Chapter 21 #2
“But no, thank you. As hard as it’s been I’ve made my peace with the man who killed my wife.
” He saw my look of doubt and smiled. “Mostly. If he hadn’t cleaned up his act, I wouldn’t have stopped Boone from killing the guy the first time.
Hell, would’ve done it myself. But he did his time in prison and still to this day doesn’t drink.
I make sure of it.” He patted my hand again.
“Thank you for your offer. You’re a sweet girl. ”
I was neither sweet nor a girl, but the man was in his seventies so I’d let him call me whatever he wanted.
Didn’t matter that he didn’t look his age, or that the single women swooned at his feet.
He had no effect, other than a fatherly one, on me.
Most men didn’t though. I used to be able to say no man did. Couldn’t say that anymore.
“Do me a favor?”
I focused back on him and nodded.
“Take care of my boys?” His smile turned wry.
“They aren’t telling me exactly what’s happening but I’ve seen all the shit they’ve stowed away in those vehicles over the last few days.
And I know my boys. They aren’t telling me so I won’t worry, but I can read it all over their faces. Something big is coming.”
My nod was the only answer I gave to that last loaded statement. If Toxic and Butcher weren’t telling Daryl what was about to happen, I wasn’t going to either. The fact that Daryl called Butcher his son made my heart melt all over again though. “I will,” I said, acknowledging his request.
“I know I don’t know you well just yet, but that makes me feel better.”
Laughing, I shook my head. “Thank you, but your...boys...are more than capable of taking care of themselves. And each other.”
“They are,” he replied with a nod, “but it never hurts to have help.”
“True.”
He tilted his head. “Do me one more favor?”
“What’s that?”
“What realization did you just come to?” There was knowledge there in his eyes. “I won’t tell a soul,” he promised when I hesitated.
“I just realized it was pointless to fight my feelings,” I admitted. There was just something about him that made it easy to tell the truth. “And…maybe there is a way out of this life, into a better one. A real one.”
He nodded. “It would make me happier than a pig in shit to see my sons find women and settle down. Both of them.”
“A pig in shit... That’s a very...unique...description.”
He laughed. “Come out to the ranch sometime, City Girl. I’ll wipe some of the city slicker off you.”
“With pig shit?” I teased. “Because I don’t know that I would like that.”
“What’s so funny?” Toxic asked as he and Butcher walked up.
“Nothing, I was just-” I broke off, eyes widening as I watched Lock walk down the stairs. There wasn’t time to call out a warning to the man before Murder scooted gracefully past him. She wasn’t the problem.
Barking caught the men’s attention, and they all turned to look right as Jecht slammed into the back of Lockout’s legs as he and Auron barreled past chasing my cat. “Ms. Mittens!” I called out but she disappeared down the back hallway, the dogs right on her heels.
“What the fuck!” Lock snapped, glaring at the animals as he held onto the banister.
The railing, and his fast reflexes, were the only things that had kept him from plunging headfirst down the stairs.
“I swear to Christ if someone doesn’t contain those damn animals-” He broke off, and we all watched as Auron, then Jecht ran back up the stairs past him.
Next was Murder, an angry yowl sounding as she went.
“I’d appreciate it if you called my daughters by their names,” Priest said from behind him.
“Not them, dickhead. The actual animals,” Lock snarled. Priest’s teasing grin didn’t improve Lockout’s mood at all.
“Why-” The question died on my lips as four giggling girls raced out of the back hallway and up the stairs after the animals.
Lockout sighed and came down the stairs, ignoring the crashing sounds that came from upstairs. “Where the fuck did I go wrong?”
It seemed like more of a rhetorical question so not one of us answered it.
He glared at Toxic and Butcher. “I’ve only ever made two mistakes in my life.” The way he was looking at the guys told me that they were the mistakes.
Toxic grinned. “What were those, Prez?” He knew full well what Lock considered his mistakes.
“How is any of that our fault?” Butcher asked. “The dogs are Seek’s and the kids are Priest’s and Jenny’s.”
“The cat is hers,” Lock replied, pointing at me. “And she’s yours. Someone go make sure those kids don’t inadvertently hurt those animals. I’d never hear the end of it,” he muttered as he walked out the door.
“They wouldn’t hurt them. They love those dogs. And that damn cat,” Toxic said, but he headed for the stairs anyway.
I looked over at Butcher, who was still frowning at the door that Lock had disappeared through. “What?”
His eyes met mine. “Nothing. Come on, we need to finish packing up one of the trucks.”
“You’re going to make your lady pack up boxes?” Daryl asked. He shot Butcher a look of disgust.
Butcher just wrapped an arm around my shoulders and walked with me. Once we were outside he gave me a wide grin. “If you’re going to shoot the weapons, you’re going to help load them.”
I laughed. “You think I have a problem with that?”
“Naw, but I’m never going to hear the end of it from Daryl.” He walked over and waited until I took one end of the crate he’d bent down to grab.
“What’s in here?” I asked as we put it in the back of a pick-up truck.
“Rocket launcher.”
I looked over at him in surprise. “Where did you guys get that?”
He shrugged. “Under Gabby’s bed, probably.”
Looked like they were finally done fighting fair and were going all out for this.
Before I’d thought that they were fighting with one hand behind their backs.
Now I realized why. They were only willing to put themselves in danger.
They’d ask for help if they really needed it, like having the Berserker’s Rage watch over their families, and the Storm Bringers were going to send a few men with us to fight, but they tried their best to take care of their problems themselves.
Now that I was getting to know them, and their allies, I understood it.
Their friends all had their own people depending on them, their own cities, friends, and families.
None of these men would be able to live with themselves if they got their allies and friends killed while fighting a battle that wasn’t their own to fight.
How could you not respect that? I watched as Butcher, Lock, and a few of the other guys continued loading the vehicles.
They’d decided against riding their motorcycles, though I knew that was hard for them, in order to keep a lower profile.
These men took on the trash that threatened their city in order to protect the people who lived here and they didn’t ask for anything in return.
My earlier realization hit me hard again.
There was no reason for me to be fighting this.
I loved Butcher. I loved his family. My ability to keep those emotions in check was long gone. I just didn’t know what to do about it.
I brushed my thoughts away and pitched in to help finish getting ready. There wasn’t time to contemplate what would happen once this was all over. All I could do was focus on the here and now. I needed to keep my head in the game so none of us ended up dead at the end of this fight.