Page 39 of Axle's Angel
“Here,” Siera says, handing him a bottle of whiskey, “bottoms up, then pass the fucker around. I think we all need it, especially as both that scary fucker and Axle’s North seem to have designs on your daughter.”
Angel snickers at her sister, and the brothers laugh. Roman scowls at Siera and looks a little green at the thought of Jen with other men. He takes a big drink, then passes the bottleback to Siera, who takes a sip and passes it to Angel. Sinking back into a chair, I pull Angel into my lap, taking the bottle from her. I drink and pass it to Maverick who looks at it and shouts, “PROSPECT!” When Muppet looks over, Mav holds up the bottle, “Bring two more. We’re getting drunk.”
A good portion of the day is spent drinking and having a good time with the brothers. Angel and Siera relax and join in. Maverick and I hold back on the alcohol as the afternoon moves into evening. Once they had a few drinks of whiskey, the girls switched back to margaritas. It seemed to me that they each had a water bottle as well, and when Lala finally called us for food, they quit drinking.
“You can keep drinking if you want, Angel. I’ll make sure you’re okay,” I whisper.
Angel shakes her head, “No, I want to be sober when you give me my cut, and Siera doesn’t enjoy being out of control. We’ll be good. One of us will make coffee soon.”
“Okay,” I agree. Looking around, I catch Giggle's eye and motion him over. “Make coffee for Angel and Siera and bring it to them, bring sugar and cream with.”
“No problem, Axle,” he replies and heads back to the clubhouse.
Ten minutes later he’s back with two mugs on a tray, sugar and cream. Angel turns soft eyes to me, kissing my cheek before she turns to Giggles and thanks him. “Thank you, Giggles. This is perfect.”
“You’re welcome,” he dips his head and walks away.
“Thanks, Axle,” Siera says, doctoring her coffee. “Angel did good when she found you.”
Angel giggles and leans against me, patting my chest. “I did, didn’t I,” she agrees. “Well worth waiting for.”
“Fuck’s sake, Angel. Don’t tell him that. The man’s going to get a big head,” Stout playfully grumbles.
Smirking at him, I give him the finger. He belts out a laugh.
I love how comfortable the brothers are around Angel and Siera, but then they’re pretty amazing women who made it clear early on that they had no problems with the brotherhood.
Both Roman and I got messages from North and Jen. When Siera had checked her phone and given Angel a thumbs up, I assumed her girls had been in touch. For the moment, all was right in my world.
***
Later that evening it got better.
The bonfires were lit, the kids had been taken home, and my brothers were feeling mellow when Maverick walked up to the sound system and turned down the volume on the rock we’d been listening to.
He puts two fingers to his mouth and lets out a piercing whistle, making most cringe, but it gets our attention.
“Now that I have your attention. Today is an important day for the Saint’s Outlaws North Dakota Chapter. Today we welcome in our first Ol’ Lady of this generation of brothers, and she’s a kick-ass one. Axle’s a lucky man.”
“Fuck,” I mutter with amusement, “How much has the Pres had to drink? I thought he’d stopped.”
“He did,” Spook laughs, tapping my shoulder as he walks past us carrying a box. “He’s a showman though, you know that.”
He’s right, Maverick is a showman. Something that makes our enemies underestimate him, but I’ve seen how ruthless he can be when he needs to be.
“Axle, get your ass up here and bring your lady with you,” Maverick calls out, waving me over.
Angel snickers. “I really like your Pres, honey. He knows how to make people feel at ease.”
“You could say that,” I agree, wrapping my hand around hers. I tug her along with me towards where Maverick and Spook are waiting for us. Brothers slap my back as I pass them, hard enough that it’s smarting by the time we’ve made it to the front. Fuckers.
“The man and lady of the hour,” Maverick states with a shit-eating grin. “Thought you’d never get up here.”
Maverick sobers suddenly, all merriment gone from his face. “Seriously happy for you brother. I’ll let you take it from here.” He says, taking the box from Spook and opening it.
Reverently, I pick up the cut that has my name on the back. I show everyone who reads it that Angel is one of ours, but more importantly, that she’s mine. I hold it up for the brothers to see. They hoot and holler, stamping their feet until Maverick holds up his hand for silence.
It’s eerily quiet when I clear my throat and turn to Angel. She’s smiling, lips tilted up, eyes bright and happy. I’d wondered what I’d say when I got this chance, but it seemed I hadn’t needed to worry. The words poured from me. I’d waited a long time to say them, and there was no holding back.
