Chapter Eighteen Lash
It’s been four days since I brought the kids to meet their brothers and we have come up with a routine.
I take turns bringing different kids over to the hospital to see Sophie every day.
Bulldog stays there and has stayed there.
I know he feels bad for not being around at home for Davis and Tillie, but they understand and are currently staying with Tanner since he has the room and no kids.
Declan has been the one that has gone with me every day.
I know it seems unfair, but I can’t take all six of the kids with me everyday, which is too much for the hospital.
So we rotate, however, Deck is seriously worried and upset about the state of his mother like all the kids are, but being the oldest I can use his help with keeping everybody kind of under control and he understands more of what is going on. At least that’s what I tell the kids.
Declan has been in a bad way and doesn’t like to go too far from me.
Even if I try to tell him that his grandparents are with him or even his Aunt Peyton he still starts stressing out.
So I’ve been taking him everywhere with me.
My parents have been staying with the twins at the hospital when I’m not there with the kids who stay behind when we see Sophie.
Today, Terror got in touch with me about coming to the clubhouse to discuss some club stuff along with the fuckers that we are currently hosting in the cabin.
I know that Lips’s room was gone through and they discovered a phone that was not issued by us and a laptop.
Wiz has been going through everything and I’m assuming some of that is what they want to talk to me about.
I have not been to the clubhouse since I picked the kids up which is unusual for me, but everyone understands because of what is going on with my family.
“Dad, I’ve got to head to the clubhouse today, Terror called church and he wants me to head in. I think I will also while I’m in town go check on the shop and Daisy’s. Make sure everything is going smoothly. I know that Soph’s got some great staff,
but I want to make sure everything is going alright since Sophie isn't around to check herself. Plus I really have to make sure that everything is going well at our shop and probably grab the books while I’m there.
Along with all of Soph’s business stuff from the house as well as mine so I can monitor everything better. Since we don’t know how long Sophie is going to be out of commission. So I’ll go take care of club business and then our businesses, then I’ll head back. Are you and mom good with the kids?”
“Yeah son you don’t need to ask. Are you going to be taking Declan?”
“Yeah I’m going to bring him along with me.
The others will stay here, Whip is driving back with us as well.
Since he has to go to church. Terror is leaving some of the patched brothers here for you and I know Knox still has men around here as well.
I think some of the ol’ ladies will probably be stopping by as well.
I’d like to keep everybody out of the twins' space for now.
So if anybody stops by, can you make sure that no one, but the nurses and doctors go into the babies’ room?”
“Yeah we can take care of that for you, no problem.”
“You and mom can of course go in there with the kids, but yeah let’s not let all the club head in there. Peyton obviously doesn’t count since she is working for the hospital and shit right now. I’m gonna head out. Come on Deck.”
With that Declan and I head out to the car and as we get there Whip is standing next to the vehicle waiting for us to head out. I give him a head nod and we all climb into the car. Whip turns around in his seat.
“How you doing, Deck?”
“Fine.” The kid has been very short on words the last few days and that’s not like him.
He is building a little wall to make sure no one knows all the thoughts going on in his head.
So as Whip tries to make conversation with Deck for the half hour ride and we get lots of one word replies or grunts, I’m stuck in my head thinking about everything going on and how just the four days that we’ve been doing this I feel so empty.
The more days Sophie spends with her eyes closed the more worried I get.
As we pull up to the clubhouse gate, I wave to the prospect and the gate opens allowing us entrance.
“Deck, I’ve got church and then some meetings with Uncle Luca. Are you going to be okay hanging out with Uncle Cannon, Uncle Cane, Davis and Tillie?”
He looked down and shook his head.
“Can I please stay with you dad? I know you guys don’t normally allow us in church and meetings, but please? I’ll be good, I swear.”
My heart breaks for the boy. “Let me talk to Uncle Luca. We will see what he says, if not then you’ve got to stay with your other uncles who aren’t in church. Deal?”
“Deal.” He still looked a little down like he really didn’t want to agree, but knew he wasn’t going to win.
We walked inside and I headed towards Terror’s and my offices.
