Chapter 45 #2
“I bet.” She smirked, her eyebrows bouncing before she looked past me and to The Hut.
“Care to tell me what you’re doing here at this time of day?” I asked her, bringing her attention back to me. “I sure as shit hope it isn’t to stir up more trouble.”
“Trouble? The Hounds of Babylon? Never,” she mocked, her laughter somewhat light and carefree. “Don’t worry, Mr. Tucker—”
“Uch,” I groaned, cutting her off.
“Sorry. Don’t worry, Drew. You’re safe.”
“Yeah? For how long?”
Winnie smiled, her eyes narrowing as though she was contemplating her answer. “For as long as you behave.”
“Behaving ain’t exactly our style.”
“Not your old style. Something tells me that it will be from now on. You’re not a bad club, Drew. You’re a good club who always managed to find a way into bad situations. That’s a skill—one you might want to get rid of, but a skill none the less.”
“Gee, thanks, Miss Winnie.”
She chuckled again, her eyes drifting behind me.
For a moment, I thought someone else may have been there, but when I glanced over my shoulder, the yard remained quiet and empty, the others in bed, unprepared to start their day so soon.
When I turned back to Winnie, she was staring up at me as though I was a friend.
It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand to attention, and my gut tingle with anticipation.
With people like her, you never knew what was coming next, and I’d grown tired of surprises.
“I’m actually here to ask a favor,” she admitted quietly.
“What kind of favor?”
“I’m heading to Washington today.”
“D.C? Fancy. The Walsh takedown really did help with the promotion, I see.”
“And I couldn’t have got him without Jedd.”
Jedd. So, this was about my brother, and the look in her eyes suddenly made sense.
“No. You couldn’t. But we couldn’t have gotten out of that warehouse without you, so the gratitude needs to work both ways, even if you were late to the party.”
“Right.” She swallowed lightly and glanced down at her arm resting on the window ledge before looking back up at me. “But I don’t think Jedd sees it that way.”
“What do you care how he sees it? You got what you wanted in the end, didn’t you?”
Her eyes narrowed again, the words she wanted to say seeming to get stuck on the tip of her tongue.
“Mostly,” she eventually whispered. “I don’t make a habit of visiting those I’ve had under investigation before, Drew.”
“We’re flattered.”
“You should be. He should be. Just…” Winnie sucked in a breath, releasing it like it hurt to do so. “Tell him I’m sorry, okay? Tell him thank you, and I’m sorry.”
I stared at her for far too long, the memories of the awkwardness between Ayda and me at the beginning of our relationship coming back to the forefront of my mind.
I couldn’t be a hundred percent certain of what I was seeing, but if it was what I thought it was, I felt sorry for the poor woman.
There wasn’t a chance in hell of Jedd ever returning any kind of admiration or mutual feelings for Winnie.
If anyone so much as whispered her name in The Hut, he would growl and storm off, unable to listen to the six letters that made up her moniker.
“Sure. I’ll tell him.”
“Thank you.”
Winnie turned to stare out of the front windshield, looking at the road ahead of her with apprehension.
“It’s a long way to D.C,” I said quietly.
“There’s a whole world waiting for us outside of Babylon, Drew,” she said, turning back to me and dropping her arm from the ledge to hold onto the wheel with both hands. “Maybe you should think about exploring it one day.”
“I’ve got my whole world inside these gates. No need to go searching for things I’ve already found.”
“Congrats on the baby,” she offered with a soft smile.
“Congrats on the new life.”
“Congrats on getting away with murder over and over again.”
“Congrats on reminding me why I really don’t like you.” I huffed out a laugh, and Winnie nodded once in acknowledgment before she started up the engine of the Torino, offered me one last glance, and drove down a road that would lead her out of Babylon.
When I turned back to look over the yard, I saw Jedd walking out onto the porch like a lump of dark hair and tattooed muscle. His arms were stretched up to the sky, his body reaching up before he dropped a hand to his eye and rubbed at it wildly.
I couldn’t help but smile at the sight of him.
My brother. My VP. The man who saved the club in ways I’d never have considered doing.
Walking over to him, I laughed to myself when he shook his head and pretended to check an imaginary watch on his wrist.
“Don’t you ever fucking sleep anymore?” he asked roughly, his voice still not awake yet.
“Nah. It’s a waste of life,” I said, hitting the bottom step of The Hut and coming to a stop.
“Who was that?” he asked, nodding to where Winnie had disappeared.
“The Torino?”
“Yeah.”
I shrugged, tucking my hands into the pockets of my gray sweats. “Nobody important.” I sighed.
Jedd blew out all the air in his chest and looked out over the yard. “Another day closer.”
“Sure is.”
“You ready for it?” he asked, turning back to me.
“I think I’ve been ready for this my whole life, I just didn’t know it for a very long time.”
Jedd’s grin grew slowly. “What was life like before she came into this family? I can’t remember.”
“Who knows? All I remember is being angry with everyone all the time. Thinking hurting others would take away the pain in my own chest. Life was foggy before Ayda came along. Now it’s…”
“Filled with sunshine.” He smirked.
“Soft bastard.” I joked, and Jedd’s rough laughter joined mine, filling my life with more love and appreciation than I could ever have imagined existed.
“You guys are gonna have a good life, brother,” he told me. “And that starts tomorrow.”
“It’s going to be the best fucking day of my life.”
“Until your kid is born.”
“Fuck,” I pushed out through a heavy breath. “A husband and a father in the same year. Who the fuck am I?”
“There’s not a man on this earth who deserves it more.
” Jedd made his way down to the same step I was on, his hand landing on my shoulder as he looked beyond me to the rest of the yard around us.
His fingers pressed into my skin, the emotion I saw in his eyes making my smile fade, and my chest swell with pride.
“Sometimes, the best lives start in the murkiest of waters. Yours hasn’t always been easy, but the good times are waiting.
Enjoy every second of them… be selfish, no matter what that means for the rest of the club.
It’s about Ayda and the baby now. You, Ayda, and the baby.
It’s what Pete and Harry would want. The club has to come second after tomorrow, Drew, and you have to be okay with living this new life. ”
“This feels like some kind of goodbye, brother.”
“You wish.” He laughed, walking away and leaving me standing there, staring at the door to my home—to our Hut.
“No more goodbyes,” I whispered to myself. “Only good mornings.”