pancakes for breakfast. Look how big the stack is!" Her eyes are huge and full of excitement as she dances in place.

Wire drops a kiss to the top of my head and Jovie's, then places Jovie's food in the empty spot next to mine as I pull her chair out and help her up.

"There you are Princess Jovie, now remember, if you eat it all you might grow up to be big like Tank over there,"

Jovie's head swivels until she spies Tank, her eyes grow huge, and she bursts into little girl giggles as if Wire is the funniest man on the face of the planet. He winks and smirks as I roll my eyes back at him.

"I like your name, Jovie. I don't spend a lot of time with kids, but you seem cool." Chewy says to Jovie. Rhodie smiles softly at his Ol Lady and I try to cover my smile, but I'm unsuccessful as I catch Ana's eye and she smiles back at me.

"I like your name too. Chewy is a funny name. Do you like dinosaurs?" Jovie says all this with a mouthful of chewed up pancake.

The look on Chewy's face is priceless as she stares at Jovie like she's a foreign creature.

"What's your favorite dinosaur?" Chewy asks with suspicion.

"Ankylosaurus,"

"Second favorite?"

"Parasaurolophus,"

Chewy's gaze finds mine. She narrows her eyes and nods approvingly at me before looking back at Jovie.

"We're gonna get on well, kid," Chewy tells Jovie, who couldn't really care less as she smears maple syrup across her cheek.

"Ooookk, well, now that Chewy has bonded with Jovie, let's get this show on the road, ladies! We have shopping to do. Jovie, you're coming with us for some new clothes and bits and pieces and then Mama Debs will bring you back here for a rest, OK?" Ana announces.

"Wait, what are we doing after Jovie's shopping?" I ask.

"We're going shopping. Me and Nat need stretchy underpants to accommodate our growing bellies and asses, and you need a new wardrobe befitting of the badass you now are."

"What about Hammer?" I know he's still out there, and I'm wondering why the heck we're being allowed out instead of on lockdown until the threat is neutralized.

"Tombs Security is on the job. Because they can't possibly let us traipse the streets without big manly men." Chewy says while rolling her eyes.

Ana snorts because we all know that of everyone in this room Chewy is probably the most dangerous of them all.

Mama Debs comes bustling over with a cloth to clean Jovie's hands and face and then does the "Chop Chop" motherly thing to get us all moving into the SUVs. I help Jovie into the car seat that somehow materialized, before getting in the back with her, Sunny next to me and Nat in the front with Gus. Pops is bringing up the rear with Mama Debs, Ana, and Chewy. Jules and Tav are on their bikes and we make quite the imposing convoy as we ride to the big box store on the other side of Rose Grove.

Piling out, we grab trolleys and lead Jovie to the little girls' section. Instead of going wild like most kids her age, she freezes in place. Tears building in her eyes.

"Jovie, sweetie, what's wrong?" Kneeling next to her, I gently stroke her hair from her face. I notice Mama Debs had brushed it this morning, but given the texture of her hair, I suspect she probably needs some good shampoo and treatments and maybe even a protective style. I make a note to ask Wire what I should be doing to care for it.

The rest of the ladies gather around me and Jovie. Well, all bar Chewy who has wandered off and is currently opening and sniffing jars of silly putty.

"I, I don't have any money. I don't know where my daddy and my momma is. Who will buy my clothes and look after me?" Her large dark eyes stare into mine and I pull her into my arms. I can't answer just yet, my throat is clogged up. If I ever get my hands on her father, I'm going to take his balls.

The girl gang feels the same. I can tell by the murderous looks on their faces. Well, all of them except Chewy, who is now opening packets of fidget toys.

"Where do you want to live?" She asks, not even looking at Jovie.

Jovie looks at me, her lips wobbling before whispering, "I want to live with Miss Remy and Mr. Wire."

A smile grows over my face as I squeeze her tight..

"And it shall be so, child," Chewy says with a flourish like a small, murdery fairy godmother.

