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spaghettificationandpretzels · 2 years ago

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There's Gotta Be Some Butterflies Somewhere.

Mayans MC Masterlist

Part two of A Gentle Kind of Love.

Contains: Fluff, mutual pining, angst (endless longing, Canche) slow burn, violence, flashbacks in italics. Cannabis use.

6.7K words

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"So if you will. Please fall in love with me"

You arrived at the Clubhouse just as everything was getting busy, Angel running up to you with a smile, "you came."

You nodded, "I did, can I get this over with?"

His smile widened, "come on, Marcus is excited to meet you." Angel walked over and introduced you, "Marcus, this is y/n, y/n this is Marcus."

You stuck out your hand, "hello, I've heard so much about you."

He smiled, "yeah, and I've heard a lot about you. The guys really love you."

You smiled back, "only because I indulge their ideas."

You turned to the woman next to him, she was poised and put together, her gentle smile glowing in the afternoon sun, "Marcus must be your husband."

Izzy smiled and took your hand, "I like this woman, you're my husband for once instead of me being your wife."

"Well behind every successful man."

Marcus chuckled, "I can see why they like you."

You sat down on the bench next to Angel, "so what do you do for a living?" Izzy seemed curious and you looked at Angel with suspicion.

"I am a psychologist."

Marcus raised his eyebrows, "wow. Looks like EZ might have some competition."

You laughed, "never, I might have a great memory but I took the milk out of the fridge yesterday then went looking for it two seconds later."

"And funny too. Do you have a specialty?"

You nodded, "complex trauma. Not the best but I love my job."

A quiet came over briefly, "are you seeing anyone?" Izzy's tone was neutral.

Now you were sure Angel was talking, "nope, just me and my three cats." Angel choked on his beer.

"Oh, you fucker. What did you tell them?"

He threw his hands in the air, "nothing, I might have brought up that you and Manny were getting along well when Marcus came to see how he was settling in."

You kicked him quickly under the table, "what was that for?"

You turned to Marcus and Izzy, "I'm sorry about that, Angel doesn't know what he's talking about and is sticking his head where it doesn't belong."

Marcus shook his head, "ignore him y/n. Tell me more about your work."

As the afternoon wore on, you forgot you didn't want to be there. Manny was busy with other Mayans and you had managed to dodge him, that was until you and Izzy returned from taking some of the kids for a walk around the area. He was standing right by the doors as you walked in. You waved at him with a soft smile and he waved back but any hopes of him being too busy to talk were dashed as he came walking over to you.

"Hey Tesoro, long time no see."

You nodded, "yes, three weeks to be exact." You did your best to try and keep it casual but he wrapped his arms around you and you melted into his embrace.

"I missed talking to you."

You smiled, "yeah, I missed you too." Your phrasing gave him pause, but he didn't mention it.

"You wanna get a drink?"

You nodded, "I'd like that."

Izzy and Marcus watched on from afar, "Angel is right, those two are in love."

Izzy smiled, "I can see that. She's a nice woman, she's good with kids and she seems to have her head on straight. You said Manny and EZ are the future of the Club, I can see her standing behind him."

Marcus smiled, "they've got to get there first."

Manny had his arm looped over your shoulder, "you run into Canche yet?"

Manny clicked his tongue, "that fucker, he better hope I don't"

It was no secret why Manny transferred, Canche let something slide that made most people homicidal. "You were his VP Manny, he's going to want answers above what you gave him when you handed in your papers."

He huffed, "I don't think he wants to hear what I have to say about him."

You smiled softly, "oh well, I won't hesitate to tell him what I think about him."

Manny smiled, "I can't wait to see that. Can I ask you a question?"

You nodded, "you just did but sure."

"You and the prospect, what went on there?"

You sighed, "Coco never said anything?"

He shook his head, "Angel let it slip that you climbed out the window one night but that's it."

Your eyebrows wrinkled, someone must have talked, "we just didn't gel like that."

He nodded, "really, because he had a lot to say about you."

"I'm aware, Coco called me. Whatever he said, he's lying, I didn't have sex with him."

Manny hid his smile, "I'm glad, the other women don't seem to like him much and you deserved to be looked after."

You huffed cynically, "wow, if only every man had your attitude."

He smirked, it was laced with charm and seduction, "oh really, well there's..."

"You two seem cosy." It was Canche, coming to ruin the day.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" You tried to stay calm.

He looked you up and down, "I'm his old President."

You smiled nasty, "oh, the guy who doesn't think certain people should be strung up by their scrotums and bled dry like the pigs they are. Can I help you?"

Canche blinked, "who do you think you are?"

Manny stepped in front of you and stood over the man, he had at least four inches on him, "someone who's a lot better than you." His tone was calm and not in a good way. You put your hand on his shoulder in hopes of getting him to relax but he didn't seem to notice.

"I think you need to walk away before things get bloody, Manny had every right to leave after what you did and I don't blame him. As for outsiders knowing about it, you can't complain, people talk when shit like that happens."

Canche's face got nasty, "you need to pull in your bitch, that kind of shit wouldn't fly in Yuma."

You were grateful you saw Manny's reaction in slow motion because you managed to step in and stop it before Manny's fist found Canche's face. There was no way you could have prevented a fight if Manny really wanted one to happen, you could feel the strength coiled behind his lean muscle. You took his face in your hands and put yourself between Manny and Cache, "Manny listen to me. You have very nice hands, his face isn't worth it."

Canche went to speak and you cut him off, spinning on your heel to face him, "he has four inches on you and he's younger and fitter, this doesn't end well for you if a fight starts. Now walk away before you get yourself hurt." Something about your tone must have knocked some sense into him because he was walking off in a huff.

"You good?"

Manny swallowed, "that fucker...." You put your hand on his chest.

"That fucker has a higher rank than you, you can't just hit him." You were hoping he'd listen.

Manny calmed down and smirked at you, "you think I have nice hands?"

You thumped his chest, "grow up."

He threw his arm back over your shoulder and walked you into the Clubhouse, "come on Tesoro, I want to introduce you to the Yuma guys I like."

"I told you so, she's got a good head on her shoulders."

Marcus smiled at his wife, "I'll talk to Bishop and see what's going on there."

Someone cleared their throat, "you can try but Bish is pretty fed up, he might just yell at you."

They turned their heads, Angel was standing there sipping on a beer, his face neutral.

"Where did you come from?" Marcus looked around like Angel had come from a puff of smoke.

He shrugged, "I want them to be happy."

Being with Manny was effortless, you didn't even notice how things felt like nothing had changed, like you hadn't talked to each other in weeks. "They are far superior, I don't know how you can even stomach store bought tomatoes when you've had the ones I've grown."

He smiled, "I ain't saying that sweetheart, I'm saying that I can't come to your house and raid your garden every time I want dinner."

"That's fair, but you're going to have to cook for me now just to prove you can."

He chuckled, "alright, I suppose you're right, I've eaten plenty of your food. I should pay you back."

You smiled, "I like the sound of that, what's on the menu?"

He thought for a minute, "what do you like?"

This was starting to feel like something else, "I'll eat anything but I'm a salt addict so that makes it easy for you."

He nodded, "great, you bring the fresh stuff and I'll cook it."

You smiled, "I like the sound of that. I didn't even know you could cook."

He huffed, "I live all by my lonesome, I can't be eating takeout every day."

You smiled, "wow, handsome and capable."

You released what you said just after you said it, "you think I'm handsome?"

"Oh shut up Emmanuel."

He chuckled, "so I'm Emmanuel now, there anything else you want to tell me?"

Oh, so much. "Nope, nothing." Your mind was racing, you wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out again.

"You look like your having fun." You had never been so happy to hear Angel's voice.

"How do you keep appearing out of nowhere?"

He shrugged, "aren't you glad I convinced you to come?"

You nodded, "I am. But Canche's a dick."

Angel cocked his head in agreement, "yeah, we know."

Manny sighed, "if Marcus doesn't do something about him, Yuma's going to go to pieces."

Angel tutted, "maybe that's for the best, the rot starts at the top."

You nodded, "Angel's right Manny, if the culture of the charter was different, Canche wouldn't have even thought about being on that monster's side. I'm sure you can think of times when that kind of attitude has been extended to other members. You wouldn't have transferred if it was a one time thing."

Manny smiled, "you're know more than you let on, don't you?"

"I'm very observant."

Angel shook his head, "not observant enough."

You sighed, you didn't have the energy to deal with Angel being cryptic. "I'm gonna get us some beer, you want something y/n?"

You nodded, "just a water please." Angel headed to the bar, leaving you and Manny alone again.

"You don't drink?"

You shook your head, "I get migraines, so no, I don't."

Manny grunted in sympathy, "shit, that sucks."

You sighed, "yeah, it does."

Manny reached out and put his hand on your knee, "thank you for believing me."

He smiled, "wow, you must have encountered some assholes if you're thanking me for that."

You nodded, "yep."

Angel returned with a curious look on his face, "we good here?"

His eyes moved to Manny's hand on your leg and Manny removed it to take the beer from him, "yep, all good." You nodded your head quickly in agreement.

The food came out about an hour later, and you all headed up to get a plate. People were drunk now and the talking got louder and less casual. It was the reek of cheap whiskey that clued you in that someone was standing closer than they should be. You turned your head and were met with a very drunk Canche, "you right there?"

He shook his head and sipped his drink, "I wanna know why you're so interested in a traitor."

You could feel Manny stiffen behind you, "I don't need to explain anything to you, stop ruining my night."

He spun and faced you and Coco grabbed Manny's elbow and spoke softly to him, "she can handle herself."

You stepped back and crossed your arms, "did you not hear me, what are you still standing here for, you have your food, you don't need to bother me."

He huffed, "you have spent the whole night strutting around like you own the place, I wanna know where it comes from."

You bit the inside of your cheek, "you're projecting, now walk away, I will not hesitate to protect myself."

The room had gone quiet, everyone paying attention to you and Canche "Oh, you're so big and tough, I bet you beg....." That was the last straw, you acted faster than Canche could think, your fist coming to strike his throat. You pushed him against the bar and got close to his face.

"The last man to mention me begging isn't adjusting well to being blind on account of my thumbs going into his eyeballs. Do not give me a reason to alleviate you of yours."

Someone went to step forward but you stopped by the sound of a gun coming out of its holster, "come any closer to me and he loses his foot. I want to finish my conversation."

Manny swallowed and glanced away from the scene, turning to Coco, "I didn't know she carried."

Coco shrugged, "I think that was the point bro."

Canche was shocked, he was smart enough to know how this would go if he stepped wrong, "I think you are the worst kind of person, you aren't just a monster, you help monsters hurt children because you're too greedy to make the call, and it's not even a hard call. I have nothing to say to you and no reason to explain myself."

Angel was standing with Marcus along the front wall, watching on in amusement, "you want me to do something about that?"

Marcus shook his head, "nah, Canche should have taken Manny leaving as a hint to humble himself."

You let him up and he adjusted his kutte, looking around for support but finding none, "you got a mouth on you."

The kick to his testicles had him going down like a lead balloon and then Manny was pulling you away, "hey, y/n. That's enough."

Canche pushed himself up and went to speak, but the look in your eyes had him second guessing, "go off and lick your wounds, don't make me take action you'll really regret." He hobbled away and the music kicked back on, Manny was standing there wide eyed and impressed.

"Wow, I didn't know you had that in you."

You smiled, "there's a lot you don't know about me Emmanuel."

Knock knock

Manny opened the door with a smile and you lifted the bag of fresh fruits and vegetables, "hello."

He took the bag from your hand, "hi, please come in."

You threw off your shoes and walked in, looking around his cosy apartment, "wow, you are clean."

He smiled and put the bag on the counter, "is that a surprise?"

You nodded, "for the most part, no offence but most men I know who live alone only change their sheets once a year."

He screwed up his face in disgust, "oh that is so gross."

He started unpacking and opened the fridge, getting out a jug of water before offering it to you, "and gold star service, what's on the menu tonight?"

He smirked and smelled the herbs, "with all this? something really good."

You sighed, "so it's a surprise?"

Manny nodded, "yep, you wanna help?"

"Of course I do." He slid an onion across the table then handed you a knife and a cutting board, he watched you as you cut it, "ok, I'm very impressed, a clean house, cold water and a knife so sharp it could cut bone. You are very capable."

He grinned, "wait until you eat the food."

He crushed the garlic under his palm then ran his own knife through it, "I'm happy you're choosing to season your food, I would stop being friends with you if you only used one clove."

He snorted, "I wouldn't blame you. You've been everywhere, what's your favourite dish?"

You thought for a moment, "ooo, that's hard. Like I told you, I'm a salt fiend so I love salt baked stuff. I have this salt baked chicken in France that I ate almost every day. I managed to get the recipe, needless to say, I have to stop myself from cooking it all the time."

He licked his lips, "shit that sounds good, you better cook it next time we all come over. What about sweets?"

"Chocolate mud cake, made with buttermilk, browned butter and lots and lots of chocolate."

He moaned, "ok, enough. You're making me drool."

You chuckled, "wait till you walk into the house and smell the chicken cooking, it creates this super salty juice that is amazing on fresh rice…"

He threw a tea towel at you with a smile, "you're making me feel inadequate."

You pressed your lips together to stop a laugh, "first time?"

He smirked, "maybe." You couldn't hold it any longer and neither could Manny, his face split into a grin as you started to laugh. You both laughed until you ran out of breath, then the oven timer sang.

He was right, the food was amazing. He had cooked a whole spread, a vegetable quiche with veggies from your garden, beef tacos with pickled red onions, a herb and rice dish with chicken broth and the most delicious strawberry tart.

Everything was perfectly seasoned and cooked, by the end, you were stuffed full and happy. "That was delicious."

He smiled, "thank you, I guess now that I've proven I can cook, I'll be helping you all the time?"

You nodded, "yep, there'll be no getting out of it now but it means you'll get the first pick on taking leftovers home. Was this your master plan?"

He held his hands up, "you got me, the only reason I did this is so you'll acknowledge my skills and ask me to help you cook every time."

You smiled, "I'm fine with that."

"What's got you all happy?"

Manny had been smiling all morning, "nothing."

Bishop didn't believe him for one minute, "really? Because you've been grinning like an idiot since you got in this morning, you wanna tell me the truth?"

Manny shook his head, "really, it's….."

Angel sat down next to them with a smile, "so it has nothing to do with your dinner last night?"

Bishop's eyebrows wrinkled, "what?"

Angel smiled, "Manny and the good doctor had dinner at his place last night."

Manny huffed, "it was just dinner, she left after the dessert."

Angel didn't drop his smile, "so it wasn't a date?"

Manny sighed, "no it wasn't. Just because you are an ungrateful asshole doesn't mean I am. I just wanted to thank her for all the cooking she did."

Angel tutted, "you could have taken it to her house, you didn't need to invite her over."

Bishop grunted, "Angel, that's enough. Leave Manny alone."

Angel snorted, "if you say so Bish."

"Ok, what's the worst parent you've dealt with?"

You were thankful that they were talking about work and not your dinner with Manny, "it's always the same one, just in different bodies. I sometimes go to schools to work in severe bullying cases, and the perp's parents go on and on about how good their kid is. Most of the time, I meet parents and the child's behaviour makes so much more sense."

"Gee, do people really fuck up that bad?" You nodded at Gilly's question.

"All the time, parents are so blind that they truly ruin their children but not giving them discipline. As part of a state mandate, I have to work with a certain number of kids on behaviour programs. The parents are the reason whenever I've had to let patients go. Half the time, the kids want to change but part of that is the parents admitting they need to do better and it doesn't happen."

They all seemed to understand, "what about you guys? I'm sure you've had some terrible customers."

They all shared a look before iz answered your question, "demon Dave and his wife. They were hell."

You leaned in, "tell me more."

Riz smiled, "they turn up in their SUV screaming that the odometer was running faster than they drove, turns out, they were both cheating and running it up seeing their side pieces."

"Oh, that's just perfect. How did you find out?"

Taza smiled, "I caught the wife at a cafe. The worst part about is, the husband tried to sue us for emotional damage."

You gasped, "no, what happened?"

Angel sipped his beer with a smile, "it didn't get anywhere, he was also stealing from his work, our lawyer found out and threatened to ruin his life."

Something didn't add up, "how did your lawyer find out?"

Coco smiled, "Chucky."

You smiled, "good old Chucky, God I love that dude."

You had stopped by the garage for an oil change, Coco greeting you with a smile. "You have to meet Chucky, you will love him." While EZ drove your car undercover, Coco walked you into the office and introduced you to the man sitting at the desk.

He stood up and walked over, that was when you saw his hands. Coco didn't wait for you to ask, not that you would, "the Triad cut them off because he couldn't stop touching himself."

You blinked, "CMD miss."

You nodded, "I'm really sorry you struggled with that and I'm sorry someone chopped off your fingers."

He shrugged, "I am healing."

You smiled, "well, that's all that matters. Now I have some time before my car's done and since Coco told me I'd like you, tell me about yourself."

"What about you Manny? I'm sure you have some tails from Yuma."

Manny smiled, "Canche was the only asshole there."

You laughed, "wow, you really don't like the man."

Manny shook his head, "no one does."

Taza agreed, "we don't really like Yuma, to be honest."

You nodded, "I can see that, the tension is palpable when they're here. Are there people I need to be worried about?"

They looked at each other, "you're a smart woman, I'm sure you know without us telling you."

You smiled softly, "yeah, I've noticed that with certain guys, you tend to give the women they're talking to pressing tasks before they head to the dorms. My question is, why doesn't Marcus know that one of his chapters is filled with predators?"

They looked at each other, "we need Yuma, more accurately, Canche is in with some important people."

You sighed, "ahh, now I get it. It sounds like he needs to meet a sticky end and take the rest of the poison with him."

Bishop huffed, "you know, one day those great observation skills are going to get you into trouble."

You raised your eyebrows, "if you were going to kill me for knowing the truth, you would have done it already. The fact is, you know I won't say anything to anyone and I know that lying to you about knowing how you make your money isn't worth the hassle."

"You got some balls, you know that?"

You smiled, "I try Creep."

Manny looked deep in thought, "how did you figure it out?" You smiled, "when I first met you all, Coco had been clean for six months and yet there was Narcan everywhere, that combined with the fact that you always have someone on the line who seems to fix problems without even showing their face kinda clued me in."

Bishop smiled, "you were a bit blunt about it, I think it's the reason I like you so much."

"So, what's your read on us?"

You smiled, "you as people or you as drug dealers?" The Clubhouse was pretty much empty, just some the Santo Padre Mayans and some hang arounds, you were sitting with Manny, Hank and Bishop in the corner so it wasn't like anyone could hear you.

"Don't look so shocked, I'm a doctor, you don't think I can read people like open books?" Bishop blinked and went to respond but you cut him off, "I'm not going to tell on you, this isn't third grade and Coco is my friend. You don't need to worry about me, all I ask is that I never see the drugs."

Hank nodded, "we can do that."

You smiled, "great, then we have an agreement and we can go back to pretending like you're just mechanics and scrap metal dealers."

"Blunt is the only way to be. I spend my whole day finding nice and compassionate ways to say things, it's nice to be able to take off the white coat."

Manny smiled, "that must be hard, always being polite?"

You nodded, "it's harder when I have to go to court, one day I'm going to be on the news for killing a defence attorney."

Angel smiled, "ah, we'll bust you out if you do."

"Fancy seeing your here."

You smiled at the sound of Manny's voice, "well it is the only place to get good meat. I am not buying that package shit from the supermarket."

Manny strode up to the counter, "what's on the menu tonight?"

You sighed, "not for me, I feed my cats raw and they're out of food, they won't eat anything other than Felipe's stuff."

Felipe smiled, "what a ringing endorsement."

Manny nodded, "oh it is, you should see these cats."

Felipe chuckled, "I've seen lots of photos, they are very spoilt."

You shook your head, "what about you?"

He pointed to the spatchcock chicken, "I watched some fancy cooking show last night, I'm gonna do that thing where you cook the chicken under a brick."

"Oh, yum. It's literally called chicken under brick."

Manny laughed, "good to know, have you ever had it?"

You nodded, "once or twice, it's really nice. It's not better than my salt baked one though."

He shook his head, "stop teasing me."

Felipe sighed and handed you your meat while you handed over the cash, "thank you Mr Reyes, they will be very happy with this."

Manny got his chicken and walked out with you, Felipe giving you both a friendly wave goodbye. "I guess I'll see you on Friday?"

You shook your head, "sadly, no. I have a fundraiser on Saturday and as much as I love Fridays, they are kinda draining. I can't do both."

He looked disappointed, "where's the fundraiser?"

You leaned against your car, "Oakland, the Sunshine Road Centre. It's actually like ten minutes from the Clubhouse."

The smile of Manny's face was back, "guess where we are on Saturday?"

You mirrored his smile, "no?"

He nodded, "yep, Marcus wants us there to work out some stuff with the Sons, something about a new gang causing problems."

You nodded, "I thought they were out of the life?"

Manny huffed, "they are, have been for years. It didn't stop someone from sending then a threatening text about us."

You crossed your arms, "that's a worry, maybe it's an old group pissed that Jax gave the guns to the Mayans?"

He shook his head, "nah, they're good with everyone involved in that. The text had something in German, Juice, their tec guy says it was a Nazi thing."

Your eyes went wide, "well shit, that's not good."

He nodded in agreement, "we know, we'll talk to Marcus on Saturday and see if we have to go visit Charming."

"All you can do is wait, will Yuma be there?"

Manny shook his head, "nope, looks like their being frozen out, they had another stepped on batch last week."

You huffed, "as Angel said, the rot starts at the top."

He nodded, "I know. Oh well, even if I don't get to see you on Friday, we might run into each other."

"Maybe, although, I'm not sure if I want the guys to see me in an evening dress. I don't think they'd ever let me live it down."

He laughed, "oh, I know."

You smiled, "have fun for me on Saturday, because I'm going to be surrounded by rich assholes and I doubt I'll last till it ends."

He chuckled, "I will party on your behalf."

Angel saw your car pull away, waving to you from his bike as he pulled into his father's shop. He smiled when he saw Manny texting, swaggering up to him with a smirk, "you planning another dinner?"

Manny shook his head, "no, she was here buying stuff for her cats. What has gotten into you man, are you my fairy godmother or something?"

Angel got a twinkle in his eyes, "your fairy godmother, I like the sound of that."

Manny huffed, "I got to get this meat home, you gotta stop looking so deep into it man, we're just friends."

Angel walked into Felipe's shop, turning behind him, "if you say so."

Felipe had his arms crossed, nodding towards the door, "what was that son?"

Angel shrugged "you tell me pops, you saw them together."

Felipe tutted, "you might be right Angel but you can't force these things, they have to figure it out on their own."

Angel huffed, "and if they don't?"

Felipe shook his head, "they will, don't worry."

Angel smiled, "all I'm saying is, they might need a bit of help."

"Come on man, it's like ten minutes away, we can stop by."

Manny sighed, "she'll be inside, they won't let us in, it's a black tie event."

Coco shrugged, "nah, any bet she'll be outside, she hates that kind of shit."

Angel smiled, "see man, there's no reason not to drive by."

Manny shook his head, "you're not going to let this go, are you?"

"Nope." The pop of the 'p' coming out of Angel's mouth had EZ chuckling.

"Just do it bro, he's not going to drop it."

Manny rolled his eyes, "fine, we drive by once and if you can't see her, we come back."

Angel smiled and stood up, "great, we should go now before it gets too late."

EZ rolled his eyes, "why not make it a group thing, I'll come too."

After some back and forth, the group was Coco, Angel, Ez and Manny, Gilly smiling at Angel, "report back?"

"Hell yeah."

They took the van, choosing to leave the bikes because Manny was worried you'd come out and meet them even if you were enjoying yourself. When they drove by, you weren't there and Manny huffed, "see, we just wasted out time."

Coco shook his head, "give it ten minutes, she might come out."

Manny sighed, "not what I agreed to."

EZ shrugged, "we need to pick up dinner anyway and the line is huge, we may as well wait."

He pointed to the food truck up the street and Angel nodded, "EZ's right, we should kill two birds with one stone or whatever."

Seven minutes in, you walked out looking exhausted, Angel tapped Manny on the shoulder and pointed out the driver's window to where you were standing, Manny's breath catching in his throat. He blinked, time slowing as he took in the vision of you leaning against the wall. The tea length red dress and fluffy skirt made you look like something out of a fairytale, he was vaguely aware of someone talking, then someone was tapping him again, harder this time.

"Dude, you right?"

Manny blinked, "yeah fine, she looks pretty had it. Maybe we should leave her alone."

Angel shook his head, "nah, we're just what she needs after dealing with those rich assholes all night." Angel got out of the car as the other followed, Manny couldn't help but join, his feet having a mind of their own as you pulled him in like you had cast a spell on him.

You must have sensed that someone was walking close because you looked up from the ground and met eyes with Manny, your face breaking out into a smile as you waved gently. They walked over and stood around you, something had them smiling because they looked at Manny's expression then looked at each other.

"Hey."

Manny smiled, "hey, you look...you look really nice."

Angel huffed, "really man, you're supposed to say she looks beautiful or radiant or something like that. Which you do by the way."

You smiled and met Angel's eye, "thank you but nice is perfectly fine." Manny pressed his lips together in an effort to stop himself was smiling, his eyes stuck on the way the dress made you look like a princess.

"You look like shit."

You sighed, "thanks Coco, I feel like it too. If I have to spend another second hearing some banker tell me I'm doing the lord's work while they talk about their two million dollar yacht, I'm going to start throwing mini quiches at people. God I'm hungry."

EZ pointed towards the food truck, "we were on our way to get food, you want something?"

You nodded emphatically, "I will kill for you if feed me." You held a finger up, "and I came prepared." You reached into the dress, Manny smiling at the fact that it had pockets, "six carne asada tacos, please, with extra veg."

EZ smiled, "done, you want anything to drink?"

You nodded, "just water please."

He headed off, leaving you with the others, "were you heading home?"

Coco seemed to know the answer, "yes, I lasted till nine thirty, that's enough. I should have come to the party yesterday and told these people my cats had the runs or something. I'm pretty sure I wasted my whole night."

Angel smiled, "it's not a waste now that we're here, is it?"

You shook your head, "no, actually, you might have saved the night."

He tapped Manny, "see Manny, we might have saved the night."

EZ returned with everyone's food and handed you yours, "thank you." He nodded, his own mouth full and Coco jutted his head towards the van, "we better go hide before some rich asshole comes out and wants to talk about his yacht more."

Everyone walked towards the van, Manny opening the back for you and helping you up. "Thank you Manny."

