MC: Moniz: Book 9 (22 page)

The boat makes it to the dock with three drunk high school kids. Little Ben sends them on their way with a BS guard to get them ashore safely. A Prospect will pick the guard up at the town dock.

Everyone sits and eats or goes back to the park as if nothing happened. I smile at my family acting just like everyone else.

We dance for a couple of songs then sit with the Brothers and old ladies until it starts getting dark. I pull Marty up and we say good night to everyone. Alan’s girl is a bitch at best and tonight is no different. “I’m so glad you kept her and Casper’s girl. I always knew you’d have an old lady even if she was someone else’s first.” I stop in my tracks. Kept her? Marty looks at me and I see the question in her eyes. Fuckin’ women know how to cut someone deep.

Alan is pissed. “This is the fuckin’ reason you’ll never make one. Bitch doesn’t go over well around here. I’m done.” He starts to pull her toward the side of the house.

“Before you drag her out.” He stops and swings her around to face me. “Never would someone call an Officer’s old lady a bitch. There isn’t one bitch on the compound, so when a Brother brings one around she stands out like a whore at a wedding.” The Brothers close to us laugh at that.

She’s ready to pounce on me but Alan holds her by her waist and hair. “Marty and Aubrey have always been mine. Aubrey wrapped me around her little finger the first day I met her. She was mine from that moment on. Marty was a little different.” I look at her and smile. “Kept her? No, never crossed my mind. She worked day and night keeping a daughter that didn’t know her safe. Seeing her sleeping on the floor outside her doorway and knowing it wasn’t the day that Aubrey smiled at her made it hard for me to breathe some days.” I keep my eyes on hers. “Every day she waited and hoped, the loyalty and patience she showed to Aubrey, the determination and dedication she had to making life good for her girl, the trust and faith she put in me and the MC to keep them safe. That intensity, that loyalty, dedication, and capacity to love brought me to my knees. I loved her before I even knew what it was. I wanted that for myself, my kids, and my MC family.” I see the tears in her eyes.

No doubt, Rich said. “She’s mine because she’s strong, the kind of strong that lifts people up when they don’t even know they’re down. She earned her place with the old ladies showing them all that and doing it with a smile. That kind of strong makes me proud she picked me.” I take Marty’s hand and look at the bitch. “It’s a place you’ll never hold because you aren’t that strong and you’ll never know what that is. My girl could talk, or you were smart enough to learn sign, she’d tell you it was nothing and mean it. I kept her.” I shake my head with a smile. “Get a fuckin’ clue before you open your mouth.” I throw chin to Alan and bend to kiss my girl. “Never doubt what you mean to me. It has nothing to do with anyone but you.” She nods and puts her head on my chest. I give her a minute to get all I said.

We walk up the beach with my arm around her keeping her close. When we get to the bluff she stops. I sit on a rock and pull her to me. ‘Thank you for what you said back there. It would have come up at some point. I’m glad it was today and it’s done.’ I kiss her head. She knows what I said so there’s no point in going over it. I’m glad she lets it drop. I’m not sure what the Brothers heard, but no one threw tampons so maybe they walked away. We sit watching the waves roll in. When she shivers I stand us up and walk back. We find Aubrey with Lilly by the fire and do the good night thing. The Brothers slap my back and old ladies hug Marty.

At the house I take my girl right into the bathroom and start the tub filling while I peel her T-shirt and shorts off. “You need a fuckin’ warning with this suit.” She laughs. I love that smile. I pull three strings and the suit is on the floor. Jesus. That’s way too easy to get off. I smile, since it’s me taking it off, maybe not. I take a nipple in my mouth as I stand and she arches her back while holding my head right there.

Getting us in the tub I lay her back on me. “Was this day all you hoped it would be?”

‘More than I thought it could be.’ She pulls my arms around her and holds on. ‘I love you.’

I kiss her head. “Love you too babe.”

She looks back at me. ‘Yes you do.’ She’s smiling.

