Chapter Three

S t_Margarita: Why don't you curse? Beretta_Penn: Why do you? St_Margarita: I asked you first. Beretta_Penn: My dad wants me to be different to my mom. St_Margarita: Fair enough. She sounds crappy St_Margarita: …….. St_Margarita: Do you want me to stop cursing? Beretta_Penn: Do you want me to start? St_Margarita: Nah, I like you all prissy like this. Beretta_Penn: And I like you all angry yelly like this.

Wire

"Church!"

Marx's voice booms down the hall and it's crazy to think that Remy has been here for a week already. All my fears that I would have to start from scratch with her have been completely unfounded. The woman is a machine when it comes to learning. I thought it was going to take a lot longer to get her to the level she's at now. She works shifts during the day at the local library, meaning we can only train for a few hours here and there, but she's killing it.

Standing, I stretch my arms up over my head and hold them there. I can feel my shirt has ridden up a little.

"Have fun at church!" She smiles up at me, freezing when her eyes hit my exposed midriff. She bites down on her plump bottom lip and her face turns bright red before she spins back to her screen, staring at it so hard I'm sure she's going to burst a blood vessel.

"Thanks Remy. Oh hey, I have a name for you. See what you can find for me, yeah?" I try to hold in my laugh when she nods and doesn't move her eyes from the screen, even when I slide over the slip of paper with the name on it. I'm sure she's not blinked yet either. "Cool, I'll see what you've got for me when I get back."

"Yup. Sounds great! I'll be right here. Eyes on the screen." She gives me a thumbs up behind her back, still not turning. I snort and head out the door, but not before I take a quick peek behind me to see Remy lightly bumping her head on my desk.

I'm glad to see that my abs have an effect on her. This whole week the quiet librarian has been doing something weird to me. I'm not sure whether I want to spend time with her because she needs protecting, and with three sisters, I'm just that type of man; or whether there's something about her that draws me to her.

I asked my best friend Retta what she thinks, and she said maybe I need to get laid. But then she said some interesting shit. She asked whether seeing Rhodie happy is giving me ideas. Well, she didn't mention Rhodie by name, of course; we don't share those types of details. Which is weird given that we've been online besties for years now. So long, in fact, that when we outgrew Shadow Wrath (although who really outgrows that? I still sign on now and then), we moved over to messaging. Even though it is in my power to find out exactly who Retta is, I have no urge. She's just this comforting presence that has been in my life since my dad left and I became the man of the house; when I went on tour and since I've been back. We have messaged every day and I don't see that changing anytime soon. I can say, hand on heart, that outside of my family and the MC, Retta is the only other person I love. I know it doesn't sound like she's that far up the ranks, but no other girl has ever gotten this close.

"Yo, you gonna stand there all day looking simple or you gonna get in there?"

"You're blocking the door fucker and I don't want to be fined again!"

Both Fox and Nitro stare me down to move out of the way, but I can see Rider is coming down the hall, so I decide to fuck with them. I know Rider will have my back.

I take a look into church and see they're waiting on us four. Marx is going to fine these two fuckers if they're the last men in the room.

Rider slides along the wall to position himself behind them. In a coordinated attack we both pants them, then shove them further down the hall before running into Church and slamming the door behind us. We cackle like little girls as we find our seats and listen to Fox and Nitro grumble about our dirty tactics.

"Fuck sake, you two! What did I tell you? You're both on toilets for the next week." Marx shakes his head in disgust before banging the gavel getting this shit started.

"Wire, report on Remy. I have Savage wanting progress on how she's doing."

"She's awesome. I've never met anyone who can learn as fast as she does. Well, other than Chewy, that is. They also get on really well, so that's a bonus." I look around the table and see brothers nodding.

"Yeah, she's a real sweetheart. Not imposing or a pain in the ass. I like the girl." Sniper adds, which is pretty high praise from the grumpy bastard.

