by Lila Rose
That was true. We may mess around a lot, but when it came to crunch time, we’d be 100 percent there and involved in the situation.
Chapter Seventeen
Poppy
“Poppy.” My name was whispered above me. “Poppy.” It was a little louder, and this time came with a poke to my cheek. “Poppy!” was shouted right in my face.
“Go the hell away,” I moaned, and then slowly opened my eyes, to only close them again. “That is not a sight I wish to wake up to, Manda. Cover them up.”
“Oh, oops.” She giggled.
“Is it safe?” I asked, rubbing my face.
“Yes. The girls are put away, ready to fall out for another day.”
“Thank God.” With my hands pressed to the mattress, I slid back, resting against the bedhead, and then reached for my phone. “Damn,” I muttered when I activated it and saw there was no text from Jerimiah. My eyes widened. “It’s nearly 1:00 p.m? Why didn’t anyone wake me?”
“Ah, that’s what I was doing.” Manda rolled her eyes. She went over to my drawers, grabbed a jumper and pulled it over her head to cover her singlet top. “Can’t have the girls making an appearance in front of Charlie.”
“So you haven’t been up that long?”
“No, I’ve been up for ages. But Charlie was still in bed until just before. I think everyone needed a sleep in.”
“I should get dressed, go see Mum with him to keep my mind off… things.”
“He’s going to be okay. You know that, right?”
“Yes.” I nodded. I did know it because I refused to think otherwise. Besides, Jerimiah would do anything to make sure he came back to me in one piece, or I’d kill him myself. After folding back my covers, I got out of bed and stretched. My glance to my phone didn’t go unnoticed though.
“He’ll text or call as soon as he’s got information, Poppy.”
Groaning, I nodded. “I know this, but it doesn’t make me not worry.”
“I know.” She smiled sadly. “How about we go see your mum and then take Charlie out after for a very late lunch slash early dinner?”
“Sounds good.”
After showering, I dressed in jeans and a simple navy tee then made my way into the living room… only to stop.
“W-what’s going on?”
Dad looked up from having his head buried in his hands. Tears ran down his cheeks.
No. I shook my head.
Manda stood. I backed up.
No. My hands came up to ward her off.
Dad also stood. “Poppy.” His voice hitched.
No. I bit my bottom lip.
“I-it’s your mum, honey.”
No!
Tears filled my eyes. My whole body shuddered with the breath I took. Manda made it to me, her arm coming around me, and she guided me to my dad. The whole time I pushed back against her arm. My heart cracked. My chest ached. I didn’t want it to break.
I wouldn’t handle it.
“Honey, t-they found her this morning. S-she managed to get her hands on… on some drugs.” He choked on the words, cleared his throat and then tried his best to go on with his voice thick. “T-they didn’t want to t-tell us on the phone.” He sniffed. His hands went to my shoulders. Fresh tears fell from his eyes. “People from the home d-dropped in… s-she….” He groaned deep in this throat, then grunted out through a sob caught there.
I begged in my mind, No, no, no. Please, not Mum.
“M-my moon left us some letters.”
“I-I can’t,” I managed to get out.
“No.” He shook his head. “I know, not now. God, not now.”
I sniffed, looking away from the agony etched into his face, and took a shuddering breath. “S-she’s gone.”
Manda’s arm around me convulsed. I knew she was crying while trying to hold me together, hold us together.
Dad’s pained wail of “Yes,” was what broke me.
Falling forward, I screamed into my father’s chest. I sobbed, cried, and yelled. Manda buried in, while Dad buried into both of us. We all held one another as we let the anguish take over.
Fang
When the front door finally came open and I saw Charlie, I wished I’d been there sooner. He looked broken.
Fuck. Fuck me. His bottom lip trembled.
“Early this morning, Mary took her own life.”
“Charlie—”
He shook his head. “She needs you.”
“Where is she?”
“In her room with Manda.”
Stepping in, I asked, “Why didn’t anyone call me when… when you found out?”
“She wanted you safe, wanted your head in the Python matter. Didn’t want to be a distraction.”
“She never could be.”
“I know, son. I know.”
“Charlie, I’m so goddamn sorry.”
He sucked in a shaky breath, then nodded. “Go to her, son.”
Tagging the back of Charlie’s neck, I gave it a squeeze. He nodded again. I let go and stalked down the hall to my woman’s room. The door was already open. Poppy had curled into herself on the bed, facing the window. Manda was entwined around my woman, but her head came up and she looked over her shoulder. To me. After a nod, she bent in and whispered something to Poppy before coming off the bed.
Her hand landed on my arm. “She’s awake,” she said, and then walked out the door.
Reaching for the handle, I closed the door and quickly kicked off my boots and vest. “Baby?” I called. Nothing. “Poppy?” I said as I got to my knees to the bed. Shifting over, I took up Manda’s position behind my woman. Only I stayed on one elbow and leaned over a little. Poppy was watching out the window. There was no life in her eyes. She just looked and blinked.
Fuck.
Fucking hell.
She’d been crushed.
Slowly, I glided my hand up her arm, over her shoulder and then tucked her hair behind her ear. “Darlin’…. Jesus, Poppy, I’m so fuckin’ sorry you lost her.”
