Page 26 of Blade

His mom stands up, nodding.“Yes, of course.I’ve laid out some clean towels and made the bed.Let me know if you need anything else.”

“Thank you, Sophia, for opening your home to me,” I say as I stand up too, glad for Blade’s arm around my shoulders.“You didn’t have to.”

“I wanted to,” she says.“For a long time.So I’m glad you asked, Henry.”

He nods, not seeming to grasp the full depth of her words.Not sure I do either.But she’s definitely saying more than she’s actually saying.I think she really wants to help me.And I don’t know if I’m happy about that or just scared.

Because I’m not sure I’m strong enough to face my ghosts.Any of them.I’m afraid if I try, I’ll just disintegrate again.And that would ruin everything all over again.So, no I don’t think I’ll be talking to her about any of that.Why risk it?Best to just focus on what I can fix.My past not being one of those things.My future, maybe.

15

Blade

Surprisingly enough, Bella didn’t give me any shit about my mom making us dinner and wanting to talk to her.And that’s not all.We made love like we haven’t yet.With gentle kisses and tender caresses, taking our time in everything.She fell asleep in my arms, spent and sated.I followed and slept better than I had since I was a child, felt even safer than I had then.

But there’s no pushing the world away anymore.Rogue wanted me at the clubhouse last night.I convinced him this morning was fine.And as much as I want to make that stretch into another week of making up for lost time with Bella, I can’t.Besides, the sooner everything the club’s facing is dealt with, the sooner we’ll be together all the time.

I took my time leaving her though, careful not to wake her, but mostly just wanting to watch her sleep.I took my time with the note too, came up with a great quote about love, one I’d completely forgotten until this morning as she lay sleeping and I was getting dressed in the early rays of the sun.

One word frees us of all the weight and pain in life.That word is Love.

Socrates said that.And I’ve known the reverse of that… absence of love brings all the weight and pain in life.But what he said is more true.I added all that to the note, then felt a little like a fool as I jogged down the stairs to the driveway, but there’s nothing I don’t want to share with Bella.And that includes sounding like an idiot when I try to be philosophical.

My mind was still full of Bella as I entered the room where the rest of the execs—and Zane for some reason—were already getting started on Council.

“Good of you to join us, Blade,” Rogue says edgily.He wasn’t happy that I refused to come in last night, but I regret nothing.

“So what’s on the agenda today?”I ask, taking my usual seat at the table with my back to the window.

“The better question would be, what isn’t?”Rogue says.“Or at least, the answer would be shorter in that case.”

“Let’s get started with the most pressing shit then,” I say.“Don’t wanna be here all day.”

Zane grins at me.“That’s right.You got better things to do now.”

I just grunt and nod in response.I don’t know if the guy is trying to be friendly or wanting to mess with me.Neither will end well.It’s no secret that I don’t want him here.He’s the real danger to this MC.In more ways that one.I wish Rogue could see that as clearly as he seems to see Bella as a danger.But there’s no logic in any of that.It’s just emotion.He loves Zane like a brother, and he believes Bella is partly responsible for Angel dying.I’d hope he’d mellowed out now that he’s finally in love again, but so far, no such luck.

“All right, let’s start with the most pressing shit,” Rogue says.“And shit it is.The Hydra assholes that we put in their place seems to think we’re in an all-out war with them now.Never mind the fact that the feds busted a bunch of them and the state police even more.Just last night, Minx and Rock were attacked to send another message.”

I sit up straighter, glaring at him.“You didn’t tell me that.Are they all right?Where are they?”

“Would you have come in if I had told you?”Rogue asks.

I wish the answer was a clear yes.But I pause, and he grins darkly, thinking his thoughts.They’re probably the same as mine.Two weeks ago, I would’ve been the first one in after a thing like that.Now I’m the last.Bella’s fault.I hate him thinking that.

“They’re fine, just scrapes and bruises.Rock has a mild concussion,” Rogue says.“At least those cowards didn’t go after the club girls this time.”

“And what was the message?”I ask.

“They want us to pay for what we stole, else they’ll start leaving bodies next,” Rogue says.

The quiet that settles over the room is as cold as snow.

“Pay for the sex slaves we freed, they mean?”I ask.

“Yeah.”

“Well, we’re not doing that,” I say, as if it needed saying.

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