Page 25

CHAPTER

FOUR

Rayleigh

Brick was gone for a long time the night before which gave me the time I needed to get a lot of his presents wrapped and placed under the tree. I’ve had them hidden in different spots all around the room, and actually used a few of the boxes I got in from the online place I order stuff for the kittens to hide them inside of until I could get them wrapped.

Sneaky, I know, but it worked… he never suspected a thing.

As I clean the bar this morning, I find myself singing along to the music Brew put on for me that’s booming out from the surround sound system’s speakers. Every day I find something else to love about the men of this club. They may think I’m silly for wanting to decorate every available space with something festive, but they haven’t stopped me yet. In fact, I’ve got the twins with me again today, because once I’m done, I’m going shopping with Cassie to finish things up and for some reason, Brick has decided I need protection.

“Do you know who all those men were that I saw at breakfast?” I ask Brew as I stack the clean glasses in the cooler now that the bar dishwasher is done. He’s standing behind the bar doing his inventory or something on a tablet.

“Some brothers from Charleston,” he replies.

“South Carolina?”

“No, West Virginia, Ray.”

“Why would they come here though?”

“Club business.”

Gah, I am beginning to hate that phrase.

Not like Brick uses it on me very often, thank goodness, but I’ve definitely heard it a numerous amount of time from the other men. Probably when they’re tired of me asking questions, but how will I learn stuff I don’t know about if I don’t do that?

“I understand, Brew. I’m sorry I’m such a pain,” I quietly reply.

From under my lashes, I can see his frown as my words penetrate whatever it was he was thinking about. “Rayleigh, it’s not like that,” he starts.

“No, no, I get it, I ask far too many questions. I’ll be more mindful from now on.”

Inside I’m giggling because now he looks distressed at the thought that I’m upset.

“Babe, it really is club business this time, I promise. You can check with Brick if you don’t believe me. Why do you think you’ve got the twins with you today when you really haven’t had the need to have anyone following your every move?”

My blood freezes and I ask, “Am I in danger?”

I honestly don’t think I could survive if I was taken from my home again. Not after knowing freedom, finding Brick, becoming who I was always meant to be. No, if I ever get captured… again , I’ll fight back with every ounce of strength I possess within me. Nothing and no one will keep me from my man and my four-legged babies.

He makes a scoffing noise while shaking his head. “Babe, you’re the ol’ lady of the president, pretty sure if anyone comes after you, they’ll be filled with so much lead, they won’t need to be embalmed because all their bodily fluids will leak right outta them.”

“Well, that’s not a pleasant picture, Brew!” I exclaim, shuddering, causing him to laugh so hard he’s doubled over.

“I keep forgetting you might be the club princess, but you weren’t raised around all of us, so you’ve got more delicate sensibilities.”

“How the hell do you even know what that means?” I ask in astonishment.

“Ray, one of the things the old-timers insisted on is that those of us coming up in the club had to get our education. Some of us even did a short stint in the military, just the basic enlistment, of course, but they wanted more for us than they struggled to have. And because I enjoy reading, my vocabulary is a lot more advanced than your average bear.”

I can’t help the snicker that falls from my lips. “Y’all are all so different than I imagined.”

“We’re just flesh and blood men, Rayleigh.”

“Who ride motorcycles, beat the hell out of those who hurt those who are more fragile and less fortunate, incite fear in bullies and thugs. Yeah, nothing normal about that at all,” I taunt in a teasing manner.

“We take care of what’s ours, princess. Always have, and we always will, no holds barred. The difference now is that we’re part of something far bigger, so we’ve got more muscle behind us than we ever did before. Nothing and no one will fuck with us, and God help them if anyone tries to fuck with you. Brick will burn the country down one town at a time if that happens.”

“I’m perfectly safe and fine, Brew. See? Right here, no danger lurking around the corner,” I announce, doing a pirouette then a bow.

“Smartass,” a new voice says. Turning, I see my brother standing there, grinning at my antics.

Without much thought, I throw myself into his outstretched arms, hugging him tightly. I’ve had a little bit of time to get used to the fact I have a brother now, and since he’s found out, he’s been really sweet toward me. I get the impression from the way the other men have reacted that how he’s been with me isn’t his normal personality, but I don’t care.

“What are you doing here, Banshee? Not that I’m not glad to see you because I am, I just wasn’t expecting it is all,” I say, rambling so much, I barely take in a breath.

“Thought you might want to see the house,” he replies, smiling down at me.

“The house?” I query.

“Where we all lived when you were little. Brick’s gonna meet us there because I found some old recorded family movies.”

“Movies?” I feel like a parrot right now, repeating one or two words after each of his pronouncements, but I can’t help myself.

I’m dumbfounded and a little flabbergasted.

