Freedom to Ride - Resolution (Raven's MC) (3 page)

“You’re adorable. I love your skin the way it is. But I do really like your freckles,” he whispered seductively. She blushed when she remembered his extensive exploring of every last one of them, some in places hard to reach.

Nate winked as he walked away, unloading the car and bringing the rest of the bags into the house. Deanna and Nate both owned the large detached house which was across the road from the clubhouse and club-run motorbike garage. Alice spent a lot of time at their home, especially through the week on the days when she babysat Holly. Ethan also spent a few evenings at the house, the whole Gunn family got together to enjoy meals and were very close.

Deanna sat down on the couch next to Alice, feeling a bit of jet lag as Holly fought to stay awake after the tiring flight.

“We’ll definitely go back. You’ll have to come next time. Venice was something else. But I agree it’s nice to be home,” Deanna said yawning, relaxing into the cushions.

“We’ve all missed you, hen,” Alice said fondly to her daughter-in-law.

Deanna looked up when she heard voices outside and saw Ethan hugging Nate in greeting as he helped him unload the car.

“Hiya doll. Welcome back. Did you have a good time?” Ethan asked as he entered the house. Deanna stood up and he pulled her into a big hug.

“It was wonderful, thanks. But it’s nice being home,” Deanna said as she glanced over, surprised when Holly hadn’t jumped up on seeing Ethan. But she was fast asleep on Alice’s knee, unable to stay awake any longer.

“Have you been keeping an eye on things whilst we’ve been away?” Nate asked Ethan.

Ethan was always busy running McKnights but he liked to stay involved with club business. They helped each other out, especially as some of the club members were ex forces and had skills and experience that could help Ethan in the security company.

“Aye, no problems,” Ethan replied automatically and smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“What’s up?” Nate asked, knowing his brother was hiding something.

“Nothing.”

“Ethan, I know when you’re lying.”

Deanna looked up uneasily. As she watched the brothers she could also tell that Ethan wasn’t telling the truth.

“Nate, it’s nothing,” Ethan tried again, not wanting to ruin their homecoming with the unsettling news.

“Meet me over at the clubhouse in an hour,” Nate ordered him, refusing to back down.

Even though Ethan was the older brother, Nate had been the best choice to take over as President of the club when their father had died. Ethan had a lot of admiration for his younger brother, especially with how successful the MC and garage were. He managed to keep all the members in line and they respected and trusted him and business was booming.

“Alright,” Ethan replied, realising Nate needed to know what had been happening in his absence.

Nate walked over to Deanna and cupped her face. “Sorry, but I need to get this sorted.”

“No, it’s fine. I hope everything’s okay,” Deanna replied, but as she looked at Ethan’s anxious expression she knew something bad had happened whilst they were away and it was obviously bothering him.

Deanna sat down again and opened her suitcase, the brothers relaxing as she handed out the presents they’d bought for them in Italy. After a few minutes of catching up, Nate indicated for Ethan to follow him, the brothers saying goodbye as they left the house.

“What’s happened Alice?” Deanna asked the minute the door closed.

“Let’s get Holly settled and I’ll tell you. I don’t think it’s anything too serious. Ethan is worrying about it more than the members though.”

A few minutes later, with Holly tucked up fast asleep in bed for the night, Deanna sat down with Alice and sipped her favourite whisky, sighing with pleasure at the feeling of warmth it sent running through her.

“I’ve missed this. We didn’t really drink much on holiday as Holly was with us. How’ve you been anyway?”

“Fine love, just fine. With no Holly to look after I’ve been a bit lost actually. I spent most of my time babysitting the men across the road. Bloody hell, they’re harder to look after than a two year old.”  Deanna chuckled at Alice’s exasperation.

“I know. I have to deal with their squabbling every day at work. But they’re great guys. Nate’s the best at keeping them under control. I bet they’ve run wild with him gone.”

“Yeah, a bit,” Alice said, however her face became serious as she turned to Deanna.

