Chapter 25: Mother House
*Not all places hold good memories. Not all ghosts are bad. – Rider*
All the Saints gathered at the Shack for Thanksgiving. It had the biggest areas, most space and the best kitchen for cooking a large meal. The old ladies always cooked it. This year, Mia, Celt's old lady, was spearheading it. She and Celt had been together for just over a year now. From what he had said during one of their meetings at his office, on black Friday, he and her twins would be shopping.
He wanted them there to help pick out an engagement ring. They were a great couple. She too had grown up in the club. She had been shielded from the guys in the club. She still ended up with one.
It was a fun time. The club girls would decorate the clubhouse, but kids were in charge of decorating the trees. There was a total of six trees that went up in the common areas. Three in the front room, one in the bar, one in the dining hall and one by the offices. There was also the two twelve feet tall evergreens out front. The previous Saturday, the brothers had decorated the compound and created Santa’s Wonderland across the street.
Just like the fall festival, it went to their charity program. Admittance was nonperishable food or a new unwrapped toy or book. This year, working with a little girl who Sledge and Cookie met, they were also accepting blankets, large print books and socks. Olivia felt bad for all the forgotten seniors and was determined to adopt as many as possible. Which, thanks to the club and the old ladies, would be all of them.
Santa’s Wonderland would be open in the evenings and all day on the weekends and Christmas Eve. There would also be two more toy runs. The first on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and the second two weeks later. Both would start and end at Santa’s Wonderland.
Between training, the holidays and all that came with them, it seemed as though the days flew by for Taz. She went to the mother house for Christmas day, the first time since she was raped. Riffraff went to his grandmother’s house and, she assumed, to see his daughter. She did not think that they were at the point of their relationship for her to meet his daughter. Because of this, she was not upset when he did not invite her.
Taz was sitting in the common room with Brute as one of the club girls played Santa. She wore a skimpy Mrs. Claus outfit and bright red stiletto knee high boots. Her Santa hat had been stolen leaving her formerly perfectly styled hair, in complete disarray. The men kept telling her that her brown hair looked better that way. Her green eyes showed her excitement even while her mouth pouted.
“I wasn’t sure if you would come home for Christmas or not.” Brute admitted as one of the bigger guys received a hot pink gift bag.
“I wasn’t sure either.” she admitted as the gift bag was opened and he removed a curvy Barbie doll and then a bottle of scotch. “There’s a story, isn’t there?” she asked as the room erupted in laughter.
“Uhhhhh, yeah.” Brute laughed. “He buys the girls clothes and one of them once said that they feel like his personal Barbie Doll. Oh, look, he got outfits for the doll also. Why didn’t you go with Riff?”
“I don’t know if we’re at that point yet. I haven’t even met his daughter. Pretty sure that Christmas would not be the time.”
“Merry Christmas, have a stepmom.” Brute chuckled.
“Something like that.” Taz also laughed as Scrapper received a big box. “Is that a refrigerator box?”
“Yeah. He’s going to be pissed when he digs through everything to find a keychain.”
“Just a key chain?”
“There’s a key and an address also. Knuckles got him a new helmet. But we decided that we couldn’t be that nice.”
“Brute.” Taz nudged him and then pointed over to the far corner where the big guy with the Barbie was now playing dress up with one of the brothers’ daughters. “Big bad tough bikers, my ass.”
“When your niece tells you to play dolls, you play dolls.” He told her with a smile.
“Did you play dolls?”
“I still play dolls.” He admitted and pressed a kiss to her head. “Still have some of your dolls.”
“Who’s Taz?” The club bunny asked looking around and then followed all the hands pointing to the girl with multicolored hair sitting beside Brute.
“You didn’t have to get me anything.” Taz told her uncle as she accepted the gift bag. He shook his head, a little confused himself.
“It’s from all of us.” Rider told her.
Taz smiled over at the biker who had been her protector when she was little. Even before her parents died, he had always kept an eye on her. His brown hair was leaning closer to being white now. But his blue eyes still sparkled.
She pulled out the tissue paper and then the toy MMA UFC belt. Smiling she tossed it onto her shoulder. There were some hoots and whistles.
“We’re hoping that you replace it with a real one.” Someone called out to her. She thought that it was Bearcat, but she wasn’t sure.
Looking in the bag, she pulled out the stuffed Tasmanian Devil. Around the neck was a golden necklace with a charm of the cartoon character. It had been this group of men that had started calling her Taz when she was little. Being the only girl, she learned to hold her own with her cousins and the other boys that were always around. She had learned early on how to fight dirty and to spin out of reach.
Hugging the stuffed animal to her she looked out at the men she had grown up around and smiled at them. “Thank you, guys.”
“There’s one more thing in there.” Rider told her with a smile.
Taz looked at the bottom and discovered a large white envelope. Inside were several maps and a single key. Confused, she turned her attention to the maps. The first was a world map, and then a map of the United States, a state map, a county map and finally, a city map. The key had a brass compass keychain attached that had an engraving on the back. ‘No matter where you go, you’ll always have a way home.’
“Assholes.” Taz grumbled as she wiped tears from her eyes.
“Your room is always here for you.” Brute told her as she leaned into him. “If you’re ever ready to come home. You can.”
“Thank you.” She sniffled. “I don’t think that I could ever stay here again. I can’t even bring myself to go anywhere other than here. And I have to pee.”
Brute gave her a little squeeze. “Grab me a soda from the convenient store, while your there.” She gave a little nod and after a few more minutes, she stood up and walked out of the clubhouse.
“Why can’t she just go to the bathroom here?” Scrapper asked as he sat down next to his dad.
“The only reason that I’m going to tell you, is because it’s time for you to start growing the fuck up.” His father said quietly. “When you were on that run with Memphis and the others, your cousin was raped. Here. By a brother.”
“Who?” Scrapper asked with quiet anger.
“He’s dead. His name is not spoken. And you will not speak of this to her or anyone else.”
“I bet Knuckles knows.”
“My office.” Brute hissed at his youngest son before getting up and leading the way to his office. He held the door open and when Scrapper was inside, he closed and locked the door. The younger man found himself being choked against the door as his dad held him by his neck, slightly off the ground.
“There are things that happen here and within this club that you are not privy to. You were not here when your cousin was raped. Or when we disposed of his body. You do not get to know the details. If you really want to take my position, you better start growing the fuck up, right now.”
Brute released his grip, but kept his hand on his neck. Scrapper gasped for breath as he continued to claw at his dad’s hand. With wide eyes, he hoarsely demanded “What the fuck?”
“What part?” Brute asked calmly.
“Who?”
“Stinger. You won’t mention it. You won’t mention him.”
“Who killed him?”
“Knuckles.”
“I thought that the club went straight.”
Brute let go of him and motioned for him to sit in one of the chairs in front of his desk. He sat down behind the desk and pulled a bottle of whiskey from the bottom drawer. “For the most part. We don’t do anything with drugs, guns or people.”
“What do we do?” Scrapper asked accepting the glass of whiskey.
“Nope. The less you know, the better off you are.”
“Is Dom really an assassin?”
“Yes. Mention that to anyone and she won’t even leave a body for me to bury.”
Scrapper looked at his dad trying to decide if he was telling the truth. He decided that he was. Dom would kill him to protect herself. “Who all does know what happens here?”
“Officers. Dom. Grizzly. Taz knows some. Ask too many questions and Dom will silence you. Once we leave this room, you won’t mention any of this again.”
“The security company.”
With a slight grin, he nodded at his son. “Not all is completely legal. Not all is completely illegal. Some of it walks a fine line.”
