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“Welcome home, darling! I’ve missed you so.” My absolute worst southern belle impression from Gone with the Wind tumbled out before my brain thought about it. It just made everyone laugh even harder.
“What’s up Prez?” Well, shit. Looks like business was going to take the forefront of this conversation.
“Not much beyond what I told you on the phone, man.” This wasn’t a conversation that needed to be had in front of the troopsand prospects. Until they patched in, the prospects weren’t privy to ‘Club Business’. It was a trust thing in the club.
As the rest of the guys filtered into the room carrying their various bedrolls and bags, Clip spoke up. “Checked on the Mossdale kid in the hospital, banged up, but he’ll survive.” It wasn’t like he had been told not to use the name. Hell, the entire town knew and talked about the mayor and his family.
From the back of the room, I heard a growl, and something slammed against the floor. “WHAT THE FUCK? WHICH MOSSDALE KID?” Everyone turned towards the door and there stood Teach, face red with anger and fists balled at his side.
Bear roared to life, taking a few steps in Teach’s direction until he thought better of it. Too close and he would have laid hands on him. At almost twice the size of anyone else in the club, Bear wasn’t someone you wanted to show disrespect or piss off. “Who in the fuck do you think you’re talking to, Prospect?” he almost spit the last word out.
Showing either extreme bravery or plain old stupidity, Teach took a step forward and into Bear’s reach. “Whoever can tell me what the fuck this club has to do with the Mossdales?” Yep, definitely growling between the alphas. I leaped between them.
Placing my hand on Bear’s chest, I looked him in the eye and shook my head. He took a step back, knowing that I was gonna handle this one. I turned to Teach, “Club business prospect, you know the rules. What business is it of yours?”
Teach unfurled his fists, and his shoulders relaxed a bit, but he kept the bite in his voice. “More my business than you know, man.” Something flashed across his face that I didn’t like.
I grabbed Teach by the arm and turned to Bear, “My office, NOW!” and dragged the prospect to the back of the bar.
As Bear closed and flipped the lock on my office door, I pushed the prospect in to the chair in front of my desk. As I walked around the desk to take my seat, Bear stepped behind his chairand hovered over him. Yep, intimidation 101, but this time I wasn’t so sure it was going to work. The prospect was still pissed as hell, and he wasn’t trying to hide it.
I sat in my chair and gave Bear ‘The Look’. The one that we shared often through the years that said neither one of us knew how this was going to go, so be on your toes. “Mr. Jacobs, I suggest you talk, and you need to remember that what you say may have serious repercussions regarding your position in this club and possibly this town.” I tried to hold back the tension I could feel rising in my shoulders. He better let me know now if he had something to do with my mate and it better not be what my mind was trying hard not to think.
“I want to know what this club has to do with that piece of shit, Grey Mossdale. I didn’t join this family thinking that you all were the type to do business with that scummy bastard. If you’re doing deals with him, then you won’t have to kick me out. I’ll go on my damn own and take care of my business with that family. There’s not much time left, anyway. I thought I would have patched in by now and put it to the table.” He was visibly more upset than angry. I needed to understand it.
Bear crowded closer to the back of his chair, and I gave him the slightest shake of my head. “I’ll not confirm nor deny any votes put to the table regarding patching in, but at church tomorrow, I expect everyone, including prospects in attendance. But I have a feeling that this will not last until church tomorrow, will it?”
His shoulders dropped as if he knew defeat was inevitable. “No, sir, I don’t think it can wait. I’m not sure of the exact date, but there’s not much time left. I can’t put it to a vote, but would it be alright if I ask you and Bear, maybe you can bring it up for a vote? First though, please tell me which Mossdale is in the hospital.” The pleading look in his eyes would have broken a lesser man. I was not that man.
“I suppose it won’t hurt to let you know a few bits of information before church, but not all of it. At church tomorrow, we’ll be putting a vote for the entire club. Prospects and the troops won’t be able to cast a vote, but you’ll have the option to walk away from the club without fallout. A clean break, if you will. As for who’s in the hospital, all I’ll say is that it’s one of the Mossdale boys.” Teach visibly stopped breathing and fell forward. Elbows on his knees and the base of his palms in his eyes, shaking his head.
“No, no. I was too late. They’ve already tried to kill him.” Sobs wracked his body. “Poor Theo, I could have saved him. I should have saved him. I was a fuckin coward, goddess be damned.” Fear, anger, and pain warred within his body and radiated from him in waves. Bear lay his hand on his shoulder, both trying to control any outburst and conveying comfort.
I had to step up and be a leader when all I really wanted to do was jump across the desk and grab this man and ask what in the hell he had to do with my mate. “Teach, I think you need to talk now. What do you have to do with that family? What do you know?” I sounded calmer than I felt.