“No’ long after you left someone managed to get inside the compound and put graffiti on one of the walls.”

“What did it say?”

“Well, I don’t want to say the nasty word . . .”

“Alice, it’s okay. Holly’s in bed now.”

“Oh alright, it was Whore. It was written in horrible red writing. The men painted over it before the garage opened so nobody outside the club knows. Ethan’s looked into it but hasn’t caught who did it. But there have been a few problems within the club . . ,” Alice trailed off unsure how much to tell her, but as she was Nate’s wife now and worked for the club she had a right to know.

“Like what?”

“Well, the new mechanic working in the garage. Alastair, is it? He’s been making a couple of the ‘old ladies’ uncomfortable. Some of the blokes have already threatened him and told him to behave but he just shrugs it off. I think Logan will ask Nate to deal with him.”

Deanna thought of the new guy who’d started a few weeks before, he’d been brought in due to the massive workload and the desperate need for an extra pair of hands. All the members worked in the garage throughout summer but there was still too much work. Nate and the club decided to bring in a few mechanics temporarily from outside, but not actually asking them to join the MC.

Alastair was an older bloke, in his late forties, ordinary looking but extremely flirty. Deanna had only met him a couple of times but he’d made her uneasy as he always stood a little too close. She needed to speak to Nate later to find out exactly what had been going on.

“Anyway, now Nate’s returned I’m sure he’ll get things back to normal. You have a party over at the club tomorrow night. Let off some steam and enjoy married life. You deserve it, love. Right, well I’d better get off to bed as I’m babysitting Holly from tomorrow. It’ll be nice to look after a proper two year old again. I actually have even more respect for my son now. How he manages to keep that bunch of apes in check I’ll never know.”

Deanna smiled, knowing exactly how Nate kept the members out of trouble. He could be terrifying when angry, but she knew that it would never be directed at her.

“Goodnight Alice. It’s great being home. Holly really missed her grandma.”

“I missed her too, and you, hen. I’m so happy my son found a woman like you. Now we just need to find someone for Ethan,” Alice said and winked as she left the room.

Deanna grinned as she thought about Alice’s probable plans of matchmaking for the unsuspecting Ethan.

CHAPTER 4

Deanna sighed as she sat down at her desk in the compound office the next morning, groaning loudly when she caught sight of the piles of paperwork balanced on the end of it. She knew a week away would cause a large build up but the amount that waited her attention was extremely daunting.

At least Megan looked after the club’s shop, which sold Raven’s merchandise and motorbike accessories, so she didn’t have to worry about the workload there. Megan and Deanna worked as a great team, helping each other out, but Megan wouldn’t have had time to do much work in the office as well as looking after the popular shop.

A few of the other ‘old ladies’ had been working alongside Deanna recently to help organise future charity runs for the club, especially as none of the members had time to do it anymore.

“Regretting coming home already?” asked a voice from the open doorway, shouting over the noise of bike engines, and Deanna lifted her head to see Logan stood smirking at her.

She smiled and got up rounding the desk, Logan walking inside to hug his honorary little sister.

“Hi you. I thought I’d get an early start. But I really want to run back to Italy now I’ve seen that lot sat on my desk. I’ll need another holiday by the time I’ve finished,” Deanna said.

Logan smiled and ruffled her hair, making the curls stand on end.

“Hey, you got sunburnt,” Logan laughed as he flicked her nose, which was still very red.

“Don’t you start, I had a whole week of Nate taking the piss out of me. I even broke out in freckles, much to Nate’s amusement. The lucky beggar has a nice golden tan. My skin is the same colour as my hair now. I look like a walking carrot.”

Logan chuckled, the sound of a deep laugh coming from behind her and she turned to see Nate stood with a couple of club members, Bruce and Fraser, Megan’s boyfriend, who were both fighting to keep their faces straight.

Suddenly there was a shriek as Megan appeared in the doorway, forcing her way between the three men and rushing inside, pushing her twin brother Logan out of the way as she grabbed Deanna into a crushing hug.

