Booger (Reapers MC Book 3)

by Elizabeth Knox

  My own blood decided it was better to live without me, so I found my family in the cut. The same place I found my faith, according to Camila.

  She turns to me from the passenger seat of the truck, a huge smile spread across her face. I already know her optimism is going to come barreling out. “Are you excited?”

  I give her a knowing look, one that tells her I’m anything but excited. “No, not really. This is going to go to hell in a handbasket pretty soon, babe.”

  “You don’t know that it will. You’re just assuming that it’ll be bad. You won’t know until we get there.”

  “It’s been years, Camila. After what they said previously, and knowing how they are as people, I’d be dumb to think they’d change their minds. Good chance is that we’ll have to end up finding some shitty ass hotel to stay in after they tell us to get lost. And you know how much I love that.”

  “When I end up being right, you’d better give credit where it’s due.” She says it so quickly that her accent comes out even thicker than usual. She’s been good at trying to hide it as of late. I don’t know why she does it, but I just want her to be happy so I don’t ask.

  I’m about to respond to her when I hear her squeal, “Oh! Is that it? The mailbox says Jennings.” I look over to the right and realize we’ve quickly approached my family’s farm. Talking to her always distracts me, no matter what I’m doing.

  I turn the truck to the right, down the long gravel driveway. If she think’s that we’re going to just arrive at the house, we aren’t. It’s a good three miles back. As an adult, I never really minded it much, unless it happened to snow. Then it was a bitch to clean.

  A few minutes later, we’ve arrived. I see my Dad’s old Dodge Ram parked next to the barn. It’s lookin’ a little rough these days, though. I see it rusting out near the bottom. It might be odd, but that shit concerns me. I’m wonderin’ if he’s just so old that he doesn’t care anymore, or if he’s sick and just can’t take care of it in the ways that he used to. I’m sure he hasn’t aged gracefully over the years, but smoking and liquor will do that to ya.

  The storm door flies open and I see a small older woman holding her hand out above her eyes, trying to scope out who’s parked. I’m thinkin’ she’s probably gonna shit herself when she sees me. That, or wanna give me a mean right hook.

  “It’s now or never,” I say to Camila, unbuckling my seatbelt, I open the door to the truck and exit the vehicle. My Mom stays on the porch and I stay a couple feet away from the truck. Her eyebrows furrow together as she tries to figure out who I am, and as she recognizes me, I speak “It’s been a long time,”

  Crossing her arms over her chest, she reminds me like she did when she would reprimand me as a child. “That it has.”

  “I thought that maybe we could talk or something.” I blurt it out, not knowing the right words to say. It’s not like we have an average situation right now. In fact, there’s nothing ordinary about our family at all. Especially when their only son has basically been disowned.

  “Sure, but you’d better let that girl of yours out of the car. What’re you afraid I was gonna do, kill her?”

  “Nah. I just didn’t know if you were gonna tell me to screw off or not. I figured it’d be best to keep her in there for a bit.”

  “On the contrary, we have a few things to discuss. I wasn’t ever gonna reach out to you unless you showed up or made the first move. Now that you have, well…there’s a lot that you don’t know.”

  “Sure, I expected as much.” I reply, turning back to the truck I wave my hand and motion for Camila to get out. “Is Dad home?” I ask out of curiosity, cause I’m surprised he didn’t also greet me. His truck is by the barn, so the old timer could just be avoiding me. I wouldn’t put it past him to be honest. He made it apparent years ago that he didn’t want anything to do to me, even told me to never show my face around here again. Now, look where I am.

  “That’s one of the things I need to talk to you about,” She says it with a tone in her voice that tells me something has happened.

  25

  “Eventually, everything connects.”

  -Infj-feelings.tumblr.com

  Booger

  My mother walked away into the kitchen a few minutes ago to make some hot chocolate. Even if it was the dead of summer, she’d be doing the exact same thing. Some women make tea, or coffee. My mom always preferred to make hot chocolate. As a kid, I always enjoyed it, but now I’m kinda feeling a little awkward being here.

  This isn’t the living room that I recognize from my childhood. The aged brick has now been painted white, with a brand new mantel. The old cherry wood is replaced with a light oak. There are quite a few updates from the looks of it, the furniture being lighter and brighter. I remember my parents getting in numerous fights through the years because my father didn’t agree with her style.

  “You okay?” Camila asks. I know she’s just concerned, but I can’t have her hovering right now. My mind is going crazy as it is.

  I shrug my shoulders, “Yeah. Just have the feeling that something is up.” I can’t explain it, but an eerie feeling washes over me. As my mother comes back in the living room with the hot chocolate, I notice that there aren’t pictures up on the wall anymore. My gut feeling is causing my stomach to roll at this point. Something has happened, and I’m pretty sure I have a good idea what did.

  “Dad’s dead, isn’t he?” I blurt it out just as she sets the tray down on the coffee table with our mugs.

  The look on her face says it all. A combination of both shock and sorrow. “He died a few years ago, Winston.”

  Camila’s more shocked than I am. The rusted truck, lack of photographs and updated interior gave it away before my mother ever had the chance. “How?” I don’t know why it matters. He’s been dead for years, but for me… he’s just died right in front of my fucking eyes. I’m not one of those emotional types. Sure, I feel shit, but I keep it buried deep down until I can deal with it in private.

