Minor Glitches (Southern Chaotic's MC Book 1)

by Arden, Dana

  ~~~~

  Getting the pool vacuumed and chlorinated doesn’t take too much time, and we end up eating lunch on the back deck. Trigger blessed us with four huge watermelons. Tate and Trigger disappeared with two of them for whatever reason. Apparently it’s a secret.

  My parents, Ryker’s parents, Sadie, the girls, Ryker and I are just finishing up our lunch and starting to clean up when Trigger and Tate strut from the side of the house wearing watermelons on their heads. Okay, I know Trigger has a few screws loose but does he honestly have to involve my son.

  Ryker and I just stare at them as they walk up the steps and then look at each other with eyebrows raised.

  “Tate, if you want a hat we can buy you one. You don’t have to wear that on your head.” Ryker states confused.

  “What, Dad, you don’t like my watermeloan?” Tate questions with a frown. Then he and Trigger start singing and dancing, “He struggles to lift the weights, but I got watermeloan to keep me in shape. She washes with Pantene but I got watermeloan to keep me clean!”

  Once they’re done their little show, I glance at Ryker who seems to be as dumbfounded as the rest of us.

  “Trigger, what the hell are you teaching my son?” Ryker all but yells.

  “Ryker, it’s this cool video on YouTube. You have to watch it.” We all proceed to watch the stupidest, but most amusing video of a man named Marlon Webb doing mini-clips of himself and others wearing watermelons and items either made to look like a watermelon or are flavored with watermelon.

  “Okay, okay. I get it.” Ryker gasps as he is trying to catch his breath from laughing. “But next time, can we discuss these little skits?”

  “Um, Dad, how’d that be funny if you know we’re going to do them?” Tate asks.

  “Yeah, Dad, it’s all about the surprise factor. Geesh,” Trigger whines, “your Dad doesn’t understand funny.” He shakes his head. This sends us all back to laughing again.

  Ryker wraps his arm around my shoulder and pulls me into him. He kisses my temple and the laughing stops suddenly. I glance around the deck and all eyes are on us.

  “Momma, my daddy just kissed you!” Rory whispers excitedly.

  “Yeah, baby, I did and I plan to kiss her more often.” Ryker leans forward to whisper back to Rory who starts giggling. “Is that okay with you?”

  “Yeah, everybody should have a momma and daddy that kiss. Trigger, does that mean you’re going to be Lyla’s daddy since you kiss Sadie all the time?” Rory questions eagerly.

  Sadie starts coughing and Trigger puts his watermelon covered head down.

  “Busted,” I shriek and then refocus. “Rory, I think that’s up to Sadie and Trigger and not our business. Okay?” She nods and starts whispering to Lyla. They’re probably plotting now.

  “Dad, does kissing momma mean you’re staying?” Tate asks timidly.

  “Yeah, bud, as long as your momma will keep me.” Ryker murmurs while gazing at me.

  “Momma?”

  “Tate, yes.” I nod while looking him in the eyes so he knows I’m serious.

  Tate fist bumps the air and starts singing about he struggles to get the ladies, but dating’s a breeze in my watermeloan Mercedes . Oh my, what am I going to do with that boy.

  Chapter 15

  RYKER

  The past month has been one of the best I’ve had in a long time. The kids and Dani have become the center of my universe. We have quite the routine since there are so many of us living under one roof, but I wouldn’t change it. There’s always someone there for the kids and that’s something I wouldn’t alter.

  My parents have put their house in Roanoke up for sale and are looking to move here to be close to us. They Skype with the kids a few times a week and came down last week to put an offer on a house that is two miles from us.

  I started helping Dani at the bar more and we seem to work well together. She keeps the bar going and I help there occasionally too, but I deal more with doing the books. There’ve been a few hiccups, like Jolene constantly coming and going when she pleased. Dani finally gave her the heave-ho and has hired two new girls for the stage and one extra for the floor.

