Sam nods and holds her hand out to her. “You most certainly can! Let me grab you a stool so you can see better.”
My heart warms at the sight of Sam accepting this child as if it were her own. I know it has been hard for her and Xavier to try to have kids and after so many years of trying, I believe that they can’t have them. Xavier refuses to adopt so Sam just suffers and gives all her love to everyone else's children.
Blake sits in silence with a soft smile on her face, watching her child live in her happiness. This gives me time to really look at her bruises along her neck. It looks like her husband wrapped both of his hands around her throat and didn’t let go. He squeezed so tight that he left fingerprint marks on her collarbone.
Blake must feel me staring because she looks up at me and her smile fades. “What’s wrong?” She pulls her hair so that her neck is no longer in view.
I shake my head and gently rub her shoulder. “There is nothing wrong, Crash. I was just admiring the view.”
She rolls her eyes at me and looks back at her child.
Xavier comes out of his room and whistles at Sam. “Damn, girl. You really know a way to a man’s heart.” He walks up behind her and grabs her by the waist and swings her around.
“Hey, put me down. I’m trying to cook pancakes!”
He rights her on her feet and kisses the top of her head, leaning in to snatch a piece of bacon from the plate behind her. Charlie catches him and hollers. “Hey! You are stealing.”
Xavier lets go of Sam and squares off with Charlie. He looks menacing but then he gets down on one knee and bows his head, holding the piece of bacon out toward her. “You are absolutely right, little one. Here, you may have it back.” Charlie giggles and takes the bacon from his grasp, placing it back on the plate. But not before snagging a bite of it.
Xavier sees it too and he winks at her and puts his finger to his lips. “Okay, I am done being a menace in the kitchen.” Then he turns his eyes toward me. “Hunter, come with me to church.”
When we make it into the meeting room, he closes the door behind me, and we take our seats at the table.
“What’s this all about?” I raise my brow. We don’t usually hold church this early in the morning, and the rest of the group isn’t here.
He leans back in his chair and kicks his feet up on the table. “I just wanted to go over a little bit with you about the ride. It’s in two days, you know.”
I nod and clasp my hands in front of me.
“As you know, it normally takes us roughly eighteen hours to get there from the clubhouse.”
“Yeah.”
“What if we took the main highway part way and then took back roads the rest of the way?”
I shake my head. “No, that’s stupid. You know the safest way is just to take back roads the entire time. That way we don’t risk being caught.”
He lets out a breath. “But, I really don’t want it to take that long.”
“Why are you whining?”
He rolls his eyes. “Because man. Just like you, I’m getting old and my back fucking hurts when I ride too long.”
I chuckle. “You sure that isn’t from all the fucking you and Sam do?”
He tosses a nearby pen toward my head that I dodge. “No, you fuck.” He sighs. “Fine, we’ll do it the usual way since you have no spine.”
I tilt my head. “It has nothing to do with having the nerve to take the riskier route. We have other men’s lives in our handson this ride, and I won’t risk it because you're getting too old to ride.”
He scoffs. “Whatever.” He throws his hands up in the air. “So what is the deal with this girl and her kid? How long are they going to be staying?”
I shrug. “For as long as I can get them to, I guess. Right now it is all up in the air.”
“What are they going to do while we’re on this ride?”
“My plan is to have her stay here so I know she’s safe.”
He nods. “That would be smart, but what if she doesn’t want to stay?”