Pulling back from Jovie, I wipe her little face. "Right, so that's settled. Ready to get some new clothes and some stuff for your bedroom at the clubhouse?"

She nods her head emphatically before taking mine and Sunny's hands and leads us to the kids' section, packed full of clothes, toys, and stuff for Chewy to touch.

After a solid hour of buying everything that Jovie sets her heart on, Pops arrives to escort Mama Debs and Jovie home while me and the girl gang decide to get a bite to eat and coffee before moving onto the next phase.

"Are you serious about keeping Jovie, Rem?" Sunny asks, settling her big sister gaze on me.

"You've seen her and spent time with her. She's a sweetheart who drew the short straw. She needs this, and I-I think I need her." I stare at my sister, her eyes identical to mine and our father's. I let her see everything I can't verbalize.

She stares at me before blowing out a breath. "Yeah, I see that now. She'll heal that timid little girl inside of you, and you'll help her find her voice." Sunny nods, leaving it at that. She's accepted it and now she's moved on.

"And I'll help with her papers. By the end of the day, you and Wire will be the proud parents of one little girl." Chewy says, before taking a very loud, long chug of her water.

"Yes, she drinks like a toddler." Ana says to us all before turning back to her sister-in-law. "What do you mean by ‘I'll help with her papers'? What papers?" Ana asks, eyes narrowed at Chewy.

"Birth certificate. Social Security. That sort of stuff. By the time I'm done, she will have always belonged to Wire and Remy."

"Wait, if you could do that, why did I marry your brother? Why the hell did we have to go to that mean counselor when you could have just given me my green card?" Ana frowns at Chewy, who looks blankly at her.

"Huh. Yeah, I could have done that, too." Chewy shrugs her shoulders, dismissing her sister-in-law's grumblings. "I can do a quickie divorce if you like?"

"Hell no! I love that big, bossy bastard."

"I heard that!" Gus grumbles from somewhere nearby.

"Love you!" Ana coos back before turning to us. "Me and Nat need stretchy pants. What are you tramps shopping for?"

Sunny and Chewy decide they need lingerie and then they zero in on me.

"You're a badass now. You need to not look like that," Chewy points out. In a loving way, I'm sure.

"What's wrong with the way I dress?"

Everyone grows quiet and some, not Chewy, avoid my eye contact.

"Rem, is that what you wanted to wear, or were you groomed to wear it?" Sunny asks gently, resting her hand on mine.

My mind flashes back to when I was younger and Hammer would buy me dresses for my birthday, or when he would tell me I looked nice in long-sleeved shirts and trousers. Nothing creepy at the time, a quick "Looking good Rem," here and there. But knowing what I know now, my skin crawls under my ill-fitting conservative clothes.

"That's it. I need a new wardrobe. Let's go ladies."

In no time, I'm in my underwear surrounded by women.

"Holy shit, Remy, I can not believe you were hiding this banging body under all that tweed!" Ana says.

"I told you she had good boobs!" Chewy crows before poking the girls. "And those legs!"

"Do you really think I have that good a body?" Looking up at them all, nodding wide eyed at me like I'm a blind fool. Turning to look in the mirror, I hear a screech and spin back around.

"That's the flaw ladies! She has no ass! Thank god. I was worried with all that tit and those thighs that we were done for. But the woman has no ass, so we're fine. We're gonna live to fight another day." Nat says, wiping her brow as the other women cackle around her.

"Well, Wire seems to like my less than round ass, so I don't care what you say." I flip the bird, spinning back to look in the mirror and catch them all smiling goofily at me. "What?"

"Nothing, Remy, you're just, you're you, but the you I always knew you could be if you could find your spine." My sister. "No more hiding, yeah?" Sunny says, reaching for my hand and holding it in both of hers.

"No more hiding."

Wire

As soon as the girls leave, Marx yells for Church, so we all dump our phones with Takoda, who's on phone duty, as we file in. We have three Death Riders and two Bratva with us too, so they file in behind and take up whatever space we have left at the table.

