by Khloe Wren
“After all the work I’ve done on this, I call bullshit. I’m an exception to that stupid rule. And I’m using the damn hammer this first time.”
“It’s a gavel, not a hammer. And the club president is the only one allowed use it. Dammit! Spark! Come get your woman!”
“I’m coming!”
After calling out, I made my way up the hallway but before I reached the door to the meeting room of our new clubhouse, Bri came flying out and held her hand up to stop me. She was flustered and wide-eyed, with a huge grin. The new wireless headphones I’d gotten her to pair with her new phone were around her neck as though she’d been listening to her audio books before Falcon had interrupted her.
“You can’t come in yet!”
With a sigh, Falcon followed her out.
“He’s my VP, Brianna. He’s allowed into church, dammit. Hell, he can even use the damn gavel when I’m not here to do it! It’s you who isn’t.”
I rubbed a hand over my mouth to hide my grin. I didn’t say a word as they continued to bicker like little kids. Falcon looked extremely frustrated, and Brianna had a gleam in her eye that told me she’d be winning whatever this argument was about.
By the time Brianna won control over the gavel, the hallway was crowded with everyone who’d been in earshot coming to see what the commotion was about. When she looked away from Falcon and saw everyone, her mouth formed an O as she took a step back and stopped speaking. She was getting better having people around, and she’d quickly gotten comfortable with my blood brothers, but she was taking a little longer to get used to being surrounded by them and the few others we’d pulled into the club. I doubted she’d ever be able to relax around a crowd of people.
Falcon sighed and slammed his hands on his hips. “Well, now you’ve got everyone here, you might as well do whatever the fuck you want, woman. But this is the one and only time you’ll be allowed in that room! Old ladies do not come into church.”
She beamed a smile at him before turning back to glance at everyone else before she settled her gaze on me.
“I’ve made a present for you all. I hope you like it.”
She spun and dashed into the room before anyone else had a chance. Guess she wanted to see our reactions. I moved to follow the others in and like everyone else, came up short when I saw what she’d crafted for us.
After our trip to Drake, we’d started looking for a location for our clubhouse. When I found the perfect place, it wasn’t on the market, but I didn’t let that stop me. The house had been sitting empty for years and was starting to look a little rough around the edges. Through work, I’d managed to track down the owners. Some rich executive who lived in Sydney had bought the property for a vacation home, but never got around to using it. Guess he’d just wanted to be able to tell his friends he owned a place in the Barossa Valley. Either way, we threw enough money at him he was happy to sign it straight over to us.
The place was huge. Fifteen bedrooms, each with its own en-suite bathroom, a huge kitchen, wide open living areas. And outside it had a few large sheds and the paddocks were all fenced with the tallest fences I’d ever seen. Aaron had just about jumped with joy when he’d seen the set-up. Said it was perfect for farming fucking emus, of all things. I shook my head at that one. We were a motorcycle club that was going to be making money out of farming emus. Only in Australia.
Since Aaron was going to be in charge of the animals and he was moving into the clubhouse, he’d gifted me and Brianna his place. I’d wasted no time setting up the larger of the existing sheds as her workshop. It’d been tricky to keep it from her until it was ready. Giving her a new phone and headphones that she could link in with all her audio books also helped keep her distracted from my clandestine activities. Being able to surprise her two weeks ago with the place all kitted out and ready to go had been worth it. I grinned as I remembered how she’d thanked me. It’d been a good night.
Damn, but I loved my woman.
But that day had been the last time I’d been allowed in her workshop. She’d told me she was working on her own surprise and I couldn’t ruin it. So I’d barely seen her during the days this whole time. It had meant I’d had plenty of free time to put into tracing down her family once I got my new office all set up at the clubhouse. My boss had been completely behind the plan for an Australian branch of our unit, which was a relief. It helped that because we could utilize Aaron’s portals, I’d still be able to assist when they needed my skills, and with my blood brothers here with me, we’d have their skills to use when they were required too.
Focusing back on the stunning piece of furniture sitting in front of me, I grinned over at my woman.
“This was your secret project, huh?”
She blushed and nodded, and I frowned as a thought occurred to me. “How the fuck did you get it over here from our place?”
Stone had the biggest shit-eating grin on his face as he folded his arms across his chest. “That would be me, brother.”