I've noticed over the past week that although Remy sticks to herself, she's happy to chat to the brothers during meal times. I've also noticed that she gravitates towards the quieter brothers like Tank and Sniper. Which irritates me for reasons I'm not going to think about.

"Chewy can't stop talking about her. Apparently, she's a lot more interesting than I've noticed. Between her and Ana, it seems Chewy has gotten herself a girl gang," Rhodie begrudgingly says, but we can all see the smile he's trying to hide. Whatever Chewy wants, if it's in Rhodie's power, he will give it to her. Chewy wants female friends? Rhodie will do whatever he can to ease the way forward. I heard them practicing small talk topics the other day.

"Good. Thank fuck she's getting along well. The last thing I need is to have another catty bitch in my clubhouse." We all nod. Having the bunnies is bad enough. "Rhodie brings me to my next point of business. I'm sure you all know that Gus married Ana last week."

We all start pounding our fists on the sturdy wooden table we're sat at. Gus is Chewy's eldest brother and an all round good guy. I'm sure Marx would give him a patch if he thought Gus would accept it. As it stands, Tombs Security is another ally we've gained, thanks to Chewy.

"Yeah, who didn't see that coming? Anyway, Chewy approached me saying they've been tailed a few times. Not sure who it is yet, so stay alert."

Shit. It could be anyone. Ana is part of the Bartashev Bratva, and Gus helped us shut down a trafficking operation.

"Because of the shit that went down, Chewy has asked us to put our own tail on her brother and new sister-in-law. Gus and Ana have been court ordered to camp out at the weekend. Don't ask me why, I have no fucking clue."

I have a clue. With the speed of the marriage and the fact Ana is on a working visa, I'm guessing they've been court ordered to complete couples counseling to secure a green card.

"I need someone to tail Gus and keep an eye on him. We all know he won't want any of his siblings to shadow them. I told Chewy I'd have a brother do it. I know you're busy Wire but I'm thinking you and Remy? Gus and Ana don't know Remy, might be easier for her to get close. Before you get your panties in a wad, Chewy has offered to run your usual security ops."

My blood pressure eases when I hear that Chewy will take on my jobs while I'm away. I hate leaving my station, especially unmanned, but I have ways to do my checks on my watch and phone, so between Chewy and all my tech, it should be OK.

I roll Marx's request around in my brain for a moment and I can't find a flaw in his logic. Not to mention Remy's so quiet you almost forget she's there.

"Yeah, I'm sure we can do that. We better ask her, though. She may not be the camping type." I shrug my shoulders. I know little bits about her, but not much. When we're working together, that's what we do. Work. We get so engrossed in what we're doing, there isn't much small talk.

Marx yells for the prospect to bring Remy to church, and when she steps over the threshold, I can see she's shitting herself. She looks to me for reassurance, which makes me feel 10 fucking feet tall. I give her a smile to let her know everything's fine. She nods her head and creeps further into the room.

"Um, you called for me, Pres?" The poor girl looks like she's shrinking into herself.

"You're not in trouble, Remy," Marx softly says, earning a lot of raised eyebrows. Our Pres is gruff and growly. He's not this teddy bear in front of us. "I was hoping to send you on a stakeout. You'd partner with Wire. There will be camping involved."

She scrunches her eyebrows together before nodding. "Yes, I can do that. Thank you, Pres, for trusting me with this. I won't let you down." She nods emphatically, and we all watch as she pulls her shoulders back and stands tall.

I'm sure all the brothers are feeling the same thing I am. She may be small and shy, but without a single question, she accepted Marx's orders. She trusts and respects him, and by extension, she trusts and respects us. That sort of thing goes a long way in our eyes.

"Thank you, Remy, I know you'd never let us down. You can go back to what you were doing." Remy smiles at Marx and gives us all a little wave before leaving and closing the door gently behind her.

"I have no idea how the hell that girl grew up with the Death Riders and came out that fucking sweet." Switch shakes his shaggy ginger head back and forth, voicing what we're all thinking. Flack obviously did a fucking great job at shielding her.

