Page 5

Mason

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect of Jacob’s sister Emma. I presumed she’d look like him in some ways. A heavy-set, middle-aged woman with a kid, a nice lady, but not someone I’d be attracted to. If I’d known what a total smoke show she was I might not have agreed to move in and act as abodyguard so readily. Resisting beautiful women has never been a strong suit of mine, and Emma sure is beautiful.

She’s everything Jacob isn’t. Short, petite, with big blue eyes, short blonde hair like a fairy, and an ethereal otherworldly beauty about her, high cheekbones, and full rosebud lips. She seems fragile yet the way she clapped back and bossed her brother around shows she’s no wallflower.

“Right well, it’s nice to meet you,” Emma says awkwardly to Ty and me before turning to her brother. “Is it okay if Max and I go and get settled upstairs? It’s been a long day, I want to take a shower and it’s time for Max to go to bed. He already ate at the diner.”

“But I’m not tired!” Max protests.

“Sure you are little man,” J-Bird says, scooping the boy up and throwing him over his shoulder, eliciting excited screams from Max. “Let’s get you upstairs to bed!”

Emma rolls her eyes and nods to us before following her brother upstairs.

“Shit man, she was nothing like what I expected,” Ty grumbles, watching Emma’s slender figure glide up the stairs.

“You can say that again,” I reply with a small chuckle.

A short while later, J-Bird comes downstairs closely followed by Emma, freshly showered and looking even more attractive without makeup. She smiles shyly at us as she sits down at the table next to her brother. I sit there wondering what I can say to break the ice, but luckily, Jax does that for us as at that moment, he walks in carrying a big bowl of spaghetti.

“Dinner is served, I hope you guys are hungry!” he declares, placing the dish on the table that Ty and I laid while the others were upstairs.

“Thank you, this looks great,” Emma says with a genuine smile that lights up her radiant face.

J-Bird grunts, “Don’t speak too soon, Jax isn’t known for being Suzie Homemaker.”

We dig in and the meal is surprisingly good. “You’ve been holding out on us Jax, I’m gonna make you give Chef some pointers,” J-Bird quips.

“I’d rather keep all of my fingers, thank you very much,” Jax replies with a chuckle.

“You guys have a chef working for you?” Emma asks curiously.

I shake my head, chuckling lightly, “Not exactly. Chef is one of my club brothers. He did time a while back and worked in the kitchens while he served his sentence, now he likes to cook for us all.”

“Rumor has it that while he was in jail one guy told him his food was too salty and he chopped off the guy’s middle finger,” Jax adds conversationally.

Emma looks shocked by the story and J-Bird glares at Jax. Clearly, he doesn’t want his sister to think of us all as thuggish criminals.

“I’m sure it’s just a silly rumor though, Chef’s a sweetheart,” Jax hurriedly adds.

Ty barely manages to suppress a small smile at these words, if there’s one word you’d never use to describe the beast of a man Chef is, it’s a sweetheart.

We continue to chat while we eat, steering clear of revealing too much about the club and studiously avoiding the topic of why Emma is here. As we talk, it becomes clear that Emma isn’t just attractive, she’s smart and funny too. Watching the ease with which she and her brother interact makes me wish I’d had siblings. She even brings out a softer side to him that I’ve not seen before, though he does his best to hide it. Emma makes us laugh and can come back with a witty remark at the drop of a hat.

By telling us a little about their childhood, with J-Bird pointedly telling stories of all the guys he beat up that tried it on with Emma, it confirms my suspicion that Emma must be quite a bit younger, which explains why he’s so protective of her.

“Mommy!” The sound of Max crying out in distress pulls our attention and we all immediately spring from our seats, ready to rush upstairs.

Emma looks at us with a mixture of surprise and amusement on her face, “Relax guys, I’m sure it’s just a nightmare. Jacob, you said so yourself this place is completely secure and there’s no way anyone followed us here.”

So she’s brave too, I think admiringly.

None of us move though, still uncertain.

“Mommyyyyy!” Max calls again .

“Coming sweetie,” she calls out to him before heading toward the stairs, “If anything seems off, I’ll shout out right away, okay?”

