Bringing Harmony (Ops Warriors MC) (4 page)

*****

Shady was still asleep when Harmony came into the house. She had never been upstairs before, she had never been allowed. Well times were changing and she didn’t care. Harmony took the stairs two at a time, looking at each floor as she went up. It was nothing special, she decided. Over the years her mind had created a picture of what they looked like. A cross between a brothel and a biker bar had been what she dreamed up, but the clean cream-colored walls and nice décor wasn’t what she expected.

When she arrived to the top floor she was further surprised, on the other floors doors were closed to each room for privacy. Apparently, up here, doors didn’t matter. The whole place was open except for archways that led into bedrooms; this all surrounded a large family style area in the middle filled with sectionals and a television. The smaller kitchen was on the left as soon as you came up the stairs, and the large dining room table right in front of the stairs. A few of the guys were sitting and eating while Freedom was in the kitchen making what appeared to be pancakes. Poke and Easy were there, as was Raven. Creed and Fork were gone downstairs.

Everyone froze when she popped up the stairs.

“Harmony,” Freedom cried and ran around the counter and hugged her. “Did we have a meeting?”

Hill Investigations was in charge of investigating Freedom’s case. They had liked each other right off the bat, developing a friendship that wasn’t just based on the case.

“Nah, looking for Shady.” Harmony laughed. “Wanted to see my girl, been too long.”

It had been, six weeks to be exact. Harmony felt bad when she didn’t take Shady’s calls two years ago. She had been devastated and heartbroken and wanted nothing to do with the club. So she had cut herself off, and when she tried to make amends with Shady a few months after she froze her out, it had been hard. Shady was not forgiving when it came to fucking up like she had. It was because of her childhood, and if Harmony had been in a better place, she would have known that.

Still, the struggle had been worth it, Shady was still her best friend. The last six weeks had been hard, they had only talked on the phone and not been able to hang out at all. Shady was the only person who knew what happened. Monk and her father only knew she decided to not be in the life two years ago. Shady had forgiven her and had also been pissed at the guys, but she had promised not to say anything, and when Shady promised something, it was solid.

“She is still asleep,” Freedom said softly.

“Duh, I know.” Harmony laughed. “This is Shady we are talking about.”

“She isn’t alone,” Freedom whispered.

Harmony laughed louder and said, “Duh, this is Shady we are talking about.”

Freedom bit her lip and Harmony rolled her eyes. Easy was the one who spoke up. “Harmony, you know you can’t be up here.”

“Fuck you, Easy,” Harmony barked. She was happy for Freedom, she had found love with these two men, but it still didn’t matter to Harmony, they were the same assholes they had always been.

Easy raised an eyebrow and looked at her with a steeled expression. “You know the rules,” he said.

“Yeah, I know the rules, no one allowed up here without and invitation,” Harmony said sarcastically. “SHAY!” she called.

“What?” Shady replied sleepily.

“Gimme a call when you wake up,” Harmony yelled. “Fuckheads say I am not invited.”

She heard her best friend swear and then she heard mumbling from the room right across for where she was standing. Giving Freedom a smile and the guys a glare, Harmony turned and ran down the stairs, she
so
didn’t need this shit anymore. Fuckers, same as they always were, nothing was going to change, and she didn’t have the time anymore to give a shit.

“Harmony,” Shady called behind her. “Wait, girl.”

Harmony reached the bottom floor and turned. Shady appeared wearing a t-shirt that barely hit the top of her thighs and her black long hair messed up and tangled, even at that, Shady was a knock out.

“Shay, just had a shitty night, even shittier morning and truthfully, I just wanted to talk to you for a second and see if you could come into town and see me,” Harmony said sadly.

“You are invited to my room whenever, sorry I didn’t tell them that, I will let them know,” Shady said softly and Harmony nodded.
Goddamn old wounds
, she thought she had been over all this.

“Thanks,” Harmony whispered.

“Now what the fuck is going on, you wouldn’t step one toe on the compound unless something was fucked up,” Shady said.

“Office was burned down, and I was just pissed off.” Harmony shrugged.

