"Hey Lo," I greeted her, smiling slightly.
"So I see you've met the troops. Nice dinosaur-girl," she called to Ferryn who lit up under the praise. "She's going to be working for me one day, mark my words," she told Summer.
"I'd like to say that no, she's going to be something tame like a school teacher or tax consultant. But I think we all know better."
"Alright, you want to come and get some real coffee? They're all drinking that preggo, no-kick crap. Figure you might need something stronger."
And I did.
So I followed her through the endless hallways until I found myself in what was, for all intents and purposes, a normal living space. There was a kitchen that melted into a small living room, all comfortably furnished so you felt less like you were in a fallout shelter and more like you were in a home.
"It's a weird mix of people I have here. Some of us need a homey atmosphere at times, but many are so used to barracks-style bareness that this actually makes them uncomfortable. So we have a mix of both styles. I tend to spend more time here than most of the others. So," she said, turning to the coffee pot and pouring two cups, "what was Duke's fallout shelter like?"
"Surprisingly well stocked," I said, accepting the coffee and going to the fridge to get cream. I found a bottle of french vanilla creamer and thrilled a little. It wasn't the kind of thing big, bad men like The Henchmen kept stocked. Small comforts sometimes made a world of difference.
"Well, it would be. His family were a bit of doomsdayers. They made survivalism into an art."
"You know about his family?" I asked, surprised. It didn't seem like information he would freely share.
"Oh, he didn't tell me," she said, brushing off the idea. "I employ a lot of people here and we do a lot of different jobs. As such, we like to know who all the players are in town. Well, across the country really. Just so we know who is a threat and who isn't. When Renny, Duke, and Maze became probates, I had Janie look into them. She got all the ugly details about his NeoNazi family. Real purists, they are," she said, talking about hate groups like they were a common thing. For all I knew, they were.
"I mean the white supremacists are, by far, the biggest hate group in the country. And they really branch out from the KKK to biker gangs to prison gangs. They're all different too. Well, aside from hating blacks, latinos, Jews, gays, and women who like having a choice. Most are all bluster, don't actually do anything. Thank God."
"But his family does things," I said, knowing about the kid who went to jail for false rape charges and the almost-bombing.
"Yes and no. They have grand ideas that they only rarely follow through on. They are more about building their little hate family up. That farm of theirs has expanded to insane proportions. But with the expansion will likely come a rise in actual violence. Especially given all the conflicts going on lately. Prime time for hate crimes unfortunately."
"They're not like... interested in trying to..."
"Take Duke back by any means necessary?" she asked, obviously able to read me easily. "No, babe. Duke has five other siblings. Three of them are boys. And the next oldest from him is a real mean son of a bitch. Their father likes him. They've just washed their hands of Duke. Good riddance to bad rubbish or something."
"Well, that's a relief I guess."
"Duke is a good man," she said, somewhat unexpectedly. "I know he comes from a shady situation, but he's a biker. You don't usually become a gun running biker when you grew up the typical boy next door. It doesn't mean there is any evil inside of him. I really believe he's one of the good ones. So if you were maybe having any reservations because of his past, I just wanted to clear that up."
I swallowed hard, glad for the confirmation. "I know he's a good man. He's been nothing but good to me and he didn't have to be."
"Oh, honey," she said, smile a little wicked.
"What?"
"If there's one thing you need to know about these Henchmen, it's that when they pick their woman, they become like cavemen. They see you, growl 'mine' and drag you off to their lairs to fuck you until you can't see straight anymore. Ask any of us. We know. And when they claim you, you're their responsibility. They want to protect and provide and take care of you. Much to the chagrin at times of people like me and Janie and even Maze at times. But it's kind of sweet. Who doesn't like an alpha? Anyway, my point is, when he decided you were his, he did have to."
"But he's been like this since I woke up getting stitches."
"Honey, he claimed you the second you were thrown out of that car."
Somehow, I found myself equally thrilled and concerned by that fact. "But he didn't even know me."
"Your case, I think, was a little different. He felt what happened to you was his fault so it was his responsibility to take care of you and make things right. Then, of course, as you guys spent more time together..." she trailed off, giving me a smirk.
"I feel like I shouldn't like him as much as I do already."
Lo shrugged. "You know, you have to take into consideration that this relationship, like all ours with The Henchmen, weren't normal situations. We all, like you, lived with these men almost from the beginning. Normal couples start by seeing each other once or twice a week for a couple hours. And that goes on for weeks. That is why their relationships progress as slowly as they do. We didn't have that 'luxury'. We were thrown in right away to see how they throw their clothes on the floor and leave the TV on when they go to bed and can never remember to flick a light off. We get to see all the good and bad habits quickly. Also, we've all been in the middle of pretty crazy situations which makes all the feelings go into overdrive. But look, it worked out for all of us."
That was true. I never got to see anyone but Cash with Lo, but what I did see was two people still crazy in love. Even after however many years they had been together.
Having gone my entire child and adulthood without ever having seen what a couple really in love looked like, it was pretty incredible.
