Fish moved through the clubhouse with a determined look on his face. It had been just over a month since Satan’s Sisters had shown up at their gate. Things were tense right now. Shady was in her eighth month of pregnancy, and Harmony and Freedom were not far behind. The men were on edge trying to find Angela Reyes and end this thing. So far, they had been unable to locate her.
They thought they had her three times this month, but each time she had left hours before they got to where she was hiding. It was as if she knew when they were close. Hell, Creed and Fork had even gone as far as thinking one of the Ops or Furies were spies for her. They had vetted every single man in both clubs again, and no one was allowed on the compound unless they physically spoke to Creed, Fork, or Fling. Right now, all missions were on standby, and there were no runs planned at all, they were hunkered in.
Boony and Shadow had also set up a monitoring system for the phones as well as the cameras that were already in place, though this time they were watching club members as well, just in case. The Presidents of all clubs had met, and even though they had to forcibly take away the females’ guns, they had all agreed no one left until they could make sure everyone was safe.
This is the reason Fish was about ready to snap. Truthfully, in all the years he had been with the Ops, being on lockdown never bothered him. This time was different though. This time there was a woman involved, one he wanted, but who hadn’t been back for a month.
The night he spent with Doc had only made him crave her more, and when she had left early the next morning, with a brief, passionate kiss, he had been smiling. Mostly because she had told him that she would see him when she got back. He knew they had gone to get the rest of her club, hell, Gypsy was here and gave them updates all the time. But it wasn't updates he wanted, and not from her. No, he wanted to talk to Doc, but damned if she wasn’t avoiding him.
Dani had begun to wake up, but as of yet, she hadn’t regained full consciousness. The first signs she was finally waking up had been two days after Doc and Marbles left. The doctor and Boo had given her pain medication because when she opened her eyes, she had been panicked. It took three people to hold her down, and she fought her unknown assailants thinking she was still kidnapped. No amount of reassuring her had worked, and with Gypsy’s permission, they had put her under with heavy medication. The doctor wanted her body to heal more so if she did fight when she woke up, at least she wouldn’t worsen her injuries. So, for now, they were waiting. Just last week they had made the decision to cut back on the meds slowly, and they were all waiting for Dani to wake up now. Jack-Jack and Slick hadn’t left her side other than to sleep, although they had split shifts so Dani was never alone.
Fish had lasted a week before he approached Shadow and Gypsy, who were staying at the Furies clubhouse now, both coming over every morning to sit with Dani, not leaving until night to go to sleep. So, he took advantage of the time they were sitting by learning all he could about the SS, as well as Doc. Gypsy hadn’t been forthcoming at first, but after a few days of Fish bringing her meals and coffee, she had warmed up, well, as long as Slick and Jack-Jack weren’t in the room. She chased them out every single time.
He had learned a lot about the woman who had taken over his mind. Shit, he knew she was too young for him, but it didn’t matter. On the second week, Fish got her phone number, but every time he called, it went to voicemail. Then Gypsy had been on the phone with her just a few days ago when he showed up. He tried to talk to her then, and she hung up. It was beginning to piss him off.
Fuck, he hadn’t put this much energy into any woman, not even Harmony’s mother. Right about now, he wasn’t sure it was worth the effort. He knocked on Creed’s office door and waited until the man yelled for him to come in before Fish took a deep breath and opened the door.
Creed leaned back and smiled. “Hey, Fish, what can I do for you?”
“Send me on a run,” he snapped. Creed frowned and then looked at Fork who was walking into the room behind him. Fish hadn’t even seen the other man, or he would have asked him for backing in this. He couldn’t stay here anymore; he felt closed in. All the men were doing what they could to find Angela Reyes. Rebel’s father was set to be here in the next few days; there had been a delay when they stopped in Colorado on their way here. No one knew what the hell had happened, only that they had to help someone. Rebel was starting her chemo in two weeks, and then surgery. They hoped to have all this shit done in time so they could concentrate on the pregnancies as well as Rebel.