Shady’s eyes narrowed. “Diablos?”

Harmony nodded. “Yeah.”

“Give me an hour, I will be at your place,” Shady said and then turned, no other words were needed with them. Harmony knew Shady would be there when she said she would.

Chapter Three

“You have got to be fucking kidding me?” Shady yelled and paced the floor of her apartment. She had brought Freedom as well, because when Shady had gone back upstairs she had lit into the men that were there.

Freedom had been just as pissed and then when her men, along with the others that were there, said Harmony wasn’t allowed on their floor no matter if Shady invited her or not, it had gotten bad. Creed and Fork had come into a screaming match and Shady and Freedom went off the deep end when the two leaders backed the men.

Now all three women were in Harmony’s apartment, having called the others who were on their way. They were picking up provisions.

Harmony had just told them what had happened that last night, and then both girls had exploded. Shady because she knew the situation and Freedom because she had been clued in when she got there, and was still freaking pissed at her men.

“Those assholes,” Freedom announced and stood. “No fucking sex for them, they can sleep on the damn couch.”

“Free,” Harmony said softly. “They can’t know I heard that.”

“Fuck that, those assholes, they tell everyone the club is a family and shit, and then they say stuff like that about one of their own. What is wrong with them? Would it have been so hard to quietly take you aside and talk to you, not stand at a party full of people and talk about you like that,” Freedom yelled.

Harmony shrugged. “Dad did talk to me, I just thought he was worried though, I didn’t know Creed had asked him. I felt like a dumbass.”

“Exactly,” Shady said firmly. “They didn’t come to you, they let your dad tell you, and I would bet they didn’t tell him that it was because you were crushing on Creed and Fork.”

“Oh my God, this is embarrassing. I mean, I heard what they said, I got over it, but still, even after being gone and shit, I am still not good enough for them, or even for you,” Harmony said.

That is why she had been upset and not answered Shady’s calls two years ago. When she had heard what they said, yes she knew they were talking about her crush, but she had also convinced herself that none of them thought of her as someone who was trustworthy. They should have stood up for her, or at the least given her a heads up. It hurt to know they all felt the same, Raven and Rock had been at her graduation for God’s sake, it was like a punch in the gut knowing they were just there because they had to be.

“You know, fuck this,” Shady said and looked at the other two women. “I get the Warriors are a club. I get that we belong to the club, but they let us make our own decisions, like with Trick.
We
had to deal with that shit because they don’t hurt women. I respect that, but some women need to be hurt. But they can’t have it both ways.”

“Club rules, always been like that.” Harmony shrugged. “In fact, before you came in, Shay, they didn’t deal with women like at all. They were just a hole to fill. I saw it every single day.”

“That is whacked,” Shady said. “Leather and Lace has been around for a long time, like twenty years. Female biking clubs are not unheard of. I mean, why can’t we have Warrior Bitches, we could be a sub-chapter of the Ops Warriors.”

The women were silent, it was like a light bulb went off in the room. They would have the protection of the club, but they would also have the ability to set the rules for the women in the club. Because honestly, the skanks that kept showing up and causing problems were pissing them all right the fuck off. The girls danced at the club and brought in business; they were the ones putting themselves on the line.

Harmony’s doorbell rang and Free jumped up and answered the door. Rain, Treat, Nike, and Bob walked into the room. These women were the ones who danced, who stepped forward in the club and claimed a place for themselves, they weren’t the club whores, the hang arounds, they were part of the Warriors, they didn’t have a vote in club business, and they didn’t care, but they did handle a lot of shit for the club. Hell, Shady ran the gun storage/shipping business. She reported to Creed but she was in charge. The guys needed to back the fuck off some of this shit. They knew their place, they always would, the Ops Warriors weren’t an equal opportunity club. They were too thick headed to be that progressive. But they couldn’t argue with the stuff they already did, including dishing out punishment to women who betrayed the club.

“What up, chickies?” Rain asked, carrying a twelve pack of Mike’s Hard Lemonade.

“Yeah, what was the 911?” Bob asked.

