Page 101 of Property of Yak

Closing out of his messages, I turn on some music, some early two-thousands jams, and get to work. First, I start on the soup so it can simmer while I work on the rest. Then I move on to the cookies.

As I work, my mind quiets down. I don’t think about Yak and what he could be doing. I don’t think about my dad and how he will react when I finally admit that the man I’m with is someone he would try to put away. Even Aragon doesn’t cross my mind once, nor what he might have in store for me.

I let all my worries fade, and for a moment, I am the girl I was before I met Yak. The one who was boring.

I don’t want to be that girl anymore, though. I want to be his old lady.

Smiling to myself, I let even that thought fall away as I focus on the task at hand.

In this moment, I have never felt more at peace with myself.

Yak

Smiling, I stare at my screen. My girl is dancing around her kitchen as she does about a million things, but she does it with ease.

She looks happy. Peaceful.

If I didn’t know any better, I would think everything was right in her world. That nothing is hanging over our heads like a storm cloud.

“Hey, you ready?” Yooper asks, coming to a stop next to my room.

“Yeah, let’s do this.” I pocket my phone and shut my door behind me.

As we walk through the clubhouse, Sap and Poutine nod, silently letting us know they are paying attention while we are about to be gone for a few minutes. My eyes find Aragon in the corner, holding court with Krill and Beck.

I shake my head. I swear to God it’s getting harder and harder every day not to punch him in the face.

“Fucking hate that guy,” Yooper mutters quietly as we step outside.

“He won’t be our problem anymore soon enough,” I say.

We jump into his truck, and he takes off. We head about three miles down the road and come to a stop where five men are already waiting. Yooper and I get out of the truck and approach.

“Which one of you is Monarch?” Yooper asks.

A guy, who looks old enough to be our dad, steps forward. “That would be me.”

“I’m Yooper, the president of this chapter. Sorry it took us so long to meet.”

Monarch chuckles. “It’s all good. I figured it would happen when it needed to. These are my boys, Mountie, Ottawa, Winnie, and Gretzky. Sorry I didn’t bring more, but this is all we have right now.”

“This is my brother, Yak,” Yooper tells him.

“Please don’t apologize. We are willing to work with anyone you can spare right now,” I tell him.

“So tell us what you need,” the one called Mountie says.

“We have some issues internally. Ones we plan to take care of. We need some assistance with an upcoming run,” Yooper tells him.

He nods. “What can we do to help?”

This is where it gets tricky. Can we really trust them? Only one way to find out.

“The brother we suspect has been going after my old lady. Seems to think she is his in some sick and twisted way because he thinks he saw her first. He didn’t.”

“That sounds like a fucking nightmare. Sorry you are going through that,” Gretzky rasps.

“It’s bound to happen. People get power hungry,” Yooper says.