Starting Over by Mia Malone

Chapter Fourteen

A gelding

Rosie

I was apparently about to find out just how epic Thor MC was because we were going to Rogan.

Momo’s anger had passed already when Addie and I got to their place, but it returned with a vengeance when she heard about Lilyanne. Then she shared her opinion about Lilyanne, which mostly was a long ramble liberally peppered with the word ‘ho.’ Or, more specifically, ‘fucking ho.’ The term ‘skank’ was also used, although mostly by Addie.

It was strange, but Addie’s and Momo’s anger on my behalf calmed me down and somehow made everything a little bit okay again.

Once they had calmed down, we went through everything that had happened again, and Addie shared Tony’s words about McDonald’s and how I was a five-star restaurant he never wanted to leave. Momo stared openmouthed at her for a few seconds, and then she bellowed her husband’s full name loudly.

“What?” Chao asked cautiously from the kitchen door.

“If you were to describe me as a restaurant,” Momo snapped. “Which one would it be?”

“I’m not –”

“Just answer the damned question.”

Chao looked at her and said hesitantly, “The Roadhouse.”

Well, shit. It wasn’t fast food, but also not exactly an establishment worthy of Michelin stars, regardless of how Addie was upgrading the menu.

“Why?” I asked quickly, hoping to God he had a good explanation.

“It’s home,” he said. “It’s been a part of my life forever. I also like the food and the people, and I don’t have to dress up or pretend to be fancy or whatever-the-fuck. It’s okay to be just me there, and I’ll still always have fucking fantastic time.” Momo was blinking furiously and had pressed her lips together tightly. “So, yeah,” Chao said with a crooked grin. “I’m not sure why you asked or if I gave you the right answer, but you got an honest one. The Roadhouse is my home, and that’s what you are too, Monica.”

Momo got up from the couch and up on her toes to kiss his cheek softly.

“It was always you, Chao,” she said. “Sometimes I forget because we’ve been an item forever, and you can be fucking annoying.” She tilted her head back and smiled at him. “You just made sure I won’t forget in a very, very long time.” Her sweet smile turned into a grin when she added, “And you’re getting so lucky tonight you’ll see stars.”

Chao grinned at her and was about to say something when a car door slammed outside, and then a hard-faced Tony walked in. He went straight to give Momo a big hug, and I heard how he mumbled something about how his sister was a little shithead who needed to get her act together.

“Long time coming,” Momo said quietly. “Don’t worry about me, Tony. I’m good, and we’ll figure shit out Emma and me. We always do.” She narrowed her eyes until they were angry slits, though, and said sourly, “If she sorts shit out with Rosie, that is.”

“She will,” Tony said. “Mom had stopped yelling at her, but Coop and Milo were taking turns when I left. Rosie and I will go away for a couple of days. That’ll give Emma some time to sort out her head, and they’ll make sure she does.”

I wasn’t sure that would be the best approach but didn’t want to debate it right then, so I simply nodded and left it like that. Tony did apparently not wish to discuss it either because he pulled me out to the car, glared at the four bags in my back seat, threw his duffel in there, and whistled for Blue to come and get into the trunk.

We didn’t talk until we were on the highway, heading east, and Tony’s face had hardened again, so I kept my voice even when I asked where we were going.

“Rogan.”

“Rogan?” I echoed.

“Thor.”

“What?”

He sucked in air, clamped his jaws together, but puffed the air out again in an angry huff.

“I’ll say this in the nicest way possible, babe,” he growled. “But you need to shut the fuck up.”

Yikes.

If that was the nicest way, then I should probably refrain from speaking.

“Okay,” I mumbled.

“I’m so unbelievably pissed off that I don’t think it would be wise for me to talk.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll calm down, but right now, I want to strangle you, which is something I’d probably regret later, so I need some time to work shit out of my system.

“Strangle me,” I echoed weakly.

And, what the actual fuck? He’d probably regret it? Probably?

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Rosalind,” he said. “Later.”

“Okidoki,” I quipped and expected his face to soften a little but only got a good glare.

