Joy (Hell's Handlers MC 7)

There better not be a hurricane on the horizon.

CHAPTER FOUR

STEPHANIE

Stephanie stepped through her front door and released what felt like the first breath in hours. After Copper had rushed to the diner—then blew through like a freakin’ hurricane—she’d had to recount what happened no less than ten times. With each retelling, she’d laid out the encounter with Crank, and the edges of her nerves had frayed a bit more. Hiding the tension and fear from Copper’s assessing glare hadn’t been an easy task, but she’d tried her hardest. Last thing she wanted was for the prez to have to call Maverick in from work because she’d turned into a basket case. She’d had to promise Copper a dozen times she’d fill Mav in, then have her ol’ man call his prez as soon as he got home from work. Mav had been on a sensitive job, requesting no contact unless an extreme emergency. While what happened at the diner sucked, no one was hurt or in any true danger, so technically not an emergency. Steph worked hard to prove to Copper that Mav didn’t need to be interrupted.

She’d been a federal agent for Christ’s sake. Trained to handle far worse than that little spectacle at the diner. But, fuck, it’d been hard to keep from freaking out. Even hours later, she felt the lingering effects of fear. A quivering stomach, headache, and shaky limbs.

Her nerves tumbled and rolled around in a mess of anxiety. The most recent enemies of the club were rotting away in hell where they belonged, but they didn’t get there without wreaking havoc on the MC first. No one knew that better than she and Mav. Except maybe Chloe. All three of them had been tormented and tortured by the last gang to mess with the Handlers

Rest in misery, motherfuckers.

Stephanie would be lying if she didn’t admit the thought of another MC harassing the men and women who’d become her family didn’t freak her right out. Now that she knew first-hand the depravity of some men and the ease with which they could inflict pain on others, she’d become far more skittish than she used to be.

Though she worked her ass off to hide it from her man.

Shaking out her tingling fingers, she pushed the events of the morning out of her mind. There’d be plenty of time to discuss what happened with Maverick later. Now, all she wanted to do was locate her man and spend some quality time getting lost in him before she had to burst their happy bubble. Copper could yell at her later.

No one could lift her mood quite like Maverick and his snarky personality. Especially at this time of year. Turned out, Mav was a Christmas freak, and he’d been bouncing around like a little boy for weeks.

Come to think of it…why was the house so quiet?

Steph frowned as she headed down the front hallway toward their festive living room. Ever since he’d swallowed his last bite of Thanksgiving turkey, Mav had been driving her insane, constantly blaring Christmas music. Who the hell would have guessed her pierced, inked, and sex-crazed biker would be such a Santa nut? She hadn’t walked through the door to a quiet house since the first of December. And she’d seen his truck in the garage, so…where was the ridiculous man?

As she made her way through their overly decorated house, she couldn’t help but smile at all the ludicrous Christmas crap they owned. In true Mav fashion, he’d adorned their entire tree in what he lovingly called pornaments, complete with a light-up butt plug ornament, a ceramic Rudolph doing an elf, and of course, a fully nude Mrs. Claus riding the jolly ole guy straight to heaven. Their house was littered with naughty Christmas trinkets that really captured the meaning of the season.

At least for her man.

And then there were the gifts. Christmas pre-game presents as he called them. First, she’d found a gift bag with some sexy Santa themed lingerie waiting for her on the kitchen table, then a porn DVD complete with horny elves and other horrifying yet merry characters. But the piece de resistance was the candy cane vibrator he’d given her last weekend. That one Steph totally got behind. Literally.

“Babe, you here?” she finally called out after she’d searched the entire first level.

When he didn’t reply, she started up the stairs. Mav had been pulling some long working hours recently. Maybe he’d fallen asleep. When she reached the top of the carpeted steps, Steph hung a right toward their bedroom. Left would lead to the office and guest room.

Actually…

She spun and headed toward the office. This wouldn’t be the first time he’d passed out on the small couch in their shared office. And last time, she’d woken him in a very pleasurable way.