Chapter Eight
Trinity
Because of our interrupted night, we slept in a lot later than I thought we would. Trying to untangle my legs and arms from Turk’s so I can get up and pee is nearly impossible but I’m almost at the danger zone. “Turk?” I ask, my voice whisper-soft. “Baby, I need to get up and go to the bathroom.”
He mumbles something unintelligible, but I’m able to maneuver out from under and around him and head to the bathroom, where I make short work of taking care of business and brushing my teeth. He doesn’t mind morning breath, but I like to maintain that mine is always minty fresh, which makes him laugh every time he catches me doing it. I crawl back into bed and am immediately pulled into his side.
“I can’t believe I almost lost you last night,” he says to me.
“You didn’t almost lose me, Turk.”
“Close enough,” he states, turning on his side where we’re facing each other. Stroking my face, he leans in and whispers against my lips, “It would have wrecked me, sweetness. Absolutely wrecked me if anything had happened to you.”
“Nothing's going to happen to me, babe. Please don’t stress over this,” I say, while putting my hand on his chest. “Our one threat is gone, we have nothing else to worry over. He’s made a bed of fire, and he’ll have to suffer the rest of his life. Let’s concentrate on our family.”
“Our family, I love the sound of those words coming from your mouth,” he says leaning over and kissing me. This kiss is him reassuring himself I’m still with him.
“Come on, handsome, we have to get ready to go to the clubhouse. You have church, and I need to meet the women and help them prepare the BBQ.”
“Damn, I don’t want to leave this bed. I just want to lay here and hold you for the rest of the day.”
“We have the rest of our lives, Turk.”
“Let’s get dirty before we grab our shower then,” he whispers before he covers my body with his.
We arrive at the clubhouse, and I’m immediately whisked away by the other old ladies. They pepper me with questions about the prior night’s activities. Once I lay it all out for them, DJ pops up, “Should’ve called me, I would’ve shown up with Shirley.”
“Who the heck is Shirley?” I ask, almost scared to hear the answer.
“Ooh, I know this one,” Cara pipes up. I roll my eyes at her enthusiasm.
“Care to share?”
“Sure, it’s her pliers, she’s actually named them.”
“You’re kidding me!”
“Nope, and her gun’s name is Chester.”
“It’s because he’s as smooth as a Cheshire cat,” DJ says, winking at me.
“Please tell me you’re joking with me?” I ask with my eyes wide.
“Nope, they deserve names. These are what entered my head, so it’s what they were dubbed.”
“Lord, help me from crazy people,” Nan says, entering the conversation.
“Yeah, because you’re one to talk,” DJ says to her.
“I’m not crazy,” Nan states. Knowing we are fixing to be treading deep waters that I didn’t bring my wading boots for, I think quickly of how to turn this situation in the making around.
“How were the kids last night?” I ask, changing the subject. Yes, kids, there always a good way to break the ice.
“Little angels, all of them,” Nan replies as she opens up the refrigerator. “Now, what do we wanna make for today’s barbeque?”
I love this group of women. They opened their arms and hearts to me when I came around about Maysen and now, it’s as if we’ve known one another all our lives. The joking, the teasing, all of it is new to me, but I’m finding my footing and when I’m ready, they better watch out. “I doubt they were angels,” I reply. With the ages of the kids, it’s highly unlikely that there was no mischief-making.
“As far as I’m concerned, they were,” Nan states, a twinkle in her eyes.
A cramp hits me out of nowhere and I bend over trying to alleviate some of the pain. The wince on my face must’ve been more obvious than what I was trying to let be known.
“You okay?” DJ asks, coming to my side.
“Yeah, just a cramp.” Damn, this means my period is on its way. Never a fun time for me.
“Good thing Chief got lucky last night,” she states.
“And how do you know that?” I ask.
“Because the look on his face as he was leading you out of the club said he was gonna get him a little something-something.”
I burst into laughter at her words. I’m sure we all got lucky last night from the looks on the other women’s faces. We all have that sated, satisfied air. “I don’t think I was the only one who got lucky,” I state. “I need some Midol or something.”
“You are as bad as the men sometimes, DJ. I swear you have a one-track mind.”
