Page 26 of Mile High With the Bikers (Screaming Eagles MC #10)

RORY

“Just pick up the phone.” I listen to the ring tone as I pace back and forth in the room they assigned me but I hardly ever seem to use.

Dad hasn't made contact since the demonstration. It didn’t bother me at first. When he’s focused on something it’s not uncommon for him to ignore everything else. Saving bandwidth, he says.

I don't really want to talk to him. He’s going to want to know how things are going, and to chastise me for changing the demonstration target, but I don’t like not knowing what’s happening.

Does he suspect that I haven’t been totally honest with him?

If he knows that I’ve hardwired Hermes to need my laptop and the little dongle I created in order to function, he would be furious.

Still, if I had to guess, it would take three or four days for the others in the lab to figure out how I did it, and then maybe another day to bypass my changes.

I always knew it wasn’t a permanent solution, but I didn’t account for Dad simply dropping off the face of the earth in the middle of everything.

A notification pops up. A follow-up from the Watchsmart recruiter, wanting to set up a time to chat about exciting opportunities. I delete it. There’s enough excitement in my life at the moment.

There’s a knock on my door, and when I open it, I find a girl about my age looking back. She has long, honey blonde hair and a friendly face. “Hi! You’re Rory, right?”

I nod.

“I figured, but it seemed polite not to assume,” she says with a laugh. “I’m Mila. We heard that the guys had someone locked away over here and got curious. Come on.”

“Um, I’m not supposed to wander around.”

She laughs. “I get it, but don’t worry, we won’t leave the walls. We’re meeting at Alessa’s and she’s in one of the houses right next door.

“Who’s we?” I ask, following her out.

“Me and the other old ladies. We have a club of our own, sorta. This place can get a little testosterone heavy, you know? So we made the Harem Brunch Club and get together every week or so.”

The what?

After hearing Cherry and the others talk about the old ladies, I’m too fascinated to resist following her out.

It’s not that I didn’t notice the houses before, but I didn’t think too much about them until Mila brings me outside and we walk up right over the lawn and up to a small, two story house next to the main building.

There’s a well-used swing set between the first two houses, and a small trampoline.

Kids live here?

That feels more shocking to me than almost anything else I’ve seen.

The front doors slams open, expelling a girl and a boy that are probably eight?

Ten? Something like that. The boy yells something that I don't catch, and then the girl frowns and clenches her little fists.

“That's fucking dumb!” she yells back. A little boy, not old enough to be school age, peeks out curiously from inside.

“Izzy, language!” A pretty woman in her late twenties opens the door and glares at the kids. She has thick black hair and an olive complexion. “Oh! You found her!”

Mila nods. “The brute squad has her penned up in one of the spare rooms. Alessa, this is Rory, Rory, Alessa.”

Alessa smiles. “I’m sure they mean well, they usually do.

Do you have time to hang out? We have way too much food as usual, and everyone is dying for the latest gossip.

” Her smile turns into a conspiratorial grin.

“You can tell us about how things are going with your guys, and I promise you won’t find a better place to ask the really messy questions you might have. ”

“She’s right. It’s really hard to find people on the outside who have any idea what it’s like to juggle that many men in the house, let alone when they’re bikers.

” Mila leans in. “I swear, some people get so judgy when you bring up having a date night for four. It’s not like I’m asking them for advice on where to buy l-u-b-e in bulk.

” She spells it out in a whisper, trying to keep small ears from hearing.

Alessa laughs. “Come on in. We don't bite.”

Before I know it, I’m being pulled into her house.

It looks comfortably lived in, with a roomy kitchen and a living room that has enough couch space to seat a football team.

Stairs lead up to the second floor, and down to the basement, littered with building blocks, like it's been booby trapped to keep the adults out.

There's already a tray of little pastries on the coffee table.

“Matteo, why don't you go play downstairs? Dante is down there with Mia and Chloe. I'll call you up when there's ice cream.” Alessa shoos them towards the stairs, then turns to me. “Make yourself at home.”