He sat next to you and drove into his own meal, you legs almost touching, "how is it?"

You smiled, "so good, there's only so many bacon wrapped mini potatoes a person can eat while trying to act like a lady."

He laughed, "let me guess, you wanted to shove a whole handful in your mouth at once?"

"Hell yeah, how else do people eat shit like that?"

The smile on his face was lighting up the van, "agreed, how are your tacos?"

You stuck up your thumb, "so good. I was hungrier than I thought. Yours?"

He nodded, "real good, they'd be better with shit for your garden, though."

You smiled, "you said it, not me."

By the time the food was done, you were yawning and ready to head home. "Thank you gentlemen for salvaging my night, but I think it's time I bid you adieu."

Manny stood up, "I'll walk you to your car."

Behind him, Angel was grinning. "Thank you Manny." He walked you to your car, leaning over the door as you stuck the key in the ignition and turned it over.

"ppppppp...pp."

You sighed and dropped your head onto the steering wheel, Manny looking on in worry, "ahhh, not again. The fucking spark plug is gone, I'll have to call myself a cab."

He shook his head, "we'll take you back home, I'll call the others and get your car taken to the Clubhouse, Marcus will make sure they look after it."

You shook your head, "I can't ask you to take me back home, it's forty five minutes away."

He shook his head, "nah, don't worry about it. I'm sure they guys with be happy to help." You went to protest but he stopped you, "really, I think you'll hurt Coco feelings if you get a cab."

You sighed, "fine, but only if they agree too." He held his hand out and helped you out of your seat, "thank you Manny."

You walked back to the van, being met with quizzical stares, "what's going on?"

You shrugged, "my car's fucked."

Coco nodded, "we'll take you home."

Manny smiled, "see Tesoro, I told you we'd be happy to drop you off."

You rolled your eyes, "fine, you don't all need to be so wonderful."

Coco huffed, "you can thank us with cake."

You nodded, "alright, are you sure? I don't want you driving back and forth."

Angel shook his head, "we have to check on the Clubhouse anyway, make sure everything is alright."

Your eyes wrinkled, "because Riz and Tara are going to burn it down in the few hours you're away?"

EZ snorted, "they might."

You shook your head, "alright, thank you again."

Coco smiled, "give us yours keys, we'll get a tow to take your car back to the Clubhouse." You handed them over and Coco went to make the call while you relaxed in the van, Manny sitting next to you.

"How are the cats?"

You smiled, "so good, Sir Fluffernutter tried to steal my sandwich today, turns out he hates rye bread."

Manny laughed, "he is such a little shit."

You smiled, "I know, he's the problem child."

Coco returned with a smile, "Marcus is happy for us to drop you off, he's going to send Medina to pick up your car, you right with that?"

You nodded, "fine, thank you again, I can't thank you guys enough for all the trouble you're going to."

EZ nodded, "I'll wait here, you guys head off."

Coco tossed EZ your keys, "thanks man." With a little bit more back and forth, you were off. It didn't take long for the conversation to pick up as they asked you about your night and laughed along as you went into detail about the people you met.

"One dude went right for the weird shit, asking if I work with serial killers, I'm pretty sure he has a bunch of heads in his freezer."

Angel huffed, "does that happen often?"

You nodded, "oh my God yes. College was the worst, I made the mistake of going to a frat party once and all they could talk about was Freud, I wanted to stab my eardrums out."

Manny rolled his eyes, "you got more patience than me."

You smiled, "yes, I've noticed you get a little punchy when you don't like someone."

Coco huffed, "nah, that's just Canche."

You smiled, "he does really suck."

There was a rustle and Angel was producing a joint and offering it around. Manny took a puff and then suggested it to you as you shrugged, "why not, one isn't going to give me cancer." You inhaled and suppressed a cough, "wow that's a lot."

Coco chuckled, "you don't like weed?"

You huffed, "I'm civilized, cookies and gummies only. Plus, I can't smell like the devil's lettuce while I'm with patients."

A few minutes later, the joint kicked in and you were reclining against the van, "you wanna stop somewhere?"

You nodded, "please Coco, I could eat a horse."

He pulled into a burger joint off the highway, "what do you want?"

You thought for a minute, "fries, ice cream, fries."

Manny laughed, "same here." It did take long for everyone to have their meals, Coco eating with one hand while he drove.

"So, what cake do you guys want." They all started to talk at once, "good lord, one at a time."

It took their THC laden brains to answer before Angel spoke, "that strawberry one you made for Chucky, that was really good."

There were nods all around, "easy peasy."

Time flew as you drove back home and before you knew it, you were pulling into your drive way. "Thank you again, I had a really nice time."

Angel smiled, "so did we."

He met eyes with Manny and Manny shook his head, "I'll walk you to your door." They smiled as Manny helped you off the step and walked you the short distance to your doorstep.

Maybe it was the weed or the party but something came over you and you were placing a hand on his cheek while you pressed a kiss to the other, "goodnight Emmanuel."

He ached to reach out and hold you to him but he stopped himself, smiling as you walked inside, "goodnight y/n."

The other were watching from the van, Angel smiling for ear to ear as Manny walked back. He went to say something when Manny climbed back into the back but Manny held up his hand with a head shake.

"Not a word bro."

Part 3

Song inspiration is Dodie - Would You Be so Kind

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spaghettificationandpretzels · 2 years ago

Text

On Yearning

Any blank spaces are not meant to be there, I will fix them as soon as they show up so please just check again a little later if that happens to you.

Mayans MC Masterlist

Part four of a A Gentle Kind of Love

Contains: Fluff, mutual pining, angst (violence, endless longing, a cliffhanger, possible major character death) slow burn.

6.2K words

Comment if you want to be tagged/removed or follow #a gentle kind of love.

Yearning - A deep longing, especially when accompanied by tenderness or sadness. Alternately an instance of such longing.

Temple was full when Marcus started talking, "I just spoke to Jax, they're going to deal with it on their end. What do we know about these Hidden Order fucks?"

Coco sighed, "not much, other than a single tattoo, they don't validate and they don't make noise, they've been linked to multiple crimes but their made cash source is meth and counterfeiting."

"That's it?" Bishop didn't sound happy.

Coco nodded, "Juice is going to tell us the second he knows something new, until then we need to be on the lookout."

Manny rubbed his face, his tone angry, "and y/n, how long is she going to be at risk."

Bishop waved his hand, "we're not going to let anything happen to her and it's not like you two hate each other, you'll be fine at her place for a few days."

"And if it lasts longer than that?" Part of Manny was hoping it would.

Angel huffed, "like that matters."

Bishop slammed his hand on the desk, "enough, y/n will be fine, we need to find these Nazi fucks before someone gets hurt."

They made you wait at the bar until they were done, it took a while but they all filed out of the Temple and Manny shot you a smile as he walked up to you, "I need to go by my place and pack a bag, then I'll be all yours."

You smiled, "I'll put some fresh sheets on my bed."

His eyes went wide, "I thought you had a pull out?"

You nodded, "I do, you can have the bed and I'll take the couch."

He went to respond but you cut him off, "please, don't fight me on this. You're already putting yourself out by staying with me for God knows how long, the least you can do is take the bed."

He sighed, "fine but I'm cooking half the food."

"Alright, I'll take that."

He smiled, "great, I'll get Coco to take you home, I'll rush so we can get some sleep tonight."

You sighed, "you don't need to do that. Tomorrow is the weekend, it's not like I need to be well rested for work."

He shook his head, "nope, I can't have you all sleepy, we're going to hang out all day and have so much fun."

You giggled, "oh I'm sure. My cats are never going to leave you alone, have fun showering with three cats staring at you."

He chuckled, "I thought Mr Butts was the only perv."

You smiled, "all cats are pervs, Mr Butts just takes it to the next level."

He returned your smile and reached his hand out, landing it on your upper arm, "I'm not going to let anything happen to you and if we have fun in the meantime well that's a bonus."

He headed off and you waited for Coco but to your annoyance, Angel was the one that wandered over to you with a smile, "ready to head home?"

You sighed, "if you say one word about me and Manny I swear to God I will…"

He raised his hand, "I ain't going to give you shit."

You could tell by his grin he was lying.

Angel rode beside you while you drove home, pulling up next to you on your driveway as you walked inside, "what?"

He smiled, "nothing, I bet you're happy to have Manny all to yourself this weekend?"

You sighed, "say what you want to say Angel."

"I know you love him."

You rolled your eyes, "what makes you say that?"

He smirked, "because of the way you smile at him, I mean, it's cute."

You shook your head, "you are delusional and I suggest you get help. Now I need to set up the sofa bed, you can help or you can wait outside for Manny to arrive."

Angel gave you a look, "am I, or are you just scared that you're going to get hurt. Because I can tell you that you might be surprised."

You huffed, "what does it matter Angel? Yes, I love him, can you fucking drop it now?"

Angel smiled, "alright, I'll drop it. Are you going to let Manny sleep out in your lounge room all on his lonesome?"

You shook your head, "no, I'm a good host. He's going to take my bed and I'm taking the sofa."

You walked off to get the sheets, returning and directing Angel to help you, "that's so nice of you, letting him sleep in your bed."

You glared at him, "I need to get him fresh sheets in there next, now help me or fuck off."

Angel helped, smiling all the while. He glanced around your bedroom and you could see the wheels in his head turning, "what now man?"

He shrugged, "nothing, I just think Manny will get lonely here without you, your bed is pretty big."

You huffed, "he'll have the cats to keep him company." Mercifully, the doorbell rang before Angel could reply, the camera showing Manny had arrived, "oh thank God, you can go now Angel."

Angel shook his head, "call me if you need anything." You opened the door and Manny walked in, Angel looking back one last time before walking away, "use protection kids."

Your eyes went wide and Manny shook his head, "don't encourage him y/n."

You smiled as Angel's bike pulled away, "at least he's not coming back to watch us through the window like a perv."

Mr Butts jumped into Manny's arms, Manny smiling as the cat rubbed up against his face, "I'll show you to the bedroom, I've set it all up for you, there's water and extra pillows so you can chose, I even left out the humidifier in case you don't like dry air, no oils though, they aren't safe for kitties."

Manny smiled, "wow, gold star service. You sure you're alright with sleeping on the pull out?"

"Yep, I'm armed and the alarm is set. I'm going to have a shower in the spare bathroom then head to bed. Wake me up of you need anything."

Manny nodded with yawn, "yeah, it's late. Goodnight y/n."

"Goodnight Emmanuel."

You were already getting breakfast together when Many came into the kitchen, his lean, muscled chest bare and all his tattoos on full display. "Morning, did you sleep well?"

He nodded, "yeah, your bed is really nice."

You smiled, "well you have it for the next however long until this is over. Do you have to go the the Clubhouse today?"

He shook his head, "nope, I spoke to Bishop, we have the whole weekend to ourselves."

You smiled, "I'm not that much fun, you should go out an enjoy yourself."

Manny's eyes wrinkled, "what do you mean you're not that much fun? We have fun together."

You shook your head, "yeah, when we're out and I'm trying, I'm a different person when I'm at home, I'm either going to be in the garden, hanging out with my cats or doing something online."

Manny shook his head, "that sounds fun to me, there's plenty we can do. You've got an Xbox and a TV, we can play some video games. Coco told me you love horror movies, I do too. We can go for a walk or a drive. Really, I like your company."

You smiled, "I don't have many co-op games but I'm sure we can work something out. You really mean that you're alright with just vegging around the house? "He nodded, "alright then, I have to water my plants while breakfast cooks, would you like to help?"

Manny smiled, "hell yeah, can the kitties come?" You shook your head, "they can watch from the sunroom, I'm beginning to think you like my cats more than you like me."

Manny chuckled, "honestly, it's an even split."

"We need to go to the store."

Manny nodded, "alright, what do you need?"

You looked in the fridge, "just food, you got anything in mind?"

Manny smiled, "that salt chicken you keep talking about."

You sighed, "I knew you'd say that. I'll drive."

Manny made a face, "what, you got a problem being in the passenger seat. Do you have control issues Emmanuel?"

Manny had the urge to call you a brat, his brain wandering to other places, "nope, I'm basically your bodyguard, the bodyguard always drives.

You huffed, "well not this time." You got ready and grabbed your keys, waiting for Manny to follow while Lady Midnight sat at the table at the door.

You bent down and pressed a kiss between her fluffy ears, Manny shaking his head, "what a princess."

You laughed, "if you say so."

You waited until he walked by her, her little paw coming out to grab his shirt, "meow."

You smiled, "pay the toll or she won't let you leave."

Manny shook his head, "really?"

You nodded, "yep, you got to kiss her little head or she will climb on your until you do."

Manny pecked her forehead then looked at you, "good enough?"

You nodded, "for now."

Manny got into the passenger seat and looked at you, "I have no room for my legs, and it's broken, I can't move it back."

You sighed, "I can see that, you can drive but no bragging." You tossed him your keys, getting out to swap seats then Manny was turning the car on and heading towards the town centre.

"You really don't need to follow me everywhere, I can look after myself."

Manny huffed, "I'm not talking about this with you anymore. You put yourself at risk for the Club, I got to pay that back and keep you safe."

You shook your head, "your life isn't worth any less than mine, it's insane that you have to put yourself on the line when I can look after myself."

He pulled the car over and turned towards you, "stop, I don't want to hear it anymore. If I didn't want to look after you, I wouldn't be here and I would have said no to Bishop if I didn't like spending time with you. I'm not a child, if I don't want to do something, I'm not going to do it, there were plenty of guys there so it's not like I have to be here."

You shook your head, "Angel.."

He cut you off, "I don't give a shit what Angel did. Now stop it, we're going to have issues if you don't."

"I'm sorry, I'm not really used to having people around for days at a time."

Manny smiled sadly, "no need to apologise Tesoro, I keep saying I like your company so I'm just going to have to hang around until you figure it out, you're a smart woman, I'm sure you'll get there before you get sick of me."

"I don't think I could get sick of you."

Manny smiled, "oh shut up Emmanuel."

He shook his head, "now you're getting it." He started the car up again and you had a sudden flash of thoughts, you knew why you weren't going to get sick of him, did he feel the same way?

"Why are you putting it on now? It's only three."

You smiled, "one, I can't take you seriously while you're squishing a cat belly and two, it takes three hours to cook then it has to rest, I don't know about you but I want to eat at a reasonable time."

Manny chuckled and turned to Sir Fluffernutter, "did you hear that little guy, she can't take you seriously."

"Stop groping my cat and come and help me, we need to coat the chicken in the salt mixture."

Manny squished his fluffy belly one last time before placing him on the floor and washing his hands, "ok, what can I do?"

You pointed to the bowl, "use those big hands of yours and coat the chicken in the crust, while you were playing with the cats I was already seasoning the chicken with lemon and garlic."

"Alright, you gonna help me."

You sighed, "this is fast becoming a bad porno, what's next, our hands touch over the chicken breast then we fuck on the bench?"

Manny pressed his lips together, "something tells me you'd have an issue with the food safety of that situation."

You giggled, "yeah, the kitchen is for cooking, not bonking."

Manny laughed, "bonking? So inappropriate."

You snorted, "oh please, just help with dinner."

Manny smiled, "of course gorgeous, I can't have you going hungry."

You stood there, curst pilled in your hand and shook your head, "you're not being very helpful right now."

Manny bumped you with his hip and showed you his mess covered hands, "I am helping."

You bumped him back, "tell that to the half coated chicken."

He slapped the mixture on the bird, "not anymore."

You pointed to the pile, "that's not covered."

There was a pause and you both collapsed into laughter, "we really need to get this in the oven."

Manny smiled, his face wrinkling with affection, "ok, I'll help."

With the chicken in the oven, you and Manny sat down for some video games while you waited for it to cook, "ok, so I have Stardew Valley and Subnautica with a co-op mod, Terraria and Mario."

Manny smiled, "Stardew Valley all the way."

You were surprised, "wow, I never took you for someone who would be interested in something like that."

Manny gave you a look that you couldn't decipher, "it's nice to have some silliness."

"You ready?" You handed Manny the hammer who looked at the brown shell with glee.

"How hard do I need to hit it?"

You smiled, "it takes me three or four goes with full strength but be careful, if you puncture the skin you'll ruin it."

Manny nodded, "ok, ready?" You nodded, bracing for the bang.

"AH." The shell cracked, "holy shit, that was good, maybe one more in the corner." Manny brought the hammer down and the shell cracked open, a wonderful smell filling the air.

Manny dropped the hammer, smiling while making eye contact and dipped his fingers in the juices, "oh my God that's better than sex."

You cover your face, feeling your body get hot, "what kind of shit sex are you having?"

Manny shook his head, "hey, I'm great in bed, it's just that good."

You sighed, "wait until you taste the actual chicken."

Manny went to grab a knife, "let it rest you heathen, you're worse than the cats."

Right on cue, the meowing started, "speaking of, they need their dinner."

You went to the containers on the bench and dumped them into their bowls, "that's for the cats, I thought it was for us?"

You shook your head, "you want raw fish and beef in a little bowl?"

He shook his head, "I mean, I thought you were going to cook it for us."

You smiled, "no, I take it out of the fridge so it's room temp, it's meant to be as close to their natural diet and I don't think fresh prey is fridge cold."

He laughed as their meows got louder, Mr Butts trying to climb up your pants so he could get to the food. "Excuse me kitty, this is unacceptable."

Manny's laugh grew, "you want help?"

You nodded and pointed to the bowls, "can you please potion out the food, one container per bowl, please. Put one on the bench for Lady Midnight, one under my dining chair for Sir Fluff and one next to the oven is for Mr Butts." Manny rushed off and Mr Butterscotch detached from you to follow him.

"Why do you put them in different places?" The cats started to eat the moment the food was put down.

"So they don't steal each other's food, Lady Midnight is very sweet and she won't fight back so she gets it up high where no one else can get to her. Tomorrow I'm going to show you to teach them how to sit, which they normally do before they eat."

Manny smiled, "you taught them how to sit before you feed them?"

"Yep, they tend to eat slower when they do. Now would you like to start on our dinner?"

"Fuck yeah."

"You ate half a chicken Emmanuel, you're going to get a tummy ache." He wiped his face, seemly ready to fall asleep.

"It was a small chicken and I've never eaten something more delicious." You shook your head and took his plate from him and went to wash it up at the sink.

"I gotta cook tomorrow to thank you, what do you want?"

You thought for a moment, "surprise me." He shook his head with a smile.

"How am I going to do that when I have to go with you everywhere? You'll guess before I even start." It was said with affection, like he was upset that he couldn't surprise you.

"I have free grocery delivery, just use that." He smiled and stood up, walking over to the kitchen to help you clean up.

"Alright, what are you in the mood for then? You have to give me some idea."

You looked him dead in the eye, doing your best not to laugh, "surprise me."

He crossed his arms over his chest and raised his eyebrows, "you are such a brat."

"You know it Emmanuel."

"Ok, so you bought pork, Chinese cabbage, prawns, and green onions and from the supply here you have flour, ginger and garlic, soy sauce and sesame oil. Are you making me pot stickers with homemade wrappers?"

"I shouldn't have let you in the kitchen, you've spoilt the surprise. Also prawns, are you secretly an Australian?

You giggled, "nah, I would have known when I smelt them cooking, they are some of my favourites you know. And no, I'm not secretly an Australian, these have claws and therefore are prawns. Shrimp don't have claws."

"I can't belive you know that, you're a little weird." You smiled and bumped him with your shoulder.

"I'd rather be weird than boring." He gasped in fake offence.

"Are you calling me boring?"

"Hell no, you and a whole bunch of other men ride around on motorbikes wearing matching vests, that's kinda interesting."

He shoved you playfully, his face breaking out into a grin, "for that you're helping me wrap the things."

You sighed, "you are so mean to me, do you know how much time that takes?"

"Yeah, that's why I'm getting you to help me."

The days droned on, Manny seemed most worried when you were at work, sitting outside in a car with one of the others, watching the street like a hawk waiting for the bad guys to show up and storm your office.

"These guys aren't going to hit here, their whole MO is flying under the radar. Hitting a therapist that works will hurt little kids is the opposite." Manny didn't seem to even hear Coco.

"I don't care, I would never forgive myself if something happened to her." his leg bounced as he waited for you to finish your day, smiling as you came out and walked over to them.

"I'm done, and I'm heading home, you really don't need to follow me." Manny gave you a look and you sighed, "just get into the car with me dude and let Coco go home."

He shook his head, "we'll follow you, three heads are better than two." You sighed and walked off, getting into your car in a huff before yelling out your window.

"I'm fine, you don't need to worry about me, you're all being worry warts." The last thing you saw before you sped off was Coco's middle finger at the window.

You were both lying on the pullout, blankets covering your legs with Manny's arm slung over the back on the couch. "What's on the billing tonight?"

"I think we should watch The Conjuring series, I wanna see how long you can last."

He chuckled, "me? I don't scare that easily but I'll protect you from the scary demons."

You snorted, "what are you going got do, wave your arms at them until they run away?"

He gasped in fake offence, "you're asking for trouble now."

You shook your head, "maybe, as I said, I don't find you all that intimidating."

He tilted his head, "you don't do you?"

"Nope, now I'm going to play the movie, unless you want to hide under the covers with the cats?"

Manny lifted Lady Midnight from between you and onto his lap, "nah, I think Mr Butts is all licked out."

You giggled, "don't jinx yourself, he'll be in your face before you can take it back." You clicked on the movie, then stood up, "I'm going to go get us some popcorn, I'll be back in a bit."

He listened as you got out the pot and put the kernels on the stove, "you want me to pause this?"

"Nah, I've seen it before, I'll be back in before it gets good." Sure enough, you return before anything serious happened and handed the bowl to Manny, "this kittens can't have any, butter isn't good for them.

"More for me then." He took a handful and ate them in one go.

"Dude slow down."

He shrugged, "what, this is the best popcorn I"ve ever had."

You shook your head, "it's made with the same flavour they use at the movies, it's not the best for you but it's the only way to get that taste."

"Good to know, are you sure the cats can't have any because Sir Fluff is drooling on my leg." You lifted the blankets and looked at the cat.

"That's because he's asleep, sorry about that."

Manny shook his head, "nah it's alright, he's just happy."

"You say that now but he's not going to move until you make him and your leg is going to fall asleep."

"It's no big deal, I like the little guy. Now can we watch the movie? I wanna see what happens."

"Yeah, we can watch the movie."

As the night went on you and Manny got closer, by the time the second movie wound down, you pressed against him while his hand rubbed up and down your upper arm warmly.

You blinked and rubbed your eyes, "I'm going to brush my teeth, I'll be back." It was almost like he didn't want to let you go.

"We can call it a night if you want?"

You shook your head, "nah, just pause this, I don't want to miss anything, then we can put on the third one, it's not that late." He clicked the movie into pause and you got up, returning a few minutes later before resuming your previous position, Manny not think twice about putting his hand back on your arm.

"We should go somewhere tomorrow."

You smiled, "why, are you getting board of me?"

He shook his head, "no, I just don't want you to feel trapped in the house because I'm here, Coco told me you usually go to the gardens on the weekend and you missed out last week."

You smiled, "I'd like that, I've been enough that I get can get us both a free lunch."

That seemed to make him happy, "I can't wait, what there's anyway?"

You sighed, "it's a mix, the stuff outside is all from around here but it's the flowering season which means it's all really pretty and they have a heap of rare stuff inside. I think you'll like it. The best thing is there's no one there right now because they haven't gotten anything new in a while."

"Sounds fun, I just realised that even though I've been here for almost a year I haven't really seen the sights."

You reached across him and stroked one of the cats on the head, "well, I think I"m going to have plenty of time to show you. It has been a week, if nothing's happened by now, it's not going to happen but we both know the Club won't let you leave me alone until it's sorted."

"I'm alright with that. Plus I've gotten used to the company."

You smiled, "yeah, it's nice to have someone over for more than just a meal." You yawned and shifted and Manny lifted his hand from you but you raised your hand in protest.

"I can head to bed if you want?"

You shook your head, "you don't need to go unless you want to, I'm not going to fall asleep no matter how comfortable you are."

He chuckled "alright then." He smiled softly to himself and you pulled the blanket up to your chest. Before too long, he noticed you weren't paying much attention to the TV, your eyes staying closed longer each time you blinked. Manny thought about getting up and heading to his own bed but that would mean moving and he didn't have the heart to wake you up and if he was being honest with himself, he didn't want to move either.

By the time his own eyes started to get heavy, getting up and sleeping in his own bed was the last thing on his mind.

Manny felt a weight on his chest when he woke up that didn't really feel like the cats. When he lifted his hand off his stomach and reached out, his fingers met your skin and his eyes shot open, he had fallen asleep on the pullout with you next to you.

One of the first things he noticed was how much his back hurt and he felt a pang of guilt that you had been sleeping here for a week just for his comfort but before he could think more you lifted your hand and rubbed your face with a groan.

"Morning."

He smiled, "morning y/n."

You blinked the sleep out of your eyes and sat up "morning, sorry if I trapped you here last night."

He shook his head, "nah, I didn't want to wake the cats up so I slept here, this thing is very uncomfortable."

You swung your legs over the bed and stood up, stretching with a grumble, "it's not that bad."

He huffed, "yes it is, and I'm pretty pissed that you're sleeping on it when this is your house and I'm imposing on you."

You shook your head, "it's fine really. What do you want for breakfast?"

He pushed the cat off his chest and got up, "you're not going to do anything, I'm making us waffles."

You realised there was no point in protesting so you got up to start the day while Manny headed to the kitchen. It didn't take you long to get dressed, coming out the Manny mixing the batter with one hand while the cats demanded he pat them with the other.

"I need to feed them, are you right to keep cooking?"

He nodded, "yeah, when I said I was going to make us breakfast, I meant it. Plus if you don't feed them I think they are going to eat us."

You fed the cats while Manny finished the waffle, a big smile on his face as he put the plate down in front of you, "I put some chocolate sauce in the middle of yours."

"Thank you Manny, did you put anything in yours?"

He nodded, "yep, you had that fancy jam and I thought it would be nice."

"The tomato and onion one? How about we got halves because that sounds good too?"

He smiled and cut his in half before taking the plate from you and doing the same to yours, "I was hoping you'd ask me for that."

You shook your head, "you could have just made a few mini one, I wouldn't have judged you."

He huffed, "why would I do that when I know you were going to share with me."

"Well Manny, you better eat up because we are going to have a blast today and you're going to want to have a full belly.

"This is a Palo verde tree which is a fascinating tree because it photosynthesis through its bark as well as its leaves and because of its branch layout, it's great if you need shade in a pinch."

