Chapter Thirty-Five
Declan
You could have heard the sound of hummingbird wings with the silence that followed after Maureen slapped the President of the Silver Shadows MC.
“I would call you a son of a bitch, but I knew your mother, and she was one of the sweetest women I have ever met. Too bad you didn’t get any of her genetics. No, you’re a bastard, just like your father. How dare you speak to her that way.” Maureen poked her finger in King’s chest as she ranted, “That girl loves you. You have been her uncle since she found out about you, and you just ripped it away with three words. What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Um, Maureen, you can’t just slap the president…”
Jack let his words trail off when Maureen spun around on him.
“I grew up in the fucking Mob. You think I’m afraid of him?” Her arm was stretched out behind her, pointing at King. “Get out. All of you. Right fucking now!”
King’s men didn’t hesitate. They scurried away quickly. All except Blade. He stopped in front of King and snarled, “We’ll have fucking words later.” Then he stormed out of church.
Leaving King, myself, and Maureen.
“You may not biologically be her uncle, but guess what? I am your fucking aunt! You will apologize to that girl and you will do it sincerely, and if you ever make her fucking cry again…” Maureen took a deep breath before adding, “Remember, I grew up in the fucking Mob. I learned from your father and your asshole grandfather. I know how to hide a fucking body.”
King looked away in shame. His eyes lowered as he stared at the floor.
Maureen looked over at me and shook her head, then swung her gaze back at King. “Talk to your brother.”
King opened his mouth, and Maureen held up her hand, cutting him off.
I couldn’t stop the smile when I saw him flinch.
“Listen to him and try to see things from a less selfish point of view. And don’t fucking hit him again!”
She stormed out of the room, leaving us alone. God, how I loved that woman. The way she stood up to him for my daughter. When I got home, I was gonna plant myself between her thighs and stay there all fucking night.
“Jesus Christ,” King cursed. “That felt like Mom was standing in front of me.” He rubbed his cheek, staring at the doors.
“You’re lucky it wasn’t. She would have given you more than a slap. Why the fuck would you say that to Beck?”
He walked back to his seat, slumping down and looking up at the ceiling. “It just came out.”
“Blade is gonna want to hit you too.”
“I know, and I’ll let him. I deserve it.”
“We need to talk this out.”
“I don’t want to fucking talk.”
“You need to understand why she did it.”
“I fucking understand.” King looked at me. There was that little boy again. “I know why Mom did it. What I don’t know is, why you kept it from me. Why you never told me the truth? My whole fucking life was a lie.”
I stood there as he seethed. I didn’t know how to answer him in a way that would make him understand.
“Why won’t you let yourself have Grace?”
King locked his eyes on me. I saw the rage the instant it appeared. “What? What the fuck does she have to do with this?”
“Why won’t you make a move? Why won’t you let yourself be happy with her? I see the way you watch her. You have a prospect sitting at the bar every goddamn night she works, watching out for her, but you won’t let yourself have her. Why?”
“It doesn’t fucking matter why.”
“It does. If you don’t want to answer me, fine, answer it for yourself. Think about the biggest reason why you can’t be with her. That’s why I didn’t tell you.”
King closed his eyes. I knew he finally understood by the slump of his shoulders. I saw the moment all the anger, the rage, the betrayal left his body.
“My whole life has been about protecting you.”
“I didn’t ask for that.”
“You didn’t have to. One day, you will let yourself have what you want most. And when she bears your child, and you look into that baby’s eyes, you will make a vow to do whatever you have to in order to keep them safe. I don’t just mean physically. Emotional and mental pain are just as damaging.”
Walking around the table, I sat next to him.
“The day you were born was incredible. I was almost thirteen years old and hadn’t even seen a naked woman yet.”
I heard him snort next to me, and I chuckled.
“I was there you know. I watched you come into the world. I didn’t lie when I said you were born at home with a midwife. Darcy was amazing. I wish you could have known her. I wish she could have raised you. She loved you.”
I stole a glance at King. His face was a blank mask as he stared at the table.
“She stayed for three months. Mom convinced her to stay until she healed up, but she stayed three months because she was breastfeeding you. The day she left, I had never seen anyone cry as hard as she did. Mom tried to convince her to take you with her. But she was so afraid of what Eamon would do if he found out.”
I took a deep breath before I continued. I wasn’t sure where his head was at or how he would react to what I wanted to tell him.
“Darcy named you. She wanted your name to be something you could aspire to. And who was greater than a king? She said she knew you were destined for great things and you needed a strong name to get you there.”
“Do you know where she is?”
I almost didn’t hear his question. It was so quiet and filled with so much emotion.
“I don’t. Duane said he was close, but then he was killed. Duncan plans to go over everything he learned and see if he can figure out where she is and who killed Duane.”
He simply nodded, acknowledging he’d heard me.
“What we did, Darcy, Mom, Dad and me. It was never to hurt you.”
“He wants to get to know me. Sal, I mean.”
“I know. He came to see me before he left.”
“How the fuck am I supposed to deal with this shit?”
“One day at a time.”