“Anyone home?” A voice calls out from the door, which is partially open. Peeking in curiously is a woman with wavy brown hair and pink highlights. She's got a baby sling on her chest that's making little whimpering noises. “I'm coming in.”

“Kaylee! Get in here and hand Brooklyn over!” Alessa calls.

The woman with the baby enters and carefully pulls a sleeping baby out of the wrap. She passes the pink bundle to Alessa and sits down with a grateful sigh before smiling up at me. “Hi, I'm Kaylee. You're the new girl?”

“Does everyone know?”

Mila nods. “Pretty much, yeah. You know how they say gossip travels fast in a small town? It’s basically instant in a motorcycle club.

And trust me, it’s not just the women. I could write a full time blind item column based on nothing but sitting at the bar in the common room and keeping my ears open. ”

“I would pay to read that,” Kaylee says with a laugh.

“Thanks for inviting me” I sit down while eyeing them curiously. “You said it was okay to ask questions, right? Is it really normal around here to be with multiple guys? Nobody seems to even bat an eye.”

“It is now .” Alessa snuggles her nose into the baby’s little head and sniffs. “When I hooked up with the cleanup crew, it was just me and Emily. Back then I think Eagle-eye still had some hope that it wouldn’t be a trend, but I think he’s secretly getting worn down to the idea.”

Kaylee laughs. “That’s just because he’s dealing with a one year old.”

“Eagle-eye has a baby!?” I gasp.

“Oh, I love catching new people up on the club lore.” Alessa grins over the top of the baby’s head. “Trust me, it was a surprise to everyone. Including his old lady who is Emily’s mom and probably thought she was safe from having to start over.”

Mila nods. “Poor Miriam. I mean Damien is adorable, but oh my God, right? And don’t forget Eagle-eye’s daughter Faith, who’s with Alpha, Ripper and Blade. So that makes Faith and Emily step-sisters. Sorta. This is fun, I like not being the new girl anymore.”

“How long have you been here?”

“Not quite a year, I guess? It feels like forever. I used to live across the street over the Eagles’ Roost before it blew up.”

“It blew up?” Maybe Bull’s comment about the chances of explosions not being zero was more literal than I thought.

Mila shrugs. “Not to scare you off, but that sort of stuff does tend to happen around here.”

“Oh, I forgot the drinks!” Alessa passes me the baby and runs to the kitchen.

I stare down at the floppy bundle in my arms. It’s actually the first time I’ve ever held a baby, and I don’t quite know where to put my hands. “Hi, baby.”

Kaylee must be able to tell, because she leans over and adjusts my grip. “Her name is Brooklyn. Here, keep one hand under her butt, and another behind her neck. I had no idea what I was doing either. I was terrified of breaking her for the first few days.”

“How old is she?”

“Just over a month.” Kaylee brushes her fingers over the peach fuzz on top of Brooklyn’s head.

Alessa comes back holding a tray with four glasses of something bubbly. “It’s just sparkling cider today in solidarity with the nursing mom.”

When Alessa reaches down to take the baby back, I let her go, but I’m surprised to miss the weight in my arms.

“Does it make you want a fourth?” Kaylee asks Alessa.

Alessa’s big brown eyes go wide. “Four? Are you crazy? I would die. Literally die.” Then she sniffs Brooklyn’s head again and sighs. “I would, right?”

“The boys would love it.”

“Nope, nope, nope.” Alessa shakes her head vehemently, then sighs.

“I mean, if it happens, it happens. I was terrified when I found out I was pregnant with Izzy and she’s the light of my life, but we're not inviting right now, if you know what I mean. I don’t even know where we would put a fourth kid.

It’s already pretty crowded here. If the guys didn’t have the run of the entire club it would never work. ”

I feel a bit on the outside, but not in a bad way.

Just like when I was hanging out with the sluts, it’s like getting invited to a family cookout.