“We got an issue,” Shady said and Harmony looked around the room, as the women’s faces got hard as they heard what had happened. Shady had even told them what happened in the past, and it was Bob who surprised her. The small woman with curves and a mean temper had been pissed off about that.

“Seriously?” she yelled. “I even knew that Harmony was the one behind the investigations, damn, all they had to do was pay attention. Who did they think found half of the shit they needed online?”

“What do you mean?” Shady said and Harmony closed her eyes. She knew what was coming, Bob was the oldest of the women; she had been there a long time.

“Shay, really? These boys would go into Church and talk about all the stuff. Then they would all come out with shit that needed to be done, and all of them—every single one of the old timers—would go right to Harmony. Since she was a kid, she has been able to find shit out on the net, hell, who do you think mapped out our delivery routes, did it when she was fifteen, took the cops routes and ran some program to see which roads were the safest. Then when Creed and the others took over she would just listen, overhear stuff, and suddenly one of the Prospects would get information. I mean seriously, all they had to do was ask, but no, the Prospects took the credit, damn, Harmony got more than one of those boys their patches,” Bob snorted.

All of the girls turned and looked at Harmony. “What?” she asked loudly.

“Why didn’t you ever say anything?” Shady asked.

Harmony shrugged and looked around. “What? I am good at finding stuff, figured the club would need the information. I don’t need any pats on the back.”

“But your father and Monk, they had to know, why didn’t they say anything?” Shady asked.

“They didn’t figure it out for a while, and when they did, I begged them not to tell. Both of them figured one of the guys would fess up, none of them did, and so I just kept quiet.” Harmony laughed.

“Settles it,” Shay announced. “Operation Bitches is in effect. We need to come up with a bunch of shit to present to the club at one of the first available meetings. I am not fucking around with this shit, they do not tell me anymore who can come into my bedroom. In fact, I say we have our own freaking floor, they can expand off the back, not like we don’t have the money, shit, I have the money to do it.”

“Harmony needs a name,” Freedom said.

“You don’t have one.” Harmony laughed.

“Yeah, but they all call me Free, same thing,” Freedom said.

“Then call me Harm.” Harmony shrugged.

“Um no,” Shady said and looked around the room. “We can come up with something better, because when you have a nickname, it means you are in. Trust me, you are not a Prospect for the Warrior Bitches, you are all in, you paid your dues.”

Everyone nodded and Harmony laughed, it was the first time in all of her life with the Warriors that she actually felt like she belonged to something, she was no longer Fish’s daughter, she was a Bitch.

*****

“Monk called,” Fork said as he walked into the offices. Creed was the only one in there for the moment, and he was glad, they needed to talk about shit.

“Yeah?” Creed said and looked at Fork closely.

“Tonto agreed to the meet, wants it to happen sooner rather than later, so this weekend,” Fork said.

“You cool with that?” Creed said.

Fork laughed. “Wasted a lot of time with all that shit a long time ago, not wasting anymore. He wants to be pissed he can, I didn’t make that call, and as far as I can see, he may not think he got the better end of the deal, but shit. Live with my fucking asshole father and crazy bitch mother for a few years and he'd see how lucky he was.”

Creed knew all about Fork’s childhood, they'd been best friend since grade school. Creed had seen the bruises and witnessed the crazy. All it had proven to Creed was even the wealthy had problems behind closed doors. When Limbo had offered Fork a place to stay on more than one occasion, it had become clear to Creed that Fork’s parents were fucked. Fork tried to make contact with Tonto when he was eighteen, but the older man refused to speak to him, Fork had just blown it off. Tonto’s hatred for he and Fork’s mother bled over into the club, it pissed Creed off. He refused to do any business with the Savages because of it. It made the tension between the two clubs run high, and when other shit was going on, like the Diablos, it made the situation volatile. They had no clue if the Savages were even going to want to play ball, it was logical, but the shit between Fork and Tonto was anything but logical.

“Yeah,” Creed said and then said, “Harmony.”

“Shit, man, did you see her?” Fork said and ran his hand through his hair. “Fish would gut me if he knew what I was thinking ‘bout his little girl.”