CHAPTER NINETY-SIX
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Donna and I are the last to pull into the driveway of the house and by the time I get out of the car Happy is practically dancing by the front door, I know Miles looks stunned at how enthusiastic the clubs enforcer is looking at the simple prospect of destroying some walls but a raised eyebrow from me has him shrugging and he lets the purely male enjoyment for destroying things shine through.
Unlocking the door the 6 of us go upstairs and quickly assess the rooms before deciding to start on the master bedroom, it's going to take the most to get stripped out due to the size of it. Walking through the door in front of the hammer wielding testosterone pack behind me I stop them all by raising my hand.
"The wardrobes do not get touched bar the carpet being ripped up, k?" Happy nods distractedly and steps past me with Miles in tow heading towards the walls surrounding the windows. Opie and Jax both look at me and grin.
"We'll take care of the clothing warehouses you're calling wardrobes." Opie says heading towards the 'his' side of the wardrobe.
Miles and Happy have already started pulling the linings off the wall and neither of them looks upset about the dust they're being showered in.
Donna and I collect the screwdrivers and start removing the curtains and curtain rails, throwing them over the balcony to where the skip is below.
The morning passes fairly quickly, Donna and I decide we may as well remove all the curtains and rails while we're in that frame of mind so move through the other bedrooms upstairs and then to the downstairs where there aren't as many curtains, but there are some hideous blinds in the dining room and one of the living rooms that are ripped off the wall and thrown into the skip, we're just contemplating stopping and sending Miles on a food run when the sound of bikes coming up the drive makes Donna and I both head to the front door.
Throwing it open I see that the rest of the Sons are parking bikes and Gemma is backing her Escalade towards the porch. Clay jumps up the steps and opens the door hollering "Food and reinforcements."
The sounds of the guys hurrying down for food echoes through the house and it makes me involuntarily cringe, but the realisation that it's only that loud due to the lack of furniture and wall coverings makes it a little easier.
Taking a sandwich that's being handed to me by Gemma and a bottle of water I lean against the railing of the porch and look around, Clays roped the whole charter into coming to help me and the thought that flitters through my brain of how I am going to repay them for the assistance stops me in my tracks.
Gemma leans against the back of her car and a smile crosses her face at the bodies fighting over the few places to sit down while Clay just shakes his head and mutters, "Children, the lot of you."
45 minutes later everyone has finished their sandwiches and starts looking towards me for direction. "Well, first thanks Clay for roping the guys into helping."
Clay shakes his head which causes me to stop, "I didn't. This bunch of clowns showed up on my doorstep with Tig in the lead demanding that we come and help, something about Happy not getting all the joy."
I giggle a little, "Okay, well then thanks all of you. We're working upstairs at the moment stripping out the bedrooms, Miles, Hap, Jax and Opie were in the master bedroom but there's another 2 upstairs to be stripped of everything. There are also 2 bathrooms to be stripped out; the plumber has disconnected everything so it just needs to be removed. The master bathroom just needs the tub and shower removed, and the hallway needs stripping as well of course."
Gemma pulls a book from the front seat of her car and settles down in the chair Clay's just vacated as everyone walks inside, I knew she wouldn't do any of the demo so I'm not worried, just as long as she's not inside trying to pick paint colours I'm fine with her not helping.
Leading the expanded group of Sons upstairs Happy, Opie and Jax end up back in the master bedroom with Piney while Tig, Bobby, Chibs and Clay split into the other rooms. Miles comes up to me and waits while I make sure everyone has tools. When I turn to look at him I notice both Juice and Kip standing behind him waiting for something.
"What's up Miles?"
"Not sure if you knew or not, but I did some plumbing work when I was younger." He tells me.
Looking at him I raise an eyebrow, "When you were younger, what, 5?"
Juice laughs and Kip shakes his head trying not to laugh at the young prospect, having been there not that long before. "My old man was a plumber, I started working with him when I was 15, I can start the bathrooms if you want."
"And we'll make sure he doesn't fuck anything up." Juice inserts from where he is behind Miles.
I nod, "Sure, Donna and I will be downstairs if you need anything. That goes for all of you." I call out the last of my sentence and hear a variety of acknowledgments from the rooms.
Running back down the stairs to where Donna is standing in the door of the kitchen looking at the mass of cabinetry that needs to be removed before I can truly see how the room looks.
"We'll come back to that." I say, pulling her towards the back of the house, we've finished with the living room and the dining room and had started on the other living space just before lunch had arrived. The curtain removal and detachment of the curtain railings doesn't take long in each room so within an hour we're back where we started at the door of the kitchen.
I head upstairs to check on how the guys are going and I'm stunned by the transformation they've managed to get done. The master bedroom is all but finished, the walls are completely stripped and the carpet is rolled up in the middle of the floor, the only thing that seems to still need to be done is the sweeping, which I know none of the males will do while the entire club is present, there would be no end of harassment.
Leaning over the balcony I call for Donna to come up as well, Jax and Opie have joined Clay and Chibs in one of the rooms and are working on removing the carpet tacks while Happy has gone to help Tig and Bobby, Piney is leaning in the doorway of the bathroom watching Miles work. Peering over his shoulder I can see the shower enclosure has been completely removed, Miles is on his knees by the bathtub, the side panel that I didn't know was detachable is sitting beside him on the ground.
"Hey gramps, where are Kip and Juice?" I mutter, resting a hand between his shoulders.
"Out there." Piney points to the balcony that I'd fallen in love with and my heart sinks that the pair of them might be up to no good, throwing open the doors I sigh in relief when I realise they've just used it as a smoking point, the empty paint tin on the tiles showing someone at least thought about it before hand. But looking down I see Gemma on the porch and I know she wouldn't appreciate the cigarette butts being flicked anywhere near her. I'm momentarily surprised that she has another tin beside her and wonder who it could have been before the question is answered even before it fully forms.
"Hap distributed cigarette tins around the place; he muttered something about shoving them up asses with his foot if he found any on the grass." Kip says, dropping his finished smoke in the tin, a trail of smoke rising slowly.
Turning back inside I spot Jax in the doorway, "Guess my threat of cutting off the cupcakes worked?"
Jax nods, "Sure did darlin', he was angry Happy when he found out the first few went over the balcony into the garden."
"That's okay, the garden has to be done at some stage as well, but not till the inside is finished." I say, heading back into the hall where Donna is now standing with a broom in her hand, looking into the room with a stunned look on her face.
"They did all that in one afternoon?" she asks gesturing to the empty room.
Nodding I collect the other broom from the hallway and motion her into the corner. Jax is still standing in the doorway but as soon as we start sweeping he heads into one of the rooms, returning with Tig, Opie and Happy the four of them pick up the roll of carpet and carry it out.
We have to stop when it starts to get dark, the house doesn't have power connected yet and I haven't risked getting it sorted with all the demo we're doing around the wiring.
Everyone leaves, the line of bikes leaving my driveway a reminder that I have to sort out gates at some stage. Waving from the back of Jax's bike as we part ways I'm glad when we pull into the driveway, all I want is hot food, a shower and bed.