Teach dropped his hands from his eyes but didn’t lift his face. Eyes hung low and his elbows were planted on his knees. He shook his head as if he was clearing a few cobwebs. He took a deep breath and spoke his first shaky words. “You guys know about my history and why I came to Misty Pines, so there’s no surprise in that. I was determined to live my life on my terms after all the shit that went down outside Tacoma. Even with the Alpha, Omega, female statuses, too many teachers are held to unreasonable standards. Being an openly gay teacher isn’t exactly accepted in smaller communities. Hell, just being gay period isn’t accepted in some places. My career there was over, and I knew between my tattoos and Harley it would be an uphill battle to fight the accusations. I had no choice but to come out.Either that or spend time in jail. I was fired from my teaching job and run out of town. Knowing no school board would hire me on, I took up private tutoring and moved to an even more rural environment. I found a home here. No one cared I was gay, no one cared I rode my bike, and my tats can be covered with clothing.” These were all things we knew before he ever began prospecting with us.
I rose from my chair and made my way over to the bar in the office’s corner. Bear moved at the same time and took a seat in the chair next to Teach. I had a feeling that this was going to be more painful for him than he was letting on. “Want a drink prospect?” I gestured to the bottle of MacCallan on the bar. Teach just nodded his head, and I poured a few fingers into each glass.
I took my seat as he took a tentative sip and swallowed. “One of the first ads that I applied for was at the Mossdale home. I met with Grey Mossdale and knew instantly that he was an asshole, but I also needed the money, and the pay was above scale, so I accepted the position.” Shame poured from his voice as he spoke. “I knew something wasn’t right immediately. I was told that the boy had a learning disability but still needed a basic education. On my first day, I saw the guards outside the doors to his suite when I arrived. The first time I saw him… Goddess Prez, all I wanted to do was give this boy a hug. He was in pain. Not so much physical, but emotional. It looked as if he had given up on the world.” My stomach twisted in knots. I’d seen that pain. I’d felt that pain in my mate. It radiated from him, even while he was in heat.
“How old was Theodore the first time you met him?” Every bit of jealousy faded from my body. Teach cared for my mate. Not in a romantic love way, but in a humanly empathic way. He saw a creature in pain and wanted so much to ease it. Bear looked inmy eyes and he saw it, too. He reached over and stroked his hand over Teach’s shoulder, trying to comfort him.
“Eighteen or nineteen, I’m not too sure. We just talked for those first few sessions. No real rhyme or reason to the conversations, simply getting to know him and his educational needs. I tried so hard to make him comfortable with me. When Grey asked me why I hadn’t started lessons yet, I told him I was assessing Theo’s educational levels so I could plan the best learning plan for him, and he seemed to accept that. I knew by the end of the 2nd session that Theo was far more advanced than anyone ever gave him credit for. He simply needed a friend, so I was that for him under the guise of a tutor.” Setting his empty glass on the corner of my desk, he took another shaky breath.
Swallowing around the boulder in my throat. “Thank you for that Myron. I appreciate it and I know Theo does too.” Bear lifted his empty glass in my direction in question. I just nodded, and he gathered all the glasses and went back to the bar to refill them.
“Thank you, Bear.” Teach took his glass from Bear. Taking another sip, he continued, “After a few months and even more offhand comments about ‘Not being around for long’ and what it would be like ‘After he was gone’, I put 2 and 2 together. I knew one way or another I had to save Theo. To get him away from his family. From the few interactions I saw here and there, his parents were disgusted by him, and his piece of shit brother was just cruel to him. Too many times, I saw random bruises on Theo and when I ask about them, Theo would tell me that Gavin had been mad at him for something and got a little rough. I finally said something to Grey about sending Theo to the University once or twice a month for more in-depth classes that I was inexperienced to help him with. That got shot down like lightning in a storm. The next time I arrived for Theo’s session, I was pulled into Grey’s office and told that it would be the lasttime I would see him. My services were no longer needed.” One gulp and the last of the whiskey was gone from his glass.
Bear drained his glass and made a low growl. “Clip should have killed that bastard instead of putting him in the fuckin hospital.” For the first time Teach raised his head, looking Bear in the eyes as he gasp.
“Gavin’s in the hospital, not Theo.” For the first time in his tale, hope rose in his voice. Cocking his head to the side in confusion, “Clip, put him there? Why?”
I opened the top drawer of my desk and pulled out a folded white piece of cloth. Walking to the front of the desk, I settled my ass against it. “I’m not how sure I am about this.” My voice was softer than usual. Bear simply nodded his head. I handed Teach the bundle of cloth. “This goes against the Rogue Nation charter, but it’s a guide, not absolute. Since the President and Vice-President are in attendance, I don’t think there will be too many issues regarding procedure.”
Opening the cloth slowly, the edge of an RNMC patch came into view. The more uncovered it became, the faster Teach unwrapped it. “It’s… It’s…” was all he could get out.
I huffed a laugh. “Yeah brother, we voted you in last week. We were gonna have a party and present it to you this week, but shit hit the fan. We want you to have a vote in church tomorrow and after what you’ve told us today, I’ve never been surer about you.” I was happy that I could finally call him brother instead of prospect.