"Let's get this started. I think we know now that we need to put down Hammer as fast as we can. With Snake hanging in our shed, I'm hoping Rhodie or Chewy will get something out of him."

Marx looks around the table, everyone nodding at our Pres. Hammer has been a thorn in our side for too long. The only problem is, unlike the Russians that caused us problems last time, Hammer seems to be a lot fucking harder to catch.

"Whatever you need from the Bartashev Bratva, we are at your service. Usually I wouldn't get involved," everyone rolls their eyes at this statement. Even Roman's husband Sasha. "However, he had the police crawling all over my business, so he needs to die."

"He fucked with my family. He bought my fucking baby. He will die, but not before I make him pay," Flack growls, fire in his eyes.

Marx regards him for a moment. "You never knew this whole time?"

Flack bristles, "If I knew that my fucking Pres was grooming my baby because he bought her from her slut mother when she was a toddler, I would have put them both down years ago. As it stands, that bitch will get a visit from me very soon."

Marx nods at Flack, before glancing at Savage to make sure the man hasn't taken his questions as a dig at them.

"Look, you know full well the problems Hammer has caused us. Not just with Remy and the trafficking, but well before then. We had good reason to get rid of him, but none of us knew he was in this fucking deep." Rubbing his hands down his face, he looks back at Marx. "Look, man, Death Riders MC is on its last legs. I have a total of ten members, most are retirement age and want a quieter life. We took a vote and all agreed to disband. It's a fucking sad day for the legacy members but Hammer royally fucked what we had and he just keeps on fucking us."

Looking around at his brothers - Dex and Flack, Savage looks at all my DRMC brothers before returning his gaze to my Pres.

"We're out of the Death Riders, but we're not ready to give up the life just yet."

"You asking to patch over? We're a small MC. We're not looking to charter." Marx explains as he leans back in his chair.

"We're looking to move. We all know Remy won't be coming home. If Flack wants to be closer to his girl, he's going to have to move."

"What about your businesses? You've only just opened them."

"The tattoo parlor and restaurant will be run by the brothers as they lean into their retirement. Although I imagine we'll need a new restaurant manager and chef cos I'm sure Sunny will want to move to be closer to family."

Marx runs his hand down his beard as he nods thoughtfully.

"We've been looking to expand into more businesses, but the bulk of the brothers are tied up running our garages and towing yard. I'm sure you boys have skills we can use as we expand. How are you going to feel giving up Pres?" Marx pointedly asks Savage.

"Honestly? It'll be a fucking relief. I have a pregnant Ol' Lady and I just want to take care of her and our baby."

He looks around the room, and I can tell he's sincere. Shit, if I were him I'd want to chuck it all in too.

"You understand we'll have to put it to vote?"

Savage offers a chin lift. "Yeah, we understand. If we get the vote, we can be here within two weeks. Nothing holding us back."

Marx nods and moves on to planning what the fuck we're going to do. There isn't much we can do other than wait for Rhodie and Chewy to work their magic on Snake. Then, we need to find Jovie's father and tie up that loose end.

"I have something I would like to put forward." I say, clearing my throat. "I'm just putting it out there that I'm claiming Remy,"

My brothers all bang their fists on the table. Flack jumps up and slams his big hand on my shoulder before roughly shaking me before returning to his seat.

"Also, we have decided that we want to keep Jovie. She's a sweet kid, and neither of us wants to see her in the system." I hold my breath and wait for the reaction.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't all my brothers talking over each other about who will be the favorite uncle and plans for her own little trike to ride on.

"Well, brother, congrats on becoming a dad." Marx grins. "DRMC members, stay behind so we can vote on Savage's proposal. Savage and Roman, we'll all reconvene once we have more info from Snake."

Both nod before they and their men get up to leave, until only DRMC members are left to determine Savage's fate.

"Brothers, we have a vote to make. I feel Savage, Flack and Dex will make good brothers. They've tried to turn that shit show of an MC around, but that shit's been poisoned from the start. So, what do we think? Wire you have all their backgrounds?"

