Chapter 13
Rachel
“Well,” I hissed, spinning around to face him once we were back in the privacy of the house. “That was fun. What other fun activities do you have planned for the day?”
“Be mad all you want, but it needed to be done. Would you rather have them all say their piece now, or have them resent you and do it behind your back, anyway?”
“I’ve never given a shit about what people say about me behind my back.”
“I care,” he said quietly. “Believe it or not, Rachel, it brings me no joy having people be cruel to you.”
“I don’t believe it,” I scoffed.
“That’s your choice. But I have never allowed anyone to disrespect you.
That includes Greg. I have always done my best to defend you if you couldn’t defend yourself.
You paint me as a monster, and in a lot of ways, I am.
But not for this. I’d rather the next six months went by with as few hiccups as possible.
This was one way to ensure that happened. ”
I didn’t really have anything to say in response.
I could be bratty and press my point about not believing him.
I could be petty and bring up all times he hadn’t defended me—like with his mother.
But that was causing arguments for the sake of arguing.
He was right. I was able to defend myself in those instances, and I didn’t need him rescuing me.
Looks like you’ve done some growing up over the last year or so, Rachel!
I guess I had.
“Come on,” he said when I didn’t reply. “I’ll show you the room I’ve had done up for Axel.”
I paused once more and frowned at him. “You already have a room done up for him? How long have you known about us, Dante?”
“A while,” he responded after a beat. “I know a lot of things about your life in Scotland.”
Oh, yeah. He definitely knows about my boss.
“I’ll see the bedroom soon. Axel is probably hungry, and whatever is up there can wait. Axel has already seen it, I’m assuming?”
“He slept there some of last night, yeah,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Great.” I resisted the urge to purse my lips and roll my eyes. I hope Axel gave him hell all fucking night. “So let’s get him some breakfast. What do you say, Axel?” I said, turning to him and gently tickling his stomach. “Do you want some yummy breakfast?”
“Peas,” he grinned back—his version of “please”.
“Shall I get Bee?” I asked Dante.
“Bee?” He said, a look of confusion on his face.
“Yes… Bee? Your daughter… Black hair, blue eyes, about yay high,” I gestured to just above my hip.
“She’s actually yay high.” he gently held my wrist and lifted my hand to my waist, his fingers brushing against me and lingering for a moment. My eyes locked with his, and I swallowed heavily, seeing him mimic my actions.
He broke the spell first, clearing his throat before telling me, “Bee is at school.” He started walking towards the kitchen.
“School?” I spluttered, utterly stunned. “Since when did she go to school?”
“A lot has changed around here, Rachel.”
He placed Axel in a highchair, strapping him in before giving him a plastic plate and spoon to bang about as he began preparing his breakfast.
I looked at all the toddler equipment in the room—the plastic cutlery, the plastic cups, the high chair, a mini electric motorbike in the corner, and my lips tightened.
I decided to keep my mouth shut for the time being, but I would definitely confront Dante about this in the near future.
He must have been spying on me for weeks before striking.
“I thought your mother homeschooled her.”
“Yeah… that wasn’t working out. Bee has a nanny now. Heather. She takes her to school. And she’ll pick her up as well.”
“I thought you didn’t believe in nannies? The night you kidnapped me, you told me that children should be raised by family. It was the whole point in taking me in the first place, so that Bee didn’t need to be raised by strangers—you told me I would be her new mother.”
“Things have changed,” he muttered.
“But why?” I persisted, sitting down at the small table.
“Homeschooling wasn’t working out. Kitty was no longer capable of taking care of her. And her therapist—”
“Whose therapist?” I interrupted, my head spinning with all the new information.
“Bee’s.”
“Bee has a therapist ?”
“Yeah… We figured it was for the best. She has some trauma. I’ll explain everything soon—”
“You’ll explain everything now. I can imagine some of the trauma Bee has, so we’ll revisit that soon. You can start with what’s wrong with your mother?”
Dante sighed as he placed some chopped fruit up in front of Axel. “I’m making him some toast. What does he like on it?”
“Just butter. So?”
A pained look flashed across Dante’s face, but he quickly masked it before he answered me.
“Kitty is… She doesn’t leave her room much anymore.
I’ve had Doc look her over, and she seems okay.
She won’t go to an official doctor for a proper test, so there’s no way to be sure that there’s not something going on inside, but physically she seems fit and well.
