by Annie Buff
Peyton hooked up the first pint she had taken from Smoke and it slowly entered the vein. They were all just about to breathe a sigh of relief when the blow came, Mambo’s heart stopped and he flat lined. The mad scramble was on to once again bring the Sinner back from the dead.
LIFE, DEATH AND THE AFTER
Smoke and Red were shoved out the door as Bones tried to breathe life into his patient. Ajax witnessed the Queen forcibly removing her Husband and the Pound President from the clubhouse.
“Smoke what the fuck man?” Ajax had to know what was happening inside that room. Although his Beauty had saved his eye, he couldn’t have the Sinner’s blood on his hands. If Mambo died Ajax would never forgive himself, accident or not.
“His heart stopped I think.” Smoke explained. “Sweetness grabbed the paddles and epinephrine so it don’t look good. Now don’t freak just yet, if anyone can save him it’s Bones. I’ve seen that man do so many miracles, I should start calling him Jesus.” That gave Ajax a sliver of hope, that Bones could do miracles and raise the dead.
It was another two hours before the door opened again. This time there was a bloodied Bones in the doorway. You could see the look of exhaustion on his face. Bones fought the fight of his life on this one, they just hoped he went the distance and won this round.
Bones sunk to the steps, reaching for the cigarette pack he saw on the railing. Ajax didn’t say a word, just waited for the Doctor to gather himself and give them the news. Peyton and Wisha came out behind him, the Queen gave Ajax a nod so he knew at least for now Mambo was alive.
“Do me a favor Ajax,” Bones let his hand slide down his face. The man was just beat. “Try not to shoot anyone else we like, okay? That was the worst I’ve seen yet. You are one helluva shot and damn did you do some fuckin damage. For now he’s alive. I need more blood so anyone O positive needs to donate. Queen will handle that, I’m fuckin fried. I need a good stiff drink and some head. That ought to put me out for the night.” He laughed and glanced over his shoulder when he said it. He knew his Wife was behind him. She was just as tired as he was so there would be no fooling around, but the joke was funny.
The sigh of relief the Cleaner breathed was audible and he knew everyone heard it. But at this point of the night, he didn’t give a shit. It was after midnight and all he could think about was holding his woman in his arms. This was one of the worst nights of his life and he needed the comfort only she could provide. He wasn’t looking for sex, he needed the intimacy of just touching her. If sex happened that was fine but he wasn’t looking for it. Ajax helped transport Mambo from the surgical table to the bed that was rolled in. Bones would sleep in the recliner in the corner to keep watch on his patient. He guessed Wisha and the Queen would be close should something happen.
Ajax went to find Tara, who had found Rylee. He could hear the two discussing babies, diapers and bottle feeding versus breast feeding. They weren’t pregnant yet but he just assumed she was asking for the future when she was pregnant. She and Ajax had already decided to give it a year before they looked at adoption. Bones’ voice distracted him from joining Tara.
“Cleaner, got a minute?” Ajax would always make times for Bones, even if he wasn’t indebted to him. Bones was more than just the one that kept them all breathing, he was a friend.
“Sure what’s up?” Ajax asked him as he made his way back to the porch.
“I’ll be here most of the night, I’d feel a helluva lot better if Wisha wasn’t alone with the girls. Not that Aries is after me, but we’re at the point where I’m not taking chances with my family. We have a big house and three extra bedrooms. Your Daughter can stay too, unless she is staying with Krispy.”
His face was instantly red and Bones knew he struck a nerve. Isadora had been spending her free time with the young Patch, so Bones just assumed they were a thing. That was obviously the wrong assumption. He left it lie and Ajax calmed down.
“I’ll stay man, no worries. It’s late and I’m spent too. Tara is tired and she’s been fighting a flu bug so riding on the bike at this hour isn’t a good idea.” The unspoken words were heard loud and clear. Ajax didn’t have any more fight left in him tonight, so staying put was the most logical choice. Bones let him know he would check on Tara in the morning, there had been a flu going around.
