Page 7 of Reign
“I do. Thank you Maddog” I give him my best smile and it seems to relax him a little.
“Have you checked in at home at all?”
“No. I’ve not even switched my phone on. I needed a minute to myself”
“That I can understand. I am sorry to be the one that bursts the bubble. Girly,you need to contact home.” I can see his body tense up again, causing me to panic a little.
“Something wrong?” I ask as I reach for my phone sitting on the bedside table.
“Girly, your brother, and his chapter have been trying to reach you. Your daddy is in the hospital”
I freeze, phone midway to me. Fear once again coats me; this time is a different type of fear. A gut-wrenching, bone-deep fear.
“My daddy is where?” I ask in a whisper
“Call your brother. I will sort you out a flight as quickly as possible.” He pats my hand like I'm a scared animal, which at this moment I probably look like one, and leaves me to call my brother.
With shaking hands, I switch my phone and the minute it powers up, the thing starts going crazy. Notification after notification comes through. Missed calls from my brother, Debs, Mischief and even Reign. Text messages from them and Sam also come through. Trust Sam to text, he hates calling people and talking on the phone. Once they finish coming through, I take a deep breath and call my brother.
“Raven” he shouts down the phone
“Jonas” I can hear the stress and panic in his voice
“Fuck you had me scared Raven.”
“I am so sorry.”
“I know, I’ve got you now. Raven, you need to come home, as quickly as possible.”
“Jonas, what is going on?”
“I really didn’t want to tell you over the phone but Raven, Dad had a stroke”
The minute the words leave his mouth my world crumbles. A sob escapes before I can stop it. I can hear Jonas calling my name but I can’t answer him. I feel a hand on my back as another takes the phone from my grasp. I can hear more talking but I am too far gone to take in what is being said. Manic is now in front of me, pulling me once again into his arms.
“Maddog got you on a last-minute flight back to Memphis in a few hours. You still have time to make it to say goodbye Raven. Hold onto that while you get there.” he tells me
I take his words in. I need to be strong now. Taking some deep breaths, I compose myself and start to make plans. This will help me stay strong if I have things to keep me busy.
“Come on, let's get you sorted and I will drive you to their airport. Tyres said he would have someone meet you at the other end to drive you straight to the hospital.”
Nodding, I head to the bathroom and wash my face, trying to reduce my now puffy eyes from crying. Giving up the job as it's not working, I dry my face and rummage through my bag for makeup. Finding my foundation, I apply it as expertly as possible to cover the bruising. Not my first-time hiding bruising from the men in my life.
As a bounty hunter, you tend to get knocked about a little so after the first few times of coming home with bruises, my dad and Jonas losing their shit, I learnt to hide them. I check myself in the mirror and don’t think I have done too bad of a job. Gathering the rest of my things, I pack my bag and dress for the flight.
My mind is running at a million miles a second. I cannot focus on what I am going home to. I need to focus on just getting home and seeing my dad. My dad is everything to me. We have such a close bond. I really am a daddy's girl for sure. After Mom died, Dad and Jonas are all I have left.
The club stepped up more when Mom died, helping us all through the tough period of losing the heart of our family. I know my mom meant a lot to the club too. A few of the brothers either no longer have moms or had shitty moms growing up. My mom kind of adopted them as her own. Mothering them when they needed it the most.
It is the same with dad. He took on the role of older male influence for them. Being the guide when they needed it the most and also teaching them what their own fathers should have taught them about being upstanding men, how to treat women, care for them, and protect them.
Reign being the one who soaked that up like a sponge. Reign and my dad are close too. Which made it more difficult when I developed a teenage crush on him. He never shared the same feelings back. We were friends and I was okay with that. I knew what I wanted to do in life, college and then bounty hunter was the end goal.
In my heart, I knew I need to grow up and have those life experiences before I could settle down, and build a life with someone.
Manic pops his head around the bedroom door, asking if I'm ready to go. With a deep breath, a grab my bags and head out. As we walk through the common room all the brothers give me a hug and tell me I got this. I feel the strength they are trying to give me, seeping into my soul, and building me up.
It doesn’t take long to get to the airport and get checked in for my flight. I hate waiting around with nothing to do but thankfully it doesn’t take too long and I am boarding the three and a bit hours flight home. I use the time in the air to center myself and get control of my emotions.
