Page 12 of Defended by Bama (Royal Bastards MC: Mobile, Alabama #1)

Bama

After a shower, I checked the grounds and made sure the house was secure.

Nobody except for the officers knew where I lived, but better safe than sorry.

I needed to get a little space from Brooklyn, though.

Too many times, I started to get close and almost leaned in before the little one interrupted the moment.

I didn’t know what it was about her, but I was drawn to her like a magnet. And the little girl was so sweet and innocent. Brooklyn mentioned she’d seen worse things. Had she seen her mom being beaten? Did he do worse than that?

Too many questions I wasn’t sure I wanted the answers to swirled in my mind. I wished I could be on my Harley because some wind therapy would do me good, but I had to pick up a few big things and needed the truck.

Pulling into the clubhouse, I parked close to the door and headed inside. It was quiet but a few bunnies were walking around and cleaning.

“Hey, Bama,” Glenda said before I made it down the hall.

“Hey,” I said. “You see Hammer or Rogers around yet?”

“Rogers is at the bar having lunch. I saw Hammer head to his office. How’s Brooklyn?”

“Edgy but okay. She said she got a little sleep.”

“And Sadie?” she asked.

“Like a normal little girl. Kinda weird.”

She shrugged. “Kids are resilient. She’s a cutie.”

“Hey, listen–”

Glenda put her hand up. “You don’t have to do this.”

“What do you mean?”

Glenda stepped closer, placing her hand on my chest. “I saw how you looked at her. It’s okay. I don’t want to make it weird for you.”

I covered her hand with mine. “You know I’ll still protect you though? And I’ll make sure you always have a place here. Reggie would have wanted that.”

The edges of her lips turned up just slightly, deepening her dimples. “I know. You were simple. I’m not ready for more than that. But I’ll be okay. But do you think she’ll stay?”

It didn’t make sense that I cared, but the uncertainty of that question had nagged me since last night. “I don’t know. She’ll have to do what’s best for her kid and I’ll respect that.” I patted her hand, and she dropped it from my chest, smiling up at me as she shoved her hands in her back pockets.

“Maybe she already found what’s best for them. I gotta run, but bring her back around. She could probably use a friend right now.”

“Thanks, Glenda.”

Once she headed off in the other direction, I went to find Rogers. He was in the old casino at the bar.

“Hey brother,” he said as he grabbed his drink.

I sat next to him and a bunny came over to ask if I was hungry or thirsty. After she gave me a drink, took my order, and scurried off, I asked Rogers, “So any updates?”

“Been running scans for hours. No missing persons reports have been filed and no calls to hospitals. She may be wiped from the system by now, but I’ll check on that in a while. Did she say the kid was in school? Or was it preschool?”

“Preschool. Since she took off on a Saturday, she didn’t mention a trip or anything, I’m sure. How will that be handled?”

“I’ll talk to my cousin and hit you up. The fact that he hasn’t reported her missing yet is good for us. But schools usually have papers on kids, not just electronic stuff, so we’ll have to deal with that. I’ll let you know.”

“She’s marked up bad. He hasn’t reported her yet because if she was found, he’d be in some shit.”

“Well, if he decides to try after he thinks she’s healed, there won’t be any way to do so. Can't report someone missing if they don’t exist.”

I rubbed my chin. I didn’t bother to shave today and my scruff was a few days old. “I wonder if he’ll try to find her on his own.”

“Time will tell, man. In the meantime, you gonna let them stay at your place?”

I looked around. It was dead here this time of day, but even when we didn’t have parties, it wasn’t uncommon to have drugs and sex openly happening– not every day, but it could happen.

“Not sure this is the best place for them to be, and we can’t risk leaving them on their own with so much in the air. ”

He smirked, taking his time to bring his drink to his lips.

“What?”

“Did you already know this woman?” Rogers asked.

“No, why?”

He shook his head. “No reason. You just seem awfully possessive.”

“So what if I am?”

He raised his hands in surrender. “I don’t give a fuck, man. Chill out. But don’t let that be a distraction. We still have business to run.”

“That we do,” Hammer said as he came inside. “How those girls holding up at your place?”

“Made it through the night. I had some errands and needed to check in with you.”

Hammer leaned against the bar as the bunny brought me out a sandwich. “Had some guys do a little intel. Seems the Scorpions may have been down there in Pensacola recently.”

After I washed my bite down, I asked, “You think that’s why Benny was getting ballsy with us?”

Hammer crossed his arms over his chest. “Maybe. If they were trying to cut in on our deal, makes sense they’d undercut us.”

“Yeah, until they got us out of the way. Then they’d fuck him, anyway.”

“Well, Benny wasn’t always the sharpest tool in the shed. Anyway, we need to keep an eye on that and make sure deliveries are on time.”

“Got it, Prez. I’ll be headed down that way this weekend.”

“Good deal. I’m working on another buyer. A little closer but I need my best guys on it.”

I nodded. “Whatever the club needs, Prez.”

He slapped my shoulder. “I know I can always count on you. We got a few prospects nearing their test. You game?”

“Unless I’m making deliveries, I’m down.”

Hammer pushed off the bar. “Earlier this week. I’ll let you know.”

Before a prospect could patch in, they had to do something that could get them locked up, something we assigned as a task.

Someone had to be there to witness it. We couldn’t have anyone second guessing their morals once they were in.

And we needed men who would stay loyal and not question orders.

Sometimes prospects got lucky and were with us when some shit went down, but a lot of times it didn’t happen that way.

We had plenty of enemies and plenty of tasks to be done.

“Looking forward to it.” I finished the last bit of my sandwich and knocked back my drink. “Alright fellas. I gotta finish some errands.”

“I’ll call later with updates,” Rogers said as I stood up.

“You good, brother?” Hammer asked.

“Yeah. Just gotta get some shit done. Let me know about the prospects so I can be here. Probably won’t be by ‘til then.”

Hammer’s brows rose but all he said was, “Alright. See you then.”

Maybe I was being a bit possessive. But Brooklyn had been through some shit. She didn’t need the chaos of the club just yet.

Yet .