Chapter Six

B eretta_Penn: You know I kinda thought as I got older it would be easier to make friends. St_Margarita: Why do you need more? I'm all you'll ever need. Beretta_Penn: What about when I want to talk about periods? St_Margarita: Talk away. I have a mom and three sisters. I know all about the cramps and the period poops. Beretta_Penn: I have no idea why I keep talking to you. St_Margarita: Because you're my ride or die. Til the bitter end sweetheart. We're BFF's for life. I'll have your back, Retta. For always. Beretta_Penn: I'll have yours too Mags. For always.

Wire

Last night I sat with Flack for a while and sent a message through to Retta, checking in on her. It kills me knowing she's dealing with her sick dad alone. Because I couldn't be there with her, I figured the next best thing I could do was help another friend who needed a shoulder to lean on. Remy looked so small and broken sitting next to Flack's bed, it broke my heart. There is just something about this woman that makes all my protective instincts flare up. And then because I'm an absolute pig, I came back to my room and worked my cock thinking of both Remy and Retta somehow rolled into one. I have no idea how it happened or what my brain was thinking, but it's fucked up.

Even more fucked up was all that happened after I watched Chewy work over one of the nomads that Gus and Tav managed to grab in the shoot out. Her new set up has her flaying skin to her Backstreet Boys mix. Disturbing? Yes. Effective? Also yes. The poor fucker was begging for death by the time he finished squealing his secrets. And squeal he did. It would seem that Hammer has himself a fairly large nomad MC and it's growing by the day. His officers are the men that sided with him when the Death Riders split, around a dozen or so men acting nomad and getting up to who the fuck knows what. I've had my system working overnight looking for anything that he may have a hand in and nothing has come up yet.

I don't know what the hell went down with the Death Riders causing the initial split other than Savage wanting to go legit. I trust my Prez and I know that he would never have allied with an MC that had shit going down, but there are some quirks about the Death Riders that have me questioning a few things. Having Remy here to learn from me and Chewy is one of the things I keep mulling over. I would have thought a brother would be more suited to the job. Even more interesting is that Remy mentioned Savage only takes his officers with him when he rides out, his most trusted men. That statement in itself didn't strike me as odd. What did was the fact that Remy knew that and seems to know a lot more about the MC than most women would. I don't want to say MC men are chauvinistic cavemen, but we all know that the inner workings of an MC are never shared with the women and children, for their protection. Deniable plausibility and shit.

"Can I ask you something?" I jump at Chewy's voice, which sounds way too close for comfort. Tilting my head, I'm met with one giant whiskey colored eye in my periphery.

"Chewy?" I whisper, because it would feel weird talking at normal volume being this close.

"Yeah?" she whispers back.

"Why are you so close?"

"I'm investigating."

"OK" I stare at her for a moment, knowing full well that she will feel uncomfortable in 3, 2, 1…

"I'm done with data collection. You seem fine. I called your name four times, and you didn't respond. I thought you may have been having a stroke or a fit. I needed to see your pupils to ascertain, and they seem fine."

She heads to her chair, kicks her shoes off, plops down and pulls her legs up. She often sits pretzeled up like that.

"Anyway, can I ask you something?"

"Chewy, you can ask me anything." I rethink that statement. "As long as it doesn't involve Rhodie's dick. Or ass." I add as after thoughts. You really need to have firm lines with this woman.

She lets out a sigh and rolls her eyes. "It's not that kind of question. I want to know what attributes elevate a person from friend status to best friend status. Me and Remy are friends, and her dad was just shot and I want to be supportive, but I'm not sure if I'm a best friend, or a normal friend."

"Does it matter?"

"Ah, yeah. They're different roles. The titles determine the level of support appropriate to offer."

"Knock, knock brother."

Chewy and I both spin in our seats to face the door, Tank filling up the space almost completely.

"You're door sized." Chewy says before looking back at me expectantly.

"Tank, you good? If it's not anything urgent, you may be able to help me explain to Chewy what makes a best friend." I smirk at him, knowing full well that he would rather get his shit done and move on to the next job, but I'm surprised when he lumbers over and rests his bulk against the desk beside me.

"OK Chewy, what do you want to know?" Tank asks in his smooth voice.

"What characteristics elevate a friend to best friend status?"

Tank and I look at each other for a moment before he beats me to it. "A best friend is someone you trust. Implicitly. With your life."

"I agree. Someone that you know always has your back. You can tell them anything and they accept you. They offer you support without you asking. And you do the same for them." I add. I can see Chewy ticking this over in her mind.

"They're also someone that you love to spend time with. They make you laugh and you can shoot the shit or bust each other's balls."

"What Tank said."

Chewy strokes her imaginary beard for a moment and then, out of the blue, she sits bolt upright and curses.

"Shit! I have been a terrible friend! I need to make this up to him." She starts madly Googling gift baskets. Me and Tank share a look, trying to figure out what the fuck is going on.