After that, we continued in silence, and I spent some time rehashing what everyone had said and done but felt a little exhausted from all the drama and closed my eyes.

“We’re here,” Tony said, and the way his voice had gentled made me hope that he wasn’t in the mood to cut off my air supply anymore.

I squinted and tried to see just where we were, but all I could see was two big gates and a man who raised a hand in greeting. The gates closed behind us, and Tony parked outside a small house.

“Get inside,” he said. “I’ll go and say hi. I’ll haul our bags inside later.”

I wanted to say hello too, but he walked off with long steps toward the man, they man-hugged, there was a rumble of voices, and then I heard quiet laughter.

“Alrighty,” I muttered, opened the trunk to let Blue out, and took one of my bags with me inside the cabin.

Then I went outside to get Tony’s.

Which I shouldn’t have done because that set him off again.

“For fuck’s sake, Rosie,” he growled. “Did I not tell you that I would –”

“Stop,” I snapped and raised a hand to put my palm in his face. “I have two daughters. They are Irish twins, so I had a lot of teenage drama to deal with in one go. It has been a hell of a day, so I do not need it from you, which means you need to snap out of your mood swing right about fucking now.”

Someone barked out a short laugh, and I turned toward it.

“Hey,” a tall man with dark, piercing eyes said. “I’m Black.”

“Eye and Dagger’s dad,” I said, in case the man wasn’t aware that I knew his sons.

“And Lex’ too,” he said. “You’re Rosie. Heard about you.”

“I heard about you too,” I said.

“Yeah?” he said, putting it as a question and following up with a grin and, “Good things?”

There was something about him that felt oddly reassuring in the same way Eye always had put me at ease, and I realized that Buddy had been entirely off the mark. Thor MC and Black Hagen might be epic, but they were totally safe too.

“When I know you a little better, I might tell you,” I said.

“You’ll tell me when you know me better?” he asked, brows high on his forehead.

“Might,” I corrected him and felt my lips twitch. “Why haven’t I heard about Lex?” I added, which was a little stupid because how would he know what I’d heard or not?

“Probably because he’s in Nigeria.”

“Ni –”

“Rosie, for fuck’s sake,” Tony rumbled.

“What?” I asked, blinking like a stupid owl.

“Inside.”

I looked at Black and opened my mouth. Then I closed it again because Tony puffed out a weird, rasping sound.

“Okay,” I mumbled.

“We’ll have breakfast tomorrow,” Black said calmly. “If you tell me about your Irish twins, I’ll tell you about Nigeria.”

“Sounds –”

Good was the word I’d been about to say, but Tony made that strangled sound again, and I turned and marched my by then pretty pissed off behind inside with Tony at my heels.

“What the hell is going on?” I snapped.

“Turns out I’m still pissed off,” Tony snapped right back.

“Care to explain why?”

“Thought a lot about the whole shitstorm back home, and I got most of it straightened out. What I can’t wrap my head around is some of the shit you spouted.”

Oh. Well, I hadn’t gone easy on his sister, but if he was going to be a jerk about it, then I’d shriek right in his face because she had deserved it.

“What shit, exactly?” I asked slowly.

“Why in the holy fuck do you talk about yourself like that?”

Huh? That was not what I’d expected him to say at all.

“Like what?”

“About how you don’t fit in?” he barked. “I don’t get it because the way I see it, you fit so right the fuck in that it’s not even funny.”

We stared at each other for a beat, and my eyes suddenly started to burn.

“Tony,” I mumbled, not sure how to respond.

“Baby, you’re sharp as a tack, and you call yourself bossy, but that has such negative connotations. What you are is determined. Assertive. Dependable. Loyal. And strong.” He raised his hands and let them fall to his sides again. “Fuck, Rosie. You’re probably the strongest woman I’ve met in my entire life, and that’s fucking amazing in my book.” Tears started running down my cheeks, and I tried to wipe them off, but he pushed my hands away and used his thumbs to do it for me. “So what if you didn’t fit in with your fucking ex and his friends? Or the small-dicked university professors? Well, let me tell you, half the club has been texting Coop and Finn, and they relayed the messages to me.”

