Page 84 of Snake (Road Rebels MC 3)
Then Axel looked at me again.
“The mother of your child is welcome to the Club, Tank,” Axel declared, and I felt a flicker of a smile on my face. Gunner and Glock were smiling too, and some of my brothers cheered. Noelle looked at me, a relieved smile stretching her face and I smiled back at her in reassurance.
“Now, sweetheart, if you can go to the back office over there, you’ll find the other old ladies having a chat. Brooklyn and Kylie, and my old lady, Rebecca. Sniper! Why don’t you take Noelle over and introduce her to the crowd,” Axel continued and gently, I let Noelle’s hand go.
She seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then she walked towards where Sniper was waiting to take her in. She threw me a look before she walked through the door, and I nodded my head again to reassure her.
When she was gone, Gunner and Glock came over to thump my shoulders and congratulate me.
“So, you’re going to be a father, Tank!” Axel said, and I pursed my lips together and shrugged. There was no chance that I was going to demonstrate to my brothers just how excited I was at the prospect.
“It’s a hard job. It doesn’t come naturally to men like us, which is why we need women like them,” Axel said and tipped his head towards the back office where his own old lady was sitting. Some of the others chuckled, and I smirked.
“Before I worry about that, there is something else to take care of,” I said, interrupting the cheerful spirit in the bar. Axel arched his eyebrows at me again.
“You mean taking care of the Dragon Knights?” he asked, and I glared into his eyes.
“One of the assholes, Viper, saw Noelle in the hospital. He knows she’s pregnant,” I said, and Axel’s eyes changed instantly. It went from diffused and calm to enraged.
“If they know she’s carrying your baby, they’re going to use that against you,” he said, and I nodded. I could feel Gunner’s anger from across the room. Gunner and Viper had history, and I knew him threatening another woman would push him over the edge.
“It could put Noelle and the baby’s life in danger,” I said, and Axel shook his head. He was staring at me, and I knew exactly what he was thinking. Threatening one of the MC members was one thing, but threatening one of the old ladies or one of the kids of the Club was a completely separate matter. It was intolerable in Axel’s eyes. Gunner stormed over to us.
“Did he hurt her?” Gunner hissed, and I clenched my jaw at the thought of it.
“He was rough with her. Pulled her arm. Asked her about me. He knows,” I replied, and Axel scrunched the can of beer in his hand out of anger and threw it to the floor.
“It’s time,” Axel said, in a louder voice, so that he was sure that the entire MC was paying attention to what he was saying. “No more waiting. We need to take down the Dragon Knights before they strike or harm one of the old ladies or children,” Axel continued, and a cheer rang out in the bar.
I felt Gunner’s hand on my shoulder, and he squeezed it in support. Glock, Sniper, and Hunter had joined me too. When I looked at their faces, I could see that each of them was in agreement with Axel and me. The Dragon Knights had had a personal role to play in each of their lives, all their women were in danger as long as the DKs were allowed to run free. We all agreed that they needed to be taken down.
When I looked back at Axel, I saw that he was smiling at me. This had been my plan since that night I got shot, and now it was finally going to be set in motion.
CHAPTER 20
Noelle
The women and I came out of the back office into the bar, when we heard loud voices. Brooklyn, Kylie, and Rebecca all seemed very excited about the fact that Tank and I were going to be parents in six months. Even though I hadn’t met any of these women before, and our paths might not ever have crossed other than in this situation…I seemed to be getting along with them well.
Brooklyn and Kylie were close to my age, beautiful women and fiercely in love with their men. Rebecca was closer to my mother’s age but was warm and welcoming. When we heard their raised voices outside, Rebecca led us out, and we saw that the Club was deep in discussion.
Tank was standing with Gunner, Glock and his friends around the President, Axel and I couldn’t help but admire him from a distance. The women and I took up seats in the back.
“Think they’re finally planning their final attack on the Dragon Knights,” Kylie said, keeping her eyes on the men. Rebecca nodded her head, and when I met Brooklyn’s eyes, she smiled.
“You look worried,” she said to me, and my cheeks flushed, and I licked my lips nervously. I was new to this world, and even though everyone had been perfectly friendly and nice to me till now, it was all still new to me.
“No, it’s nothing. I just don’t know what an attack means…what that means for Tank,” I said, and now Kylie and Rebecca looked at me as well. Kylie reached for my shoulder and squeezed supportively.
“I know how this can feel, I felt lost and worried for Hunter too…this was all new to me too. But you shouldn’t worry. These guys know what they’re doing, and they’re good at it,” Kylie explained, and I nodded my head, trying to hide the tension from my face. Even though I appreciated their support, those words weren’t helping. All I was hearing was that Tank was going to put himself in danger. That his life might come in harm’s way.
“And besides, honey, it’s probably better that you know this now, from the beginning…this is what keeps our men happy. They need to go out and do what they feel is right and what is best. If they don’t, they lose the meaning of their lives,” it was Rebecca speaking now. She was Axel’s old lady, a generation older than us, and a seasoned MC woman.
I appreciated her advice and what she said made perfect sense to me, but I still wasn’t able to wrap my head around the lifestyle. How the father of my child could possibly be involved in all this.
While we were outside this world, it was easy for me to forget what Tank did. I could focus on only him, his body, and how he was capable of making me feel. Now that he had brought me here to this bar. Now that I had met his friends and brothers, and I was getting a taste of his day to day life; I wasn’t so sure of myself anymore.
Not only was his world different and new, but it was rough and rebellious and dangerous…I wasn’t so sure how I was going to be able to cope. Or how I could be as relaxed as Brooklyn or Rebecca about watching their men plan an actual weaponized attack on a rival gang.
“Or we could take down the Four Skulls first,” it was Tank’s voice that drew my attention back to the group again. He was standing casually, with his hands stuffed into the pockets of his jeans. He had made some suggestion, and the others were looking at him, nodding their heads.
“Yes! That would mean cutting off the weapons supply for the DKs,” his friend Gunner said, and Axel was nodding his head too.
“No more allies on the streets for those mother fuckers,” Axel declared, and some of the men in the group cheered.
I didn’t exactly understand what they were talking about, but there was threat and anger and violence dripping from all their voices; including Tank’s. And I had never been surrounded by so many people who cursed so freely or drank like a fish in the middle of the day. Not that any of them were drunk; which proved that this was their daily routine.
I gulped, as I tried to catch Tank’s eyes, but he wasn’t looking at me.
“Good. So we take down Four Skulls first. Stop the weapons supply and deal with the Dragon Knights after that,” Tank was speaking again, and I watched him closely. His face was serious and angered. His body language reeked of violence.
“This kind of an attack. The one they’re talking about with the Four Skulls…” I turned to Kylie again. “Will this involve actual guns and weapons?” I asked, and Rebecca let out a light laugh behind us.
“Honey,” she said and placed a hand on my arm. “How else are they going to bring those guys down?” she asked and I stared back at her. I knew it was a stupid question, but I was still in disbelief.
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“Don’t you want payback for what they did to Tank? The Dragon Knights almost killed him. You were there at the hospital, you know right?” Brooklyn asked, and I nodded my head and looked away from them.
Yes, I wanted payback for what they did to Tank. I also wanted payback for the way Mark Kaz had treated me at the hospital and the fact that they had tailed us on our date. But an attack, with guns blazing and putting lives in danger…was not the payback I would have had in mind. That was not the world I belonged to.
