by A. Lynn
“You got it, Prez,” Unit says.
Unit and Rock leave the copse of trees, walking quickly towards the Rippers’ clubhouse. Both men are scanning their surroundings every second and inspecting any slight variation in sound that they hear. Suddenly there is a piercing scream from inside the clubhouse, but instead of returning to us in the trees, both men charge the front porch. The second they reach the landing there is an earth jarring boom as Rock and Unit are blown back from the impact.
The safety of the brothers that remain is soon forgotten when our brothers are airborne. We rush to where they have landed and drop to our knees. I am at Unit’s side with my fingers pressed into his neck, searching for a pulse, but it’s in vain because his eyes are fixed and dilated and he isn’t breathing.
“FUCK!” I scream and drop my head to his chest, allowing a few tears to escape. I look up and make eye contact with Gunner but he just shakes his head. “What do we do? Call 911? They’re going to ask questions we can’t answer.”
“Call Axle, tell him to bring my truck. We will just give them a proper burial at the clubhouse. Rock doesn’t have anyone, but Unit’s mom needs to be told. That should wait until we are home and can do it in person though.”
“I wonder if there are any more bombs rigged to the structure?” I think out loud.
“Doesn’t matter. We’re not going to find out.”
“Gun—”
“No, Crow. These bastards have taken too many lives from us the last couple of days.”
“I know.”
“They knew we would come here and set us up. Harley isn’t here, she probably never was. They probably won’t be back either. So it’s back to the drawing board for us.”
Chapter 8
Reagan
“Moma, can I’s go plays with hew?” J says, drawing my attention from Stella.
I look at his half-eaten grilled cheese that is currently freestanding in Ketchup like he gave up mid-dunk. “Are you done eating?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Then I don’t mind, but stay where I can see you.”
“I’s will.”
“What’s the rule?”
He huffs at me and frowns. “If I’s can’t sees you’s, you’s can’t sees me’s.”
“Such a good boy,” Stella coos, making him smile.
“MiMi says I’s the bess boy.”
“It’s true, Stella, I heard it myself.”
“Well, it must be true! MiMi wouldn’t lie about something so serious.”
“Nope,” J says. “Can I’s go plays now, Moma?”
“Go on, baby.”
“I’m so glad you finally told him you are his mom. What I would’ve done to be a fly on the wall when you and Crow had that conversation with him.”
“It was so special, Stella. I wish I would have thought to record it. It makes me sad that I waited this long, all to respect the boundaries of that bitch. He said that he wanted me to be his mom.” Cue the tears. “I thought I was happy before, when it was me, J, and Ryan—that was what made me so mad about Ryan using drugs. But I never imagined I could have this.”
“Have what?”
“Crow. You and Colt, and Skylar. Jordan knowing that I’m his Moma. This Peanut growing inside me. A real shot at a family and true happiness.”
“You deserve it, Rea. It’s the small things that others take for granted that mean the most to some. Speaking for Colt and myself, we are just glad that we get to take this journey with you. I like to think of myself as too much of a hard-ass to talk about destiny or fate—so if you ever tell anyone that we are having this conversation, I may just have to whip that little ass of yours.”
I chuckle and hold up my hands in acquiescence. “My lips are sealed.”
“I think it would be naive to think that you crossing paths with the Greene’s was serendipitous. It happened three times alone—that I know of—before Crow found you in the salon. The first being when Skylar was the nurse on your grandmother’s case. Then of all the resumes that I received to fill positions after the mass walkout, yours is on the top of the pile, just waiting for me to call you.”
“I met Crow that night at Fallen. Of all the clubs in Phoenix, we ended up in the same one.”
“You meeting him was the third, but they don’t go anywhere else.”
“Is it their favorite, too? It’s been my favorite place to disappear to when we had a sitter since we were old enough to get in.”
“Fallen is owned by the Kings, Rea. Did you know that?”
“Huh, no, I did not know that.”
“Gunner owns it and Harley manages it.”
“And Harley is Axle’s sister?”
“Yes.”
“It feels like my brain is being overstimulated. I am going to have a headache later,” I say, rubbing at my temples. So much information has gone in in the last forty-eight hours.
“I can keep Jordan tonight if you like.”
“Maybe, but I think I’m going to try and lay down before it starts and see if I can stop it.”
“Go on and lay down, I’ll watch him.”
“You sure you don’t mind?”
“Get out of here,” she shoos me away. I laugh and push myself up from the table when suddenly a gorgeous woman is standing there. She has caramel-colored skin with black hair and eyes that keep nervously skirting to Stella.
“Hi, Reagan, right? I’m Marin, Waverly’s mom.”
“Hi,” I smie. “But I don’t know who that is.”
“The girl playing with Jordan,” Stella snaps, drawing my eye. “What the hell do you want, Marin?”
“Levi—I mean Shadow—said that I should come and talk to Reagan about Waverly going to school with her son.”
“Oh! Right! I spoke with them this morning and they said that it would be fine with them if she attended. They just need to hear from you. You got a piece of paper, Stella?” I ask in hopes of getting her scathing eyes off Marin.
“Oh, darn, it seems like I don’t.”