  “He didn’t want to listen to me and change his diet. High cholesterol kills everyone if they don’t follow their physician’s orders. He had a blockage, and passed in his sleep. Surgery was scheduled because we knew it was bad, but he kept delaying it.” She closes her eyes and shakes her head from side to side. All I can think about is how hard this must’ve been for her, to have to deal with his death alone. “I hoped that one day you were going to come around, because I’ve wanted to speak to you for so long. It didn’t feel right reaching out on my own, so I waited. I knew God would send you back to me when you were ready, and here you are.” Throughout my life, my mother has always been very cold. I’m kind of annoyed at the fact she isn’t being so emotional, talking about my father’s death in a nonchalant way. But, I have to remember that she grieved his death years ago.

  “God didn’t send me back here. She did.” I look over to Camila. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t even be here today.

  My mother offers her a bright smile, “Thank you for encouraging him to come back here. He and I have a lot to talk about. I…” She looks down at her hands that lay on her lap and then glances back up to me. “I won’t ever blame your father for what happened. On how our family fell apart, because it wasn’t him. It would probably be the easy choice to just blame him since he’s dead and can’t defend himself, but I can’t bring myself to lie to you like that. Your father didn’t have a problem with your biker friends. It was me. I had heard awful rumors about those types of people and outcast you from our family because I couldn’t bear the thought of it.”

  “What you did is so screwed up.” I refuse to sit here and act like what happened is okay. It isn’t. In no way, shape, or form was it ever okay to treat me like that. “I can’t even believe I’m here right now.” I say, cursing under my breath.

  “I can’t blame you for the anger you have towards me. That is why I wanted to speak to you face to face. I wanted to be able to apologize for being so close minded. After your father passed, I
felt how it is to be truly alone. To have a son who thinks you hate him when you were just terrified for him. When you didn’t know how to process or understand the decision he was making.” She keeps trying to defend herself and before I can say anything super shitty back to her, Camila opens her mouth.

  “You are a very religious woman, correct?”

  My mother nods.

  “I was raised in the catholic church. So, I believe I can understand your associations with the faith, even if you are another denomination. You have faith in the cross, just as I do. It is a symbol that we will be protected by God. That he will forgive us for all of our sins and grant us eternal love.” Camila stops speaking for a moment and grabs my hand, “Boog was never able to feel that same faith as you and I do. But, what he found was something very similar. He found a type of faith in his cut, the club, the bikers. He found a brotherhood that he could never find in the church, and that is okay. Not all of us do find it in the church.”

  I see my mother accepting what Camila has told her. The truth is, I couldn’t have ever said that any better. This woman has a way with words, that’s for damn sure. “I know that things will never go back to the way they were before, but I’m hopeful that we can have a new beginning.”

  I nod, wanting the same thing.

  “How long are you two in town for?” She asks us both.

  “Well, we’re going to stay around for a bit. I’m guessing that it’ll be a couple of weeks. Is anyone staying in the apartment?” We have an apartment above one of the old barns. My parents used to have the helpers stay in them, as an added bonus to them working here.

  “No, they stay in the old farmhouse at the back end of the property. Feel free to stay in the apartment for as long as you two want.”

  Camila grabs my hand and smiles widely at me. “Thank you so much. I’ve never been to Iowa before today, so I’m looking forward to staying here.”

  “It’s no problem at all sweetheart. I’m gonna go get a few things handled, but I’ll see y’all later.”

  My mom walks out the front door and leaves Camila and me to be alone. I don’t know what’s headed our way, but I know that this will be interesting. “What happens now?” Camila asks, pulling me out of my own head.

  I look over to her, cupping her face in my hand and bring her lips to mine. I kiss her sweetly, showing this amazing woman just how much I fucking care about her. I hope sometime soon I’ll be able to put it into words, but we’re just not there yet. There’s no doubt that we will be soon, though. “We relax for a couple weeks while Damon and Amara figure out what the fuck to do with Ricardo. We don’t have to do a thing except stay alive, princess.”

  I might not have wanted to come here, but I know that it’s probably the best decision we could’ve made. Now I’m just wondering what the hell is going on at the club, especially with all of Widow’s bullshit.

  THE END.

  Readers

  Thank you so much for taking the time to dive into Booger and Camila’s story. I hope that it’s been well worth the wait. Boog and Camila have something special and I knew from the get go that I couldn’t rush something as unique as their love.

  If you’re wondering, Widow’s story is coming next and I really hope that you’re ready for the hurricane that is Rebel Rose.

  -Liz

  Widow

  (Reapers MC #4)

  Blurb

  Widow

  If I didn't love her, I would kill her. I'd kill her for so much, but mostly for hiding my kid from me. For up and running, and choosing to keep my daughter out of my life. She doesn't just belong to Melody. She's mine too, and Melody doesn't get to keep her to herself.

  She said she ran because of me, because of what I did.

  I can't blame her for that.

  I fucked up and I might have lost the most important woman in my life, but I refuse to lose my daughter. Not when we haven't even had a chance.

  Will fighting for my daughter lead me to winning back my girl's heart? I loved her for years and I always will. The only thing is, Melody doesn't exist anymore.

  Only Rebel Rose does, and she's nothing like I expect.

  Add to your #TBR: https://bit.ly/2uQHFv0