Brain (25 page)

Harmony

In the three weeks since we’d arrived home, my leg had healed enough for me to walk a few miles a day, though I wasn’t doing any legwork at the gym, and hadn’t tried to run, yet.

And because I couldn’t strain it when bent, Brain had to be on top all the time when we fucked, which had taken a lot of getting used to. Before, he’d often let me on top first, until I was near orgasm, before flipping us around to missionary.

I’d waited until we were home, alone, to tell him I loved him again. I hadn’t had the nerve on the yacht, but the first time Brain made love to me after we were home, it just kind of came out, and the look in his eyes made me melt as I saw how much my words meant to the man, and how much the sentiment meant to the wolf.

Now, we were like kids who couldn’t stop saying it.

After being alone and on my own for so long, I was thankful Brain had cared enough to find me and then refuse to let go.

Now, I needed to pay him back by reuniting him with his MC family.

So, as we sat outside on the porch that night and listened to the katydids and tree frogs, I told him, “The Harmony identity officially has four hundred and twenty-seven dollars in the bank, with rent of more than three times that due in a week, and a car payment and credit card payment due soon after. It’s time for me to get a job and start working on ways to launder my cash, so I can pay bills with it.”

“If I go back to the MC instead of taking Aaron’s job offer, his plan no longer works, as he’ll have no way to pay you what you’re worth.”

“I’m thinking the best way for me to make sure Ice stays off the radar, is to retire her completely. I want to raise horses, and teach people to ride them, and maybe board other people’s horses for extra income, and do fantabulous adventure camps in the summer. One of my old identities with money is going to buy the place, and then hire Harmony to run the food shack. I’ll hire someone else for that, so I can be the general manager in reality.”

There had been stables at the private school my father had sent me to, and the horses were my refuge. Teenage girls can be cruel, but the horses were always there for me. I wanted to give that to other teens. I took a breath and plunged in with what I’d already done. “Gen found me some property not too far away from the road you used to live on. Someone bought your old house, but there are a few lots left, and you can buy one from the MC and we can have our dream home built.”

I’d learned the MC had bought a huge tract of land backing a little-used area of the Chickamauga Battlefield. They’d developed their land into a subdivision, which gave them a place for their wolves to run, as they could literally run out their back door into the forest. They didn’t offer the land to just anyone, but most of the core members lived there, the exception being Duke and Gen, since she was happy with her house and Duke had moved in with her.

Brain pulled me into his arms and held me several long moments before saying, “Okay, Buttercup. We’ll go look at the land with Gen in a few days. Do you have pictures?”

“I do,” I told him as I pulled away and reached for my tablet. “It already has horse fencing and an older barn. I can probably start with it as is, and then add buildings and activities as I go.”

I wanted a climbing wall and a zip line, and maybe a ropes course, for the summer camp.

Brain

Bikers don’t get emotional, so I walked into the clubhouse and to the back room for the meeting as if I’d been doing it all along. I accepted my Chattanooga patch back, and then glared at Duke as he seconded Bash’s motion for me to be voted in as VP, and then started the vote.

The vote was unanimous, and Bash cut the patch off his vest and handed it to me as he said, “Damn, it’s good to have you back. Is Harmony ready for the party tonight?”

I shook my head. “She thinks she is, but can any of our women ever be ready for their first RTMC party, when they haven’t been part of our world before?”

“She’ll be fine,” Duke assured me. “Gen and Bethany will take her under their wing, and I’m thinking with the three of them on the women’s splatterball team, we might should go practice our strategy.”

I shook my head. “I have one more piece of business.” I looked around the table and told them, “My woman prefers a taser over a firearm. I know the usual practice is to get to know someone before we vote them weapons privileges, but I need ya’ll to trust the opinions of myself, Duke, Gonzo, and Bash, and vote to give her permission for her taser, and/or her knife and pepper spray. She occasionally carries a gun, and is damned good with it, but I won’t ask for you to approve her for it on RTMC property, yet.”

