Chapter Twenty-Seven
Aspen
My mother was the missing sister of Kane Baudelaire. Known in the biker world as Morpheus. President of the Brotherhood of Bastards.
I’d never met any of the Brotherhood. As children, we’d all heard the stories. There wasn’t a person in our world who hadn’t heard of Morpheus and his uncle.
My mother’s uncle.
I sat at the bar, Banshee by my side, and stared at my mother, looking at her as if seeing her for the first time. My brother’s name was Kane. I’d never even considered he could be named after Kane Baudelaire. Why would I?
But now it made sense. Why my mother told me that if I ever truly needed help, I could go to them. I never even considered it after the stories I’d heard. But she was adamant that if I told Morpheus her full given name, he would protect me.
Nav’s response to my mother’s confession was confusing.
He was angry. In the time I had been here, I’d never seen him angry.
He occasionally came out of his office, cussing up a storm.
But he was generally mad at himself and his computers.
Once he saw the women or the little girls, his demeanor quickly changed.
He felt safe.
But seeing the way he grabbed my mother, the rage in his eyes... it gave me pause. I could have called Diesel off. Could have given him one word and he would have come to me, no longer a threat. But the Silver Shadows were my family now.
I liked Eros; he was quiet, but always kind to me.
Not much was known about him. He was close to my brother’s age, but he’d saved my father’s life.
So when he was offered a place in the club, he accepted on the condition that his past was his own.
My father agreed as long as his past didn’t come after the club.
He assured my father it wouldn’t. That his past was dead.
I guess his past wasn’t as dead as he’d thought.
As I looked around the room, I clocked where my brother’s men were. Poseidon stood sentry behind my brother, who sat at the bar. My uncle Issac was on his left. Atlas on his right. I’d always had a crush on Atlas. He was a few years younger than my brother. But he was kind.
I assumed my father knew of his relationship to Bane. My father would have thought that was a win. The cousin of a Soulless Sinner loyal to the Gods of Mayhem.
And Atlas was loyal.
I’d seen him watching me. I’d even flirted and tried to seduce him. But he wouldn’t budge. The club came first, always. He wouldn’t risk his place, or the respect of my father for one night.
And he’d assured me that was all it would be.
It was why I’d sought out Erebus. Erebus was young and stupid like me. He was across the room talking to Romeo. My father had made him my shadow when I turned eighteen. Before then, I wasn’t allowed out of the clubhouse without my parents or Zeus, or Uncle Issac.
Erebus and I became close. We’d spent so much time together; it was only natural that feelings would develop. We had a quiet, sneaky fling for a few months. But a pregnancy scare put things into perspective for both of us.
He was no longer willing to risk his place in the club, and I was no longer willing to risk his life. Sex wasn’t that important. If I were being honest, it wasn’t that good.
Sure, I enjoyed my time with Erebus, and the few hook-ups I’d had in college. But when Pepper made it known he wouldn’t sleep with me, I wasn’t disappointed. Sex was ok, but living without it wasn’t a hardship.
Until Banshee.
I crossed my arm over my chest and placed my hand over his on my shoulder. He squeezed my shoulder, letting me know he was there. He’d felt my need for reassurance. Banshee had shown me what passion was. What heaven was like.
He made me feel loved. Cherished. Like he couldn’t breathe without me near. Now that my parents were here, and they knew where I was and what had happened to me, maybe divorce was an option. Maybe now I could be free to be Banshee’s old lady.
“Aspen?”
I turned to my sister. My mother was across the room, sitting with my father, watching us.
“Mom and Dad would like to talk with you. Maybe we could all sit and talk. I still have to tell them everything. I’d like you to be there. Maybe you can tell them everything too?”
Her voice was soft, as if she were afraid she might scare me off. I looked back at Banshee.
“It’s your call, baby girl.”
“Will you come with me?”
“Of course I will.” He kissed the top of my head, and I nodded to my sister.
“We can go outside. There are chairs all around the backyard.” I looked at the church doors. “There’s no telling how long they’ll be.” I had never seen King as mad as he was. I wondered what shape Nav would be in when he finally emerged.
Banshee went over to tell Gunner where we were going. And I followed my sister and her family outside. Mimic led the way to the backyard, and my brother’s men grabbed the Adirondack chairs that were spread out and put them close together in a circle.
“Shug, think your hell beast could stay inside?” my brother asked.
“Absolutely not. Where I go, he goes.”
I brushed past him and grabbed a chair. Banshee took my hand and pulled me out, taking my place and pulling me down on his lap, and Diesel laid at my feet.
I sat quietly as my sister shared everything with my parents. My father and brother both cussed and shouted as she told them about George Stone and everything he had done. Diesel growled when they got too loud, and they quieted quickly, not willing to risk his wrath.
They didn’t know he was really a teddy bear.
When it was Kytten’s turn to tell her story, she took a deep breath and looked toward the front of the clubhouse.
“You can wait for Cash,” I told her, knowing he was her rock.
