CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
I know that the guys aren't going to be happy about it but I have to go back and see Mandy and talk about the houses, when I mention it to Jax while we're eating the lunch that Gemma sent out for he seems surprised that Craig's arrival in town, or so close to it, hasn't put me off the idea of buying property.
I roll my eyes at him, "While I may be terrified of what he will do to me if he gets hold of me, my fear of him is eclipsed by how much I trust you," he looks hopeful for a second before I continue, "the Sons have told me that they will protect me, and I have never seen them go back on their word in anything."
Donna and Opie are sitting on the other side of the picnic table to us and Ope shoots a look at the garage bays where the mechanics are hard at work on Donna's car, hoping to get it finished today so that we can use it instead of my cars which both stick out like anything. They're not going to get it all done tonight, the tyres are still en route, though Unser did swear that they would be there first thing in the morning, I agree with Opie and Jax to leave my Nitro at the lot and take their bikes when we go back to the house after they have finished, but I point out again that I need to go and see Mandy. Jax sighs and heads to talk to Clay.
45 minutes later I'm on the back of Jax's bike for the short ride to her office. I would have been perfectly happy to take my car for one last drive but I was overruled. My keys have been commandeered by Clay and the 4x4 has been locked up in the Police impound building, courtesy of Unser with orders from Clay to put the Challenger in the Winston's garage, or bring it to the garage and leave it there, I figure after its marathon drive it needs an oil change and some attention so I agree to bring it to the lot first thing tomorrow morning, which brings me to the problem of the U-Haul that needs to be taken to San Francisco the Wednesday, but I figure we can deal with that when we get back to the garage.
Climbing off Jax's bike I take a few seconds to regain my balance and shake off the emotions that have coursed through me during the ride, they are similar to how I used to feel being on his bike, but they seem a lot mellower, maybe it's cause I'm older, maybe it's that I don't feel for him what I used to, maybe it's that I haven't been on a bike with him for years and I've forgotten what it was like. I'm not sure which one I hope it is.
Stepping into Mandy's office the guys take a seat in her reception area. It's funny seeing the 2 leather clad bikers in what appears to be seats shaped to look like teacups. Donna comes over to Mandy's desk with me and 30 minutes later I'm almost the owner of the house down the road from Donna. Mandy managed to get the owners on the phone and the offer I made which was 50K under their current asking price was accepted no troubles, I guess that's the advantage of being a cash buyer. I sort all the paperwork to be sent to my lawyer in New York, it can all be faxed so he can check it out and faxed back. Ringing him a few minutes after Mandy has sent the paperwork I head into the store room so I can have some privacy during the conversation.
With him not finding any issues with the house, or all the paperwork that had been sent through I let Mandy know I'll contact the bank tomorrow when I'm in San Francisco and get the funds sorted out for when the contract is official, just like that it's sorted. The contracts are signed by me; Mandy's going to Fed-ex them to the current owner to sign and return Thursday.
I arrange to come in on Thursday morning at 9am to check everything has been processed and collect keys.
The four of us head back to the garage via Donna's house so I can pick up the car, with Donna beside me, Opie in front and Jax behind I can't even attempt to speed a little.
Donna is silent through the ride, and as we pull into the lot she turns to me, "I didn't pressure you into that house did I?" She sounds really worried about it.
"No, D you didn't. I liked it, but what's better is I love what I can do to it to make it mine. So you better be prepared for lots of working bees till I'm happy with it." I grin at her but I can tell she knows I'm not joking about the working bees, I used to organise them all the time in high school when someone was having issues. Tara never thanked me for the 3 I organised for her house when the gardens got so overgrown you couldn't tell there was a house there, of course that was over the course of about 18 months when we were actually friends, after she started tutoring me in Biology we became friends, several months after I introduced her to Donna, there was always a disconnection between the two but when I introduced Jax to Tara things all turned to shit.
Walking into the office I let Gemma know that come Thursday I'll be the proud owner of number 78 Oak Grove, she nods and tells me that Clay needs to talk to me.
I head into the garage bay where I can see him working on one of the cars. Waiting till he's out from under the bonnet, I've scared enough of them into banging their heads when I was younger to have learnt that lesson, I draw his attention.
"Gem said you needed me."
"You can use her Caddy when you take the trailer back. But you'll have Opie, Happy, Tig and Jax with you."
"Fuck Clay, we were going to do a day trip shopping as well." I'm not happy, and I know that none of the girls will be either. Bribing Donna with a free shopping trip had helped her get over the key ring incident.
"You can go shopping, but the guys will be with you." Clay grins and I know he's going to enjoy telling the biker escort that they have to travel with 4 women shopping.