I slide my hands on her and smile when she’s breathing heavy. Moving my fingers to her pussy has her back arching. “So fuckin’ beautiful babe.” I scrape my teeth on her ear and her hand flies to her nipple. I like that and tease her ear and behind it until she’s coming on my hand.

I bend to kiss her lips but it’s not enough. Turning her so she’s facing me I take her mouth. Fuckin’ slow isn’t going to do it here. She lifts up holding my dick so she can slide me in and does it without breaking the kiss. Fuckin’ heaven. She moves on me until I’m all in. I smile at that and lift my head. “Go baby, take what you need.” She gives me my smile and puts my hand on her tit. I get to work and tell her how beautiful she is and she moves faster. Liking that reaction I keep talking. Then start moving her faster. Seeing her body freeze, and feeling her clamp down on my dick, I get my knees under me and pull her up and down like a piston. “My wife. So fuckin’ sexy. Your come making my way easy. One more babe. Squeeze those tits so I can have one more.” Her hands move from my arms one on her tits and one skimming where we meet. “Fuck, that’s a picture.” I move her faster and know I don’t have long. “Come on my dick babe.” Her back arches and freezes and I’m gone. Fuck. I sit back on my heels holding her. “Fuckin’ love you babe, no doubt.”

Something is wrong. I open my eyes knowing I’m alone. He must be in the office. I put his T-shirt on and walk through the house and up the stairs noticing it’s still dark out. Aubrey’s light is on and I’m instantly awake walking in her room. Geek is pacing with her in his arms. Her eyes are closed and her face is red and wet. ‘Bad dream?’ He nods and takes my hand walking into the office, he waits until I’m sitting, then tries to move her. She grabs onto him crying out so he settles her back on his shoulder.

“Jeremy will be here soon. Go get dressed and let him in,” he says while sitting down.

I do as he says quickly and make coffee while I wait for Jeremy. It’s Little Ben that comes to the door. “I saw the flashes. Is she okay?”

‘I don’t know how to answer that. She won’t let go of Geek.’

He nods starting for the stairs. I take his arm and hold the coffee in my hand up to him. He takes it with a quick thanks. I get another two cups made and have them on a tray when I hear the knock. Jeremy and Jacob are here looking serious. Shit. They go upstairs without a word. I bring the coffee up putting them both in front of Geek. His hands stop, he drinks one straight down, and takes a sip of the other. Now that he’s not typing he looks surprised Little Ben and the kids are here.

“I got the flashes Brother. Let me take her so you can keep going.” Geek nods and Little Ben gently moves her to his shoulder. Aubrey doesn’t make a sound. She must need something they can give her. Jeremy takes my hand and leads me to the second chair.

“We need your help today Marty, Digs has to ride,” Jacob tells me. I nod and sit. Geek looks at them then me. “He said we need her.” Geek nods and starts typing again. Little Ben is pacing behind the desk.

This is bad. I’ve only worked with Geek once and that was the day we got here. He’s crazy fast on the keyboard and can read and type while he’s talking. I am nowhere close to that but I turn on the computer. Geek has his desktop running on half of my computer. I watch for a couple of seconds and see he’s tracking bids. The bastards are at it again. I jump in and type in OC, ‘starting at the bottom.’

“Yeah,” he says watching his screen.

“Marty, if this gets to be too much for you, step away.” Little Ben says putting a coffee in front of me.

I nod drinking half the cup and then go back to finding the bastards. Going through the list of bids we work without interruption until the feed shuts down. I slap the desk at the same time Geek says “Fuck!” I look at him because I don’t know what to do. He keeps typing and I watch my desktop. It’s another feed. Damn! I jump to the bottom of the list and start tracking the bids again. We keep working until the last feed he has shuts down. I want to scream. We missed about thirty bidders in all. Geek turns to me. “Thank you babe.”

‘We missed a bunch of them.’

He nods. “They’ll be back up in a couple of hours. We found more today than we ever did before.”