Diesel, hearing my voice, stood up and walked over, climbing on top of Kytten.
He was almost as big as she was, but he settled comfortably on her lap, his head on the flat arm of the wooden chair.
Kytten laughed through her tears as she told her story, all the while running her hands over Diesel’s body.
My father stood from his seat and walked away as Kytten finished telling them about Valhalla and Syrena. She’d excluded the part where Valhalla and Dakota Stone had kidnapped her. Bane reached over, taking Kytten’s hand as my mother assured her that he would be back in a moment.
“He’s having a hard time.”
I scoffed, and Banshee squeezed my hip.
“Irene—”
“Mom, she wishes to be called Aspen,” my sister corrected.
“But her name—”
“It doesn’t matter,” Diana said. “Her name is now Aspen.”
My mother inhaled deeply and nodded. We sat quietly and waited for my father to return. When he did, he sat down and pulled my mother onto his lap.
“And you, Thorne?” my mother asked. “Would you tell us your story?”
“No.”
That was all he said, and I smiled. I’d gotten to know Mimic since living at the clubhouse. Well, as much as he let anyone know him; he wasn’t easily swayed. Even Kytten had a hard time getting him to open up, and she was his favorite person.
Aside from Indie, of course.
“These are your grandparents, Mimic,” Indie whispered to him.
“So?”
“They’re family,” she hissed.
Mimic looked at me, then Zeus and then my parents. “I’ll add Aspen and my mother. The rest can fuck off.”
“Disrespectful little shit,” Bane cursed, and I couldn’t help but smile.
“I’ll take you too, Mimic.” I smiled at him, knowing he wouldn’t smile back. It was enough that he counted me with his mother. I wouldn’t push for more. I understood Mimic more than most people did.
“Thorne, would it be alright if I shared your story with them?” my sister asked.
“No,” he answered.
“Would you stop throwing a fucking tantrum?” Indie hissed.
“I don’t want to be here,” he whined.
“Then go,” Bane snapped.
“August!”
Mimic leapt from his seat and grabbed Indie’s hand, dragging her inside. I threw back my head and laughed.
“What did you tell me the other day? He needs time?”
Diana sighed and leaned further into her seat as she stared in the direction her son had disappeared.
“Probably didn’t help that he saw his grandfather deck his club brother in church,” Banshee snarked.
“Fuck you, Banshee. You deserved it,” my father growled.
Diesel’s head popped up, and he barked, letting us know we were getting out of hand. I loved that dog.
“Shug,” my brother said. “Will you tell us what happened?”
I took a deep breath and sat up. Slipping off Banshee’s lap, I sat between his feet on the ground. Diesel jumped down from Kytten’s lap and crawled over mine. I looked up at my sister. “I didn’t tell you everything the other day,” I admitted.
Banshee leaned forward and whispered, “You tell them what you’re comfortable with.”
I reached up and covered his hand on my shoulder. I looked around the yard and watched my brother’s men milling around, protecting the small circle that held my family.
I began my story with Pepper. With the day we were married, the beatings, the threats. My father’s knuckles turned white as he held the edge of the wooden arm of the chair. My brother sat forward; he didn’t look at me. I knew it was because he didn’t want me to see the murder in his eyes.
I didn’t tell them about the money, or the drugs Pepper was cutting. I needed to share that information with King first, and he could decide what he wanted my family to know. Instead, I told them about my life here in Diamond Creek.
I told them about meeting Kytten and Valhalla. I told them about my flower shop and how much I hated it. And then I told them about Greg, and the reason I was living in the Silver Shadows’ clubhouse.
My father looked at Banshee.
“That fucker better be dead.”
“He is. As is his brother, who helped him.”
That was all Banshee told them. He didn’t tell them that it was Haizley who’d killed him. Or that Greg’s brother was a cop. Neither of those things were important. The details didn’t always matter; it was the end result that decided how my family reacted.
“Sugar, I’m so sorry.”
My father lifted my mother from his lap and stood. He walked across the circle and held out his hand. Diesel sniffed it and huffed, then looked at me to see what he should do. I patted his head before reaching out and taking my father’s hand. He pulled me into his embrace, and tears filled my eyes.
“I’m so sorry, Sugar. This was all my fault.”
There was more my father and I had to work out. But it could wait. Right now, I just wanted him to hold me like I mattered to him. As though I were just as important to him as Diana.
I stood there in my father’s arms until Mimic came rushing back.
“Banshee, let’s go!”
Banshee jumped out of his chair. “What happened?”
“Death Dogs attacked the bar.”
“Oh my God, Grace!” I shouted.
“Baby girl—”
“Go. Go,” I urged, pushing him away. Banshee followed Mimic to the lot, the rest of us trailing behind.
“Zeus, I need you and your men to stay here and guard the women,” King said.
“You got it!” my brother responded. “Everyone inside,” my brother yelled, twirling a finger over his head to signal his men to round everyone up.