Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Zeke strode out of the meeting to see almost every patched member gathered in the common area. Including the OGs.
Damn. Word had traveled fucking fast.
He hadn’t even mentioned calling a church meeting. And even though just about everyone was there, it still wasn’t a good time because they didn’t have a solid plan.
Zeke’s gaze swept the room before finding and focusing on Kyra. She was standing next to his father. Zak was holding Ledger with a whole bunch of unhappy filling his face.
Hawk had cornered Rage out of range of everyone’s ears.
Nash had corralled his son, Chaos, while Slade stalked toward his son, Wheels.
When a pissed off Diesel grabbed Vi and pulled her aside—most likely to get details on what happened—Reaper’s shoulders snapped back and he watched that whole interaction intently from a distance.
Something was up with the Shadow. But if he was looking out for Vi, that might not be a bad thing.
Not that she needed it. Zeke’s cousin was a badass, was raised by a badass, and managed a crew of badasses. She could handle almost anything.
She could even go toe-to-toe with men like her father.
Zeke greeted his own father with a chin lift as he approached. “Need to steal her away for a sec.” His eyes flashed to his son. “You good, Legend?”
Zak frowned. “Legend?”
“Future badass right there,” was all Zeke said.
“My name’s not Legend, Daddy! It’s Ledger!”
“Yeah, but a big boy like you gotta have a road name like me.”
“Whatsa road name?”
“A nickname.”
“Like Mommy callin’ me buddy?”
“Yeah, like that, but cooler.”
“What’s yours?”
Zeke ignored his father choking and answered, “Trouble.”
Ledger’s forehead puckered. “Twouble?”
“Yep.”
“How’d you get that?”
“Just by bein’ me.”
“How’d I get mine?”
Zeke poked him in the belly. “By just bein’ you. A legend.”
He doubted Ledger understood all that, but he would. Eventually.
Kyra rolled her eyes but allowed him to steer her to a spot where they could have a little privacy.
And because so many fucking members were in the common area, “little” was being generous.
He could take her upstairs to his room or back into the meeting room, but he was damn sure she was ready to leave.
Of course she didn’t know yet that she wouldn’t be going home alone. She’d find out soon enough.
“This never would’ve happened if I was with Glen.”
She might as well have just kicked him in the nuts with that comment. “Bullshit, Ky. He’s still my son no matter who the fuck you’re with. Someone tries to fuck with me, they’re gonna try to fuck with him.” And possibly her.
She dramatically swiped the back of her hand across her forehead. “Well, phew, what a relief.”
“At least with me, whole buncha people are lookin’ out for him.”
“I’m struggling to believe that after today.”
He tipped his head toward the common area behind her.
“Look the fuck around, Ky. Everyone, and I mean fuckin’ everyone who could be here is here.
Why? ‘Cause you and Ledger got taken. And I haven’t even fuckin’ told everyone yet that Ledger’s my blood.
Even if they didn’t know that, they do fuckin’ know you mean somethin’ to me.
And ‘cause you do, that means you mean somethin’ to them. ”
She closed her eyes and said nothing for a heartbeat. Then another. Then a shitload more.
The concern in her eyes was obvious when they finally reopened.
“Get you’re worried. Why I wanted you to move out to the farm. Them snaggin’ you from your driveway made it fuckin’ clear that move can’t come soon enough. But there’s gonna be one change. Movin’ out there with you.”
The worry was instantly replaced with resistance. “I never agreed to that.”
“Ain’t a negotiation, woman. My job is to protect you and Ledger and that’s what I’m gonna fuckin’ do.”
“But it’s because of you and your club that we needed protection in the first place!”
“Like I fuckin’ said, me bein’ his father ain’t gonna change.
Me bein’ president of this club ain’t gonna change.
Him bein’ the next generation of DAMC ain’t gonna change.
So, we gotta do what we gotta do. This weekend gonna grab a bunch of my brothers and get you moved in.
Now…you with me?” Keeping his arm down by his side but shifting it a little closer to her, he opened his hand.
He waited to see if she would take it.
He pulled in a breath to beat back his worry that she would continue to fight him. When her eyes closed again, he figured she was gearing up for another argument.
He braced when they reopened, prepared to continue to battle.
Unexpectedly, her hand clasped his. Hard.
With a nod, she said, “Yes, I’m with you.”
Holy shit. There was no fucking way she was giving up so easily. Was this a trap?
He guessed the only way to find out was to test to see if what she said was true. He gave their tightly clasped hands a squeeze. “Thank fuck. Now let’s take our boy home.”
But before he could head back to his father, she tugged him to a stop. “Don’t make me regret this, Zeke. Please.”
“Nobody wants to keep you and Ledger safer than me.”
“I’m going to hold you to that.”
“Expect you to. If I fail, expect you to gimme all the shit I deserve.”
When they crossed the common area hand-in-hand, it made a strong statement. One that didn’t need to be explained to any of his brothers.
While he hadn’t officially claimed her again, he would.
When they returned to Zak, Ledger’s grandfather brushed the kid’s hair back, planted a kiss on his forehead, and handed him off to Kyra before murmuring, “Give us a minute.”
With a nod, she took Ledger over to where Vi and Diesel still stood.
