BOMBER and I walked out of the barbershop, the stares of Buzzard and Indy—Prez and VP of the MC just north of us, Hell’s Hangmen MC—striking our backs like fists. I hated giving those pricks my back, but somebody had to walk out of Uno’s first and we were on neutral territory. Even those bastards weren’t stupid enough to strike on neutral territory. Especially not at Uno’s. That man was terrifying. I was just glad he wanted peace in the city instead of war.
“What’s got you all tangled up? I thought that went well, all things considered,” Bomber said, watching me as we walked to where our sleds—our pride and joy rides—were waiting by the curb.
It’d been just barely warm enough to take them out, although it’d taken most of the meeting for my ears to warm up again.
I grunted and nodded. “Sure. I just… with everything with Baby, I think I slipped and started to forget about the ugly side of how we live. The kind of thing we brought her into.”
“Hey,” Bomber’s shoulder nudged against mine. “That’s not how we live. And Baby’s nowhere near here. If the truce holds, she’s never gonna see that ugly side, right? That’s why this MC started in the first place. To keep this neighborhood safe from that shit.”
“Right.” If the truce held. Which I would never, not even to my last breath, trust that it would.
That would mean letting my guard down and giving the Hangmen an opening. To the city, and to the club. The club Baby might become a part of. Shit.
“Wow. I can really see my pep talk doing you so much good,” Bomber said, rolling his eyes.
“Let’s get back to the Howlers, yeah?” I nodded, and Bomber sighed. “Monosyllabic to nonsyllabic.
My work here is done.”
My lips twitched with a smile at his nagging and I shook my head. “Alright, alright. Let’s get back.” I stopped in front of the storefront next to Uno’s and stared through the window at the bright blooms inside. “Should we get Baby flowers?”
“How you think those are gonna hold up on the ride back to HQ?” Bomber asked with a grin.
My smile fell away at that. Right. We’d show up with a pack of stems with nothing on ‘em.
Neither of us had storage on these rides.
“Shit. Got you broody again. C’mon. Let’s get back to Baby. I can think of one thing she wants from us, and it sure as shit isn’t flowers,” Bomber said.
“She deserves them though,” I said.
Baby deserved anything she wanted. And since that didn’t seem to be much, given her delight at that basket I’d offered her last night, I felt she deserved a lot more than what she wanted too. I’d put an order in for the flowers. Have them delivered with a card when she wasn’t expecting it.
I hopped onto the back of my bike, pulling my goggles and bandana up. It was a sunny day,
thawed out some from the last snow, and anyway, it wasn’t like any self-respecting biker was gonna show up to this kind of meeting in a cage for their ride. I kicked the bike to life and shot forward out of the spot, Bomber close on my heels as we headed south through the old city to our place.
The cold was bitter on my ears as I flew down the streets, around the worst of traffic and straight home. It wasn’t a long ride, but in weather like this it wasn’t a pleasant one either. I was looking forward to spring and summer when I could take Baby out on the back of my bike. I’d have to find a helmet for her, at least until she was good and comfortable in her seat. Probably even after.
When we reached LNH Plaza, I was steering my bike back to the garages out back, when I noticed the crowd inside Full Moon. Sitting in the corner booth by the window, perched on the back of the seat between Books’ red head and Tornado’s dark one, was Baby. I came to a short stop in front of the diner, Bomber making a sharp turn to pull up next to me.
“What the hell is she doing down here?” I asked.
Bomber snorted and shook his head, putting his ride in park and heading for the door, leaving me frowning at my own reflection in the large diner windows. Raucous voices poured out from the open door as Bomber stepped inside. “Havin’ a fuckin’ party?” he asked grinning. The room cheered as he entered.
I followed him in and either the room wasn’t as excited to see their Prez, or I was wearing the wrong expression for the mood. “What’s she doing down?” I asked, and immediately regretted it as Baby crossed her arms over her chest.
From the other side of her booth Bullet raised an eyebrow. “She meant to be locked up upstairs, boss?”
“No,” I said quickly because, in spite of Bullet’s goading, I was not a fuckin’ idiot. “No one mentioned anything. Am I Prez of this club?”
Green stood from the end of the booth, and my eyes narrowed at the challenge on his face. “Sure are. Are you Prez of this pack too?”
I swallowed and released a slow breath. Point taken. Baby’s care wasn’t a club matter, it was pack. “No, I am not.”
Twelve was a lot of alpha for a pack. But a pack was a family and every alpha was equal, no matter how much tension that created. The club end of our life made that a little complicated, but Green was right. Bullet was too.
