Page 74 of Unveiled Wounds

“Do we know anything about her?” I asked, not bothering to look away.

“No, besides what I’ve already told you. Cyph’s going to look for her birth certificate, and I already called Scrub. He’ll check her when he gets off shift.”

“How much is the bribe?” I asked. Grizz and I had a running joke about the night we’d met. He had had to ask Cyph for my phone number. It had cost him five video games and a few premium channels for the TV. Our one year was in a few months, and Grizz was already being bombarded with renewals. He had told me he wasn’t renewing, but he’d probably get stuck with the bill again.

“Nah, I owe you one.” I heard Cyph from somewhere in the room. I was still bitter over the laptop for the design firm, but there wasn’t any use arguing over it. If the baby didn’t have a birth certificate, Cyph would have to sneak one into the system.

I never wanted be away from her. What was I going to do when she went to school? Nope, that was far, far down the road.

I felt Grizz at my back. “I started calling her Pumpkin,” he said, kissing the top of my head.

“Do you know what you’ve just done?” I snorted. “No matter what her name is, we’re always going to call her Pumpkin.”

The baby kicked her feet.

“You like Pumpkin?” I asked her. She kicked her feet again. “That’s good because you’re kind of stuck with it. I’ll remind you when you’re a teenager, this wasn’t my doing.”

“Big guns, Mer.”

“You got a few years, buddy. Settle down.” I tightened my hold on her and laughed. I was so lost in my world that I didn’t notice it had gone silent in the main room. Looking around, I caught my aunt wiping a tear from her eye as Thunder wrapped one of his beefy arms around her shoulder. Everyone else was watching me hold the baby. Pumpkin was going to have a family, or heads were going to roll.

Chapter 28

The Ties That Bind

Grizz

Another Monday, another church meeting, and when the clock struck nine, the prospect closed the door.

“We’ve got a lot of fucking shit to get through, so let’s make this as painless as possible.” Sabre sat up straight in his chair, no nonsense. “Who wants to go first with their club business reports?”

“Are we going to hire outside help when shit with the fucking cartel is over?” Count asked.

“Why? The tit show behind again?” Sabre’s gazed settled over him.

“You fucking kidding? The tit show has never been better, but if my decisions are being questioned, then I don’t want to be involved. I’ll step down and live a quiet life as a brother.” Someone must have told Count about Grease’s grumbles regarding the new garage. My guess was Cyph.

“When was the last time you saw Kelly?” I asked. I normally wouldn’t get involved like this, but we’d been on lockdown for over a month. It was getting to me, and my wife was here.

“That’s none of your business, Grizz.” Our seats were on the same side of the table, and I saw him lean forward, shooting daggers from his eyes.

“Hear me out.” I held up my hand, stopping any complaint he was getting ready to unleash. “You’re not upset Grease has questions. If we weren’t on lockdown, you’d have no problem talking this out. You’re pissed because we have cartel issues, and you’re stuck here.”

He pouted, saying nothing.

“You know I’m right. How many nights a week do you follow Kelly home?”

He still said nothing.

“How many?” Sabre stepped in. Count couldn’t ignore the question coming from his president.

“She went to a study group Friday night, with her male lab partner.” Count leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. He hadn’t answered the question, and the pout hadn’t disappeared.

“So? You afraid she’s going to decide she likes men again, and he’s going to swoop in because you’re too much of a chicken shit to talk to her?” Pretty batted his eyelashes at Count.

“You’re going to give up the treasury over a woman? If you could fuck money, you would,” Sabre said. “Nah, fuck that. Kelly deserves respect. You don’t get to dictate what she does because you’re the one paying for her classes. If you can’t give her that, or I catch wind you’re not, it’ll be over. I’m not dealing with your raging hormones.”

Count still looked like he was ready to fight, but Grease held up his hand. “Look at this,” he said, standing from his spot further down the table. He smacked the bottom of a mailing tube until several rolled papers appeared at the end. “Someone might have to hold these at the ends, but I wanted to show you something. I finally looked at these yesterday.” Grease held ontoone end and let the other side roll out. One of the other brothers must have grabbed it because I was staring at the design for the new garage. Every clean line, every practical touch—it had her fingerprints all over it.

---