“Honey, what do you expect with that smut she writes,” Nan says twerking her eyes at me.
“Oh God, Nan. Please don’t ever do that again,” Cara says while wheezing in laughter holding her protruding belly.
“It’s the truth and for the record, how in the hell do you think all of you got here? Immaculate conception?” Nan asks.
“Umm...if I have to think about how Braxton made it to this world, he may never get lucky again,” Cara says, wrinkling her face in disgust.
“I’m sure I’ve got tricks the likes you four have never seen,” she replies, looking pointedly at me, DJ, Cara and Paisley.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” DJ says, fake gagging.
“And that’s perfectly fine for you to keep that to yourself. Forever,” Cara replies.
“I love how every generation thinks they were the ones who invented sex,” Nan says, pulling out several bowls.
“What’s sex?” a little voice asks. Turning, we see Luca and Tig standing there, waiting patiently for one of us to answer.
“Well,” I say standing up, “that’s my cue to go check on the girls. If you’ll excuse me.”
“Pussy!” DJ calls after me, but that word doesn’t stop me from a hasty retreat.
“What’s that?” Tig asks. Great, now she’s added to their vocabulary even more.
“And we accuse the guys of dirty mouths and watching them in front of the kids,” I call over my shoulder leaving them to their own devices. They made their beds, now they can lie in them.
Walking through to the front where the guys are sitting around drinking beer and talking before they head into church, I make a beeline to Turk. Leaning over, I say, “Chaos in the kitchen. Hatch and Braxton may be needed, possibly Twisted too.”
“What the hell?” Hatch asks, overhearing me.
“This I’ve gotta see,” Bandit says, standing up from his chair and heading towards the kitchen, only to return a second later saying, “this is all yours, brothers” while retaking his seat with mischief in his eyes.
“You’re trouble you know that?” I ask him.
“Who, me?”
“Yes, you,” I state, putting my hands on my hips.
“You’ve got me confused, sweetheart. I’m as innocent as a newborn baby.”
“A spawn of a demon maybe,” I tell him, turning on my heels and going back to my initial plan and checking on the kids. Only I have to stop and place my hand over my mouth when I see two teenagers making out in the darkened hallway. Oh fuck my life! If Chief sees this he’s going to blow his top. “Claree, Talon, stop that!” They jump apart as if they’ve been burned. I guess DJ and I are going to have to sit these two down for a conversation. Better me than one of the guys I suppose, but still. “She’s only twelve, Talon, and too young to be kissing anyone.”
“Sorry, Miss Trinity,” he says, holding his head down in shame.
“Honey, there’s nothing to be ashamed of, but y’all are too young right now. Try being friends for a few years.” Okay, maybe decades. Who says I don’t have this parenting shit down? Shit, Turk is rubbing off on me. This thought makes me cringe, I can’t become him! Someone has to be the adult in this situation. Sighing, I send the two back to where the other kids are playing with an admonishment that they need to behave. Once I’ve checked on Shelby and assured myself that she’s doing well, I head back out to find my man. Walking over to him, I say, “Need you and Hatch to follow me. We need to talk,” before I head toward the kitchen. I can see both men standing up and following me, puzzled looks on their face but there’s no way I’m not getting reinforcements in the form of DJ. Seeing her sitting at the table chopping celery, I crook my finger and say, “We have to talk.” She’s about to say something when Turk and Hatch come up behind me.
“What’s going on, sweetness?”
“We need to do this in private, got anywhere we can go?”
Both men have looks on their faces that defy description and I know that I’m about to rock their worlds with what I saw. I had debated just speaking with DJ, but I try not to keep things from Turk, and he needs to know as well. There can be no secrets between us, if I want to have an open, and honest relationship with him. We go into what I assume is Braxton’s office, I’ve never been in this room before, but it has pictures of Cara, Lily, Luca and sonogram pictures of their twins framed and sitting on his desk and along the walls. There’s a desk in the middle of the room, surrounded by chairs. Hatchet walks behind the desk, pulling DJ with him and plops in the chair and pulls her into his lap. Turk takes a seat in front of the desk and attempts to pull me into his lap as well, but I need to stand and pace, to get rid of some of this nervous energy inside of me.