“There is no need to be a bitch, Stella,” Marin snaps back. My eyes widen and I take an involuntary step backward.
“The fuck you say to me, bitch?” Stella demands as she rises from the table.
“Not in front of Jordan, Stella.”
Either she didn’t hear me or she is ignoring me because the next thing I know Stella is rounding the table to meet Marin, who just so happens to be heading towards Stella.
“I said, there is no need to be a bitch.”
“Stella,” I warn.
“See, now that is what I thought you said. I just needed to make sure I wasn’t hearing things,” Stella said just before rearing back and driving her fist into Marin’s face, dropping her to the ground.
“That the best you got, you old bitch?”
“Not even close,” Stella declares as she drops on top of her, landing blow after blow.
“Stella! Get off of her!” I yell.
“Hey! Dats my mommy!” Cries a little voice beside me. “Mommy gots owies.”
“Moma, whas Nana doing to Wavey’s Moma?”
“Jordan, baby, go get Pop.”
“Otay, Moma,” he says as he takes off screaming. “Pop, get’s Nana off Wavey’s Moma!”
Stella is on her feet now, poised to land a kick to Marin’s ribs when Waverly cries, “Pwease don’ hit my mommy.”
Stella hesitates and looks around at the scene in front of her. From Marin on the floor with blood running from every orifice to the brown-haired beauty clutching my leg with fat tears streaming down her face. She then looks at me and sees the obvious shock and horror on my face at the scene that had just taken place in front of not only my child, but Marin’s child as well.
“Rea…”
I raise my hand to her to halt whatever it is that she wants to say. “How could you do that, Stella? Forgetting that her daughter was in the room is almost excusable, but to do that in front of Jordan—after everything that he has been through—is not.”
“I’m sorry, Reagan.”
“I tried to stop you twice before you even got to her, but you wouldn’t listen. I—“
“What the hell is going on out here?” Pop demands, coming from the hallway with Jordan in his arms and Shadow hot on his heels.
“She gabe mommy owies, Daddy,” Waverly cries as she runs to Shadow, who is trying to fillet Stella with his eyes.
“Come here, J, I think we should stay in the room until Daddy gets back.”
“Otay, Moma.”
“Are you still going to let him stay with us tonight?” Stella asks.
“Not tonight.”
Stella’s head drops but I have no fucks available after the way she acted in front of my boy.
When we get to the steps to take us to our room, Jordan asks, “Why was Nana hitting Wavey’s Moma?”
“I don’t know, baby. I’m going to ask Daddy that when he gets back. She would never hurt you, baby, you know that, right?”
“I’s knows dat, Moma.”
“Moma and Daddy will never let anything happen to you. Never again will someone hurt you, baby.”
“Wove you’s, Moma.”
“I love you, baby. How about you and me go take a nap until dinner or Daddy comes back, whichever comes first.”
“How’s ‘bouts we watch a moobie?”
“What movie do you want to watch?”
He taps his chin like he is pondering time travel. This kid is too much and I feel like I am the luckiest person in the world because I get to be his Moma. “I’s don’ knows, Moma. What do’s you’s want to watch?”
“Hmm… how about The Good Dinosaur?”
“Dat makes me’s sad.”
I nod. “Me, too. How about Finding Nemo?”
“I know! We’s can watch Gwoot!”
“You want to watch Guardians of the Galaxy?”
“Yes!”
“The one where he is big or the one where he is a baby?”
“Big.”
“Okay. I think your Daddy likes these movies, too.”
He is jumping around like he has ants in his pants. He is too damn cute. “He’s do? I’s do, too!”
“I know right! Hashtag Twinsies!”
He halts, looking adorably confused. “Whas dat, Moma?”
“It just means it’s something you guys like together.”
“Dats so cool!”
“Why don’t you go pee-pee while I put the movie in? You haven’t gone for a while.”
“But I’s don’ gots to go.”
“I just meant so you don’t have to get up and miss some of the movie when you do feel like you need to.”
He nods. “Yeah, I’s don’ want to miss it.”
“Good plan,” I say as he dashes to the bathroom.
Twenty minutes or so into the movie he is sound asleep, with me chasing sheep just after that.
******
“When is Daddy goin’ to come back?” Jordan asks as we lay on the couch cuddling after our naps.
“I don’t know, baby. He had some important things to do with his brothers.”
“Lucky! I’s can’t wait until he’s comes,” he says as he points at my belly.
“It could be a ‘she’, you know?”
He jerks upright and turns to me with an offended look on his face. He suddenly jumps from the couch, getting eye level with my still very flat stomach, and loudly says, “You’s bess nots be a she’s!”
“What’s wrong with it being a girl, J?”
“Boys is just better. We’s can pway.”
“You can play with girls, too, J. You were having a good time playing with Waverly earlier.”
“Dats nots the sames.”
“How is different?”
“Wavey’s my’s giwfwiend.”
“Your girlfriend?”
“Uh-huh. Daddy said I’s would knows.”
“He did, huh?” I smile and make a mental note to tell Crow about this. “How about you get a bath and then we can go get some food from the kitchen, then watch the one with Baby Groot?”