  Jolene didn’t go quietly and it also doesn’t help that she comes to the bar with the brothers of the MC. It has come to the point where Dani has had to sit down with her Uncle Rudy and his VP, Marc, to ban her from the bar. Of course, that started a glitch between Dani and the club, but Dani has held her own. She’s made it perfectly clear that whoever brings her in next time will be banned right along with her.

  It took until the next weekend for Dani to have to ban the one person she didn’t think she would ever have issues with. Chase decided since he couldn’t have Dani, he would try and make her envious by using Jolene. It didn’t work in his favor. Dani escorted Jolene out by her hair and I had the great joy of subduing and dragging chase out of the bar. The rift between Dani and the club has mellowed a little. There are still a few brothers who favor Jolene, but they haven’t realized she is what she is, a whore. She isn’t looking out for anyone but herself.

  Today is Dani’s birthday and I have plans to take her to Atlanta for an impromptu date night. Hope and Jobe volunteered to keep the kids, but my parents wanted to surprise the kids and keep them tonight at the house.

  It is a euphoric feeling having Dani wrapped around me on the back of my bike. We’ve been riding for about thirty minutes and have roughly ten minutes to go. I wish I could prolong this ride, but I know Dani is starving.

  We pull up to the Georgian Terrance and take off our helmets.

  “Are we staying the night?” Dani whispers in my ear as she is getting off the back of the bike.

  “I reserved a room, but we don’t have to stay. We’re going to eat dinner at the Livingston and see how we feel after that.”

  “When did you become a man who liked to eat fancy food? I would’ve been just fine with ordering pizza in and a movie.”

  “Baby girl, I’ve missed several of your birthdays over the years and this one definitely deserves more than pizza and beer.”

  I take her hand and lead her to the hostess stand. I made the reservation two weeks ago, because I, also, made another purchase the same day. We’re seated at a table in the middle of the restaurant. We both order two Stella’s on draft and proceed to peruse the menu.

  The waitress, Jill, brings our beers back within a few minutes. When she asks if we are ready to order, Dani orders the Creole Scallop Carbonara and I order the Delmonico steak with grilled asparagus and heirloom cherry tomatoes. Jill takes our order and leaves.

  Dinner is filled with conversations about the kids and what the summer will hold with them being out of school. Even when conversation seems slow or even quiet, it isn’t uncomfortable. The silence is filled with lust-filled glances and the occasional brush of legs.

  Once dinner is done, Jill asks if we would like dessert. Dani shakes her head no, but I order the Nutella and Oreo Mississippi Mud pie.

  The mud pie arrives just how I requested previously in my discussion with the manager when I made the reservation. I’m just hoping that Dani notices what is on top of the pie.

  I go to take a spoonful of whipped cream off the top and Dani grabs my wrist before I’m able to put it in my mouth.

  “Ryker, stop there is something in the whipped cream.” I look down at the spoon.

  “Oh, you mean this.” I take the ring out of the whipped cream, put it in my mouth to clean it, all while standing and walking to her side of the table. I go to one knee and look Dani in her eyes that are starting to water. “Dani, we’ve missed out on a lot of each other’s lives and I want to put an end to that tonight. I want to be your friend, your lover, the father of our children and your husband. I want to spend the rest of our forever with you, our babies and our future babies. Will you marry me?”

  She bends down and cups my face with tears streaking down her cheeks. “Yes! Yes, I want all of those things too and I have something to tell you.” I glance at
her bemused. “Our future already has a baby in the making.”

  “What?” I questioned baffled.

  “You know how I’ve been more tired than normal.” I nod my head. “Well I took an early detection pregnancy test a couple of days ago and it was positive, so I set up an appointment for next week, which I was going to take you to and surprise you, but there’s no time like right now to make this proposal even better.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” I utter under my breath as my shaky hands wipe the tears from her cheeks.

  She shakes her head. I mean I could possibly not be pregnant, but I felt the same way with the twins and I thought I had the flu.”

