Page 8 of Reaper and Abby

“It’s fine Kade.”

“Nah, it fucking ain’t. Why are you defending him?”

She turned, looking me straight in the eyes. “He’s acting out because I’m failing. His behavior is a direct correction to me. Something’s wrong with him, and I’ll sort it out.”

My grip on the steering wheel got tighter. “You know you aren’t a single parent, right?”

“Yes.”

One word that was all she gave me.

I indicated onto the main road.

“Why is Hannah having night terrors? You told me she was having nightmares.”

“Same thing isn’t it?”

“For a doctor to know about it, I’d say it isn’t Abby.”

She sighed and leaned her head against the glass window. “She doesn’t feel safe.”

“In our house? For fuck's sake, she’d have to know I’d never let anything happen to her.”

Abby went silent.

I groaned. “Fuck Abby, why don’t you just say it. This is all my fault. Tyson’s acting up cause I ain’t around. Hannah doesn’t feel safe because I’m never home. You are drowning being a single parent. Come on Abby, just fucking give it to me, instead of this cold shoulder crap. Like everything is fine and I ain’t the problem.”

I pulled into our driveway and put the car into park, turning to look at her.

“Kade,” she unclipped her seat belt and looked at me with an empty expression in her eyes. “In order for any of their behaviors to be your fault, you would have had to be a main part of their life at some point. You haven’t walked out of their lives, cause, well. . . you’ve never really been around.” She let the seat belt roll up. Giving me a reassuring smile. “It’s okay, they are used to you being gone more than being at home. Anyway, they can’t miss something they never had.” She opened the door. “Thanks for taking me to the hospital, sorry for pulling you away from the club tonight.”

With those words said, she pushed the door wide and climbed out of the car.

Life’sa twisted fucking game of choices. Each choice you make leads you in a certain direction, and before I knew it—all those fucking decisions I made have led me here. I picked to be at the club, instead of dropping the kids off for their first days at school. I picked gun runs over concerts, school sports, family days. I choose to be out late every night, and hung over in the morning, surfacing later in the day, still hung over. Then escaping to the clubhouse cause the sound of my kids playing would tear my ears apart.

I swore to Abby when we had the twins, I’d be here. I’d balance the club and family. Instead, here I sat, after hearing my kids didn’t really know me and worse of it, Abby had given up fighting for me to fight for our family. She had accepted it.

4

Abby

I walked out of the grocery store, my mind flooding with the fact I was going to the university to withdraw. I had done the groceries. Next stop, university. I had left Kade sleeping in bed. I wanted to get these small errands done and not let him talk me out of dropping out.

I unlocked my car and pressed the button to the trunk at the same time.

“Abby?”

I turned slightly to my side. When I saw her, I felt the need to throw a punch, but I contained myself. While Snake Valley didn’t have a large population, it was, however, large enough for this bitch to not be parked next to my car or, at the very least, not be at the same shopping center as me. I cursed my luck. Out of all the empty spaces in the bloody car park, she had to park next to me?

“Kaylee.” I forced the one word out. I was under the impression she had left, or, at least, that was what I’d assumed when she disappeared.

She brushed a hand through her long blonde hair and looked at me slightly awkwardly. I noticed her physical appearance had changed—tattoos were lasered off, and piercings were gone—but I really didn’t care at all about why. She didn’t look like club property anymore. I began to put the bags in the car, hoping that was the end of the conversation.

“Can I talk to you for a moment?”

I cringed. It would seem Kaylee hadn’t taken the hint that I didn’t want to hold a conversation with her. I threw her a dirty look. This woman nearly broke up Kade and me—repeatedly.

“Sure,” I replied, but I was really thinking of how I could throw a punch without the police being called.

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