Chapter 5: Ajax
I was glad it was finally the damn weekend. The rest of the week had passed slowly after the debacle with Talbot. I wanted to get to the weekend, so I could spend more time with my woman. With her working every day, we only had a few hours alone after work because she had to sleep.
One good thing was she let me stay with her every night. The first night it was an accident. We fell asleep on her couch watching television. We didn’t wake up until it was time for her to get ready for work the next morning. The next night we slept in the same bed, and every night since I’ve stayed with her. Nothing happened other than some kissing and mild petting, but I was in her bed. She was starting to relax with me. I took it as progress.
We were all sitting around the table in church like we did every Saturday morning. Bull had Bear, our treasurer, reporting on how the various businesses had done the previous month. I was proud as hell that the bakery was doing so well. I knew Rebel was. When Bear was done with the updates, I spoke up.
“I know this is really Rebel’s decision, but I think we should think about adding another person at the bakery. Even when Madisen was there, they were super busy. With her not being able to go due to the threat to her, Jessica and Trudie are busting their asses.”
Rebel was nodding the whole time I talked. “Ajax is right. I was going to bring it up myself. When I go in to check on things, they are busy as hell. They need to have time off. At present, they both work six days a week and it’s well over eight hours a day too. We can afford it. I’ll have Madisen put up another ad if everyone is in agreement?” He looked around the table. All of us gave him a yes. With this decided, we talked about the more serious shit. Who was targeting Madisen and how could we prove it and then eliminate the threat? We thought it was her stepdad, but we had to be sure.
I knew Madisen was chomping at the bit to be able to go back to the bakery, but we couldn’t let her after she had been shot at. If anything happened to her or their baby, Rebel would lose his mind. We all could understand it. If this was Jessica, I’d lock her ass down in a heartbeat.
I could tell Outlaw was frustrated that he couldn’t find her no-good, rotten stepdad. Or the ones who had shot at them. We ended the discussion still not knowing how we were going to resolve this or when, which meant none of the ladies went anywhere unescorted. Even though we were watching Jessica and Trudie, I wanted to make sure it was clear she was as much of a priority as Madisen, Jocelyn, and Devyn. I rapped my knuckles on the table to get my brothers’ attention before we ended the meeting.
“One last thing. I want to make sure that Jessica is not ever left without a guard. I’m with her most days and nights, but I still do runs and other things. When I do, she’s not going anywhere without at least a prospect on her.” They all gave me shit-eating grins.
It was Player who said something. “I can guard that sweet thing for you, Ajax.” He smirked at me. Bastard was trying to rile me. It worked. I narrowed my eyes at him and growled.
“You go near her, brother, and I’ll beat your ass. I guess I need to make this clear for those of you who are dense. Jessica Abrams is my old lady. I’m claiming her ass.” This got chuckles around the room.
Bull grinned the biggest. “About time you claimed her ass. We’ve been watching this dance for weeks. She knows you’re claiming her?”
“Yeah, I’ve told her. Just have to go slow. The damn woman doesn’t seem to realize how fucking gorgeous she is. She was mystified as to why I would want her,” I told them. They all gave me incredulous looks.
“Damn, how in the hell could she not know? I mean, no disrespect, but she’s beautiful,” Joker said. I didn’t take offense. He was right.
“I know, but she is. At least she’s letting me stay with her at her place. I want to bring her here, so she gets to know everyone and especially Jocelyn and Devyn. She doesn’t seem to have any friends except Madisen here in Hunters Creek.”
“Why don’t we have a barbeque next weekend? We’ll just keep it to us. That way she can get to know us all better. Make her feel at home. If I’m not mistaken, I figure you’ll want to get her here permanently. Any thoughts on how you want to do that?” Bull asked.
“Actually, I do. I want to build us a house. I know we don’t have those townhomes started yet. I’d like to continue to stay with her at her apartment, however, I’d like to get the construction crew started on a house as soon as they can work it into their schedule. I know they’re working on Rebel and Madisen’s right now.” I looked over at Tank. He was our VP and the one who managed our construction company. He had his face scrunched up in concentration. I waited to see what he would say.
“We’re doing Rebel’s house, and we’re finishing the new senior citizen’s center in town, but it’s close to being done. We got a request to do a fancy-ass house out on the other side of town. It was from Mayor Teller. I told him it wouldn’t be for a year, just because I wanted to fuck with him. He agreed.” We laughed. No one liked the mayor. He was an arrogant blowhard.
Tank continued, “We can probably start in say a month. And if all goes well—no material delays or bad weather—we could have it done not long after the new year. How does that sound?”
Of course, I wished it could be sooner, but it was mid-September. He was only talking about four months. I could live with that. “Thanks, brother. That would be good. Let me get you some ideas on what she wants. I’ll let you know.” He nodded. Bull knocked to get our attention.
“One last thing before we go. I talked to Scarelli this morning. He gave me an update on Talbot.” This made me sit up rigid. Surely, he wasn’t going to say they let his ass go. He’d come right back after her. He was too obsessed not to do it.
“Apparently, Talbot had an older sister. She got involved with an MC guy when Talbot was a teenager. The guy basically held her hostage and didn’t let her see her family or friends. They tried to get her away from him. She finally was able to get away, but he found her and ended up killing her. That’s the main reason why Talbot became a cop. Scarelli said looking at the pictures, Jessica looks a lot like his sister. That was why he was so insistent on getting her away from us. In his mind, all MCs are like the one he lost his sister to years ago. They’ve admitted him to an inpatient psych facility to get the help he needs. Until he does, that’s where he’ll stay.”
There were a lot of mumbles around the room. All of us had looks of pain on our faces. Hell, now I had to feel for the guy. I could even understand why he did what he did, but I still was glad he wasn’t going to be around my woman. I’d tell Jess later, so she could be reassured she was safe from him.
With this settled, Bull called the meeting adjourned. I headed out to the common room. I wanted to go to the bakery. It was hours before Jessica got off work, but I felt better when I was there to watch her. Today, since we had church, we had Tate and Alex, two of our prospects, watching the bakery. Once I got there, one of them could come back here to be put to work on something else. Before I got to the door, Madisen stopped me. She had a frown on her face.
“Ajax, can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Sure, sweetheart, what is it?” I heard a growl and looked around to find Rebel standing there looking at me. I laughed. He didn’t like anyone calling her sweetheart or any other kind of endearment.
“Shush, you Neanderthal. I need to make sure Ajax knows that I need Jessica to make a run to the kitchen supply store in Nashville. We need some things that they carry, and I don’t just want to order them over the phone. They need to be checked out. I know you won’t let me go, so I need my girl to do it.”
I shrugged. I wasn’t wild about Jessica going, but it would be better than Madisen. Thankfully, no one seemed to be bothering the other women. “Sure, I can take her. Maybe tomorrow. Are they open on Sundays?”
“Yeah, they are. Thank you, Ajax. I appreciate it. The sooner we get the supplies, the sooner we can change up some of the things at the bakery.” She gave me a hug. Rebel was giving me the stink eye. I knew she did it just to mess with him.
“No problem. How are you feeling?” I asked. She was close to four months along, I think and starting to show just a tiny bit. She’d had some morning sickness and we’d all seen what that did to Jocelyn and Devyn. Both of them were now showing their pregnancies, especially Jocelyn. She was carrying twins, which had Bull walking around on cloud nine and proud as can be.