It’s mentally that she’s struggling. Since Crash died, she’s given up.
She spends all day staring at the ceiling.
She’ll occasionally come out, but she doesn’t enjoy spending time with anyone. ”
“Well… It’s a shame, but I’m not surprised,” I said, accepting the cup of tea Dante held out for me and wrapped my hands around it.
“No?” he asked with some amusement.
“I always said she was weak and relied on the muscles of her sons and the status of her old man. Now she’s lost most of those…” I shrugged.
“I remember what you said,” Dante grinned at me, shaking his head at the memory.
“I take it she’s in her room now?”
“Yeah. This started back at the other house. Vienna and Shark had to all but drag her back here once the renovations were completed.”
“I’m sure this place is full of memories. Some she might not have wanted to remember. You certainly made a … choice when you decided to get it built as an exact replica.”
“The plans were from Crash,” he shrugged, cracking an egg open in the pan.
“We just built on his ideas. He always said he wanted to expand this place, and with all the drama going on, it just seemed easier to keep his original plans since the materials had already been ordered. I didn’t really care one way or the other.
Kitty was always going to have her memories, whether or not she was in a new building. ”
“I suppose.”
“The other house is sort of used as dorm rooms now for prospects, or members without old ladies to go home to. The prospects have permanent rooms, the others are just made up for whoever needs them.”
“There’s still spare rooms here as well, I take it?”
“There is. But we’re more selective about who stays here. The bar belongs to everyone in the club, but my home is my home. I’m not adopting Crash’s free-for-all policy.”
“After Macbeth, that’s understandable,” I said quietly, taking a sip of my brew. I watched as he placed the toast in front of Axel, along with some scrambled eggs, and began making aeroplane noises as he spooned some eggs towards Axel’s mouth.
“Listen,” I said, getting to my feet. “I’m going to let you two bond on your own for a few minutes.”
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to see Kitty. Maybe knowing her only grandson is in the house might cheer her up a bit.”
“She knows he’s here, Rachel,” he shrugged. “I took him into the room last night. But if you want to give it a go, be my guest.”
I nodded my response and left the two of them giggling when Axel grabbed some eggs in his little fist and tried shoving it in Dante’s mouth, mimicking the plane noises.
I didn’t exactly want to do this, but it didn’t sit well with me knowing Kitty had all but given up on her life. Lord knew there was no love lost between us, but that didn’t mean I was comfortable with the thought of her suffering.
I jogged up the stairs, my memory kicking in as my feet automatically steered me toward the room that had been Kitty and Crash’s before the place was blown up.
The house was definitely an exact replica.
Even down to the carpets and the wallpaper.
The only difference I could see was that Dante’s bedroom was no longer at the end of the hallway.
Instead, there was a smaller bathroom, and then the corridor branched off into a T shape—which was the extension I saw when I arrived.
I’d have to explore the new quarters at a different time. And find out where Dante was sleeping, I suppose. Since that would also be where I was sleeping.
Stupid fucking contract.
I knocked gently on the door that had once belonged to Kitty and gently pushed it open without a response, mentally patting myself on the back when I saw her laying on the bed.
She turned her head in my direction and then rolled her eyes. “Oh, God. Not you again.”
“Yes! It’s me! Surprise!” I beamed at her, closing the door behind me, and only just resisting the urge to slam it.
“As if I wasn’t depressed enough as it is.”
“I’ve heard I’m an excellent cure for depression.”
“You’ve heard wrong. And it’s not a surprise that you’re here. You were always going to return.”
“True. I’ve always said that Meatloaf was a lying little bastard.”
“Who the fuck is Meatloaf? Has Dante recruited even more useless fucking prospects?” She huffed, sighing heavily.
“No idea. I was actually talking about the singer.”
“You’re hurting my head, Rachel. How could Meatloaf the singer possibly be a lying little bastard?”
“Well… he said two out of three ain’t bad. I disagree. I’d like to go for three for three and kill all the men in your life.”
She glared at me for a long moment, and a beamed an exaggerated smile her way, showing all my teeth. “Less than a minute and you’re already bringing up the fact you murdered my son, and you’d like to murder my other one?”
“Yes.”
“Is that supposed to be a joke?”
“Maybe. It depends how much Dante annoys me. I might just heavily maim, and not full-blown murder him.”