“Wanna give me an update?”
Zeke turned his attention to Zak. “Nope. Gonna get one at the same time the other members do.”
“Zeke…”
“You wanted to pass the fuckin’ gavel to me like it was some fuckin’ righta passage. And you know what? I fuckin’ took it. Now let me handle this shit. You had your time. Let me have mine.”
Zak’s jaw shifted, but after a few seconds, he nodded. “Respect that.”
Thank fuck.
The fuck if he was in the mood to go head to head with his father in front of the rest of their brothers.
“Want you to know, been payin’ attention. Proud to see you tryin’ to do a fuckuva lot better. Kyra’s a good woman to have at your side. She’s also a good mom. Can’t go wrong with her. Don’t fuck it up.”
“Gonna admit, findin’ out I had a kid made me wake the fuck up.”
Zak’s eyebrows rose. “Kids’ll do that to you. ‘Specially when they don’t turn out how you hoped. Ask me how I fuckin’ know.”
“Nice fuckin’ dig.”
Zak shrugged. “Kyra mentioned movin’ out to the farm. Think that’s a smart idea.”
“Movin’ with her.”
“She okay with that?”
“She don’t got a choice.”
Zak laughed. “Yeah, keep thinkin’ that. Have you met your fuckin’ mother? Jewel? Brooke? Ivy? Diamond? Fuck. Any of ‘em?”
“You sayin’ I’m screwed?”
“Son, you’re screwed.” His father whacked him on the back before walking away, still shaking his head and chuckling.
While things between them were old, they were also very new.
Especially this living together shit.
But for some fucking reason, lying next to Kyra’s every night settled his fucking soul. Being with his son every day did the same.
He only wished he would’ve gotten his head out of his ass four years ago.
He missed his son’s birth. His first words. His first steps.
The saying “everything happens for a reason” was true as fuck. His reason was him being a dumbass.
He rolled to his side and stared at Kyra’s relaxed profile. Her eyes were closed and her lips partially open as she slept.
The cabin on the farm was a fuck of a lot better than his room at Church. It was fuck of a lot better than Kyra’s apartment. While the property wasn’t one hundred percent secure, he felt fuck of a lot better that the Shadows were their neighbors.
He lightly traced her nose from the top to the tip, then brushed his fingertip across her soft bottom lip.
Last night she had used that mouth like a fucking pro when it was wrapped around his dick.
She nipped at his finger and her eyes opened. “What time is it?”
Her early morning husky voice made his dick flex. “Didn’t mean to wake you.”
“Uh huh. That’s what you said”—she glanced over at the digital clock on the nightstand—“when you woke me three hours ago with a hard-on.”
“Had important business to take care of.”
“Despite what you think, making another baby isn’t ‘important’ business. Because that’s not happening.”
“Yet.”
“You don’t get to decide that.”
“I get a say.”
“Sure. You can say whatever you want, but that doesn’t mean it’ll become a reality.”
Having another kid with Kyra would become reality, but he understood why she wanted to wait…
Their relationship needed to heal more. Become more solid.
He also needed to figure out how to deal with the Twisted Souls and La Cosa Nostra bullshit first. It wouldn’t be smart to put another kid at risk. And that right there made him even more pissed at the motherfucking Mafia.
The DAMC controlled their territory, not those Sicilian fucks.
But his own history showed him that a knee-jerk reaction would be fucking stupid. He had done that in the past and look where it landed him.
Alone.
In prison.
Not respected by the OGs.
The third one he could live with. The other two…
Before he could stop it, he said, “Not losin’ you again, woman.”
She frowned with her blue eyes searching his face. “Where did that come from?”
“Don’t wanna fuck up with you.”
“Then don’t.”
“Can’t guarantee that.”
“You can. You just don’t want to.”
“Ain’t a saint, babe. Never was. Never will be. You knew that since the day we fuckin’ met.”
“Don’t forget, there’s a whole other human that could be affected.”
“Hard to forget a legend.”
She sighed. “Wait until he goes to kindergarten and demands everyone call him that.”
“Sounds good.”
She lightly smacked his chest with the back of her hand. “Zeke!”
He grinned and shrugged. “Not everyone can have a son who’s a fuckin’ legend.”
“I don’t want him growing up to be cocky.”
“Gonna be confident, not cocky.”
“Like you, right?”
“Yep. Chip off the old block.”
“Speaking of blocks. I prefer he didn’t take after you when it comes to cell blocks, either.”
That, Zeke could agree with.
She rolled until they were face to face. “I see where this is going, Zeke, and I’ve put off telling you this, but now that we’re living together, I need to confess something.”
“What?”
“I never thought you’d be back in our lives, so when Ledger was born I gave him my last name.”
He jackknifed up in bed. “He ain’t a fuckin’ Jamison?”
She winced at his loud outburst. “Not on paper.”
He lowered his voice so he wouldn’t wake Ledger. “What the fuck?”
“I meant to tell you, but with everything going on, it never felt like the right time.”
“For fuck’s sake. Gotta get that fixed.” And soon. Especially now that they were a family unit.
Hell, if it was up to him, not only would Kyra be wearing his cut again, but she’d be changing her last name to Jamison, too.