I rolled my eyes. Of course, it was Stone who’d joined Brianna on this little side project. Stone had taken quite the shine to his new sister, and she’d fully accepted him into her life as a brother. It was a beautiful thing watching her bond with my family. Her family.
I strode over and pulled her in against me and kissed the hell out of her, ignoring the cleared throats, chuckles and catcalls from everyone else in the room.
I pulled back. “It’s beautiful, rohi. You did an awesome job on it.”
Falcon interrupted. “You did, little sister. The table is a work of art. Almost don’t want to use it and risk damaging it.”
Brianna grinned and pulled away from me. “See, that’s why I added this little extra thing for you to use the hammer — sorry, gavel — on.”
She moved around to the head of the table and sat in the largest of the chairs that surrounded the massive slab of timber. Damn thing looked like a throne. Which I’m sure Bri did on purpose as a jab at us being royals. She’d come so far from that scared little mouse we’d first found in the bush. I loved that she’d come out of her shell and was enjoying life. Teasing my brothers and having fun. With a huge grin and a sparkle in her eyes that warmed my heart, she lifted the gavel and slammed it down on a small circular lump of timber that was built into the table, apparently for just that purpose. The crack echoed around us and she deepened her voice, trying to sound like Falcon.
“Church is in session!”
“No, it fucking isn’t. Dammit, woman. Get outta my chair and hand over the fucking gavel. This ain’t one of your damn books.”
I laughed along with everyone else—well except for Falcon, who kept grumbling about women in church over-stepping bounds as he marched around the table to physically lift Brianna out of the chair. Still laughing, I dashed over to grab her before she could stir up Falcon more than she already had.
“C’mon, trouble. Settle down, you’ve had your fun.”
Tucking her in against my side, I looked back to the table. It really was a work of art. Brianna had carved the Royal Bastards logo down the center of the long slab of red gum. It took up about three quarters of the tabletop and certainly made a statement. She had the skull dead center, and she’d added some gold foil to parts of the crooked crown that looked epic as fuck. The bikes riding out from either side were so detailed, I could see the tread on the tires, that she’d added some black accents to. The wings behind the bikes had some white paint details added to them, as did the skull and beard. She’d also carved some gum leaves on either side of the bikes.
The international president would love this thing. He’d probably want one, but that wasn’t happening. This piece of art was all ours.
“We need to video call Jameson in to show him this shit. For real.”
Falcon groaned at my suggestion. “We can’t let him see we have an old lady in church! He’ll strip my president patch.”
With a grin, I pressed a kiss to her temple. “C’mon, rohi, let’s head out before you gi
ve Falcon a heart attack.”
As we exited the room, my phone rang and when I saw it was work, I stopped to answer it. I didn’t want to go far because I hoped this would be the information I’d been waiting on. If it was, I’d need to go back into church to tell my family the good news.
“Sir, please tell me that lead checked out.”
Brianna
I’d been looking forward to today since I first got the idea for the table. The fact Falcon was so much fun to tease was just icing on the cake. I was actually surprised I’d managed to use the gavel in the end. I was still giggling about his reaction when Spark lead me out into the hallway so they could call Jameson and show him. Seemed unfair I couldn’t be there to witness the club’s international president’s reaction to my artwork, but I didn’t want to risk getting Falcon or Spark in trouble with the big boss of the club, so I hadn’t fought Spark on leaving.
He stopped in the hallway to answer his phone and from the first sentence he spoke, he had my full attention. The table that had taken me over a week to carve was completely forgotten.
“Sir, please tell me that lead checked out.”
Holding my breath, I turned so I could look up at his face to try to read his expression. Had he found one of my sisters? My mother?
His grin turned to a frown and my heart threatened to stop beating.
“What is it? Are my sisters okay?”
His gaze flicked to mine as I spoke, but he responded to whoever was on the phone. “Give me a sec to get there.” Pulling the phone away from his mouth, he cupped my cheek in his free hand. “Go back in there and tell them all to come down to the rec room. We need to see something on the tv. And if Falcon bitches, tell him it’s important and urgent.”
He took off toward the rec room where there was a brand-new large screen smart television, and I turned to rush back into the meeting room, ignoring Falcon’s curse.
“Spark got a call. I don’t know what’s happening, but he said for me to get you all down to the rec room. He’s got something we all need to see. Said it’s important and urgent.”
