Page 30 of Lockout (The Vikings MC: Tucson Chapter #11)

Keely

“ W ait,” Dani said, frowning. “He’s calling you what?”

“Jumper Cables. Cables for short,” I muttered, glaring at her.

Seek burst out laughing while everyone stared at her in confusion. She shook her head as she tried to pull it together. “Jumper Cables.” When Kit just arched a brow, she explained, “I assume it’s because she starts shit. Right?” She looked over at me for confirmation.

“How did you know that ?” I asked.

“That’s what they do,” she said with a shrug. “They start up things. And you love to start shit with Lockout. You can’t help but push his buttons.”

She wasn’t wrong. It was one of my favorite pastimes. Even now that we were together, which all the women were thrilled about, I still liked to get him all worked up. I didn’t plan to piss him off yesterday with the condom thing. That was just me being angry and maybe a little insecure.

I did my best to be calm and collected, but often the only place where that happened was the courtroom. The rest of the time, I was a bit of a hot head. And so was Lock, at least where I was concerned.

I’d felt terrible when he’d told me those condoms were a gift from his late sister.

It made sense now why there’d been birthday cards and handwritten letters at the bottom of the box.

He’d taken them out and sat me on his lap on the bed and read through them.

Daphne had written to him often and her words on the page showed me the kind of woman she was.

She was funny and kind, much like her brothers.

We all looked over as Priest, Toxic, and Ricochet walked past. They were all tense.

Jenny rested her hands protectively over her pregnant belly, watching her husband as he helped prep the guys for whatever was going down tonight. All we knew was that almost everyone was going and they were leaving armed to the teeth.

Lockout was staying here with us. And so was Isla, which had made her as grumpy as her little feline friend whenever anyone tried to get her to stop sharpening her nails on the furniture in the clubhouse.

A tug on my shirt made me glance down. My gaze softened as Caitlyn stared up at me. “What’s wrong, Buttercup?”

“Daddy’s leaving,” she said in a soft voice.

I looked over at Jenny, whose face was distraught. All of this was still tough on Caitlyn, and Priest was her comfort, her protector. I opened my arms and Cait climbed into my lap, giving her mom a soft smile before cuddling up in my embrace. “They’ll be back before you know it,” I told her.

She nodded and laid her head on my chest, staring at the table.

I wasn’t going to lie to the little girl and tell her that the guys would be fine. Whatever they were doing tonight was going to be dangerous. Which was why they were keeping us in the dark.

“It’s killing me that they’re not telling us what they’re doing,” Isla said, scowling at Butcher as he walked past.

The man was wise enough to keep going and avoid direct eye contact with his irritated old lady.

“Right?” Seek sighed. “At least let us know what’s going on.”

Kit snorted, turning all our attention to her. “They know better than that.”

“What?” Jordan asked. “We wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize,” she flapped her hands around, “whatever it is they’re doing.”

“Exactly,” Eva said. “We’d never.”

“No,” Sloane said. “You’d all just try to go help them. Not jeopardize at all.”

“We wouldn’t,” Gwen replied. Then she gave everyone a weak smile because we were all thinking about that.

“I would,” Isla muttered.

“Which is why they’re keeping it under wraps until they get back,” I told the group. “In a roundabout way they’re doing it because they love us.”

“Maybe they could love us less and let us help,” Billie grumbled.

I laughed and shook my head at my best friend. “That’s not the way these guys work.”

“Look up overprotective in the dictionary,” Dani suggested. “You’ll see all their names listed there as examples.”

“They’d rather take a bullet than let anything happen to us women. Or the kids,” I added, squeezing Cait tight.

“They could’ve at least let me go,” Isla grumbled. “I can help.”

“You are helping,” I pointed out. “And I’m actually really grateful you’ll be here.”

She blinked at that. “Really?”

“Yeah. If anything happens here, it’s just going to be Lock and us. None of us are actually trained—other than what the guys have taught us—in fighting or shooting techniques. With you here, he’ll have actual backup if shit hits the fan,” I told her.

“Yeah,” Jenny said, rubbing her belly. “We all appreciate it.”

The irritation melted off Isla’s face. “How the hell am I supposed to stay pissed off when you say shit like that?”

“Thank you, Isla,” I added, twisting the knife a little. Lock had asked me this morning, while we were lying in bed, if I could try to help the other women understand why they had to do things this way.

Everyone seemed to relax after my little speech, so I considered my job done.

Before Isla could say anything to our show of gratitude, the rest of the kids came running up. “We got ‘em!” Taylor said with a grin.

They were all holding armfuls of oranges and mandarins. Caitlyn wiggled in my arms until I let her go and she slipped down and ran over to Gabby, taking a fruit in each hand.

“We’re ready,” Sean said with a wide grin.