Manny smiled, "that's so cool, what about this one?" He pointed to one with tall with flowers and flat spikey leaves.

"That's a Yucca, their whole lives rely on the Yucca moth, the moths pollinate the flower and the moth's egg incubates in the blossoms. without one the other would go extinct."

"That's so fucking cool. I want to go inside, you have so much more to show me." You walked inside, your hand brushing Manny's as you walked. As much as you wanted to link your hand in his but there was something telling you that it wouldn't go over well. Manny walked right to the first plant he saw, "it says there are only forty of these in the wild."

You nodded, "yep, the Parsley Fern, they have to fly in the soil for the volcano where they grow."

He leaned in and had a good look before something caught his eye on the other side of the room, before he could think he grabbed your wrist to take you there and you followed him as his feet traced towards it.

"This looks like a fuzzy animal." You didn't let go of his hand as you pointed to the sign.

"It's called a Vegetable Sheep, also very rare. Can I have my hand back please?" His eyes went wide and he dropped your wrist.

"Sorry."

You shook your head, "it's alright. Honestly it's kind of cute, you were excited."

He smiled, his eyes crinkling at the edges, "you're really cool you know that?"

You held back on hiding your face from embarrassment, "you're pretty cool too. I mean, most people would think this kind of thing is super boring."

He shook his head, "nope, not me."

You walked around the building until you saw everything there was to see, Manny taking photos when he saw something he really liked. You rushed through lunch so you could get the most out of your day, finishing just as the sun set.

You walked outside and were hit with the cool air, taking a deep breath as you made your way back to the car. "Did you have fun today?"

He nodded, "hell yeah, I'm wondering what we're going to do tomorrow?"

You thought for a minute, "we could go see these flowers out in the wild?"

His smile grew, "that would be great, can we go camping too?"

You shook your head, "over my dead body, we can look at the stars and come home a bit late if that's what you want but there's no way I'm sleep in a tent."

He chuckled, "done, a hike and then stargazing. Someone should have threatened your life months ago, I've had more fun in the last week than I have in months."

"You really mean that, I mean, even when we haven't been doing anything much?"

"Yep." Something had the hairs on the back of your neck standing up, you were about two minutes from the car and you suddenly felt the need to get moving.

Manny seemed to noticed that something was wrong, "I think we're being followed."

"Me too, we need to get back to the car now." You pulled your phone out, switched the find my phone on and texted Coco, "I'm going to call you, we're being followed, don't talk, just stay on the line." You waited a few moments, dialled, breathing out as he picked up then slid the phone into your pocket.

Looking behind you only served to prove your theory, there was a black van behind you, following you up the road. Your hand moved to your hip, hovering over your gun while Manny's hand wrapped around your upper arm, "we need to go now." In a flash Manny was pulling you along, his long legs causing you to run as he tried to close the distance to your car.

The gunshot had you jumping and it was clear that there was no way you were going to make it to your car. Manny pulled you down the street as the van stopped and they got out.

"There." You pointed to an alleyway where you could hide and Manny's leg went without question. You got there and you both ducked behind a dumpster.

You took a few seconds to catch your breath, "I say we take that street there and go around the block, I think there were only three of them, if we play our cards right, they should miss us." You pulled your gun out and waited, looking to Manny for his ok.

He nodded towards you and you took a deep breath, the opening to the street was only a few feet away, it would take less than a minute to get there. Manny nodded at you and you shot up but it was too late and you heard a click behind you, "hello little bird, we found you."

Your hand tighten around your gun, you only hoped the others were on their way. "Don't you dare, take his too." You dropped the gun and reach over to Manny, taking his from his hand.

"Get up." The gun in your face made it clear that you didn't have a choice. The other two got Manny under control while you stared down the man with the gun.

You stood up slowly, Manny following suit, "you're gonna die right here on the street. Maybe your friends will find you before the stray dogs get to you."

You could see the rage on Manny's face, but you shook your head ever so slightly when you saw he was going to do something, "what will it take for you to let us live? I know all about the Club, I'll tell you everything if you let us go."

The man smiled, "I'll get you live, not him."

Manny looked at you, you were planning something and he could tell.

"Alright, what do you want to know?"

He smiled, "when's is the Clubhouse most vulnerable?"

You blinked, "Saturday mornings, everyone's drunk and fucked out, no one is paying attention."

Manny tried to stop himself from smiling, you were lying. Sure there were people hungover everywhere but a full Clubhouse was anything but vulnerable, "where do they keep the guns?"

You paused for effect, "in one of the back rooms, if you use the back entrance they'll never get to them especially if they're the temple where there are no guns at all."

You did your best not to flinch as one of them stuck Manny, "how many men stand guard?"

You swallowed, "only one, by the door, most of the front gate is left unprotected and the roof isn't high enough for people to be able to see over it."

The leader smiled, "well, I'm a man of my word. You can go now."

You shook your head, "please, let us both go. He never did anything to you, please."

Manny was taken aback at the desperation in your voice. He looked over at you one last time and realised that you were slowly lowering one finger at a time on your right hand. One of the men standing behind Manny brought the butt of the gun down on his back, "any last words shithead?"

Manny swallowed, "yeah." He turned to you fully, his eyes watching as you dropped a fourth finger. His face was hard, he was ready to die knowing that you would get away, he only hoped that the other Mayans were close enough that they would be able to keep you safe if these men changed their minds, "I just want you to know, that I l……"

BANG

"Guys we have to do now." Coco was filled with fear as he ran over to Bishop.

"What is it man?"

Coco held the phone up and put a single finger to his mouth, they could hear you talking to Manny, "they went to the gardens today, didn't they?"

Coco nodded, "yep and her phone says they're still there, if they don't take it off her we might be able to find them. If we go now you might get there in time."

They all raced off, dodging the cars as they broke the speed limit. They arrived at the gardens far soon than they thought, jumping off their bikes as Coco rechecked his phone. He could hear talking, your voice calm but laced with fear, "back rooms, if you use the back entrance they'll never."

They spread out and moved slowly, hoping that you and Manny were still nearby, "the GPS says y/n's phone is close." Gilly pointed to an alleyway and they all converged, moving to form a line as Coco pointed them onward.

They could hear voices now and they knew with a few more steps, they would be on top of them. Angel's breath stopped as he caught the sight of you and Manny on your knees, the man behind Manny cracking the butt of his gun into Manny's back.

"Any last words shithead?"

Angel looked to his side as the other men came closer, their plan forming silently as Manny turned to you "I just want you to know, that I l......"

BANG

Part 5

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spaghettificationandpretzels · 2 years ago

Text

Oh, Hello

Mayans MC Masterlist

Part one of A Gentle Kind of Love.

Contains: Fluff, mutual pining, angst (endless longing and hints at a dark backstory, ) slow burn, flashbacks in italics.

6K words

Comment if you want to be tagged/removed or follow #a gentle kind of love.

"When I saw you, it was quiet for the first time in recent memory."

You put your hand on your face, your side aching from laughter, "no Angel, despite what the TV shows tell you, we can't diagnose children with psychopathy, we have to wait until they're adults."

Angel huffed, "then what do they have?"

Manny waved his hand, "you told me this the other day, it's a conduct disorder."

You smiled, "that's right, you remembered."

Manny smiled, his eyes filled with cheer, "well sweetheart, everything you say is interesting so of course I remember." You felt a wave of embarrassment come over you. Just because you weren't going to give it away doesn't mean you weren't overwhelmed with shyness at the handsome Mayan's praise.

"I'm going to get myself some water, you guys want anything?"

Manny smiled, "a beer please Tesoro."

You walked over to the bar and Angel leaned close to his brother and spoke just loud enough for Manny to hear, "oh y/n, you're so smart, please let me touch your tits."

Manny huffed, "shut up man, just because I listen doesn't mean I want in her pants."

Angel smiled, "you don't just want in her pants, you want to make sweet, sweet love to her because you're all goo goo eyed."

Manny slapped his chest, "shut up, she's coming back." You handed the beer to Manny with a smile, not too long ago, you never would have thought this would be how you'd be spending every weekend.

You had been in Santo Parde for two months when you saw him on the street."Cruz, is that you?" You recognise those tattoos anywhere, Coco turned his head and broke out in a run towards you, leaving his friends behind to watch on as he wrapped you in his arms.

"What are you doing here?"

You smiled, "settling down, I had to trade off the blazing heat for the humidity but I got sick of the rain making my head hurt. How are you going?"

Coco smiled, "better, I'm six months clean."

You hugged him again, "that's wonderful news Coco, I'm so happy for you."

His friends wandered over, "are you going to introduce us to your friend Coco?" You smiled and stuck out your hand, "I'm y/n, it's a pleasure to meet you."

The tall man smiled and accepted your hand, "I'm Angel, and this is my younger and much less handsome brother EZ."

Coco huffed, "don't even think about it man."

Angel raised his hands, "I wasn't doing anything, how did you two meet?"

Your faces fell, "oversea, I'm a trauma counsellor and went over there to help out, I work mainly with kids."

Coco smiled, "yeah, I think she spent more time giving us therapy than the kids."

You shook your head, "just thanking you for keeping me safe."

He laughed, "until you weren't."

You nodded, "yeah, that wasn't part of the plan."

EZ's brows wrinkled, "wait, you're that y/n?"

You smiled, "you been talking about me Cruz?"

Coco smiled, "just telling them how cool you are."

You shook your head, "it was nice to meet you two, I better be getting back home or my cats are going to kill me."

You did your best to avoid the Clubhouse parties on the weekends, too many loud noises and too many loud people but their sad faces every time you turned them down finally made you cave. It didn't take long for you to warm to everyone but Manny was a different story, the first time you met eyes, it was like you had known him your whole life.

You walked in and looked around, the Clubhouse was nice enough. It smelt like booze and smoke and sex and the music was just loud enough to be annoying. Coco stayed close as he took you around to his brothers, each one smiling softly as you introduced yourself.

"Is that everyone?"

Coco shook his head, "nah, Manny and Riz are out, they'll be back soon." You sat with him and Angel, talking about what you thought of the town,

"So Coco tells me you're some kind of fancy Dr lady."

You rolled your eyes, "I have a PhD in psychology, not that fancy."

Angel smiled and turned his head, "hey golden boy, you've got some competition."

Coco huffed, "sorry about him, EZ's the brains of our operation."

You shook your head, "I'm sure you cope just fine." A door opened and Coco stood up and waved the man over. You looked him over, he was tall, with long hair and a soft face.

"That's Riz."

You accepted his extended hand, "it's nice to finally meet you y/n, Coco's said a lot."

"Where's Manny?"

Riz shrugged, "refuelling, he'll be in soon." Riz went off to deal with something else and you, Coco and Angel settled into an easy conversation, that was until the door opened again.

Time slowed as the man walked in, he was tall too, maybe a little taller than everyone else and lean, his long neck made to look even longer by the block letters inked on it. He walked over at Coco's raised hand, a charming smile on his face.

You stood up and he came closer, "I'm Manny." He took your offered hand, his skin was warm and rough, carved from years of manual labour, the rings in his fingers cold against your flesh as he squeezed gently.

"Oh, hello Manny, I'm y/n."

He smiled and said your name like he was tasting it, "hi y/n." His voice was the perfect mix of gravel and soft and you wished you could crawl into his long arms and fall asleep to the sound of it.

"I know EZ is short for Ezekiel, is Manny short for Emmanuel?"

He smiled, he liked the sound of his name coming out of your mouth, "yes ma'am."

You had known everyone for three weeks when pulled Bishop and Coco aside early one night before things got busy, "I want to cook dinner for everyone. You've all been so welcoming to me and I want to say thank you."

Coco nodded aggressively, "fuck yeah."

Bishop glanced at him, "are you going to let me have a say, this is my charter."

Coco looked at Bishop like he had three heads, "you have to try her cooking man, she could turn an MRE into a feast. We'll all be there at six thirty."

Bishop smiled with a shake of his head, "thank you, we'll be happy to take you up on your offer."

You smiled, "wonderful, just make sure everyone texts me about their allergies and come hungry."

You had planned the dinner for six thirty but Manny, Angel and Coco showed up at four. When you opened the door, Coco lifted a box filled with cans and bottles, "you know, I bought booze for tonight.."

Coco smiled, "we wanted to help out."

You sighed, "so I'll feed you before dinner or because you want credit?"

Coco walked in and tossed off his shoes, the others following, "both."

You shook your head, "alright, it's going to be a lot of work so I hope you're ready."

You walked them into the kitchen, Manny looked around, a curious look on his face, "where are your kitties?"

You pointed towards the back, "in the sunroom because I'm cooking. I'm feeling pretty unloved here, no 'how was your day y/n, what are you cooking?' you went right to the cats."

Manny shrugged, "your cats are cool."

You huffed, "well, you can see them once we're done here."

You explained what you needed them to do , "why does Manny get to do the icing while we're stuck cutting onions and chillies?"

You rolled your eyes, "because I know he has the self control not to eat it."

Manny smiled, "I won't disappoint you."

Angel and Coco shared a look, "this food better be worth my onion tears."

Coco chuckled, "trust me mano, it is."

They were actually quite helpful, although Angel couldn't cook for shit but he was a fast study, "you sure they'll be enough for us to take some home?"

You giggled, "yes, Coco, for the fourth time, unless everyone eats their weight in food, there will be enough for everyone to take leftovers."

The other arrived right on six thirty, Creeper pushing his way in, "are the cats out?"

You sighed, "Manny and Angel are with them in the sunroom." Riz smiled like he was going to ask you a question, "yes, you can meet them too, I think Lady Midnight will like you."

You had to bang on the door to get them to come out for dinner, "please stop making out with my cats and come and eat."

They left the sunroom with smiles on their faces, "they are very cute." You were right Lady Midnight liked Riz.

"I know, you should see them all curled up in a cuddle puddle. Is everyone ready to eat now?"

"Fuck yeah, it smells great." Bishop had already sat at the long oval table in the middle of the small dining room.

"We helped."

You smiled, "yes Coco, you, Manny and Angel were great helpers." The start of the diner was quiet, the only sound was people asking what they were eating, "good?"

Someone moaned, "mmm ah ha."

Angel swallowed his bite and put another one on his fork, "better than sex."

You laughed, "I don't know whether that was a compliment or you just told on yourself."

There was a burst of laughter and Hank tapped the table in humour, "oh, I like you."

Sadly, there wasn't much left over by the time dessert came, "you said there would be extra."

You shrugged, "sorry EZ, helpers get first dibs. Maybe there'll be dessert to take home, if there's any left."

There wasn't, they all left with full bellies, yawning and talking about doing this again. Manny lingered, helping you clean up, "you didn't need to stay behind, I have a dishwasher for when I have people over."

He smiled, "just because they're happy to be fed and leave doesn't mean I am, I had to thank you for doing so much work."

You smiled, "what a gentleman, or is it so we can pig out on the secret cake you saw me hide in the back of the fridge?"

He smiled, "you got me."

You sighed, "wipe down the table please, I'll go warm us up a slice."

"Are you coming to the party this Friday?" Manny was leaning in your kitchen doorway, helping you make soup for Coco who was hauled up in bed with the flu. You had promised him extras if he helped you take it to him and that had turned into him spending the day assisting you.

"Yes, I don't have anything else better to do."

He smiled, "come on, a beautiful woman like you? I'm sure you could find someone to take you out?"

You smiled, "if you mean homicide then yes but I don't have people lining up at my door unless it's for food or cat cuddles."

A cat scream and soft paws landing on his knee stopped him from disagreeing with you, "little perv."

Manny laughed, "it's not his fault you don't have a beard for him to lick."

You smiled as Manny picked up the cat, "don't listen to her Mr Butts, you have good taste."

You shook your head, the cat rubbing his face on Manny's cheek, "can you put that little attention whore down and come and help me."

Manny smiled, "sorry little buddy, duty calls."

He opened up the cupboard with a smile, "I still can't believe you live in a fairyland cottage."

You shook your head with a smile, "life has to have some whimsy or it's sad and boring."

"Welcome to my home, please remove your shoes and no smoking inside."

Manny and Creep looked around, "gee, this place is nice."

You smiled, "thank you. I got it for a steal because it was in such a shit condition. I had to knock down three rooms but that gave me extra room for my garden. Everything was finished like a day after I arrived, I'm just grateful people do consults online."

"How many bedrooms?"

You pointed to the hallway, "two but I use the smaller one as a library, the couch pulls out if anyone needs to stay over."

Manny's hand grazed the hanging plant on the wall, "I saw a sun room when we drove in, that must be nice."

You nodded, "the best, but the cats love it more that I do."

"MEEEEEEEOOOOOWWW."

"Speaking of, that would be Mr Butterscotch, he has a thing for beards."

Creep smiled, "you have a cat?"

You nodded, "three, they're all in the sunroom now, a lot of people don't like cats so I tend to keep them away when I have people over."

Manny and Creep looked at each other, "let em out, we like cats."

Manny nodded in agreement, "cats are great."

You walked away to let them out with a shake of your head, "alright then, Mr Butterscotch will lick you, it won't be fun."

Manny waved his hand, "it can't be that bad."

The rush of little feet had them smiling from ear to ear and they crouched down to greet the tiny creatures, "who's who?"

You pointed to the small black one, "that's Lady Midnight, she's very sweet but kinda judgy. The one rolling over is Sir Fluffernutter, pats only end when he says they do and if you stop before then he will bite you."

Many laughed as the last cat climbed up his shirt, "I'm guessing this is Mr Butterscotch?"

You nodded, "yep, little perv." Creep wasn't paying attention, rather, he had one hand on Lady Midnight's head and the other scratching Sir Fluffernutter's chest.

"Are they always this friendly?"

You nodded, "yes, Creep, they are. Now that you've met my cats, what brings you to my house?"

It was late afternoon, the sun was dropping in the sky, a pleasant wind picking. You had come to the Clubhouse to help set up early that Friday, the day free of work because of a burst pipe in your office building. You were carrying the cups from the sink to the cupboard on the other end of the bar with Gilly's help, Taza sitting at the bar drinking.

"So what happened?" Gilly seemed genuinely interested.

You sighed, "it's a whole mess. I was in the middle of a session when I heard this bang and Penelope came rushing in with her patient. The ceiling in her room fell in, we're insured and we have a spare room but we've been kicked out till the builder can come tomorrow and see if it's safe."

Taza put his beer down, "who's Penelope again?"

You smiled, "we met at a conference, her main job is helping with missing person cases but she does individual and group grief counselling three days a week. We decided to start working together when I moved here but we've been friends for years."

"Do your work with adults?"

You shrugged, you hoped this was Gilly leading into asking for help for his combat trauma, "yes and no, we both work with parents and I sometimes talk to adults about trauma in their childhood but that's alongside their adult therapist. Having said that, I did a lot of adult stuff overseas and my door is always open."

He swallowed and averted his eyes, "that's really good."

Manny walking in pulled your attention away, you waved to him and he trotted over, his face split by a grin, "you're here early?"

You nodded "yep, burst pipe, I'm out of the office until they say it's safe."

Manny's face filled with concern, "is everyone ok, what are you and Garcia going to do in the meantime?"

Gilly and Taza looked at each other, sharing a knowing smile, "we're all ok. One of the families waiting for their appointment is part owner of a building company. He can't help but his partner in Oakland can, he's coming to check it out tomorrow and we'll go from there. We should be alright to use other rooms but if not, there are spaces we can rent."

Manny smiled softly, "if you need any help cleaning up, I'm happy to volunteer."

He looked at Gilly and Taza, his eyebrows slightly up, Gilly filled in the silence, "yeah, sure, we'll help too."

You smiled, "thank you gentlemen."

"What's everyone talking about?" You rolled your eyes at Angel's voice.

"Hello Angel."

He smiled, "you're here early?"

You nodded, "yes, a pipe burst at the office so I thought I'd come by and help everyone set up."

Angel sucked in his tongue, "well, we're all happy to have you here, hanging around." His eyes were stuck on Manny.

"MANNY, YOU LEFT YOUR WRENCH OUT AGAIN."

Manny rolled his eyes, "it's not my wrench, I better go sort this out." he sighed and left, leaving you with Angel, Gilly and Taza.

"What was that?" You shrugged at Angel's question.

"What was what?"

Angel smirked, "you got this dreamy look on your face." He clasped his hands in front of him and batted his eyes, "oh Manny you're so handsome."

You picked up the towel and hit his chest with it, "shut up dude."

Gilly smiled, "you do look at him, at lot."

Your eyes wrinkled in confusion and barely there indignity, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Sure you do, you've been looking at him like that since the day you saw him in the ring beating the shit out of that Yuma guy who was up Chanche's ass."

You hadn't been in town long, Coco had convinced you to visit the Clubhouse on the Sunday after your first party and see the place in the light of day. "It's much nicer without all the people here."

Coco smiled, "yeah, it's nice. Lettie is excited to see you again and Hope's here."

You smiled back, "I can't wait, lead the way."

Coco walked you to where Lettie was standing, next to her was a woman you imagined was Hope. She offered you a smile and a handshake, "you must be y/n, Coco and Lettie are so happy that you decided to settle down here."

You and Hope got along like a house on fire, ganging up on Coco with Lettie as he stood there in embarrassment. A commotion pulled everyone's attention, Bishop was standing between Manny and the Yuma Mayan who had come to bring the last of Manny's stuff from the garage. You caught the tail end of the conversation, Bishop telling them the handle it in the ring, then shirts were coming off and fists were being taped.

Angel wandered over and invited everyone to watch, "why do I want to watch Manny hit a stranger?"

Angel smiled, "long story, he deserves it." The small group walked over to the octagon, Manny was looking at the man with what could only be called hatred. But you were looking at him, his back was covered in the Mayan patch, his muscles firm under his skin.

The fight was over fast, Manny was quick, the other member no match for his long limbs and fast hands. Angel cleared his throat next to you, "you enjoying yourself?"

You stuttered, "umm, he's very good at that."

Angel smirked, "sure, you know we all noticed that you spent most of the other night with him and he's usually face deep in someone by nine."

You rubbed your face, "I'm new and I'm Coco's friend, he was probably just being nice."

Angel gave you a strange look, "if you say so."

You were in the storeroom packing the extra beer away when Manny walked in, "you need a hand?"

You smiled, "sure, how have you been?"

He smiled back and started packing the shelves, "good, what about you?"

You broke down the box and threw it towards the door, "I've been great. You didn't need to help me."

Manny huffed, "well I wanted to, and look, we're already done."

You walk out of the storeroom only to be greeted by a smiling Coco, "what man?"

He chuckled, "nothing, I've just thought packing shelves was for prospects."

"Not when it's y/n doing it."

You jumped, Angel had come from nowhere, "dude, where did you come from?"

He shook his head, "I saw you two coming out of the backroom and I figured you had some fun, it's a shame you were only doing bitch work."

You shook your head, "shut up, both of you. Manny was just being helpful."

Coco raised his eyebrow, "sure."

Manny's eyes kept glancing toward the door, "she's late."

Angel shrugged, "she probably had to stay back with one of her patients. Chill man, it's not like she's fucking some dude or something." Angel was right, you were only an hour late but Manny didn't wait for you, when you walked in, he had a woman in his lap and a smile on his face.

He might have missed how your shoulders fell when you saw it, but no one else did. "Hey y/n, how was work?"

You smiled softly, "good, long but it was good. What about you?"

Bishop smiled, "the same old, fixing bikes and dealing with these shitheads." You missed the way his eyes moved to Manny when he said that, "you seem sad?"

You shook your head, "nah, it's just been a long day."

You cast your eyes away as Manny looped his arm around the woman's back and took her into the dorms, an idea had Bishop smiling, "have you met our new prospect?"

You shook your head, "it's news to me." He took you over to the man in the prospect kutte, he had been a hang around for a while so you did know him.

"Hello Raul, the kutte suits you."

He smiled, "thanks y/n, can I buy you a drink?" You thought for a moment, pining after Manny wasn't doing you any good and while Raul was a poor substitute, he do to quell your growing need for human contact.

"I'll take a cream soda if you have them."

He smiled, "I think we do, Hank likes them."

He handed the old fashioned bottle to you with a charming smile, "thank you Raul."

You lost track of time talking to Raul, it was late at night when you were heading home, just as you were saying goodbye with a hug, Manny walked out and saw it, from his angle, it looked a lot warmer than it was. Manny sat down next to Angel who sighed, "looks like you missed your chance Mano." Manny shrugged, pining over you wasn't doing him any good anyway.

The distance between to two of you only grew with time, he stopped waiting for you on party night and he stopped saving you a seat at more formal get togethers, you would walk into the Clubhouse and find him with another woman, seemly filled with joy that she got to bag the talk of the town that night. So you would find the prospect and spend your night with him, it was easier than answering everyone's questions about why you looked so sad or why you weren't talking like you used to.

Tonight's party was much louder than normal, you did your best to cope with the yelling and the loud music but it was getting to you. Raul seemed to notice your discomfort, "you wanna head to the dorm? It's kinda loud here and I can't hear myself think."

You smiled, "alright." You knew what you were getting into but judging by the noises coming out of Manny's room, he was busy making someone's night.

EZ and Coco watched you go, "so that's it I guess."

Coco shook his head, "nah, he's not her type. I doubt they're going to do more than talk."

EZ cocked his head towards the door, "it's getting really loud, I got to go check on Sally."

Coco nodded, "I'll come with."

"You're not serious?"

Raul nodded, "I'm so serious, as serious as serious can be."

You laughed, "wow being a prospect kinda sucks."

He smiled, "it's not so bad with you here, they're nice to me when you're around."

You huffed, "I've mastered the art of the mum lecture." He chuckled then burst into full blown laughter when the sound of Bishop singing to Elvis floated through the walls.

As the laughter faded, the air changed and you were leaning in to kiss him like your head had a mine of its own. His lips were rough but his face was smooth when your hand came up to stroke his cheek. You shoved the thoughts of Manny down into the pit of your soul and focused on his rough hand on your forearm.

You paused, putting a hand on his chest, "we should talk about some stuff before this goes any further, make sure we're on the same page."

He huffed, "yeah, talk about how you're gonna suck my dick."

You sighed and stood up, "and we're done here. It was nice spending time with you Raul but I don't think we're compatible."

His eyes went wide and he looked at the door, "if you go out there, they'll never let me live it down."

You nodded, "I know, I'm not interested in answering questions anyway so I'm gonna head out the window, my car's not far."

You climbed out of the window with little trouble, walking to your car as fast as you could. You didn't expect to hear EZ shout as you walked by his trailer, "hey y/n, I didn't see you come out the front."