"That's true," I agreed. "I mean you and Cash..."
She nodded. "And Reign and Summer. And Repo and Maze. And, maybe especially, Wolf and Janie."
We both had a similar, pained look at the mention of the couple.
"How is she?"
"A wreck," Lo said, obviously not one to mince words. "That's to be expected. Especially with my little Jstorm. She has always been very extroverted. So when she is feeling something, everyone around her knows it. The doctors are hopeful so that's good. And Wolf is a fighter. But Janie is just worried and she tends to channel that worry into fits of rage, frustration, or bone-deep sadness. She hasn't eaten or slept yet. And I don't expect her to. Luckily, she's never been much of a sleeper so she'll be alright on that front."
"Do they have any idea on when he might wake back up?"
Lo shook her head. "They never can tell. Sometimes people are up just hours after. Some people take days. Though, I'm a pretty firm believer that rest is the best remedy so, to me, him sleeping is just a sign that his body is trying to recover."
"My grandmother used to say that too. About sleep being the best medicine." Whenever I was sick, she would come over and stay at my parents' house and make me soup and force me to stay in bed until I was so bored that I eventually slept for a long spell. And damn if I didn't always wake up feeling better.
"We'll be taking you to see her as much as we can too, you know," Lo added.
"I really appreciate that," I said, meaning it.
Lo waved a hand, brushing that off. "And you will be learning self-defense and how to use a gun. There is no use objecting. It's happening. I don't care if I have to drag you outta bed to do it. I don't feel right knowing that you are going to be coming into this lifestyle and have no basic training. I know that Duke will protect you and that is its own kind of peace of mind. But I don't think you're the kind of woman who would be okay with trusting a man to keep you safe. It's our job to protect ourselves as well."
I didn't disagree with that. It w
as nice that I knew Duke would go out of his way to protect me, but he couldn't be by my side twenty-four, seven. I wanted to know how to take care of myself. I was pretty sure any woman would.
"I was actually going to look into self-defense anyway. Before this thing with Duke even happened. One time getting my butt handed to me was more than enough for one lifetime. I had no idea how to fight back. It was terrifying. They could have easily, effortlessly really, killed me."
Lo nodded. "Yeah, believe me, I know. None of us were raised with the skills we have. I learned through classes and then through some of the men and women here who had military training. Janie learned from us. Summer did as well. And Maze learned from an ex-boxer, a private investigator with street fighting skills, and a Krav Maga instructor in the City. We all, save for maybe Janie, learned pretty late in life how to do it. So we are proof that it can totally be done if you put the effort in."
"I'm excited to start," I said honestly.
"Good. We can start as soon as Ashley looks you over again. She needs to make sure the ribs are better." My ribs were sore, but I had a feeling that was just because of the sex, not an indication that they were hurt more than we thought. "And she will wrap you up in gauze too just to make sure your stitches don't get messed up. We'll start with just footwork and avoiding punches until they come out. Then we can really have some fun."
Lo's idea of 'fun' was, really, just genuine torture.
There was no other way to put it.
She was one of the nicest, most giving, most awesome women I had ever met.
But that being said, when she put on her boss lady pants, yeah, she was like a fascist dictator trying to train an army to overtake their enemies.
I learned that fact about seven days after I moved into Hailstorm. My stitches had been taken out that morning by Ashley who declared, "You're going to scar like a bitch, but you're all closed up."
When Lo got wind of that, she showed up in the doorway of the medical ward which I had, very, very slowly started to see as home. It was just all so new. I wasn't used to the noise and the toys and the sounds of little kids having dreams. Actually, I just wasn't used to children at all. I had never really been around them.
That being said, Maze and Summer were always around, shooing kids onto other tasks when they thought they had been pestering me for too long and making sure I was never the one fetching food and drinks and whatever else the kids might need.
I was actually really starting to enjoy it.
There was nothing like sitting down with kids and building a Lego town or coloring pictures or listening to them tell their uniquely long, rambling stories that often seemed to have no real clear-cut end to them.
"Uh-oh," Summer said, holding her belly and smiling. "I know Instructor Lo when I see her." Then she turned to me and gave me a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry to inform you that for the next several days, lowering yourself down onto the toilet or bed is going to make every single muscle in your body scream in pain. That is if you don't have complete muscle failure and have your legs give out from under you and make you crash down onto the toilet or bed, that is."
"I would tell her to not scare you," Maze added with a shrug, "but she's really just preparing you for the inevitable. You will become acutely aware to just how many muscles your body has and exactly how much they can hurt. Have fun!"
Yeah, they weren't wrong.
I thought that, after having Lo teach me about foot work and dodging punches and stuff that I had an idea what I was getting into.
I didn't.
I was completely and utterly clueless.
Because Lo, having learned a varied set of fighting styles herself over the years, busted my ass from Brazilian Ju Jitsu to LINE training that is taught to the US Marines. And when that brought me to my knees, she wiped the floor with me with Krav Maga.
I was a boneless mass of flesh for the better part of a week.