After the day that I've had all I want to do is head back to the Winston's and set myself in their kitchen for the afternoon, but both Opie and Jax have work to do and even though I know Happy has become more of a cupcake thief than Tig he won't want to sit around while I bake. I head into the clubhouse kitchen to see if there is any way to entertain my brain in there but I find that they don't even have flour, let alone anything else I would need. Looking around the area I decide to put my time into cleaning and reorganising the kitchen instead.
After pulling everything out of the upper cupboards and sitting it on the benches I start by cleaning them all out.
Working my way through the room from top to bottom before I know it Opie is coming in to tell me that its 6pm and it's time to go home. I've just finished mopping out the pantry cupboard, even though it's virtually empty it's still ended up with a dirty floor. He stands in the doorway and looks around, I guess it doesn't seem like I've done much but I ask him if I can have another 20 minutes to mop the kitchen floor then I'm done.
25 minutes later the kitchen floor is as clean as the rest of the room, the dirty water has been tipped outside and the bucket and mop have been put away. I don't think that anyone was aware they had a mop, let alone how to use it, I've had to change the water 3 times while cleaning the floor and the tiles I thought were brown on purpose have ended up being cream.
Heading out into the lot I see Happy and Jax sitting by their bikes, Donna and Opie are standing in the office door with Gemma with their kids, giving them big hugs and kisses. Tig and Chibs are gone already so I guess they've left to make sure there is no one at the Morrow house. Clay is standing at the back of Gemma's car tapping his foot impatiently while smoking a cigar.
I head over to Clay, "I hope everyone wasn't waiting for me."
"Nah, they're waiting for his and her highness to be ready to go." He nods towards the office and I'm not sure if he's referring to Opie and Donna or the twins, but the twins are set down and immediately run to Gemma's car where the booster seats have been strapped in and are waiting. Clay opens the doors and the kids are both in and asking for help with belts in seconds.
"Right, so his and her highness weren't quite ready to give them up?" I ask a grin in my tone as I buckle Ellie into her seat.
"Not a chance there, they kept going on about having to give a few days of hugs like Gem's planning on taking them to Timbuktu or something." Clay is struggling with Kenny's belt and I take pity on him, pushing him out of the way Kenny's buckled in quickly as Donna and Opie come over with Gemma.
"Right kids, Be Good." Opie says the stern dad voice in place.
From behind me I hear Clay mutter, "Are you going to be good too Ope?" Opie snorts and has to cover it with a cough before the kids catch on. Leaning into the car both he and Donna give their twins another kiss and hug before the doors are closed and Gemma's in the driver's seat.
Clay decides it's safer for us to all follow till Gem and the kids are at their house, which I understand completely. After stopping briefly in the Morrow driveway we're back on the road to the Winston's. Happy closing the triangle of bikes. I lean into Jax's back and breath in his scent, hoping that he can't tell how being on a bike has always affected me.
Pulling into the driveway of the Winston's house it's odd, there are no cars there, but I can hear Doj inside. I know he's been let out; I let him out earlier when we came and got my car. He's excited when we walk in the door, stopping to sniff us all. He turns to Happy and I'm not sure how the gruff man will deal with my giant dog, but Doj walks over, sticks his nose under Happy's hand and demands attention.
Happy shakes his head, "Real vicious guard dog you've got here. He might lick someone to death." His husky voice sounds like he's trying to be stern, but it's a bit hard to take him seriously when Doj is licking the back of his hand.
I head into the kitchen and rifle through the fridge hoping there's some leftovers somewhere. Having 3 bikers to feed isn't an easy feat, and I know that the chicken I got out earlier for tonight won't stretch, going to throw it back in the fridge I end up using it and throwing together a giant frittata which Happy looks at strangely, but they all start eating it, none of them ask what's in it, which I'm grateful for given that it's mostly veges.
After dinner we all end up sitting round the living room, watching shitty TV and talking about absolutely nothing. I'm not sure if Clay has informed the guys yet of their involuntary shopping trip the following day, I'm not game enough to bring it up.
At 11 I finally give up trying to stay away, Donna and Opie have gone to bed not long before. I'm tempted to make Jax and Happy fight over the couch, but I'm being selfish when I look at him and say, "Do you mind sleeping in the same bed as me again? I actually managed to get some sleep this morning."
Jax nods and stands up heading down the hall to the room where he left the clothes he slept in the night before.
I go over to Happy and wrap my arms round him. "Thank you for this."
"No sweat. Just make sure you keep making cupcakes for me." He's not a hugging man so after a second I back away.
"Sure Hap, you can have all the baking you want." I grin at him.
Heading down the hall I hear him settle onto the couch, and I hope he'll be able to sleep there.
When I get to the room that I'm using Jax is standing there, still in his jeans and t-shirt, he sort of glares at me.
"What?"
"Are you sure you don't want Happy in here to help you sleep, cupcake."