“Hey sweetie. I’ve really missed my bestie. Look at you Mrs Deanna Gunn. What the hell happened to your face?” Megan rambled quickly, excited to have Deanna back home.

Deanna growled as Megan prodded her sore sunburnt nose, the four men chortling loudly as she scowled. Sticking her middle finger up at them, which only made them laugh harder, she sat down in her chair and turned her back on the lot of them.

“Just ignore us. You’re still beautiful. I’ll always love you, my wee carrot stick,” Nate said, his voice full of laughter, unable to stop teasing his wife.

“Out, get out. Now you’re just being mean. I have work to do. Have you seen all this? Aahhh . . .  I need another holiday,” Deanna said, as she planted her face on her desk.

“Come on, we’ll leave the ladies in peace. I’m sure they’ve got a lot of catching up to do. Babe, I’ll see you later. Love you,” Nate said.

“Love you too,” Deanna mumbled, her voice distorted as she leaned on the table.

She looked up as the men began to leave, Nate turning back and winking at her and she smiled in return. Megan stood looking down at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Are you pregnant?” Megan asked abruptly.

“What? No. Why would you think that? I’m not that fat, am I?” Deanna looked down at her stomach and didn’t see any bulges that weren’t normally there.

“You just have this glow about you. Married life suits you. So, when are you and Mr Hottie going to start making babies?”

Deanna shrugged her shoulders. “We haven’t really talked about it. I know he’d like to have kids soon. We just want to enjoy being married for a while. Holly’s still young anyway, but I don’t want to leave it too long,” Deanna said thoughtfully, knowing she needed to have this conversation properly with Nate.

“Aye, enjoy yourself. When you’ve got screaming weans around you won’t have time to break any more beds. How the hell you two managed that, I’ll never know. That bed was supposedly a couple of hundred years old.”

Deanna remembered when Logan had discovered what they’d done to the bed in their wedding suite at the hotel in Stirling. He’d overheard the reception staff joking about an over-enthusiastic new husband and Logan had gleefully rushed to tell the rest of the club.

When Nate and Deanna had returned to the compound after their two day holiday in the city of Stirling the lads had jumped at the chance to make fun of them. Logan, the bastard, had actually snuck back into their suite and taken a photo of the ruined bed. He’d even had the image blown up and put on display in the clubhouse, along with other photos of their wedding. Deanna had hidden her embarrassed face in Nate’s chest, whilst the men congratulated him on his animalistic tendencies.

“Use your imagination. My man is such a barbarian,” Deanna finished, a dreamy look on her face.

“Lucky bitch,” Megan said. “Right, come on, we’ve got work to do. I need to update you on what’s been happening whilst you were away. I’ve also cleared it with my brother. We’re gonna have a long lunch and nip into the city to get ourselves outfits for the party tonight. We’ll meet Heather there.”

“Great. Let me get started on this lot and I’ll meet you at the shop in an hour.”

“Okay. It’s great having you back, sweetie,” Megan smiled fondly at her best friend as she left.

“Yeah, it’s good to be home,” Deanna whispered, looking about her happily.

Megan whistled as she saw Deanna in her party outfit later that evening.

“Bloody hell. Wait till Nate sees you. All you need is a whip and a set of handcuffs and it’ll complete the outfit, you sexy minx. Thankfully there’s not another tattoo in sight. I don’t think any of us could take that again. Nate’s reaction to your new tattoo in the clubhouse on his birthday made us all randy that night,” Megan said.

Deanna had surprised Nate on his last birthday by getting a Raven bird tattoo on her abdomen. To say he’d been shocked and had loved it was an understatement.

Nate had large tribal tattoo’s covering his arms, shoulders, back and neck. But after Deanna’s vicious attack by her ex he’d had a family of Raven’s tattooed on his chest for Deanna and Holly, and also to portray himself as a fierce and unmerciful protector of them.