"Yeah, they're all safe. Savage and Dex both have time served in the army. Flack is, well, he's pretty much a less crazy, more refined Pops. He's all good."

"Of course you'd say that about your father-in-law," Rider says, rolling his eyes and then ducking as I swing on him.

"From the businesses they have opened, or were looking to open in Roxwell, they have skills we don't have. Having them will widen our business portfolio," Sniper offers.

"That's a good point. We don't have a restaurant. They've already opened and run a successful one. We could do that here with their experience." Tank shrugs.

"Dex is a personal trainer. We've spoken about buying that gym space in town, but none of us have the know-how to run it properly," Fox says before Nitro butts in.

"Yeah. We can offer MILF classes." He wags his eyebrows while we all roll ours.

"So, what's the vote?"

We all look at each other before Rhodie starts the vote with an "aye". Then the ayes go around the table until it's unanimous. Savage, Dex and Flack will patch over. But they'll be given the big talk from Marx. If they fuck with us, they're dead men. You know, the usual welcome spiel.

"That's that then. Fuck off the lot of ya and get to work or whatever you were doing. Scratch that, go clean out the room next to Wire's for my new niece." Marx grins as he slams the gavel down and we all file out the big doors in high spirits, regardless of the shit swirling around us.

Grabbing my phone from Takoda it vibrates in my hand, my dad's name flashing across the screen.

"Dad?"

"Son, Jovie's asshole sperm donor came around all frazzled, looking for her. I told him I heard word that she was at your club. The idiot is heading your way."

A chuckle rips out of my throat at how dumb this fucker is. "Thanks, Dad. I owe you one."

Hanging up, I holler to Marx, interrupting him just before his beer touches his lips.

"He's coming here? Here, to the compound? How dumb is this cocksucker?" Marx's frown is in full force, overshadowing the confusion in his voice. "What in the absolute fuck?"

"Dunno Pres, but he can't be the sharpest tool in the shed. He got mixed up with Hammer, for one thing, and kept Remy and Jovie in a room with a window. Clearly, we aren't working with a genius here."

Marx scowls harder before waving his hand at me. "Well, we better get out the welcome mat."

Smiling big, I take a seat at the bar with a good view of the front door, grab the beer Takoda hands me, and even before I can take the first sip the door is booted in and the greasy little worm is shoved through it by Pops.

"Any of you boys order a tweaker with a death wish?" Pops booms kicking Jovie's dad in the back of the knee, making him crumple to the ground.

"Where in the hell did you find him?" Rider asks as he stands over the dickhead, poking him with the boot of his toe.

"Would you believe he was out the front demanding entry to come get his kid?"

"And what the hell happened to his face?"

"Would you believe he fell? Many, many times?" Pops asks with his most innocent face.

Rider lets out a snort before kicking Jovie's dad again.

"I have to go get my girls. I told them to wait in the car while I dealt with fuckhead here. Jovie was upset so I'll bring her in the back way." Pops nods and then heads back outside, leaving the fucker on the floor surrounded by bikers, all standing over him.

Does that make him rethink his life choices? Hell no.

"Gimme my kid! I want my daughter!" he yells, struggling to get up due to all the boots shoving him back on his ass.

"You know boys, that's exactly what I was saying yesterday when some greasy fucker took my daughter!" Flack roars in his face.

Instead of shrinking back, the meth makes him brave, so he yells in Flack's face again until a well-thrown punch knocks him out.

"Rider, hang him in the shed next to Snake. Wire? Get a hold of the women. I need my best enforcer - no offense brother,"

"None taken,"

"I also have a feeling Remy might have something to say to this one," Marx says as he gives him a swift kick with his boot, before spitting on him.

"Ew Pres, I have to touch him and I don't want your germs on me," Rider whines, then trots away trying to dodge Marx kicking him in the ass.

"You know, every interaction I've had with you lot, I always thought it was nuts because it was stressful and shit was going down. But you're like this all the time, aren't you?" Dex asks, wide eyed.

"You get used to it," Rider shrugs before grabbing Jovie's dad by the foot and dragging him behind him out the door.