"Chewy! What the hell makes you think you've been a bad friend?" I'm leaning forward, waiting for her to tell me what's got her panties in a bunch.

Out of the corner of my eye I can see Tank leaning forward too, but with a smirk, and I just know he's waiting for whatever unhinged shit that is going to come out of her mouth.

"Marx."

"Huh?"

"Marx. From what you've just told me, Marx is my best friend."

My eyebrows shoot upwards "Wait, I thought I was your best friend?"

"Well, according to what you and Tank just told me, you're not. You tick many other best friend boxes, but you don't bust my balls." She shakes her head back and forth, "This whole time Marx was fulfilling best friend duties and I never knew. I better go tell him I appreciate him."

With that, she flies out of the room, her tiny feet padding down the hall. The sound of her voice shrilly calling out for the Pres has me and Tank doubled over in laughter. Wiping my eyes, I gesture for Tank to sit in Chewy's seat.

"Right, brother, what can I do for you?"

"There's a motherfucker that has been hanging around the towing yard. Messy, unkempt. Probably on drugs with how thin he is. Wondering if you could keep an eye on him? I scared him away the other day. He ran into that alley between us and that derelict place next door. But then Sniper spotted him again when he was leaving for a callout."

Spinning to my screens, I pull up all the cameras we have on the yard. The tow business is always busy due to us being the only tow service in town. We have a yard attached to the main business where we keep busted cars for scrap and all that shit. Scanning the cameras, I mention to Tank that I don't see anything.

"That's because he's a sneaky fucker. We think he's getting in down the back, through the hole in the fence. We've patched it up but to be sure, do you think you could up security over there?"

"Sure thing. I'll order some of the new shit that Gus and the Tombs have gotten in. They're coming today to drop in some real slick comms watches, complete with tiny little ear pieces for us."

Tank lets out a low, impressed whistle. "That sounds like military grade shit."

I nod in agreement. I have an idea that whenever they contract to the FBI or CIA or any other agencies only known by initials, that Chewy demands they pay in tech. Thank fuck she attached herself to us because we get kick backs like all this good shit.

"Sure does. I'll get this shit handled and then I'll be out to install. Keep an eye on him, yeah?"

Tank nods and heads on out while I go back to checking my cameras in case I missed something. All I need is a clear pic of the asshole and I can run facial recognition on him. Another perk of knowing Chewy. Speaking of, I can hear low cursing coming my way and with the cadence of the steps and how heavy they are, I know Marx is on the warpath.

"I swear to all that's fucking holy, if you don't get away from me Chewy, I WILL ban you from this clubhouse."

"Aw Marx, I very much appreciate it when you bust my lady balls."

Looking over my shoulder, I see they are now in my doorway, Marx glowering at Chewy, who is beaming up at him. I try to make my face look as neutral as possible, but I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle.

"Wire! Give Chewy a job. Any fucking job." He jabs his finger my way and I give him a half assed salute before he storms off.

"Best friend ever!"

Remy

I take a quick headcount to make sure all my afternoon kiddos are where they're meant to be. Which at this time of the afternoon seems to be sprawled all over the floor and in various bean bags looking at whatever book took their fancy today. We've already done our craft for the afternoon, we made origami bookmarks with googly eyes. At one point, one of my most mischievous boys went around and stuck them to the fronts of a few romance novels featuring couples on the cover. While hilarious, I had to scold him and try to pick them off.

I drift my gaze over the kids once more, coming to a stop at Jovie. Over the past few weeks, she has become a bright spot in my day, and hopefully I'm one in hers. I have noticed that she has been looking increasingly disheveled lately. Her curly pigtails are looking more and more askew and knotted, as if she's been sleeping with them in and she's been in the same clothes for a couple of days now. I wanted to have a word with her dad, but he seems to never get out of the car to collect her, just swings the door open for her to climb in before peeling out. If his dangerous driving didn't already worry me, the sunken in cheeks and wild eyes peering through the windscreen at me would have.

She must feel my eyes on her because big brown eyes find mine and she breaks out into a grin. Her little gapped tooth smile making me forget my worries for her and my dad. His recovery is taking longer than expected thanks to a nasty infection, but he's now getting out and about a bit more, even if it is just around the compound. I was so happy when Savage agreed to leave him at DRMC to recover. I never noticed how far apart we had drifted once I moved out. Even Sunny has come to visit a few times on her days off, much to the chagrin of two bikers who have their eyes on her.

Flicking my eyes to the clock, I see that it's time for the Library Dance party so I let my little friends know and we dance our hearts out very quietly to the three songs they all managed to agree on.

Before I know it, parents have started to trickle in, so I round up the kids, make sure they have their crafts and start with the goodbye high fives, handing them off to their waiting parents.

"You know I'm still surprised she left her with him. Why wouldn't she leave her with family?"

"It's because they have no other family. He's all she has,"

"Hmph. Can't child services get involved? We all know she's not safe?"

I listen in as two moms whisper back and forth between themselves and I'm guessing they're talking about Jovie. Luckily, she seems none the wiser as she sits waiting for her dad's piece of junk car to drive up. He must be running late today because he's usually one of the first parents here.