I open my office door and tell Declan to hang out in there while I talk to Terror about him staying close to me.
I don’t know if Terror has someone in his office or not.
I know he doesn’t do the club girls, but sometimes he brings girls back to the clubhouse when the mood strikes.
I go to his door and knock before getting a come in.
I open the door and he’s sitting at his desk with his face staring at the computer. He turns and looks at me as I enter and sit across from him in the chair.
“I need a favor, Luca. I know that this is not a normal request and I don’t know what all we are discussing in church today, but Declan is having a hard time being away from me right now. It’s getting worse as the days without Sophie go on. Usually he clings to protecting his siblings,
but right now he’s clinging to me. He doesn’t want to stay in the common room while I’m in church, he wants to be in church with me. I know it’s unheard of, but can we just make an exception. The kid is struggling and I don’t know what to do.”
He looks at me like he’s pondering what I’ve just said. The one thing I love about our club is that it is founded in family. Family is always the most important thing to all of us. We are a massive family and we look out for everyone.
“Listen, I think it’s fine. He will hear some shit about Sophie though and what happened to her. I guess as long as you’re okay with him knowing shit he wouldn’t normally know, I’m fine with it. We will get him a chair to sit next to you, our little future VP.”
“Thank you so much. Seriously.”
“Let’s go get him, I want to go see my nephew.”
We both get up and Terror shuts and keys in the code to lock up his door. We walk down the hall to my office and open the door and Declan is sitting in my chair on the computer.
“Hey bud. Your dad said our future VP is going to be sitting in church with us today. You know what that means?”
“Club business stays in the club. I won’t say anything to anybody Uncle Luca, I swear.”
“Good man. Alright let’s go find you a seat.”
With that we head to church where we get to the table with our carved insignia and chairs surrounding the table.
Terror heads to the head of the table where his chair and gavel reside, he goes towards the closet that we have there and comes out with an extra chair and brings it so it is sitting between his chair and mine.
“There ya go, Deck. You can have a seat while we wait for the other brothers to get here. I just want you to know that some stuff you hear in here might upset you. We are going to be talking about the people that did this to your mom. Are you still okay with sitting in here?”
Declan looks at Luca and you can see a spark of fire in that little boy's eyes, “Yeah, I want to know. I am strong and can handle it. I promise.”
Terror puts his hand on his shoulder and squeezes, “I know you are buddy. You’re stronger than all of us. You’re gonna make a great VP for Noah some day.”
My boy is a protector, a fighter and he loves that his uncle just told him that he was stronger than the rest of us.
He sat up straighter, puffed his little chest out.
Declan takes everything that is said by all of us brothers to heart.
He wants all the approval and he wants to be considered one of the men.
Right on the hour the rest of the council brothers start coming in, dropping their phones in the lockbox that we have for their phones.
Right now I have mine available because of everything going on.
Terror also has his right now because we both want to keep a line of communication open for not only the boys, but for Sophie as well.
The first brother to come in and sit next to Terror is Thorn.
He walks in and takes his seat, looks at Deck and smiles at him, putting his fist out to earn a fist bump from his nephew.
Hurricane and Whip come in next and give head nods to us and spot Declan sitting there, you can tell they are confused because this has never been done, but they say nothing and take their seats.
Rage, Doc, Venom and Viper are the next to head in and take their seats exchanging looks with everyone in the room.
Wizard walks in last and begins to close the door until Terror stops him.
“I’m having Dragon, Twister, Texas and Fist come sit in today. So let’s give them a minute. I just shot out the text.”
About a minute after he says that the brothers in question come in together all looking around confused as to what is going on and why they are there.
I have to say I’m confused as well, but if Terror has a reason for it he will let us know.
After they take seats at the end of the table Terror hits the gavel on the table and begins church.
“So I’ve got some things I’m going to address, then we will get started with what Wiz has for us. After that we will move on to the businesses and what we’ve got going on with the Moretti’s as well as some of the other charters. So we will do the national club business last.
First I know you guys were all confused about Declan’s presence in church today and we have a reason for it and we will go over that, but I think we should start by voting for a road name for him to add to his cut. Anybody have any ideas?”