Page 45

Remi

A soft knock at the back door alerted me before Catarina, Player’s wife, walked in. Smiling, I turned as the woman barely moved out of the way fast enough before her son Colin rushed past, yelling for Jesse.

Chuckling, I leaned against the counter.

“Only three more days, Cat, and then were home free.”

Sighing, the beautiful woman smirked. “I think I’m more excited about the first day of school than he is.”

“We all are.”

“Jesse!” a youthful voice yelled, followed by the sound of my front door slamming.

Groaning, I shouted back, “Inside voice, Samuel!”

“Sorry, Remi!” Matrix’s son shouted back while he thundered upstairs, and the back door opened again. This time Jax walked in grinning as he walked over to give me a kiss on the cheek. “Hey, Sis. Is Emma up yet?”

“She better be. We still need to pick up a few more things for her before school.”

“Mind if I go check?”

“Knock yourself out, and while you are up there, make sure the boys are behaving.”

“Will do,” Jax said, snagging an orange before leaving.

“What I wouldn’t give for five minutes of silence.”

“Well, you won’t find that here.” I laughed, taking a seat next to the woman. “So, who is watching the little ones while we take the brats to town?”

“Sunny has offered, along with Daphne. But since both are pregnant, I’ve asked Aunt Maria to help.”

“Well, Solomon will be close by in case Maria gets overwhelmed.”

“That’s true.”

“And Karlyn?” I asked.

Cat shook her head. “She flat out refuses to leave her room. She’s polite but wants nothing to do with anyone. I overheard Ravage talking with Smoke the other day about building her a house. Ravage thinks it would be best for everyone concerned if Karlyn had her own place.”

“Are things that bad over there?”

“Everyone’s tripping over each other, and Daphne’s doing her best to stay calm, but Karlyn isn’t the most sociable person. I was thinking, until Smoke could get her a house built, maybe you could talk to Reaper about letting Karlyn have a room at the clubhouse. She might feel better there.”

Frowning, I asked, “Will she want to stay there, considering everything that’s happened to her? I mean, being around bikers can’t be easy for her right now.”

“That’s just it. She isn’t happy around anyone. Not even Ink. The only one she allows close is Ravage and even that’s rare. She mainly stays in her room.”

“Has she spoken with anyone? Like a therapist?”

Catarina shook her head. “No. Ravage says she doesn’t need one.”

“That’s not his decision to make, and after everything that’s happened to Karlyn, if anyone needs a therapist, it’s her. She won’t heal if she keeps everything bottled up. I’ll talk with Max after we get back from town and see what he says. In the meantime, we need to get the brats loaded up and get this fiasco over with fast.”

After three hours of last-minute school shopping, making sure Emma had everything she needed, chasing the boys all over the damn mall, and one minor incident with a potted plant, I was at my wit’s end. The second we pulled into the compound and parked the SUV, the boys ran for the hills, and I no longer cared what mischief they got into.

Stretching, I got out myself and smiled when Max walked over.

Turning to Emma, I asked, “Do you need my help with anything?”

The girl looked at me and snarked, “I don’t need anything from you.”

Emma was still angry, and I refused to engage with her. As far as I was concerned, she had every right to be angry and voice her concerns. Max, on the other hand, believed differently.

“Watch it, little girl,” he sneered, pointing a finger at his daughter.

“Or what? You’ll ground me?”

“No, I’ll fucking burn everything your mother just bought you and you can go to school dressed in what you’re wearing. So knock off the fucking attitude.”

“Max,” I whispered. “Leave her alone.”

“Fuck that, Remi,” he shouted. “She’s acting like a fucking brat.”

“She has every right to be upset, Max.”

“The fuck she does!” my husband scoffed. “We’ve given her everything she’s ever wanted and she shits on us the first minute things don’t go her way. She needs to fucking learn the world doesn’t revolve around her. She needs to fucking grow up.”

“She’s a teenager Max.”

“I don’t care.”

“That’s right!” Emma screamed. “You don’t care. You don’t care about anyone but yourself!”

“What the hell did she mean by that?” Max asked, as we both watched Emma run off, upset.

Shaking my head, I said, “She’s mad at you for fake dying and she’s mad at me for taking her away and then abandoning her. But more importantly, she’s scared because she doesn’t feel safe.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“It means we need to show her stability. That we are solid and not going anywhere. We need to give her time, Max. With everything that’s happened, I’m shocked she isn’t worse. Speaking of which, I think Logic needs to increase his visits.”

“Why?”

“Because Emma isn’t the only one who needs therapy. I want Logic to take a look at Karlyn. Cat told me she barely leaves her room.”

“She’s Ravage’s woman. I can’t interfere.”

“The hell you can’t. He hasn’t formerly claimed her and she’s Ink sister. Plus, as the President, you can order Ravage to back off so Logic can help Karlyn.”

“Have you met Ravage?” Max laughed. “That fucker is about as bad as Sandman. Maybe worse.”

Pointing my finger in Max’s chest, I glared, daring the asshole to deny me. “Either you handle this, or I will. That woman needs help and she’s going to get it. Got me?”

Max gulped and nodded. “Sure, babe. Consider it fixed.”

“Good. I expect to see Logic here in the next few days.” I smiled, heading for the clubhouse, then added, “Oh, and while you are standing around doing nothing, bring the bags inside.”

The second I stepped inside the clubhouse, I came to a complete stop as a dozen long-stemmed red roses sat beautifully displayed in a crystal vase on top of the club bar. Behind the bar stood Ink, grinning like an idiot as he wiped down the bar.

“Remi’s got an admirer,” he sing-songed in a teasing manner.

Narrowing my eyes I walked over to the bouquet and saw that there was a card. Looking around, I spotted several of the brothers just milling around as Max leaned against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, glaring at the bouquet.

“Did you buy me flowers?”

“No, I did not.”

“Then who are they from?”

“That’s what I’m waiting for you to tell me.”

Looking back at the card, I noticed no one had broken the seal.

“You didn’t open the card?”

“They weren’t delivered to me,” Max snarked, then growled, “Open the damn card. I want to know who I get to kill today.”

Rolling my eyes, I ripped open the seal on the small envelope and took out the card and frowned.

“Who’s it from?”

“It doesn’t say,” I whispered as I flipped the card from front to back. “All it says is I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what?”

“Jesus Christ,” I clipped. “If I knew that, Max, I’d let you know. They are just flowers.”

“The fuck they are,” he snarled, marching toward me. “No one sends flowers like that to a woman and expects nothing in return.”

“What?” I laughed. “What do these flowers mean?”

“Some fucknut out there is fucking expecting a reunion of some kind. But he can fucking forget about it, baby, ‘cause you’re mine.”

“Are you jealous of some flowers, Max?” I teased.

“Fuck no!”

“Then I will take them to the kitchen and put them on the table so everyone can enjoy them.”

“You touch those fucking flowers and I will spank your ass.”

Glaring at the irate man, I challenged, “You and whose army?”

“Don’t need a fucking army, baby,” he said, right before I found myself hanging upside down over his shoulder as he slapped my ass hard, marching his cute little angry ass up the stairs.

“Told ya, baby,” he said, throwing me on the bed and kicking the bedroom door shut. “I don’t need a fucking army.”