Page 183 of Reaper
“You sure you want to do this?”
Her face softens and she reaches over, placing her hand on mine. I turn it over, lacing our fingers together.
“I’m sure, Anthony. I want to put my name in to Prospect, and I want to be included in everything that’s going to happen with Darren.” She sighs and shakes her head, her forehead creasing in thought. “I was just thinking back to everything Darren told me and was trying to see if there was something I missed over the years. Some point where I could have ended this a long time ago… but I can’t think of anything other than that first time.” She sighs heavily again. “I just want this to be over with so we can live our lives without having to look over our shoulders for these assholes.”
Lifting her hand, I kiss her knuckles. “We’ll see what we can get out of Darren. Who knows, there might be something that points us toward the second stalker.” I squeeze her hand and then let go, shutting off the truck. “Let’s head inside, Darlin’. We’ll have Church after lunch.”
Releasing each other’s hands, we climb out of the truck. As we walk into the clubhouse, Lark is immediately wrapped in Mama Astrid’s embrace. Both of their eyes are misty when they pull apart.
Then Mama Astrid starts her usual mother henning. “Here I am, damn near mauling you as soon as you come into the clubhouse when you’re probably starving. Hotel and road food are no match for our cooking.”
Lark laughs as she nods and wipes her eyes. “Food would be most definitely welcomed. We just stopped for snacks and coffee on the way here, worried we might get caught in the next system that’s coming in later today.”
“Well, then let’s get you all fixed up,” she says as she links her arm through Lark’s and leads her into the kitchen.
Punisher, Loki, Beast, and Doc break off to take Darren downstairs. The rest of the guys and I follow behind Lark, all of us eager to get some food. Gas station snacks don’t last long between guys that are used to eating a couple of helpings damn near every meal.
Twenty minutes later, I kiss Lark’s forehead as the guys head into Church. “Give us a few minutes, Darlin’, and then I’ll come get you.”
She nervously gnaws on her bottom lip as she nods. She hadn’t said anything when we got in the truck other that she’d like to wait so that she could say everything once and only once, which none of us questioned her on. Well, I should say I wanted to only because I wanted to know the reasons behind why Darren did what he did.
I follow behind the guys, shutting the door behind me. Walking over to the head table in the room, I bang the hammer against the table.
“Alright, most of you know this, and for those that weren’t there, you might have heard by now. Before Lark comes in, we need to do a vote. She’d like to put her name in to Prospect.”
Odin frowns as he leans forward and rasps his knuckles on the table in front of him.
“I’m not speaking against it, I’m actually for it, but I think we need to think about this a bit more. Lark is already an OldLady, and with that comes a shit ton of respect from everyone. How exactly, or I should say, what duties of a Prospect’s would she be doing? She already oversees all the bunnies; our supplies, other than our guns and ammo, I mean; the books; and her and Astrid are usually the ones cooking and planning all the parties. I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t exactly feel comfortable ordering an Old Lady to clean the toilets or something similar. Let’s not forget, she owns two businesses as well. Then there’s the matter of her cut. Personally, I think she continues to wear her Old Lady cut even if she is a Prospect.”
Everyone breaks out into quiet murmurs of agreement, and I cross my arms across my chest as I think. This is really the first scenario we have of an Old Lady putting their name in to Prospect. Half-pint was brought straight in as a fully patched member, in part, because of everything she helped the club with pertaining female ‘guests’. Not to mention, with her being pregnant with twins, none of the Forest Creek guys wanted to put the babies or her at risk in regards to the grunt work we normally have Prospects do.
“There are still some other things she can do,” I say and everyone quiets down. “She can do rotations at the bar, as well as going on more supply runs, and help with other chores around the clubhouse. However, I’d like to either limit the supply runs or have some other guys go along with her until we get to the bottom of this fucking stalker business. For that same reason, I’d rather she waits to take rotations at the guard shacks. Once warmer weather rolls around, we might be able to give her more things to do, but we’ll have to play it by ear.”
“And when you knock her up?” Loki asks and I glare at him, to which he just fucking smirks. “Pres, you two aren’t exactly quiet and we all know how much both of you want to start a family. I’m betting sooner rather than later, there will be news that she’s pregnant.”
“As I said, we’ll play it by ear.” With that, I rasp my knuckles on the table. “So, who all here votes to let her put her name in to Prospect?”
Every single hand raises and I can’t stop my grin.
My woman is about to take her first steps to becoming a full member of my club.
Giving them all a chin lift, I cross the room, open the door and gesture for Lark to come in. She steps inside, and only the fact that she’s picking at her nails as her gaze roams the room gives away her nervousness.
“You’re in, Neith,” I tell her and the blinding smile she gives me as well as the rest of the club warms my chest. “Until you’re a fully patched member, you’ll only be allowed in Church if you’re invited. Since you’re already an Old Lady, you won’t be given all the tasks other Prospects are given because of your rank in the club. However, you will still be given some tasks to do outside of your normal duties.”
“Thank you,” she says and everyone dips their chins.
I guide her to a chair that’s been placed on the opposite side of the room and across from Devil. It’s also the first chair to my left when I’m at the front of the room. Now that I think about it, it’s in the same spot where Half-Pint always sits in Forest Creek, which was probably done on purpose since both women are the Old Ladies of the club’s Presidents.
Once she’s seated, I walk back to my spot and rasp my knuckles against the table. “All right. Now onto Dr. Ashcroft. Lark, can you fill us in on what happened yesterday?” I ask and she nods. She leans forward, resting her forearms on the table in front of her as she looks around the room.
Lark starts by telling us she picked up Sway and Chris from school so they could get the rest of the stuff they needed. Tension rises in the room when she says what the asshole wanted to do to Sway. I’m almost positive all of us have started developing asoft spot for Sway after seeing her with Chris when we had his birthday party here a few days ago.
Then she continues, telling us what happened once she regained consciousness.
When she’s done, Lark looks around the room before her gaze settles on mine. “He said you guys killed his cousin, Luscious.” The guys and I share a look, but before I can say anything, Lark continues. “I saw her information in the books, and I wholeheartedly approve of how you all handled her by the way, but did she ever mention why she told you guys her name was only Jenna Raine and not Jenna Raine-Crawford?”
“No, she didn’t,” I growled and turn, glancing at Python before turning back to Lark. “So, we have no idea if she was just trying to distance herself from the fact that she was related to the Crawfords by marriage, or what she might have been thinking. Shortly after we got together, I had Python look into Zac because of what Granny told me. It was then that he found out that Zac’s dad, Gregory, and Luscious’ mom, Elizabeth, got married when Zac was ten and Luscious was nine. A few years later, they had a son together, Will. Luscious came to us in the summer of 2020 seeking protection from Gregory, Zac, and Will. Said that they were abusive toward her and her mom. We took her in and tried to get her mom out, but she wouldn’t. About a month later, her mom died.”