“Texting about what?” I asked.

“They’re threatening to make me a gelding if I don’t work things out with you.”

Oh, God.

Warmth spread through my chest, and a wobbly smile stretched my lips. His eyes softened, and there it was.

Chocolatey sweetness on top of calm, confident strength that shot straight through me.

“How can you not know that?” he asked.

“I guess I’m an idiot,” I said, thinking that I probably was.

“Maybe a little,” he said and leaned down to brush his mouth over mine briefly.

“Tony,” I said when he’d straightened again, thinking that lightening the mood would be good at this point. “Technically, you actually already are a geld –”

The sound he pushed out told me clearly that my attempt at being funny had not been appreciated.

“As punishment for being a moron, you will now have to do absolutely all the work,” he said.

“Work?” I asked, but then I saw the smirk on his lips.

Oh.

He meant work.

“Yeah,” he said, but his voice had deepened, and he didn’t sound pissed off anymore. “You will make yourself come, and you will make me come too.” The lines around his eyes deepened as he mumbled, “And I might even come before you do.”

“Tony,” I said with a small snap in my voice. “I will do all the work. And I will make myself come.”

“Several times,” he cut in.

“Several times,” I agreed. “But you used the word connotations in an actual sentence, and that is such a pussified thing to do, so you can absolutely not come first.”

He pulled me into his arms and laughed into my hair.

“Is pussified even a word?”

“I might have invented it,” I said, which got me another laugh.

“I won’t come first,” he promised.

And he didn’t.

When he couldn’t hold back any longer, he had also totally taken over, so he was on his knees behind me, leaning on one hand but using the other on my clit in a way that made me fall forward into the bed with another loud moan.

“I thought I was supposed to do the work,” I mumbled into the pillow.

“You didn’t do it right,” he said.

That was pretty ridiculous since I’d gotten myself off twice, but I didn’t protest because I liked his fingers better than mine.

***

I woke up early from a wet snout poking me repeatedly in my face, and since I knew what that meant, I sat up and stretched.

“I can let him out,” Tony mumbled, still half asleep.

“I’m already awake,” I said. “Go back to sleep.”

“M’kay,” he said and rolled to his back.

When I opened the door and stepped out on the small porch, Blue ran straight into the middle of a big courtyard, stopped, and looked around in apparent surprise. Then he saw two other dogs over by a fence and promptly set off toward them, wagging his tail furiously. One of the dogs looked like a retriever mix, but there was something else in him, and that something must have been the size of a small pony because he was huge. The other dog looked like a wolf.

Both animals froze and stared at my goofy boy as he came skippy-jumping toward them with a big doggy grin on his face. They did the usual crotch-sniffing, and I watched them for a while, but they seemed to get along just fine, which wasn’t a surprise because Blue got along with everyone, human and canine alike. I walked across the courtyard to say hi when two men approached me, one from each side.

Then I stopped and stared back and forth between them, wondering if I had developed a double vision overnight.

“Hey there, Rosie,” one of them said, and my brain started working again.

“Hey, Black,” I said, looked at the other man, and added, “Hey, Black’s twin, who I didn’t know existed.”

The man started laughing and stretched out a hand.

“Hey there,” he said. “I’m Ice.”

“You have Eye’s eyes,” I said stupidly as we shook hands and amended my statement, “Or, um, he’s got yours.”

“They all have mine,” a female voice said behind me, and I jolted around to find an older woman who indeed had the same pale blue eyes. “I’m Gee, Black and Ice’s mother and grandmother to a lot of youngsters, one of them being Eirik.”

Ah. I had heard some things about the Hagen family from Addie, and a lot of the things had been about this woman.

She was also Katie’s friend, and I wondered if they had talked and what Katie might have said about me.

“Hey,” I said quietly. “I’m Rosalind. I’m here with Tony.”

“I know,” she said, narrowed her eyes a little, and added, “Only good things, Rosie.”

“What?”

