Page 25 of The MC's Surprise
“You can,” I interrupted. “It’s my casino. She’ll get over it. But… What are the chances that brilliant mind of yours can come up with a job that’ll get you off the casino floor? I’m worried about all the smoke around you and the baby.”
That time, the smile broke free. She laughed, rolling her eyes at me. “I’m fine, Vegas. Now go be the big fancy owner and let me get back to work. I’ll see you later.”
14
Sierra
My stomach twisted and turned at the thought of screwing this up like I did everything else. This wasn't just about me anymore. There was an entire crew putting their trust in me to get them the support they needed. I planned everything out with meticulous detail, even doing research on local laws to make sure we didn’t get into trouble over something stupid like a gathering being too big or noise violations. Not that I planned any big parties or anything, but music at events wasn’t unheard of.
I let Circus be in charge of setting up the social media, since he had his own channels with his stunt career. His social media following was pretty big, and he could get a lot of followers to join the cause simply by posting online that he was part of a crew. We traded numbers and he texted to check in with me before posting anything to make sure I approved, which was kind of nice. I liked that they trusted me.
Since the harassment had already been going on for a while, I didn’t want to waste too much time. Exactly one week after Prez said I could help the crew, we had our first community outreachevent. A dog adoption at the local animal shelter. It was getting overcrowded with strays and the man on the phone sounded overjoyed when I called and suggested the event. He couldn’t afford to do adoption events, since their shelter was struggling with funds already. This event would help both the crew and the shelter if everything went well.
“How are we looking?”
Skylar had been a huge help, both in getting the word out there and reassuring me that my ideas weren’t going to make things worse. I didn’t get into why I was so overcautious, I wasn’t about to admit just how pathetic my history really was, but other than a few curious looks, she didn’t ask questions. She helped me set up the playpens and set up the stands since I knew I’d get hell both from my mom and from Vegas if I did too much.
“Looks good. Time will tell, though. Do you think people will come?” I chewed my lip nervously, scanning the parking lot. We’d set up a puppy playground, taking up the entire parking lot of the animal shelter. The toys and stuff were all borrowed from a local pet store who was happy to help as long as everything was cleaned and returned when we were done. Circus was taking pictures to post online, and the head of the animal shelter was setting up a table under a canopy for adoption paperwork if things worked like we wanted them to. We managed to plan this out for an unusually warm winter day, which meant people would be out in droves to enjoy the weather. All we were waiting on was the rest of the crew and the community.
“I do. Mostly because we slapped the word puppies on all the fliers. Who would say no to getting to play with puppies?”
True. It was a good thing I was pregnant or I would definitely be finding a way to bring one of these sweet dogs home. I’d gotten to pet and play with a few of them and they were so adorable, I almost started crying. Vegas panicked and almost demanded I go home. Thankfully, Skylar recognized the work ofpregnancy hormones and sent him on an errand to pick up some treats for anyone coming out to visit, giving me a chance to pull myself together.
“Excuse me.”
A woman in a smart blue dress and heels caught our attention, her hair in perfect big curls over her shoulders. She looked familiar, though I couldn’t place where I knew her until I saw the microphone in her hand.
“Are you… Kennedy Storm? The local newscaster?”
She smiled brightly, her perfect white teeth practically blinding me. She was the epitome of perfection and it was a little daunting standing in front of her in worn jeans and a t-shirt. I was dressed for a messy afternoon, while she could get in front of a camera at any moment.
“You know who I am. Perfect. That makes this easier. I heard through the grapevine that you’re doing an adoption event with the local shelter and I was hoping I could do a story on it? The community loves stories like this and–”
“You’d do that?” I practically shouted in her face, I was so desperately hopeful. Skylar snickered at my gaping expression, but who could blame me? I thought we’d need to do this awhile before gaining that kind of attention.
“Well, yeah,” Kennedy grinned. “It’s not like I won’t get anything out of it. My boss is always asking for more stories. Are you in charge?”
I floundered, my gaze darting around as I looked for Prez. Technically, he was in charge. It was his crew. I was just the planner.
“She is. This is Sierra Martin. She’s setting up this event with the help of the local motorcycle club, the Dirty Devils,” Skylar answered calmly.
Kennedy’s perfectly shaped eyebrows shot up. “This event is run by a motorcycle club?”
Skylar gave me a significant look, and I jumped into action. This was exactly what we’d hoped for, and I couldn’t stumble over my words now.
“Yes. The Dirty Devils are big on community outreach. They’ve mostly been assisting with monetary donations before now, but with the recent uptick in crime in the area, they wanted to help in any way they could. We’ll be planning more events soon, like a park clean up in the next few weeks and a charity event a little later on. We, uh, we’ll be posting all the dates on our social media page, as well as pictures and videos from the events.”
Kennedy put up a finger to stop me, waving her hand behind her to get the attention of someone in a van parked across the street.
“Hold on, hold on, this is all amazing stuff. Let me just get my camera man out here. I love all of this, seriously.”
While she got set up, Skylar and I shared a look of pure excitement.
“How did she find out about this?”
I shook my head quickly. “I don’t know. Maybe she saw a flier?”
Whatever the reason, I was overjoyed with her being here and so eager to help. Putting these events on the news would get us a lot of attention and, hopefully, people would realize despite the name and the scary patch on their backs, this crew was full of kind and amazing people who only wanted to help their community.
