Chapter Twenty-One

ALIANA

The guys had the clubhouse looking spotless. They knew our moms were coming and wouldn’t stand for a mess. Before my dad met my mom, this place was a disaster.

Club women, drugs, booze, you name it. But when the original old ladies came into the picture, everything changed.

Club women were only allowed here during parties and the men couldn’t do drugs here. If they wanted to do drugs, they had to do it elsewhere. The women didn’t want it around their kids.

The men agreed with whatever the women said. My dad and Axyl’s dad aren’t shy about admitting their wives hold their balls.

My dad always says, “I may wear the pants in this relationship, but my wife picks them out in the morning.”

The club still does gun deals. They used to do drug deals too, but once mom, Vanessa, and the rest of the old ladies put a stop to drugs at the club, they got out of that business.

The club owns a few businesses and they’re well-known in the community. They have a mechanic shop, a tattoo parlor, and they run a safe haven.

It’s a place where men, women, and children can come if they need help getting out of a bad situation, or just need a break from their lives. That’s where I spend most of my time since I came back.

It lets me use my psychology degree.

This morning, Hannah and I found her an apartment. The boys really liked it. It’s in a secure neighborhood, which is important for Hannah. We also found a place to start our clinic.

She went to med school and became a doctor. I’m not sure how she managed to get all that schooling done in the time she did, but she did it and I couldn’t be prouder. I have my doctorate in psychology.

She’ll take care of the patients who need medical help and I’ll help the ones that need mental help.

We found a place that has a nice play area for the boys for when they’re not in school. My office is big enough for a pack ’n play for when the girls are here and Axyl can’t keep them.

He is the VP of a motorcycle club after all. It’s also big enough for Hannah to have her medical clinic on one side while I have my therapy clinic on the other side.

Anyway, our moms showed up earlier this morning while we were out. When we got back, Vanessa was lecturing Axyl about what happened yesterday, while mom was doing the same to Westyn.

She told him that if he didn’t keep normal hours for church then she was going to come in and make him a new ass.

He grumbled something about how I was threatening to shoot him in the ass and mom was going to rip him a new one. Mom grabbed his ear and he immediately changed his tune.

I laughed because it’s funny to watch my big burly biker brother get scolded by our mom. He called church over an hour ago and the guys haven’t been out yet.

I figured that having been reamed by mom, he would have taken her seriously. Seems like not even mom can keep them from making plans that may or may not work in the grand scheme of things.

I sighed and turned back to watch the women move around in the kitchen. The moms won’t let me help with anything.

Especially after they heard about me possibly going into premature labor after everything that happened. I get that they’re worried, they raised all of us kids together, but I can still do some things.

I’m not completely useless. I’m hoping that in a few weeks, I’ll be able to do things that I used to do before all this happened with Alex and what he did to the babies.

I want to be able to help out in the kitchen. I love to cook. I love helping out, but now, all I can do is sit on my ass and look pretty.

“You keep frowning like that and you’re going to get wrinkles early,” my mother says.

“Well, I wouldn’t be frowning so much if I could actually do something. I mean, the boys are preoccupied with their grandpa, dad, and the other dads outside. I might as well go take a damn nap,” I grumble.

The moms started laughing and mom put a bag of potatoes in front of me.

“You want to help? Start peeling and slicing,” I happily take the job and get busy doing what mom said. It takes me about thirty minutes to peel and slice the potatoes and I’m ready for a nap.

Maybe I should just sit here and look pretty. Ever since I’ve become pregnant, I’ve gotten more and more tired. I get up from my stool and walk over to the sink to wash my hands.

Once I finish that, I turn to my mom and let her know that I’m going to take a nap and if the guys decide to surface, to let Axyl know where I am.

At least he helped me put the boys to bed last night and came to bed with me, but once in two weeks isn’t enough for me. I want him to hold me while I sleep and as I fall asleep. Being in his arms keeps the nightmares away.