“Katie only said good things. Said she was the one who misunderstood and fucked up hugely, and she was crying, which she never does, so I’m pretty sure she meant it.”

“How did you know I was wondering –”

“Oh, pooh,” she said with a smile and a small wave of her hand. “I know everything.”

“She does,” Ice said. “Fucking scary until you get used to it.”

He was smiling sweetly, but I started to understand what Buddy had meant when he said that these people were epic.

“Morning,” Tony said and leaned down to kiss Gee’s cheek. “Thanks for letting us stay here a while.”

“Our pleasure,” she said.

“Excellent excuse to have a party,” Black added.

“Abso-fucking,” another voice rumbled, and I swung around again.

Was everyone in this place awake at the crack of dawn?

“Hey Roddy,” Tony said and got a man hug and a back-thump which was hard enough to make him wince.

Ah. Another one I’d heard quite a bit about.

This was Roderick Hagen, Gee’s husband and the former president of Thor.

“And who might this gorgeous lady be?” Roddy asked with a wink.

“Hey,” I said. “I’m Rosalind.”

“Shakespeare?” he asked, which was a common question.

It was also incorrect, and I was about to say so, but Tony beat me to it.

“Franklin,” he said with a small smirk, clearly enjoying the possibility to correct Roddy. “Rosalind Franklin. English chemist who was instrumental to discovering the structures of DNA.”

“You know who Rosalind Franklin was?” I asked into the ensuing silence, which he’d just proven he did, but it was more than a little surprising.

“Rosie,” he said indulgently and with another smirk. “It’s your name. Of course I do.”

Of course?

There was nothing of course about that. I’d told him I’d been named after a scientist, and it wasn’t that I thought Tony was stupid because he was what seemed to be a pretty savvy and also college-educated businessman, but surely it wasn’t common for presidents of motorcycle clubs to be familiar with somewhat obscure European scientists who died before they were even born?

“Let’s have breakfast,” Gee said. “I’ll make coffee, and Black will gladly go and get us some fresh bagels and donuts.”

“Gladly?” Black asked sarcastically.

“Of course,” Gee said with a grin.

There was nothing of course about Black feeling joyful about hopping on his bike to get us breakfast, but he didn’t seem to mind and gave his mother’s shoulder a gentle stroke when he passed her. The rest of us walked toward a big house which apparently was Roddy and Gee’s. Tony whistled for Blue and waited for the happy dog to come ambling, followed by what now seemed to be his two new best friends. Ice slowed his step down too and gave the wolf-looking creature a gentle pat on its head.

“You googled her name, didn’t you?” I heard him ask.

“Of course,” Tony said calmly.

Alrighty, I thought.

I might be new to the place, but I’d at least already learned the universal answer to anything in Rogan.

***

Tony

Rosie had sounded like she usually did, and they’d had sweet, sweet sex before they fell asleep, but the rest of the previous day had been a clusterfuck of epic proportions. He heard the door close quietly and suddenly wanted to make sure she was okay – that they were okay – so he got out of bed and rifled through his duffel to find a tee.

Milo had made his mother repeat word for word what she’d actually said, and she’d fucked up with the key, but Lilyanne had indeed twisted her words around quite ridiculously. Katie had apologized until he told her to shut it and that they were good as long as she sorted things out with Rosie. His goddamned sister still had a lot of apologizing to do and needed to get her shit together. She’d been angry and defensive when he left, but Coop usually had a way with Emma, so he might have gotten through to her.

He leaned over the sink in the small kitchenette and splashed cold water on his face to wake up fully. Some of it ended up on the countertop, and when he used a small towel to wipe it off, Rosie’s words from the day before hit him straight in the gut. It took him less than a minute to figure out what he needed to do, and he reached for his phone.

Since it was six in the morning, Finn’s answer was an angry grunt.

“Sorry, I know, early as fuck,” Tony said. “Seems half of Thor is already awake, so I’ll be busy for a while, and I need you to do something for me.”

When he’d explained what he wanted and listened to Finn’s low laughter, he went outside to make sure the Hagen family didn’t scare the crap out of Rosie.