Smoke and Red hooked up once more to add extra blood just in case. When Mambo started to spit up blood, Bones knew he had a bleeder and went back in. Another three hours of surgery to repair two missed nicks in the lower intestine. He stopped breathing twice during that procedure so once again Bones became Jesus and raised the dead.
As the dawn was breaking Bones had finally succumbed to exhaustion and was quietly snoring in the recliner. Peyton had been in and out most of the night, leaving her children in Rylee’s capable hands. Ajax had looked in on Mambo several times himself. He didn’t know the man but that didn’t matter. He was a Brother and since he was there because of Ajax, the big man felt it only bright to check on him.
Ajax really need something to calm his nerves, in the past it would have been a few lines of cocaine but he’d given all that up a few years back. Nowadays riding was his drug of choice. He knew permission wasn’t needed but he went to find Red anyway. Ajax wanted a riding partner and old Red wouldn’t turn him down.
“Hey Old Man, wanna ride with me? I need to blow off some steam.”
Red nodded, understanding why his Brother asked. After the previous night’s debacle Ajax didn’t want to go alone.
“Tara has some bug so Bones will be checking her out and I just need to ride.” The two geared up and went down the road to find their Zen.
Bones had taken blood from Tara, not quite liking what he found so he ran a few more tests. This definitely made him shake his head. This was seriously not what he was expecting to find. But in the medical world stranger things had happened. Bones sat down and talked to Tara about her illness so she was aware of everything and how to proceed. He was fairly certain he would have to explain all this to Ajax too but that wasn’t an issue. This was something he would need to discuss in detail to make sure the Cleaner understood what would be expected of him.
Tara walked out of Bones’ office in utter shock. She thought she had a bug, just a cold or flu. This was not what she was expecting and her man was going to flip. It was a good thing he went to ride a while. She had no idea how she was going to break this to him. Thank God Bones was going to be there when she did it.
Baking always took her mind off things so she wandered out to the barn to bake. All her equipment had been moved in so she could still work. There were daily orders and she knew one was waiting. Isadora was off with Krispy and that was okay. Tara needed to be alone and think. Life had just thrown a huge curve ball.
Ajax and Red rode all morning, stopping at Handlebars for a beer. Red had deposit slips to leave for Mack. She took care of all the money, Red had made her his bar Manager and it seemed the young woman was a perfect fit for the job. The other employees liked her and she did her job well. That, and the fact she gave Red as much shit as he dished out was fun to watch. Ajax knew eventually the President was gonna get his way with her. He had been looking to get his dick wet from the minute he saw her, and the Cleaner knew it was just a matter of time. He just hoped old Red didn’t drive her away. Ajax liked her and she was good for business.
They didn’t stay long, Tara had sent a text saying to find her when he got back. That worried him, maybe her flu was worse than he first figured.
Ajax found Tara in the barn but before she answered his battery of questions she texted Bones.
“Noah you should sit down for this. Bones will explain it all.” The look of absolute panic was plain as day. He couldn’t fathom what could be wrong with her.
“Oh fuck Beauty! Are you dying?” He choked out the words in between tears. Ajax had no idea what he would do if something happened to her. He would probably ride into oncoming traffic and let go of the bars. Tara was his world.
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br /> “She’s not dying Cleaner man. Kinda the opposite. Anyway you’ve been together now what three months? Four?” It was closer to four. The time had flown by so quick he had to think for a minute. “And we did your surgery about six weeks ago. Well it seems it wasn’t all that necessary since she was pregnant already.”
Ajax shook his head, he could have sworn Bones said Tara was pregnant. “Say again?” the big man asked, shaking his head.
“Tara is about fourteen weeks pregnant. Seems you had one good swimmer just waiting, and since she was still having a period she didn’t think about her flu being morning sickness. So congratulations man, you’re having a baby.” Ajax sat stunned at what he was hearing, Bones just said they were having a baby.
“Are you sure, and how?”