‘They come back up?’ What the hell? He looks so calm and I want to find the bastards bidding on kids.

Little Ben steps close to me. “Marty can you check on Aubrey and give me a couple of minutes to talk to Pres and VP?”

I look at him; I’m pissed but nod, because I’m not pissed at him. I go find my daughter. She saw something that gave us the bidding. For the first time this morning I think I should have been holding her not running down bidders. What kind of mother forgets her daughter like that? I’m embarrassed when I walk into the kitchen. Jess is making breakfast and Aubrey is helping. Brenda is setting the table.

“Just in time for breakfast,” Brenda says.

My face heats with embarrassment. I left them to do this for my daughter instead of taking care of her. I go right to her asking in my head if she’s okay. “Brenda takes good care of me Mommy. You had to help Little Ben and Daddy. Little Ben thinks it’s important for you to help. That’s what Jeremy said too.” She’s so sure with her words, I just look at her. I know they take care of her but I’m her mother. “Everybody uses their strong to help. Your strong is gonna help the kids. I’m already helped.” Jess laughs. I just smile at her. I have nothing to say so I help get burritos made.

“I’ll take her to school with me,” Brenda says as she sits down.

‘Thank you, and thanks for helping with her this morning.’ She waves it away and I love her all the more for it. Jess goes upstairs with a plate of burritos. By the time she’s back we’re just finishing. ‘Thank you Jess, the burrito was perfect, I didn’t realize how hungry I was until I sat down.’

She nods smiling. “Steve asked me to come get you sorted this morning. I don’t feel like I helped much. The Sub Shop is sending you lunch and I have dinner being sent over from the Diner so you’re not worrying over the little things. Little Ben says it’s okay for you to go back up. Is there anything you need me to do before I go?”

Wow. ‘Thank you.’ They’re taking care of me too, not just Aubrey.

She giggles. “Girls don’t work in Security Mommy. ‘Course they’re taking care of us.”

Jess laughs. “This is the first time a woman has worked with HS. Aside from the KC it’s unheard of. Aubrey’s right, the old ladies are proud of you for being there, and we’ll do whatever it takes to make that easier for you. I’m not sure if Steve is ready for a woman on Ops, but he’ll have to adjust. I’m pretty sure he thought you’d be a basket case when you left the room and your biggest concern was Aubrey’s care. Her sisters and the old ladies will take that over when you need us to. Right now you need to show our Badasses what you can do without being distracted over the little things.” She pulls me up and hugs me. “We’ve got your back Marty. Go break into that Badass boys club and know that we’re behind you.”

I can’t stop the smile on my face. ‘Thank you.’ I kiss and hug my girl and she moves my hand to do a fist bump, making us all laugh.

“I’ll leave a list on the fridge of what happens today with Aubrey so you know right where she is. Keep your phone on you in case anything changes you’ll get a text.” I nod and head for the office. I keep the tears away thinking of how much I appreciate getting to help and how tears will get me thrown out. It works I think smiling. As I’m getting to the stairs the doorbell rings. Mitch, Kevin and their boys are here. One boy looks like Kevin the other like Jamie. I wonder how that worked but not for long. She’s bouncing and hugging me before they all make it through the door.

As soon as the door closes VP is telling me he doesn’t like it. “Do we have anything on Brantley?” Little Ben asks.

VP looks at his boards. “Digs and KC are looking.”

“Then we need her and you’re going to have to deal,” Little Ben tells his father in his President voice. VP looks like he wants to bark at him but tells him to be ready in ten for a meeting. As soon as he’s gone Little Ben whips his pad across the room. “When the fuck will they see the women for what they bring us?” I let him pace without answering. “Every fuckin’ one of them has been through more than any Brother would have been able to take and I have to fight for them to run a fuckin’ computer?” He spins looking at me.

I hold my hands up in surrender. “You don’t have to fight me.”

“Or us,” Jessie says from the KC board.

