“How about I see if one of the girls can feed you while Ax and I have a chat with your mom?” Steele asked Petal.
Petal’s smile faded to a look of uncertainty—a clear indicator that she wasn’t okay with his suggestion.
“You love Montana, Treena, and Zoe,” Alex interjected.
Petal bent forward, her eyes connecting with Sage’s. “I want to be with you,” she whispered.
Sage shot Steele an apologetic look while Alex unclipped Petal’s seatbelt and lifted her onto his lap.
“We’re right here, baby girl. Steele and I are going to keep you and your momma safe. You’ve been away a long time. Everyone will be so excited to see you, which means they’re gonna want to spend time with you. It’s okay if you want to stick close to your mom, but if you happen to get inside and feel comfortable enough to let us grown-ups talk for a minute, let me know.”
At Petal’s nod, they exited the car. Sage was sore, but thanks to the pain meds, it was now bearable. She wondered where everyone was but then remembered that it was still early.
Doc announced that he was going home and would be back to check on her later before peeling away from the group.
Right as they stepped inside the entry, two men came barreling down the stairs.
“Tiny, Cupcake!” Petal shouted.
Tiny was a gentle giant. Seriously, the guy was taller than Arson, who was at least six-three. Sage wondered if he’d earned his patch while they were in Mexico. If so, she hoped they’d given him one hell of a party. She didn’t know Cupcake, but he seemed like a nice guy nice.
“Pesty!” Tiny called. As he swooped down and lifted Petal into his arms, Sage held her breath.
Before Carlos, Petal had zero reservations when it came to men. Now, she was reserved, even frightened, especially when they were big like Tiny.
“My name is Petal, silly,” Petal replied through a fit of giggles. Sage slowly released her breath.
Tiny smiled. “Are you sure? I thought it was Pesty.” His gaze shifted to Sage, his body tensing as he took in her battered face. “What the fuck?!”
“I was wondering the same thing,” Cupcake said.
“Bad language,” Petal scolded while patting Tiny’s cheek like a dog.
Sage’s eyes dropped to her feet, her face heating with embarrassment. She’d been so consumed with Petal that she’d forgotten.
Steele, thankfully, intervened. “I take it you spoke to Ego. I want two men on the gate at all times, and I want the two of you in charge of making that happen.”
“Got it,” they both replied.
Tiny bent over and carefully lowered Petal to the ground. “I’ll see you later, princess,” he told her. His eyes sliced to Sage, his jaw hardening in anger. He gave them a stiff nod, then exited out the front door.
“If you need me to kill someone, just holler,” Cupcake told her before following Tiny out the door.
Sage had a feeling she was going to experience a lot of that.
“Food first or sleep?” Alex asked.
“Talk first, then food, bath, and sleep,” she replied.
“You got it.” He took her uninjured hand in his and shivers rolled through her as he steered her toward the kitchen.
To the left of the entry was a hallway leading to several offices. Past the offices was a door to the basement as well as the back entrance to the game room. The right of the entry wrapped around to a large, open sitting room. The kitchen was off of the sitting room, as was the other entrance to the game room. Straight in front of them was a staircase that led to five bedrooms and a large living area.
They entered the living room, and Petal gasped, “Pretty.”
Pretty damn cool was how Sage would describe it. Instead of one sitting area, there were now two. The first was located in front of the ginormous stone fireplace—a fireplace that had been cleaned and restored to what she imagined was its former glory. It looked fabulous. The ratty furniture had been replaced by a large, cherry wood coffee table, a leather sectional, and two matching leather chairs. Sitting area number two faced the wall of windows looking onto the back of the house. A large navy sofa with brass beading along the rounded arms and back faced the windows. In front of the sofa, posing as a coffee table, was an oversized camel-colored ottoman. The sofa and ottoman were flanked by four smaller leather chairs. The once bare hardwood floors were now adorned with two enormous sisal rugs, and the ugly, peeling walls were now smooth and painted a light beige color. Although she loved it, she wasn’t exactly sure it was right for a motorcycle club.
“LuLu likes to decorate,” Alex whispered. She tried not to laugh at his disgruntled tone.
“It looks awesome,” she whispered back.
“Yeah, for a classy hotel, maybe.”
He wasn’t wrong. The room didn’t exactly scream motorcycle club.
“I like it,” she said to a tense-looking Steele.
“It’s something, alright,” Steele muttered. Again, she felt like laughing. It was a strange but welcome feeling. Had she ever laughed with Carlos? She tried to recall but couldn’t.
“Now this, I can get used to,” Alex said, steering her into the kitchen. She took in the large butcher block island and new appliances. LuLu had been a busy bee.
While Steele lifted Petal onto one of the six stools surrounding the island, she noticed that the wall between the kitchen and dining room was no longer there. The two rooms had been combined into one, very large eat-in kitchen.
“This kitchen is bigger than Rosa’s, and hers was huuuge,” Petal declared.
Steele smiled. “Oh yeah?”
“Rosa is Carlos’s housekeeper,” Sage explained.
“I bet Rosa’s pancakes weren’t as good as mine!” Treena called from the kitchen doorway.
“Treena, Montana, we’re home!” Petal shouted.
Treena took one look at Sage’s face and came to a screeching halt. “Who do I need to kill?”
Montana just stood there with her hands over her mouth.
“There will be no killing anyone,” Steele clipped, nodding toward Petal.
“I didn’t mean it literally,” Treena amended, but her voice said she meant it and then some.
Sage gave them a strained smile. “It’s good to see you both again.”
“Which one of you is on breakfast duty?” Steele asked.
“Both of us,” Montana quietly replied. She may have been talking to Steele, but her eyes were riveted on Sage’s battered face.
As Montana hadn’t been at the house long before they’d left for Mexico, Sage hadn’t gotten the chance to know her very well. She knew the girl was Chopper’s great-niece. She also knew that she was painfully shy and entirely too young to be exposed to the harshness of club life. Not only that, but she didn’t fit in. As in, at all. Club girls had big hair, big tits, generous asses, and were all about loud parties, biker cocks, and blowjobs. Take Treena, for instance, her normally long, purplish-red hair was now platinum blonde, her bangs teased to high heaven. She wore five layers of makeup and had on skin-tight leggings and a slouchy sweatshirt that bared one of her shoulders as well as half of a very large breast. Montana, on the other hand, had a cute pixie-girl haircut and a very petite body, which she covered with extremely unflattering clothing. She wore minimal makeup and never had a bad thing to say about anyone.