Dawg looked at Gonzo and asked, “You’re okay with her having her toys here?”

“Yeah.”

He didn’t elaborate, and no one asked him to. Duke took the vote, and they all voted in favor. I was afraid this’d be a sore point, because they hadn’t voted in favor for Gen at first, and it’d caused problems, but Duke’s smile told me he was happy with the outcome.

“Need to bring you up to speed on some things,” Dozer said, his voice gruff. “Bash is still in charge of the girls, and the operation is running as smooth as can be expected. We got nineteen now, and we’ve had to turn customers away on the weekends a few times, so we’re still recruitin’. We brought in a few shipments of foreign guns and made a tidy profit, but for a number of reasons, we voted to stop. One of the prospects already has his FFL. He owns a pawn shop and isn’t doing much with it, right now, and we’re in talks with him to expand his current business model with the club’s backing, if he gets voted in full patch.”

Right, because I’d screwed the pooch by leaving town before my license could be approved.

“Our relationship with local LEO went way down after McPherson disappeared,” Duke continued. “We’re trying to build it back, but the trust isn’t there. When we invite them to our parties, most of the ones who come seem to be here as investigators more than guests.”

“I’ve tried to keep all your systems up and working,” said McGyver, “but I’m not you, and I could never figure out why some of the cameras stopped working. I’ll be more than happy to hand the control room back over to you.”

“No,” I told him. “Before, I pretty much lived here, and went home a few nights a month. Now, I’m gonna be going home to my woman the same as Duke goes home to Gen. I’ll figure out what screwed up, explain it to you, and point you where to go to learn more. The control room’ll be run in shifts, same as every other position around here. We’re gonna have at least eight people capable of manning it, and three capable of troubleshooting. If some of the prospects wanna learn, I’ll teach some classes, see who can pick it up, and then point them towards online lessons to learn more.” I looked around and added, “No one should be indispensable.”

Fifteen minutes later, as my ass sat in the chair in the control room, I let myself get a tiny bit emotional, as this truly felt like coming home.

I’d been working for maybe twenty minutes when the door buzzer interrupted my thoughts. I looked at the camera, saw Margie on the camera holding my preferred beer brand, and let her in as I spun my chair to face the door.

“Brought ya a beer,” she said as she held it up.

“Thanks,” I gave her a pleasant smile and accepted it, and hoped she’d just deliver it and go, but had a feeling she wouldn’t.

She’d closed the door behind her, and knew no one would come in without my buzzing them in, so she pulled her shirt off as she went to her knees in front of me and said, “God, I’ve missed you. How do ya want me?”

I gentled my voice and said, “I have a girlfriend now, Margie. You need to put your shirt back on.”

Most MC’s have girls who hang around and kind of become club property. In exchange for partying with us, drinking our booze, and eating our food, they have to give it up for any patched member who wants them. I’ve fucked Margie more times than I can count, and I’d miss her ass, since I hadn’t even
mentioned
anal to Harmony, yet, but no way would I cheat on my Buttercup.

For that matter, I’d miss fucking all the girls’ throats. Say what you might want about them, but they could all take a good pounding.

“Rumor says she’s the reason you left us.”

I shook my head. “No, she isn’t, but the reason is club business, and you keep trying to find out club business, I’ll spank you myself.”

She put her shirt back on, her face red at the threat of a spanking. Margie was so nicknamed because she tended to get in the good kind of trouble when drinking Margaritas, but she’d still been spanked enough to know we meant business about it.

“So, you’re gonna be true to her, like Duke is to the Duchess?”

“Yeah, Margie. I love her.”

She blinked her eyes a few times to cover up her emotions, and put on a tough-girl act as she stood and flounced to the door. “Gonna be lots of broken hearts when the other girls find out. If’n you want another beer, let me know.”