The thought that I can see where my family lived, where I lived before I was snatched, is mind-blowing. Then to know there are movies I can watch so I can see my parents and hear their voices? I don’t know what to say. On one hand, I wanna dance and shimmy in place. On the other hand, I wanna curl up into a ball and cry into my pillow.

I’m conflicted, yet excited… it’s a conundrum of mixed emotions flowing through me.

“If you want, that is.” His voice is cautious right now and I’m sure everything I’ve been thinking is showing on my expression, I’ve never really been one who’s able to hide how I’m feeling.

“I do but won’t it be difficult for you?” I ask, completely forgetting my earlier excitement about shopping with Cassie.

“The brothers have kept the house up through the years and since I’ve become an adult, I occasionally stay there. Not often because of the circumstances, but it won’t be hard on me, squirt, I promise.”

“Squirt?”

He chuckles then, his face losing its tightness. “Yeah, I always called you either RyRy or Squirt.”

“I’ve… I don’t know what to say,” I quietly murmur. “I’ve never had a nickname before coming here.”

“Well, get used to it, sis, because I heard Brew calling you princess and I know Brick calls you Sprite sometimes. I suspect you’re going to have quite a few of them from this point moving forward.”

Brick

As I pull up to Banshee’s house, I see his bike parked in front on the stoned driveway and know he’s already there with Rayleigh.

While I’d normally object to her being on the back of someone else’s bike, he’s her brother, and there’s nobody else I trust to care for her the way I do than him. Gathering the bags of takeout food from the local diner out of my saddlebags, I make my way up to the screen door that covers the front porch.

The house itself is a cozy, two-story Victorian, complete with a deep wraparound porch. The front part of it is enclosed and I have vague memories of Lorelei and some of the other ol’ ladies sitting on the porch in rockers, watching the kids play out in the front yard while talking, and drinking lemonade.

Although, looking back at how loud they were, it was probably spiked lemonade, which has me grinning as I head inside the house.

I immediately spot Banshee, standing there with his hands shoved into the depths of his pockets while Rayleigh meanders around the room, lightly touching old photographs as she absorbs just how much her family loved and adored her.

The wall she’s standing at is covered with hundreds of pictures, some of them professionally done, others just snapshots taken by various club members. From their first meeting to the ceremony where Lorelei accepted Bonzai’s claim, then their wedding followed by the announcement and arrival of Banshee. Then, Lorelei’s pregnancy with Rayleigh plays out in chronologically ordered pictures, with the first one being of her and Bonzai; he’s clutching her high in the air in one arm while waving the pregnancy test, both of them with smiles so wide it makes my own cheeks ache.

Pictures of Ban touching his mother’s expanding stomach, reading to it, kissing it; my ol’ lady lovingly touches and caresses them all, as tears silently streak down her blotchy cheeks. She continues on, now seeing when she’s actually part of the family, the looks of adoration on her parents’ faces as well as her brothers, causing her to sob.

Unable to handle her distress a second longer, I thrust the food toward Banshee, uncaring if he drops it or not, then stride toward her before I pull her against my chest and wrap my arms around her. “Shhhh, I’m here, sweetheart,” I croon.

“This… this is what I always dreamed of having, Brick,” she stammers, her eyes still roaming over the photographs. “And I had it, too. Loving parents, a big brother. A huge extended family.” She points to the next section of pictures where she’s being held by various club members. “You even carried me around!” she exclaims, looking back at me.

“Yeah, sweetheart. Me and Ban were your protectors. We were emulating the brothers and how protective they were with their families, trying to be like our dads,” I quietly reply, chuckling at the memory.

I move with her as she continues to examine each and every one of the celluloid memories, embedding them into her memory. Right now, I’m grateful as fuck that Lorelei was the type of mom and woman who liked to document memories with pictures and mementos because even though Rayleigh doesn’t actually remember any of this time in her life, she can see it did happen and hopefully, it’ll continue to heal the heartache of the past for her.

“You want to eat while we watch some of the home movies?” Ban asks once we’ve made our way to the end of the wall. Sadly, there weren’t a lot of pictures taken after that fateful day. Partially because Lorelei threw herself into making flyers and plastering them everywhere in an effort to find information about Rayleigh, but also the fact is Bonzai and Lorelei were gone mere months later.

“Yeah, I think I’d like that,” she agrees. “I’m… I know I want to see more of the house, too, but maybe I’ll wait on taking that tour because I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed right now.”

“It’s not going anywhere, sweetheart,” I tell her. “You can wait to see the movies too, if you need to.”

“No, I want to see them. I feel like I need to for some reason,” she insists.

“Then that’s what we’ll do, we’ll watch some movies,” I say, caving in and giving her what she needs, what she wants.

I’ll always do what’s best for her within reason.