Little Ben throws chin. “Thanks Brothers. This will be a hell of a fight.” He pulls his hair back and looks up at Jessie and Darren. “Anything on Brantley and his Security?”

“No Brother. Their tracking was the only thing we found. The bikes are at the Garage.” Jessie says while Darren signs.

Jess brings burritos in and everyone is quiet. “Marty’s eating now.” She doesn’t say more and has me thinking she’s smarter than anyone gives her credit for.

“Give me fifteen minutes and send her up,” Little Ben says.

Jess pulls on his shirt and kisses his cheek. “I will. We have her covered for however long you need.” She walks out without another word.

Twenty seconds pass before Jessie laughs. “She’s almost as scary as VP.”

Little Ben shakes his head. “Worse. She knows exactly what’s happening and is going to push for it. I need to think for a minute. She’s not going to be allowed at Security.”

“She can work here, it’s set up for it, she’s comfortable here and I won’t have to kill any Brothers for hitting on her,” I tell him.

Jessie laughs and Little Ben gives him a look. “This can work. Can she handle an Op while chasing addresses?”

“She did the night we brought her here. She was following Brantley and sending information as they needed it,” I tell him.

He clenches his jaw. “That’s not the same as an Op.”

“What do you want Little Ben? It’s the closest she’s been to an Op. She watched Jeremy’s when he left school but didn’t help with it. Put it on the line and give her what she needs to get it done. Maybe it won’t work, but you’ll never know if you quit before you start because you’re not guaranteed a win.” I stand up and pace.

“He’s right Brother. Jeremy’s quiet for a reason on this one. I think you need to make the call without the guarantee. She’s got my vote,” Jessie tells him.

“Mine too,” Darren says in that thick voice.

Little Ben looks at me and I point to her chair. “I already brought her in.”

OC pops from the main board. He takes a breath and nods at me to open it in video. Pres, VP, Danny, Jamie and Jake are in HS Security. “Pres, VP, Brothers,” Little Ben says showing respect.

“I got quite the wakeup call. What do you want to do here?” Pres asks.

“I understand the reluctance and even the reasoning behind it. Today we needed the help and she’s proven she can work and work quickly under pressure. We have nothing on Brantley or the guard and are using Security and KC to find them. That leaves us short for Ops. I could pull from Security for HS but she’s already here. She’s lived through it and come out stronger. I want to use that to our advantage. We can do that from here and she’d never set foot in Security. The old ladies are set to help with Aubrey’s care and schedule for the day.” He stops when Pres’s hand goes up.

“You called in the old ladies!” He’s pissed.

Little Ben’s shaking his head no, but doesn’t say anything else. VP looks at his feet. “Told Jess to go help with the kid.”

Pres’s hands are in his hair. “Why the hell would you tell Jess? You know what she’s like. She didn’t need a fuckin’ picture drawn for this one. We’ll have a whole fuckin’ movement happening over one fuckin’ Op.” He’s pacing. Jamie, Jake and Danny are smiling. He stops and looks at us. “Is she looking for a job in HS?”

I laugh. “I don’t think so. She is happy to help, but she likes what she’s doing.”

Jamie steps forward. “Mitch does the same thing. She’s happy to help, but doesn’t want to be tied to a desk for one single job. We call on her when we need her.”

Pres and VP look at him. VP isn’t buying it. “Women shouldn’t be in Ops.” I knew it.

Pres swings his head toward him. “Maybe you shouldn’t have cemented her place here by calling the old ladies in. I can guarantee Little Ben had Aubrey covered without them!”

“Fuck!” VP says, it’s just dawning on him what he did. I hold in my laugh. Danny and Jake are facing away but Jamie’s still smiling at him.

Pres looks at Little Ben. “As needed only. She works from there; you get her what she needs to do that with no outside stresses. She’s treated just like the Brothers and gets the same pay for her HS time. Explain procedure and confidentiality so she knows what to expect. Get a voice on the computer so her words will get to the Brothers.”

Little Ben smiles. “On it Pres. Anything else I need to know here?”