“Woman, I want you here,” Turk says, patting his thighs.
“Ugh, not right now, Turk.” He raises his eyebrows up at my statement. “Okay, so...damn, I don’t know how to say this except to just come right out with it. When I went to check on the kids earlier, I kinda...maybe, caught TalonandClareemaking out,” I rush out quickly.
“Say that again?” Turk says rising from his seated position.
“Umm…” I say, clearing my throat. “I kinda caught Talon and Claree making out?” I say more as a question than a statement.
“I know you didn’t just say what I thought you did,” Turk says and suddenly he seems taller and deadlier than I’ve ever experienced from him.
“Calm down, Turk.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down, woman!”
“Before you go off all half-cocked and do something stupid, let’s talk about this, brother.” Hatchet says, and I notice he’s also standing with DJ at his back and she looks as if she’s ready to jump into the fire, both barrels blazing.
“He’s right, Chief,” DJ says to him.
“I need a minute,” Turk says, as he begins pacing the room and I can tell he’s trying to regain his composure, so I leave him to it. “They’re just kids,” he finally says, collapsing in his chair. This time, I go to him and crawl into his lap. I can feel his body vibrating with agitation, so I begin rubbing my hands along his shoulders and massaging the nape of his neck.
“They may just be kids,” DJ states, “but they’re hitting those teenage years and their hormones are changing and they’re most likely not sure what to do with that. We see how close they are, we just need to keep a closer eye on them.”
“Agreed,” I say, “they’ll be needing closer supervision for sure.”
“I say we keep them apart,” Turk says, and I can’t help the small chuckle that leaves my mouth.
“All that will accomplish is pushing them closer together,” I tell him.
“Not if I talk to him,” Turk says.
“You will not be talking to my son,” Hatch says. “We can either talk to both of them together, or we can talk to our kids individually, but you will not say anything to Talon without me present,” Hatch says, crossing his arms over his chest. And this is the first time I’ve ever been scared of him, and I hope his look is never directed towards me, I now understand why he is the enforcer for the club.
There is a knock on the door and Braxton walks in. “We have church guys, we need you to get your shit together, get over whatever it is that’s happening and get into church...now.”
“I think I’ll take the kids home,” DJ says walking past us and eyeing Turk. I think her frame of thinking is right, we need to get the kids away from the guys right now.
“No! Whatever is happening, the guys need to deal with it like adults. We have a BBQ that is for the boys’ adoptions, and we’re not putting that off. So everyone take a minute, get over your freak outs and let’s enjoy our planned family day,” Braxton says, in what I assume is his president's voice, because it sends shivers down my spine.
“Fine,” Turk growls out. “This isn’t over, we’re talking to those two as soon as church is done, though. I’m not against them liking one another, but they’re both too young.”
Chief
I walk into church, my mind still whirling over the fact that my girl has been kissing a boy. A boy! Granted he’s a good kid, but I don’t seem to remember kissing anyone at that age. Hatch bumps my shoulder and I glare at him. “We’ll figure it out, brother. They’re just kids, and we’ll put down some rules that they better obey.” Yeah, he’s got his enforcer face on and I kind of feel bad for the two kids, but then again...kissing...that can lead to other things and they’re too young for that, too!
“So, now that we know what y’all have to deal with, let’s get the details on the truck stop,” Axe states, sitting at the head of the table.
“We’re good to go, all the paperwork for the purchase is ready to file and I’ve got the money together,” Law replies. I look up and see Bandit and Smokey smirking at me. I know this isn’t the time and place, but I have a feeling they’re going to be eating either mine or Hatchet’s fist at some point tonight.
“You still good to run it, Smokey?”
“Yeah, but I’ll need good managers for those days I’m out in the field.” That’s right, he’s a Ranger and has to go when they call. I sit and listen to them hash out those details, my mind still on two teenagers...well, a preteen and a teenager. And then there’s my woman. I know she’s in pain and I don’t know why but she won’t say anything until we’re alone. That’s one thing I love about her. She is honest to a fault, even when it’s hard for her. Makes it easier for me because I detest lies. My ex was full of them and it soured me on relationships. Until Trinity. I tune back in when Braxton says, “There’s a festival thing that Cara wants to go to. Not kid-friendly so we need to see if Nan and the prospects can watch the kids so we can all ride there with our old ladies. With the current situation between your kids, we may need to rethink it, though.”
