Stunned, I reluctantly let her go as she gently wiped a tear that rolled down my face. “How? I don’t understand.”
Cupping my face, she smiled. “James will explain everything. I promise.”
“Think I can get one of those hugs?”
My head snapped up as a brother engulfed me in a bone-shattering man hug before releasing me and grinning. “A day for ghosts, huh, brother?”
“Judge?”
My brother nodded. “In the flesh.”
“Savage told us you died.”
“Yeah, almost did too when that fucker Toxic aimed at my head, but like everything else about him, he couldn’t even do that right.” Judge smirked, turning his head so I could see the long scar that wrapped around the entire left side of his skull. “The bullet skimmed me. Took my hide right off. Still can’t get my hair to grow back. You should know that Maverick is also here, among others. But I think the one person you are going to really want to see is...” Judge’s voice trailed off as he looked around the clubhouse, frowning, right before he whistled loudly.
Seconds later, a door opened up and a woman I desperately loved and adored, a woman who raised me as one of her own, a woman who stepped up and became the mother I never had, stormed out wiping her hands on a dish towel before she too squealed loudly and rushed over to me. The sight had me falling to my knees, unable to breathe.
Gasping for air, she rubbed my back as a Southern voice I thought I’d never hear again rang true. “What the hell did youdo, Judge?” Her question was a whip crack, not just of anger, but of disappointment.
“Nothing, I swear!” My brother’s voice was a reedy, pathetic thing, a stark contrast to the man I knew him to be.
“You could have warned him. Now look what ya did. My boy is hyperventilating! I ought to take a switch to your ass!” Her words were a painful echo of her protective nature, a nature I usually cherished.
“Aw, Roxy, I didn’t mean any harm, and Ravage is stronger than he looks. He’s just playing it up.”
“I’m gonna play the ‘Devil Went Down to Georgia’ on your ass with a willow switch, Judge!” my aunt Roxy chided right before she whispered in my ear, “I know everything is a shock, Jackson, but I’m gonna need ya to put your boots on and stand tall, because shit’s only gonna get worse from here on out.”
Her proximity, the scent of her familiar perfume, should have been comforting. Instead, her words, laced with both threat and a desperate plea, tightened the knot in my stomach.Stand tall. How could I stand tall when I felt like I was crumbling from the inside out? How could I face what was coming when I had already failed so spectacularly at the first hurdle?
Looking up at the woman I loved dearly, I was about to ask what she meant, my words catching in my throat, when Pops walked over and extended his hand to help me stand. His touch was firm, grounding, but offered no solace against my internal storm.
“Roxy’s right, Jackson. Shit’s getting real bad, and now that you know, we’re all gonna need your help.” His words felt like a burden, an insurmountable task. I had just witnessed something I couldn’t comprehend, something that had shattered my reality, and now they expected me to be a pillar of strength. The sheer unfairness of it, the demand for resilience when I felt so utterly broken, was almost unbearable.
“Need me for what?” My question was laced with a weariness that belied my years, a weariness born of choices I hadn’t made but was already being held accountable for.
“Come into church and I will explain everything.”
I still couldn’t believe what I was seeing as I sat at the large oak table with the Golden Skull etched into the wood, saying nothing as Pops took his seat at the head of the table. Next to him sat Grudge, the president of the Alabama Chapter of the Soulless Sinners. Around the table sat familiar faces—faces that had no allegiance to the Golden Skulls yet sat comfortably next to brothers from different clubs.
“How ya doing, son?” Pops asked, and I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees as I held my head in my hands.
“I don’t know.”
Judge chuckled. “Yeah, I felt the same way when I saw them. It gets easier.”
“Speak for yourself,” I heard Sypher mutter as he placed his laptop on the table. “You try accepting the mother you thought long dead has been alive all this time. That’s not to mention the ass-chewing she gave me for how I handled the fucked-up mess with Jane Craven, and that was all before she gave me a hug!”
“Yeah, but your kid smoothed things over.”
“Only because she finally has a grandbaby,” Sypher snapped, then groaned, taking a seat next to me. “And thank fuck Danika is a girl. I’d hate to see how Momma would have reacted if I had presented her with another boy. Plus, she adores Dante.”
“Where is Karlyn?” I asked, looking at Pops.
“She’s with my woman and Melissa and Roxy. They will get her settled while we talk.”
“Speaking of your woman, does Dylan and Layla know their mother is alive?”
“Oh, he fucking knows.” A familiar face walked in growling. “And he’s still pissed.”