But even being in pain and exhausted was no excuse to miss out on training. Not for a single day. So I was pulled out of bed and I was pounded on day after day after day.
And I hated it.
But at the same time, I didn't.
It hurt and it was hard and I failed a million times more than I succeeded.
"Failing is the most important part," Lo told me, whipping hair out of her face. "Failing lets you see where you are screwing up so you can learn to change that behavior so no one can use it against you."
Lo was a fair trainer.
She was hardass and no-nonsense, believing I owed it to myself to fight through it until I puked or passed out.
Which I did. The puking. Several times in fact.
But then that you had to get right back and get in it.
"Your body will get used to the pain and your threshold will increase. So stop pussy-ing out on me and fight."
But then she would hold my hair while I puked and make me a 'recovery' dinner with lots of protein and carbs and we would sit and talk and discuss what did and didn't work for us in training that day.
I got tougher.
A little harder.
And in watching some of my muscles grow, I realized not only was my body changing, but my mindset was as well.
I wasn't so scared, so inclined to cower and bite my tongue and try to shrink away and hide myself. I learned that not only was martial arts good because you could protect yourself, but it also brought with it a kind of confidence I didn't know I could possess.
"Watch out, Rambo coming through," Maze said when I came in from a three hour training session sometime around the end of my second week there. I was hot, my face so flushed it was beet red and my body so sweaty I was pretty sure there wasn't an inch of me that didn't have my clothes sticking to me. But I felt good. Alive. Alert. Strong. "God, I miss that," Maze said, shaking her head. She looked down at her belly. "You better not be a fussy baby, because Mommy is going right back to sparring practice once I push you out."
"I miss it too," Summer said, nodding. "Granted, I never got to the level you guys are at. But I always felt really confident after. And it's a great workout. And," she added, smile going a little wicked. "All those endorphins make you want to jump your man's bones."
I smiled, not knowing much about that seeing as I hadn't seen Duke. He texted here or there and, without fail, he always did so during training. At which time Lo would give me a second to shoot off a text and grab a drink before we got right back at it.
But he didn't visit.
He said he would, but he didn't.
And I was trying really hard to not be a sullen baby about that fact.
But it was hard when I had seen Reign and Repo visit.
To be fair, they came to see how their women were faring with their morning sickness and play with their kids and read them bedtime stories and tuck them in.
Still, I was envious.
I hated being envious.
"Alright, I am going to hit the shower. Guys," I called to the kids who gave me different amounts of undivided and divided attention. "Anyone have to pee because I would really prefer to shower alone for once."
Really, without fail, someone was knocking on the door at some point. It didn't matter if I asked them if they had to pee or not. I figured it was a good lesson in case I ever had my own children; there was no such thing as privacy.
"Seth..." I prompted, him being the youngest and the biggest offender. I had yet to have a shower that he didn't barge into the room during, do his thing, then slam down the toilet seat loudly, making me jump. But I couldn't complain because, hey, at least he put down the seat.
"No," he said, not bothering to look up from the puzzle he was working on, his bottom lip stuck in his teeth in concentration.
"I just peed," Summer said, but shook her head. "But I can't promise anything. This one thinks my bladder is a trampoline."
"Alright," I said, laughing, as I grabbed a pile of my clean clothes that Lo had been good enough to pick up during one of her visits to t
he compound under the guise of checking on things when, really, we all knew she was going to see her man. "I'll leave it unlocked," I said, going into the bathroom and closing the door.
I peeled off my clothes, oddly pleased with the sweat and dirt and the small stain of blood from the one time I bested Lo. It wasn't a feeling I would have thought myself capable of before.
But I was taking pride in my developing grit.
My grandmother even noticed it.
I felt like she was actually really proud of me too. For branching out and taking chances and coming out of my shell more.
She asked about Duke often and I simply said he was busy with work. It wasn't untrue. She, being of a generation that favored men who were dedicated breadwinners, liked him even more for it.
"You'll need that stability for when you start making me a great grandmother," she informed me.
I had given kids thoughts here and there in my life. But it had never been a pressing thing. But being around Maze, Janie, and Summer's kids had given me a new appreciation for them. I wanted them. And at the mention of having them with Duke, however new things with us were, I felt my ovaries explode a little at the idea.
I showered away the soreness of the grueling workout and changed into my black yoga pants and a black tee.
"Water bug," Ferryn greeted me as soon as I walked out, scooting inside, closing, and locking the door.
"Lo asked if you could meet her down in..." Summer started, squinting like she was trying to remember something.
"13A," Maze supplied.
We had, eventually, figured out that all the hallways that had freaked us out upon first arrival were actually named and numbered, painted with their titles in the corners. So if you needed to get to 6B and found yourself heading toward 7B, you knew you had to go the other way. It was actually a pretty good system.
"Weird. She said she was heading out. She came herself?" I asked.
"Yep," Summer said, and if I wasn't mistaken, her eyes were twinkling a little.
Figuring she was maybe going to ambush me somewhere along the way to test my skills, I started out, hands curled into fists, aware of every creak along the way.
Duke (The Henchmen MC Book 5) Page 19
