"So you made this big save-my-ass promise but now you have to run it by your buddies?" Valentina raised a brow in annoyance at Gunner.

He'd guided her to a large room with a round table. Large chairs to fit large men were all around it. Outside the room it was labeled 'Church'. Funnily enough, she didn't think any of these men were particularly religious. While it was kept nice, the walls of the room had several holes punched in them and the table had been seemingly carved with knives or stabbed at some point.

Butcher was trailing after her, and behind him was Jude, walking as if he had his tail tucked between his legs.

"I have to update the bikers in high ranking positions. This little adventure we're about to embark on is going to take time and resources. It's going to take these guys to save your ass, so I'd like to let them in on the situation," Gunner replied with mild attitude.

Valentina frowned tightly but said no more as he offered her a chair. Butcher had walked to that chair initially but didn't sit down. Instead he watched her sit in it slowly. Skeptically, she looked at the wooden arms that were the most beat up out of any of them, etched with a seemingly sharp knife randomly, and poorly taken care of.

Glancing up, she looked around for Butcher again, only to see him leaning against the wall behind her. It was like his presence held weight. It was something that could be felt in the room.

Jude idled in the doorway, but Valentina couldn't even look at him. "Do I have to be here?" she asked quietly,rubbing her temples.

"Yeah, we need to know exactly what your old man is capable of. And from Jude's reaction I doubt we'd get the full story from him." Just as Gunner finished talking, older biker men flooded in with confused and mildly annoyed looks. When they saw her, one of them opened his big mouth.

"Did you get that broad pregnant, Gunner? I told you not to claim the one you knocked up!"

Valentina immediately reached for her purse to leave, officially fed up. As she went to push her chair out, Gunner waved a hand to stop her and Butcher shoved her chair even farther in from behind her. She groaned as the wood of the table dug into her ribs, glaring at the man behind her.

Butcher eased up on the chair but didn't move from behind her. And there was no way she could move him.

"She's not pregnant, boys, we've already established that. I'd like to inform all of you of the business deal we've just made. One that'll benefit both parties." Gunner sat in his chair that was larger than all the others. All of the chairs around were filled now, Butcher still standing behind her. He didn't plan to sit, Valentina figured, considering he was white-knuckle gripping the back of her chair as if to make sure she stayed put.

Looking around, Valentina could see that there were six bikers. They were all different races and ethnicities. The one with the patch that read "Vice President" looked to be Latino like her. His name patch read "Rhodey." Their eyes met and he spared her an arrogant grin.

Their eyes crawled all over her as if she were a piece of meat. Once again, she was doubting her decision-making skills.

Behind them, Butcher glared, but was distracted because he was practically suffocating in her soft, sweet smell. This is weird, he scolded himself. He shouldn't be thinking about how good she fucking smells. Creeps do that shit. Creeps like his biker brothers who were staring at the woman for too long.

This entire thing was goddamn annoying. This was all stupid. Butcher grew frustrated as Gunner started speaking.

"Valentina Vasquez is Jude boy's big sister," Gunner introduced. "And apparently Jude has forgotten the rule that we don't leave family behind for shit. In exchange for protection, Miss Vasquez will be our very own club nurse. Since Doc's more or less unavailable, she'll be treating what she can, and for the big things we'll call Doc."

"Protection from who?" the biker who looked to be the oldest grunted. He was a dirty blonde, with olive-toned skin and a thick beard that reminded her of a Viking. His patch read "Taz." He was now looking expectantly at her for the answer.

Jude, however, piped up for the first time. "Our father."

All eyes cut back to Valentina as she sniffled a little, wiping under her nose angrily at the simple sound of his voice.

"Honey, could you give them a little run down like you did us? It'd be a great help," Gunner drawled, sweet as sugar with his Southern accent.

Swallowing, she took a deep breath and gave the same brief explanation. How her father was an angry, abusive man. How he apparently only regretted running his children out of their home country once he felt it was time to retire. How she didn't even know how he found the state she lived in.

The men all nodded along, taking the information in stride.

"If you don't mind..." Gunner cleared his throat. For the first time, he looked a little uncomfortable. "We need to know exactly what he's capable of. Don't tell us anything you don't want to."

Valentina finally looked over at Jude, whose head hung low and his right hand was clutching his left elbow. The same elbow their father had broken after a piss poor football performance, the same elbow that never healed right.

"Um..." She swallowed hard. "He used to beat on our mom. Almost killed her like twice before I was even ten. Once I hit puberty he started hitting me." Her cheek rested on her palm. She stared at the metal table, picking at imaginary dirt. "I was never sure why. That was always the question. It wasn't even like he was decent one day and horrible the next. It was bad. All the time."

"Got a scar on my side from when he pushed me into the glass of a plate I broke once. When I went to leave for college in the States, if Jude hadn't hit the growth spurt he did and been there when he was...our dad would've broken my damn legs to stop me from going." Valentina paused for a moment as she brushed her hand over her ribs, the phantom pain returning at the unwelcome memory.

The air was heavy but she tried to ignore it, hating the pity. "We left after that. Jude came with me and I got an apartment. We got Visas with the help of extended family in immigration. He's older now. I know I'm probably paranoid..." She wrung her hands. "But he's still bigger than me and after you live your life scared of one person like the boogey man, it fucks you up, ya know?" Her voice cracked a little.

Biting on her cheek, she couldn't look up for a moment. She'd never said this out loud and she didn't expect to be doing it today. It wasn't like she signed up for a therapy session. Her eyes stung for a moment before she grit her teeth and blinked it away. Steeling her nerves once again, she glanced at the biker men. "I don't mean to waste your time or anything, he just scares the shit outta me."

The Vice President, Rhodey, reached over and patted her hand that was clenched tightly. She jumped a little at the touch but smiled gratefully.

