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Walking into the common room, I am heading to the offices when I notice Ayla floating above the ground, with Ahad, Rory’s German Shepherd puppy, jumping up and down trying to grab her feet.

“What the effing heck is going on?” I shout as I drop the papers and rush over to grab Ayla. “CILLA! CILLA!” You can bet your life I bellow.

Cilla runs into the common room from the kitchen. “What’s up? Why is Ayla out of her playpen?”

“Cilla, Ayla was floating in the air when I walked in here, and Ahad was jumping trying to grab her feet!” It sounds ridiculous.

Cilla looks behind me, at nothing! Then points at nothing! “You are going to be moved on if you don’t cut out all the bullshit. I don’t care what you have to say about it, and I don’t care that Ayla loves flying. She is not flying around the room, end—of—story.” The last Cilla says with such a snark I cover my mouth so she doesn’t see I want to giggle.

“Don’t laugh at them, Miri. They are total and utter assholes, and if they are not careful, I’ll call a higher being to take their asses to the next dimension,” Cilla is standing with her hands on her hips, scowling for all she’s worth. I look at Ayla who isn’t worried at all by what is going on, or from flying.

“Um, I’ve got to see Tracker, Cilla,” I say as I back away from her and head to the offices. The sooner I move away from this shitshow the better.

Knocking on Tracker’s office door, I enter when he shouts that I can. I stand in front of his desk and quickly tell him what Bastian told me. “You may need to speak with them, Tracker. I’m not always the best at giving messages. I tend to leave bits out, not because I mean to, it’s just the way I retell.”

“Are they okay with living at Demon’s Rest?” Now, Tracker says that with a touch of humor, and I ignore it in case he wants to outright laugh depending on my reaction.

“Yes, they are okay with staying there. They will be great living there I think because they come across as solid men. Not the type to mess up the place. They asked me to get them a cleaner, so I’ll speak to Briony and see if she can take that work on as well as what she is doing already.”

“Good idea. Briony is solid, and I trust her to clean my house. She’s done a good job and touched nothing she shouldn’t. I told her to stay out of my office if I wasn’t there, and she has. She, I hope, will get her life turned around. She deserves it after all she has gone through,” Tracker knows more than he ever lets people see. But he cares about everyone under the MC umbrella as far as I can see, and I admire that about him.

“Okay. I’ll get going as I have to speak to Books.” I quickly leave the office and as Books office is empty, I head out to my car. I’m going home, and it feels odd to say that but Rory’s old house is now home to Joker and I, and I admit I love it.

At home, strawberry-flavored water poured and sitting at the kitchen table my phone pings, which is a message from the realtor asking me to come in and sign for the second house. The sale has been agreed and we can get it locked down. I don’t stop the small smile because this is great, two offers and two accepted for flipping or renting. I’m delighted.

Chapter 25

TRACKER

Saturday evening.

Walking into church, I take my seat at the head of the table, and inwardly smile to myself at the way the working prospects are sitting straight in their seats. Every one of them is showing respect to the room and the meeting.

“I want to open this meeting by thanking each of you for becoming working prospects for the Restless Demons MC. Twelve of you are putting in a lot of effort for the club, working within individual businesses. Scribe and Jethro. Do you have any concerns or questions you need to make regarding the tattoo studio?” I quickly get down to business because I’ve found it grounds people faster than blustering about nothing.

Scribe responds to the question, although Jethro looks like he wanted to speak. “We are moving along with the development of the business. By that I mean we have redecorated the place, and Jethro is nearly ready to open his own seat. I think maybe another six months and we can say the studio will have two qualified tattoo artists.”

“Jethro, do you agree with that? Anything to add?” I want to give him the opportunity to speak although he is an apprentice at this moment in time.

“Scribe is a good boss. He works hard and probably more hours than he should. But we are sending more to the club than I think is fair. I would like to recommend Coin look at the financials with fresh eyes,” Jethro is looking at me nervously.

“Okay, that can be done. Cap, make sure that happens.”

Cap and Rides had entered church before I had, and they know not to get involved unless I personally ask for their opinion or action. “Will do, Pres,” Cap quickly responds, and I know he’ll do as asked. Rides nods to let me know he’ll also make sure it’s done.

“Anything else?” I ask, and they both shake their heads, saying that they are done. I continue, “Jay, Tripp, anything?”

Jay quickly speaks. “Nope, all is good for us. Apart from the living arrangements. The trailer park is nasty, and the sooner we can get out of there the better.”

“I agree. The trailer is okay-ish, but the park is nasty,” Tripp adds. I can see Malik and Darius nodding their heads in agreement.

“Rides, speak to Miri and see if she can get somewhere for Jay and Tripp to live. I don’t think there is room at the Demon’s Rest as it only has four bedrooms and we just put four men into it,” I rub my chin, wondering if there is anywhere else we can house these two.

“I’ll speak with Miri as soon as we leave church, Pres,” Rides assures me.

“Actually, get Joker to speak with Miri about it. I’m sure he can finagle a better response than you can,” I smirk, thinking of ways I would make sure I get what I want when I finally get my woman.

“Okay, Pres,” Rides replies, but he’s giving me an odd look. Yeah, he needs to get his woman soon or he’ll be fuckin’ useless when the time comes.