Page 81 of Unveiled Wounds

“Madalyn,” Grizz answered, forking another piece of sausage.

Grace was bringing her fork up to her lips, but her hand stopped midway. Her mouth remained opened in shock.

My aunt choked on a piece of toast, and Thunder had to clap her on the back until she could regain her composure.

“You remembered,” I whispered, ignoring both of them.

He gave me a look, invading my personal space as he snaked his arm around the back of my chair. “Anytime you speak, there’s at least one person in the room listening. How else am I going to give you whatever your heart desires?”

He was close enough I buried my face against his arm, embarrassed. “This is ruining your tough-guy image.”

“Nah, you’re not used to melting for me in public, and I’m enjoying every minute of this.”

“Bite me,” I squeaked. I kissed the top of her head. “Madalyn Barnett.”

“No one’s going to call her that.” Pretty shrugged, watching us from down the table. “You’ll be lucky if we even remember.”

“It’s not that complicated.” I’d always wanted to name my first girl after my mom. The least they could do was respect that.

“What’s my name?” he asked me.

“Pretty,” I said, confused. It took me a minute to understand his point, and it didn’t help that I was drawing a blank on his real name. Covering Pumpkin’s ears, I muttered, “Fuck.”

Chapter 31

Grandfather Of The Year

Grizz

I stretched, sitting on my bike, basking in the calm for a second as I sat outside of our diner. I had made my rounds, checking in on the club businesses, but they had been functioning like normal. Our cartel problems hadn’t spilled into our income, and if there was a silver lining in all of this, that was it. I couldn’t imagine fighting the cartel penniless.

I chastised myself for the thought. There was more than one silver lining, and most of them involved Meredith. I wasn’t the only one who told her I was proud. She’d fought to the surface, and there was a newfound sense of peace resonating from within. I could only imagine it was from solidifying her place in the club, even though I hadn’t told her about the vote.

My phone dinged with an incoming text. Laughing, I dug it out of my back pocket, expecting to see my wife’s name on the screen. Her sense of timing was impeccable, and it wasn’t unusual for her to call late in the afternoon. She had nothing better to be doing, and I didn’t mind chatting for a few minutes.If I was busy, she’d understand, letting me go with the unspoken demand to come home as soon as possible.

My smile fell as Sabre’s name flashed across the screen. Clicking open the message, I braced myself for some new project. Sure enough, he’d sent a picture of five large boxes sitting in the middle of the main room. Instead of answering, I called him, heading back to the clubhouse.

“Do you want me to round up some brothers and get started on this shit?” he answered, not even bothering to saying hello.

“Whatisthat shit?“ I hadn’t been able to tell from the picture, but they were going to be my problem.

“There’s a changing table, a crib, and some dresser fucking thing. Where the fuck is she going to put this shit?”

I laughed. “It doesn’t matter as long as my girls are happy. If it’s too crowded, I’ll steal your bed when you go back to the house.”

“Fuck you. They’re currently shooting daggers in my direction. I think Meredith wants to start by herself. I caught her trying to lift one box and drag it upstairs. The little one took her mother’s side.”

“Do me a favor and have the boxes for the crib brought up. I’ll grab the tools from the garage before I head inside, and she can help me.” The phone clicked off in my hand. He didn’t bother to say goodbye.

***

“Locate the bag labeled four. Carefully open the bag and remove all screws. Align part A with part B, as shown in the diagram. Using the screws from bag four, secure part A to part B. Tighten screws until snug.”Meredith was cute, supervising me as she sat on the bed with Pumpkin in her lap. However, I didn’t have the heart to tell her I was four steps ahead, and Ihadn’t been listening for a while. “Take off your shirt and pull your head out of your ass.”

I hummed in agreement, letting the words wash over me. I didn’t want to hurt her, but I’d built a shit ton of crap by hand. This was a piece of cake, and I didn’t need her reading the instructions to me. Reaching for part C, I wondered why I had to take my shirt off to put a crib together. Fuck, that was when I knew she had me.

The key to winning this game was to not turn around. Stripping off my shirt, I threw it over my shoulder, hoping it landed somewhere near them. I could almost imagine the look on Meredith’s face as she brought it up to her nose. I heard a squeak as I reached for the screwdriver. Exaggerating the movement, I let my muscles pop in my shoulders as I continued putting the crib together, like nothing was going on.

“Pumpkin, boys are bad,” Meredith said.

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