The closest I’ve ever come to something like this was back in boarding school, but even then I was on the outside.

I was too focused on school, and my mother didn’t care about socializing with the other parents so I just…

existed. I'm only just beginning to realize what I missed out on.

The door swings open and a fourth woman enters. She’s wearing hospital scrubs and looks to be about the same age as Alessa. “Sorry I’m late! The ER was crazy. Is Liam with Izzy? Oh, hey! Who’s the fresh meat?”

“That’s Rory. She’s with Bull and his gang,” Mila explains.

The new woman waves. “Hi, I’m Emily.”

“Emily is the OG,” Kaylee explains. “Eagle-eye blames it all on her.”

Emily snorts. “Please, if his men didn’t kidnap me, none of this would’ve ever happened. It’s their own damn fault.”

“Kidnap?” I squeak.

She nods. “The club was a little rougher back then. They were still settling in, and my father was trying to wipe them off the face of the earth. I was eighteen and had no idea what I was getting into.” She waves a hand like it’s no big deal, and then her face softens and she smiles. “But I wouldn’t change a thing.”

“And the guys don't mind? No jealousy? Like, even with kids? How do they know who's whose? The club supports it?” Once I open the tap, the questions pour out of me.

Alessa and Emily share a look that speaks volumes about how much they’ve been through.

“There is no one size fits all answer, but no, they don’t mind.

There might be some speculation here and there, but all of the men are the kids’ fathers.

We’re a team. As for jealousy, there’s no room for it in families like ours.

It might seem strange that men who the outside world thinks would be violent and macho are okay with this situation, but that’s because they don’t live here.

They don’t see how these men are willing to fight and die for each other. ”

“Most of the guys who end up in this life haven’t had easy lives,” Emily adds.

“Sharing the load with the friends they hold as close as brothers helps them stay steady when they don’t trust themselves with something as fragile as a family.

They can relax more knowing that they aren’t the only one responsible for keeping us safe.

” She giggles. “Maybe I should get a psychology degree to add to the nursing.”

I must look shocked, because Kaylee smiles at me while she reaches out to take her baby girl from Alessa. “I know that expression. I think we've all worn it at some point.”

“Are there any disadvantages?” There's got to be something, right?

The four of them give each other a glance, their expressions sobering.

Kaylee clutches Brooklyn just a little closer.

“Club life is dangerous. They say very few bikers end their days peacefully.

Eagle-eye takes good care of his men, and the Screaming Eagles watch out for each other, but I don't think there's a single old lady that came into the club without some kind of trouble surrounding her. It's exciting, but it’s not for everyone.”

Alessa laughs and Emily rolls her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Little Miss Mafia princess over there.”

Eeep!

“Technically, you can thank me for bringing you in,” Alessa grins at me. “My father was the one who got Bull, Diesel and Shrapnel on the plane where you met.”

Alessa is a Giordano?

I'm not sure how to explain that I basically hold the secret to blowing open every secured computer system in the world as long as I can get close enough. Somehow I think in this group it would just end up another piece of crazy club trivia, and there’s actually something comforting about that.

This might be the only place in the world where I could say that I met my future husbands during a plane crash after my narcissistic father tried to disrupt the world economy without completely killing the conversation.

Future husbands? Now I’m the one dreaming.

“I feel a little bit like a stray cat that you’re all adopting.”

“We've all been there.” Mila says with a laugh. “Just let it happen.”

My phone buzzes. It's Diesel.

Coming to pick you up in a moment. I heard you’re at Viking’s place. Just warning you so that I don't have to overhear you telling the girls how amazing I am in bed.

“I'm getting picked up. Thank you for inviting me, it’s been nice.” I take a quick sip from the sparkling cider and grab a pastry for the road.

Alessa sees me out and makes me promise to come back if I stick around. She seems really certain that I will.

And when I see how Diesel looks at me when he comes to pick me up, I start thinking she might not be wrong after all.

Future husband? I tell my mind to shush.