Harmony was lucky I loved her so much, ‘cause I’d just turned down a
fine
piece of ass, who’d have enthusiastically given it to me any way I wanted.

But I didn’t want Margie in my life. God, I’d actually forbid her from speaking while I fucked her, a few times, and had spanked her ass when she said something else vapid and stupid.

Harmony, on the other hand, was everything I could possibly want in a partner. Sure, she had some fucked-up baggage, but we’d deal with it. I’d probably never fuck her throat, but surely I could work her up to a good ass fucking, eventually.

And if not, I’d survive. She more than pleased me in bed — all hot blooded passion, and a genius she used for
everything
, including sex.

Harmony

I saw the VP patch as Brain neared me, and I ran to him and leapt into his arms, laughing as I wrapped my legs around his waist, knowing he’d catch me and hold me.

His barometer of when the entire club accepted him back was when — if — they voted him back to VP. He hadn’t expected it today, and had hoped it would come in the first six months.

“Bash opened the motion, and they all voted me back, unanimous,” he told me, his face buried in my neck. “I have my brothers back, and I have you. I’m the luckiest mother-fucker I know.”

I breathed out in relief, too, because if they’d accepted him back fully, odds were they might not give me the cold shoulder for stealing him from them. I hadn’t stolen him, it’d been the trust issues with Duke that’d run him away, but I was the catalyst and some were bound to blame me.

Most didn’t know the whole story, thank goodness, but Gen had warned me the club — men and women — were going to be ultra-curious about me.

We’d moved out of the house in Marietta and into a Chattanooga apartment Gen had found for us with a three month lease. We were in the process of negotiating to buy the horse farm, but the owners weren’t comfortable dealing with a corporation. They wanted a person to buy their farm, someone who’d love it as they had, and the idea a faceless corporation wanted to deal with them through their Realtor and lawyer, without even showing up to negotiate, didn’t sit well with them. Since the horse farm also came with a large house, and wasn’t far from the other RTMC homes, we’d opted to move into it — which meant we were in the apartment until we finished negotiations and closed.

Since the couple had put the land and buildings on the market, if I offered their full price, they’d have no choice but to accept the offer. I hadn’t, yet, but would if it came to it.

“I was reminded of a few things today — MC things — that I should explain to you before tonight.” Brain looked a little worried, and I slid down his body and led him to the kitchen.

“Okay, warn away.”

I was making lasagna to take to the party, with tons of ground sausage, because I’d discovered it made Brain happy and I hoped it impressed the other MC guys, too. He got a beer, sat at the island, and watched me layer everything together.

“There are girls who hang around the clubhouse. They kind of… belong… to the club. Like club property, I guess. They come of their own accord, hoping to eventually latch onto one of us, not realizing the way to our heart isn’t always through our cocks.”

I lifted my eyebrows, but didn’t say anything, and he continued. “I had to break it to one of the girls today that I have a girlfriend, and won’t be calling her into the control room for quickies anymore.”

I kept working as I tried to figure out why he needed me to hear this. He didn’t say anything as he waited for my response, and I finally said, “If you’re worried I’ll be jealous because I’m gonna meet girls you’ve fucked, you should know me better than that by now. You’re mine, now. They haven’t had any part of you I haven’t, and I seriously doubt any of them can keep up with you during a brainstorming session.”

He chuckled. “No, you’re the only person alive who’s ever kept up with my random thought processes.” His face went serious as he said, “But, I’ve been places on them I haven’t…” He stopped, looked down, and my heart dropped to my feet as I understood what he was saying.

“You’ve fucked their ass, gotten rough with their mouth, probably had them in positions I can’t handle yet.”

He didn’t look up, kept staring at his hands, and I forced myself to keep working, when I wanted to curl up in a ball and sit in the corner, nursing my emotional wounds.

Instead, I concentrated on my breathing, wiggled my toes, and reminded myself I’m alive and Ivankov is dead. Part of me was pissed at Brain for bringing this up, the other part grateful he’d had the balls to get it out into the open.

