"No," I interrupted, my word too urgent but I didn't care. "Stay."
"That's better," he said, moving around the bed to climb in with me, planting a sweet kiss on my temple.
And, well, when I lifted up the pain medicine bottle to take one, I got my sketch. I unfolded it, trying to force my lips to stay in a straight line but when I saw a drawing of me in a karate gi with a black belt at my waist, I couldn't help it... I goofy grinned my face off.
Saturday morning I woke up alone too, but only because he had gone to grab muffins and coffee after the gym. My sketch was on my brown muffin bag- a simple picture of our hands holding each others, mine all fixed and flawless. I cut the side out of the bag and put it in my jewelry box.
Sunday, I woke up alone because, as Paine had told me the day before after an extremely long conversation on the phone with his mother, then it sounded like both of his sisters, his aunts and his grandmother, they had requested his presence to help set things up for dinner. And Paine, being the good son he was, didn't even pause to offer his help. So I sat up slowly, only wincing a little at the twinge in my ribs. They were feeling better. I didn't need the pain meds anymore and Paine had locked them up in my safe for me the night before. The picture was on a normal sheet of paper that he, I assumed, took out of the printer that I kept under the counter in the kitchen. It took up the entire page and I figured he must have gotten up super early because it was extremely intricate. He'd drawn what, I imagined, was his mother's house and he'd drawn every single person who was supposed to be present at dinner: I saw us, Shooter and Amelia, Breaker and Alex, his mother, two women his mother's age who I took to be his aunts, two younger women who I guessed were his sisters, his grandmother, and... Enzo. Enzo was going to be at dinner?
I didn't put the picture in my jewelry box mainly because it would require me folding it and I decided that I was going to take that one and get it framed as soon as I looked less like I was one of those too stupid to live chicks who somehow managed to live through the horror movie despite their aforementioned too stupid to live-ness.
I left my arms unwrapped, all of the cuts having healed over. They were still all red and ugly, some bigger than others, but there was no longer any risk for infection. Besides, the bandages thing was too much of a hassle. I was over it.
I showered, spent way too much time fiddling over my hair and makeup, using a liberal amount of the tattoo cover-up, then hemmed and hawed my clothing choices for an embarrassing amount of time. It sounded like a casual event so there was no way I was showing up in a dress and pumps. But I didn't want to show up looking like a slob when I was meeting so many people for the first time. Normally, that was something I would have run past my sister.
I felt a stab of something akin to grief pierce through me. It was a feeling I knew I would have to get used to, a feeling that would never go away. Because, for me, it wouldn't matter if Elana decided to clean her act up and want her old life back... she wasn't my sister anymore. I put up with a lot of abuse from my father and, I imagined, I would continue to do so. But my father had never raised a hand, let alone a gun, to me. And if I knew my sister, that gun was absolutely loaded. Even if she never had any intention of using it on me, she was taking a major risk. What if something scared her? What if her finger twitched on the trigger? She could have killed me because of her selfishness.
I wasn't sure if I was big enough to forgive that.
And I knew I would never forget it.
So I envisioned a lot of moments in my future where the void she left in my life by her own actions would ache, would make me wince, would make me sad.
On a sigh, I reached for a pair of gray skinny jeans, a lightweight v-neck black sweater, and black bootie heels. Simple and understated, but still classy.
With a knot the size of Texas in my stomach, I drove to the florist, picking up a simple bouquet of mixed flowers for Gina, then made my way over toward the townhouse complex where his mother lived. It was the same housing complex that I had originally planned on buying a place in. It was a nice, winding complex of modest one or two bedroom houses, green lawns, and tons of kids. Even in the dead of the winter, they were out in force, on their bikes, on skateboards, playing hopscotch. It was so quaint that it belonged on some campaign commercial for a politician.