“Otay, Moma,” he says as there is a knock on the door.
“Go pick what pj’s you want to wear tonight while I get the door and then it will be bath time.”
“Otay, Moma,” he repeats, dashing to his bedroom.
When I open the door, I am surprised who is standing there, though I shouldn’t be, she’s as tenacious as a dog with a bone.
“Hey, Rea. I sent Colt out to get Jordan some pizza. I don’t like the thought of you up here hiding because of me. You guys can come out, I’ll leave you alone. Promise,” Stella vows.
“Come in,” I say opening the door wider. “And we weren’t hiding. We watched a movie and took a nap. We were going to come down after his bath and get some dinner, but pizza will make him happy.”
“Well, I’ll just set this here and let you guys be.”
“Don’t be stupid, Stella, it doesn’t suit you.”
Fire flashes in her eyes. “Rea—“ she starts.
“J?” I interrupt.
“Moma?” he calls back making me smile. Smart-ass.
“Nana is here to see you! And guess what she brought you!”
“Whas it?”
“PIZZA!”
“Peeta?! I’s woves peeta!” He darts into the room and runs straight for Stella. I take the pizza from her so she can catch him. “How’s did you’s know, Nana?”
Through a watery smile, she exclaims, “Your Daddy told me!”
“Is he’s back?”
“Not yet, Nieto. That is what I came here to talk to Moma about.”
“Here, baby,” I say, leading him to the coffee table with a couple of slices so he can watch TV while he eats his pizza. “We can get a bath after, okay.”
“Otay, Moma.”
Walking back to Stella, I pull out and chair at the table and say, “What’s up, Stella?”
“Can we talk about what happened downstairs first?”
“Okay.”
“Thanks,” she says with a small smile. “First things first, I want you to know that I would never hurt Jordan. He’s a gift that I am thankful to you for every day.”
I place my hand over hers to stop the nervous wringing movements. “I know that, Stella, and I told Jordan as much, too.”
She lets out a relieved sigh. “Thank you for that.”
“You beating her ass isn’t the issue, doing it in front of Jordan is what pissed me off. Just try to be more conscious of little eyes, he’s never seen anything like that before.”
“Was he afraid of me?”
“Not even a little bit. He just wanted to know why you were hitting his girlfriend’s moma,” I say and laugh.
Stella’s head jerks back in shock. “Girlfriend? He’s three, what does he know about girlfriends?”
“All he said was that his daddy said he would know when he met her. I should probably mention that it was the first time Crow slept over and Jordan woke up to find him sleeping in my bed!”
I am laughing so hard I can hardly breathe, let alone hear Stella say, “I’m going to go upside that son of mine’s head. She will be his girlfriend over my dead body.”
“Oh, calm down. They are three, what is the worst that can happen?”
“If she is anything like her whore of a mother, lots.”
“Damn, Stella. That’s a bit harsh, don’t you think?”
“I don’t.”
My brow furrows. “You basically just called a three old a whore… I think I need an explanation here.”
“No, I said her mother was.”
“Semantics. Now explain, please.”
“UGH! Fine. Has Crow told you anything about his brothers?”
“No, nothing.”
“Okay. Shadow is Doc and Trisha’s boy. No one thought he was going to join the Kings because he has talked about joining the military since the World Trade Center attacks when he was about twelve. And the second he turned eighteen, he w
as with a Marines recruiter pledging himself to serve after graduation. We all thought he was going to be a career soldier.” Stella is smiling with such pride and adoration, one would think that Shadow was her son.
“That’s very commendable.”
“I used to be so worried that he would take Crow with him. Thank God, he didn’t. I am incredibly happy for Shadow and his accolades, but I would not survive one of my children being enlisted during active wartime. I like to know where my kids are, what they are doing, and when they will be home. Enlistment of any kind hinders that.”
“OH! I didn’t see it before! You are a modern-day Beverly Goldberg.”
“Who?”
“Beverly Goldberg. She’s like the queen of all the smothers.”
“I am not a smother,” she grits.
“Whatever you say, Bev,” I wheeze out through giggles.
“Do you want to hear the story or not?”
I sober. “Sorry, please continue.”
“He ended up spending ten or eleven years overseas before he was shot in the leg. The bullet tore through his shinbone and blew out a chunk of his calf muscle with it. It was his career-ender.”
“When does Marin come into the picture?”
“When he came home on leave for a few weeks before his fourth tour began, she showed up at a club party that was being thrown for him. She seemed sweet, like she would be a good fit for Shadow. She wasn’t around much while he was on his last tour, but once he came home she was here all the time. With or without Shadow.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“It is if you can’t keep your legs closed. But at that point, it was all rumors, nothing concrete.”
“Oh.”
“As soon as Shadow was released by the doctor, he began prospecting—at the same time Dec was actually. Something that should have bonded them only drove a wedge deeper. Dec was who Marin kept opening her legs to.”
“Damn. That’s fucked up, but why are you only taking it out on her? It’s not like he slipped and fell into her pussy. It takes two.”
“I did give Dec a piece of my mind because that shit is not okay. The reason I hold her responsible is because she was a pot-stirrer.”