Page 4 of Unveiled Wounds

“I thought she’d bounce back to her pain-in-the-ass self. The vote would pass, and everything would go back to normal.” He shook his head and took another sip of his mug. “I’m not helping you, am I? You’ve already done the basics, and I’m just slinging more shit your way.”

“Yeah.” I breathed a heavy sigh. “I swear, I’m going to break down and cry the day she bitches again.” I took a sip of my coffee, imaging what that day would like look. “Even if we bribed some therapist, there’s no guarantee that they wouldn’t turn us in. I asked Scrub if he could get her happy pills. He didn’t respond, but when I brought it up to her, she said no. So, we’re in this strange cycle where every day is Groundhog Day.”

Sabre shook his head, acknowledging me. “It’s almost nine. Are you going to make it through the meeting?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Don’t look for me afterwards. I’m heading to bed.”

The other brothers trickled in, and Sabre called the meeting to order precisely at nine. The managers presented their reports, but there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. I tuned out when it all sounded the same. I was the man on the ground. The one everyone called to stop by and fix something. If I had to sit behind a desk, I would have died from the boredom.

My anger simmered as I drank from my travel mug for something to do. Every time my eyes landed on a brother, I wanted to ask how they slept at night.How can they ignore her screams when they lance my heart every fucking night?

They must have gone through all the club reports because when I tuned back in, Pretty was talking about the neighborhood the club was thinking about building in the back of the property. My anger boiled over, doubting if anyone would want to be Meredith’s neighbor.

“I can keep looking, but I think we’re in the clear if we want to build out there,” he said. “The founding fathers bought thisplace, including all the land. It was strenuous trying to figure all of that out. Jig’s recordkeeping left something to be desired. Not all of us can go click, click, done.” Pretty stretched his arms out in front of him, interlocking his fingers. He jiggled his eyebrows and wiggled deeper into his seat, exaggerating how strenuous the work had been.

“When was the last time you actually clicked something, or should I say, someone?” Cyph wasn’t backing down.

Pretty smirked. “Your mom, last night.” There was loud hooting and hollering, floating around the room. “You know the dancers love me. I might need to go visit them, see how many need to be clicked.”

Wreck frowned, popping his knuckles individually.

Count slapped a hand over Cyph’s chest. “You asked for that one.” He chuckled.

“Were there any votes about the land that we specifically need to know about?” Sabre spoke up from the head of the table, trying to rein everyone back in.

“Not really. The only ones I saw were the initial purchase, and when Dad asked for a piece to build the house. Otherwise, they were more concerned with keeping the outside neighbors away.” Pretty finger waved again at Cyph. “I really need to work the carpal tunnel out.” He flipped his hand over and stuck two fingers in the air, pretending to pump in and out.

Cyph’s face turned as bright as a tomato.

“So, we have to discuss and vote before anything can be done?” Zook asked. He’d been the one to bring this to the table. A pang of jealousy hit my chest. I’d never felt like this towards another brother, but everything was coming up rosy for Zook. Emily hadn’t even been at the clubhouse a week before she had a unanimous vote. It was all falling apart for me.

“Yup,” Pretty said, smacking the P, and I wanted to reach over the table and hit him for being annoying.

Sabre stepped in before the chatter could get out of hand again. “How many brothers are thinking about building out there? Besides Zook.”

“Me. I’m building out there if this goes through, but I’ll probably still live in the clubhouse.” How spoke up.

“You going to be my neighbor?” Zook smiled as he asked from across the table.

“Fuck yeah. You can’t get rid of me, bitch.” How flicked him off.

“That’s cute.” Count tapped his fingers on the table, thinking. “I probably should sign up for one.”

“You going to throw her over your shoulder and move her in?” Sabre asked.

“Only over the threshold the first time.” Count didn’t mind being ribbed about Kelly because it was all in good fun. If I mentioned Meredith, the humor died, as they blamed her for not being more like Grace.

A few more brothers spoke, and then Sabre turned towards me. “Grizz? You going to build a house out there?”

“I’m not opposed to the neighborhood, but let’s be honest, Meredith is my wife. I haven’t asked for a vote. It would never go through, and there’s only one shot at it. If you won’t vote my wife in as an Old Lady, there’s nothing that makes me think any of you are going to want to live next door to us.”

“She’s not Flo,” someone chimed in.

The entire room broke out into laugher, and I slid to the front of my seat, preparing to stand.

Pretty shrugged. “I’m not Sabre, even though we’re blood brothers. However, if he needed me, I’d be right next to him, no questions asked. I don’t see that with them, and it makes it hard to like Meredith when Flo fits in so much more.”

“You like her more because she puts up with your fucking dumb ass. If Meredith made potato salad, you’d be all over her.” I stood from my chair.

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