I feel safe when I fall asleep with him. When I go to bed alone, I toss and turn until he comes to bed.

Last night I got the best night’s sleep that I’ve had since they started planning like we were getting ready to face the end of the damn world.

I walk up the stairs and go into Axyl and my room and shut the door behind me. I’m so exhausted right now.

I drop on the bed and worm my way up to the bed before I get comfortable under the blankets. It doesn’t take long before I’m falling into a deep sleep.

AXYL

We’ve been in church for about two and a half hours now. It was supposed to be quick, a get in and get out, type of thing.

Westyn was going to announce that we would stop working around the clock to plan something that we didn’t even know would work.

Aliana has been telling us that for a few days now and it took our mothers reaming us a new one for us to comprehend it.

Last night, I had the best sleep I’ve enjoyed in over a fortnight. I tucked my boys into bed and drifted off next to the woman I love. I’m aware of the nightmares that plague her when I’m not there.

I can see the sheen of sweat on her skin when I slip into bed. I can see the tear tracks on her cheeks when I pull her close to my chest. I can feel her trembling body relax in my hold.

All I’ve been doing is trying to keep her and everyone else safe.

Especially my family. I can’t even imagine what I’d do if anything happened to her, my daughters, or my sons. I don’t think anyone could pull me back from that abyss.

I didn’t earn the name Cannon for nothing. “Axyl. Axyl!”

“What?”

“Have you been ignoring everything I’ve been saying?”

“Sorry. I was hoping we’d be done by now. I want to spend some time with my woman before she takes her nap.”

“My sister is always napping. Is that normal?”

“Absolutely. She’s carrying twins. Not just one baby, but two. That takes a lot out of a person. Especially someone as petite as Aliana. She was all skin and bones when she returned here. It’s good for her to sleep.

Besides, if she’s asleep, she’s not terrifying the men. I swear, she’s more intimidating than your mothers. Hell, she’s scarier than mine,” Doc tells Westyn.

It’s funny how each of us is terrified of our mothers. We all grew up together, and when our fathers stepped down, we all assumed our rightful places at the table.

Westyn is my best friend, but we’re all pretty tight. We’d do anything for each other and our families.

“Anyway, back to the topic. Let’s wrap this up before we get dragged out by our ears—and so princess here can get back to his lady.”

“Just wait until you guys find that one girl you can’t live without.”

“Anyway, Lana needs to be dealt with. As does that trashy club.”

“Right. I was thinking we could get one of the prospects to get close to her. Find out what she’s been telling them and what she knows.

We have a new prospect that she shouldn’t know about… I haven’t seen her around in a while. I honestly thought she’d left town. She hasn’t been here to see the boys since I kicked her out.”

“That’s a thought, but can we trust the prospect to maintain his cover and not betray us?” Reaper asks.

“He just got out of the service so he’s still in that mindset, but if he does, we’ll deal with him like we deal with a rat. If he pulls this off, he’ll earn his patch. This isn’t going to be a one-time thing.

“We need to know what they’re thinking and planning before we can make a move. I’m not going in there guns blazing and risking lives because we went in blind.

“For all we know, that’s exactly what they’re hoping for.” I tell them.

“Let’s bring the prospect in here and wrap up this meeting. Dinner’s going to be ready soon and you think getting dragged out of here by our ears is bad.

“Imagine if we were late to the dinner they’ve been slaving over all day.” The men around the table shudder as the prospect walks in.

“You wanted to see me, prez?”

“We have a job for you, Diego. If you pull this off, you’ll be a full-fledged member. Think you can handle it?” Westyn asks the prospect.

He nods eagerly and we explain to him what he’s going to be doing. Finally, this damn meeting is over, and I can go see my woman.

“Don’t wake her up! She’s even worse when she’s cranky.” My brother warns. I smack him on the back of his head and head up the stairs. I gently open the door to our room and see her sleeping peacefully.

She must have been wiped out. I kick off my boots and remove my cut before pulling my shirt over my head and holding my woman, joining her in sleep.