“Your father brought this on us. I want that noted so I can save myself from all the shit he’s thinking of throwing on me for this.”

Little Ben steps on his foot and takes a breath. “It’s noted Pres,” his voice is strained.

“We’re out,” Pres says and the feed goes black. Jessie and Darren are laughing hysterically. Little Ben bends over, his hair is hiding his face, but I’m pretty sure he’s just catching his breath from laughing.

I sit and wait for them to finish. “It’s going to take VP years to get over this one,” Darren says and Little Ben gets serious.

“He did fuck it up by calling my mom in when I already had Brenda here. Jessie, keep a check on the leads for Brantley. I need to get the voiceover to work here. Darren, get in here and set her up. I don’t have a time on the Op yet, but it’s today.” He stops talking and watches Darren. “Why the fuck did you do that? It’s as bad as calling either of our moms in. Fuck I’m going to get shit over this one.”

I sit watching with a smile. They’re just like their dads. I hear the doorbell and leave hearing Little Ben ask when exactly Mitch was called. Marty and Mitch come up the stairs with Jared, Kaleb and Kevin following. Kevin is grinning from ear to ear. “Exciting day for the MC,” he says.

I bust out laughing. When I calm down I look at him, “Our VP is blazing trails with this women’s movement.”

He’s laughing, Kaleb, Jared and the women are just looking at us. I stop quick. “VP didn’t realize what he did calling Jess in. It was funny at the time.” Kaleb shakes his head at us and walks to the office. Fuck.

I look at Kevin. He’s watching Mitch. “Don’t give me that look. I know how important you are and always have been. Take it up with Steve not one bit of this has anything to do with me.”

She walks to him and he looks a little nervous. “You’re right my handsome husband but it’s not funny that women are held separate from men just because they are women. If they can do the job they should get the job. If HS is letting Marty in it’s because she’s as good as, or better than, the men in that room.” She kisses his cheek. “Let’s get her set up so she can show them women have a brain as well as a vagina.”

I hold my laugh in but Marty is laughing away. Fuckin’ woman has no sound. I walk away before I get into trouble. Marty follows and waits for Kaleb and Jared to finish with her station. She’s running on the second. The third station is hers for HR and the Women’s Center. They get her set up and we try out the voice while she mimics the last Op. She’s got it and responds right to Little Ben on the first try. Mitch is excited bouncing and clapping with each right answer. I don’t say a word figuring I’m better off.

Jessie pops on the OC and I flip him to video. He looks at the people in the room, “I’ll call you Brother.” Little Ben throws him chin and walks out.

“Marty is there anything else you need while we’re here?” Mitch asks with the biggest smile.

‘I think I have it. Everything is working right. Does the HS control room run voice to text for me?’ My girl is fuckin’ smart.

Mitch nods. “We’re headed over there now. I’ll make sure the three consoles have the voice to text for you and you can switch it on just like you did here.”

‘Then I’m all set. Thank you for coming and setting me up so fast.’ Marty stands and hugs her.

When she goes to hug Kevin his hands go up. “No offense but Steve growled at me when Jess hugged me, Geek broke a guy’s nose for looking at you, and the MC is known for shooting people’s feet. I’m not up for being shot today.”

I throw him chin and Marty laughs. Fuckin’ women. “Thanks for getting her straight so fast. Mitch while you’re in HS Ops, VP has a problem with the hologram board. He doesn’t use it like he should but I think it’s the way he’s seeing it. Can you look at that for him?”

She nods and her eyebrows draw down. “We had to put glass up for an engineer who had a problem with it. I’ll talk with him about it while I’m there. The boards don’t work if you can’t use them. He probably doesn’t need it, but I’ll ask.”

I throw her chin and she smiles. They leave behind the boys. Little Ben tells me he has the door. I didn’t realize he was in the hall. I didn’t even hear him out there. Looking at Marty I smile. “I’m proud of you Babe. You’ll do fine with Ops. If you have questions just OC me.”