“I’ll come with you,” I insist.

She looks as though she’s about to argue, but the sounds of Max calling out again win out and she heads upstairs, allowing me to follow behind.

Emma pushes the door open to see Max sitting up in bed crying. She moves over to him, embracing him and soothing him. “Shush, it’s okay, it was just a bad dream, Mommy’s here.”

It’s clear that she’s right, he’s had a nightmare, which is no surprise after what the kid’s been through today. I back away slowly, leaving mother and son, not wanting to intrude further on such an intimate moment. I do a quick sweep and confirm there’s no one upstairs before going back down.

“All good?” J-Bird asks as he sees me.

“Yep, just a nightmare,” I confirm, taking my seat.

“Good,” he nods. “While Emma is upstairs, I want to take a moment to speak to you all.”

“You can save the ‘keep your hands off my little sister’ talk, Prez. You’ve made it loud and clear that you’ll chop our balls off if we try anything with your lil’ sis,” Jax says.

J-Bird looks a little irritated at Jax’s flippant tone, but he lets it drop, “I’m glad we have an understanding,” he says sternly. “Now, the sooner we figure out who’s trying to get to Max and Emma, the better,” he adds before running us through what Emma has already told him and who the potential suspects might be.

Ty confidently replies, “It seems to me the most likely candidates are a rival club trying to get at us, or even specifically at you.”

“I’m inclined to agree, the Hell Riders have been trying to muscle in on our turf for years, and they’ve got a new president who’s eager to prove himself,” I add.

J-Bird sighs, “It’s a strong possibility. I don’t know which I’d prefer, that it’s those sons of bitches or someone else. If it’s them, it means it’s my fault Emma and Max are in danger, but I can easily take those fuckers out. If it’s not, we’re facing an unknown enemy which I don’t like at all, but…” he says, his voice trailing off as he loses himself in thought.

He doesn’t finish his sentence, but I sense he’s thinking that at least he wouldn’t be the cause of his family’s suffering.

After a moment, he speaks again, “I’ll have the guys prioritize looking into the Hell Riders first thing. In the meantime, Mason, if you can get onto our PI, get him to look into everything that sleazeball husband of Emma’s got up to before he died. Both legitimate and illegal loans. If it’s got anything to do with his past, there should be something we can uncover.”

“Will do, Prez. What about the family?” I ask.

“Get him to look into them too, like Emma says, it seems unlikely, but it’s worth exploring every avenue,” he confirms.

At that moment, we hear Emma coming back downstairs and quickly change the subject, not wanting to worry her further. It’s our job to take care of her and Max now and keep them safe, she doesn’t need to know everything.

“Is Max okay?” Ty asks gently, surprising me a little. Ty isn’t exactly the parental type so his concern over something as trivial as Max having a nightmare is out of character.

“He’s fine, thank you,” Emma replies softly, her trusting blue eyes meeting his, “It’s been a traumatic day for him. You’ll find the bastards who are doing this, won’t you?” she says, her eyes flashing with steel that hadn’t been there a moment before, as she meets each of our gazes.

“We will,” her brother promises, squeezing her on the shoulder and we nod in agreement.

We stay up late, drinking and chatting until our Prez eventually decides to crash. “It’s late we should get to bed, we’ve got a big day tomorrow,” he says deliberately including us all in the statement.

“Of course,” Emma agrees, “Why don’t you take my bed? It’s too late and you’ve drank too much to drive home. I can share with Max for the night.”

“All right, thank you,” he agrees. When none of us begin to follow he stops and silently watches us.

“We’ll clear up and head to bed soon too, Scout’s honor,” Jax says, placing his hand on his heart and giving a mock salute.

J-Bird sighs but doesn’t fight it. “All right, no funny business,” he agrees looking pointedly at us all before heading upstairs.

With J-Bird gone, the atmosphere feels a little awkward. I’m not one to be tongue-tied, but quite frankly, meeting Emma has thrown me for a loop, and I don’t want to play with fire. Yes, she’s beautiful, but she’s also a nice lady and the sister of one of my best friends, who also happens to be the president of the Iron Serpents MC. I don’t wanna upset her or J-Bird by thinking with my dick and overstepping a line. He’s been good to me, to all of us, the Iron Serpents are more important to me than anything else in the world.

