Total pages in book: 212
Estimated words: 207966 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1040(@200wpm)___ 832(@250wpm)___ 693(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 207966 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1040(@200wpm)___ 832(@250wpm)___ 693(@300wpm)
She patted my hand.
Gigi was back with her purse. “Thank you so much, Fern and Archer.” She hugged my mother.
“When she wakes up, I’ll introduce myself. Tell her I’m the nurse you hired.”
Gigi bit her lip. “She might see the family resemblance though.”
“Do not worry. I’ve got this. Go, you two. Take a breather.”
17
I was back in Aberdeen without my girl. But my mind was at ease because Ma and Delia had met while I was on my way back and shit was already organized to the degree she and Arch could leave, even Gigi could leave; Francie would still have help.
Several club hang-around women and old ladies had volunteered to help, so Delia was putting together a schedule. Security detail would be split between Arch and a prospect, then three prospects would rotate shifts next week when Arch left. I told my mother they could likely go, but she wouldn’t be talked out of staying for the week.
I’d go back down on the weekend, but as the garage was beyond busy, the boys were relieved to have me back. As expected due to the press on the weekend, business was booming and the garage had tune ups, oil changes, tire rotations, and other maintenance booked for weeks out. Just today alone, Spencer sold three new and one used motorcycle at the dealership. In the past week, the gear shop in the dealership sold almost half its inventory of hoodies, t-shirts, ball caps, and shit like that.
When I got back, I was surprised at how jam-packed the parking lot was for a weeknight. People were coming to Deke’s Roadhouse for burgers, wings, beers, pool or darts, to catch a game. The brothers’ tails were wagging because every night since the car wash and news coverage, there’d been tables of women dolled up lookin’ to get attention. Seeing wet, shirtless, tatted bikers on the news had certainly helped business.
The Roadhouse had been so busy the last few days, Ella was organizing a rush supply order to re-stock the kitchen’s inventory. This was all good news for the club, but I didn’t get any of that out when I called because Gigi was overwhelmed and babbled at me for fifteen minutes about all that’d happened there since I left.
It all started when I’d texted Rudy to ask for a room for Ma and Arch before she and I even left the trailer to go get a meal and within five minutes, I had Delia on the phone, demanding to be put on speaker so she could ream me and G out for not calling her sooner, demanding G’s and my mother’s phone numbers.
We had our food and then a quick fuck in my truck in the woods before I took her back and packed up to go.
Now, just a few hours later, my girl told me Delia stepped up in a big way. Delia even had a friend in home healthcare that was connecting Gigi with a social worker to get Francie approved for full-time nursing care.
Until that was organized, the club had it all looked after. Meals would be cooked and sent over. Gigi would have help with the cleaning. At night, someone could be there to deal with Francie’s nighttime needs if Gigi needed, so she could sleep. And she wouldn’t be left unprotected. A prospect would be on site to make sure nobody fucked with Gigi to get back at the club.
She could barely talk when she was telling me this stuff, bawling on the phone. And that pissed me off. Because I could tell that this girl had been shown so little kindness in her life that she couldn’t wrap her head around all this. And I wanted to be there and hold her tight through the tears.
Francie had slept for a good five hours straight but while we were on the phone, G heard her in the bathroom, so had to let me go, telling me she was going to surprise her aunt with the wig.
I said, “Don’t let her give you any shit about the help, baby. The help is needed.”
“I don’t know what to do with all this,” she’d admitted.
“Accept the help, knowin’ they’re paying it forward for all the shit you’ve done for the club.”
“I never gave this much, Jesse.”
“Disagree since your intel saved three lives, but beyond that, soak in the knowledge that people give a fuck and be prepared to pay it forward again when you can help out. That’s what the club, your club now too, is all about.”
“I miss you already.”
“I’ll be back on the weekend.”
I only hoped that her aunt wouldn’t keep biting the hands feeding her. I’d filled Ma in on the situation on the phone the night before, so I knew she’d make sure my girl wasn’t on the receiving end of a bunch of abuse. Between Fernanda and Delia, I knew she’d be okay without me the next few days.