Page 16 of Benga's Rise
“You do it perfectly then.”
Cort laughs. “Told ya, he thinks you’re cool, Kram.”
I nod keeping Cort out of trouble. “Because she is. Everything she does hits cool.” I think about that while she looks like she’s going to cry, that’s not really cool, but she rides, lets Cort do his crazy shit, can cook, runs the pizzeria in like two days a week and trains for us. She doesn’t take anyone’s shit either. All that is cool.
Hade tries kissing ass, saying she’s cool too, but she rolls her eyes making me laugh at him. When I’m done, I rinse my plate in the sink and drop it in the dishwasher getting a thanks from Seren then take Caelan right out of Hade’s arms. “My turn. He needs a real Uncle.”
“Fuck off, Brother, you’re cousins and that’s distant.”
I shrug sitting with my nephew. “Blood is blood.”
Cort and Seren are laughing at us. I’m glad to see it. “Freedom busy?”
Cort stands up and Seren turns to the kitchen. Fuck. “You got Caelan, Raid?”
I nod hoping they aren’t leaving because Hade fucked it up with Freedom. “He won’t be hungry for another hour or so. He’s got a bottle in the fridge.” He takes Seren’s hand.
I nod. “I got him. Take your time, Brother. I'll call if I need you.”
They’re out like they were shot from a cannon and I hear the truck start up. Hade says, “I guess it’s still too soon for the bike.”
“Cort said maybe next week. He’s nervous she’ll be in pain and won’t tell him.”
He nods. “I haven’t heard her say anything about pain.”
“That’s why he’s in the truck. She doesn't say anything. What happened with Freedom?”
“She’s pissed I had an Enforcer at her side.”
Freedom is cool. She knew Cort would have Brothers on them. His wording hits me. Oh shit. “At her side?”
He rolls his eyes. “No more than three feet away and standing readied.”
“Why? She’s Freedom. Cort said a trainee would be okay.”
He stands up and walks to the window. I kiss Caelan’s head loving how he always smells so clean. “You saw the trainees. She almost killed one. Patcher said he’d be lucky to make it on a plane. They rented a van and drove home, Raid.”
I don’t get it. I think she should have killed him. It may have saved a shit load of women. “So.”
He spins pissed. “You ever been with a stone-cold killer? She doesn’t give a shit that she almost killed him.”
“You kill without giving a shit, she had a good reason. You saw the trainees pulling in a circle around Victory then Freedom. It wasn’t just the three, it was almost a full class. What was she supposed to do, let them overpower her and hope Mounty reached them? Mounty was pissed because of the loss of control, Brother. Mob mentality in a group of anything goes men isn’t pretty or predictable. They could have easily swept into keeping Mounty down too.”
He shakes his head no. I look at my watch. “It took him more than a minute to make it thirty feet, Hade. Mounty is fucking huge. One minute while Victory was being separated from Freedom and Mounty. One minute while she was being stonewalled by men not letting her move. One minute that she was fighting to get to the two trainees that were ordering the others to hold her. Mounty was yelling the whole fucking time. Security couldn’t get through and he was behind Mounty. What the fuck was she supposed to do? It took him longer than a minute, he said two. For that one fucking minute she was fighting for not only her life, but Victory’s too. I’ve been talking for one minute. She fought for longer than that and I think she should have killed the pussies. At least then, no other woman would have to fight for their lives ever again because of them. Those women won’t be trained like Freedom. You would have killed them.”
He looks shocked, then shakes his head. “I need to call her. Thanks, Raid.”
He walks out the back door and I smile at Caelan. He doesn’t comment, but I know he’d saygood jobjust like his dad does. I take him out to the porch and sit on a big chair. This one is comfortable too. I have one like it, but it’s a different material. “So, Caelan, when you think I’ll find a woman I can use all that good advice on?”
His eyes shine and I get a smile. “Are you laughing at me?”
I tell him about my day so he can laugh more. He doesn’t make a sound, but his face changes from the shining eyes like Seren’s, to Cort’s intense look like he understands what I’m saying. When I get to Rex’s and Ant Irma riding Cort about an invite for dinner, he closes his eyes. I keep talking but end up closing mine too.
The garage door has my eyes opening. Shit. I hold Caelan a little tighter and stand up. It’s pitch black, telling me I slept the whole time they were gone. Since Caelan is still sleeping, I guess he didn’t care.
We make the kitchen when they come in from the garage. “I bored him to sleep with a recount of my day.” I don’t mention I bored myself to sleep too.
Seren laughs. “Did he eat yet?”