It’s clear that Emma doesn’t yet feel comfortable alone around us either as the second Jacob is gone, she pushes back her chair and starts to clear the table.

“There’s no need to do that we’ll tidy up,” I say, standing and taking the plates out of her delicate hands.

My fingers graze one of her slender fingers and she jolts back as if electrocuted. Her breath hitches and I realize I’ve invaded her personal space. I force myself to take a step back, my body feeling like it’s fighting an invisible gravitational pull emanating from her that wants to draw me in.

Jax chimes in, detracting the attention from our awkward exchange, “Really, you’ve had a long stressful day, let us take care of it.”

She looks as if she’s considering arguing but decides against it. “All right, thank you. Not just for clearing up but for dinner, and for well, everything. I know you don’t have to do this. There are probably a million things you’d rather be doing over the next however many days other than being cooped up with a six-year-old and your friend’s sister, so thank you,” she says sincerely, though the slightly defiant slope of her shoulders suggests she’s not comfortable nor used to accepting help.

“It’s no trouble,” Ty says softly, his dark eyes smoldering as they trace the contours of her face.

“Yeah, we’re happy to help,” Jax adds with a boyish grin, his gaze involuntarily flicking a little further south than appropriate.

I know then for certain that I’m not the only one who’s fallen under Emma’s spell. I clear my throat and shoot them both a pointed glare and they immediately avert their stares.

Emma nods, though evidently, she doesn’t completely buy our Boy Scout routine. “Okay… Well, I’m going to head up to bed then. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” we echo as we watch her retreat up the stairs and out of sight.

“We’re screwed,” Jax groans, voicing my inner thoughts.

“Yep,” I reply tersely, sitting back down, pouring a large shot of whiskey, and knocking it back in one.

“Hand it over,” Ty grunts, joining me.

I pass him the bottle and he pours himself a glass, Jax does the same, the dirty plates forgotten for the moment while we contemplate how the hell, we’re gonna behave ourselves spending every waking moment with Emma for the foreseeable future. Emma being forbidden fruit doesn’t make it any easier. I’ve never been very good at doing as I’m told. Usually, I want the one thing I’m not allowed.

“No wonder J-Bird kept warning us off so harshly,” Ty mutters.

“A heads up woulda been nice, if I’d known she was going to look like that…” Jax adds.

“You’d what? Have refused to help?” I sneer, not unkindly at my friend. “What was he supposed to say? Hey guys, I need you to help protect my traumatized sister and nephew's lives. Oh, by the way, my sister is a total smoke show, ten out of ten regulation hottie, don’t fuck her while her kid’s asleep. Jesus, we’re not animals, we can keep our hands to ourselves and respect Jacob and Emma,” I reply forcefully.

“Mason’s right, she’s terrified about the safety of her son, and from what little we know about her, it’s clear she doesn’t approve of the Iron Serpents, there’s no way she’d be interested in us,” Ty agrees.

“Good, so we’re in complete agreement, no one so much as looks at her in the wrong way. We do our jobs and try to think of her as a little sister,” I state.

“Agreed. She’s just one chick, it just caught us off guard is all,” Jax says, his voice a little defiant at the insinuation that he can’t control himself. “I was expecting… well I dunno, a soccer mom not a MILF,” he can’t help but add, already undermining his prior statement.

I shoot him a warning glare, “She’s not a MILF, she’s Emma, our Prez’s sister and a person we’re gonna protect, and that’s it. Got it?”

“Got it,” he replies sullenly.

I look over at Ty who holds his hands up in surrender. “I can control myself, can you?”

“I have to. We all do,” I reply taking another drink, hoping it will permit me a dreamless sleep.

The sooner we can get to the bottom of this and go our separate ways the better. The last thing I need is a beautiful woman complicating my life. Yet I already know Emma’s face will be seared into my mind, even when I close my eyes.