  “Baby girl, I want nothing more than to have more babies with you.” I tell her in her ear as I hug her to my chest. “So do you want to stay here for the night?”

  “I don’t mind, but I want to check in on the kids before we decide.” She takes her phone out of her purse and dials my mom as we walk to the lobby of the hotel.

  “No ones answering. Let me try your dad.” She dials my pops’ number and gives me a strange look. “He isn’t answering either.”

  “They might be preoccupied with getting the kids bathed and ready for bed.” I state, but I don’t have a good feeling about this.

  “Can we just go home? I haven’t been away from them since they were born and I have an uneasy feeling.”

  “Sure baby girl.”

  We head out of the hotel and towards my bike. Dani calls her parents to see if they can go over to the house and check on everyone. Jobe tells her he’ll head over there in a few. We get situated on the bike and I’m hoping I can make this drive in less thirty minutes.

  Chapter 16

  DANI

  Ryker gets us to the house exactly twenty-eight minutes after leaving the hotel. Our driveway is full of motorcycles and my stomach is churning. We walk through the open front door to my living room full of club members as well as my parents and Todd.

  “What the fuck happen here?” Ryker roars. “Where are my kids?” We are both still surveying the room looking for the kids, but the only one present is Lyla.

  I glance at Todd who looks like he decided tonight he would participate in a UFC fight. Doris is nowhere to be found. “Todd, where are Doris and the kids?” I say as softly as possible at this moment.

  “We were watching a movie before we put them to bed. A few minutes into the movie the alarm started going haywire and then it shut off. I went up stairs to check and see what happen and everything was exactly how we left it. When I went back downstairs Doris was on the ground with a gash at the back of her head. Rory and Tate were gone, and Lyla had fallen asleep after bath time, so she was in the girls’ room.” I can only image the whelps on his face are from my Dad or uncle. He is continuously shaking his head trying to understand how this actually happen. My security system is top of the line and the only people that have codes to enter are family.

  I gaze around the room to see who all is accounted for. There are two people missing out of the group. “Where’s Trigger and Chase?”

  “Trigger’s at the bar with Sadie. We can’t get a hold of Chase.” My Uncle Rudy responds.

  “Well that is where we start. Todd, you and Ryker need to go to the hospital to be with Doris.” Ryker turns his glare on me and I take a deep breath.

  “I’m not going any fucking where. Pops you go to the hospital and check on Mom.” Todd nods his head and proceeds through the door. “Why are we starting with Chase, Dani?”

  “Because all the club members have the code to get into my house, if he is unaccounted for we start with him.”

  “We don’t need to start with him, Dani.” I turn around to Spook and Marc hauling a past out Chase in through the back door. “He was laying out in the bushes when we did a perimeter check. He’s been shot in the shoulder.”

  Ryker strides across the room. “Here let me help wake his ass up.” He punches Chase across the right side of his jaw. Chase moans.

  My dad comes from the kitchen with a pitcher of water. “Take his ass back outside.” He follows the guys outside and then dumps the pitcher on Chase’s head. He comes too sputtering. “Where the fuck are my grandbabies, dickhead?”

  “She’s crazy, Jobe. I followed her here from the clubhouse. I tried to stop her from leaving with the kids, but the bitch pulled a gun on me. We have to find the kids. She is off her rocker.” He says, coming to more and more.

  “Who took my babies, Chase?” I retort.

  “Jolene, but that isn’t her real name. Her real name is Samantha Wyatt.” He states.

  My heart is in my throat. This cannot be happening. How is Sammy Jolene? The only thing they both have in common is being whores and blonde hair.

  “That’s impossible.” I shriek. “They don’t even look alike.”

  “Angel, I saw paperwork in her room at the club when I was looking for her. They were sticking out of a drawer. She had pictures of you, the kids and even of Ryker.”

  Uncle Rudy looks at Professor, the club’s tech guy. “I need you to get on your computer and work your magic. We need to find the kids. Look up both her names.” Professor nods and leaves.

