“Okay, I won’t. I’ll just kick your ass if you act like that again.” I laughed. Picking her up, I took her to the bathroom to get cleaned up and then back to bed. We both needed some sleep. But I wasn’t done with my duchess yet. I figured I had at least one more in me tonight… after we took a little nap.
?????
The next morning, we got up, and she made me breakfast. I sat in her kitchen watching since she wouldn’t let me help. She was in a short robe, and I kept watching her sweet ass as she moved around the stove. I went up to her and pulled her into my arms. She relaxed into my chest. “You keep moving that ass like that, and you’re gonna find yourself back in that bed, woman. Behave. When we get done with breakfast, we need to go to the clubhouse.” She tensed up a little.
“Why do I need to go with you to the clubhouse? I’m sure no one wants me or needs me there,” she mumbled. I turned her around so I could see her face.
“I want and need you there. Are you afraid of something there, baby?” She sighed and then looked at me.
“Your guys all know by now that I went out on a date with another man. What are they going to think? They’re your family. I hardly think they look on that favorably. I don’t want to cause or have any trouble.”
I kissed her gently on the mouth. Her lips were swollen from all the kissing we’d done when we woke up this morning. “Baby, they won’t say a damn thing. They knew I had been a dumbass and pushed you away. They’ll just be glad you forgave my ass. Now, come on, let’s eat and then head out.” She eventually nodded, and we got down to eating. Within the hour, she was on the back of my bike headed to the compound.
Tate was at the gate and opened it for us. I parked in front of the clubhouse and helped her off my bike. She clung to my hand as I took her inside. This would be her first exposure to the clubhouse itself. I was hoping she’d like it. While I didn’t plan to spend all my time here, I had to be here some, and I’d want her here with me as much as possible. She might not know it, but my declaration last night meant she was my old lady. It felt odd saying that after so many years not having one. Kelly had been a good old lady, but I thought Jocelyn would be an even better one and a perfect old lady for the president of the club. She had fire and backbone in her. Two things that were a must in an old lady in an MC.
When we walked into the common room, the guys all looked up and smiled. Everyone was calling out greetings to her. Devyn came over to hug her mom. I could feel Jocelyn become less tense. I took her to one of the tables and sat her down. I went to get her coffee. I knew she liked to drink it in the mornings. When I came back, I saw her looking around in interest.
Our clubhouse differed from Terror’s in Dublin Falls. They had a huge old warehouse, they’d converted. Our clubhouse was an old mini mansion, I guess was the best description. About forty years ago, some guy with a lot of money decided he wanted to have a mansion built out in the country. The place was vast as hell. It had a formal dining room and living room besides the regular ones, and an office, eight bedrooms and nine bathrooms. It was two stories and had a fully furnished basement. When we picked it up about ten years ago, it had fallen into disrepair. We’d fixed it up and made changes. Now the formal living and dining rooms were open to the regular living and dining room to make a huge common area and our church room. The kitchen was just off of it and massive. The bedrooms had been oversized, and they were all cut down to make two slightly smaller ones which shared a bath between them. All except the one I had. As president, the club insisted I keep a large one with a private bathroom. It had been nice when I was single and lived off the compound. But now, with a house inside the walls, I rarely ended up staying in it. I might need to revisit converting it like the others.
I gave her a kiss and sat down, handing her the cup. She thanked me. “Baby, we have church here in a few minutes. Once it’s over, I’ll give you a tour. You and Devyn can stay here. Jake is at the bar. Let him know if you need anything.” I pointed to our other prospect. He sent her a smile. All the guys were listening to me talk to her. It would take time for them to get used to having her around. Bear had been around when Kelly was alive. He would know what I was like with an old lady. He’d started out as an original with the club. We were the only two left. Some had left, some had died, and others had gone to jail. She smiled.
“Sounds good. You go do what you need to do. I’ll sit here with my coffee and enjoy some peace.” I gave her another kiss before standing and ordering everyone to church. They all headed out of the common room. When I got inside church, they all were smiling as I took my seat and called the meeting to order. I looked at them. I knew before we got started, I’d have to address what had happened, at least the bare facts.
“What are you fuckers grinning about?” I growled. Bear spoke up first.
“Just watching you going all gaga over a woman. Damn, I never thought I’d see the day that happened again. I assume this means you fixed the problem you went storming out of here about last night?” The others smirked.
“Yeah, we settled it. Total fucking misunderstanding. She knows where we stand. Better get used to her being around here. I plan for her to be here a lot, which means you’d better treat her with respect or else,” I threatened.
“What exactly is her position here, Pres,” Demon asked with a shit-eating grin on his face. I loved all my brothers, but Demon was as close to a son as I had other than Terror. I glared at him. He just smiled more and raised his eyebrow.