“It was my idea,” Baby said, chin lifting. It was fuckin’ not, but I liked that she wanted to stick up for her alphas. “About time for me to get to know my men.”
Either I was a weak alpha, or a smart one, ‘cause just hearing her call these lovable shitheads her ‘men’ made me start purring. She relaxed immediately and so did the rest of the room, the whole pack aside from Dusty and Thumb hanging around tables and chairs. Books lifted up a fry coated in orange cheese and Baby ducked down, taking it with her teeth and smiling down at the alpha.
“Come’n put your ass down, boss,” Bullet said, spread out and taking most of his side of the booth.
Coal was crowded into the space too, eyeing Baby between Books and Tornado like he was thinking ugly thoughts about his pack mates. I didn’t care about him, only Baby, and she was glowing, grin flushed and eyes bright. Everyone around her, even the beta sweet butts on the laps of their alphas, looked happy too. Just like that, just havin’ her around.
Green hadn’t taken his seat by the time I reached the table and I could smell Baby on him, as thick and sweet as she’d been on my fingers and Bomber’s lips the night before. And instead of wanting to deck him, like I was afraid I would when Baby started taking in other alphas, I found the
last whispers of my irritation melting away. The tight frustration around Green’s eyes eased and he leaned back against the end of the booth, offering me the seat closer to Baby. Well, closer to Tornado at least, who had his chin hovering just over Baby’s knee, the quietest purr hovering in his throat.
“How’d the meeting go?” Green asked with his voice lowered to slide under Baby’s chatter as she beamed at Books and they nerded out over somebody named Vonnegut.
Bullet straightened up on the other side of the booth, listening in. Bomber returned from the diner counter with another basket of cheese fries. He dragged a chair from the table where Brody sat with his girl, Tiny, on his lap, the pair of them about two minutes from either fighting or fucking, if their intent stares on one another were a sign. The chair squeaked on the tile as Bomber settled himself backward in it, facing us and stealing a mouthful of fries before sliding the basket across the top to where Tornado was waiting to take over feeding our omega. He looked brighter, more present, than he usually did and I was glad to see the good just being near Baby did for him.
“Peace was called,” Bomber said, eyes sliding to mine. “Not that Prez is satisfied.”
“I’d be satisfied if I trusted them to keep to their word,” I answered.
“Who?”
The pack stiffened, and I cleared my throat as I found Baby’s stare shifting from one of us to the next, eyes slowly narrowing when silence followed her question.
“Club business, baby girl,” I said, before glaring at Green, as if it were his fault for bringing it up.
Baby’s lips pursed and her head tipped to the side, revealing a pinkish-purple bruise on the side of her throat. One that certainly hadn’t been there when I woke up this morning with her drooling peacefully on my t-shirt.
“The fuck you do to her?” I asked Green in a snarl, my elbow landing heavily on the table, finger pointed to Baby’s throat.
“What I begged him to,” Baby snapped back just as fast, and I heard Bullet grunt like she’d just nut punched him. I didn’t blame him. I’d heard Baby begging and it was about enough to have me tearing my heart out and dropping it into her little palm. Even Green’s cheeks were wearing some rare color at her announcement. “Club business doesn’t affect pack business?” she asked.
I swallowed and faced her again. It was not right that seeing my omega in a temper, freckled cheeks flushed and lips pinched into a grimace, made me wanna drag her across the table and devour her in front of everyone.
“Not in this case,” I said. Because a truce meant we shouldn’t hear shit from the Hangmen for a nice long time. So it would be the opposite of pack business. “If that changes, I’ll let you know.”
Bullet and Books both looked surprised, and I felt my own surprise like a lead weight in my gut.
Telling Baby about our territory issues with the Hangmen—a one-percenter MC dealing in drugs and women, and constantly waiting to push their way into our neighborhood—was the last thing I wanted to reveal to our new omega. Not that I wanted her to find out when it was too late and she was bound to us, not if it was what changed things for her.
That’s what I hadn’t told her last night. It wasn’t just me that spooked my mother out of my father’s pack. I’d grown up in a one-percenter club that’d been fighting its way out of the crime world and into legitimacy after two of its pack members had been killed by a rival MC. I didn’t blame my mom for leaving that life. I didn’t even blame her for not taking me with her. I wouldn’t give up the life I had, the family I’d found. I just hoped the choices I’d made with this club and my pack—keeping us clean and clear of trouble—would be enough to convince Baby we were the right pack for her.
Baby’s chin dipped in a short nod to me and my heart fired up with a roar like a well-tuned
engine. Next chance I got her alone, I was gonna show her how much I liked it when she stood up to me. I might not mention that I was equally aroused when she deferred.
