Chapter 81

Lug Nut


We told the club that Ian had been deaf from birth. His parents didn’t want to deal with it so at a year old they sold him as a house slave. By the age of two he was already doing all the house chores. When he was found at age four he was doing all the chores and cooking. He was malnourished and dirty. Ailee’s group rescued him and got him healthy. When they discovered he was deaf they brought in a specialist to teach him ALS.Once he was better he was moved to the orphanage.

Then another problem arose. Anyone interested in Ian backed out when they found out he was deaf. No one wanted to deal with it. It didn’t sit right with me. Ian had been there for two years with just the staff to love him and take care of him. “ I couldn’t let him stay there anymore with the hope that some would step up. Watching the others get adopted but not him. So I told Ailee I wanted to take him home. At first she was worried because she didn’t know much ALS. But I reminded her that we had plenty of people who did and they would help us. He would be surrounded by a loving family.” I told the club.

“ So we talked to Ian and asked him if he was ok with us being his parents. We explained about Katrina and all of you. We told him he would be part of a big family and have lots of kids to play with. When he agreed I called grandda and had him fast track the paperwork.” Ailee said. By the end of the story several ol’e ladies were wiping their eyes.

Speed comes over and hugs us “ You guys are awesome. Not everyone is up for the challenge of a special needs kid. But we have you back. So you will be fine.” Viper comes over and slaps my back “ I’m proud of you brother. He looks like a great kid.” Ace pulls me in for a hug. Not something he does often. “ You are a good man, Lug. Now I’m going to spend some time getting to know my grandson before Cormac gets here and tries to steal him.” I laugh as he walks away to go play with the kids. The surprise went over much better than I expected. I thought a few would have thought we have lost our minds. But looking over at Ians smiling face. It was worth it.

Ailee

It has been a little over two years since I walked into the Reckless Renegades clubhouse looking for my father. In my wildest dreams could I have thought of all the changes in my life that have happened since that day. I am cancer free. I have my da in my life. I have gained more family members than I know what to do with but wouldn’t trade for anything in this world. I have an incredible, sexy as hell husband. We have two wonderful kids and are talking about adding a third.

The O’Sullivan family is going strong. Grandda married Anna in a small ceremimony after Lug and I got back from our honeymoon. I haven’t seen him that happy in a long time. Recently he has started training Lug and me to take over. He says he wants to retire to spend time with Anna and his great grandkids while he is still young enough to enjoy them.The O’Sullivan trafficking organization is unfortunately going strong. I say unfortunately because that means sex traficking is still going strong as well. The past three months we have broken up ten different rings with over five hundred victims. Every ring we break up is bittersweet.

Sweet because we are taking down the scums of the earth that run and profit from these rings. Bitter because of the victims. And it seems like when we cut down one, three more pop up in their place. We interrogate as many people as we can trying to find the higher up. The invisible partner. I know this goes higher than the small rings we have busted. If we can get to the top we can finally put a stop to trafficking. At least that is my hope. But I’m aslos smart enough to know it will be years before that happens. But I won’t stop trying either.

I’m still called out to be the Ice Queen. I went out just the other night. I got the information I needed after some painful persuasion. But some men had managed to sneak into our warehouse to try to kill our prisoner to keep him from talking. They were too late. A gun fight broke out; only three of my people were hurt including me. Nothing major. Just some flesh wounds. The ones that broke are dead. When I got home and Lug saw the wound on my arm where a bullet grazed me he was pissed and scarred. He wanted to after the people that did it. After he helped Finn clean and dress my shoulder Lug was adamant that I quit going into dangerous situations. He wanted me to stop being the Ice Queen.

That was one of the biggest fights we have ever had. We went at it for hours. I understood where he was coming from. It was fear of losing me. He told me we had to think about our family. I told him I was thinking about our family. I was making sure our kids had a safe world to grow up in. Lug fought back with a world that I wouldn’t be in if this keeps up. I explained that he was asking me to give up a part of who I am. In the end we agreed that I would be more careful and get more Kevlar that covered more of my body.

Not everything has been a smooth ride but in the end we work things out and I have a family that I cherish. And that family is why we are in the large back yard of our condo. Today is Ian’s seventh birthday and we are having a big party for him. We have people from the club and the O’Sullivan clan here to help make our sweet boy’s day special. We have a bounce house set up in one corner of the yard. A Nerf gun area where the kids can shoot targets or each other as long as they don’t go for the face. On the other side of the yard we have grills going with hot dogs, sausages, and burgers. We have a table with chips, salads, pretzels, buns and condiments.

We have another table set up for Ian’s cake. When we found out that Ian hadn’t ever had a real birthday we went all out. We let him pick the cake and I was a little surprised at what he picked. I figured he would pick a superhero or cars. But no, he picked a cake decorated with art supplies because he loved to draw. I may just be biased since he is my son but he is pretty good at it as well. I can’t wait for him to open our gift. Lug and I got him a huge art set that has three kinds of paints, colored and charcoal pencils, some kind of pastel crayons and a few other things he might need. The sales lady said it will help him explore different kinds of mediums and see what he likes best.

Then there is the gift and goody bag table. Yes, I am one of those moms, big birthday blowouts and goodie bags. I want his first party with us to be one he is going to remember for a long time. The back yard is chaotic but the good kind. I’m sitting on the porch holding a sleepy Katrina watching the kids running around. Some have water guns that I don’t know where they came from but I don’t care. They stay well away from the grills and that is the most important thing. The sound of squeals and laughter fill the air. The ol’e ladies are lounging around laughing and chatting. Finn, Callen, and grandda are talking with a few of the club members.

Several of the brothers are playing with the kids acting like goofs. I love seeing these big tough men act like teddy bears when they get around the kids. It is great to see both sides of these guys. They are fierce and protective when they need to be but then they aren’t afraid to get down on the floors to play with toy cars or answer a phone a two year old gives them. Then there is the sweet flirty side when they are with their ol’e ladies.

I see my boy playing with Lug. Both with big smiles on their faces.It makes my heart swell with love. This is the way life is supposed to be. Filled with family and good friends. Where the number of smiles and laughs is more than the number of sadness and tears. It should be filled with so much love it overflows towards everyone around. This is family the way it is meant to be and I couldn’t be happier. My life took some weird twists and turns to get me here. But I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. I will protect it with my life and love them with everything in me. This is where my heart will always be. And I love every second of it.




This is the end of book four. Stay tuned for Viper’s story.