King turned to look at me. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
I threw my head back and laughed. King just shook his head and stood. I followed behind him and grabbed his elbow before he walked out.
“Are we good?”
King turned back to me. He studied me for a moment before asking, “Why did you send the information to Sal? Did you want him to kill that woman?”
I struggled to find the words to make him understand. Hell, I didn’t understand myself. At least that’s what I told myself.
“Sal was my brother for twelve years. I saw him every day of my life until the day we left, and then he was gone. I looked up to him. I missed him.”
I pulled in a ragged breath and sat down on the edge of the table before continuing.
“When Mom and Dad died, I almost reached out to him. Even if I didn’t tell him you were his son, I thought at least we could be a family. Then, I had a friend at work look into him. He already had a record. All I could hear was Dad’s voice in my head, telling me I needed to protect you. You were my responsibility now, and I had a duty to keep you safe.”
“So why send it to him? Why did you reach out at all?”
“I wanted him to know what happened. He deserved to know. He didn’t choose to stay in Boston, Eamon made that choice for him.”
“Were you hoping he would have the woman killed?”
“No.” I looked at my brother. No more lies. “I knew it was a possibility though.”
King pulled me into a hug. And I held him tight.
“I love you, brother. But if you ever fucking lie to me again.”
“No more lies. No more secrets.” I nodded, pulling away. “You ever fucking hit me again, I will knock you on your ass, and I don’t care who’s watching.”
I walked past him, opening the church doors. I heard his laughter behind me and knew that given a bit more time, everything would be back to normal.
Or so I thought. What I would learn in a few weeks was that my life would never be normal again.
We had made it through Christmas; King had apologized to Beck. He let Blade have his say and took it like the badass he was, allowing his brothers to witness.
That was what made a good leader. That was Mom and Dad’s influence, short as it was. He acknowledged when he was wrong and took responsibility for it.
Eamon never took responsibility. I couldn’t imagine Sal doing it either. And ultimately, that was why we did what we did. Why we kept him from knowing who he really was.
It was the age-old debate. Nature vs. Nurture.
Despite never knowing who his real parents were, King still took to a life of crime like his father. But he made the decision to get out, living a life our parents would be proud of. The truth was, both were important. There needed to be a balance.
Now it was New Year’s Eve, and we were letting the old shit go. Making room for new shit. Just like every year. We were no closer to learning anything about the woman we found, except for her name.
Heidi Davis, twenty-two years old. She was younger than we thought. A college student from Scottsbluff. How she’d ended up here, we didn’t know yet.
I was still waiting on the autopsy to learn the cause of death.
For now, I was at the clubhouse. Maureen wanted to ring in the New Year with the girls. And Diamond Creek wasn’t exactly a metropolis of activity, even on a night like tonight. Still, I had taken the day shift. I was too fucking old to be up all night, pulling people over.
So, I sat on a bar stool, waiting for Maureen. She had asked me to meet her here. The room was full. All the brothers were here with the women, and even the kids would be partying with us for a bit.
Once the kids went to bed, Maureen and I would leave as well. I didn’t want her here when the lights went down.
I had my beer halfway to my lips when the clubhouse door burst open, slamming against the wall.
“You goddamn son of a bitch!”
Someone immediately lowered the music, and everyone turned to see who would walk in screaming like she did. I didn’t need to turn to see who it was.
I knew that voice.
Slowly spinning on my stool, I faced my woman.
“Hey, gorgeous—”
“Don’t! Don’t say a fucking word.”
I hadn’t realized she’d brought Tucker with her, until I heard him growling at her feet. Which was odd because he never growled at me anymore. But he was feeding off her anger, making it known that despite how much he loved me, she was still his person.
“Hey, Maureen, everything ok?” King hesitantly asked.
“No, it is not fucking ok.” Piercing me with her angry, rage filled eyes I actually felt fear. I quickly thought about what I could have possibly done to incite her wrath. But nothing came to mind. In fact, I was late to work this morning because I stayed in bed to give her not two but four fucking orgasms. What the hell did she have to be mad about?
“Do you know how old I am?”
“Don’t answer that, Sheriff.”
“It’s a trap.”
“Abort, abort.”
I heard the warnings called out around me, but I disregarded them. I had this.
“Of course I know how old you are, baby. You’re in your prime. There is no one sexier than you.”
“Really? Will I still be sexy when I’m puking every hour of the fucking day? Will I still be sexy when I am too fucking fat to tie my own shoes? Will I still be sexy when I drag you to the doctor to have your balls cut off?”
I swallowed hard at the last question. “Baby, why would you—”
“Hell, we’ve got two fucking doctors here, let’s cut them off now. Where’s the drunk one? I want it to fucking hurt,” she said, looking around the room for Bane.
Why he was still here we had no idea, but he had taken a sabbatical from work and decided to hide out in Nebraska.
“What the fuck did you do?” King whispered.
“No fucking clue.”
“Maureen, honey, I don’t know what I did…”
Maureen pinned me in my seat with a look that said I might never know because she was going to kill me first.
“You wanna know what you did?” Throwing her arms in the air she shouted, “YOU FUCKING KNOCKED ME UP!”