Bones was positive, he even did an ultrasound to make sure he wasn’t losing it. “I’m positive, and if I gotta say how, you need to watch more porn.” Bones chuckled. “Let’s go to the office, I wanna show you something.”
Ajax followed the Doctor but never let go of Tara’s hand. She was having a baby; their baby and Ajax was elated. He was still in major shock but no man could be happier than he was right then and there.
Tara lay on the table once more and Bones had the machine turned up. “Bought this when Poppy got pregnant again. Figured I’d need it.” He said referring to the ultrasound machine. “Hear that thump, thump, thump? That’s the heartbeat of your baby. Watch the screen, see? Right there is your little one. There’s the head, right here are the hands. Watch close, this little one seems to like to wave. See the hands moving like it’s waving?”
Ajax watched in awe, that was his child in there and he or she was moving around and waving at him. “It’s amazing,” he said as the tears rolled down his cheeks. “I still don’t know how we did it before you fixed my junk, but I ain’t asking. Just thanking God it did happen.”
Ajax took Tara to the picnic tables that were always set up. Peyton fed them almost every night so they just stayed set up. She had Smoke build her a patio big enough to house everything and make her a big built in BBQ so cooking would be a snap.
Tara smiled at Ajax, her curve ball seemed right on target. “You okay, Noah? I mean I know we were trying, but I had no idea it had already happened.”
The Cleaner was fine, he just had more to protect now. And more than ever Aries had to be exterminated. He had dreamt of literally beating Aries to death, and as bad as that should make him feel it just didn’t. Ajax actually smiled thinking of feeling the life slip from Aries as he stood over him.
Life had taken a turn and this one was for the better. Tara was carrying his child, one they made out of their love for each other. He’d be damned if anyone fucked this up, including himself.
“Beauty I am the happiest man on the planet. Just need to do one more thing to make this day perfect.” He told her as he got down on his knee. Ajax knew she couldn’t see him but his shadow was enough to tell her where he was.
“Woman, I love you more than anything or anyone in this world. You are my world and I need you in it every day. Every morning I wanna wake up with you and every night I wanna lay down with you. Tara, you make my soul smile and that ain’t never happened before. I want this forever. Will you be my Wife? Marry me and make this permanent?”
Tara sat with tears of her own. She felt the ring in his hand so she knew this wasn’t about the baby, he really did want this to be forever with her. She thought she’d be alone for the rest of her life, then came Ajax.
“Yes Noah. Most definitely yes.”
TIME TO CELEBRATE, TIME TO EXTERMINATE
Ajax made his announcement at dinner to the masses. Both clubs had taken to eating together and the Queen loved it. The Pound and Sinners were just extended family. Even Mambo was up, Bones insisted on a wheelchair which made the Sinner none too happy. But both Magic and Bones thought it best. He was on a soft diet so Peyton made his dinner special. He asked for gumbo and she made it for him, but went easy on the spices; Doctor’s orders.
“It needs hot sauce, but I will live without it.” Mambo smiled as he slowly ate. Magic hadn’t drilled him yet as to the lack of colors, but everyone knew it was coming. Ajax figured he needed to heal before his President went at him. Peyton babied him just the same as any other who was injured. Even going so far as to have Tara make him a beignet. She wanted him to have something from home for comfort.
Once the women got wind of Tara’s pregnancy they whisked her off to talk babies and hand-me-downs. Peyton had a boy and a girl, Wisha had girls and Rylee had boys. No matter what she and Ajax had, there would be nothing she would need. Tara herself was hoping for a boy, Ajax had a girl already even if Izzy was twenty. Either way it wouldn’t really matter, as long as they had a healthy baby.
Ajax sat with the men, getting his pats on the back. “Damn Baldy, you did good.” Red commended him. “I’m proud of you and I don’t mean just knocking her up. I mean all of it. You changed man, and I’m fuckin impressed.”
He had changed and he owed it all to Tara. She saw something deep inside him that Ajax thought he kept hidden. It was obvious he did a piss poor job at it. She saw the man, the real man he was behind the Cleaner. The one who he had tried so hard to kill off, but he just couldn’t. Ajax let him finally emerge and he liked that guy. Seemed that everyone else did too.