"So," Taz grunted. "What's the plan?"

"I work three twelve hour shifts a week. Always Tuesday and Wednesday, then I swap out Sundays and Mondays every week. If it's an emergency I can always come during a break or after my shifts—I doubt you guys plan your injuries..." Valentina rubbed the back of her head. Her arm bumped into Butcher's hand that still held her chair tight. She gasped a little, letting her arm fall.

"We'll worry about that after the important parts, honey," Gunner grunted, rubbing his stubbly face.

"We'll need his full name. Jude is going with a group to ask around and look for the bastard. I can look into either getting him deported, or if he's violent enough we will need to take our own measures against him, considering our involvement. Valentina—you're going to have someone with you at all times. Makin' sure our asses are covered in case Jude misses him before he finds your address. I'd like to have someone check out where you stay..." Gunner trailed off as he thought about what else was necessary.

Valentina's mouth fell open and shut many times. "You're—you're actually taking this seriously." Initially, she expected to leave here empty-handed.

Gunner looked a little offended, glancing above her once and then back to her. "Of course we are. We protect our people and the people in this territory. We don't take kindly to fuckers like your father stompin' all over it."

Her eyes trailed over the men as they all began conversing about the best routes to take to cover the most ground. Her brows rose in shock that someone was actually helping her.

She'd gone to the police with her concerns, but they had ignored her. Said they couldn't do anything if he hadn't attacked her. In fact, they seemed more concerned about the legitimacy of her citizenship.

"Butcher is going to be your shadow, honey."

Both Butcher and Valentina's heads snapped over to Gunner.

"Fuck you," Butcher snarled and waved a hand at him as if to say, fuck off.

Valentina wasn't particularly on board with the whole bodyguard thing, but his reaction did offend her a little bit.

"I'm not a goddamn babysitter. I have real shit to do," Butcher growled from above her. He'd now let go of her chair and she could hear him pacing behind her. Slowly, she turned a little so she could lean her elbow on the table, looking at both Gunner and Butcher.

Gunner looked annoyed with Butcher's complaining, "You seem to be forgetting the cops that have a hard-on for you after that bust we made two weeks ago. I told you you were laying low. This is laying low."

Valentina frowned with pursed lips at that tidbit of information.

Stifling the amusement on his face, Gunner could only smirk before he spoke up. "If they ask questions—she's your girl. Perfect alibi."

Valentina's brow furrowed a little and Butcher scoffed. Her head whipped back to look at him. She doubted he'd agree to this. She doubted he could tolerate being in the same room as her for this long, it seemed.

"I don't think him being a 'shadow' versus him being my boyfriend will exactly look the same."

"Well then, if anybody asks, you're just irrecoverably in love with his stalker ways, princess."

Valentina snorted in amusement. Yeah, that sounded legit.

She should be more concerned with the cops having the club on their radar, but she wasn't exactly surprised. When she walked in she couldn't even count how many unlicensed guns there were in here. She could practically smell the lead off of them.

Butcher was still pacing, eyeing Valentina, who didn't seem too upset about the set up. But why would she? She was getting God's work done by a bunch of assholes.

"Nobody would do the job better than you, man," Gunner looked at him sternly. Despite their clashing, he was speaking the truth. Butcher was a dickhead, but he was determined.

Rhodey leaned forward. "If he doesn't, I will. I'd take good care to keep her safe. I'll be thorough, too." Rhodey's dark eyes met Valentina's gaze sincerely. Her head tilted, cautiously hopeful that this could work.

This, for whatever reason, made Butcher tense up. Because despite the bullshit that came out of Gunner's mouth, he was right. Nobody would do the job fucking better than him.

"I'm doing it," Butcher suddenly blurted out. Valentina's wide brown eyes cut to him, relief flooding her face that made his stomach turn.

"Then it's settled." Gunner clasped his hands together. "Jude and Butcher will go with Valentina to her apartment. They'll check it out and the two of you can figure out how this will work in more detail. Hun, we'll have Butcher bring you back in a couple days." Gunner patted her cheek with a smirk.

Valentina felt her chest swell, reaching over quickly she hugged the lean, muscular man.

His eyes widened, instinctively pressing a hand between her shoulders. Eventually, he patted her on the back comfortingly. His green gaze flickered up to Butcher, who was watching the two intensely. Smirking, Gunner flipped the auburn-haired man off.

Valentina pulled away and wiped at her face. "Thank you, all of you."

They all nodded and insisted there was no thanks necessary. As she gathered her things, she turned swiftly and bumped into Butcher's chest.

Her doe eyes stared up at him. "Thank you," she whispered meaningfully.

Butcher inhaled sharply, nostrils flared before grunting. He nodded his head towards the door, ushering her to leave.

"I'll follow behind you on the bike," he informed her in his raspy tone. She nodded, taking shaky breaths at their close proximity. Turning almost stiffly, she forced herself to stride out of the meeting room.

When they made it to the parking lot, she saw a beat-up old Harley that he was walking towards. It was all black, not rusted or anything, but dented and well-used.

Butcher got a good look at her truck. It was old. And not in a classic way, like his bike could be considered. No, hers just looked like a piece of shit, rusted in some places.

"Ya drive that thing around?" Butcher turned to look at the girl trailing behind him.

Her lips pursed, side glancing at him stubbornly. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's a piece of shit on wheels." He waved towards it as he straddled his bike.

"I bought this piece of shit," Valentina huffed. "This piece of shit has never let me down."

Butcher didn't look impressed, but when she went to continue he revved his engine loudly. When she opened her mouth again, he looked her in her eyes and revved it even longer.

Valentina scoffed and slammed her car door shut just as Jude made his way out. Without sparing either biker another glance, she pulled out of the parking lot to lead them both to her apartment.