I spotted the cars before I spotted the people: Paine's Challenger, Breaker's SUV, Shooter's expensive sports car. The men were all standing in the driveway talking to another man in a leather jacket with a Henchmen logo on the back, his blond hair long on one side and shaved to a buzzcut on the other. His arm was thrown around a blond woman, tall, leggy. I couldn't see either of their faces as I tentatively parked my car behind all the others which would give me a second to think about what it meant that Paine, Breaker, and Shooter were friends with a member of a lawless bike gang. I grabbed the flowers and got out, deciding it probably made a lot of sense. They were all presently, or had at one time, been criminals. I guess they all ran together. Or at least got along.
"Hey babygirl," Paine said, reaching out to sling an arm around my hips as I moved in beside him.
Up close, I finally got a good look at the biker and his woman. And, well, he was hot. Fantastic features, deep green eyes, tattoos, cocky grin. His woman was a little older than him and freaking gorgeous in a way that said she could disarm you with a smile then slit your throat before you could see it coming kind of way. Her brown eyes focused on me for a second, taking in my arms and lingering on my cheek like maybe she knew what was underneath the makeup.
"This is Cash and Lo," Paine explained, nodding at the couple.
"Heya sweetheart," Cash said with a smile that would make any woman's (who didn't belong to Paine) knees wobble.
"Cash is Mom's neighbor. And a friend. Lo runs Hailstorm."
Lo runs Hailstorm? Lo? The pretty blond-haired, brown-eyed bombshell with boobs that made my sister's look minuscule actually ran what Paine had referred to as a "lawless military"?
"So are you the one who is going to turn me into a badass?" I asked, meaning it as a joke.
Lo smiled. "Damn straight. Between me and Janie, you're going to be a force to be reckoned with."
"Janie?"
"Her husband refers to her as 'hell and headaches' when she gets on a tear," Breaker explained with a smile that said he agreed with Janie's husband's comment. "She makes all the rest of us look like teddy bears."
Lo rolled her eyes. "Don't listen to them. She's only like that when you piss her off. In which case," she said, looking back at Breaker, "you deserve all the piss and vinegar." I felt myself smiling. When Lo looked back at me, she smiled back. "Don't worry. The girls club will take care of you."
"The girls club?" I repeated.
"Yeah. When you get yourself wrapped up with one of these," she said, waving a hand to the group of guys as a whole, "you automatically get pulled into the fold. Me, Janie, Amelia, Alex, Summer..."
All the names I recognized but one. "Summer?"
"My brother's wife," Cash supplied.
"How is she?" a short, curvy woman with long, dark hair and dark eyes asked as she walked up. There was a hint of Spanish ancestry in her skin tone and features, giving her an exotic and understated sexy look. She wore light wash skinny jeans and a roomy pale pink cardigan over a white tee, assuring me that I hadn't made a mistake with my wardrobe. Judging by Paine's sketch, she was Shooter's girl, Amelia. This was verified a couple of seconds later when she joined him and he reached out and wrapped up her pinkie with his. I repeat: he held pinkies with her. Pinkies.
"Tired. Ferryn seems to have taken after her father. She's been a handful," Cash said with a smile.
"Are we serving dinner on the front lawn?" a voice called from the steps and I turned to see a tall, thin woman on the steps. She was all legs and torso with Paine's perfect skin tone and a mass of curly black hair that she had in a loose ponytail at the nape of her neck. A few tendrils had escaped to frame her
face. Needless to say, she was the product of Gina who was an attractive woman, and the sister to both Paine and Enzo... so yeah... she was extremely good looking.
"Kenzi," I heard myself say, looking up at Paine. "The ball-buster."
"That'd be her," he agreed, with a happy sparkle in his eye, like he was pleased I remembered what he'd said about his sisters.
"Sugar, honey, darlin'," Shooter said, sending her a charming smile.
"Don't 'sugar, honey, darlin' me, Johnnie Walker Allen. I have food to serve and an empty table. You don't get your asses in here in two minutes, I am locking this front door and you can all starve. Hey, Elsie," she called to me, giving me a warm smile despite her firm words.
"Hey," I called back, but she was already turning back into the house.
"You guys better go," Cash advised. "She means business."
