Page 112 of Lady Sings the Blues

“Don’t know who you’re talkin’ to, Logan’s dead Boss. Don’t you remember?”

And as he pulled Elise in front of him to shield him from my bullets aimed in his direction, I knew he was right.

Loganwasdead.

While we hunted Houdini and Elise, Levi fought for his life. We’d gotten to him in time for Tommy to call it in, air vaccing him up to Cincinnati where they rushed him into surgery. Then the waiting began. He’d stayed on life support for a few days. Once we’d found Elise and she’d been checked out and cleared by a doctor, she refused to leave his bedside.

Since I refused to leave her side, we spent our first week of marriage in a hospital room.

Didn’t matter, she was safe in my arms.

Dr. Brennan was another new addition. She came to town before the wedding. Thornbriar needed a new doctor, she said she’d been passing through and decided to stay. Convenient since Elise couldn’t leave the compound. She’s pretty. Curly, naturally red hair and bright green eyes. The hair she always keeps pulled back in a bun, even when we’d see her at the grocery store. And her eyes are always assessing. Not sure what she thinks of the club, but if she had any prejudices, she never lets on. And the woman shows no fear, even in the face of my wife threatening her badass biker would fuck her world.

“Hey guys,” Elise says warmly, through her smile. “Come on in.”

Liv takes up position next to Elise’s head, placing her hand on Elise’s shoulder. “He’s beautiful, sweetheart. Just beautiful.”

“Yeah…” Elise’s eyes go dreamy. “Everyone, I’d like to introduce you to Gunner Levi Hollister.”

“Gunner?” Chaos stumbles over boy’s name like he can’t quite figure out the taste. “Where’d you come up with that?”

Elise stares down, smiling at our son and then turns that smile up towards Crass.

“That…uh…that’d be me…” he grumbles to the laughter of the group.

“You want to hold him?” she asks Crass. “Beau, let him hold him.”

I take our boy from her arms, handing him gently over to his namesake, Gunner “Crass” Duncan.

As he stares down at my Gunner, Crass says, “That boy is the spitting image of his daddy.”

I respond by takin’ my boy back and holding him up against Crass so their faces are flush next to each other, and search back and forth between them.

“Yeah,” I growl. “And when I find the fucker, I’m gonna fuckin’ kill’ em.”

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