“Remember when you told me to quit thinking I’m the one and do my job?” Ajax asked his President.
Red remembered. He just never thought Tara would take to Ajax in the way she had.
“I couldn’t do that because she was the one.” The Cleaner explained. “Man, I love that woman more than I ever imagined. So we need to find Aries and Snowman. They gotta die, I hate killing. I always have, but sometimes in this shitty world you gotta do shitty things; and that’s one of them. Snowman can go quick but Aries, well I’m gonna enjoy that one way more than I should. He’s tried to kill me and my girls, he raped Tara. He’s the one who attacked her in her house. I can’t let that one go. No man has the right to do that to any woman and for that alone he earned a death sentence.”
Red didn’t know it had been Aries, most didn’t know about her rape. It wasn’t something she talked about except to him and in her therapy sessions.
The night carried on in celebration of a new family member. It was almost the end of summer and the nights were still nice. Smoke had his bonfire going and bourbon bottle in hand. As he passed it around he pulled out a pouch and smiled. As Smoke rolled his joint he looked to Ajax.
“This is a good night, one worth me pulling out the good stuff. Peyton says a little pot keeps me from stroking out. She says I’m high strung, but I don’t see it.”
They all laughed at that statement. Smoke was the epitome of high strung. Add that to his OCD and his Wife was right, he needed something to calm him. Smoke handed it off to Ajax, letting him have the first hit.
“Congratulations man, I hear you got to see the little spawn. Pretty fuckin cool wasn’t it? Just don’t do what I did during Nora’s birth and pass out. That woman ain’t never let me forget it.” He said as he chuckled, remembering the day his Daughter was born. She would be four in just a couple months and Brolin was already almost a year old. Time went faster than he liked.
Mambo wheeled himself over to Ajax, they had already spoken twice about the shooting and the Cajun held no grudge. “I think I saw the man you’re after the morning I was shot.” Mambo had a slight French accent from growing up in Louisiana in the French quarter. His skin was on the dark side with soft, thick curls kept short, but it was his blue eyes that stood out. His Haitian Mother gave him his color and his French Father his eyes.
“Where!?” Ajax jumped up, almost yelling.
“There is a Mini Mart not far from the turn off to the lake, and I saw two men wearing two different sets of colors. I removed mine so it didn’t look like I had a club.” There was the reason he wasn’t flying colors, he was trying to stay under the radar. “I heard the
m speak of dealing with you so I assumed that was who you were looking for. One had a few food items he was loading into his bags.” That meant they had to be close. Smoke and Red had sent out scouts to all the abandoned farms, houses and shacks he could think of but they must have missed one somewhere.
Ajax didn’t know the area like Smoke and his crew did. Instead of going off halfcocked he sat and listened. Krispy was the one who had ideas.
“Hey Prez, remember the old Steele farm? We used to take beer up there when I was younger and just sit and drink. After Elmer died nobody ever moved in. It’s been empty for at least five years. That’s the only place we didn’t look. It’s so far off the road I kinda forgot all about it.”
“Well I’ll be a son of a bitch; Elmer’s farm is the last place I thought about. That’s gotta be it. In the morning we’ll make a plan and I’ll send out Ren to scout. Won’t do any good going in the dark, we all been drinking and smoking. Not a good combo if we’re going hunting, so let’s finish this night and start at first light.”
Ajax stayed with Smoke long after the others had turned in. He had to know every square inch of the farm that Krispy had talked about. In his mind he knew Aries had planned more than one escape route, so Ajax needed to be prepared. He ran his hand across the stubble he’d grown. It was a strange feeling after all these years to have hair on his face. Tara had mentioned she liked the way it felt, so he left it.
“Feels weird don’t it?” Smoke told him referring to the five o’clock shadow he was sporting. And it was odd. After twenty years of smooth, feeling the growth was almost foreign.