"No shit," Breaker agreed, already moving back toward the front door.
"So that was Kenzi," Paine said as we trailed behind all the others.
"I like her," I decided immediately. How couldn't you like a woman who could open her mouth and make a group of big, scary, badass dudes fall in line?
"She's a pain in the ass, but she had to grow up dealing with me and Enzo so..."
"Speaking of," I said, stopping at the top step. "He'll be here today, right?"
"I should have run that by you first..."
"No. Of course not. He saved me. He's your brother. I'm happy to get to know him better. I was just wondering if things would be... tense here with your family."
"Nah, baby. They've all kept in touch on and off. Not super close, but Ma felt like she owed it to Annie to keep an eye on him no matter what he got himself into."
"That's sweet of her. Oh, this is probably none of my business but..."
"It's all your business," he brushed away my worry.
"Was it Kenzi?"
"Was who Kenzi?"
"The one who Enzo gave..."
"Yeah, it was Kenz. She had a wild streak until she got her life on track. But just to clarify, Enzo wasn't the one who gave her the shit. But his guys never should have either. They should have known she was off-limits just like they knew when I was running things."
"Got it," I agreed just when another new face popped into the doorway.
This woman was long and leggy like Kenzi, but not related to Paine in any way. She had pale, perfect skin over her delicate features. Her brown hair brushed her shoulders and her brown eyes gave her an almost doe-eyed look. She, like Amelia, had on jeans. But she had a black long-sleeved tee on with it. And flats. Because she was already tall. From the picture, she was Alex. Paine had told me that she was some kind of hacker and that she was, a lot like Kenzi and apparently Janie, a real ball-buster. It was what Breaker liked best about her.
"Your sister is driving me up a fucking wall," she declared, shaking her head. "I apparently didn't wash the lettuce correctly. Who knew there was a wrong way to wash lettuce? Seriously..."
"Hey Alex. This is Elsie."
"Hey Else," she said easily, shrugging off her anger at Kenzi. "I hope you know how to properly wash lettuce."
"I have never washed lettuce in my life. Maybe you could... spread that around. Let everyone know not to expect much of anything from me when it comes to the kitchen stuff..."
"Don't count on it. I can't cook for shit either but they still have me in there slaving away. You're screwed," she declared, taking off down the hall that I knew from my house tours, led to the kitchen. The majority of the commotion was coming from that direction.
"Ready?" Paine asked, giving me a little squeeze.
"Yep," I agreed, feeling reasonably better. Everything seemed casual, familiar, easy-going.
Besides, I'd already met Gina and, sort-of, Kenzi. Plus Amelia and Alex. All that was left was the aunts and grandmother and the other sister.
We rounded the dining room, a huge table with a ton of chairs taking over the entire space, all the places set and I got the impression that Gina entertained on this scale often. There was a passway into the kitchen and I could see all the women except Alex inside, moving about. Alex was standing next to Breaker who handed her a beer. "I'm banned," she explained, tipping her beer up at me before taking a sip.
"I should go offer a hand at... um... something," I declared, moving out of Paine's hold and making my way into the kitchen, looking for Gina. She was standing at the stove, scooping something out of a pot and into a piece of serving ware for the table.
"Hey Gina," I greeted and her head popped in my direction, giving me a genuinely warm smile.
"Elsie! So glad he didn't fuck things up," she declared, making me choke on a small laugh.
"These are for you," I told her, holding out the flowers. She put the bowl down, wiped her hand on her half-apron, and took them from me.
"You're so sweet," she said, giving me a hug with a back rub that gave me flashbacks to my own mother. "Steer clear of Kenz. She's like a Nazi in the kitchen. Tell her you burn everything you put your hands on," she warned close to my ear.
"Good plan," I agreed and she gave me a small squeeze before moving back to her task.
"Mom," she called to the older woman who was putting rolls into a basket. "This is Paine's girl, Elsie. Elsie, that's Cora. And those are my sisters," she added, gesturing with her spoon toward the two women who looked like slightly older versions of herself who were picking up trays to carry to the table, "Geri and Georgie. You've met Amelia and the recently excommunicated Alex, I assume."