“No, we’re going to talk to them once the barbeque is done. Let them sweat a little bit,” I say, giving Hatch a look. He nods in agreement.
“Yeah, I think a few death glares toward them might have them rethinking things,” he replies.
“The trucking company is well in the green which y’all have probably noticed,” Axe states.
In other words, that business has taken off and we will be able to depend on the funds from it to carry us through if we come upon hard times with opening up and establishing the truck stop.
“Capone, if I give you the info on the festival, can you get it set up for us?”
“Are we talking about the trip we’ve been trying to set up to go and visit the bed and breakfast?” I ask him.
“Yeah, think the women would all like a weekend away without kids,” Axe replies.
“I’m thinking she’d like to get away before the little ones are born as well,” Capone says.
“You know they’re gonna go crazy,” Hatch states. “Hell, as pregnant as Cara is, maybe we should take the kids because she can’t ride on the back of your bike right now.”
“Ugh, if we take the kids it means we have to deal with Nan and her antics,” I say.
“Let’s reevaluate taking the kids at a later time. I for one would like some time away from the rugrats” Hatch says.
“You just wanna fuck your woman without worrying that one of your four will come busting in,” Bandit says, a smirk on his face.
“So what if I do? Can’t a man have a little time with his woman besides in the shower?”
“Ooh, Hatchet isn’t getting any unless there is some pre-lube already established,” Smokey laughs out.
“Asshole. My woman’s always ready for me. It’s just that the kids are still adjusting, even Ray, to us all living together. My beds become Grand Central Station which means I have to wear pajamas!” At Hatch’s statement, the room bursts into laughter.
“Hatch has blue balls, everyone stay away from his temperamental ass!” Bandit calls out.
“So, what kind of jammies do you have?” Smokey asks, nearly doubled over laughing.
“You fuckers don’t need to know about the state of my balls!” Hatchet hollers out. “Which are fine, by the way.” Which causes us all to snicker like a bunch of teenage girls.
Axe finally has enough of our shit and bangs on the table. “Y’all are worse than herding cattle, I swear!” he yells out.
A bunch of “sorry Prez’s” comes flying out of all their mouths, but Smokey and Bandit are still chuckling. Fuckers. One day, those two are going to find their woman, and I for one can’t wait to give them back everything they’ve dished out at us. I’m going to enjoy that day...immensely.
“Okay, we’ve nearly got the townhomes filled and are also in the green there. I think we’re going to be okay moving forward on the truck stop renovations. Did y’all find a construction company yet?” Axe asks.
“We’ve got five bids so far,” Law states.
“Jaxson does carpentry work, we may be able to get him to pitch in some,” I remind the guys.
“Doesn’t he,” Hatch asks, pointing at Bandit, “work in construction too?”
“Yeah, I do, but on the side. I can’t devote the time needed and still honor the IT contracts I’m working. But I’ll pitch in whenever and wherever I can,” Bandit states.
And once again, the circus has come to town. I feel for Axe sometimes, trying to keep shit straight. I know I get confused as hell.
“How’s the paperwork for our adoption going?” I ask Law. May as well. The conversation is all over the place anyhow.
“It’s filed, just waiting on the court date so y’all can get your hearing and present your case to a judge.”
“How much notice are we gonna get?” I ask. “Trinity and I are getting married first, remember?”
“Haven’t forgotten, man. I’ll have a week’s notice; will that be sufficient?” Law responds.
“Absolutely.”
“And that’ll give us enough time to plan the reception for y’all,” Axe says. “No way you’re getting out of that one.”
Right now, my focus is on getting Trinity to the court house, so we can obtain our marriage license. As if I’d let my woman out of a party to celebrate getting married. It may not be traditional to get married and find yourself with two kids on the same day, but fuck tradition.