You smiled, "umm, yeah. Raul isn't my type. I jumped out the window to avoid anything like this happening."

Coco got stiff, "did he.."

You cut him, "no, no. We're just better of as drinking buddies." They nodded, "I'm going to head home, my cats are missing me."

They smiled at each other and with one last pat on Sally's head, they went inside. It didn't take long for someone to pick up on the mood, Hank walking over, "what's got you two all weird?"

EZ smiled, "where's y/n?"

Hank rubbed his face, "doing the same thing Manny is, making a mistake."

Coco shook his head, "nope, she went out the window ten minutes ago."

Hank smiled, "no?"

Angel walked over, seemingly picking up on whatever was going on, "what is everyone so secretive out?"

Hank smiled, "our prospect swung and missed at the good doctor."

Angel smiled, "how do you know, she doesn't seem like the type to kiss and tell."

EZ glanced at the dorm door, "we caught her going out the window."

Angel pressed his lips together, "oh wow, that's rough. Maybe Manny…"

"What are you fucks gossiping about?"

Bishop could tell that they were planning something, "nothing pres."

He didn't buy it, "bullshit, talk."

Hank's face broke into a grin, "looks like love is still in the air between Manny and y/n."

Bishop shook his head, "grow up, you all need hobbies."

"You should have been there, she was moaning and whimpering like she hadn't been fucked in years." They all sat around and listened to Raul brag, unbeknownst to him, Manny was the only one who was in the dark about what really happened.

Angel shook his head, unimpressed that the soon to be ex prospect was lying about you "dude, we know she's hot and all but we don't want to hear about this, she's our friend."

Raul chuckled, "alright, more memories for me."

The smirk on his face had Coco ready to blow, "let's call y/n, she's on her lunch break and see if she's ok with us hearing about this."

The prospect waved his hands, "you sure you wanna do that? I don't know if the lady…."

Manny cut him off, "do it Coco, let's hear it for her." Bishop rolled his eyes, they were like little boys.

"Great, everyone be quiet, she'll only talk on speaker if she thinks it's just me and her."

He called you and you picked up on the second ring, "to what do I owe the pleasure of your call?"

Coco smiled, "I wanted to talk about the other night."

You paused, "am I on speaker?" No one made a sound.

"I'm alone, I'm in the middle of something. You wanna tell me what had you ducking out bedroom through the window?"

"Coco, we've been over this. I don't want to humiliate the poor boy."

It was hard to miss Manny's smile, "come on, it will be like old times, give me the dirt."

You sighed, "you're not going to leave this be until I talk and I want to know why."

Coco glared at Raul, "he's bragging that you two fucked, he's been going into detail."

"What?" The upset was clear in your voice and if looks to kill, Manny would have killed him five times over.

"Graphic detail."

You huffed, "I should have walked out the front and put up with the questions. The guy's an asshat Coco, I thought he was being nice to me just to be nice but turns out all he wanted was in my pants. The moment shit got heated, I tried to put on the brakes so we could talk like adults and the dude basically demanded a blow job. I can't tell you to not vote him in but if you do, I think you'll have a lot of unsatisfied women walking around."

"Wow, why didn't you say anything?" Coco knew the answer, he was trying to get you to put your foot in your mouth so this dance between you and Manny would end.

"Why do you think? I tried Coco, I really did but I don't think I'm cut out for the party lifestyle. I miss my cats and my fluffy slippers. Dude, I'm not a teenager anymore, I like my bed and not having to see… You know what. I've already said too much, please don't let this get back to anyone."

"Alright then, thanks for clearing that up."

You sighed, "no worries." You sounded sad.

"You coming this Friday?"

Manny felt his heart race, "nah, I got a tub of ice cream and a horror movie with my name on it."

Manny knew that we wouldn't be back, there was something about the way you spoke that told you he lost his chance, "well that sucks, I guess I'll have to come to your place to hang then?"

"That would be for the best, pass my love onto the guys."

They didn't see you that Friday or Saturday, nor the next week. Manny had barely said a word since that day on the phone, too deep in thought to do much. It took till church for it to come to a head, "I don't even want him prospecting anymore, he's got months left and no one can stand him."

Bishop huffed, "this isn't about him, this is about you and y/n. You've barely said a word since that phone call."

Manny scoffed, "he's a fucking disrespectful liar."

Hank sighed, "we ain't taking his patch, and you need to talk to her. We miss her and she's not going to come back until you clear the air."

Manny shook his head, "I don't see what there is to talk about, she's the one that vanished."

Coco huffed, "man, she's shy. She watched you crawl into bed with everything with a face while she sat at that bar waiting for you to notice that she came here every week for you, You really think she's coming back here after that kind of humiliation?"

Manny scoffed "bullshit man, she's being nice to me. What happened with the prospect has nothing to do with it." There was back and forth after that, a lot, enough that the volume in the room grew.

"That fucking enough!" Bishop wasn't impressed, "your petty whining isn't going to help. You think she wants you at each other's throats over her." He pointed at Coco, "go over there and see what's going on in her head, and you." Manny clenched his jaw, "be a man and handle your shit."

"Hey Coco."

He smiled and lifted the bag in his hand, "I brought your favourite."

You invited him in as he took his shoes off, "are you coming here to hang out with me, or my cats?"

Coco chuckled, "both, Lady Midnight is my best friend."

You gasped in fake offence, "what about Sir Fluffernutter, you'll break his little heart if he hears that."

"Lady Midnight doesn't bite me if I stop petting her."

You chuckled, "he's just letting you know how much he loves you."

Coco put the food down and went to get the bowls, "where have you been? We miss you."

You shrugged, "busy. I told you I'm not the partying kind."

"Meow, meooooooooooow." Coco smiled and picked up Mr Butts, "little perv."

Coco shook his head and picked the cat up, "he's sweet."

You laughed, "he's a little perv." Mr Butts started licking Coco's face while you portioned off the food.

"Why are you really here?"

"Manny."

You threw your hands up in the air, "what about him, good Lord Coco, please leave well enough alone."

He shook his head, "it ain't well enough, you two have to stop dancing around each other."

You put your hands on your hips, "Coco no, be logical for one fucking second and think about it. The man knows nothing about me, what do you think he's going to do when he gets the gory details?"

"Think you're a badass."

You put the bowls on a tray and carried them toward the table, "no he won't. He will run and hide like the rest of them, how the fuck do you even expect me to start that conversation. I'm not looking for sympathy Coco."

Coco sighed, "you want me to tell him?"

You stomped back to the kitchen to get napkins, "no fucking way. I haven't seen you in two weeks, please just drop it so we can have the food."

Coco put the cat down and sat next to you, "he's going to ask questions eventually."

You rubbed your face, "then I'll deal with it, or I'll avoid him until he loses interest."

"Alright then." You tucked into the food, hopeful that the subject was dropped.

"Are you coming back to the Clubhouse?"

You shook your head, "no, I'm not. The heat's fucking with my head anyway, I have had a migraine four days this week. Being in a place that stinks like booze, smoke and sex isn't going to help."

"The guys miss you. Poor EZ walks around like a lost puppy looking for someone to talk to about smart people shit."

You smiled softly, "well, he has plenty of smart people around him if he'd just try. You all know where I live, if they want to see me that bad, they can come here."

Coco nodded, "I guess you're right. Lettie is really interested in that course you told her about.

You smiled, "is that because of your mum or you and Hope?"

Coco tilted his head, "nah, me and Hope, I don't think she thinks about my mom any more than I do. Hope's been good for her."

"Lettie is a good kid, I don't know why you were worried about them getting along. She wants you to be happy and it's pretty apparent that Hope loves you."

He smiled, "I love her too, things are really good." His eyebrows went up, "which reminds me…"

"Coco, no. Just let me bask in your happiness. And as for Lettie, I can get her a job in my office. She'll have to start doing intake interview but if she's a good fit, Garcia can get her into group work while she studies."

Coco's face broke out into a grin, "I think she'd love that. Thank you y/n."

You were cornered at the butcher shop by Angel, "when are you coming back?"

You sighed, "not you too. I'm not, like I told Coco, you know where I live. If you want to spend time with me, then you can do it at my place."

Felipe raised his eyebrows, "son, I thought you knew better then to meddle in lady's affairs."

"See Angel, listen to your father."

Angel stopped you just as you were walking out the door, "at least come to the barbecue this weekend. Marcus will be there, Coco told everyone so much about you and he wants to meet you."

You rolled your eyes and went to respond but Angel stopped you, "Canche will be there, we all hate him after what happened in the desert, we need you for moral support."

You exhaled, "fine, but it's your fault if shit gets weird."

You must have stared at the dress for an hour before you put it on, you knew going to this thing was a mistake but Angel wasn't going to let you say no. After fixing your hair quickly, you picked up your bag and walked out the door, kissing Lady Midnight between her tall ears before you left, "don't look at me like that, I know I'm making a mistake."

Part 2

The summary line was taken for the Julien Baker poem "First Love Poem in Recent Memory"

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spaghettificationandpretzels · 2 years ago

Text

Fell in Love with the Fire Long Ago

The epilogue of A Gentle Kind of Love

Contains: Fluff, smut (oral sex F receiving, fingering, P in V,) discussions of pregnancy.

5.8K words

Comment if you want to be tagged/removed or follow #a gentle kind of love.

“Happily ever after, or even just together ever after, is not cheesy,” Wren said. “It’s the noblest, like, the most courageous thing two people can shoot for.” ― Rainbow Rowell.

Manny's hands were too bruised and swollen to take his bike home so you waved him into the passenger seat of your car and drove off, "you really didn't need to do that, I've heard far worse before."

Manny huffed, "yes, I did. Canche doesn't get to say what he wants because of his hook ups. I didn't mean to scare you."

You shook your head, "I wasn't scared, I just don't want you to get hurt."

Manny smiled and reached over to place his hand on your thigh, "I'm not going to get hurt."

You smiled, "I love you Manny, so much and I think it's very sweet that you want to defend my honour."

Manny chuckled, "you're my girl, I got to make sure everyone knows that."

You thought for a moment before responding, "move in with me. Your lease is up in two months and I own my place outright. The cats won't ever feel like you've abandoned them and we don't have to go back and forth.."

Manny squeezed your leg to quiet you, "there's no need to sell it, I'll call the guys to help me pack my stuff tomorrow."

You snorted, "that's if you're not on probation in the morning."

Manny sucked on his tongue, "nah, old ladies are off limits, anyone would have done the same thing."

You nodded, relaxing as you pulled into your driveway "are you sure? I would never forgive myself if you got into trouble over me."

He leaned across the car and kissed your soft, "I'm sure."

You brushed your hand over his cheek and bumped his nose with yours, "we better go inside, I really need to look at your hands."

Manny chuckled, "lead the way gorgeous."

You got him inside and went to the bathroom to get the first aid kit before stopping by the freezer and grabbing some ice packs. Manny sat down with a sigh as you started to clean his hands, "I don't think anything is broken but you're going to need to give your hands a rest for a few days. I'll take you to and from work until the swelling goes down."

Manny smiled, "I am one lucky man, you know that."

You felt your chest get warm, "I'm the one who's lucky, I never thought I'd find someone as wonderful as you."

Manny pulled his hand from yours and reached up to cup your cheek, "then I guess we're both lucky and I know moving in so soon might seem really fast but I don't think there's anyone else I'd rather be with."

It hit you that it was a bit fast, "maybe we should talk about things before we take that step, what if we have fundamental differences. I mean, do you want kids? Are you an organ donor? How do you feel about…"

Manny cut you off with a kiss, "yes to both. Is that alright with you?"

You smiled, "yes, yes, that's alright with me. I'm sorry."

He chuckled, "it's alright, this is new to me too but we'll work it out."

You pulled back and returned to cleaning his hands, "I love you so much."

The smile on Manny's face was gentle and filled with affection, "I love you too."

You finished his hands and Manny regarded you, "what?"

You smiled and he pulled you into his arms, pressing his face into your hair, "do you want to get married?"

You blinked, you thought you had heard him right, "pardon?"

You felt him inhale, "do you want to get married. There's no one else I can see myself spending my life you, you are the cats and however many children you want to give me feels about as close to a happy ever after a man can ask for. I know it's really sudden and you can take some time…"

You cut him off with a kiss, "yes, yes I'll marry you. But I want a proper wedding, the big white dress, the stupid cake that doesn't taste like anything, the whole nine."

Manny chuckled, "you can have whatever you want, what about a ring?"

You thought for a moment, "I've done enough aid work to know the damage that gemstones can do, I am however, very partial to lab grown sapphires, the bonus is that if you get the gem and design the ring yourself, it's like a third of the price of buy it at the jeweller."

Manny chuckled, "alright, I'm sure someone knows a guy. Hell, Angel's probably going to shove a catalogue in my face when I get there in the morning."

You sighed, "do you want to tell them tomorrow?"

Manny smiled, "I mean, why not. We wouldn't be the first spur of the moment wedding."

You kissed him softly, "no, we wouldn't. I can't believe we're getting married. I have to go dress shopping."

Manny smiled, "take Hope and Lettie, hell Coco and Angel will go along too."

You giggled, "why don't we invite the whole crew and have a say yes to the dress SP addition. I'm sure Marcus will tag along."

Manny grinned, "I love you."

You smiled back, "I love you too."

You dropped Manny off the next day, Manny taking your hand and walking you inside. Angel greeted you with a smile but Bishop was more serious, "what's going on?"

Bishop managed a smile, "it looks like we'll be heading to Arizona, last night a brick went through the window of the Yuma Clubhouse with a note attached. I was hoping Manny would bring you by so you could tell me your professional opinion."

He pulled out his phone and showed you the photo, the note was pretty clear.

"Poison begets poison."

"Thoughts?" Bishop didn't sound worried, he sounded pissed.

"My guess is that it is what it says. Someone is planning to poison Yuma, I imagine with Fentanyl. The use of language is telling, the person is either well read or trying to be dramatic. The handwriting reflects that, it's simple but cursive so you're looking at someone who learned it in school and the brick through the window is pretty old fashioned. If I was the one doing it, I'd booby trap a car, create a contraption that slips the power everywhere when someone opens the car hood."

Bishop nodded, "thank you y/n, now I know you have things to do so why are you stopping by?"

You smiled, "Manny and I are getting married."

Angel hopped up from the chair and raced over, "did I hear that right, you're getting married?"

Manny grinned, "yep, we talked about it last night. We're having a proper wedding so it will be next year but when you know you know."

Angel all but jumped up and down, "fuck yeah. I am the best match maker ever. I stand by what I said, you better name your first kid after me."

You rolled your eyes, "if you shut up I'll think about it."

Coco walked in from outside and looked at the scene, "what?"

Before you could answer, Angel did it for you, "these two are getting married, just like that." He turned back to you, "when are you getting the dress?"

You shook your head, "I'm going to get an appointment which brings me to my next point. I'd really like it if you guys could come along."

Coco smiled and wrapped his arms around you, "hell fucking yeah, you want Hope and Lettie there?"

You nodded, "of course. And I need someone to walk me down the aisle, so do you want to?"

Coco hugged you again, "fuck yeah. Come on, we have planning to do, I'll get Chucky to help."

You sighed as he pulled you away, "there goes my plans for the day."

Manny pecked you before Coco dragged you to the office, "have fun."

Knock Knock

You, Coco and Chucky were looking over invite templates when Riz knocked on the door, "come in."

He opened the door with a smile, "Angel told me the good news, congratulations."

You smiled and got up to hug him, "how many people has Angel told?"

Riz smiled, "the moment he told me and Creep, he left to call Marcus, he also told Taza to start looking for a venue, I'm pretty sure he's appointed himself as the wedding planner. I was coming to ask you about your dress."

You sighed, "of course he has. I've got an appointment at the dress shop next month why?"

Riz shrugged, "I was hoping I could come, I've really love all those sappy shows."

You nodded, "of course you can come. I need as much help as I'm going to get."

The week had been a rush, turns out bikers were far more into weddings than you had thought. Between the guys helping Manny move and Manny looking for a place to make a ring and work, you felt like you didn't get a second to stop.

When the weekend rolled along and it was time to leave for Yuma you could sense something was coming. Manny came up behind you while you were feeding the cats and wrapped his arms around your body before resting his head on your shoulder, "you don't have to say yes but can you come with us this weekend? It would be good to have you there."

You sighed, "sure, I think I should be there to stop you from killing Canche anyway. Did anything come of that?"

Manny shook his head, "nah, he would have had to explain why I hit him in the first place."

You spun and kissed him, "I bet it will be strange to be back there?"

Manny nodded, "yeah, it ain't the most enjoyable place to be, but I have you and that's good enough for me."

You smiled and kissed him again, "you are such a dreamboat. What's next, you're going to show up on a white horse and whisp me away?"

Manny smiled, "if that's what you want, I'll have to learn to ride a horse but I'll do it."

You understood what Manny meant when you arrived at the Yuma compound, it just felt gross. Marcus was there, smiling from ear to ear when he saw you had accompanied Santo Padre. He gave you a hug, crushing your ribs with an embrace, "Angel told me the good news, when's the wedding?"

You smiled, "ten months, we're still planning the big bits but we're getting there."

Manny walked up to you and threw his arm over your shoulder, accepting Marcus' congratulations with a warm smile before walking off to deal with Canche, "you doing good?"

He nodded, "yeah, I want to head somewhere later today, Coco said he's keep you company."

You smiled, "of course, is everything ok?"

He nodded, "yeah, I wanted to stop by and see my sister." He sounded so sad.

"That's fine with me, please take as long as you need. I'll be here waiting for you."

He dropped his forehead onto yours and kissed you softly, "thank you."

Manny detached for you with a kiss, and you waved goodbye as he left and you went to sit with Coco, "you good?"

You nodded, "I'm great, everything is great. How did Templo go?"

Coco shrugged, "if there's one more bad cut Yuma is done, the vote went through without much protest, if we're lucky, this is the end of it."

You sighed, "and this threat?"

He gave you an unreadable look, "we'll see."

Manny brought the flower to his face, the little white Heliotrope filling his nose with a gentle scent. He walked up to Clara's gravestone and brushed away the dirt before placing the flowers in the little holder and kneeling down, resting his hand on the cold rock.

"I've meant someone CC and she's so wonderful, you would have loved her. I think, I know, she would have loved you too. We're getting married soon." He stopped, his emotions clogging his throat, "I just wanted to tell you the good news, because I know you would you'd want to be there if you could."

A gentle breeze blew in his face and he swore he could smell her bubblegum shampoo, he knew it was just his mind playing tricks on him but he couldn't help but feel it was his sitter letting him know she was happy for him. He left feeling lighter, the breeze brushing by him one last time as he walked through the gate.

There was something different about Manny when he returned, he sat next to you, Coco Angel and grabbed your hand, "how was your trip?"

He smiled, "it was good, I know she's not really there but it felt good to talk to her again."

The others were lost in their own conversation as you spoke, "I don't know much about that kind of thing but I think she was listening , even it it was just the part of her that you carry."

Manny reached up and brushed your cheek, "I love you so much."

You smiled, "I love you too."

Marcus watched from afar, knowing that something was happening, he allowed a few moments for calm to come over to walk over to you, "I never got the chance to talk about your wedding before I was called away, it's very exciting."

You smiled, "it is, I know is really soon but.."

Marcus waved his hand, "when you know you know. I would have married Izzy the second she said hello to me but I think she would have called me an idiot."

You giggled, "well, you're both invited so I hope you can come."

Marcus smiled, "of course, we wouldn't miss it for the world. I'm very happy for you both."

He offered Manny a hug, "thank you Pardrino."

The conversation between Angel and Coco must have wound down because Angel was butting in, "are we talking weddings? I'm trying to convince them to have it in the national park but y/n is worried about bothering people on public land. I think it would be nice, with all the trees and all."

You sighed, "you know Taza is taking care of it, there's a lovely portion of tribal land that he thinks we'll be able to book."

Angel nodded, "you got an officiant?"

Marcus smiled, "why don't you do it Angel, you can get the licence online, it's the least they can do after everything you've done to get them here."

You blinked and Manny laughed, "I like it, I mean, why not."

You sighed, "alright, but nothing dirty, there'll be kid there."

Angel smiled, "I wouldn't dream of it, it's going to be the best wedding ever."

The night wore on and you felt yourself grow tried, Manny hadn't left your side and you tapped him to bring his attention away from the story Hank was telling about the time he found a snake in his bedroll, "yes Mi Amor?"

You smiled, "I'm going to take a few minutes outside, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed."

Manny nodded, "you want me to come?"

You shook your head, "nah, I'm not going to leave the compound."

You headed out and made a beeline for a quiet section of the lot, sitting down on a mild crate and taking a deep breath. Your peace was interrupted when Canche approached you, "what the fuck do you want?"

He raised his hands, his face still bruised, "Marcus has brought to my attention that I've treated you unfairly and I just wanted to apologise."

You snorted, "you want me to thank you, expect an apology for a man that crawled up the ass of a baby raper?" You shook your head, "fuck off man, I have nothing to say to you."

He inhaled, "I'm not expecting you to forgive me, but you're an old lady now and you have to do things for the greater good."

You were ready to rip his intestines out but a figure in a hoody walking towards you at speed pull your attention away, "you know that guy?"

Canche turned around and you saw the shotgun, you moved without thinking and threw Canche to the ground as the shot rang out. Everything moved in slow motion as you stood up, the world coming back into focus with a rush of sound and violence as people came running and a shotgun was levelled at your chest, "move, I don't want to you hurt."

You stayed stuck to the spot, "no, if you want to kill this man you'll have to shoot me too."

There was pain, not anger on the man's face and you shook your head violently as the others arrived with their guns drawn, a look to your side revealed a terrified Manny, his face a mix of rage and fear, "are you here because of the drugs?"

The shotgun lowered slightly, "he's the reason my baby boy is dead, him and his dirty drugs. He deserves to die."

You nodded, "I know, had I had the time to think I would have let you shoot him. But we're here now and it's not that I don't agree with you, it's that I can tell you are suffering and this, what you're about to do won't bring your child back. He has a little boy of his own, we might think he deserves everything he gets but I'm sure you know this, a little boy's first hero is his father. You don't want his son to lose that."

The man looked around, "I came here to end things."

You lowered your hands slowly, "I know, but then these men will kill you and then what happens to the people you leave behind?"

He huffed, "I don't have anyone, Shaun was all I had and now he's gone."

You stepped closer and the gun went up a fraction, "if you die, your son, Shuan, dies with you. There will be no one to keep his memory alive. If you leave here now, I swear nothing will happen to you. No one is going to come after you and Shaun's memory won't be sullied by more pain."

He took in a shaky breath and dropped the shotgun, falling to his knees with his face in his hands, "I miss him so much."

You knelt by him and placed a hand on his shoulder, "I can't even imagine what you're going through." You pointed towards Coco, "my friend is going to make sure you leave here safe. Don't come back, I won't be able to save your life a second time."

The moment there was calm, Manny ran up to you and pulled you into his arms, looking over your face with worry, "don't you ever do anything like that again, do you understand me?"

You nodded, "I understand, can we go back inside?" Manny took your hand and you walked back into the Clubhouse, accepting the water that Angel handed you.

"You good?" He kept looking behind you.

"I'm fine, I just want to go back home."

Angel gave you a soft smile, "yeah, we all do."

Someone clearing their throat behind you had you turning around, it was Canche, "what the fuck do you want?"

He swallowed, "you saved my life."

You let out a cynical laugh, "yeah well, it's not like I did it for you. I saw that man's face before he pulled the trigger, he would have regretted it. You are a stain, a pathetic waste of air and if you don't get out of my face, I'm going to shoot you myself."

He walked away, shaking his head and Manny's hand on your back brought your racing heart back down, "you wanna go back to the hotel?"

You nodded, "please."

You could tell that something was wrong the moment to hotel door closed, Manny's eyes filled with emotion as he stared at you, "what the fuck were you thinking, stepping in front of a gun for that piece of shit, if anything had happened…"

His breath caught and you stepped closer to him, cupping his cheek while you ran your thumb over his skin, "nothing was going to happen to me Manny, he wasn't going to be able to pull that trigger and before you say that there's no way I could have known that, this isn't the first time I've had to deal with a parent in that kind of pain."

He blinked away a tear and leaned down to kiss you, "I can't lose you."

In a flash, his fear turned to desperation he and was ripping your clothes off and all but tossing you in the bed. You reached out and pushed his kutte off his shoulders, Manny's lips never leaving yours as you both got naked as fast as you could. You shuffled up and bed and Manny hovered over you, his face filled with love as he rolled you onto your side and threw your leg over his hip.

His hand moved between your legs in a flurry and his fingers slid inside you as his thumb landed on your clit. You moaned into his mouth and Manny's teeth sunk into your lower lip. He pressed his fingertips into your G-spot, his thumb moving faster on your clit, when you were ready enough to take him, he yanked his hand away and used your wetness to slick up his cock, then with a soft please from you, he repositioned his hips and slid inside you slowly.

He let out a grunt and rocked his hips, his hand on your thigh holding you close as you matched his pace. "I love you so much." His tone was almost pained as his hips picked up speed.

He brushed your G-spot as you returned his affection, "I love you too."

He kissed you softly, pulling back just enough to breathe, "tell me you're mine."

His hand moved down to stroke your clit and you gasped, "I'm yours, please I'm yours."

He kissed you again, his lips firmed, "tell me again and I'll let you cum."

His fingers sped up in time with his hips and he brushed your G-spot with each thrust, "I'm yours."

In a flash, he was rolling on top of you and ramming himself inside you with a grunt. You wrapped your legs around his body and pulled him close, burying your face in his neck as he rolled his hip, placing his finger back on your clit while pressing soft kisses to any body part he could reach.

The peak came hard and fast, Manny moaning as you clenched around him, he followed you into bliss soon after, his lips pressing to yours as his hips slowed.

He rolled off you with one last kiss and caught his breath, "you good?"

You sighed, "I'm great. I love you."

Manny grinned, "I love you too, let me clean you up yeah, then we'll order room service."

You looked over the menu while we waited for Manny to return, a smile on his face as he cleaned you up and threw the damp towel in a pile, "anything look good?"

You nodded, "yep Tostones, I could eat my weight in them."

Manny shook his head, "Tostones is it then." You ordered while Manny held you, a soft smile on his face as he ran his hands over your body.

His hand slowly made it's way to your lower stomach, his fingers moving in a gentle brush, "how many kids do you want?"

You shrugged, "more than one, less than four. How many do you want?"

Manny kissed your temple, "however many you'll give me."

You sighed, "marriage first, then a baby."

He smiled softly, "I'm going to buy the lot behind you house."

You blinked, "why?"