I didn’t hang around to see if they’d follow orders, I turned and sprinted down the hallway to the rec room. Spark had the TV on and tuned into a news channel. The screen was playing footage of flooding. Towns with cars floating down the streets and people standing on roofs, waiting for rescue. I moved forward, trying to focus on every face that came across the screen. Was my sister in the flooded area? Did she need rescuing? If we knew exactly where she was, Aaron could use a portal for us to go get her. I wasn’t strong enough yet to take people with me on the lightning highway.
“Email through the details and I’ll get a team together and be on scene within the hour, sir.”
He hung up and reached an arm out to pull me in against him as he faced his brothers and the rest of the newly formed club.
“Late last night we got a solid lead on locating one of Brianna’s sisters, Emily. I just got confirmation the information is legit and she’s in the Toowoomba area in Queensland.”
I looked back at the TV. “That’s Toowoomba isn’t it? She’s in all that floodwater somewhere.”
He squeezed me in closer and kissed the top of my head. “Yeah, rohi. She’s there somewhere. Although she doesn’t live in town but on a property about twenty kilometers out. Croc, perfect timing that you decided to come join us, brother. We’re gonna need you.”
I turned to look at the man whose affinity with water had saved my life. He was frowning at the television.
“Not sure how much I can do with that much water, but you know I’ll do my best. When are we leaving?”
“As soon as we’re ready to go, we’ll head over there. These flash floods have only just hit, and the chaos they’ve caused will hopefully help us if we end up needing to get her away from her guardian.”
Suddenly overwhelmed, I turned from the room and buried my face against Spark’s shirt, letting my tears soak into the soft material. His arms instantly surrounded me, his palms stroking my back to soothe me.
I was a jumbled mess of worried and elated. On one hand, I was scared for her safety, but on the other, we’d found one of my sisters! If I was lucky, I’d be reuniting with Emily before the end of the day.
Pulling back, I looked up at my man. “Any leads on Jessica yet? My mum?”
“Nothing on your mum yet, rohi. But we do have a lead on Jessica, I’m still having it checked into, but I think she may have ended up with that nurse you saw in your visions.”
The pressure in my chest eased a little at that. Surely, at least Jessica was well cared for then. That nurse had been so kind from what I’d seen. She’d cared. Knowing she was most likely safe meant I could focus on saving Emily first, then I’d focus on Jessica. Then my mother.
Wrapping my arms around his neck, I pulled him down to kiss his lips.
“Thank you, Spark. Thank you so much. You found my sisters, and I know we’ll eventually find my mum. You have made me the happiest woman alive. I never could have imagined this was where my life was going, but damn, I’m grateful this is where I’ve ended up. I love you, Spark.”
Then I pressed my lips against his, putting every emotion I felt for him into the kiss. A few moments later, with a growl, he turned the tables and backed me up against a wall so he could take control of the kiss and show me just how much he loved me right back.
“For fuck’s sake, you two. Don’t we have a team to put together? Planning to do? Girl to rescue? Croc! Make yourself useful and toss some cold water over them or something, would ya?”
With a laugh we broke apart, and wiping the last of my tears, I leaned around Spark and blew Stone a kiss.
“Your day will come, one day and I’m gonna give you hell when it does, big brother.”
“Pfft, so you say, little sister. That’s assuming you’ll ever be able to peel yourself off Spark long enough to do anything to me.”
He gave me a wink before he got serious once more and started talking to the others about where exactly we needed the portal to drop us. I didn’t interfere, trusting them to plan out everything we needed.
Instead, I stayed against the wall, taking in the way my new family worked together. The way Martin had convinced me I wanted to live—completely isolated—had been so wrong for me. He’d tweaked my mind so I thought that’s what I’d wanted, but it had been a lie. This, right here, was what I needed to thrive. A man who loved, protected and cherished me, and a whole big family of brothers — and hopefully soon sisters — to fill up my heart and life with fun, laughter, drama, tears. A full life. Something I’d never imagined was in my future.
“You ready to go find your sister, rohi?”
I grinned at Spark as I moved from against the wall to stand over with them.
“I was born ready. Let’s go do this.”
Up Next
More RBMC: South Australian chapter books will be coming soon!
* * *
Flood of Bravery is next up and
will follow Croc and Emily’s journey.
* * *
Want to know more about Nycto, Eva, Void, Ivy and the rest of the Tampa Chapter? Check out KE Osborn’s Royal Bastards MC: Tampa series, book 1 “Defining Darkness” is out now:
http://www.keosbornauthor.com.au/