“Before my time in the tender care of the Russians, I enjoyed anal sex. I’m game for starting to work towards it again. In fact, if you get me drunk enough tonight, we might make it all the way on our first try.”

He looked at me a few seconds, debating, and finally said, “We haven’t taken the drunken route to get you past anything else.”

I shrugged. “No, but I think it’ll be okay for this. With your sense of smell, you’ll be able to know how I’m doing, even more than me, probably. You can just make your cock skinny if I can’t handle you, right?”

He nodded. “There’s kind of a hierarchy with the women. The skanks — club property — are at the bottom, and Gen is at the top. You’ll be coming in as her friend, and the VP’s ol’ lady, so you’ll kind of shoot right to the top. Some of the women are going to resent you for it, but most will brown nose you, especially at first.” He watched me work a little more and added, “The guys voted you can have your taser, pepper spray, and knife. Some of the women are wolves, but I can’t tell you which.”

“Is there a way for me to figure it out?”

“Not that I’m aware of. I can tell by smell, but humans are nose blind.”

“Yeah, but I’m a smart human. I’ll figure it out. You sure I’ll be okay in jeans and riding boots?”

He gave me a cocky smile and said, “Oh yeah. Can’t wait to ride up with you on the back of my bike.”

I rolled my eyes and told him, “As soon as I get Harmony’s finances sorted, I’ll buy my own bike.”

His smile faded, and he said, “I’m not gonna go all caveman macho biker on you often, and if you want to get a bike, I’m good with that, but you won’t ride it around the MC. You’ll be on the back of my bike when we go to the club, or go on rides.”

I looked at him a few seconds and saw he was serious.

“I can’t ride my own bike when ya’ll go fun places?”

He shook his head, and I could see it was important, so I said, “Okay, I’ll ride on the back of your bike for a few months, at least. Beyond that, no promises.”

“A year.”

“Six months.”

“Nine months.”

Yeah,
no
. Time to start going backwards. “Five months.”

He chuckled and said, “Fine, six months, but talk to me before you do anything, okay?”

“Yeah. Okay.” I put the lasagna in the oven, set the timer, and told him, “I worked on my business plan today, and Aaron Drake made me another offer.” I took a breath and plunged in. “He wants me to try to hack into a corporation, and if I can manage, then detail how I did it. If I can’t, then write a report of what I tried, and the results. Either way, he’ll buy me two Clydesdales once we’re settled on the farm, arrange for delivery, and pay me boarding for them for two years, as if they’re his. At the end of two years, he figures I’ll have laundered enough income to pretend to buy the horses from him.”

“Smart, and it’ll work. You interested?”

“Hell, yeah, I’m interested. He says he has a couple of jobs coming up, and can do the horse thing in payment for those, as well.” Aaron and Sophia had walked me through some kind of portal, and we’d ended up in Switzerland in a matter of minutes. From there, it was a piece of cake to collect my cash and bring it home. Aaron knew I wasn’t hurting for money, but needed a way to legitimize the cash I already had, so I could use it.

“Thought you were going to retire Ice?”

I sobered. “Yeah, I am, but this won’t be Ice. It’ll be white hat stuff, and as long as I’m not writing anything, no one’ll recognize my code.”

He nodded and tilted his head, thinking. “Okay, I have a couple of stipulations. You do nothing from home, and you set up a laptop specifically for your white hat stuff, and it never logs on from home.”

“I was going to do that, anyway. I’m not stupid, Brain. I’ve done this before.”

“Yeah, but you weren’t mine, before. Also, if you fucked up and someone followed past your proxies, you could just pick up and move to another city. You can’t do that, anymore. This is home.”

I stepped to him, hugged him, and said, “I know. I can’t wait until we can buy the farm and start living there. I won’t do anything to jeopardize our new life. I promise.”