"To my last point of order. With this shit going down with Gus, we need to be vigilant. We've been waiting for the fallout from shutting down Kraykowski's operation, and nothing has happened. This puts me on fucking edge. Keep your eyes and ears open, have each other's backs and report back anything you hear on the streets. They'll be the ones to know if shit is going to hit the fan."

We all nod. I know for a fact there haven't been any murmurs on the dark web, and that is suspicious in itself.

"OK, that's it. Wire already sent out his report, so you all know how well our businesses are doing. We may even have to look into buying another one, keep the tax man off our backs. Bring me any ideas you have. Right, get out of here, fuckers." Marx bangs the gavel and I head back to the control center, eager to brief Remy on our mission.

Remy

I was shocked to my core when Marx asked if I would be open to doing a stakeout. I'd only been here a week and by anyone's standards that's not nearly enough time to garner anyone's trust, but trust me, they did. After the initial shock wore off, pure blind panic kicked in. What if I fluffed it? What if I got us found out or put everyone in danger? I didn't want to freak out and look weak in front of the DRMC. These men were counting on me. So instead, I panic messaged Mags with a story about my boss wanting me to keep an eye on a dodgy coworker. He then spent the next hour talking me down. I have no idea what I would do without him in my life, and I never want to find out. As a kid, I only had Sunny to talk to about things that worried me. Once I met Mags, the number of people I could go to for advice doubled. I never went to my dad. He had other things to worry about, like not getting shot and leaving me and Sunny as orphans. Sunny never knew her mother and I haven't heard from mine since my dad took me. Heck, with Hammer in charge, he would have sold me and Sunny to the traveling circus or something. Thank god Savage got rid of him and turned things around.

I'm snapped out of my thoughts by a small voice. "Miss Remy, I've finished." Jovie smiles up at me with her gap-toothed smile and crooked pigtails and I grin back at her. Even though I've only been here at the Rose Grove Library for a week, I know Jovie is going to be my favorite kid. She's been here every day. I've never seen her parents, but she spends a lot of time just hanging out. She's quiet and polite, no trouble at all, and if I'm being honest, she reminds me a little of myself when I was a kid. I had Miss Shawna, and I guess Jovie has me.

"Great job Jovie! Tell me what you liked best about the story."

Looking at the cover, there's a large dinosaur on the front. I smile at that. It's one thing that stood out to me when I first met the little girl. Where all the other girls her age, of which I'm guessing she must be around 6 or 7, were busy in the fairytale section, Jovie seemed to delight in the dinosaur story books.

"I liked how the big dinosaur protected the little ones. Big things should always look after little things." She nods up at me as if that is an absolute fact.

"I agree. Animals, people, dinosaurs. We should do our best to look after them all." She beams up at me with her slightly grubby face and clutches her book to her chest before wandering off to the beanbags and the rest of the kids in my after school programme.

I take a peek at the clock on the wall and realize it's time to tidy up before the dance party and then pick up time. And by dance party I mean the quietest dance party ever given we're in the library and all. I like to end by doing something physical because the kids have spent an hour sitting down, and it's good for their little bodies to move.

"Macaroni Cheese,"

"Everybody freeze!" They not so quietly answer in reply.

Once all eyes are on me, I quietly let them know that it's time to tidy up so we can have our afternoon dance party. They jump up and bustle around, haphazardly putting their books back on the shelves and very unhelpfully kicking the beanbags out of the way. I introduced library dance party on Monday, and since then it's been a hit with my kids.

They gather in the empty space in the children's section with "Airplane arms" to space themselves out. I pull up "Firework" by Katy Perry, the message telling the kids to let themselves shine, the opening notes gently playing. We jump and twirl and boogy until we're all breathless. By the end of the song we're all a little sweaty, puffed and red faced.