‘I’m not sure they’ll like that, but I’ll try it.’ She looks unsure.

“No one expects you to know everything right away. Just follow your orders and ask when you have questions,” I tell her.

“He’s right. You’re on with me and we start at twelve. If you need to clear it with your regular work, now is the time to do that.” She shakes her head no. Today was her work at home day. “HS Ops runs until the job is done. This is an on call position but you will be called in on an emergency basis. Brantley and Jax are missing so this would be considered an emergency. He is an HS IT backup. Digs is the other. Jeremy says Digs needs to ride which means we are short an Ops control. We don’t use the younger kids on trafficking for obvious reasons. Since we have so many leads to clear Pres added teams and has us with PD support. We need help in IT. Jared will run with Kevin, Jerry with VP, and Bull with Pres on cleanup. Jake is Air Ops. Geek will keep everyone’s boards running. KC will run support if we need them but we have them on Brantley so I’d rather not use them. Do you have any questions?”

‘No but I need to arrange for Aubrey if I’m going to be late.’

Little Ben shakes his head no. “Brenda has her and understands Ops. She worked with the Blackhawks for a couple of years. She’ll bring her home for dinner and have her sleep over if you’re expected to be late. Jess, Kate, CJ and Amanda all wanted to take her and can if it’s needed but Tess says she’s with Brenda.” Fuckin’ old ladies are awesome.

‘How many people on a team?’

“We’re all running teams of eight. It’s more than usual but we have HS to support it. Rich, Danny, Rayne, Zack, Digs, Jessie and if he’s needed Bob.”

I start mapping the addresses we pulled earlier while Marty checks the kitchen or something. I send the map to VP, he’ll break it up for the teams, and send me back a master.

At eleven-fifteen Marty brings sandwiches in. We move away from the keyboards and eat in silence. At half past I see people moving around HS. I finish and put a headset on. VP gives me my orders and I get the maps for each team up at their stations.

Ian checks in saying Mitch is in the outer office ready to run the auctioneers down. I want to laugh, but stifle it. Mitch is running a computer on Ops and I can guarantee no one said fuck about it and he actually says auctioneers instead of pussies. It’s going to be one of those days.

Pres does an overview of the Ops, similar to what Little Ben said earlier and looks at VP to get it broken down and the role of each team with their leads. He mentions the women in control positions but doesn’t say anything else. I watch and see he’s red. Jerry looks comfortable, but I hit him in OC letting him know to write me if he has a question or problem. He looks at the board and nods to me.

Marty has Digs as her lead and calls roll. They start and her voice control works perfect, she types fast so she can keep up with the Brothers and pulling the information they need quickly.

I’m watching all the boards keeping track of everyone and jumping in to get information for each as they need it. This works better than our usual Ops and I’m surprised. We are running more people, more support and more new to HS controls. I’ll take it. Mitch has addresses right away and VP runs Team One closing down the auctioneers and getting PD to the kids so they can get them home.

Marty sits back pulling my eyes to her. On her board Digs is standing over a pussy he shot in the head. Marty does a satisfied nod and goes back to it. I OC, ‘What’s up?’ He’s the man that took them from outside the babysitter’s house. I sit back and look at her but she’s moved on. I send her words to Little Ben at the bottom of the hologram board. He has Digs pull ID and anything he has that we could use to get info.

We’re four hours in when VP tells me he needs me on site. Fuck. I get Ian on control for me and hit the patio stairs running through the Kids Club to the hangar at the Club. Cloud is already here and we’re off in less than three minutes. Jamie’s telling me about the house Rayne is at and the wiring. Jerry sends me schematics and Rayne tells me what it looks like. He’s got the pussy and a tablet. This is getting too commonplace for my liking. I tell him to lift the pussy’s shirt and see if he’s wearing a belt. Thank fuck he’s not but he’s smiling as Rayne checks so Chet shoots his foot. I can hear the guy screaming and I smile. It always works.