"Jovie, do you want to help me do some tidying while we wait for your dad?" I offer, wanting to keep her mind off why her dad hasn't shown up yet. We make ourselves busy and soon enough the children's library section is void of my after school programme kids. Glancing at the time, I see that he's over an hour late. A small rumbling noise beside me has me glancing down at my little friend.

"Jovie, when was the last time you ate, sweetie?"

She rubs her nose for a bit and I can see she's wracking her little brain to remember.

"How about a snack, huh? Follow me. I have something special in my lunchbox just for you."

She beams up at me, and I feel like a superhero. Taking her into the small staff area, I open my lunchbox and thank the stars that I wasn't that hungry today. I get Jovie set up at the table and hand her one half of my ham salad sandwich, a packet of chips and an apple.

"There you go! Have at it. I'll wait right here with you."

"But don't you have kids to look after, Miss Remy?"

Shaking my head, I let her know I am now officially off the clock. I could have gone home when the kids all left, but there was no way I was leaving Jovie here to wander the library alone.

She digs into her sandwich and I watch her devour the lot, making me really worry when the last time she ate was.

"Jovie, what's your last name, honey? I'll see if someone can track down your dad, OK?"

She mumbles "Spencer" around her mouthful and I take note. Not just to call her father, but I'm going to do a little digging when I get back to the compound.

"Where the fuck is my daughter? She's meant to be waiting for me on the road, not fucking around in here!" A man's voice booms and I know that Jovie's dad has finally arrived.

I gather up her things, smiling down at her when I notice that she's eaten everything I gave her. That makes me happy that at least she has something in her little tummy. Walking her out of the staffroom into the main library, I can see her father yelling at Beth on the help desk.

"She's right here, Mr. Spencer. We were just a little further back in the library. If you weren't almost 2 hours late, she would have been right where you expected her to be." I reply in a steady voice.

"Whatever. Jovie, get your ass in the car." Jovie nods, avoiding eye contact and shuffles past her father, the man giving her a little shove to get her to walk faster.

Stepping forward to get to her, I'm overwhelmed by the smell of body odor and weed. "You stay the fuck away from my kid, bitch. Unless you want to become her new mommy. I'm sure I can look past your dog ugly face for that fine rack you have on you." He leers at me, licking his lips before turning on his heel and storming out the door.

"What an asshole. Someone needs to take that kid off him," Beth says with a look of disgust on her face.

"I'm going to make sure of it," I say to her, letting her see the fire in my eyes.

I carry that fire all the way back to the compound, determined to use my newfound computer skills to help me after I check in to see how Dad is doing. I've told him about Jovie and my worries. I'm sure he'll want me to get right on to looking into her deadbeat dad, but that loser can wait for a moment. After we've had our catch up, I'll look into the few databases that Chewy showed me. It'll be an excellent test of my skills. And if I need more skills, I'm sure Chewy and Wire will be more than happy to help me. They're good people.

In fact, the whole MC are good people. It feels like I'm fitting in a little more. I've made friends with a few more of the brothers, and I feel like I'm gaining confidence in myself. Mainly because these people want me to be heard, to be confident. It's a powerful feeling.

"You fit in well here, Rem." my dad pats my hand with his giant paw of a hand, his bright blue eyes shining at me. This is the best he's looked in a long time.

"Thanks Dad. I really like it here. Not that I hated it at home. It's just, different." I shrug, not knowing what to say.

My dad lets out a sigh before cupping my chin to look at him. "Rem. I think I may have fucked up letting you grow up how you did." I make a noise of protest, but he keeps talking. "I had nowhere else to go with you girls, no support, no family other than the men in the MC. Looking back now, it wasn't a good place for two little girls. Especially you, Rem. You're a softy, my girl. I tried to do the best I could, but it seems these men have done a better job in what is it, three? Four short weeks? Than I ever did in 18 years."

"Aw Dad, it wasn't that bad. I could have spoken up, found my place, but I was content not to make waves. It's on both of us. But I wouldn't change growing up with you as my dad for all the money in the world. I love you old man. And we are going to find exactly who did this to you and kick his butt!" I kiss Dad on the cheek and his body shakes from his chuckling.

I pull him up to standing as the DRMC cookout will be starting soon. Savage, Dex and a few of the other Death Riders are here to pick up Dad to take him back to Roxwell tomorrow. It's a good thing they plan to stay because they definitely won't be sober enough to leave tonight. I'm a little disappointed that Nat couldn't make it, but it seems our Pres and his Ol Lady are going to be parents soon and the morning sickness is kicking her butt.

"Remy! We need you in the control center!" Chewy comes flying down the hallway yelling my name, stopping for a moment in the doorway "Nomads are back, they have a sniper out the back, and the rest are coming in hot!"

My dad squeezes my hand tight in his and presses a kiss to my knuckles before pushing me toward Chewy. "Go girl, they need you!"