Technically I hadn't met Amelia but she gave me a sweet smile as she lifted a huge jug of sweet tea. "Hey, Elsie," she said. "Welcome aboard."
"You," Kenzi said, pointing at me. "What's your specialty?"
"In the kitchen? Um... handing someone the take-away menu?" I offered and everyone chuckled.
Kenzi smiled. "Good to know. Reese, where the hell are you?" she yelled.
Reese. She was the other sister. The shy librarian.
"Hiding from your bossy ass, no doubt," Gina said in a motherly way.
"Excuse me for handing out drinks to our guests," a quiet voice said from behind me in a way that was both sweet and firm, like she was used to dealing with her outspoken sister and was not about to get run over by her all the time.
"Well... fine. Grab a bowl and help us serve. The men are going to start barking if we don't feed them soon."
"You know, in case it hasn't escaped you all with your nineteen-fifties sensibilities," Alex called from the doorway, "I know for a fact that at least two of those men cook better than some of us."
"We get it, you're not a 'waiting on a man' type," Kenzi said, handing her a bowl. "Now help us set the damn table," she added with a smirk.
I grabbed a plate full of roasted vegetables before I could be yelled at and high-tailed it out of there.
I had just put the plate on the table when another big figure made his way into the room. His face was less swollen than it had been a few days before, but he was still bruised and favoring his ribs. Enzo nodded at his brother, Breaker, and Shoot before making a beeline for me.
"Hey honey, how you holding up?"
"Better than you, I imagine," I said, tilting my head to look up at him. "How are your ribs?"
"Busted. Will continue to be for a good while still. Yours?"
"Oh they're real pretty," I said dryly. "But they're feeling a lot better."
"Good. I'm glad."
"Enzy!" Reese's voice went high and girly as she slammed a plate down on the table and ran around the table, hitting him bodily, apparently completely unaware of his injuries. He grunted and winced hard, but wrapped his arms around his half-sister and squeezed tight. "You never come by anymore!" she accused into his chest. "I miss you."
"I miss you too, Re," he said and there was a sadness in his tone that said he truly did.
"Alright. We can do the reunion shit later," Kenzi declared, making Reese untangle he
rself from her brother's arms. "Asses in seats if you want to eat. You know where you all belong."
With that, everyone moved to find their seats. It didn't escape me that, when she passed him, Kenzi gave Enzo a one-armed hug and whispered, "I missed you too, you know."
"You're with me," Paine declared, grabbing my hand and pulling me toward our seats.
Once all seated, everyone just dug in. Literally everyone was grabbing for food at once. I sat back a little shell shocked, not used to casual family gatherings. Luckily for me, Paine to my left and Enzo to my right simply dropped piles of whatever they reached for onto my plate until there wasn't a sliver of the plate visible beneath all the food.
Then commenced the loudest, craziest, friendliest, most entertaining dinner I had ever been a part of in my life. By dessert, my cheeks hurt from smiling.
Catching Paine's eye, I whispered quietly, "I love them all."
Under the table, his hand squeezed my knee as his eyes went soft.
Yeah, I loved them all.
And, in that moment, I was starting to think I might have loved him too.
Epilogue
Elsie - 1 Day
I was shaking when I hung up the temporary cell phone I bought at the pharmacy on the way to work that morning. I hadn't talked about my decision with Paine. I would tell him when I got home, but I hadn't been sure what I was going to do until I did it so I didn't want to make a big deal out of it for no good reason.
I tossed the phone in the garbage outside my favorite coffee spot, went in to grab coffee, then headed home with the weight of the knowledge that I just brought down a raid upon the warehouse on Kennedy.
It had been something weighing on my mind since the morning after all that craziness. I had knowledge of a federal crime. Not only that, I had a means to help Rhett and Roman save face. On top of all of that, I had the chance to keep God-knew how many drugs out of the hands of countless people.
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