His hand moved to squeeze your hip, "because we need a nice place to live so I was thinking we expand the home we already have and that way, you don't need to move and you can have a huge garden. I was even thinking the cats could have a little outside catio so they can spend time outside without risking them getting away and hurting birds."

You smiled, "I think that's great."

Manny kissed your temple, "so that's settled, I buy the lot, we get married and then I give you a baby or two."

You pecked his cheek, "that sounds great."

Ten Months Later

"You ready?" Coco came up behind you and did the last button of your dress, a simple flowy, lace dress, the skirt with only a little fullness and the sleeves sheer and coming to your mid upper arm, Riz had called it bohemian and went on about how it was the best style on the market right now.

You spun and gave him a smile, "yes, yes I'm so ready."

Coco stuck out his arm and Penelope ran outside to signal the music to start, the soft sound of the piano coming through the small white tent you were getting ready in. You began to walk, catching sight of Manny as you got closer to the top of the aisle. When he saw you, his eyes filled with tears, a huge smile coming over his face as you stood next to him.

"Hi." You reached up a wiped a tear from his cheek.

"Hey Mi Amor, you look really pretty."

You giggled, "everyone helped."

Beside you, Angel cleared his troat, "can we get to this? Al this mush is going to make me cry and I don't think that's professional."

You snorted, "you got your licence online, I'm pretty sure we might not even be legally married after this."

Angel ignored you, "dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness the joining of two people, y/n and Emmanuel Ramírez. Are you here of your own free will, with no influence for other?"

You couldn't say yes fast enough, "I'm told you have your own vows?"

You took a deep breath and started first, "I'm normally really good with words but I sat down to write this and had no idea how to put my feelings onto the page. I love you and I have from the moment I laid my eyes on you and while it took a little while for me to say it," the crowd gave a laugh, "I promise that you will always now I love you and cherish you, support and encourage you, I will be there through every storm and every day of sunshine."

Manny had tears running down his face and a quick glance at the crowd showed you that others were in a similar state, Angel wiped his face and sniffed, "holy shit dude, that was deep."

You giggled and Manny started, "you are the best thing that's ever happened to me and I wake up every day grateful that you are the first thing I see in the morning and the last thing I see before I go to bed. I will spend every day of the rest of our lives telling you how much and in all the ways that I love you. I will make sure you always feel safe, and warm and loved."

You both turned to Angel how took a deep breath, "if anyone has any objections speak now or forever hold your peace. If any one says anything I will shoot you myself." He looked around, "no? Alright, do you y/n take Emmanuel Ramírez be your."

You cut him off, "yes."

Angel huffed "and do you."

Manny didn't even let him get that far, "yes."

Angel sighed and shook his head, "by the power invested in me by the state of Califonia and a shady internet website, I now pronounce you husband and wife you may now.."

You wrapped your arms around Manny and he kissed you before Angel could finish, and he threw his hands up in the air, "I give up." The crowd erupted in cheers as Manny deepened the kiss, dipping you like a prince in a fairy tale.

You pulled away and Manny smiled at you, pecking you one last time before letting you up, "I love you."

You smiled back, "I love you too."

Angel gave a loud clap, "time to party."

Manny had his hand in yours as the speeches started. Angel went first, stepping up to the platform with a smile, he had a pile of papers with him that had you worried and he banged them on the wood before tapping the mic, "all I wanted to say was that I was right." Everyone burst out in laughter and Coco slapped his arm as they swapped places.

Coco took a deep breath before he started, "when y/n and Manny met, I knew something was there, I had never seen y/n smile so wide and I had never heard Manny stutter when he was talking about a woman until her. I can go on and on about how happy I am for them and that I know that they have a long and happy life ahead of them but we all already know that. So all I'm going to say is that I love you both and I'm happy you found each other because you both deserve happiness."

Bishop went next, his face a mix of joy and satisfaction, "getting here has aged in twenty years, if I had a dollar for every time I had to tell one of my brothers to shut up about these two getting together, I would be rich. But we're here now and there's nothing better than being with someone you love. Let's hope it's doesn't take them as long to have a baby because I want a niece or nephew and I can't take the fuckers I'm in charge of bitching about how they haven't made any cute babies yet."

Marcus went last, his speech full of kind sentiments, love for his wife and affection for you and Manny. After he stepped down, Angel clinked his glass and gained everyone's attention, "alright everyone, now to the main reason we're all here. Let's eat."

You walked into your newly renovated home and said hello to the cats before walking to the bedroom hand in hand with Manny. You stood in the middle of the room and Manny took your hands, looking you up and down with a soft smile on his face, "hello wife."

You smiled back, "hello husband, will you help me out of my dress?"

His smile turned into a grin, "hell yeah."

You spun and he unbuttoned the dress, letting it fall to the floor and pool at your feet. You spun back around and Manny looked you over again before leaning down and kissing you softly, "shall we ring in the rest of our lives?"

He bit his lower lip, "hell yeah." He took your face in his hands, bumping your nose with his then kissed you as you sat back on the end of the bed. He raised a single finger to brush the strap of your bra off your shoulders, "I love this set, the white suits you."

You shook your head, "thank you, I picked something I knew you would like."

He smirked, "you picked well." He ran his fingers over the delicate lace flowers, "fuck, I am a lucky man."

You reached up and removed his kutte, Manny's hands going to the buttons of his shirt while his eyes raked over your skin, you went to reach back to unlatch your bra but he stopped you, "let me do that Mi Amor." He knelt on the bed and reached behind you, pressing his lips to your shoulder as the item came free.

You pushed yourself up the bed and Manny caught your panties on the way up, pulling them down your legs and pressing his lips to your claves as he made his way up your body. He kissed your knee, one then swapping to the other before repeating the pattern all the way up to your core.

He kissed the crease of your thigh then lifted your legs over his shoulders, he looked up at you, smiling softy before diving in like a man starved. You placed your hands on his head and stroked his scalp, Manny moaning as your nails gently scratched his skin.

He removed one hand from your leg and used two fingers to circle your entrance before sliding them inside you and pressing his fingertips to your G-spot. He pulled you closer, his lips wrapping around your clit as he moaned against your skin.

You bucked your hips as you got closer and Manny made no move to stop you, his fingers picking up speed and he doubled his efforts with his tongue. You didn't have the chance to warn him before you were arching off the bed and squeezing his fingers for dear life. He chuckled and pulled away, wiping his face with the back of his hand, "that was easy."

You rolled your eyes and tapped him with your foot, "you're smug." You sat up and ran your hands down his body to his cock, wrapping your hand around him and stroking him slowly, "you turn?"

He shook his head, "nah, we have all out lives for you to suck my dick." You laid back down and Manny went with you, holding himself up on his elbows as you reached up and pulled him closer, Manny's lips finding yours as you wrapped your legs around his body.

He kissed the tip of your nose and you giggled then he was reaching down and taking his cock in his hands before rubbing it up and down your slit. You gasped as he pushed inside you, your nails biting into his shoulders as he bottomed out. He rocked his hips slowly while he buried his face in your neck, the hand that was on his cock moving to rub your clit as his hips picked up speed.

He kissed his way from your neck to your face, his lips landing on yours. You pulled him closer and rocked your hips, matching his speed as he pushed your closer to the edge, "Manny please."

He kissed you, his nose brushing yours as he hit his stride, "you don't need to beg me for anything Tesoro." His fingers sped up and he pushed you over the edge as you whimpered into his mouth. He smiled against your lips as he followed you, grunting like an animal while his hand moved from your clit to grip your hip.

His hips slowed and he pulled away, rolling over and taking you with him. You rested your head on his chest and Manny reached up to stroke your cheek, "I love you."

You turned your head and kissed his palm, "I love you too. When do you want to open all out wedding presents?"

Manny chuckled, "why don't we open them tomorrow before we head off on our honeymoon?"

You sighed, "that sounds great."

He placed his hand on your cheek and turned your face towards his, "I love you, more than anything."

You kissed him softly, "I love you too."

The End

Song inspo for the title is Hozier - Would That I

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spaghettificationandpretzels · 2 years ago

Text

I Adore You

Mayans MC Masterlist

Part six of A Gentle Kind of Love

Contains: Fluff, Angel still being a shithead, smut (consent and negotiations, oral sex M and F receiving, fingering, praise kink, P in V, semi-public sex)

7.5K words

Comment if you want to be tagged/removed or follow #a gentle kind of love.

Smitten - Having suddenly started to like or love something or someone very much.

"Morning."

You opened your eyes and were greeted by Manny's smiling face and a cat by your head, "good morning. Did you sleep well?"

He nodded and reached out to brush a strand of hair from your face. The action was automatic, and so was the closing of your eyes as you felt the calluses on his skin. You did your best to force yourself to think it was just a friendly gesture, made by a half asleep man who almost died yesterday "I did, did you?"

You smiled, "I did, how are your hands?"

He chuckled, "a little sore, how's your head?"

You sighed, "not sore but filled with maple syrup, you wanna do something today?"

Manny shook his head, "nah, I just want to hang out. You good with that?"

You nodded, "I'm great with that. We do have to get out of bed."

He groaned, "you sure? I'd rather just lay around with the cats all day long, I'm sure they'd love that."

You sat up and tapped his chest, "come on lazy bones, if we don't feed them soon they'll eat us."

Creep's leg was bouncing up and down, "what the fuck are we going to do? You really want Izzy dealing with this, you saw what happened the last time Marcus got her involved."

EZ's memory of Izzy grabbing Bishop by the ear and dragging him to one of the back rooms and giving him a lecture that the whole Clubhouse could hear was seared into his brain, "I don't know what we're going to do, maybe they talked about it last night and they'll come here with good news?"

Coco shook his head, "you might be smart golden boy but you don't know y/n very well if you think she's going to come clean."

Angel threw his hands in the air, "Manny ain't going to say shit."

Bishop had been sitting there listening with a scowl on his face, "I can't fucking stand this bullshit anymore, make sure they come to the party this weekend and I'll deal with it."

Hank blinked, "Yuma is visiting, we're going to have our hands busy."

Bishop just got angry, "you think I give a shit? I am so fucking sick of you gossip whores, this gets fixed or you're all be on probation until hell freezes over."

"Why does his belly smell so good?"

You giggled, Manny had his face buried in Sir Fluff's belly while the cat licked his head, "it's how they get you, they smell like happiness and sunshine and before you know it you'll be feeding them a picking up their poop."

Manny turned his head and looked at you, "you make that sound like it's a bad thing."

You sighed, "why don't I take you down to the pet store today, we can pick up everything you need then before you go back to your place we can pick you up a kitten from the shelter, that way you won't be alone in your apartment."

A sadness came over him, after he got the all clear from the Club, he was going to go back to sleeping alone in his bed, "nah, I don't want these three to get jealous. I'll just come over and hang with you, unless you're sick of me?"

You shook your head, "I'm alright with that, I like your company. And if I'm being honest even with everything that went on, this has been the best week I've had since moving here."

Manny sat up and brought the cat into his lap, "can I be honest too?" You nodded, "the week I've had with you has been the best week in a really long time, and not just since I moved here."

You smiled and sat next to him, resting your head on his shoulder, "I'm going to miss having you around all the time."

Manny leaned his head against yours, "I'm going to miss having you around too. But we'll still see each other, it's not like you're leaving for Mars."

You giggled, "you're right, nothing's really going to change, you just won't wake up with a cat butt in your face every morning."

Manny chuckled, hearty and filled with affection, "you say that like I don't love these little shit."

You thought for a moment, "well you can come over whenever you want, just to hang out."

He grinned at you, his hand reaching out to grab yours, "I'd fucking love that."

Manny got a text late that afternoon and you could tell by his expression that something was wrong, "is everything ok?"

He shook it off and smiled, "that was Bish, he said I was good to go home tonight."

You did your best to stay neutral, "oh, well how about I send you home with dinner, that way you don't have to go out and buy shit."

Manny smiled softly, "alright, I'm gonna go pack."

He sounded so deflated, "you want a hand?"

He shook his head, his eyes cast at the ground, "nah, what are you going to cook?"

You wandered over to the kitchen and opened the fridge, "how does a curry sound?"

He sucked on his tongue and nodded, "a curry sounds great."

You stood in his living room, looking around for something to do, "can I vacuum or dust? I feel weird not helping you after you've spent a week and a bit in my house."

Manny shook his head and placed the meal in his fridge, "it's alright, I'll let you get back home. Will I see you on Friday?"

You nodded, "of course, I wouldn't miss it for the world and there's no way I'm leaving you with Canche."

Manny sighed and walked over to you, wrapping his arms around your body and pulling you into a hug, "I'm gonna miss you."

You hugged him back, burying your face in his chest and taking a deep breath, "I'm going to miss you too."

There was a change in the air as you pulled away, your eyes caught his and then you were leaning in, his breath fanning over your lips and you craned your head to meet him as he leaned down.

KNOCK KNOCK

You flinched back, Manny doing the same as he looked at the door, "Manny, we got shit to do."

As soon as the magic arrived, it left with Angel's pounding, you flashed him a smile and walked over to pick up your bag, "duty calls, I'll see you on Friday?"

Manny smiled back, "yeah, I'll see you on Friday."

You swung open the door and rolled your eyes when Angel smirked at you, "hey y/n."

You shook your head, "hey, is everything alright?"

He nodded, "fine, you coming on Friday?"

You took a deep breath, "yep, I'll see you then."

You walked down the hallway and Angel walked inside to Manny rubbing his face, "what was that about?"

Manny huffed, "nothing man, what did you need?"

Angel flopped down on the couch, "Yuma's cut was bad again, they need out help cleaning up."

Manny clenched his fists, "is that why they're coming on Friday?"

Angel nodded, "yep, what do you want to bet this is the straw that breaks the camel's back?"

Manny shrugged, "who knows, Yuma's been on its last legs for a while, I doubt this will be the end."

Angel smiled again, "you sure nothing's going on between you and y/n?"

Manny shook his head, "nothing's going on, can you please drop it?"

Angel relined and looked thoughtfully at the ceiling, "sure."

Friday came around painfully slow, the hours ticking by as you looked at the clock between clients. Relief came when your last two appointments were cancelled.

You finished your paperwork and rushed home, hoping to get to the Clubhouse early to help them get ready for the party. You drove into the compound at five, half of Yuma already there, Manny must have been listening out for your car because he was practically running out the door the greet you.

The moment you were out of your car and standing, Manny was wrapping you in his arms, "you're here early?"

You nodded, "I had two cancellations, so I thought I'd come and help out. How are things here?

Manny shrugged, "Yuma's here again, another bad cut. But other than that, things are the exact same."

You smiled, "good to know. I'm going to go in and help out, you got any plans tonight?"

He smiled back and threw his arm over your shoulder, "other than hanging out with you? Nope."

You shook your head, "shouldn't you be mingling?"

He huffed, "I ain't got nothing to say to Yuma. How are the cats?"

You groaned, "you have spoilt them with all your love, they have been walking around the house meowing, looking for you. Mr Butts won't even talk to me."

Manny tutted, "well then, I guess I know what I'm doing tomorrow."

You giggled, "thank God, I was worried I'd have to beg."

Manny's smile turned into a smirk, "you never have to beg me for anything."

A thought came over your mind and you knew it was a bad idea but you couldn't help yourself, "well that's no fun."

Manny paused his path to the Clubhouse and licked his lips, "good to know Tesoro."

Manny detached for you when you got in the door, giving you a smile before heading off to talk to Bishop. A laugh in the corner drew your attention, Raul was sitting with Yuma and their body language had you worried.

You walked behind the bar and jutted your head towards them, asking Hank what was going on, "you know what that's about? They seem friendly."

Hank huffed, "I was just about to ask you the same thing, you're the shrink. He's been in the shit the last few days with everything going on, I wouldn't be surprised if he jumped over."

You sighed, "you think he's got the balls to ask out right or will he get one of them to do it?"

Hank shrugged, "the way Yuma's going, Canche will ask just to piss us off."

You swallowed, "is there something I need to be worried about?"

Hank shook his head, "I'm sure you know what's going on, they had another bad cut. It's becoming bad for business."

You chewed your lower lip, "I know what I say has no bearing but you want my honest opinion?"Hank gave you a slight nod, "if they keep fucking around with fentanyl, they're dead anyway, give it enough time the problem will clear itself out."

Hank blinked, "that's fucking cold."

You shrugged, "eh, you fuck around and you find out."

The party had just started when Manny sat down next to you with a beer, "how's your week been?"

You smiled, "good, I'm happy to get back to normal. What about you?"

He sighed, "there isn't much excitement in hauling scrap and fixing cars."

You shook your head, "you must have done something fun?"

He thought for a moment, "I went by the animal shelter. But I couldn't pick."

You giggled, "I would have helped, that apartment is so big and sad, you should have some company."

Manny shook his head, "I can't leave a cat along with all the runs, it would be wrong. Plus, you said I could come over whenever I wanted."

You were interrupted by one of the Yuma men coming over, his smile slimy as he sat next to you, "your prospect tells me you're up for anything, so how about you leave his little boy and come and spend your time with a real man."

You blinked, shocked at his boldness, "what are you talking about?"

He smirked and leaned in closer, "come on, we all know what women are like here. The prospect gave you a ringing endorsement."

Manny had gone stiff beside you, then he was jumping up and marching over to Raul and lifting him up by his collar, you turned to the man and pointed and the scene, "you see what you've done. I never had sex with the guy, can you fuck off now."

The sound of Manny's fist hitting Raul's face had you flinching but you knew better than to get between two men who were fighting, even if it was one sided. Bishop let it go for a while before stepping in, Raul's face bleeding and swollen, "what the fuck is this about."

Manny snarled his reply, "this lying fuck won't shut up about what happened between him and y/n, maybe you should tell the truth motherfucker."

You rubbed your face and stepped closer, standing in front of Manny to block his view, "let it go, he can lie all he wants. I don't care what other people think of me."

Manny clenched his jaw, "I fucking care."

The look on Bishop's face was deadly as he turned to Raul, "are you telling lies?"

Raul huffed, "it doesn't fucking matter, I'm jumping to Yuma anyway."

Manny stepped closer and you put your hands on his chest, "Manny, let it go."

He looked down at you, the anger fading from his eyes, "you say the word and I'll make sure you never says your name again."

You shook your head, "I don't want that, now I'd like to clean your hands if you'd let me?"

He swallowed, "alright."

Bishop pointed down the hall, "use the bathroom, we're going to talk about this once you're done."

To your surprise Bishop started to follow you, standing a few steps behind as you walked through the doorway. You opened the cabinet and directed Manny to sit down, the slam of the door making you jump, "what the fuck?"

You tried to open it but it wouldn't budge, Bishop's voice floating through the wood as you twisted the handle, "you two have some shit to talk about, you can come out when you've both come clean."

You heard him walk away and you leaned against the wall, "so, you wanna tell me why you decided to break the prospect's face?"

He huffed, "because he was talking shit about you."

You shook your head, "that's not a good enough reason to hit a man Emmanuel."

He sighed and stepped closer, "there you go again, saying my name like that."

You wrinkled your eyebrows, "like what?"

He stuttered, thinking over what his next words might mean, "like you love me. It's fucking cruel you know, you stand there and you look at me like you love me and…. You know what I was going to say that day?" You knew, you knew full well what he was going to say, "I was going to tell you that I.."

You closed the two foot gap between you in a flash and shut him up with a kiss, Manny returning it in earnest as his hands found your face, you pulled back for a moment, Manny's lips following yours as you exchanged air, "I love you too."

He didn't reply, his lips falling on yours again. Your hands clutched his kutte and you pulled him closer, his teeth brushing your bottom lip as the kiss deepened. His hands roamed your body, one hand landing on your ribs while the other slid down and squeezed your ass. You pulled away, smiling as you spoke, "I think we owe Bishop an apology."

Manny chuckled, his hand reaching up so this thumb could stroke your cheek, "what makes you say that Mi Amor?"

You brushed his nose with yours, desperate to pick up where you left off, "because he's been dealing with the other talking about us for the last however many months, I think we broke the poor man."

Manny chuckled, "I'm sure he's fine. I know this might seem forward but do you want to get out of here?"

You nodded aggressively, "oh, most definitely. Do we need to stop by the drug store on the way or are you good?"

It took a moment for him a get your implication, "I'm all good, you ain't got nothing to worry about. Are you?"

You nodded, "yep, all good."

He smiled, "now we just have to figure out how to get out of here."

He chuckled and walked over to the door, pounding on it and waiting for an answer. Bishop's voice came through, full of annoyance, "what the fuck do you want?"

Many sighed, "can you let us out now. We talked."

Bishop wasn't so easy to please, "about what?"

You smiled at Manny and he knew by your expression that your response was going to be vulgar, "about how we have catching up to do in the sex department. Can you let us out of here so Manny can…"

The door swung open and Bishop was standing there with his arms crossed, "is that all you talked about?"

You shook your head, "no, I told him the truth. Now can you let us go so we can make up for lost time or do you want us to fuck right here in front of you?"

Bishop waved his hands, a slight smile on his face "you can go. And for what it's worth, I'm really happy for both of you."

You took Manny's hand as you walked down the hall, Angel grinning when he caught sight of you, "I fucking knew it, you better name your first kid after me."

You stuck up your middle finger, "I don't think nosy bastard is a good name for a kid Angel."

Manny shook his head, "come on Tesoro, let's go home. The night is still young and I want to show you how much I love you."

You took his face in your hands and kissed him while the men around you cheered, "I can't wait."

You didn't miss the glare on Canche's face but at that moment, nothing else mattered.

You stopped by Manny's place so he could pack a bag, you sat on his bed while he threw clothes his bag, not even bothering to fold them, "come 'er."

You walked behind him and wrapped your arms around his body, "you need something handsome?"

He smiled, turning his head to kiss you, "nah, I was just worried that if you kept sitting on my bed all pretty like that I wouldn't be able to help myself."

He spun around, placing his hands on your face while he kissed you, and you pulled back enough to talk, "you make that sound like a bad thing."

He chuckled against your lips, "nah, you deserve more than a hurried fuck. I'm a gentleman so we're gonna go back to your place and what is it that you said? Talk like adults then we have the whole rest of the night to enjoy each other."

You smiled, "I would really like that, you wanna order in too?"

He nodded, "pizza?"

You pecked him and rubbed your thumb on his cheek, "pizza sounds great."

You got in the door only to be swamped with a flurry of meows, "you better say hello."

Manny sighed as Mr Butts jumped into his arms, "can you order the pizza while I say hello?"

You nodded, "sure, Lady Midnight is real mad at you for leaving." You jutted your head towards her as she glared from the couch.

Manny shook his head and smiled, "I'll win her back, she can't say no to kisses."

You tapped him and he turned his attention back to you, "what?" You smiled then kissed him.

You pulled back with a kiss on his cheek, "I'm going to go order that pizza then have a shower, you should think about what you want to do after dinner."

He looked over your face with a slight smirk, "oh, I have so many ideas."

"You want some ice cream, it's mango and homemade?"

Manny shook his head, your conversation had been both productive and enlightening, "nah, I'd rather enjoy eating something else."

You giggled, "that's cannibalism Manny, it's illegal in California."

Manny smiled at you, his eyes full of affection, "now you're just being a brat." He walked behind you as you washed the dishes, his lips brushing your ear, "I'll finish up here, go to the bedroom and get comfortable, I'll be in soon."

You twisted your head and kissed him, "alright, I'll be waiting."

You walked into the bedroom, pausing halfway to spin and pull off your sleep shirt slowly, "you're not getting into my nice clean bed in your day clothes, so you should hurry up here and get yourself into the shower before I start without you."

Manny took in your bare chest with hooded eyes, looking from your breasts to your face and back again, "alright, I get your message. Careful Mi Amor, I'm going to have plenty of time to get back at you for this."

You smiled, "I can't fucking wait."

You waited on the bed, Manny talking to you through the open bathroom door as he showered, "we can just sleep if you want, there's no pressure."

You smiled, "unless that's what you want, my only plans for tonight are to make up for lost time."

He chuckled and you heard the shower turn off, "that's good with me."

You hopped up as he walked into the bedroom in nothing but a towel and sauntered over to him, "hey."

He smiled as you leaned in the press your lips to his neck, "hey Tesoro, you look like you've got an idea."

You nodded and reached down to run your fingers over the edge of his towel, "I do have an idea, would you like to hear it?"

He took a sharp breath as you ran your fingers from his collar bones, over his hard, toned chest and to his abs, "sure, what's your idea?" He lifted a hand to your face and ran his thumb across your lower lip and you turned your head to kiss it.

"You're going to sit on the bed, and I'm going to kneel between your legs and suck your dick. Do you like my idea?"

Manny's eyes darkened as he moved towards the bed, "I do like you idea, but don't get too comfortable, I've got some of my own." Before he sat down, you held up and finger and closed the gap before going back to the edge of the towel, Manny nodding when you looked up at him.

You pulled the towel free and he smiled, "you see something you like?"

You rolled your eyes, "you are very smug, I mean, you have a reason to be but still. Now, sit down and let me have my fun." You kneeled between his legs and took his cock in your hand, stroking it to full hardness as you kissed his firm torso.

You were just about to land on the floor when Manny stopped you and threw a pillow on the floor, "I can't have you getting all bruised."

You sighed, "I hit the jackpot."

Manny chuckled and let out a shaky breath as you pressed your lips to the tip of his cock. His hands found your cheeks as you sucked him into your mouth, taking time to focus on the head while his breath quickened. "Ah fuck, that feels amazing, fuck." He grunted as you took him further down, his eyes scrunching closed.

He let out a particularly aggressive grunt then he pulled you off him, you went to protest but he smiled at you and wiped the spit off your lips with his palm, "your turn Mi Amor."

Something in his eyes had you excited as you got comfortable on the bed and Manny's lips found your neck as his hands stroked your skin. "You better settle in gorgeous because we're going to be here a while."

You huffed, "I bet you say that to all the girls."

Manny chuckled against your skin, "I guess I'm just going to have to prove it to you." He kissed down your neck, pausing to suck a bruise into your skin as he made his way to your breasts, tutting as his lips brushed the soft skin, "I'm gonna have to pay more attention to these later, I have other things to do."

Your hand found his head as he kissed down your body, taking time to kitten lick your skin as he went. His hand were gentle as he lifted your legs over his shoulders, he kissed your inner thigh, his lips soft than soft as he moved closer to your core. His hand stroked the top of your thigh as he leaned in, his lips brushing your mound, he paused and looked up at you, waiting for you to give him to go ahead, "please."