“You know there is no one going on runs right now. Fuck, Harmony would kick my ass if I sent you anywhere. We are getting close to Angela; we are going to need everyone to help bring her down. The bitch is slippery, and she seems to find men to help her everywhere,” Creed said.
“Not to mention. Apparently, she has a much farther reach than we thought since she got a hold of Dani,” Fork said grimly, and Fish sighed.
“Listen, I just need a few days to get out and ride. I don’t care if you send me to the fucking store to grab some parts, just make it parts in Texas, and I will be good. I need to get outta here for a few days,” Fish said.
Fork and Creed stared at him and then Creed said, “You have a problem we need to know about?”
Fish frowned and said, “No, the only problem I have is that I need to get out of here for a few days.”
Creed sighed and leaned forward. “Hate to ask this, and I am only doing it ‘cause Harmony is worried about you, especially the amount of time you seem to be staying with Gypsy. So, does it have anything to do with her? I mean, I kinda hope it does, ‘cause she is hot, and it would be nice if you know, finally are starting to live your life again.”
Fork grinned. “If it does, we swear we will not tell Harmony, she will lose her mind, ‘cause you know, the whole older man, younger woman thing. Which by the way, Creed and I are both giving you a high five for?”
Fish rolled his eyes. “No, I can honestly say Gypsy does nothing for me. Listen, I just need to get out of here for a few days, there were a lot of changes in the last few months. I haven’t lived in a compound in a long time, not really used to it.”
Creed stared intently and then he looked at Fork who shrugged and Creed finally said, “How about this, Jas’s new ride is done, all but the tank they sent off for. They were gonna ship it; I could probably get you a week if you went to New Mexico and picked it up. I will tell them I didn’t want it damaged.”
Fish leaned back and nodded. “I can do that.”
“But the deal is, someone needs to go with you. Harmony will kick our asses if we don’t take precautions, especially right now,” Creed said, and Fork nodded.
“How about I ride with you?” Fork said. Creed grinned, and Fish shook his head.
“Fuck I am not an old man, I can take care of myself,” Fish growled, and Fork shook his head.
“We know that, but Fork wants to pick up something for Harmony in Colorado on the way. Some kind of baby thing she saw online,” Creed said.
Fish looked at Fork. “You in hot water for some reason?”
Creed laughed. “You could say that. The idiot accidentally answered her question when she asked if her stomach was getting too big.”
Fish moaned. “Seriously? You always tell them they are hotter carrying your kid.”
Fork frowned. “I did, that was after I had said her stomach was fine, but she needed some bigger pants.” Creed and Fish laughed loudly, and Fork growled. “I didn’t mean it the way it came out. I was trying to tell her those elastic waists looked uncomfortable. You know, it is like they dig into her stomach, I was worried about the kid.”
Creed and Fish laughed harder as Fork tried to justify what he was trying to say. Soon, the plans were made, and it was decided they would leave in the morning. Fish sighed as he walked back to his room. Seriously, he needed to get his place built and soon. Living with these younger men just made him feel fucking old.
Doc moved around the apartment she called home while her sisters all laughed and joked about moving. This was their last night in their place, tomorrow they would be in San Diego. She had mixed feelings about that right now. Until their apartment building was complete, which would take more time, they were going to be staying in four houses on the compound.
“Hey, Doc,” Jacks called, bringing her out of her thoughts. Jacks was Marbles twin sister. They were mirror twins, which meant if they were facing each other it looked like they were looking in a mirror, but looks were the only thing identical, everything else was opposite. Marbles was outgoing and fun; she liked to walk on the wild side, while Jacks was the calm, level-headed one, who worried about all of them. She was their mother hen, especially when someone hurt one of them, then she was a complete bitch. Doc snapped her attention to Jacks; she needed to get out of her head anyway. “Think once we get down there, we are going to be able to get Dani with us instead of on the Ops compound?”
She turned and looked at her sisters who already had been filled in by Gypsy on the fact Dani was remaining on the Ops compound, mostly because Jack-Jack and Slick refused to allow her off. They insisted it was the safest place, although Gypsy had argued to the point she pulled her knife on them when they pissed her off. It didn’t matter. Dani was staying on the Ops compound.