  Ryker has been quiet too long for comfort. I glance over my shoulder at him and he’s fuming. “Ry,” I say as I slowly wrap my arms around his back, “we’ll get them back.” He nods.

  “Yeah, we will.” He wraps his arms around me and pulls me completely to him. “We have too. I can’t lose them now.”

  Chapter 17

  RYKER

  We all head back to the Southern Chaotic’s clubhouse. Dani questioned all the clubwhores that are available, but she doesn’t get very far with them. Some of us go over Jolene or Sammy’s room, looking for anything else we can find. Marc and Spook go to Jolene’s apartment to see if they can find anything. Professor is locked up in his room going over the information he can find on his computer.

  It’s been two hours since Dani and I came back from Atlanta. I can’t even fathom how one moment we can go from being deliriously happy to utterly devastated. Dani keeps muttering something about glitches.

  We are standing in the meeting room of the clubhouse with every bit of paper and pictures we could find in Jolene’s room. We’ve all come to the conclusion that Jolene was the one who was sending pictures to Dani.

  Dani is beside herself because she trusted Jolene to the point of hiring her at the bar and no amount of telling her she didn’t know is helping the situation at all. I’m worried about her. She and the baby don’t need this stress

  I find Hope in the crowd and stride over to her. “Hope, I need you to get Dani to sit or something. She doesn’t need to get overly stressed right now.” She eyes me and then glances over at Dani who is pacing in the corner of the room.

  Hope finally convinces Dani to take a seat when Marc and Spook enter then room. They drop a journal in the center of the table. Ruby opens it and his face pales. I take a step towards the table but Jobe stops me.

  “Ryker you don’t need to see that.” He mumbles.

  “Will it help us find my kids?”

  “No son, it’s just proof that she’s psychotic.” He responds and I nod my head, but before he can let go of my shoulder, Dani is screaming.

  I look towards her at the table and she has tears streaking down her face with the journal in front of her. From what I can see from a distance, there are pictures of the kids and Dani with x’s over their heads. I move towards her and she is reading a page on the opposite side.

  I’ve tried everything to get rid of her, but no. He had to go and get her pregnant. I should’ve been pregnant by him, but my attempts to get pregnant with the faulty condoms didn’t work, but of course they work on that bitch. That’s okay. I found her and I’ll make sure that he never finds out about those bastards. I’ve done everything to change my appearance so the cunt doesn’t know it is me and it’s worked. I can’t wait until the day I can take all three of them out and then Ryker will be all
mine. No more Dani. No more bastard kids.

  “Please tell me we have more than this.” I turn to Marc who shakes his head and then it is Professor’s turn to walk into the room.

  “I’ve found two possible locations. There’s a place on Sanders Road and another close to Mary Alice Park. I think we should split up and not on the bikes, that’ll draw too much attention.”

  “Okay, let’s get going.” Dani all but jumps out of the chair.

  “Baby girl, I think it would be best if you stay here with your mom.”

  “No, Ryker. Those are my babies. I need to help find them.” She says desperately.

  I move closer to her and put my hand on her stomach. “I’ll get our babies and you’ll stay here and take care of this baby.” I mutter into her ear as I rub her stomach.

  She looks down at my hand and slowly moves her head up and down. “Okay, but you have to bring them home.”

  “I’ll do whatever is necessary to get them back safe.” I glance up to see the concern in her mom’s face and then the sad smile that forms.

  Dani looks over to Rudy and Marc. “I want her brought back here. I want retribution for taking my babies and hurting Doris.” Rudy gives her an affirmative and we leave the clubhouse.

  We drove Dani’s Excursion here, so I take eight with me and the rest load up in two other SUVs.

  Chapter 18

  DANI

  My mom, Chase and I have been sitting at the clubhouse for twenty minutes when Chase decides he wants to chat.

  “Angel, I need to tell you something.” He’s still pale since Hendrix pulled the bullet out of his shoulder and patched him up.

  “What can you possibly have to tell me that is important at this moment?”