She closed her eyes. Only it didn’t stop the tears leaking out.
“Baby, let me help. Let me take some of the pain, please.”
Seeing her like this brought pressure to my chest and stabbing to my gut. It was killing me.
“Y-you can’t.”
“I can, darlin’.”
“I want it,” she whispered.
“Why?”
Suddenly, she spun around on the bed. Her head dug into my shoulder. I shot my arms around her body, holding her close.
“I-it’s meant to hurt. I’m meant to feel it because she was such a wonderful, caring, amazing soul, and her leaving the earth i-is meant to be felt, even though i-it hurts so, so much.”
“Then feel it, Poppy. Let it takeover you and let me be here for you when you need my strength.”
She nodded into my neck. Her tears soaked my tee, but I didn’t give a shit. Poppy was right. Mary was an amazing soul, and she left her mark on the world, so it was meant to be felt.
I wasn’t sure how long I held her as she cried, as she felt the loss so deep it broke her apart, but eventually, she drifted off to sleep. I didn’t move. I didn’t give her words that were just that, words in a time when they weren’t needed. I just held her through the night tightly to me, wishing I could take her pain, but knowing she was meant to have it.
It was early hours when her body jolted awake, her body tensing.
“Go back to sleep, darlin’. I got you.”
“I-it wasn’t a dream? A nightmare?”
“No, baby. Sorry.”
She shifted, bringing her leg up over mine, twisting her arm more around my waist. “I need to see how Dad is.” There wasn’t a chance I’d tell her not to. Charlie would need her just as much as she needed the both of us. “But first
, tell me some good news, my Miah. Did you get him?”
My Miah.
It was the first time she’d called me anything else other than Jerimiah.
My Miah.
She was claiming me.
I was hers.
“My Poppy.” Her breath hitched. “We got him.”
“It’s over?”
“Yes, my Poppy, it’s over.”
And it was. But the way it happened… Christ. I never would’ve believed any of it could actually happen in real life, but it had.
Still, it didn’t matter how it went down. It had, and it was over. Done forever.
Poppy didn’t need to know all the details, and even when she was in the right frame of mind, I wasn’t sure she should know everything. I’d make up my mind after talkin’ to Charlie about it.
“How can I hurt so much and yet feel relieved? It doesn’t make sense.”
“Life never does.”
“You do,” she mumbled.
My lips twitched. “Sometimes.”
She yawned, drained no doubt from feeling so much. “No. You do. When you said you thought I was your forever, you were right. I knew you were mine the day you saved me from tripping over.”
My gut warmed. “Darlin’, that was the first day you met me.”
“I know.” She nodded.
I smiled. “And I knew that day I caught you was the best thing that could have happened to me. Took me a little while to wake up, but when I did, I knew you were meant for me. Made to be my woman.”
“Mum knew it too,” she whispered. “She’d be happy you were here, in my life, in my heart, and becoming my forever.”
My chest tightened.
She was damn right. Mary would have loved it, just as much as I did.
God, I hoped wherever she was, she was looking down at her girl and seeing I was taking care of her. Something I would do for the rest of my days.
Chapter Eighteen
Fang
Hours Earlier
After leaving Blackie’s, I called my woman, who I could still taste in my mouth, which I fuckin’ loved, and told her I wasn’t gonna get to her. Mentioned we’d had a lead, and that lead was taking me and my brothers to Python’s mum’s house.
Dodge, who I called after Poppy, to tell him what we had, was meeting us on the road about a block away from the house.
When we pulled around the corner, there would be about twenty Harleys lining the streets, and the brothers were in a huddle at the front of the line. We pulled the four-by-four up the front, opposite Dodge, who was still astride his ride. Once seeing us, he climbed off and made his way over to the car, with his brothers following.
Soon as I had my door open, he asked, “You gonna be able to handle this?”
My head jerked back. “Are you?”
“Brother, it ain’t my woman he’s been fuckin’ with. Know you wanna get your hands on him and do it in a way you can end his life, but we gotta question him. See if he’s dealing with others we need to know about, to keep our territory clean.”
My jaw clenched. “For the brotherhood, I’ll keep my head.”
His hand landed on my shoulder and applied pressure. “Just had to check, Fang. You get that?”
“Yeah.” And I did. Any one of us were loose cannons when it came to the women in our lives. Still, I would keep it together long enough for the questioning to happen and then, fuckin’ then, I’d have my time with him.
Dodge turned. “Right, let’s get this motherfucker who attacked our club, messed with a brother’s woman, and made our brothers bleed.” He stalked through, the brothers parting along the way. Some took off, no doubt following their own orders, but I stuck with Dodge, Vicious, Dive, Gamer, and Muff. We made our way by foot so we didn’t give our positions away, to get to the front of his ma’s house.
“Lights are on,” Dive commented.
“Strange, being this late,” Gamer said. It was, since it was near morning. Something was up.
“Eyes peeled. The others are taking the sides and back of the house. Let’s see if the fucker comes to the front door.” Without a care, Dodge strolled through the gate first, with us following. He went right up to the door and rang the bell.