“I brought extra. Just in case,” Dex whispered to Isla, hefting the fruit in his arms so she could see.

She surveyed the kids, then nodded. “You did good. Go stash your ammo in the corner there and then set up the table like I showed you.

“What’s…going…on?” Billie asked, looking shocked.

“You never know with Isla,” Gwen said with a heavy sigh.

“She’s always teaching the kids new…skills,” Jenny added.

“Maybe we should be having her teach us skills, too,” Jordan pointed out as the assassin went to go help the kids flip a table in the main area on its side.

We all watched as Isla crouched behind a table, quietly explaining something. The kids were watching her with rapt attention.

“What’s she teaching them?” Eva asked.

All the kids grabbed an orange and then started lobbing them over the table, toward the other wall of the clubhouse.

Seek started laughing right away.

“What is it?” Kit asked, looking at her, then back at the kids.

“She’s showing them how to throw grenades,” Seek said with a laugh.

“No she’s not,” Dani gasped, then narrowed her eyes as she kept watching.

“Pretty sure Seek’s right,” Kit said, her lips twitching.

“As if your kids aren’t enough of a menace,” Jordan chuckled. “Now she’s showing them how to use explosives?”

“Hey, the fact that they’re practicing with fruit instead of the real thing?” Jenny said. “I consider that a win.”

“Good point,” I told her.

“She had them about to practice using knives on each other,” Jenny told me.

“Toxic put a stop to it,” Billie added.

I winced. “You know it’s bad when Toxic is the voice of reason.”

“Exactly,” the group said in unison.

“They adore her, though,” Jordan pointed out. “Look at Caitlyn’s face.”

The little girl had a wide grin on her face. I was just glad to see the melancholy look gone from her eyes. If it took tossing fruit to do that, I’d go give her every piece we had upstairs in our apartment.

“We adore her, too,” Seek added. “I never really considered what it would be like having a female Butcher around, but-”

“She’s the best,” Sloane interrupted. “She loves our kids so much; I just know she’d burn the world down to keep them safe.”

I blinked back tears because I knew we’d all do the same for the kids, for each other, and for the men. “I’m so grateful to have you all as family,” I choked out.

Isla walked back up, her steps hesitating as we all jerked out of our seats and started hugging each other. “Jesus. I was gone for two minutes max and you all turn into women again. No. No!”

But I’d already pulled Isla into a tight hug. She grumbled something under her breath. “Just give into it,” I told her, loud enough so the others could hear. “Shhhh, stop fighting. Let it happen. Struggle snuggles.”

She went limp in my arms, then slowly she hugged me back. When I finally released her she pointed her finger at my nose. “That’s all you get. No more hugs.”

“For how long?” I asked, pretending to pout.

“Forever. One hug per person,” she said, then she yelped when Billie hugged her from behind. “You’re all batshit crazy.”

That had us howling in laughter, because for the insane assassin to call us crazy? It was too funny to resist.

We spent the rest of the day learning how to toss grenades alongside the kids. It was fun. Who knew? Maybe one day it would be useful.

By the time the men had circled up in the clubhouse, the floors were sticky, the aroma of citrus hung in the air, and the busted up oranges and had seen better days.

Lock lifted his brows. “Something I should know?” he asked as he pulled me into his arms.

“Apparently you don’t throw a grenade like a baseball,” I told him. “That was a hard one to learn because of my years throwing a softball.”

“I could have told you that,” he said, then paused. “Who did tell you that?” He glanced over at Isla’s satisfied smirk. “Never mind.”

He pulled me against his chest, while I faced the men and women standing around. “We’ll see you all later tonight.”

There were Phoenix and Wyoming guys here with our men and there was this heavy sense of…

anticipation in the air. The guys were all wearing the same look.

If I had to give it a name, I’d say bloodthirsty.

Eager even. Looking around at them, I met all of their gazes.

“Be careful tonight,” I told them. I didn’t care if it wasn’t my place to say.

These men had all become like brothers to me.

They were going out to fight an enemy that I’d brought to them. “We love you all.”

Lock squeezed me in his embrace as the men all started to move out the door as one unit. “You have a kind heart, Keely,” he said into my ear.

I patted his forearm where it was crossed over my chest. “I just wish they didn’t have to do this,” I whispered.

“I know,” he said, “but if it’s any consolation, they’re looking forward to it. They need this.”

“Knowing that helps,” I told him.

We all stood together, watching the men get on their bikes and in the cage rides and leave the compound.

“Back inside,” Lock called out. “Why don’t we do a movie marathon?” he suggested.

The kids gasped with pleasure and rushed upstairs to figure out which movie to start with.

We’d do our best to keep the kids’ minds off what was happening out there.

I knew there was no point in trying to keep the women from thinking about it.

It was all we’d be able to focus on until the guys came back home.