“Thinking Nan has everything planned, just waiting on a date,” Hatch states.
“How do you know that?” I ask.
“DJ and Cara have been helping her and that’s all I’ve heard about,” he replies.
“Better get y’alls license,” Law states.
“We’ll take care of it next week,” I reply.
“Anything else?” Axe asks. I can see he’s itching to go relax and mentally cover what we’ve talked about.
“Thinking we’ve got it all,” I finally state. “Financials on the businesses, update on the truck stop, and the general bullshit we manage to drag into church.”
Axe’s look would have a normal man quivering or possibly pissing himself. Good thing I’m not a normal man.
“Then I’m calling this meeting to a close,” Axe says, banging his hand on the table. We all get up and make our way out to where our women and kids are waiting on us.
Trinity
The men all come out of their meeting room and I can see that Turk and Hatch look a little less tense than they did when they walked into the room. He comes over to me and drops a kiss on my head before saying, “Let’s find those two kids and get this over with.” I look and see that Hatch has DJ and she’s giving me wide eyes. Guess we’re doing this right now.
“Claree, Talon, over here please,” Hatch calls out. I watch the two teens jump when they hear their names and slowly walk over to the four of us.
“So, we need to talk,” Turk says, looking at the two of them. I can see them shrinking in on themselves. “First of all, none of us have a problem with the fact you like one another. That’s not our issue.”
“No, our issue is the fact that she’s only twelve, and you’re only fourteen. Y’all are too young to be making out in dark corners.” DJ interjects, pointing at Talon.
“Claree isn’t allowed to date until she’s thirty,” Turk states. I poke him in the side and give him a look that says he’s full of shit.
“What?” Claree screeches out. “Thirty? I’ll...I’ll be an old maid!” she all but wails.
“I have no problem with that,” Turk tells her.
“He’s joking,” I interject.
“Not really,” he says under his breath. I give him a ‘behave’ look which he completely ignores.
“No, she’s not allowed to date until she’s sixteen and then, it’s group dates, no alone ones,” I state.
“But, we’re supposed to be going to the movies Sunday afternoon,” Claree cries out.
“Nope, not happening. We already know what you two get up to in dark places,” Hatch tells them.
I feel a little bit bad because the men are kind of lowering the boom on them both and they look so dejected, so I say, “Let’s not be so hasty.”
“How about this,” DJ says, “I’ll accompany you two to the movies, but you have to sit near me.”
“And it won’t be on the back row either!” Turk states.
“What would that matter if DJ is with them?” I say to him, and he gives me a look that has me snapping my mouth shut.
“No, sir,” Talon says. “I... I didn’t mean to do anything wrong. I wasn’t trying to be disrespectful. I like Claree, a lot, and if I have to wait until she’s sixteen for us to date, then I’ll wait.” I see the look Claree gives him and it makes my heart melt a little bit. She gravitated toward him, from the moment we brought them into our lives, and he’s helped bring her out of her shell a little bit at a time. I know they share a lot of commonalities, so this won’t be horrible. I hope. We just have to watch them when we’re all together is all. I pull away from Turk and go to Claree. Bending down, I whisper in her ear, “We’ll have a girl talk later, okay, sweetie?” She nods at me.
“Fine, I’ll relent as long as you, or DJ are with them,” Turk says looking at me. I want to point to my chest, how did I suddenly become a chauffeur? Or the babysitter for these two? I’m not mean and strict like DJ is. They’d look at me with those puppy dog eyes and I’d have a hard time saying no to either of them. Then again, I know the teenage pregnancy statistics. Damn, just when I think I have adulting down, I get hit with teenage hormones in the making.
“So, are we clear?” Hatch asks, looking at the two kids.
“Yes, sir,” Talon replies.
“Yes,” Claree says. I can see the shimmer of tears in her eyes and decide to talk to Turk later on about his delivery methods. She’s had a lot happen in her short life, and it’s made her older than her years. Then again, we are in Texas and I don’t want either of them getting in trouble because of their hormones. Damn Romeo and Juliet! They make it look so romantic when it’s nothing but tragic.
“Then let’s go back and celebrate you and your brother,” DJ says.