Manny smiled then pulled your legs open slowly before licking your from entrance to clit in one long stripe. He wrapped his lips around your clit as you moaned, his beard scratching your skin and he brought one hand down to slide two of his perfect fingers inside you.

Your finger scratched his scalp and he grunted against you, pulling you as close as humanly possible while he brushed your G-spot with his fingertips. He seemed to enjoy it just as much as you were, taking his sweet time building you up until your legs were shaking around his head, you pushed him closer and his fingers picked up speed, forcing you over the edge as one hand left your thigh so he could hold you down with his forearm.

He didn't stop even for a second, the only reprieve for the oversensitive sting was the way he slowed back to his starting pace, a gentle brush more than an insistent rub. You dropped one hand from his head and felt around for his hand, Manny understanding what you were asking for and linking his fingers in yours as he picked up speed again. You clenched his hand as you came, Manny's thumb pressing lovingly into the back of your hand as he worked your through it.

He pulled back and pressed his lips to your thigh, rubbing his cheek on your skin as you caught your breath. You stroked his cheek and he pressed his head into your palm as he made his way back up your body, stopping to drop kisses on your skin as he went. He smiled down at you then brushed your nose with his, speaking against your lips as he nestled himself between your legs, "now, I'd normally be down there until you can't see straight but I'm a weak man and can't wait any longer, you alright with that?"

You nodded, pressed your lips to his and you tasted yourself on his lips as he smiled against your skin, "that's fine with me."

He chuckled, reaching down to grab his cock before sliding inside you so slowly that you could feel every inch of him, "you good?"

You sighed and lifted your hands to his face, pulling him in for a kiss, "I'm great, are you?"

Manny smiled and dropped his forehead onto yours, "everything is perfect." He started to rock his hips slowly, making sure to brush your G-spot with each pass as he held himself up on one hand and snaked the other between your bodies to rub your clit.

His hips picked up speed as he pressed his lips to yours and you rocked your hips to meet his pace, Manny picking up as you moaned into his mouth. He faulted for a moment, taking in a shaking breath, "fuck I love you so much."

You smiled and placed a hand on his cheek, stroking his skin with your thumb as you looked into his eyes, "I love you too."

He picked up the pace, his groans becoming more desperate as he worked you closer to the edge, "fuck, you feel so good Mi Amor. Can you give me one more? I can feel how much you're squezzing me."

You nodded, Manny slowing to a glacial pace, "I need a verbal answer Tesoro."

You whimpered as he sped up again, "yes please, whatever you want."

He smirked and kissed you, nipping your lower lip, "well I want you to cum again, you can do that for me, can't you?" The fingers on your clit picked up speed and your legs hugged him closer to your body as you contracted around him, Manny grunting and falling on top of you as he tried to compose himself.

"Fuck." Manny buried his face in your neck as he came, his teeth finding your skin while his hips stuttered. He pressed soft kisses to your face, starting on your temple then moving to each cheek before finally landing on your lips.

He shifted his hips and slid out of you, rolling over onto his side and taking you with him, "you need anything Mi Amor?"

You shook your head, "nothing at all."

He smiled and brushed your cheek with his nose before kissing you again, "you stay here, I'm going to clean you up then get us some snacks."

"I can get the snacks." You meant it but your legs were still shaking.

"It's alright gorgeous, what kinda boyfriend am I if I don't make sure you're looked after."

You sighed and drew him back in for a kiss as he got up, "I am one lucky woman."

He went to the kitchen first, getting two bowels of mango ice cream and placing them on the bedside table before wetting a soft cloth with warm water and cleaning you up, chuckling as you flinched away from him.

He picked up the bowels and handed you one before flopping next to you and beckoning him into his arms. You sat with your back against his firm chest and he smiled as you settled in, "are you comfortable?"

You nodded, "very, I wish we never had to leave."

Manny sighed, "we have all of tomorrow morning and most of the afternoon to ourselves, if you like we can stay home tomorrow night too."

You shook your head, "no way, if we do that they'll be breaking down our door. Anyway, I want to do some face rubbing."

Manny pressed his lips to your cheek, his skin cold from the ice cream, "I'll go wash up and let the cats in, you get ready for bed."

You gave him a look but he shot you down, "I got to look after my favourite girl."

You did as he asked, listing to him talk to the cats while he cleaned up. He returned holding Lady Midnight, her face still unimpressed, "she's still mad at you."

He chuckled, "I gave them all some treats, I think I've made amends."

He placed her on the bed and the others jumped up while Manny made a detour to the bathroom to get himself ready for bed, coming out a few minutes later. "What drawer are your underpants in?"

You made a face, "top one, why?" He smiled and walked over, getting out a pair and throwing them to you before retrieving some from his bag, getting dressed and climbing into bed.

He shifted Sir Fluffernutter and settled in next to your, wrapping his arms around you while you rested your head on his chest, his heart beating under your ear.

"You need anything else Mi Amor?" His fingertips were brushing your upper arm softly, while he looked over your face.

"No, I'm great. Are you alright?"

He smiled, "I'm perfect." He pressed his lips to your forehead and pulled the blankets over your bodies, "good night y/n."

You craned your head and kissed him softly, "good night Manny."

"Morning."

Manny smiled and pressed his lips to yours, "morning Mi Amor."

You sighed and sat up slightly, looking him over in the dapple morning light, "you need anything handsome?"

His smile widened and he pulled you on top of him, "I can think of one thing."

You bent at the waist and kissed him, "and what is that thing?"

Manny ran his hand up your sides then back down to your legs, his cock hardening rapidly under you, "you."

You smiled back and placed your hands on his hard chest, "I can give you that."

You and Manny showed up at the Clubhouse mid afternoon to smiles and cheers, "how did making up for lost time go?"

You rolled your eyes, "get your porn somewhere else Angel."

He chuckled, "I just thought you be busy."

Manny sighed, "we figured we show up just to rub our happiness in your faces."

Bishop chuckled, "rub away, these fucks deserve it for all the shit they've put me through trying to get you two together."

You smiled and looped your arm around Manny's, "see, we can rub away."

Manny shook his head, "you are terrible."

You pressed a kiss on his cheek, "I know."

The sun had just begun to set when the other came in, Manny didn't even acknowledge Canche when he and Yuma walked in, it was Raul swaggering over to Bishop that had his attention, "what do you think going on there?"

Manny shrugged and pointed to his hand, "looks like he handing in transfer papers, good fucking riddance."

You sighed and reached a hand out to cup his face, Manny pressing his cheek into your palm, you leaned in close and brushed your lips with his, "I know this might seem a bit forward but maybe we can give him a proper send off?"

Manny looked over your face, his own filled with mischief, "I happened to know that the supply closet I help you stock is pretty close to where he normally sits. Is that the kind of thing you're thinking about?"

You nodded, "yes, I mean, it's not like everyone else hasn't had sex in there, hell, Bishop got down on the pool table."

Manny laughed, "you sure you're up for it, we've been very busy."

You smiled, he was so thoughtful, "yeah, I'm up for it. You wanna go now or…"

Coco dropped himself onto the couch next to you and Manny, "so, are you happy you finally spilled the beans?"

Manny gave him a nod, "yep."

You repeated his sentiment, "very, I am the happiest I've been in a long time."

Coco smiled, "good, I'm real happy for both of you, I always thought you be good together." His smile turned into a grin, "so y/n, does out boy live up to the hype?"

Manny smirked and you shook your head before responding, "oh, yes, most definitely. In fact, I would argue that the others ladies were underselling him a bit."

Angel walked over just in the nick of time to catch the tail end of your comment, "what was that?"

He sat down on a chair opposite with a beer in his hand and Coco smiled, "our boy can lay pipe."

You rubbed your face, "oh my God, can you two shut up. Yes, I'm getting great dick, can we drop it now?"

Angel chuckled, "good for you, if you had listened to me you could have had that good dick months ago but I'm still happy for you."

You pulled the pillow from behind your back and threw it at him, "shut up Reyes."

Manny tapped your softly, "be nice Mi Amor, it's not his fault he doesn't know when to shut up. And if anything, Bish is the reason we finally got together."

Bishop came over at the mention of his name, "you two need something?"

You shook your head, "no, they're just being little boys."

Bishop shook his head, "what's new, but you're not making it worse, are you y/n?"

You did your best not to laugh, "nope, I'm an Angel."

Bishop raised an eyebrow, "sure. I thought I's let you know that it's Raul's last night here, you should wish him well before he leaves with Yuma."

Manny placed his arms behind you and rested his hand on your shoulder, "don't worry pres, we'll give him a proper goodbye."

That chance came when the party really started and Raul took his normal spot a few feet away from the storeroom, his new friends crowding around him to talk about whatever it was those Yuma assholes found interesting.

You grabbed Manny's hand and stood up, walking him into the small room then shutting and locking the door behind you, "how this?"

He smiled, "this is great, do you think you can stay quiet?"

You pressed your lips to his neck, "I thought you wanted the opposite?"

Manny's hand found your cheek as he walked you towards the door until your back was pressed against it, "nah gorgeous, those sounds aren't for anyone but me, you understand?"

He had a tone to his voice that was so deeply possessive that it made it impossible to deny him, "yes, I understand. I won't make a sound."

Manny smiled and trailed his fingertips down your chest until he was reaching the buttons on your top, "good girl." He kissed you as he undid your top, his lips firm on yours as he took control, leaving you breathless.

After your top went your bra and his lips wrapped around one nipple while his fingers came to stroke the other. You did your best but you couldn't help the gasp as his other hand slipped down your body, unzipped your jeans and moved to rub you over your panties.

Your head fell back against the door as his fingers moved against you with purpose, there was no softness here, he was a man on a mission and his sole goal was getting you off as fast as possible. You restored to placing a hand over your mouth the muffle your whimper and Manny's smile only grew as he sucked marks onto your neck.

You rushed to free yourself of your clothes, shoving Manny's hand away as he chuckled so he didn't have any barriers to your skin. When your jeans and panties were in a pile on the floor, his hand returned to your body and a grunt reverberated through his chest, "fuck, you're soaked Mi Amor."

You bit your lower lip as he sunk two fingers inside you, he swallowed your whimper as he pressed his palm to your clit, "come on Mi Amor, I can feel how close you are, let go for me." He spoke his words right into your ear, his lips brushing your skin as his fingers worked you over. You buried your head in his shoulder as you came and Manny's fingers left your body as he took a step back.

You reached out and fumbled to get his clothes off, his kutte and shirt falling in a heap before you moved onto his jeans, yanking them down just far enough to pull his cock out, "are you sure you can be quiet Tesoro?"

You looked at him, eyes wide and desperate, before shaking your head, "I don't think so."

He was looking at you with that tilt to his head, his lips brushing yours as he lifted his leg over his hip and pressed you up against the door. He grabbed his cock and ran it up and down your slit, placing it at your entrance before flashing you a smug grin, "oh, I know. But that's alright, can you try for me?"

You nodded, "yes, yes I'll try." He slid inside you in one smooth thrust and you let out a strangled moan.

His hips started to rock and you muffled your noises in his solid body, Manny didn't seem to like that because he was pulling out of you and spinning you around and slamming back inside you with a grunt. One hand found your temple as he pulled your head back to access your neck, his teeth nipping at your skin as he slid his hand down your body to rub your clit.

You let out a particularly desperate moan and the sound finally made it outside. Raul was sitting at the table with Yuma, doing his best to ignore the sounds that were so opposite to what he had described to his new friends, his lie becoming more evident with every thrust of Manny's hips.

Coco leapt up from his spot sitting with his friends and walked over to the speakers before turning to dial a notch and sitting back down with a shake of his head, "you alright man?"EZ was barely holding back his laugh.

Coco shook his head, "I do not need to hear this."

Angel sighed and sipped his beer then stood up seeing his opportunity when Raul left to get more beer for table, he wandered over to the bar, not even glancing at the man as he spoke, "I bet you're feeling real stupid, I would say that could have been you if you'd played your cards right but we both know that would have never happened. I guess you'll have those pretty noises to keep you going, it's not like you'll ever be the cause of them."

Back in the closet, you could hear the music coming through the door, someone must have turned it up a notch or two to hide the sounds of your pleasure. Manny nipped your ear and groaned into your hair as he felt you get tighter around him, "I guess you couldn't be quiet enough, what am I going to do about that?"

You couldn't form words as he pushed you over the edge with a well aimed thrust. "There you go, you did so well for me." He chased his own high, slamming his fist against the wall as he peaked. He held you up and slipped out of you, his lips pressing gently to the back of your neck as his hands ran up and down your arms.

"You good Mi Amor?" His voice was rough but calm as you spun around, pressed your chest to his and leaned against him.

"I'm perfect."

Manny brushed your sweat stuck hair off your face and dropped his forehead into yours, "that's good, you need anything?"

You shook your head, "no, I'm just preparing myself for what we're going to walk back into."

Manny chuckled, "if anyone upsets you I'll punch them." He pulled his pants back up then collected the rest of his clothes, helping your dress before throwing his kutte on and placing his hand on the door, "you ready?"

You nodded and he pulled it open, throwing an arm over your shoulder and walking out. There was a round of applause and you buried your face in his neck in embarrassment, Angel walked over with a smirk, "so, you kids have fun?"

You punched his chest, "shut the fuck up, I wasn't that loud."

Manny grabbed your hand and brought it to his lips, shaking his head with a soft chuckle, "come now Mi Amor, there's no need for that."

Angel didn't relent, "I mean, you were before Coco turned up the music to drown you out. I'm happy for you, I really am."

Manny smiled at glanced behind him at Raul and his new friends before pressing a kiss to your cheek, "I'll be right back." You walked off with Angel and sat on one of the couches to look at the unfolding scene as Manny approached the former Santo Padre prospect.

He tapped the man on the shoulder, his chest puffed out as he spoke, "I want an apology."

Raul balked, "fucking why?"

Manny smiled, "because you talked shit about my lady and I can't stand for that. I've proved you wrong about y/n and now I want you to tell me you're sorry. Until you leave here you're still our bitch so I want to hear you say it."

Canche didn't seem impressed, "look I get it, he said shit about your bitch and now you need to correct him but I think you've done enough of that already when you almost broke your hand on his face. There's no reason to fuck up this good thing we have going over some whore."

Everyone felt the air get cold, "what the fuck did you just say?"

You shuddered, the calm coolness in Manny's voice didn't bode well for Canche. You got up, hoping to be able to stop it before it became nasty but Angel put his hand on your shoulder, "let him handle it."

Canche stood up and did his best to look intimidating, "I said, your woman is a……." The crack of Manny's fist was bone shattering, and you flinched out of your skin as Canche hit the ground, the urge to get up and step in almost unbearable.

Canche didn't stand a chance, Manny gripped his kutte and held him up as his fist landed on his face. Bishop tried to step in but he only managed to pull Manny away when EZ joined. Angel finally let you up and you ran over, "are you alright?"

Manny's chest was heaving, "I'm fine, I want to go home."

You took a deep breath, "alright, we'll go home." You looked towards Bishop who gave you a quick nod as just like that, you left.

Epilogue

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spaghettificationandpretzels · 2 years ago

Text

Like Real People Do

Mayans MC Masterlist

Part five of A Gentle Kind of Love

Any blank spaces are not meant to be there, I will fix them as soon as they show up so please just check again a little later if that happens to you.

Contains: Angst, blood, violence, hurt/comfort, fake dating, Angel being a little shit, nightmares, migraines, Manny being sweet. I stole some of this from Brooklyn Nine Nine.

6.3K words

Comment if you want to be tagged/removed or follow #a gentle kind of love.

Honey, just put your sweet lips on my lips. We should just kiss like real people do.

"Any last words shithead?"

Angel looked to his side as the other men came closer, their plan forming silently as Manny turned to you "I just want you to know, that I l......"

BANG

You dropped at the sound of the shot and felt wetness spray on your face as your brain kicked into action, shoving the man in front of you to the ground and climbing on top of him to slam the back of his head into the hard concrete.

You heard more shots but had no idea what was going on, your instinct told you were ok but as the world narrowed, your thought left the now unconscious man and turned to Manny.

You could hear the others, Bishop yelling for someone to bring the van as you looked around. The man that was standing over Manny was dead, a bullet between his eyes and you jumped as Manny appeared in front of you and looked you over.

"Is this your blood?"

You reached and wiped your face, "no, it's his. Are you alright?"

He nodded, "I'm fine, are you?"

You took a deep breath, "I'm fine, that guy is still alive, we should grab him so the Club can ask him some questions."

Manny nodded, "done, let's get you home."

You opened your mouth to protest but Manny shook his head, "had you not stalled them we would be dead, the least I can do is take you home."

You shook your head, "let's see what Bishop says first, they might need you."

Manny sighed and yelled out, "Bis are you good for me to take y/n home?"

Bishop wandered over and waved to EZ and Angel to grab the leader, now awake and groaning, "yeah, you're still staying with her until we know this is done."

You didn't complain, it would be nice to have Manny around for a little longer, "what about the cops? This area might be quiet but someone has to have done something."

Bishop shook his head, "we're dealing with it, no one's going to bother us. Head home, I'll call Manny when we know more."

You smiled, "thank you for getting here in time."

Bishop huffed, "nah, don't thank me. It was your quick thinking that let Coco know you were in trouble in the first place." He put his hand on Manny's shoulder, "good work, brother. We called Marcus before we left, he'll be here soon. Are you alright to tell him what went down?"

Manny nodded, "if it's alright with y/n he can come to her place?"

You sighed, "that's fine with me. I'd like to get home so I can get this blood off me."

Manny gave you a small smile, "alright Tesoro, I'll take you home."

You got home to the cats meowing at you, and you took in a shaky breath, "are you sure you're ok?" Manny's hand was on your shoulder, the warmth of his palm coming through your shirt

You sighed, "yeah, I was just worried I'd never see them again. If I had died they would have thought I just up and left them."

Manny swallowed the rising tears, "hey, we're both alive because of you." The image of him lunging as you dropped your last finger came to mind, between the gunshots and your own fight, you didn't realise he was paying attention. You glanced down at Manny's hand on your shoulder, it was bruised and the skin was bleeding and open.

"I better clean your hands up, they look really nasty." Before leaving, you reached out and placed your hand on Lady Midnight's head as she pressed her forehead into your palm. You felt your throat get tight and, without thinking, spun and wrapped your arms around Manny, Manny squeezing you back as the fear faded.

You buried your face in his chest, barely able to hold back the tears, "I am so sorry, this is all my fault."

You felt him stiffen, "what the fuck are you talking about? And don't you dare say it's because you wanted to go out or you got us into his mess in the first place, without you we would both be dead and the Club wouldn't have any answer. My guess is that they've got one of Galindo's guys there now working that fucker over."

He pulled out of the hug and took your bloodied face into his bruised hands, "I don't want to hear that shit from you ever again, understand?" You swallowed, "no, you're going to be in the shit if you keep this up."

You smiled softly, "I understand. I really better look at your hands, I'm worried you're going to get fight bite."

Manny made a face and nodded, "I might take you up on that."

Bishop extended his hand "glad you could get here so fast, how are things in Charming?"

Happy shrugged, "we're not too happy about being back in this shit. Jax has another baby on the way, we thought we were done." He dropped his tools and the table and wandered over to the restrained man, "why does he look like that?"

The man's eyes were unfocused, his head lolled to the side, "y/n did it, she got the jump on his when the shooting started."

Happy nodded, "good for her, brave woman. I think I'll be able to get something out of him before the brain injury kills him." He turned back to Bishop, "look man, we want this over as much as you but the Sons are not getting back into the game. Jax has already asked around, if you need more help up north you've got it but we've already dealt with the problem on our end."

Bishop nodded, "yeah, we know. Jax made it clear that he was done. Don't worry, after this we'll keep you out of it."

"You feeling better after a shower?"

You nodded and reached across the pet the cat on Manny's lap, "much, Mr Butts missed you."

Manny chuckled, "I missed him too, the little guy is becoming my best friend."

You smiled, "I am not offended."

Manny looked at you, there was something soft in his eyes that was hard to place but because you could say something, his phone buzzed. Manny took it out of his pocket and sighed, "Marcus and Bish will be here soon. The guy talked, Bishop says they'll tell us more when they get here."

You closed your eyes in a mix of frustration and exhaustion, "alright, I'll put some coffee on."

"Hello, welcome to my home."

Marcus offered you an easy smile as he kicked off his shoes, "thank you for letting me in, we have some good news that I'm sure will help with this, nevertheless I think Emmanuel should stay for a few more days."

You nodded, "that's fine." They walked in and you headed to the kitchen, getting the coffee set and taking it out into the main room while they talked.

You placed it on the table with a smile then sat down yourself, Manny stopping you when you went to pour them a drink, "we can do it, stop making a fuss."

Bishop smiled, "where are the cats?"

You pointed to the sunroom, "I think Mr Butts will lose his shit when he see Marcus, I'm keeping them locked up so no one gets a cat in their face."

Marcus chuckled, "this is their home too and we are imposing, please let them out."

You huffed, "alright then, it's your face that's getting licked."

Sure enough, when you let them out the sound of three cats trotting on the hardwood floors filled the air. With a flash, Mr Butterscotch was on Marcus' lap, "this must me the famous Mr Butts I've heard all about, aren't you a sweet thing." Mr Butts got right to rubbing his head all over Marcus while Manny sat there looking unimpressed.

You smiled and picked Sir Fluffernutter off the floor and placed him in Manny's lap, "oh you poor thing, are you jealous?"

Manny scoffed, "I thought he was my buddy."

You shook your head and turned back to the other men, "what did you learn?"

Bishop smiled, "before the guy had a massive seizure and died from the head injury you gave him? It looks like this is connected to a business we look after. Some new rich peeker wood in town wants to buy it and he can't because the owners won't sell. The same guy caused waves in Charming a few years ago. I hate to do this too you but we need to ask you another favour."

Manny's voice was harsh as he spoke, "no fucking way Bish, hasn't she been through enough?"

The glare you gave Manny reminded Marcus of how Izzy used to look at him when he tried to pull the same macho shit, "you don't get a say Emmanuel. What do you need?"

Marcus smiled, "do you have next tomorrow free?"

You nodded, "yep, plus I've decided to take this week off work to recover so my whole dance card is free."

Manny clenched his jaw, "whatever it is I'm going with her."

Marcus didn't protest, "that's fine. This guy has another restaurant and he's meeting one of his buyers. We just need you to go to the place to have dinner and let us know when he shows up. He always has dinner with his wife at the same table right by the kitchen."

You smiled, "that's easy, you just tell me the time, place and dress code."

Manny huffed, "what if he recognises her?"

Bishop clenched his jaw, "he has no idea who y/n is, she's fine with it. Stop being difficult, if you don't stop being a bitch about it I'll send Angel along to keep her safe."

Your brow furrow, "please don't talk to Manny like that, he's just worried about me."

Bishop took a deep breath, "we'll talk tomorrow but I think we should let both of you get some rest."

You smiled, "thank you gentlemen."

You saw them out, the expression on Manny's face unreadable, "what's going on in your head? And don't even think about lying to me."

Manny sighed, "I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to you."

You smiled, "you'll be there won't you, you're not going to let me get hurt. Plus, we'll get a nice dinner out of it."

Manny smiled, "nah, it won't be anywhere near as good as what you cook."

You had a small dinner later into the night, warming up a meal you had frozen with plans to have after a long day at work so you wouldn't have to cook, "I'll sleep on the pullout tonight." Manny's tone gave you no room to move.

"I can tell you won't take no for an answer so how about we take turns?"

Manny sighed, "fine, but you're taking the bed tonight."

You smiled, "thank you, you're very sweet."

Manny smiled back, his hand reaching across the table to hold yours, "nah, I'm just being a good guest and as long as I get to hang with the cats I'm alright with fucking up my back for one night."

The sound of distant shots didn't make you jump anymore, you had grown as used to it as the sound of your own breathing. It was the sound of the cars that had you worried and a quick glance at though the opening of the brown tent told you that you had every reason to be, the rebels were here. The child you were treating shared your worry, his gaze darting from you to the tent flap and back again.

You looked at your colleague, his eyes wide with worry, "we have a deal, they can't hurt us or our patients."

You swallowed, "you know why we're here right? We're here to put their leader away. That sack of files under that bed are full of testimony from his child soldiers."

You heard the cars stop and thumping as men jumped out of the opened topped cars and onto the ground, "they're here for the files, what do we do?" Your friend was right, you had heard rumours that the rebel general was making deals and there was no way he was going to let war crimes get in the way of that.

You squared your shoulders and put on a brave face, turning to the boy sitting on the bed getting his arm patched up, "I'm going to talk to these men then send you home, alright? You have nothing to worry about."

His face filled with fear but he nodded, "ok miss." You spun and faced the entrance waiting for them to walk up, their shadows filling the small place as a man reached out to open the tent.

"Hello, if you're here from treatment, you may need to wait, we have a lot of people to care for before we get to you." You tried to keep your voice even and your tone neutral.

The man smiled, it was cold, the action not reaching his eyes, "are you Dr y/n?"

You nodded, "I am, if you want to talk to me about the things you have seen, I have more than enough time for you when I'm done with my patients with physical ailments."

He stepped further into the tent, "we are here for your files, you will give them to us then we will be on our way."

You huffed, "and if I don't? We have an agreement with your boss that you will not harm anyone at this camp."

The nasty smile grew, "your agreement with our general is only in place with your complete cooperation." He raised the gun hanging over his back and you placed yourself in front of the little boy, his tiny hands gripping your shirt in fear, "that goes away if you want to be difficult."

You bit the inside of your cheek, "they're under the bed, take them and leave."

The man waved his friends in and they were gone moments later, every ounce of evidence against the monster they worked for leaving with them, "you got what you came for, now go."

He tilted his head, "thank you miss, you have been very helpful."

You had a terrible feeling as they left, a nervousness that made you reluctant to turn around and reassure the little boy that everything was going to be ok, it was the flurry of gunshots and the screaming that let you know you were right.

Manny couldn't sleep, he would nod off then wake up an hour later, look at the clock then turn around and try and again. He tossed and turned until two then he gave up, sitting up and placing his hand on Lady Midnight's soft body while her belly rose and fell as she slept.

His ears pricked at a sound, a soft whimper that had him worried. He listened and it came again, the momentary thought that the sound coming from your room was something else disappearing as your distress hit him full force.

He was up and towards your room before he could think, not stopping to think as his hand reached out to gently stroke your shoulder. Your eyes shot open and you took in a breath, composing yourself as you calmed down and turned the dial on the lamp on your bedside table, the room filling with a gentle light. "Is everything alright, are the cats ok. I didn't hear the alarm go off?"

