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She stole from the club and had Friar, our IT guy, and Clutch, the club’s Secretary, all out of sorts. It all worked out in the end and now we have one more person motivated in our cause who has the skill to help us if we need it.
I almost wish I had been with Friar and the other brothers who went to Tennessee to find the hacker. I bet his face was fucking priceless when he figured out Robyn was behind the theft from the club. He wasted no fucking time in showing her the error of her ways, I’m sure, but not in the way he expected when he set out to find the culprit.
It’s clear how much my brother adores his woman. All the ones lucky enough to find old ladies cherish them.
I won’t ever find that.
Not because I don’t crave what my brothers have. I do, but I also know how quickly love and a feeling of home can be ripped away from you. My sister was the only family I had left. She was shattered to the point where she was more like sand. When lightning struck, she turned into glass to be shattered all over again.
“Hi Monk,” Robyn’s soft voice pulls me out of the darkness of my mind.
It’s a place I live constantly. The only bright spots are the club, the retribution it allows me to seek, and my art. As a kid who grew up in some of the worst neighborhoods in the city, being into art wasn’t exactly a good thing. That’s why I’m grateful as fuck I found tattooing.
“Robyn,” I rumble. “Looks like you ladies are having a good time.”
I might make sure the angels know to stay far away from me, but the old ladies of the club have a soft spot in my heart. Not only do they give my brothers happiness, but they’ve accepted all of us as family. Including me, with as broken and closed off as I am.
Robyn flashes me a grin. “We are.”
I don’t pay attention to the order she places with Chris, the prospect behind the bar. He’ll be joining our ranks as a patched member soon. We just voted on it in Church.
When Robyn’s done, she looks at me and the pain we share, the one we know deep in our souls is right there at the surface. I’ll do anything to ignore the feeling for just a few more minutes. Even make small talk.
“How has it been settling in here? You haven’t had any issues, right?”
Robyn glances over at where the club angels are flirting with the single brothers and shakes her head. “No. No issues really. It’s just,” she sighs and looks back at me, giving me a small smile, “a big adjustment, you know?”
I smirk and nod my head slowly. I’m sure being here, surrounded by people she doesn’t know while her past is out in the open, is a big change. She’s spent years running from one place to another while carrying out her brand of justice. From what Friar told us, she never allowed herself to settle in one place for long.
At least until she went to Mistletoe Creek, Tennessee. She stayed there the longest. Maybe that’s why she ended up being just sloppy enough for Friar to finally find her after searching for any sign of the hackers’ whereabouts for months.
Maybe part of her wanted to be caught.
I know there’s a small piece of me who wishes my demons would catch up to me. To put me out of my misery. To make the pain stop.
But then I wouldn’t have this, and my club gives me purpose. Even the curvy woman in front of me, who is loved fiercely by my brother gives me a purpose. I protect them and try to save as many other women as I can from the trauma Sofia was forced to endure and ended up succumbing to.
“I’m sure it is, but you are family, Robyn,” I rumble and a smile lights up her face.
A pang of yearning, of loneliness strikes my heart, but I push it aside. I gave up on having a woman in my life a long time ago. I shouldn’t be trusted with such a gift. Not when I couldn’t keep my own blood safe. Not when I failed so fucking epically.
When Chris sets a pitcher of margaritas on the top of the bar, I pick it up and gesture toward the table where the other old ladies are laughing. Robyn pouts slightly and huffs, “I can carry it.”
“No need,” I grunt.
I don’t know what she reads on my face, but she simply nods and starts to head back to the women. I might not be able to show these women how much I care about them and value them in the same way my brothers can—with smiles and warm words—but I can do this.
“We have to throw her a going away party,” Evelyn’s voice greets me as Robyn takes her seat. “I’m going to miss her,” her voice holds a note of sadness.
When I put the pitcher down in the middle of the table, she looks up at me and smiles shyly. Evelyn is a conundrum in many ways. She is fierce with Penance, her old man, but with most of the rest of the brothers it’s as if she’s waiting for the other shoe to drop. I don’t know what she thinks is going to happen, but I have no doubt she’s expecting harsh words or derision.
After Penance pulled his head out of his ass and claimed the woman that he’s been in love with for longer than he’s been with the club, he told us their story. If I had known him back then, I would have kicked his ass. But, then again, sometimes we’re stupid in our youth.
When Evelyn, who is Penance’s former stepsister and target of his bullying, left Seattle the day after their high school graduation, everything changed for him. That’s also when he found the DSMC. Well, really, I suppose we found him.
He was underage in a bar trying to drown his sorrows, one Bronco and I walked into. Penance was itching for a fight, but it was obvious he was just fucking lost. Since then, we gave him a purpose while he tried to balance the scales against his past wrongs.
Now, he’s found because he finally has Evelyn in his life.