“She stays there until she is awake and can make her own decision, which we all know will probably be to leave and come to us,” Doc said, and the others nodded slowly, obviously not happy about it.
This last month had been hard on all of them, although all the Satan’s Sisters, except for Doc, had made trips down to San Diego to see Dani, as well as check out the Furies place since Doc had spent a fortune to have construction started on their building. Doc didn’t want to chance running into Fish. It wasn’t that the night wasn’t amazing, it was. But the problem was that it was too amazing. Hell, she had never had a man she wanted to actually learn more about, but with Fish she did. She wanted to learn everything about him, and it scared the shit out of her.
She had worked her fingers to the bone getting everything set to move, most of the things she could have asked the other Sisters to do, but she had refused to do it. Doc needed to keep herself busy, and it was the way she chose to do it. The other women had noticed, but they had yet to confront her. Doc knew they were waiting for her to sort it out in her head as was her normal pattern.
Doc had always been like that when something happened that bothered her, or a problem that needed to be solved, she would become quiet and focused until she worked her way through it. However, this time, Doc wasn’t sure she was going to be able to work her way through this. It was fucked up too because she really just wanted to get over the man who was stealing her dreams.
“I am so fucking jazzed to get to San Diego! I swear I loved the beaches down there, especially the beach on Coronado, you know the SEAL training one?” Jugs said and rubbed her hands together. “Since we have our IDs as retired military, it means we can go on the beach and watch. Granted, we need to keep our distance, but fuck, all those hot bodies, working out on the beach. Shit, I could spend all my days off there.”
Spat laughed and said, “Hell yeah, you know we could totally be one of the trainers for the SEALs, like training them up close and personal about hand-to-hand combat.”
“We should totally offer our services; I wonder who is in charge there now?” Puddin’ asked, and Sunny winked and licked her lips.
“I bet it’s not the Col who was there before. He was yummy.”
Doc laughed loudly and shook her head. “Until we get things set up and ready there, I hate to tell you we are going to be a little busy getting our business restarted.”
Mace shrugged. “Not really, Shadow already has started the ads. We just need a place to store the copters until the building is done.”
Maverick stood and walked to the kitchen and popped some food in the microwave, “We will work it out.”
Marbles stood up as Doc turned to walk into the bedroom. She only had two more things to pack and she was done. But when she turned, she felt her head begin to spin. Marbles had thankfully been close, and she grabbed Doc and steadied her.
“Whoa, you okay, Doc?” she said, and everyone in the room paused and looked at her.
Doc frowned. Shit, she had been having these spells for a few days, and Doc wasn’t sure why, and right now, she didn’t have time to figure it out. She had already found them a primary care doctor to transfer to in San Diego; she would have them check her out when they got there.
“Yeah, sorry, just turned too quick,” Doc muttered.
Maverick said softly, “Seem to be doing that more and more, Doc.”
“What the fuck?” Jacks whispered, and Doc sighed loudly.
“It’s nothing, but I’m going to get a complete checkup when we get to San Diego,” Doc said warily, and then Maverick opened the door to the microwave and Doc smelt Chinese food and her stomach instantly revolted. Fuck, she thought as she threw a hand over her mouth and ran to the bathroom.
She heard the rest of the Sisters yell and then run behind her. As she hit the bathroom, she tried to close the door, but it hit Marbles who slammed her hand against the wood and knocked it back so hard there was probably a hole in the wall now. Doc didn’t care; she flipped open the lid on the toilet in just enough time to empty her stomach. Fuck, she hated puking, it was the worst thing ever.
Doc felt Marble put a cool cloth on the back of her neck, and then she heard the girls murmuring to each other about her as she repeatedly heaved until she sank to the floor. Maverick flushed the toilet while Marbles knelt in front of her and wiped her face.
“What the fuck?” Jacks said, and she turned. “Someone get the thermometer; maybe she has the flu.”