You looked around the room, feeling a mix of fear from the leftover nightmare and shame for waking him up. Manny sat down as you sat up, his hand landing just above your knee, "I think you had a bad dream, I didn't want you to be scared."

You felt the emotions remerge, "I'm fine, I'm sorry I woke you. You can go back to bed."

Manny shook his head, "you're not fine, I couldn't sleep anyway. You wanna tell me what you were dreaming about?"

You shrugged, "the usual, I've seen a lot of horrible shit. Are you sure I didn't wake you up?"

He nodded, "nope I was wide awake, I can go back to the lounge room if you want?"

You shook your head and placed your hand over the one that was on your knee, "stay, please." You blinked, realising what you had just asked, "I don't want you to do anything you're not comfortable with, you don't have to."

He was already climbing into bed next to you, "even though that pullout is the most uncomfortable thing I've ever slept on, I slept great last night so maybe you're magic."

You giggled softly, "I don't think so."

There was another awkward moment as you thought over how you were going to lie back down, but Manny opened his arms, "come here." You caught the look on his face, his eyes soft and filled with affection as the corner of his lips tilted up ever so slightly. You reached over and turned off the lamp then settled into his arms, resting your head on his chest over his heart while Manny's hand softly gripped your upper arm while his thumb rubbed the skin.

"You were going to say something earlier, before the shooting started, what was it?"

Manny didn't know what to say so he lied, "I was going to say I wasn't upset that your face was the last face I was ever going to see."

You placed a hand on the other side of his chest, your fingering stroking his bare skin, "a little wordy, don't you think? I mean, I'm flattered and the sentiment is returned, but I feel a hearty fuck you is the best way to go out."

He chuckled, the pleasant noise reverberating through your skull, "I'll remember that for next time, Good night y/n."

You yawned and nuzzled further into his arms, "good night Emmanuel."

You woke in the same position you were in when you fell asleep, in Manny's embrace with your head over his heart. He was already awake, patting Sir Fluffernutter with the hand that had been on your upper arm "Help me, I've been stuck here for twenty minutes and every time I stop he bites me."

You giggled, sat up, and removed Sir Fluff from his chest, who responded with an unimpressed meow. "You good?"

He nodded, "I'm great, I really got to pee though."

You shook your head, "go pee, I can only hold off the others for so long." With a kiss on his fluffy forehead, you put the cat down, went behind the bamboo privacy screen and got dressed. Manny came out and you could hear him rustling around in his bag for his clothes so he could get ready for the day.

"Thank you for staying with me last night, I know it might have been a bit weird."

You could almost hear him shake his head, "not weird at all, I mean, we slept in the same bed the night before too. Plus, I slept like a log. Have you heard from anyone yet?"

You shook your head, "nope, I was going to do some googling on the restaurant, you can join me if you like?"

You heard Lady Midnight meow, "alright, I'll pick you up." Another meow and Manny's attention turned back to you, "I'm decent if you want to come out from behind that thing."

You sighed and walked to your vanity to grab the sunscreen, "thank you. Lady Midnight interrupted before you could answer my question, you wanna do some googling with me?"

He smiled, "sure, it's not like I've got anything else to do and I'd much rather spend the day with you and the cats than deal with Angel and his questions."

You sighed, "maybe we don't tell him about any of this?"

Manny nodded aggressively, "yeah, good idea. He'll never let us live it down."

"This is going to be a problem. They might let you in but there's no way I'm getting inside a place this fancy unless I wear a scarf and I'm not doing that." Manny's tone was a mix of frustration and anger.

You thought for a moment, "foundation and a good concealer, I'll have that tattoo covered right up. Unless you're fine with me going in alone?"

He shook his head and stood up, "is a drug store fine or do you need to go to some fancy makeup shop."

You chuckled, "the drug store is fine."

Manny grabbed your keys and you headed off, "I think we should stop by my place and pick up some nicer clothes, I think I have a dress shirt in the back of my closet somewhere."

You nodded, "good idea, I can iron it all nice for you. Did you look at the menu?"

Manny chuckled, "yeah, since it's not on my dime I'm thinking about getting the deluxe king's meal, steak, oysters, a chocolate mud cake."

You smiled, "sound yummy. I'm getting the wild mushroom ravioli with chicken bone broth and crispy onions."

Manny's eyebrows wrinkled, "what if it has truffles?"

You smiled, "it doesn't but the fact that you remember that I don't like them is real sweet."

He grinned, "yeah, I am sweet."

You shook your head, "don't push it, I could easily draw a penis on your face while I'm covering up that tat and you'd never know."

Manny gasped in fake offence, "you wouldn't?"

You nodded, "yep, a big old dick."

He shook his head and looked around, "is this place alright?"

It was the drug store on Mainstreet, "it's fine, you'll have to park and come in with me, I need to match everything to your skin tone."

"Are you having fun?" Manny didn't seem bored or upset.

"I want to get it perfect." You have been swatching foundations for twenty minutes before you found one that fit perfectly, "this one is good and I've already got concealer and power so we can go now. The bonus is it's all cruelty free. Your place now?"

He nodded, "yep, I'll be fast."

Manny didn't seem happy to be home, "what wrong?"

He shrugged, "I forgot how empty this place is, I'll be two seconds Tesoro, I know what I need."

You waited for him on the small couch, he was right, the place was pretty empty. He came out with his shirt in hand a few minutes later, "I'm good to go, you wanna head back to your place or stop over for something?"

You thought for a moment, then had an idea, "come on, I'm taking you for the best ice cream money can buy."

"Wow, this place is old fashioned."

You nodded, "I know but they have the nicest stuff ever, it's made in house and everything."

His eyes got wide when he saw the menu then something came over his face, "it reminds me of a place I used to take my sister."

You smiled softly, "I bet she had so much fun."

Manny nodded, "they have her favourite." He pointed to the item on the menu then cast his eyes to the ground. There was a sadness in his voice, a longing that came from loss.

You walked up to and went to order, "we'll take two of the strawberries and cream thick shakes please."

Manny looked at you, his expression soft, "can you add some extra strawberry sauce and caramel?"

The cashier nodded, "of course."

Manny turned to you with a smile, "she used to think having it with extra caramel made her grown up." There was a pause as he swallowed the lump in his throat, "thank you."

You placed a hand on his arm, "she would want you to remember that happy times, not the times when she was sick. If getting a thick shake can help you do that then that's the least I can do as your friend."

You waited until the drinks were ready than sat down, "you know what would make this whole thing even better?"

Manny smiled, "what?"

You pointed over to the hot food corner, "french fries." You popped up and ran over, buying a small cup and placing it in the middle of the table.

"Are you suggesting we dip the fries in the shake?"

You shrugged, "if you want, I'm going to enjoy them separately because I have a platelet but that's your choice."

Manny smirked at you, took two fries and swept them through the and popped them in his mouth, "it's really good."

You shook your head, "you are terrible, how are you going to go from this to gulping down oysters?"

There was a twinkle in his eyes, "I got a wide range of tastes Tesoro."

Time got away on you, and by the time you returned home, you had just enough time to shower and get dressed before heading off to the restaurant. You did your best not to look at Manny's bare chest as you covered up his tattoo, Manny giggling as you brushed the sponge over a particularly sensitive spot. You felt strange with your makeup done while wearing a shirt and pair of shorts, unwilling to put your dress on just yet in case you got it dirty.

"You alright?" His tone was light.

"I'm fine, I'm just trying to make this look good."

Manny smiled, "I'm sure you'll do fine, you just seemed flustered is all."

You rushed to find the right words, "you are very nice to look at and I didn't want to be weird, I realise I have just made it weird. Also with your tattoo covered up, you look like the TA I had a huge crush on in college."

Manny chuckled, "nah, you didn't make it weird but that's good to know."

You huffed, "don't be smug."

Manny went to respond but you heard someone key in the alarm code, then heard Coco's voice, "you guys ready to go?"

You looked over Manny's neck, then picked up the powder to set it before sending him out with his ironed shirt in hand, "I need to put my dress on, I'll be two minutes."

Manny headed out, his eyes rolling as he laid eyes on Angel, "what were you doing in y/n's bedroom?"

Manny shook his head, "she was making sure we got inside, nothing happened."

Angel shot him a look, "sure brother."

You came out a few minutes later, Manny's eyes going wide as he took you in. He stood up and looked you over, mute as he tried to come up with something to say, "you look really pretty."

You giggled, "thank you." The dress was simple, blue with small white flowers and capped sleeves. You turned to the other with a smile, "shall we head out?"

Angel smiled, "yeah, we'll head out. You do look nice."

You rolled your eyes, "you are a menace."

You went over your story while you were in the van, Manny adding his own thoughts as you went along. The plan was to wait until the business associate arrived then you would let the men in the van know they were there. You arrived and fixed your dress as you got out, Manny taking your hand as you walked to the restaurant, "you sure we didn't need a reservation?"

The worry in his voice was well founded, the line was long, "Angel said we didn't"

You got up to the host desk and she smiled before asking for a reservation, "we don't have one, I thought you guys took walk ins?"

You thought fast, taking the ring from around one finger and slipping it over your ring finger before wrapping your arm around Manny, "it's just that we had our first date here and we're celebrating our anniversary. I know it's a lot to ask but we got this really nice seat by the window near the kitchen. Not that I noticed the view with him sitting in front of me."

The host smiled, "I'll see what we can do, just a moment please."

She walked away and Manny gave you a look, "what?"

He shook his head, and leaned in close, "our friends just walked in, any bet they heard that?"

You smiled, "that's the plan."

You were seated right away, the host coming back with a smile as she led you to your table, "please take all the time you need, you cleared the table for the night." You had just enough time to the let the others know they were there before the man and his wife sat down next to you.

You picked up the menu and tried to act natural while the wife turned to you with a smile, "we overheard you guys, congratulations on getting engaged."

You smiled back at her and grabbed Manny's hand across the table, "thank you, it's been the best year of my life."

Manny placed his free hand on top of yours, his smile filled with affection, "how did you know?"

You wrinkled your eyebrows, "what do you mean?"

She pointed towards your ring, "how did you know you want to spend the rest of your life with him?"

You smiled, looking at Manny while you tried to find the words, "he makes me feel safe, like a war could be going on outside and nothing could touch me as long as he was there."

"What about you?" It was the first time you heard the man talk, he must have been paying more attention then he was letting on.

Manny leaned in closer to you and you swore you saw more than just affection in his eyes as he spoke, "she is the warmest, kindest person I've ever met. I know that no matter what's going on, she'll always help me through it. It helps that she's the most beautiful thing I've ever laid my eyes on."

You felt your face get warm and you giggled, "he's very charming too."

The man smiled at you and waved a waiter over, "your best wine for our friends and a dozen oysters and your best steaks."

You went to protest, "please let me show you a good time, there's nothing better than young love."

Manny smiled, "you're very kind, thank you sir."

You spoke to them most of the night, it was surprisingly easy to answer their questions, the lies feeling less and less like lies as the night went on. The man got a call and walked off and before long, his wife was leaving too, "it was lovely meeting you two. I think you have a long and happy marriage ahead of you."

When she was out of view, Manny's hand remained on yours, "we need to get out there and find out who he's talking to."

You nodded, "good idea, he went out onto the street, if we head out the back we can watch from the alley."

You thanked the staff, then headed out the back entrance, walking up the alleyway until you could hear the man speaking before you rested against the brick wall and pulled Manny in close, his eyes going wide, "what are you doing?"

You smiled and placed your hands on his shoulder, "I'm making this look like a private conservation between lovers."

Manny smiled and leaned in closer, listening to the man's conversations.

"I don't know where you're getting off, you told me you'd have the finance and now you don't, what kind of shady shit are you pulling?"

You pressed your cheek to Manny's, "it doesn't look like he knows what going on, maybe this guy is just in it for the cash."

You listened further and it became muggier, the one sided conversation making it seem like he had some idea what was going on but didn't really care.

He must have realised you were there because he turned his head to look towards the alleyway. Manny thought fast, whispering out a quick apology before pressing his lips to yours. You were stunned for a few moments before melting into the kiss. Time faded as he held your face in his hands as you held his waist. One hand left your cheek and moved to your ribs to pull you closer, a soft moan coming out of your mouth without your permission.

Your hand moved to the back of his head and you nipped his lower lips, Manny letting out a grunt as he deepened the kiss even further. "Sorry." Manny moved impossibly closer as the man brushed by you, his lips finally detached from yours as he walked away.

There were a few moments of silence while you shared the same air then the magic was gone, "we should get back to the van."

Manny nodded and rubbed his face, "good idea." He placed his hand on your lower back as you walked back to the others, the door opening as you got close.

Angel gave you a smile, "how was dinner?" There was something in his tone that had you worried.

"Dinner was nice, did you get what you needed?" You felt the telltale signs of a migraine coming on, the outcome of the wine you were drinking at dinner

Coco nodded, "yep, we had plenty of time to go snooping."

Angel smiled, "dinner was just good? Because what happened in that alleyway says otherwise."

You clenched your jaw, "please shut up, had Manny not kissed me he might have caught on, it was just a part of the act."

Angel raised an eyebrow, "you keep telling yourself that. We'll drive you two back to your place, if all goes well, Manny should be back in his own bed tomorrow night."

You made it halfway to your house before you couldn't hide how much pain you were in, "are you alright Tesoro?"

You shook your head, "I should not have had that wine."

Coco's turned sharply towards you, "you had wine, were you asking for a migraine?

You sighed, "I didn't really have an option, I just like to go home so I can rest."

Manny swallowed and placed his hand on your knee, "I'll feed the cats and clean their trays, the moment we get in you can go and have a hot shower, take your meds and lie down."

You smiled as best you could, "I don't have the energy to protest, I owe you."

Manny chuckled, "don't mention it."

You gave the cats a quick hello before going right into the bedroom to shower, leaving Manny and Angel in the living room.

"Can you cover for me at Templo tomorrow, I know she's going to feel shit and I don't want to leave her alone."

Angel smiled, "sure mano. When are you going to tell her the truth?"

Manny glared at him, "dude, just let it go. She's my friend, I don't want to ruin anything between us."

Angel shook his head, "maybe you should grow a set of testicles and just try, judging by that kiss, I think she returns your feelings."

The cats meowing brought the conversation to a merciful stop, "I need to feed the cats, go or you'll be picking up their shit."

Angel headed towards the door with a smile, "just remember what I said."

Manny waited a while after he heard the shower stop before going to the kitchen and grabbing some crackers and cold water before knocking on your door.

"Come in."

The cats came rushing and jumped on the bed while Manny sat on the edge and put the tray down, "thank you, you didn't need to do that."

Manny smiled, "it's alright, did you take your meds?"

You nodded, "yep, they'll take about an hour but I'll be fine in the morning."

Manny placed his hand on your knee, an action that was starting to feel deeply familiar, "can I stay with in here with you again tonight, I don't really want to spend the night on that thing and there's no way I'm letting you do it."

You smiled softly, "I would like that very much."

"Where's Manny?" Marcus was relieved that it was finally over, the information they gained last night being the final nail in the coffin.

Angel smirked, "with y/n, she wasn't feeling well last night and he didn't want to leave her all by herself today."

Marcus nodded, "that's understandable with everything that she's been through this last week but I'm getting the sense that's there more to it than that. What the hell is going on between them?"

The look on Bishop's face could have frozen hell, "not you too." He huffed, "they're in love and their both too scared to say anything, if it's not bad enough that I have to hear about it from these fucks every chanced they get, I have to get it from you now too?"

Marcus was taken aback but he recovered quickly, "how long has this being going on?"

"Since they met, and before you ask any more questions, they've both admitted it." Of course Angel would let the cat out of the bag.

Coco's eyes went wide, "y/n came clean, well shit, I never saw that coming."

Creep huffed, "some friend you are, are you blind? It's pretty obvious how she feels about him."

Marcus slammed his hand on the table and turned to Bishop, "you better deal with this Primo or I'll send Izzy to."

They all collectively shuddered, no one wanted that.

Part 6

Song inspo for this post Hozier - Like Real People Do

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spaghettificationandpretzels · 2 years ago

Text

Be Known in its Aching

Mayans MC Masterlist

Part three of A Gentle Kind of Love.

Contains: Fluff, mutual pining, angst (endless longing, discussion of sibling death, sadness and grief, combat and war and past near-death experience.) flashbacks in italics, slow burn.

5.5k words

Comment if you want to be tagged/removed or follow #a gentle kind of love.

Wasteland, baby, I'm in love, I'm in love with you.

"What are you fuckers gossiping about now?" Bishop wasn't happy, they had returned to Oakland from Santo Padre in the early morning after dropping you off. They were back home now, milling around the Clubhouse, acting like idiots.

"Manny and the good doctor Pres, something happened when we took her home."

Bishop sighed, resigning to the fact that this was happening, "you wanna tell me what?"

Angel smiled, "well, he walked her to her door and she kissed him."

Bishop's eyes went wide, "on the mouth?"

Coco shook his head, "on the cheek but it looked, umm, affectionate."

Bishop huffed, "this is what you're wasting your time about, a kiss on the cheek? Get back to work you shitheads."

You had been a worried mess since Manny dropped you home two days ago and your conversation with Coco the next day hasn't helped.

You kept going back to your phone, considering calling Manny and explaining yourself when Coco called you. You picked up and didn't even give him a chance to speak, "oh my God, I made such a fool out of myself."

Coco chuckled, "nah, the dude hasn't stopped smiling, it's getting creepy."

"What the fuck do you mean? Please just put me out of my misery."

He snorted, "no. I was calling to tell you your car's almost fixed, I'll drop it by your office before you head home tomorrow."

You rubbed your face, "thanks Coco. Has Angel been terrible?"

Coco chuckled, "yep, he's right you know."

You shook your head, "no he's not. We're just friends."

"Sure y/n."

A knock on your office door had you shaking your head, "doing paperwork, can I help you?"

It was your security guy Barry, "ahh, Manny? Is here with your car."

You shot up and opened the door, "tall, neck tattoo?"

He nodded, "that's the fella."

You smiled, "thanks B, all go out there and deal with it."

Barry stopped you, his thick English accent making the whole situation feel even more ridiculous, "you and the lad, is something going on there?"

You sighed, "no, has a man named Angel turned up in your dreams to tell you differently?"

Barry shook his head, "nah, just something about the way he looked when I said I'd send you out."

You walked outside to be greeted by Manny leaning against your car holding your keys up, "your steed."

You smiled, "my steed? How fancy."

He smiled, "the last time we saw each other, you did look like a princess, so I figure it fits."

You shook your head, "thank you Manny. How was the rest of your weekend?"

He smiled, "good, it looks like we won't have to go to Charming."

You breathed a sigh of relief, "that's good, the Club has its own mess to clean up without having to deal with anyone else's."

Manny's shoulders dropped, "yeah I know. It's getting worse, Yuma not even bothering to call to help with the Sons, shit's brewing."

You blinked, "unless all the other charters get on board there's nothing you can do. I know SP and Yuma have been at each other's throats since Marcus chose you guys for the new pipeline but Canche still has the connections."

"It's not just that, what happened in the desert caused some kind of cosmic shift. Shit's gonna hit the fan if nothing is done about it."

You shrugged, "what can you do? It either gets worse and something terrible happens or Canche comes to his senses and begs for people to stop seeing him as an enabler for a monster."

Manny nodded, "yeah, you're right." He tapped the hood of the car, "I gotta head back to the metal yard, you call me if anything goes wrong?"

You nodded, "will do, thank you for dropping it off."

He smiled, "no worries, I can't wait for the cake."

You got around to the cake a few days later, you had wrapped it up nice and taken to the metal yard when you were currently slicing it for Coco and Angel. "This is so good, how do you do it?"

It was muffled, "Angel, don't talk with your mouth full, it's made with strawberries from my garden and local honey." You looked around, "where's Manny?"

Angel shrugged, "he's in the back. He's been a bit sad, maybe you can cheer him up?"

You nodded, "thank you, I'll take him a slice." You put one on a plate and headed to the back office, softly knocking on the door and waiting for Manny to answer. He offered you a soft smile when he opened the door, "I brought cake." You held it out and he took it from you, looking at it like it was some foreign substance,

"It will keep for like five days, you don't need to eat it now. You seem down, is there something you want to talk about?"

The silence was deafening, "nah, it's just been a long week but it's better now that you're here, do you have some time to eat this with me?"

You nodded, "of course, let me get my own slice and a fork, I'll be right back."

You returned as fast as you could, sitting down next to him on the couch, "how's work been?"

He shrugged, "hauling scrap metal isn't all that fun."

You nodded in agreement, "I imagine, shit pay, no appreciation, possible hazards. Is there anything I can help with? I've done a lot of odd jobs through the years."

He smiled, "nah, how's your day been?"

You thought for a moment, "good, one of my favourite patients had their last regular appointment today, they're at a place where they'll only need to stop in if things take a turn."

Manny's head tilted, "are you allowed to have favourite patients?"

You sighed, "in theory? No. In practice? Almost everyone does, I'm still human and in all honesty, the parents play a roll too."

He nodded, "I could not do your job, I'd start killing people."

You huffed, "you don't think I think about it, there are people I would happily shoot."

Manny's eyes went wide, "wow, I thought you were all about kindness and understanding."

You smiled, "most of the time I am but sometimes I just think about it, vivid homicidal fantasies keep me sane in court."

Manny seemed to agree, he also seemed a little brighter, "how's Mr Butterscotch?"

You smiled, "jonesing for a beard to lick, he looks behind me when I come home now."

Manny smiled, "that is so cute."

Something about him made you feel worried, "I mean, you can come over and provide yours, I think he'd be happy with that."

Manny averted his eyes, "I can't just drop by your place to hang out with your cats, I'd never leave."

You snorted, "please, come over and hangout with my cats, I only have so much lap to offer."

He laughed, "alright, how does tomorrow afternoon sound?"

You smiled, "that sounds great."

He was at your door right on four the next day, to your surprise, he opened his arms for a hug as you invited him in. You wrapped your arms around his body and squeezed and he almost collapsed into your embrace. A meow parted you and he bent down to pick up Mr Butts, the fluffy ginger cat going right to his beard.

"I miss the little guy."

You smiled, "judging by how his little paws are holding on to you, I think he feels the same way. You want something to eat? I'm making grilled cheese."

He shook his head, "nah, why are you always trying to feed me?"

You shrugged, "because you're my guest and I'm civilised, it's polite to offer you food."

"You punching Canche wasn't very civilised." There was humour in his voice.

"He was asking for it, maybe the kick to the testicles was uncivilised."

Manny chuckled and shook his head, "nah, that was awesome." He was still holding Mr Butts, burying his face in his fur.

He sniffed and a sadness came over the room, "you work with kids who have lost people, does it ever get easier?"

So that's why he was there, "it's like a open wound, it heals and scars over but it never goes away, you wanna tell me why that's on your mind?"

There was silence and then he spoke, "my little sister died when I was fifteen, her birthday is tomorrow."

You sat next to him and put your hand on his leg, his arms hugging the cat to his chest, "I'm so sorry for your pain, would you like to tell me what happened?"

He sniffed again and you could see his eyes getting red, "cancer, it was fucking horrible."

You nodded, "I can't imagine how terrible it must have been to watch her suffer that and I understand why you're so sad right now, it's clear to me how much she matters to you and you're not going to get to see her grow up. How old was she?"

"Seven, my parents tuned out at the end, I was the one there when it happened."

His voice was cracking now, "that's a lot of put on a young boy, you shouldn't have gone through that."

He nodded, "yeah, well it made me a man."

You nodded, "I can understand that, you had to do a lot of growing up in a very short amount of time."

Mr Butts settled on his lap as the other cats wandered in to see what was going on, Manny looked at Lady Midnight as she jumped on the couch and rubbed her head on his shoulder, "your cats are really sweet."

You nodded, "they know when people need a bit of love. Have you considered talking to someone about how you're feeling? "

He shook his head, "what's the point, it's not going to bring her back."

You nodded, "no, it won't but I never heard you say one thing about your parents and I'm getting the sense that you don't really like them that much."

He huffed, "I fucking hate them."

You could tell by his tone he wasn't lying, "I don't blame you, they left you to care for your dying sister all by yourself, I think would there was something up if you didn't have any ill will towards them."

"Really, I thought therapy was all about love and getting over shit."

You shook your head, "no, a lot of what I do is teaching people it's ok to hate people when they hurt you, it's ok never to want to talk to someone again. You just can't let it take over your life."

He smiled sadly, "I just miss her so much. She wanted to be a teacher, she'd spend all her time reading, when I couldn't find her I knew she be hiding under the stairs with her head in a book."

You smiled and reached up, wiping the tear from his cheek, "I have the whole night free, how about you tell me all about her."

Manny didn't know where to start, he was lost between being overwhelmed with her memory, the pain of losing her and not knowing where to start, "her name was Clara, she loved daisies and her favourite colour was yellow. She hated peas but loved fried rice so I used to pick out the peas for her so she didn't have to."

He was awash with visions, "I walked her to and from school every day and in the afternoon she tell me everything she learned, she was always so happy. When she got sick the worst part of it was that she was missing school so I would go to the library and print out worksheets and take them into the hospital."

He blinked away tears, and you placed your hand on his leg, "when she got really sick, she couldn't even hold up a pen so I would just read to her. She would fall asleep and I would stop then her eyes would..."

He could keep going, overwhelmed with pain and grief, he crumbled into your arms and started to sob, "I miss her so much."

You hugged him to you, trying to soothe the ache in his soul, "I am so sorry."

"You seemed better."

Manny nodded, "yeah."

His lack of elaboration had Coco curious, "you went and saw y/n."

It was a statement, not a question, "she's really great."

Coco smiled, "I know, you love her don't you?"

Manny sighed, "yeah, I do." It's not like everyone was in the dark, it was clear by the way he looked at you that he loved you, it was just that he hadn't said it out loud yet, "please don't tell Angel, he'll never let me forget it."

"Tell me what?"

They jumped, "where the fuck did you come from?"

Angel shrugged, "I was in the yard, what don't you want me to know about?"

Coco smiled, "Manny's in love with the good doctor."

Manny glared at Coco while Angel smiled, "tell me something I don't know, you gonna grow a set of balls and tell her?"

"Nah, I ain't going to ruin our friendship."

Angel huffed while Coco shook his head, "are you blind mano? She's into you."

Manny wasn't listening, "you're seeing shit that isn't there Angel, you need to let it go."

Angel sighed, "alright, but I'm gonna be telling you I told you so."

"GET BACK TO WORK YOU LAZY FUCKS."

Bishops booming voice filled the yard, "sorry Bish."

Coco slapped Manny's chest, "you heard him, we've got to get back to it."

