Page 9 of Wire
Marx’s voice booms down the hall and it’s crazy to think that Remy has been here for a week already. All my fears that I would have to start from scratch with her have been completely unfounded. The woman is a machine when it comes to learning. I thought it was going to take a lot longer to get her to the levelshe’s at now. She works shifts during the day at the local library, meaning we can only train for a few hours here and there, but she’s killing it.
Standing, I stretch my arms up over my head and hold them there. I can feel my shirt has ridden up a little.
“Have fun at church!” She smiles up at me, freezing when her eyes hit my exposed midriff. She bites down on her plump bottom lip and her face turns bright red before she spins back to her screen, staring at it so hard I’m sure she’s going to burst a blood vessel.
“Thanks Remy. Oh hey, I have a name for you. See what you can find for me, yeah?” I try to hold in my laugh when she nods and doesn’t move her eyes from the screen, even when I slide over the slip of paper with the name on it. I’m sure she’s not blinked yet either. “Cool, I’ll see what you’ve got for me when I get back.”
“Yup. Sounds great! I’ll be right here. Eyes on the screen.” She gives me a thumbs up behind her back, still not turning. I snort and head out the door, but not before I take a quick peek behind me to see Remy lightly bumping her head on my desk.
I’m glad to see that my abs have an effect on her. This whole week the quiet librarian has been doing something weird to me. I’m not sure whether I want to spend time with her because she needs protecting, and with three sisters, I’m just that type of man; or whether there’s something about her that draws me to her.
I asked my best friend Retta what she thinks, and she said maybe I need to get laid. But then she said some interesting shit. She asked whether seeing Rhodie happy is giving me ideas. Well, she didn’t mention Rhodie by name, of course; we don’t share those types of details. Which is weird given that we’ve been online besties for years now. So long, in fact, that when we outgrew Shadow Wrath (although who really outgrows that? Istill sign on now and then), we moved over to messaging. Even though it is in my power to find out exactly who Retta is, I have no urge. She’s just this comforting presence that has been in my life since my dad left and I became the man of the house; when I went on tour and since I’ve been back. We have messaged every day and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. I can say, hand on heart, that outside of my family and the MC, Retta is the only other person I love. I know it doesn’t sound like she’s that far up the ranks, but no other girl has ever gotten this close.
“Yo, you gonna stand there all day looking simple or you gonna get in there?”
“You’re blocking the door fucker and I don’t want to be fined again!”
Both Fox and Nitro stare me down to move out of the way, but I can see Rider is coming down the hall, so I decide to fuck with them. I know Rider will have my back.
I take a look into church and see they’re waiting on us four. Marx is going to fine these two fuckers if they’re the last men in the room.
Rider slides along the wall to position himself behind them. In a coordinated attack we both pants them, then shove them further down the hall before running into Church and slamming the door behind us. We cackle like little girls as we find our seats and listen to Fox and Nitro grumble about our dirty tactics.
“Fuck sake, you two! What did I tell you? You’re both on toilets for the next week.” Marx shakes his head in disgust before banging the gavel getting this shit started.
“Wire, report on Remy. I have Savage wanting progress on how she’s doing.”
“She’s awesome. I’ve never met anyone who can learn as fast as she does. Well, other than Chewy, that is. They also get on really well, so that’s a bonus.” I look around the table and see brothers nodding.
“Yeah, she’s a real sweetheart. Not imposing or a pain in the ass. I like the girl.” Sniper adds, which is pretty high praise from the grumpy bastard.
I’ve noticed over the past week that although Remy sticks to herself, she’s happy to chat to the brothers during meal times. I’ve also noticed that she gravitates towards the quieter brothers like Tank and Sniper. Which irritates me for reasons I’m not going to think about.
“Chewy can’t stop talking about her. Apparently, she’s a lot more interesting than I’ve noticed. Between her and Ana, it seems Chewy has gotten herself a girl gang,” Rhodie begrudgingly says, but we can all see the smile he’s trying to hide. Whatever Chewy wants, if it’s in Rhodie’s power, he will give it to her. Chewy wants female friends? Rhodie will do whatever he can to ease the way forward. I heard them practicing small talk topics the other day.
“Good. Thank fuck she’s getting along well. The last thing I need is to have another catty bitch in my clubhouse.” We all nod. Having the bunnies is bad enough. “Rhodie brings me to my next point of business. I’m sure you all know that Gus married Ana last week.”
We all start pounding our fists on the sturdy wooden table we’re sat at. Gus is Chewy’s eldest brother and an all round good guy. I’m sure Marx would give him a patch if he thought Gus would accept it. As it stands, Tombs Security is another ally we’ve gained, thanks to Chewy.
“Yeah, who didn’t see that coming? Anyway, Chewy approached me saying they’ve been tailed a few times. Not sure who it is yet, so stay alert.”
Shit. It could be anyone. Ana is part of the Bartashev Bratva, and Gus helped us shut down a trafficking operation.
“Because of the shit that went down, Chewy has asked us to put our own tail on her brother and new sister-in-law. Gus andAna have been court ordered to camp out at the weekend. Don’t ask me why, I have no fucking clue.”
I have a clue. With the speed of the marriage and the fact Ana is on a working visa, I’m guessing they’ve been court ordered to complete couples counseling to secure a green card.
“I need someone to tail Gus and keep an eye on him. We all know he won’t want any of his siblings to shadow them. I told Chewy I’d have a brother do it. I know you’re busy Wire but I’m thinking you and Remy? Gus and Ana don’t know Remy, might be easier for her to get close. Before you get your panties in a wad, Chewy has offered to run your usual security ops.”
My blood pressure eases when I hear that Chewy will take on my jobs while I’m away. I hate leaving my station, especially unmanned, but I have ways to do my checks on my watch and phone, so between Chewy and all my tech, it should be OK.
I roll Marx’s request around in my brain for a moment and I can’t find a flaw in his logic. Not to mention Remy’s so quiet you almost forget she’s there.
“Yeah, I’m sure we can do that. We better ask her, though. She may not be the camping type.” I shrug my shoulders. I know little bits about her, but not much. When we’re working together, that’s what we do. Work. We get so engrossed in what we’re doing, there isn’t much small talk.
Marx yells for the prospect to bring Remy to church, and when she steps over the threshold, I can see she’s shitting herself. She looks to me for reassurance, which makes me feel 10 fucking feet tall. I give her a smile to let her know everything’s fine. She nods her head and creeps further into the room.
“Um, you called for me, Pres?” The poor girl looks like she’s shrinking into herself.