Page 87 of Unveiled Wounds

“What’s going on?” she asked, first scanning my face and then Dead’s. “Are bad things happening?” she asked when neither one of us said anything.

“What happened to minding your own business?” I pulled her closer.

“Yup, bad shit’s happening.” She shook her head, as if she had everything figured out.

“You’ve got to stop that.” I was serious. She’d spout something off one day to the wrong person, and it was my biggest fear that I wouldn’t be there to defend her.

“Don’t be so obvious about it.”

“If this is typical married life, I’ll pass,” Dead commented drily.

She pointed at him. “Yes, you just keep that thought.”

If she had said something like that when I’d first brought her to the clubhouse, my ass would have puckered, waiting for the fallout. There would have been one eventually, and then I would have run around trying to smooth it over until the next time.

Dead smirked, not fazed at all. My wife was pouting, but she’d be over it in a minute or two, and the rest of the room wasn’t even paying attention. I rolled a blonde curl between my fingers, thanking any higher power listening. I’d never thought this day would come.

As if she’d heard my thoughts, Meredith turned her head in my direction with a soft smile dancing on her lips.

“Thank you.” I bent down, stealing a kiss before tightening my arm around her.

Her lips parted, but before she said anything, we heard a door slam somewhere upstairs.

“Whatever you won’t tell me is pissing Grace off,” she mumbled, while everyone watched the top floor for any sign of movement.

I rocked Pumpkin, making sure she stayed asleep, but I heard JR, somewhere in the room, cry.

“No, I refuse.” We heard Grace before we saw her fly down the stairs, Sabre hot on her heels.

“Mama,” he sighed.

“Don’t patronize me. It’s easy to figure out the cartel is coming.”

“Told you it was obvious,” Meredith whispered to me.

I shushed her. She didn’t need to be in the middle of the storm that was brewing.

“Oh, gotta go,” I heard Emily say. She took off running towards the stairs, but Grace had turned around at the bottom. There was nowhere for Emily to flee. Pebbles pointed towards her door in the club girl’s hallway, waving at Emily to hide in there.

“I lived through eight years of a loveless marriage. I almost died on an operating table, as they cut me open trying to deliver our baby. What makes Diego Lopez think he can break me?” Grace clenched her fists, placing them on her hips.

“I don’t break either,” Meredith whispered to me, patting my chest.

“He could take everything we have, and we’d still fight.” Grace must have heard her.

“You can’t rebuild if you’re gone.” Sabre mirrored her stance.

“You promised me you’d be here for me and for our kids. Why can’t we just head over there now and get this over with?”

“I’m down,” Meredith said, shifting her legs to stand. I tightened my arm around her before she could stand, and even Dead shot her a look to stay out of this.

“What are you going to do?” Sabre asked.

“Offer him everything I own, if he’ll just go away.”

“It doesn’t work like that, mama. You know this. If you walk out that door, he’d still keep coming after this club. He won’t stop until one of us doesn’t have any fight left.” Sabre stepped towards her, his eyes narrowing. “You said kids.”

“You keep asking when I’m going to give you another one. How does about eight months sound?”