Page 43 of Menace

“I have orders to tell you the house is yours, you can throw out what you don’t want and we’ll get you new stuff. Anything you want.” Viper looked around. “I didn’t think it looked too bad when I came to check the house after it was cleaned but now that I’ve met you…” He grinned and shook his head.

I pulled a face.

“All of this has to go. It’s awful, but I’ll live with it for now until I find replacements.” I said as I continued my inspection.

The dining room wasn’t any better but at least the table and chairs could be polished or painted and the curtains replaced. The kitchen was bright and sunny with white cupboards and pale yellow walls. The appliances were obviously new and so were the crockery and cutlery. I think I read that it’s called flatware and silverware in the States. They have a point, plates were flat and most cutlery was silver in colour. It made sense.

“Let me show you your bedroom. We’ve prepared the biggest one for the two of you. It has a nice big walk-in closet and a bathroom.” Viper motioned me towards the stairs.

My room was at the end of the passage through a set of double doors. It was huge.

There were three narrow windows facing the front of the house and a bigger one facing the back yard. A big bed was against the far wall and was covered with a white comforter and big puffy cushions. The floors were gleaming wood with an oatmeal coloured rug beneath the bed. A wicker crib stood next to the bed with white and pale blue bumpers and bedding. That was so sweet of whoever had done this for us.

I could work with it, make it my own. All the room needed was a bit of colour.

On the right of the entrance was the walk-in closet, on the left the bathroom. I was glad to see the same wooden flooring as the bedroom in the bathroom, the fittings were white and it had a bath and a separate shower.

Again all it needed was some colour and maybe a plant or two.

Turning I looked at the guys and nodded. “I like it, a lot. I’ll be fixing it up a bit but it’s a great space. And it’s big enough to have Ry in my room until he’s older.”

I almost laughed at the relieved looks on their faces.

My boxes of stuff that Asa had shipped sat waiting in the walk-in closet but today wasn’t the day I would be unpacking them. I would start with Ry’s things and my bags. The rest I would get to later.

The days flew by as I set up a home for Ry and myself.

I could hardly believe we’ve been in Savannah two weeks already.

Zane had gone back to South Africa the day before I arrived. Asa had arranged it like that on purpose. He didn’t want him recognising me and talking to anyone once he was back home.

I didn’t know Killian very well but he was a nice guy, friendlier than Zane at least. He lived in the house with us and had accepted Ry without any questions. It made me like him even more.

Even though I had been in Savannah for the last two weeks today would be my first time working at the studio.

It’s been a hectic two weeks of unpacking and making the house a home.

I had the lounge furniture replaced with two big squashy black leather couches. I chose them because I was living with a bunch of guys and I’ve seen the couches at the Road Warriors’ clubhouse. Leather would be easy to clean if it got messy, which it will. Plus they went well with the deep burnt orange curtains I had found online. Killian had found the perfect rug at a shop close to the studio, it was black with cream and burnt orange woven through in small splashes. We all agreed on the big chrome and glass coffee table. A massive television was fixed to the wall and I bought a refinished black wooden cabinet to put beneath it. It was perfect to store all the crap the guys insisted they needed, game systems and stuff. I wasn’t a gamer but apparently they all were.

I hung the same curtains in the dining room as in the lounge and polished the furniture until they shone. The downstairs visitor’s bathroom now had a blind covering the window and matching towels and stuff to wash hands with and so on. The guys teased me saying it was girly but I ignored them.

Our house was becoming a home.

I didn’t change anything in the kitchen except the coffee machine because Killian and Brendan hated the pod coffee machine. They wanted a drip style machine and now we had two coffee machines. One that took pods and the drip style one. Viper and I used the pods leaving the other one to the two complainers.

After my first night in my new bed was spent rolling around trying to get comfy I gave in and bought a body pillow. I had to leave the one Asa bought me in SA. It was weird how I had become used to sleeping with one and now couldn’t sleep without it.

Killian was out every day working at the studio and not saying much about it. I was incredibly curious but was ordered to take the time and settle us in our new home. No matter how I pouted and argued the guys were adamant. I would not be allowed anywhere near until my boy was back to sleeping the way he had before we arrived. He had been niggly ever since we arrived but over the last week had slowly settled back into his routine. Bren teased that he missed the plane and that’s why he was complaining.

That is why today was going to be my first day at the studio. Ry was going in with me because I didn’t want to leave him with someone I didn’t know.

Today I was going set up my work space and personalise it with some of my drawings and designs. And of course, I was going to meet Ink, my boss, and Pixie’s new partner.

I was excited and incredibly nervous about meeting him. Brandon “Ink” Coburn was a member of the Shadow Wraiths MC, and obviously knew Lucky. Not that I would be asking about him, but I had to keep in mind that they were club brothers.

Not only was Ink a biker he was an incredibly talented artist as well. His work was known and praised throughout the tattooing community. It was daunting thinking that I was going to be working with him.

Pixie had given me a list of my colleagues to make the getting to know you period easier. Asa of course had given Bren the background checks Dom’s people had done. Ink was Pixie’s partner in the business but to be honest, he was a front. Her actual partner was the club, much the same as the studios in South Africa. There her silent partner was the Road Warriors MC.

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