Page 24 of Fanatic

“This is an amazing thing you’re doing, supporting her. Even babies as cute and well-behaved as this one need extra attention and who’s a beautiful boy? Yes, you are! So, how long are you planning on staying? Do you have anymore biker friends as handsome as you are? Girl, are you going back to work? If so, I’m a registered childminder,” Glady continued, and I blinked at all the questions.

Willow, however, was smiling warmly and answering Gladys when she managed to get a word in. Gil nodded to me as he gazed at his wife with a loving, indulgent smile.

“Gladys means well, but she doesn’t shut up. Even talks in her sleep,” Gil muttered as I approached him by the patio doors.

“She is lovely,” I replied honestly.

“When I married Gladys, her dad took me to one side and said, ‘Son, I love my daughter. But trust me, she’s like her momma. Invest in a good set of ear plugs, you’ll need it’,” Gil stated. “Man wasn’t wrong.”

“Gladys’s fine, and Willow’s smiling. She’s not done a lot of that recently,” I responded, glancing at Willow.

I turned back and noted Gil’s shrewd expression. “You stepped up for her?”

“Hell yeah. And when Willow’s ready to see other people, she has four more close friends waiting to reclaim her. Calamity and Rosie, and Klutz and Aurora have been patient. We’re all pretty tight, they’d have taken her in. But Willow needs space to be herself and not be mollycoddled,” I replied.

“And you’ve been friends for a while?”

“A good few years, yes. First time I saw her, Willow looked like a strung-out stripper, but her beauty shone through. She was running across Rage MC forecourt in six-inch damn heels with a skirt up her ass and yelling at my dad that she was a Fed. It was ludicrous, but she was freaking telling the truth.”

“Rapid City has seen some drama in the last few years,” Gil replied.

“Yeah.” My face blanked as I skittered away from the memories of the war.

Gil held his hand out, and confused, I took it as he shook it vigorously and clasped it.

“A friend was in that battle. He said how bad it was and how hard you all got hit. I’m sorry for your losses, son, but you did an amazing thing. You showed the entire country what a true American would do, even though you are English. People are looking to Rapid City and learning lessons. Thank you because no doubt that gang would have turned to the satellite towns and taken us over, too.”

“You’re welcome,” I said, a bit embarrassed, just like I always was when someone complimented me.

“You ignore that hag over the road. Edna’s fierce bitter. Her husband, Hermon, left her a decade ago on his sixty-fifth birthday. She’d henpecked him for forty years, and Hermon had enough. Went out and found himself a pretty little forty-year-old and divorced the wicked witch and shacked up with her.”

“Wow,” I said, chuckling at Gil.

“Gets better. Hermon lives on the other side of you. Talk about rubbing it in Edna’s spiteful face. Everyone loves Hermon and hates her.”

“Now that’s funny!” I exclaimed, laughing hard.

“Edna has tried to make their life a living hell. Cila stands and laughs at her and then sympathises about how lonely she must be. Not even Hermon and Edna’s kids visit her because of her spite. They adore Cila, though. Hermon looks through her, which just drives Edna crazy,” Gil elaborated.

“Sounds like someone got slapped with karma,” I replied, and Gil nodded. I started to say something else when pipes roared. “Excuse me.”

I walked to the door as Willow stood. Gladys squealed and headed to the window. Gladys made me laugh as she made no bones of peering outside. Gil released a resigned sigh from behind me.

To my surprise, I saw Pyro riding in front with a scowl, which wasn’t unusual unless he was around Bunny, then I swear he fuckin’ melted—no pun intended. Pyro parked up and glowered at the van heading towards him.

“Hit my bike, prospect, and you’re dead,” Pyro threatened. I snorted as the van came to a sudden stop halfway down the street. There was a yell as Sailor, another candidate, catapulted forward and slammed into the windscreen.

“Jinx!” several voices yelled, and Jinx grinned.

“Jesus, I don’t think Pyro meant stop here,” Sailor boomed, getting out and marching around the front. Sailor hauled Jinx out and drove the rest of the way to my place. Jinx sauntered down the road and I heard a crash from a neighbour’s house. Fuck, Jinx was a damn nightmare. I swear to God, the brothers would have voted him off by now, but Jinx was the perfect candidate.

“Hey, Fanatic, we got some stuff,” Jinx called as he headed up my drive. I tensed for the usual calamity that followed as he stepped into the hallway. “Where’s that cute kid?”

Pyro winced and shook his head. “Dude, anything happens to that baby, it’s on you.”

I looked back at the truck as the candidates unloaded furniture and then at the house with my Godson and the world’s worst walking disaster.

“Keep Jinx in there. The stress we had getting this lot out. Just keep Jinx busy, I love him, but shit…” Harlequin muttered.

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