“She’s my goddamn old lady, as you very well know, you bastard. Now, I haven’t told her that officially, so keep your mouths shut until I do. Player,” I said to my secretary. “I need you to order her a property cut. I’ll tell you later what I want on it.” He nodded and smiled. This got hoots from around the table.
“A property cut? Damn, does this mean we’re turning into Dublin Falls? Soon there will be more women than brothers here,” Ajax teased. The others nodded and chimed in with their two cents’ worth. I let them for five minutes, then called them to order.
“Enough. Let’s get down to business. What’s the latest on the acquisition of the additional space for The Dark Angel?” We were buying a bigger place. The Angel had done so well, we needed to expand, and the current location didn’t allow us to add onto the building.
Bear answered me since he was our treasurer. “It’s closing escrow next week. As soon as it does, we’ll work on getting the renovations done and hopefully be moving into our new space within three months. Then we can take the existing location and convert it into another business. Any thoughts on what we want that to be?”
Rebel cleared his throat. “What about a bakery?” Everyone threw him a surprised look. He held up his hands. “Before you all give me shit, hear me out. Since it is already a bar serving food, it has a kitchen. Makes sense for it to stay something where cooking or baking happens. Fewer changes to make. Also, I don’t know about you guys, but this damn town needs somewhere that knows how to bake shit. Those damn pathetic things they make at the grocery store is crap. I heard a woman the other day when I was in the store complaining about having to go to a bakery in Spencer, if she needed a cake or desserts for a special occasion. Why should people have to leave town?” His argument made sense, but a bakery wasn’t something we’d typically see an MC owning and running. But hell, Terror and his chapter owned a damn spa, for God’s sake.
“I like it. We’d have to be sure we found the right person to run it and shit, because I sure as hell have no idea how to do something like that. Bear, you and Player look into the return on investment on something like that. I’ll ask Jocelyn what she thinks. She’d have a better idea than we do if it’s something we really need in town.” This earned me more grins.
“Well, damn, an old lady not even a day and he’s getting her input on club business. The beginning of the end,” Slash chimed in. I flipped him the middle finger.
“I’d keep my mouth shut, unless you want to be the one to run it.” He shook his head emphatically and stayed quiet. I gave him an evil grin.
Tank, my VP, spoke, “I think Rebel should be the one to oversee the bakery if we do that. It was his idea. Plus, we know he will probably eat most of the profits.” Rebel didn’t look offended, he just laughed. Everyone knew he had a sweet tooth. Not that you could tell, the ripped bastard. Whoever I put in charge of a business for the club as the manager, got a larger percentage of the profit than the rest of the members. Rebel wasn’t currently overseeing a business. The others murmured their agreement, and I nodded.
“Excellent idea. Now onto other business. Has there been any recent issues with the other existing businesses I’m not aware of this week?” A small report was made on each of our other businesses. We owned a lot of houses around the area, and we rented them out. Some might think having renters was a pain, but ours didn’t cause any problems or tear our shit up. They knew better. In addition, we owned several commercial buildings, and business owners rented from the club as well. All that fell under our property management business. We had The Dark Angel, a garage, an outdoor supply store, and an electronics repair store. When I’d formed the Archangel’s years ago, it had been into more of the outlaw lifestyle. We’d seen the need to change that shit close to twenty years ago, so legitimate business ventures had been born.
We wrapped things up after that. As I came back out to the common room, I saw Jocelyn and Devyn were in a conversation with Tate. All three of them were laughing. Ace hurried over to place himself between Devyn and Tate, throwing the prospect a dirty look. I wanted to laugh. It looked like Ace just might be falling for Devyn, like I’d fallen for her momma. Tate hurried back behind the bar as I reached their table. I drew Jocelyn to her feet. “You ready for that tour?” I asked. She nodded. I looked at Devyn. “You want to see the place too, or did Ace show you around already?”
“Ace showed me around already, so it’s just you and Mom,” she said.
I led Jocelyn down the hall. Some bedrooms were on this floor and the rest on the second. I explained the renovations and showed her my room. She looked around at everything with interest. Down in the basement, I showed her the workout area we had. As we talked, I started to think. If we were going to add women to the club, we needed to have a safe place to hide them if shit hit the fan. Even if we weren’t outlaws, things still happened from time to time with other clubs and people. I’d need to bring it up at the next church. When the tour of the clubhouse was complete, I took her outside.
“We have a hundred acres here in the compound. Two of us, me and Bear, have houses within the compound. I got that idea from my son-in-law’s club in Dublin Falls. They have all the married families living within the fence, so they’re protected. As the guys settle down, they build another house. I lived out in town until a few years ago. When Harley married Terror and they had Hunter, I decided it was safer to move inside the compound. If they need to come here, I want them to be safe.”