Page 36 of Broken

“You did all this for me?” I hear Gabby say, and I smile as I hear the happiness in her voice.

“What all do we need to unload?” Dragon asks, coming to slap me on the back.

I lose track of Gabby as she moves further away from me. So, I turn to look at him. “Probably the grill if you’re making steaks. I’m starved. Shopping is damn hard.”

“Man, I could have told you that. I refuse to take Nicole shopping. I send her out with Kayden and a couple of prospects to guard them. It’s better that way and it keeps me sane.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I laugh.

“Yo, boys! Get over here and get this grill out of the truck. We got food to fix,” Dragon calls out after letting out a long whistle. Some of the club’s prospects come over to do the heavy lifting. “Nice call getting one already put together,” he adds, watching me a little too closely.

“Told you I was hungry. I wasn’t going to wait until we got the thing together. I’d pass out from hunger. Takes a lot of food to keep a body like mine going.”

“Someone over here blowing up an onion sack?” Crusher asks, joining us and slapping me on the back as a hello.

“What the hell does that even mean?” I ask, laughing.

“You ever try to blow up an onion sack? The damn thing is full of holes.”

“That still doesn’t explain what that saying means.”

“Fuck if I know. I’ve just heard it all my life.”

I shake my head, but it’s Dragon that says what I’m thinking. “I swear, Crusher, you just ain’t right in the head.”

“That happened from spending years following you around and cleaning up your messes,” Crusher laughs.

“In your dreams, asshole.”

“You all quit your bullshit and help me get the rest of the truck unloaded. There’s some in the backseat and some against the cab of the truck.”

“Damn man, did you buy out the store?”

“Gabby bought a lot of it. Damn woman is stubborn as the day is long,” I answer. I want to make it clear to Dragon and whoever the hell else that doubts her that she’s standing on her own two feet. I’m proud of the progress she’s made, and they should be too. If they aren’t? Fuck them.

“Trust me. Me and Diesel know all about that. We’ve had to go behind her back and pitch in so she doesn’t find out. Never seen a woman so hard to help before.”

“Dani told me you are paying some of her rent that she doesn’t know about. I’ll be taking that over.”

“She told me. We’ll talk about it later,” he murmurs.

“I’m not changing my mind,” I warn him.

“I hear you. Let’s get this shit unloaded. The last thing we need is for her to overhear us talking about this crap. I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t be good for any of us, but especially you.”

“Once it’s done, I’ll tell her. I’m not hiding shit from her.” I notice Dragon is quiet. I can feel his gaze on me. I don’t know what he’s thinking, but I don’t really care. I wasn’t lying to Gabby. They can choose to be in my life or not. I’m past the age where I’m going to live my life to suit other people. They either accept me and my choices, or they don’t. I owe them nothing.

“Fucking hell, that’s a lot of paint,” Dragon mutters.

“Ten gallons of gray, three different gallons for the baby’s room, and two for Gabby’s room,” I tell him.

“Who’s going to be painting all of this?”

“Gabby is insistent that she’s going to do the baby’s room. So, we got the paint that is supposedly safe for her and the baby.”

“Smart,” Dragon says, lugging out the buckets and handing them to us.

“Yeah, but if the club has some prospects that need work, I wouldn’t turn down some help,” I tell Crusher.

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