It had been four days since Manny's visit and you were at the metal yard hanging out after a long day at work, "you guys seem busy?"

EZ nodded, "we got a contract from a used car guy, he sends us the ones that he can't sell."

You raised your eyebrows "good for you, I hope you don't find anything gross."

Coco cringed, "it was one time, how were we supposed to know people think you can dispose of bodies in a compactor."

"Have you ever seen a mob movie? It's like the most common way."

EZ shook his head, "I thought that was concrete shoes?"

You waved your arms around, "do you see any water around here?"

Manny came wandering in, a smile on his face, "are you still going on about that body? It was probably just some dealer disposing of his rival."

There was a loud noise, not unusually for the work going on but the screams that followed had everyone running, you rounded the corner and found the source of the yelling. Riz had a piece of rebar embedded in his shoulder.

Without thinking, you pulled off your top to wrap the wound, running over to him to hold the hunk of metal steady. "You need to call an ambulance, I don't think it hit anything but the longer it stays in the worse it's going to be."

Manny was standing in front of you, his eyes locked on your body, you could see the wheels in his brain turning as he took in the deep scar on your stomach. "I got shot, now stop fucking gawking and call for help." It didn't take long for the ambulance to arrive and Bishop directed you to the bathroom where you could clean up.

Knock knock

"Yeah, come in." Manny opened the door his eyes stuck on the back wall as he handed you a spare work shirt, "thanks."

He nodded, seemingly wanting to say something, "ask, everyone does."

He blinked, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to stare."

You shook your head, "it's fine, I looked like I was gored by a bull."

He huffed, "it's honestly pretty badass. What happened, I mean, if you don't mind telling me?"

"It happened in Afghanistan, I was working at a brick and mortar field hospital and had just finished a group therapy session for a bunch of kids when two Afghani cops went rogue and went looking for people to kill. Their first stop was my office. I was wearing a bulletproof vest but one of them had a sawed off shotgun. The gun I was given jammed and he got the best of me, most of the pellets went through the vest and into me."

Many blinked, "what happened next?"

You sighed, "I raised my sidearm and fired, it hit the mark and he dropped like a sack of potatoes. I was mostly ok, but some of the pellets ended up in my right lung. After the guy died, I don't remember much, I could hear someone screaming for a medic turns out it was me. Then the next guy came in, I knew that was it because with all the blood I was losing, there was no way I could fire my gun again, then the guy's head exploded."

Manny was deep in thought, "Coco?"

You nodded, "Yep, the man saved my life. All I could think about when I was lying there bleeding out was that I had to get to the ER with a chance or they'd let me die. I spent like four days at death's door. All I have left is this nasty thing and the pellets in a glass case."

Manny smiled, "that is so hardcore."

You chuckled, "yeah, it is. Not as hardcore as the time a patient's father stabbed me for getting his kid taken from him."

You pointed to the faint scar under your collarbone, "you're right, there's is a lot I don't know about you, I never would have guessed you were so metal."

You lifted the shirt up, "I'm gonna put the shirt on now, I'm getting kinda cold."

Manny looked at his hands, "yeah, I'm gonna see Riz, wanna come?"

"Yes please, I'd like to see how he's doing."

Riz was out two days later then it was time for another Friday party, this one was a big one since Marcus and Oakland were there. You were sitting by the fire with Manny and Creep, talking about Creep's strange fascination with mushrooms, "I was really disappointed when I had truffles."

He nodded, "yeah, they taste like dirt."

Manny huffed, "when did you two get so fancy?"

"It wasn't really my choice, I was on a date, he ordered for me."

Manny smiled, "I bet you hated that?"

You nodded, "he tried to order me wine after that, I got the hell out of there and took my dirt pasta with me."

Creep shook his head, "you took it with you?"

You nodded "out of spite, I gave it to Barry, he liked it."

"Wow, I learn more and more about you every day, what else have you done out of spite?"

There was something in Manny's tone that had you ready to laugh, "truth time?"

They both nodded, "I only come here to spite Raul."

Creep made a face, "what do you mean?"

You could tell he was bullshitting, "I know you all know what happened, there's no way something like that doesn't get out."

Manny smiled, "your conversation with Coco was on speaker, we all heard it."

You clapped, "I fucking knew it, you wanna fuck with him a bit more?"

Manny smiled, "fuck yeah."

You nodded, "call him over."

Creep shot up and looked around, landing eyes on the prospect, "HEY SHITHEAD, GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE."

Raul came running, barely looking at you before standing at attention in front of Creep, "did you need something?"

Manny smiled, "yeah, tell us about your night together, what was it that you said about y/n?"

His mouth opened and closed like a fish, "umm, it's not important."

You smiled and tapped the seat next you, "oh come on, don't be like that, I'd love to hear your version of things."

Manny's expression was tinged with something, "what, you were fine talking about what happened when we were together, is there any reason you can't do it with her here?"

He swallowed, "look, I'm really sorry about what I said, I figure you've already been through all of them and I'd look bad if you……" You covered your face and Manny's hand collided with Raul's jaw.

You turned to Creep who was smirking, "should we, umm?"

He shook his head as Manny climbed on top of the man, "nah, the dude needs to learn if he wants to get his patch."

It didn't last long, Manny was stepping back and dragging Raul up by his kutte, "fuck off prospect and go and get me a fucking beer."

You smiled, "maybe don't ask him to get you anything, I don't think you want his spit in anything."

"Good idea y/n, you can go clean the shitter instead."

Raul hurried off and Manny sat down and rubbed his knuckles, "you want me to get you some ice?"

He shook his head, "I'm alright, that felt good though."

You sighed, "you didn't need to hit him you know?"

Manny huffed, "yeah, I did."

Creep chuckled, "you really have shit luck with men, don't you?"

You rolled your eyes, "I mean, I don't have the best track record but you know, I have this thing, it's called a vibrator, and it kinda makes men obsolete."

Creep cringed, "you're a little vulgar, you know that?"

You nodded, "I'm just being honest."

Manny shook his head, mischief on his face, "you talk like their competition and not friends, maybe you just haven't found the right guy yet."

You pressed your lips together to stop yourself from laughing, you face getting hot and the implication of his words settled over you, "what are you, God's gift to women. Does that cocky shit really work for you?"

Manny nodded, "hey, I'm just being honest."

You sighed, "well.. I don't have a response to that other than, good for you."

Marcus watched the fight with curious eyes, "what was that about Primo?"

Bishop sighed, "the prospect told everyone he and y/n went at it, in reality, she climbed out the window to avoid humiliating him."

Marcus chuckled, "and her and Manny?"

Bishop shrugged, "there's something going on there but they're both too blind to say anything. If Angel had any say they'd be married already."

Marcus nodded, "and your read on her?"

Bishop thought for a moment, "she's a good woman, very kind but you saw what happened with Canche, she's no shrinking violet. She's not a big fan of these parties but she comes because people like her company and she's always ready to help. She's been through something because she's got a healed gash the size of my fist on her stomach and she's observant like she's seen the business end of a gun one too many times."

"Does she know about the drugs?"

Bishop nodded, "I think she figured it out pretty quick."

Marcus huffed, "it sounds like she's a good fit. And it looks to me like those two are meant for each other."

Bishop rolled his eyes, "not you too."

Marcus chuckled, "don't worry about it Primo, these things work themselves out."

You sighed and stood up, you had been talking to a revolving door of people all night, "as much as I would love to continue this conversation, I need some air. I'm going for a walk, I'll be back in a bit."

Manny stood up, "let me go with you."

You waved your hand, "it's alright, I just need ten minutes."

He nodded, "alright, but come back in ten minutes or I'm sending a search party."

You smiled, "ten minutes, I promise." You headed off and wandered up the streets, enjoying the clear night sky, they were mostly empty until you came to a long street a few blocks away from the Clubhouse. There was a black van on the road, and four men were milling around it. As you got closer, you could hear parts of their conversation and you started to worry.

"We got to do it now," One of the men shook his head, "no, we wait until they're all drunk. Those fucking Mayans won't know what hit em."

You swallowed, a plan forming in your brain. You took your phone out and looked around like you were lost then walked up the street looking for street signs. After a few moments you approached the men doing your best to look lost, "I'm sorry gentlemen, I'm looking for a fancy French place, La Creme or La Cream or something like that, I'm really lost and I'm late, can someone tell me where it is?"

You didn't miss how one man was doing his best to hide the iron cross on his neck, "you're going to wrong way, it's back there miss."

You sighed, "you're not serious, I've been walking this was for twenty minutes." As you spoke, you made sure to memorise the men's faces and any tattoos they had, you could hear men in the van, but not their conversation.

"You know where the biker clubhouse is?"

You shook your head, "I walked by a crazy party with some bikes out the front, is that the place?"

One of them nodded, "yep, it's about ten minute's walk from that, take the long road up, then take a left down the side street and you should get to Mainstreet it's easy to find from there."

You looked at their faces, the older, harder, looking men wouldn't even acknowledge you were there and judging by the way everyone was acting, you could see that this was some kind of initiation, the ones that were talking to you were the ones looking to jump into the gang. You smiled, "thank you so much, I'd offer to buy you some beers but I'm so late."

The man with the iron cross on his neck stiffened his posture, "then you better head off, you don't want to run into trouble all by yourself out here, bad things can happen to a nice lady like yourself." You got the message loud and clear and with one last thank you, you started to jog away, breaking out into a run the moment you were out of their sight.

You bearly had any breath left when you got to the Clubhouse, Angel and Gilly were standing by the door and noticed something was wrong, matching your pace to meet you at the door, "what's wrong?"

You raked in a breath, "the Clubhouse is about to be hit, I heard and a group of men talking a few streets up. They said they were going to wait a little while but I don't know how long you have."

Gilly had run off, coming back with Marcus and Bishop, "what's going on?"

You took a deep breath, "you need to get everyone inside, I guess you're about half an hour away from a massacre."

They looked at you and Marcus blinked in worry, "what do you mean." Bishop waved to someone and produced you a bottle of water.

"I was walking around the block when I overheard a bunch of guys talking about hitting the place, no elaboration. I acted like I was lost so I could get a read on them. As far I could tell, it's some kind of jump in, only two guys had any gang markings. One had an iron cross on his neck, which he was doing his best to hide and the other had a strange tattoo on his wrist I had never seen before, the only reason I could tell it was white power was that there were the numbers fourteen and eighty eight."

Angel's eyebrows wrinkled, "what does that mean?"

You inhaled again, trying to calm yourself, "H is the eighth letter in the alphabet, so eight eight is HH meaning heil Hitler and fourteen is fourteen words, it's a white power slogan."

"We need to get everyone to safety." Bishop's tone was firm.

You rubbed your face, "permit me to share my idea?"

Marcus nodded, "you don't know who these guys are or what they want, wouldn't it be better to stage an ambush of your own? Have the music loud enough that they can't tell people aren't here, close the big doors and lead them in the small door then grab them and question them."

Bishop smiled, "I don't see why that won't work, could you ID the tat if you saw it again?"

You nodded, "it's the only reason I spoke to them, I could tell you all about the guys I could see."

By now, most of the Mayans were standing around you. Hank was giving orders, and then he turned back to you, "how many guys?"

"Four men on the street and I could hear three or four men in the black van, the license plate was 7FYNY89. One guy had San Quentin prison tats they were all under fifty and all white and before you tell me to go home, I'm the only one who saw their faces, you need me here."

Hank huffed, "we are not putting you in harm's way."

You glared at him, "I knew the risk I was taking when I went up to them, you need me here. Now you all need to get your shit in order before they show up."

Coco put his hand on your shoulder, "I'll take her to the back and see if I can find that tattoo she was talking about, we should have enough time?"

You nodded, "the guy in charge wanted to catch everyone off guard, you've got a little bit of time left"

The air changed and everyone jumped into action, Bishop stopping you just as you turned to go, "we're going to talk about this young lady."

You threw your hands up in the air, "I can't fucking wait, last I checked you're not my fucking daddy, you can't tell me what to do and you're not responsible for me." You could tell by the way everyone was acting that there was a lecture on the way but they had more pressing matters right now.

It only took ten minutes for them to clear the compound, and all the Mayans were preparing themselves to face the threat. It didn't take long for them to arrive, you could see the large metal doors shake and then they tried the small door, falling right into the trap.

It was over quickly, they came in and looked around but they realised too late that it was a trap. Two of them were stupid enough to try and fight and they died where they stood, dropping like stones as the bullets entered their heads. The others fell to their knees the second the command was given and then they were being pulled away.

It was the sound of the van screeching off that had them running but by the time they got to the front, it was too late and at least one of them had gotten away. You were still in the back when Manny came in and he looked worried, "what's going on? I heard shots."

He sighed, "we need to out here, did you manage to ID the tat?" You nodded, "yeah, some group called the hidden order, their whole thing is blending in. Manny, what's going on?"

"One guy got away, we don't know if he knows your face." When you walked out into the compound the only evidence that someone was there was some blood and bullet casings, Bishop and Hank stomped up to you looking unimpressed.

"Someone needs to stay with you until this is done." Hank left no room for you to argue.

"Fuck that, I have a state of the art alarm system and I sleep with an M16 under my bed. I can look after myself."

Bishop shook his head, "no, we're not leaving you alone, Coco can stay with you until we deal with this."

You huffed, "no, Coco needs to stay with Lettie and Hope."

"Manny can stay with her."

You wanted to punch Angel, but Marcus was smiling, "great idea Angel."

You sighed, "fine but that's as far as it goes, you're not parking yourself outside my work."

They weren't listening, "someone will be watching the street."

You looked at them, eyes wide, "this is insane, you don't even know if they're going to come after me."

"It's not up for debate y/n, Manny is going to stay with you until we know you're safe and people will be watching your office. They'll stay in a car, no one will know they're there."

You shook your head, "I thought you'd be the logical one Marcus, I'll be fine."

"Come on Tesoro, we have fun."

You sighed, "fine, I give up."

Hank smiled, "thank you y/n, you saved a lot of lives today."

You huffed, "and you're thanking me by landing me with a babysitter?"

Hank's face was impassive, "I'm thanking you by keeping you safe."

Bishop and Marcus turned to the group, "Temple now."

Part 4

Song inspo for this chapter is Hozier - Wasteland, Baby!

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drabbles-mc · 3 years ago

Text

Wipeout

Michael ‘Riz’ Ariza x F!Reader

Request by @espieviolet99: I thought I'd also request something in a different way for you, to give some variety. So I got two sentences; "Did you just kiss me?" And "I never really thought you'd want someone like me" If you want me to edit the request, lemme know, but I thought I'd throw you a Rizzy request.

Warnings: language, mentions of blood/injuries

Word Count: 2.3k

A/N: I don’t write for Riz a whole lot, but whenever I do include him in stuff I always enjoy it. Plus I got to go back and rewatch some of S2 for this and I definitely enjoyed that haha. Some caretaking for Riz. xo

General Mayans Taglist: @thesandbeneathmytoes @paintballkid711 @tomhardydallasstarsgirl @buckybarneshairpullingkink @queenbeered @kelpies-shed @sesamepancakes @yourwonkywriter @chibsytelford @gemini0410 @multiyfandomgirl40 @behindmyeyes-insidemyhead @plentyoffandoms @georgiaaintnopeach @twistnet @themoonandthewicked @garbinge @bucky-iss-bae @mylittlelonelyappreciationtoo @encounterthepast @rosieposie0624 @mijop @xladymacbethx @blessedboo @holl2712 @lakamaa12 @masterlistforimagines @lilah1903 @toni9 @shadow-of-wonder @crowfootwrites @redpoodlern @punkgoddess-98 @black-repunzel99 @lexondeck @mrsstevenbuchananstark @lovebishoplosamiguelgalindos @amorestevens @angelreyesisdaddy04 @mijagif @frattsparty @winchestershiresauce @bellisperennis0 @beardburnsupersoldiers @mveggieburger @thanossexual @xeniarocks @choochoo284 @littlekittymeow @beardsanddetectives @bruxasolta @i-love-scott-mccall @slut-bitch-brat @withmyteeth @flacalatke (If you want to be added to my taglists, let me know!)

He attracted trouble like a goddamn magnet. It felt like every time someone from the club was calling you that wasn’t him, it was to tell you that he was injured, or in a holding cell. Sometimes it was both. How you ended up being so entwined with a man who was nothing but terrible for your anxiety was beyond you. By all accounts the two of you shouldn’t have been friends, but you were. There was no reason that you should’ve been sickeningly, secretly falling in love with him, but you were. It was all a mess, and maybe that’s exactly why the two of you landed in each other’s paths.

Seeing Gilly’s name lighting up your phone screen didn’t inspire any kind of confidence in you. You already had the nagging feeling that you were getting called to clean up some kind of mess. With a sigh, you accepted the call, “Yea?”

“Damn. I’m gonna try not to take the attitude personally.”

You rolled your eyes despite the fact you wouldn’t have the satisfaction of him seeing it, “What’s up, Gilly?”

“You busy right now?” he wasn’t a man who ever sounded nervous, so you had no idea what he was attempting to rope you into.

“Does it matter? Is someone dying? Or are you guys stranded somewhere?”

“Ehh,” you could picture the shrug, “somewhere between the two.”

You dragged your free hand down your face, “What the hell happened?”

“Got into it with some bullshit club up north. Riz wiped the fuck out.”

A knot instantly formed in your stomach. Of course. Of course he was the one who wiped out. Why wouldn’t it have been him? Almost getting blown up a few weeks prior hadn’t been enough. Had to double down on it. Your nerves were battling it out with your annoyance, “There a reason you didn’t fucking lead with that?” you huffed as you stood up from your chair, not giving him a chance to try and answer the rhetorical question, “How bad is it? Do I need more than what’s in my bag at the clubhouse?”

“Nah, nah, that should be good.”

“You guys able to get him home? Or do I have to drive out to north bumfuck somewhere to meet you jokers?”

“Tough fuckin’ crowd,” Gilly laughed, “Just meet us at the clubhouse. We got some shit to settle up and then we’ll be home.”

“I’d say drive safe but I know it’s pointless.”

He chuckled, “We’ll get your boy-toy home to you in one piece, don’t worry.”

You knew that getting defensive was exactly what he wanted, so you didn’t, “I’m not convinced,” you ended the call without a real goodbye.

The entire time you were waiting at the clubhouse, you couldn’t sit still. Your leg was bouncing, hands twisting as you sat at the bar. There was nothing else for you to do, no one else was around for you to talk to. You’d been banking on Chucky being there but he was out doing a pickup for the guys while they were off tending club business. Or, rather, getting their asses handed to them while they were trying to handle club business.

Just as you were in the brink of actually going insane, you heard it. There was the unmistakable sound of a pack of motorcycles coming onto the lot. You let out a deep sigh of relief as you leapt off the stool and made your way for the door. There was no way that they weren’t going to bring him in for you to look at him, but you didn’t want to waste any more time just sitting around.

None of the guys looked all that worried as they dismounted their bikes. That should’ve provided you with at least a slight sense of relief, but it didn’t. You ignored the dust that was still settling from all of them pulling in as you waited for them to open the back doors of the van.

“See?” Gilly flung the doors open before hopping down, feet hitting the ground, “Told you I’d get him back here in one piece.”

“Yea?” you shook your head as you watched Creeper and Hank practically lift Riz down out of the van, “Where were you when he wiped out, then?”

“’Bout ten yards ahead of him firing off a shotgun,” Gilly had never been one to feel bad about much, the smile on his face proved it over and over again.

You sighed, making the conscious decision not to talk to him until the rest of the situation was handled. Turning to Hank, who was supporting almost all of Riz’s weight at this point, you asked, “Can you get him up the stairs and inside, please?”

Hank nodded, “Whatever you need.”

You could see it on his face that he was contemplating either dragging Riz or just lifting the man and carrying him, but Riz was still with it just enough to manage a slow limp. The two of them made quite the pair, and maybe if the circumstances had been different, you would’ve found it more amusing.

Bishop fell into stride with you as you followed Hank and Riz. If you had been looking, you would’ve seen the tiny smirk that was curling the edge of his mouth, “We owe you for this, sweetheart.”

“Mhm,” you fought the urge to roll your eyes, “Y’know, you all say that to me but never once have any of you actually squared up with me.”

He chuckled, “Send me an invoice and I’ll get it all taken care of.”

You caught the clubhouse door before it shut behind the two men in front of you, “You’ll be sorry when I hold you to that.”

Hank was already depositing Riz onto the couch when you walked over with your bag, “Here is good?” he still asked even though the man was already melting into the couch cushions.

You had to laugh a little as you nodded, “Here is fine. Thank you, Hank.”

He lingered for a couple seconds to see if you were going to ask him for anything else, but when he was met with silence he excused himself. You pretty much had it down to a science at this point, taking care of the various bumps, bruises, and scrapes that the guys called you up about. If it was really bad, you’d need a couple extra sets of hands on deck, but the fact that Riz could sort of walk himself in let you know that whatever damage was done, was minimal. The guys trusted you, not only to fix them up, but to ask for help if you needed it. What you didn’t need, though, was people looking over your shoulder for no reason.

You could feel Riz watching you and you tried not to think about it as you carefully started peeling the layers off of his torso so you could tend to the cuts and scrapes along his arm and shoulder. His eyes were a little glassy, a hint of a smile on his face, and that’s how you knew that despite them having no one with them to provide any kind of medical care, they kept pain meds on hand. You wanted to be annoyed but it definitely helped in situations like this. More than once their emergency stashes had held them over until they could get to you, or a real medic on the other side of the border.

“So,” you tried not to think about the way he was staring at you as you began cleaning out the cuts on his arm, “wanna tell me how we ended up here again, Riz?”

He chuckled, wincing slightly as you tweezed out a piece of blacktop that had gotten embedded into his arm when he wiped out, “Had a run in with the Swole Boys.”

You paused, eyes flicking up to him, “What the fuck is a Swole Boy?”

He shook his head slightly, “That’s what I said.”

“Well. Whatever they are, they got you pretty messed up here, Ariza,” you shook your head, “I don’t even wanna think about the shape your leg is gonna be in.”

“I’ll be fine,” he went to wave you off but winced, stopping himself short.

“I’m not convinced,” you huffed, shaking your head as you got ready to stitch up the one deep cut along the inside of his bicep, “Being friends with you is bad for my blood pressure, you know.”

“You stay, though,” you attributed the stars in his eyes to the really good meds they’d pumped into him on the ride home.

“Yea,” you conceded, “I stay.”

The surface damage really wasn’t as bad as you had thought it was going to be. His arm was easy enough to clean up, and you had the nagging feeling that Creeper might’ve popped his shoulder back into place on the ride home, because Riz really wasn’t moving that arm much at all. You didn’t have a sling for him, but even if you did you doubted that you’d be able to get him to wear the damn thing. You checked him over, and nothing in his leg or knee was broken or displaced. His ankle was sprained, but miraculously nothing had snapped at any point during his skid across the pavement. He’d be limping for a while, and sore for even longer. He’d live, though. Despite how much you worried about him, Riz definitely seemed just a little too stubborn to stay down for long.

“You’ve definitely got a concussion,” you shook your head slightly.

“How do you know?” he tried to prop himself up on his elbow, but failed miserably.

You chuckled quietly as you ran your fingers over his head, mostly to make sure there were no cuts or excessive swelling you needed to worry about, but the added benefit of being able to run your fingers through his hair didn’t hurt either.

“Woman’s intuition,” you quipped. You dropped your hands back into your lap, unable to pull your eyes off of him, “Plus, Creeper told me you blacked out when you hit the ground.”

“Was hoping they’d leave that part out.”

“Me too. I can only handle worrying about you so much, you know.”

“Don’t gotta worry, hermosa.”

You rolled your eyes but were unable to stop your smile, “Too late to try and lay it on thick now, Ariza. You gotta do that before I get the bad news,” your hand moved of its own accord as you reached and lightly grasped the hand of his good arm.

“Better late than never,” he gave your hand the lightest bit of a squeeze.

“You’re lucky you’re pretty, you know that?” there were a few moments of silence between you, and the tension was suffocating as you tried to push down all of your feelings. Clearing your throat, you asked, “You got more of whatever the guys gave you on the ride back? Because when those wear off, all of this,” you gestured with your free hand, “is going to hurt like a mother.”

He gave a weak smile, “We got it under control.”

You laughed, shaking your head, “That’s not very convincing coming from you in the position that you’re in,” your movements were involuntary as you carefully lifted your interlocked hands, pressing a soft kiss against his knuckles.

Both of you froze. Maybe it was your imagination, but it seemed like the haze in his eyes cleared up. He raised his eyebrows slightly, “Did you just kiss me?”

You shook your head, “No. Not at all.”

“I think you—”

He didn’t get to finish his sentence as you leaned in and gently pressed your lips against his. It was quick, soft, and you couldn’t believe it even as you did it. Even when you pulled your lips off of his, you lingered close for a moment before sitting back again. You could feel the heat coursing through your entire body as you tried to figure out if you’d just messed up or not, “Now I just kissed you.”

He couldn’t stop the look of surprise on his face. His voice was soft as he spoke, “Hazlo otra vez.”

“Riz, I—"

He squeezed your hand, “Do it again, hermosa.”

Your heart fluttered inside your chest as you leaned in and kissed him again, just as gently as the first. Your other hand came up, fingers trailing lightly down the side of his face as you kissed him. You could feel that he wanted to pull you tight to him, to really hold you, but he physically just couldn’t do it. There was something amusing about it.

When you pulled away, he couldn’t take his eyes off of you. The two of you sat in a heavy silence, each waiting for the other to say something first. He shook his head slightly as he ran his thumb over your knuckles, “Never really thought you’d want someone like me.”

You smiled, your entire chest feeling warm, “Despite all the heart attacks you give me, Ariza, there’s no one else I’d rather spend my time worrying about.”

The sweet moment was cut short by the sound of Gilly’s voice, “Damn, if this is the treatment we’re getting, stitch me up next.”

Turning around, you didn’t let go of Riz’s hand as you looked at Gilly, “I can give you an injury that’s gonna need stitches, if you want.”

He laughed, “Why the violence? I bring your boy home to you and this is the thanks I get?”

“Yes,” it was impossible not to laugh, “That’s exactly how it goes.”

“Unbelievable,” he was shaking his head as he walked away, but you could hear him laughing, too.

“So,” you turned your attention back to the man who was lying on the couch in front of you, “what’s it gonna take to get you to start being careful? My heart can’t take much more of this,” you gestured to his injured state.

“Kiss me again, see if that does it?”

You rolled your eyes as you leaned in once more, “Yea, I’m sure one more will do the trick.”

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