Page 67 of Vex

“He’s got you there,” Petey laughs. “Ava was looking for you yesterday. Did she ever find you?”

“Fuck no, she didn’t. I’ve had to employ my best ninja biker moves to avoid that two-legged bloodhound. Thanks to Gunner and the two formerly known as my nieces, I’ve been forced into stealth mode. I can’t even walk down the street without feeling her eyes on me. Gives me the skeevies. I’ve been reduced to slinking through the woods if I want to get out of the house,” Axel says with a whine to his voice.

“Quit whining and give me my grandchild,” Petey orders.

Surprisingly, Axel transfers little Alex to her grandpa without arguing. We find out why right away.

“See how that’s done, Gunner?”

“How what’s done?” Gunner, clearly confused, asks.

“Sharing of one’s child with those that love her. Easy-peasy for someone who’s not a selfish ass,” Axel responds smugly.

“Jesus Christ, Axel. Quit whining and pouting and I’ll lift the LOTT ban, okay?” Gunner concedes. “But teach the twins another cuss word and I’ll hold you down for Ava’s punishment myself.”

“Deal! Where’s my girls?” Axel shouts.

“Right behind you. With their mother, the two-legged bloodhound,” Ava answers.

Axel freezes in place for a quick second before bolting out of the room. No looking back, no slowing down. He nearly knocks Toes on his ass as they collide, but Axel keeps pushing forward until he’s out of sight. After hearing the back door slam shut, laughter erupts throughout the room.

“You never told him I wasn’t upset, did you?” Ava asks while cocking an eyebrow at Gunner.

“Fu… uhhh, no, I didn’t. Guess it slipped my mind,” Gunner answers while scooping up one twin while Trigger does the same with the other.

“You enjoy his fear. That’s just mean. Funny, but mean,” Ava says with a laugh.

Weeks have passed and things are better than ever in my life. Tessie’s the little sister I never had, and Taja’s the woman I never thought I’d want or need. She gets testy when I buy things for her or Tessie still, but the Jeep has finally been accepted after Tessie and I explained how she’s going to pay me back. It’s not a gift but a loan we insisted to Taja. Every dollar that Tessie pushes into my hand as payment goes into a bank account for her future. No need to tell either of them that because it saves me grief. Two stubborn ass women to contend with, and I’ve found ways to save my hide.

Taja isn’t showing yet, and I’m getting impatient to see the baby bump. Her morning sickness hasn’t went away, and she’s sleeping more. It worries me that she’s lost weight instead of gaining, but Bailey assures me that’s normal in the beginning. Suki hovers over her at work, as does Freddy, so I’ve kept my mouth shut about her quitting. Word’s leaked out that I’m off the market, but that hasn’t stopped some of the strippers from pushing up on me. Taja deals with that fairly well by not blaming me, but trouble is brewing with a few of them.

Rooster’s gone into hiding, but he’ll reappear at some point. Axel says it’s like playing the game Whack-A-Mole. We’re waiting for his head to appear before it gets whacked. Gunner’s not playing around or taking chances. On his orders, Taja and I are still at the clubhouse with Tessie at Petey’s. The sisters see each other daily, but I know Taja wants to get back to a normal life. With Tessie and Bella being like conjoined twins, I think Taja’s feeling a little left out. What’s helped with that is the other women. Taja’s formed great relationships with all of them, especially Pippa. We spend a lot of time at Pooh’s house and the women are tight.

Little Craig still has a crush on Taja and takes every opportunity to do nice things for her. He even brought her flowers once when she was having a particularly bad bout of morning sickness. He’d asked Axel how much flowers cost, and Axel took him to the flower shop to pick some out. Both scored points with Taja for that.

While Taja, Pippa, and Tammy, along with Pooh for security, are off shopping today, I’m meeting with a realtor. I’m wanting to plant roots and since Taja bailed on looking at homes with me, I brought Trigger instead. He’s knowledgeable and not afraid to be honest. The man’s a wealth of information and I need that.

“There’s property available that butts up to the club’s property. You could build there. Be close to the compound but still have some distance for privacy. What kind of budget are we looking at?” Trigger asks.

“No budget. If we find something I like and I think Taja and Tessie will too, I’ll buy it. I like the idea of being close to the compound, but I don’t want to wait the time it takes to build. I want Taja settled before the baby comes,” I answer.

“Makes sense. No budget though? Don’t tell the realtor that,” Trigger says with a laugh.

After looking at several homes, none of which I think are good enough for my girls, we return to the realtor’s office. I had given her an idea of what I was looking for, but the properties she showed us are nowhere close. They had the right number of bedrooms but were basically dumps. When I told her the homes weren’t nice enough, I got a once over look and a raised eyebrow. My biker boots, jeans and hoodie apparently scream low class neighborhood to her.

Trigger mentions the property near the compound and the realtor pulls it up on her computer. Behind Gunner’s house is a section of land that borders several acres with the compound. It would put us as Gunner and Ava’s backdoor neighbor but with a lot of woods in between. I like it instantly. Private, secluded but close to my family. Building a trail or a road to connect the two pieces of land would be easy. Also smart because Rex could wire the club’s perimeter security to include my land and home also.

“I don’t know if the owner’s interested in breaking up the land into smaller parcels though. He’s a bit of a recluse and bought a full section of 640 acres so his home would be well hidden from the road and all other people,” Theresa, the realtor, says.

“What’s his home like? Is it close to what I’m looking for?”

“It’s a huge stone and timber home. Three levels, six bedrooms, five bathrooms, four car garage. It’s beautiful, and it’s been on the market for quite a while because of the cost of the home, all of its amenities and the amount of land that it sits on,” Theresa says while naming the asking price with a condescending smirk.

I shoot a grin at Trigger when he coughs loudly at the price.

“When can I get a walk-through?” I ask, still grinning at Trigger’s response.

“Here’s the problem. The owner’s very fussy about showing the home unless the person can validate that they can afford it first. He doesn’t want to open his home for showings to people that are simply curious about it with no means to acquire it. Or people that might simply be wanting to case the home for possible future criminal activities. And I don’t like to waste my time either. I can contact him and see if he’s willing to sell you a few acres though. Maybe you could afford five or ten acres and put something cheap on it for the time being,” Theresa informs me in a slightly arrogant tone.

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