We heard noise within, then some clip-clop sound before the door was opened by an old lady leaning heavily on a walking cane.
“Hello.” She smiled. “You must be who Blackie was talking about.”
What. The. Ever-lovin’. Fuck.
She pushed the door open. “Come in, come in. Sorry, I’m not dressed for company, but when Blackie called, I was in bed.” She’d obviously thrown a robe over herself and had then sat, waiting for our arrival.
I swore, if goddamn Blackie warned Python’s ma, he was gonna have to deal with the consequences.
“Come sit,” she ordered, and shuffled her way into a living room. I glanced around at my brothers’ shocked faces.
“Are you coming?” she called.
Dodge came unstuck first and moved off the way she’d gone. The rest of us soon followed in a line behind.
When we entered, the woman was gesturing Dodge to sit on the couch. “Don’t be shy, boys. Sit your butts down.”
Dive and Vicious sat on each side of Dodge on the couch. Gamer, Muff, and I walked in to stand behind the couch, opposite the woman sitting in her own chair.
“You know why we’re here?” Dodge asked.
She smiled. “Justice.”
“What did Blackie tell you exactly?” I asked.
“Said I’d be gettin’ a visit from the Hawks Motorcycle Club. Said you’re after my Eric for what he’s done to a girl. One who belongs to your club and Blackie’s. And that Eric had shot up your place of business, harming two brothers.”
“You seem pretty calm about this,” Dive commented.
She snorted. “Been calm my whole life, boy. Knew I had to when my flesh and blood turned bad.”
“Turned bad?” Vicious asked.
She eyed him, then shifted her gaze to all of us. “Hurts a mother when she loses love for her own son. But I couldn’t love him no longer. Not after he took his daddy’s life. At first I thought it was an accident, like he told me it was, but I see things, and I know Eric has dark growing in him. It’s a dark not even a mother’s love can heal. I tried.” She nodded to herself. “I really tried.”
“Do you get what’s gonna happen to him when we get our hands on him?” Dodge asked.
“Yes.” She stood, a bit shakily, but then straightened and goddamn asked, “Now, who wants a cup of coffee while we wait for him to get home?”
Holy motherfucking shit.
She was handing over her son to us, knowing we’d take his life.
“I’ll take one.” Dive smiled. “And I’ll come help you.”
“Oh, ain’t you sweet.” She waddled outta the room with Dive following, and the rest of us stayed stunned.
“Am I dreaming this?” Muff asked. “Not sure I’d want to dream of an old lady.”
Gamer snorted. “She’s handin’ over her boy.”
“Didn’t you see?” Vicious asked.
“What?” Dodge replied.
“She’s tired,” he stated. “Done all she can for him, and she wants him to own up to his actions and face the consequences. In doing so, it brings justice.”
I’d lost count of the number of coffees we’d had. With a sad smile, Miriam, the fuckface’s mum, ended up going to spend time at Blackie and Roda’s, leaving us to wait for her son. My eyes were heavy as I sat in a kitchen chair, looking to the entryway of the living room with my gun on my thigh. Dive was asleep on the couch. Dodge paced the floor while Vicious stood leaning against a wall, and Gamer was in Miriam’s vacant seat, resting. Muff lay on the floor with an arm thrown over his eyes. The only light in the room was spil
ling from the kitchen. It seemed Miriam, as she’d said, always left it on for Eric. The woman had even pulled the front curtain’s closed so no one would see us before they entered. A peak of the sun shining filtered through the crack. I glanced to the clock to see that it was nearly mid-morning.
When in the hell was the cunt gonna show?
We knew he’d always come home, another thing Miriam had said. His arrival just depended on what was happening in his life.
When the lock turned in the door, I silently got to my feet and raised my gun. Dodge and Vicious moved to man each side of the living room entrance while Muff, Gamer, and Dive mimicked my move. We waited with our weapons trained.
“And then she sucked me dry. Best head I’d ever got.”
My eyes shot wide, not because of the messed-up conversation we were hearing, but because I recognised that voice.
“That’s all bitches are good for,” another voice commented. Python.
“Damn right.” The door shut, their footsteps pounding down the hall.
“Me ma should be up by now,” Python said, a note of suspicion held in his voice.
“Ha. You still live with your momma.”
“Shut the fuck up. The bitch knows her place even if she birthed me.”
My face screwed up in disgust. A form entered the room, reached to the left and turned on the light. Then all hell broke loose.
Python tried to make a run for it, but Dodge reached out and punched him in the side of the face. Vicious took out his legs, and he fell to the floor while Alvin bent over a groaning Python on the floor and forced a knife right into his shoulder.
Yes. Fuckin’ Alvin.
Poppy’s brother.
Python screamed. He shoved at Alvin who stumbled back. With the knife embedded in his shoulder, Python got to his feet, backing himself into the corner of the room. He was outnumbered, he knew it. I could see the fear rise, but he pushed it back down when his eyes landed on me. His face changed, a sneer sliding across, and as he kept my gaze, he reached up and pulled the knife free from his shoulder.
“Was hopin’ to see your face. Been watchin’. You visit my bitch the most. Know you want a taste of her.”
