Page 14 of Bond

“You’ll have to make do with any babies the brothers give us if they ever find the right woman. Plus, you only just had Sam,” I tell her.

“Fine,” Noni sighs and pouts playfully, then laughs, patting my hand. “I’m just teasing, honey. The four we have are more than enough, trust me.”

“So, you think she’s a good match for him,” I worry, going back to my original question.

Noni smirks at me, “Yeah, honey, I do. Stop worrying. If you’re like this about your brothers, what are you going to be like when our kids start bringing partners home?”

“I still have years to worry about that. I just want my brothers to have what we have,” I tell her.

Noni grips my hand to get my attention, “My thoughts are she’s tough because she’s had to be; she’s loyal because she put up with years of shit to save her dad, and even though her heart is breaking because she said goodbye to the man who raised her just yesterday, knowing she’s probably never going to see him again, she hasn’t let it break her.

“She got up this morning, took care of her baby, and started working. That’s not to say she won’t break later when she’s not running on adrenaline, but if she does, we’ll be there to help her. Once she knows she can trust us, she’ll be just as loyal to us. That’s what I think.” Noni’s gaze didn’t leave mine as she laid it all out for me.

“Okay,” I say, just as the door opened and Rogue came through, stopping in the doorway before the rest could follow in after him.

“We good in here?” he wants to know when he took in how Noni and I were sitting.

Relaxing, I wave him in. “It’s all good, brother. Come in and let’s get this meeting started.”

Rogue let go of the door and walked over to Julia’s chair, pulling it out for her as the rest of the club slowly started filtering in, with Bond and Rochelle coming in last with Daisy. It amused me a little to see her because I had a feeling we were one of the few MCs that allowed our women in Church, never mind ababy. It made me wonder what other MCs would think. Not that it bothered me because I liked that our women knew what was going on and how to protect themselves, even those like Julia who didn’t like violence.

Once everyone was settled, I slammed the gavel on the table, calling the start of the meeting.

“First, I’d like to welcome Bond’s Old Lady to the club,” I state, turning my gaze to Rochelle’s nervous one. “Welcome to the Crowthorne Chapter of the Crow MC, Rochelle. We’ll have a celebration and get your cut made as soon as possible.” With the welcome out of the way, I didn’t waste any time in getting to the reason for this meeting. Rogue already knew most of what I had to say, but the rest needed updating.

“I put a call into Dex yesterday to find out what he knew about the Black Mambas,” I start, and note the wince that Rochelle made at their name. “It seems that once upon a time they were a massive gang. When the current leader’s father and uncle were in charge, they were a force to be reckoned with. Most left them alone because not only were they violent, they had a lot of government and police officials on their payroll.

“However, it seems that the new leader, Jason, who is your deceased husband’s older brother. Rochelle am I correct?”

Rochelle nods, replying, “Yes, that’s correct.”

“It seems that Jason doesn’t have as much of a grip on the gang as he’d like people to think. The older generation have been calling for an heir, which neither he nor his brother seemed inclined to give them until you had Daisy,” I say to Rochelle.

“Now it seems that Jason is losing grip even more ever since his brother and his brother’s best friend were killed in different gang-related shootouts. And it seems he’s partial to sampling his own product.

“There’ve been rumblings of a takeover, but we don’t have any confirmation yet. It’s probably just as well you got out when you did,” I inform Rochelle. “Dex had heard through the grapevine that Jason was going to take over where his brother left off and make you his wife.”

Bond muttered something under his breath at my words as Rochelle gasped, gripping the table until her fingers turned white. Her lightly tanned skin paled, and the light dusting of freckles stood out against the whiteness of her cheeks.

“No,” she whispers brokenly. “I can’t go back, and definitely not to him. Jared was bad enough, but Jason,” she hesitates before continuing, “he’s evil; women don’t always leave his place alive.”

She looked ready to bolt, and I think that if Bond hadn’t had a good grip on her hand, she’d have been out the door.

“Rochelle,” I boom loudly to get her attention. When I am sure I have it, only then do I continue, “darling, you don’t have to worry about him. He won’t get anywhere near you,” I reassure her. “I promise we know what we’re doing. This gang is not the first gang we’ve been up against.”

“But,” she whispers as tears fill her eyes, “I don’t want any of you to get hurt because of me, and he’ll come for me, especially as I’ve had Daisy. She’ll be useful to him as she gets older; he’ll trade her like he’s done to his sisters.”

“Fuck that,” Bond curses, making Daisy jump and let out a cry. Blaze reaches over and plucks Daisy from Rochelle’s hold, stands up, and starts to pace, patting her back until she is calm.

Bond continues furiously, “He’s not getting anywhere near you or Daisy, Roch. I can promise you that. He doesn’t know what he’s up against. Not only are we all trained, but our women are no slouches either.”

“He’s right,” Noni assures Rochelle. “We’ll leave the men shortly to the planning, as that’s what they’re good at, and I’ll take you to the shooting range. I’m guessing you can shoot, having grown up here.”

Rochelle nods, wiping at the tears on her cheeks. “Yes, I can shoot,” she replies. “I can also use a slingshot, and I’m pretty good with knives. My dad insisted that I learn to protect myself.”

“Well, God bless the man,” Julia says kindly, reaching across the table and patting Rochelle’s hand. “He obviously raised a strong woman. Trust me, this will all get sorted.”

“Plus,” Rogue tells her, “we’re not alone; we have allies we can call in if we need to, but I doubt very much we will.”

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