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"I have an announcement to make," Pres' voice was just getting loud as the four of us entered the room.
The only thing that was keeping me from becoming unglued was that Vivian was calm next to me. She wasn't even tense. Her eyes weren't darting towards the nearest exits like they were a lot of the time.
Hell, even Pres seemed fine.
"Viper here has accepted her first permanent contract with us. She'll still be completing jobs on the side, but nothing that goes after the club. We're doing this out of order and, frankly, not in our usual fashion, but she's got a vest coming and she's a member of the club now, all right?" Pres sighed. Queenie was next to him, and chuckled while rubbing his back.
Typically new members went through a prospect period, and they only got their vest only after they were deemed loyal to the club. Out of order seemed like an understatement.
Pres waved everyone off and walked away before anyone could ask any questions.
"Are you serious?" I turned towards Vivian and tried to keep my excitement down, but I was failing and failing bad. Vivian looked like she was trying to hold back her excitement, too. The side of her mouth was twitching as she turned to face me.
"Mm," Vivian sighed, "I found something here that I'm kind of attached to." I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her closer.
"I am really, really glad you're staying," I murmured in her ear.
"I may have to take some long contracts here and there, but I was getting a little tired of not having my own damn bed," she grinned. I kissed her softly before she pulled back and tangled her hands in my hair and took control.
"Mm, I'm going to enjoy the fact that you're coming home to me," I grinned.
"Of course you would," Vivian grinned, "but you'd better be a good boy while I'm away."
"Get a room!" Ripper smacked my back as he walked by with a laugh. Reaper followed quietly behind him, but there was definitely a twitch of his lips as he walked by.
"You two practically fuck every single night in the bar," Vivian muttered and reached down to grope my ass right in front of them. Several other brothers started to boo, but I just removed her hand with a laugh and tugged her towards the stairs.
Down the hallway, just before we were about to reach my room, my mom walked by wheeling her suitcase behind her. I kept Vivian's hand in mine and used our bodies to block her from going further down the hallway.
"Mijo," she greeted with a smile and kissed my cheek. She grinned and brought Vivian into a hug, as well, finally separating our hands.
"Where are you going?" I was worried about her being on my own with my father still in the picture, and with him having such a public role, he unfortunately wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.
"Carla doesn't feel very comfortable staying on her own, so I'm going to stay at her house for a while," my mom murmured. "Besides, it'll give you kids your own space back."
"I always love having you around," I argued.
"I know, I know. But you deserve your own space," my mom pushed. Vivian quietly agreed that she loved having my mom around, and that she was welcome absolutely anytime she'd like.
My mom's words, however, had my mind racing long after she'd left, followed my several members of the club to ensure she'd get there safely. Men ha already been watching over Carla's house to make sure Bruce didn't have anyone on his side going after her, but things had quieted down.
Vivian had never had her own space, even as a kid. Now, she had her own space, but it was confined to a room a little bigger than the size of a dorm room. Vivian had her own bathroom, too, but the shower was barely even big enough for the both of us.
She deserved her own damn castle, and all she had was this tiny ass room.
Sure, I had one of the smaller jobs for the club, but I didn't really spend money on shit here. I had a decent amount saved up–hopefully enough for the plan that was starting to form in my head.
The next morning, I didn't wake Vivian up when I got up. I simply wrapped the blanket around her, which ensured her staying in bed for another several hours. I jogged down the steps, checked the calendar to verify that worked the evening shift this week, and headed to my bike. Just a couple of miles down the road lied our construction business.
They weren't open, of course, but I knew there were a few other members of the club that were sometimes up as early as I was, and it looked like today was my lucky day.
"I was waiting for the day I'd see you at my door," he said. Brick was one of the few members of th club still around since Pres' father had run it. He didn't live in the clubhouse, wasn't married, and got his name when ladies used to refer to him as a "brick house" due to his size. He didn't go on runs, and barely wore his cut anymore, but stayed true to the club and loved his job.
"The gossip mill has reached you too, huh?" I couldn't keep the grin off of my face, though.
"I designed houses for every damn couple in that clubhouse," Brick murmured as he grabbed his travel cup of steaming coffee, "but I wasn't going to guess you were the next one."
"Is that a compliment or an insult?" The smile still wasn't gone from my face.
"I had you right behind Ripper, so no, I didn't mean it as an insult," he said. Ripper nor Reaper had visited him yet? I'd have to talk to him about that later. Brick led me into his quiet, dim office. His desk was covered in loose papers, folders, and binders. The man had a computer, but insisted everything was done better by hand.
"I assume you have a vision?" Brick raised an eyebrow at me, took another sip of his coffee, and shuffled some papers around until he found several that were blank. A few hours after I arrived, I checked my watch and stood up.
"You'll let me know what everything comes to?" I asked him. Vivian would be up in a bit, and I planned on waking her up in a...special way.
"Yeah, I'll finish up the designs and give you a call. Shouldn't be long at all," Brick said. He stood up, shook my hand, and let me see myself out. The ride back was quick. It was almost one o'clock when I got back, and I was shocked to see Vivian sitting in the dining area in front of a bowl of cereal.
I kissed the top of her head and chuckled when she looked up at me. Vivian had tied her hair into a sloppy ponytail at the bottom of the back of her head, and there was a drop of milk on the corner of her lips.
"Where were you?" Vivian mumbled through a full mouth. I smirked and wiped the drop of milk away.
"It's a surprise," I answered quietly. Vivian narrowed her eyes but hummed and went back to her cereal.
"I leave tomorrow for a new contract. I know it's soon, but I'm not used to not working," Vivian said after she'd swallowed. I frowned and watched her scoop the last few pieces of cereal out of her bowl.
"How long is the contract?" I asked.
"Mm, confidential," she swallowed for the last time and smiled at me. "That was one of Pres and I's agreements. If I take contracts outside the club, only he's aware of them. If I take them in the club, they remain confidential until he announces it."
"Which one is this?"
Vivian smiled at me, all teeth, before she answered. "Confidential."
"You'll still be able to reach out, right? We won't lose contact?" I asked nervously. What was stopping her from radio silence while she was gone?
"Look," Vivian stood up and climbed up into my lap, "I have a permanent contract with this club now. It's something I did for you–for us–because I've never felt this way about anyone. Ever. You can't get rid of me now."
"I'm clingy," I warned. Vivian didn't push me away, instead pulling me into a kiss until someone began to walk by.
"I swear to fuck if you tell us to get a room, Ripper, I'm going to chase you down," Vivian said loudly next to me. Sure enough, Ripper and Reaper were walking hand in hand by us to go outside, and Ripper's mouth was already open.
It quickly slammed shut.
"Hey, I want to talk to you real fast," I stopped them. I slid Vivian softly from my lap with an order for her to come see me at work tonight, then grabbed Ripper and pulled him out of the room. We were getting to the bottom of this.
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