“The bathroom. It’s a Jack and Jill layout. The room on the other side is mine,” he told me, smiling.
Oh, fuck no. I was not, for all intents and purposes, sharing a room with Duke. Nope. No way. No how.
He held his hand up, palm out, “Before you say anything, the reason I did that was so James could stay in the room with you, but I would be close enough to hear him and get to him quickly without having to be in the same room as you.” Did he just say that? Asshole.
“Ever heard of a baby monitor?” I snarked. He needed to put my baby down and leave.
“I didn’t mean it like that, Reese. I figured you wouldn’t want me in here with you. I couldn’t believe you let me stay with you last night. I knew I wouldn’t be that lucky when we got back to Croftridge.” He sounded defeated, but I wasn’t going to let that bother me.
Ugh, last night. Nope, not going there either. “Yeah, well, you were right about that.”
He looked down at the floor and pinched the bridge of his nose. Thankfully, we were interrupted by numerous bikers bringing in box after box after box. I wanted to cry. There was no way I could unpack those boxes. I could barely even walk!
I just sat there staring at the wall until the last box was brought in. Carbon walked to the far side of the room and was back in front of me in mere seconds, placing James in my arms. “You hold the baby. Duke and I will get you unpacked.”
I lifted my watery eyes to my brother and sniffed. “Thank you,” I whispered.
He kissed the top of my head and got to work. It didn’t take them as long as I thought. When they were finished, my room was set up with everything I would need to take care of James as well as myself.
Duke stretched his arms over his head, making his shirt rise to reveal his chiseled abdomen, which in turn made my mouth water. I wanted to run my tongue over those ridges, again, before I… “I’m going to go get you something to eat. You need to take your pain medicine again. Anything in particular you want?” Duke asked.
Yes, I wanted to lick his abs and do other naughty things to him. “Uh, no, whatever you have is fine.”
Carbon chimed in, “How about you see to James and I’ll go get food, yeah?”
When all was said and done, all four of us were full, I had been medicated, James was fresh and clean and down for the night. Carbon sat at the end of the bed and Duke was sitting in a chair across the room. Carbon started, “I need you to tell me about Omen.”
I sighed. I knew this was coming, but I thought for sure they would wait until tomorrow at least. “I met Allen the summer before my junior year of high school, about a year before Grandma died. He was a few years older than me and had that bad boy thing going on, so when he asked me out, I said yes. I had no idea who he was. We’d been dating for about 10 months when I found out. When he came to pick me up for a date and I got in the car, I saw something leather laying in the back seat. It was a Mangler’s MC cut. We were already moving down the road and I didn’t know what to do. I tried not to react to it and casually asked, ‘What’s that?’ That’s when he told me he was the President’s son and had just received his patch. He said we were on our way to the clubhouse for the celebration. I yelled for him to pull over and barely made it out of the car before I began vomiting. I’d unknowingly been sleeping with Boar’s son for months. When I finally stopped puking, I was a sweaty, stinky, trembling mess. I told him I thought I maybe had food poisoning and asked him to take me home. He did, though it was obvious he wasn’t happy about it. After that night, whenever he called, I came up with excuse after excuse as to why I couldn’t go out with him. I guess he got tired of hearing my excuses over the phone because he showed up unannounced one afternoon. That’s when I told him I didn’t want to see him anymore.”
I paused and locked eyes with Carbon. “You won’t like this next part. Give me your hand.” He grimaced and reluctantly placed his hand in my good one. I squeezed it tightly while I spoke the next words. “He beat the shit out of me and left me in a bloody heap on Grandma’s front porch. I need you to stay with me, Carbon. Stay. With. Me.” I squeezed his hand as hard as I could. I could feel the fury vibrating beneath his skin, but he held it together. I knew he would.
“What happened after that?” Duke asked.
Still holding Carbon’s hand, I continued, “After that, I avoided him at all costs. Thankfully, Grandma had gone to visit one of her friends for a few days, so my face was healed enough to be covered with makeup when she got back. I waited a few more days to be sure I could hide if from Carbon. Then, I drove to Croftridge for an impromptu visit. I stayed for two weeks before I went back to Reedy Fork.”
Carbon finished the story, “And Grandma died the next day.”
“Right,” I agreed. I was proud of myself for getting through that story without shedding any tears.
“So, why do you think the letters are from Omen?” Carbon asked.
“Who else could they be from? Look at what they say. It has to be him.” The first one was simple.Found you.The cut out magazine letters were so stereotypical it was almost comical. The second one was similar.Can’t hide from me.I started to get a little freaked out when I received the one that saidYou have a Blackwings baby. The last one was what sent me into a panic. I found it under my windshield wipers when I took my lunch break. It saidYou and the Blackwings spawn must die. They didn’t know about the last one, it was in the car with me when I got hit.
“You really think it’s him after he left you alone for almost two years?” Duke asked.
“Yeah, I do. I guess I wasn’t close enough for him to terrorize when I moved to Croftridge and he started up again when he realized I moved to Devil Springs.” I cleared my throat and grabbed Carbon’s hand. He instantly stiffened, knowing I was going to say something else he wouldn’t like. “Um, you guys didn’t see the last one. It was on my car the day of the wreck. It’s why I left work early. I was going to Grandma’s house to get the pistol she kept beside her bed.”
“What did it say?” Carbon asked through gritted teeth.
“It said ‘You and the Blackwings spawn must die.’” I squeezed his hand again and begged him with my eyes to stay calm. Shockingly, it wasn’t Carbon I needed to worry about.
Duke leaped out of his chair and roared, “He threatened my son and you didn’t fucking tell me?!? What the hell is wrong with you, Reese?”
Carbon quickly got to his feet and shoved Duke through the door and into the hallway. Thankfully, James stayed asleep.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Duke