I catch sight of Jovie's face, her eyes wide, staring at someone over my shoulder. Spinning, I notice it's Wire, looking larger than life surrounded by kid sized furniture. I also notice that some parents have arrived to collect their kids. At least four moms are staring at Wire like they want to snack on the man, and I really can't blame them. Wearing his cut over a dark blue henley, worn jeans and his boots, hair tucked into a beanie, he looks less like a snack and more like a buffet.

"OK friends, thank you so much for hanging out with me today. I will see you next week!"

I offer high fives to the kids, their sticky moist hands slapping mine. Turning to high five Jovie, I notice she hasn't moved, still in the same spot staring at Wire.

"Jovie, sweetie, are you OK?" She turns her large brown eyes up to me and she looks terrified. Squatting down in front of her, I gentle my voice. "Hey, it's OK. That's my friend Wire. He is here to pick me up. We're going camping." I offer her a smile and she wrings her hands for a moment.

"So he's not a bad man?"

"No sweetie, Wire is a nice man. He's my friend." I turn to look at him, his gaze bouncing around my face and he must see something written there because he shifts his gaze to Jovie and softens his stance a little. He smiles softly at Jovie and comes closer, squatting down when he's within arm's length. "Wire, this is my friend Jovie, Jovie, this is Wire."

"Hi Jovie, it's nice to meet you. I like your shirt. Brontosaurus, right?" He offers her a smile and holds his huge fist out. She eyes him for a moment before gently tapping his fist and offering a small smile.

"Yeah, they're my favorite." She smiles wider before she high fives me and races off into the shelves. My eyes follow her as she leaves. Something about the way Wire looks unsettled her.

"You ready to hit the road, Remy?"

I shake off my thoughts and nod at Wire.

* * *

"Can I ask you something?" Wire's smooth voice breaks through the comfortable silence in the car. Well, not totally silent, the radio is turned down low, playing some song I can't quite hear enough to work out what it is.

I turn to look at him before nodding.

"How come you're completely different at work?"

My brow furrows. I'm not sure what he means. "I'm just me."

He glances at me before speaking again. "At the library, with the kids, you're confident and assertive. At the MC, you're timid and go out of your way to not be seen or heard. Sort of invisible."

Instead of answering straight away, I look out my side window and pause to think.

"Um, when I was younger, my mom would tell me to make myself invisible. Then when I moved into the clubhouse, there was always club business happening and angry men stomping around, so it was easier to stay quiet and out of the way than get into trouble."

Wire hums a little before his brow furrows. I've noticed he does this a lot when he thinks. I've also noticed that his perfect dark brows look as if they've been lovingly manicured, which is completely unfair given that I have to pluck mine into submission or else sport a unibrow.

"How come your mom wanted you to be invisible?"

I blow out a breath "When I was little my mom would have a lot of …. friends come to visit. As soon as I was old enough to understand, Sunny told me that Dad found out Mom was working as a hooker. He took me away as soon as he arranged a cage and a car seat." I look down at my hands and examine my short, purple fingernails. I may not be the flashiest or the prettiest of women, but I do love painting my nails.

Wire is eerily quiet and when I take a chance to peek over at him I notice his sharp jawline is tight and he's gripping the steering wheel so hard his dark knuckles are almost white.

"So, she entertained her Johns in your home and you had to hide?" he grits out. The anger showing on his face should frighten me. However, something tells me he's not mad at me, but at the situation.

"Yeah. My dad bought me a teepee tent thing. It was a Rug Rats one." I smile at the memory. "I would hide in there and wait for her friends to leave. It was my special fortress." Unfortunately, when my dad took me away that day, he forgot to pack it up and bring it with us.

"How old were you?"

"Four."

"And how long had you been hiding in your little tent for?"

"For as long as I could remember," I whisper back at him.

His brow furrows again. I can see something working behind his eyes. Whether he's trying to tamp down his anger or trying to find the right words, I'm not sure. He opens his mouth before closing it, then blowing out a breath.

"You don't have to hide anymore. I liked the Remy I saw at the library. If you want to be that Remy at the clubhouse, then be that Remy. No more hiding, OK?"

"OK."