Page 99 of Red's Peril: Part 1

Seeing me watching her, Clare gives me a shy smile, then goes back to what she was doing. She and Rosa seem to work well together, I notice, anticipating each other’s needs. When Clare looks around for a spatula, Rosa’s already handing her one. All the time, Clare keeps one eye on her daughter, who’s asleep in the stroller she must have brought in from the car.

As plates clatter, the sound brings the brothers swarming in. I tense, wondering how Clare will take the men crowding her, men who’d she’d last seen when she was tied up in the basement, and not on one of Rope and Cuff’s toys.

But she seems unfazed, simply turns her head, purses her lips, then reaches for more plates.

Rosa and she seem to have a conveyor belt going, and soon full plates are being handed around. More than one brother puts their nose to the chicken and inhales sharply, looking up with raised eyes.

“If ya’ll like it, you’ve her to thank.” Rosa grins at Clare who blushes and shrugs.

The sound of utensils hitting porcelain wake the child. Clare picks her up, takes a vacant seat at the table, and balances Delly on one arm while she feeds herself.

The kid reaches for a piece of chicken, which Clare gives to her. Rosa produces a sippy cup from somewhere, and places it down.

It’s so natural, it’s like they’ve always been here.

Twister walks in and comes to an abrupt stop. “Whoa. That’s a kid.” He starts moving again, his face softening as he gets closer. “Well, ain’t you just a pretty one.”

Delly looks up at him and giggles, offering him the chicken she’s holding in her hand. My hard-as-nails enforcer bends his head and pretends to take a bite. Giggling, Delly snatches it back.

“Want me to hold her so you can eat?” Cobra offers, holding out his arms.

And that’s the start of it. That poor kid starts getting passed around from brother to brother. Not that she seems to care at all.

“Sends me back,” Rosa says fondly.

“What you talking about, Mom?” Tom and Trist, having just appeared, ask.

She turns around and grins at them. “About back when you were babies.”

Yeah, a lot of the men in the club are used to having babies around, or were, a decade and a half ago. Seems like they haven’t forgotten the touch. But Delly is easy to fall for, a happy kid who so far always seems to be smiling, big blue eyes and a curly mop of blonde hair. Luckily for her, her looks don’t favour her dad. She’s all her mom, and that makes it easier to forget why she’s here.

“You grow up with a big family?” I ask Clare a few days after she’s arrived. We’re alone in the clubroom. Brothers are either out working, or sleeping last night off. Our security business keeps us active at all hours.

Clare settles Delly in a playpen, making sure she’s surrounded by toys. “I was an only child, why?”

Raising and lowering my shoulders, I explain why I’m surprised. “You just seem comfortable having this rabble around you.”

And she does. She ignores the off-colour jokes like an expert, doesn’t turn a hair when an argument turns physical. In fact, at least once I’ve seen her expertly breaking such an altercation up with a coy look and a “why don’t you two make up?”Her gentle teasing approach seems to work. She’s become the mistress of the first aid box, brothers going to her first when they’ve got themselves a cut. She’d strapped Shadow’s wrist up yesterday when he wrenched it doing something with his bike.

She fits in here. She doesn’t seem out of place. And rather than being a spoiled princess expecting to be waited on hand and foot, she throws herself into any job which needs doing.

The sweet butts? Well, she’s taken them in her stride. Taking her cues from Rosa, she directs their tasks. I’ve heard rumblings from the girls about what exactly is her place here. Truth is, I’m still wondering that myself.

Having made sure her daughter is occupied, Clare takes a seat on the couch opposite the chair that I’m sitting on. Wiping strands of long hair from her face, she takes a breath. “I can manage the boys. I used to be a teacher in an elementary school. Believe me, being here isn’t much different.”

I snort, noting she’s picked up on Rosa’s terms for the brothers. “You saying we’re a bunch of oversized kids?”

She chuckles and shrugs. “If the cap fits.”

I find I’m grinning. “Even Titch?”

She winks at me. “I got him eating his greens yesterday. Well, I shamed him into it to encourage Delly to eat hers, but the end was the same.”

A snicker of laughter escapes me. Titch is a man who likes his meat.

Clare continues with a chuckle, “Pre-pubescent boys and bikers have a lot in common I’ve found. Keep them fed and watered, don’t take away their toys, and they’re happy.”

There is quite a lot of truth in that, but there’s one thing she’s missing. “I can assure you we’ve all passed puberty.” She surely can’t have missed the X-rated activities which go on after Delly’s been settled for the night. Though she does make use of the women’s room and doesn’t stay long to take in the sights.

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