Chapter Twenty-Two

Banks

After a quick nap, Laurel jumped into the shower and I headed downstairs to find everyone wearing headphones, glaring daggers at me. Cautiously, I walked over to the bar, only to have King haul off and punch me in the face.

Again.

“What the fuck, dude?” I groaned, rubbing my chin.

“Laurel’s got a house, right?”

“Yeah,” I replied, not knowing where he was going with this line of questioning.

“Good. You are moving in with her tonight!”

“Huh?” I frowned, then asked, “Why?”

Grabbing me by my cut, my Prez sneered. “Because your woman’s voice carries!”

Gulping, I looked around at my family and blushed. “Well, you told me to stay between her legs. So, I did.”

Growling, King took a step toward me.

Jumping back, I held up my hands. “Okay! Got it. No more hot monkey sex in the clubhouse with Laurel. Can I use one of the cabins instead?”

I darted away, laughing, when King tried to reach for me just as Laurel walked down the stairs. Looking at King, I glared, shaking my head. I didn’t need to tell him what I was saying. The fucker already knew and if he knew what was good for him, he’d better keep his damn mouth shut.

Looking around the gathering room, Laurel asked, “Where are the boys?”

“Far enough away so they didn’t hear you screaming,” Bailey snarked while she glared at me. “I’m all for a good fucking, Banks, but sweet baby Jesus, I damn near called in the Cavalry. Thought for sure you were splitting her in half!”

“OH. MY. GOD!”

“We know!” everyone shouted at the same time as Laurel covered her face in embarrassment.

Walking over to her, I wrapped my arm around her.

“They’re just jealous, baby. Not a single one of these fuckers knows how to make a woman scream to the heavens like I can.”

The second those words left my mouth, I knew I was in trouble, because Laurel turned toward me, placed her hands on her hips and sneered, “And just how many women have you made scream to the heavens?”

Gulping, I looked at my brothers, who were all now smiling happily at my imminent demise.

Yeah. I never said I was smart.

“Go ahead, Banks.” King grinned. “Answer her. I dare you.”

“He ain’t got the balls,” Scribe snarked.

“No.” Priest smirked. “He’s just stupid enough to answer her.”

“One hundred bucks on the fucker chickening out,” Gunner stated.

“I’m waiting, Nikoli?” Laurel snipped, getting my attention.

“Only you, baby!” I squeaked, my voice pitching higher than when I hit puberty. “I swear! Why would I want anyone else when I’ve been to the promise land?”

“Nice save, asshole,” my woman growled as she walked off, heading toward the kitchen.

Sighing, I glared at my brothers.

“You fuckers. What happened to brotherhood and all that jazz?”

“You fucking interrupted my nap,” King snarked. “Be happy you’re breathing. I’m serious, Banks. You and Laurel can take your crazy sex somewhere else. In fact, new fucking rule. Listen up, assholes. If you have a fucking house, move in immediately. There are too many fucking kids in this place at any given time.”

“What about the single brothers?” Gunner asked.

“Who? George barely sleeps here. Hawk prefers to do his business elsewhere, and Trip is still in a fucking coma. If and when that fucker ever wakes up, he can find someplace else to get his rocks off. This clubhouse is now kid-friendly until further notice.”

“Laurel,” I said, getting her attention.

After dinner, she stepped outside for some fresh air.

I didn’t blame her.

I knew what was coming next. I hated keeping this from her, but I promised Nash.

“I know Nash told you his secret. I’m not stupid and it doesn’t take a genius to know that he asked you not to tell me. I know my son. He’s never gone from being an asshole to sweet as pie in a day before. Nash likes to sulk, milk it for everything he’s got. So, seeing him happy earlier today, I fucking knew. Just answer me this. How bad is it?”

Walking over to my woman, I kneeled before her, rubbing my hands over her thighs. “It’s not good, but not as bad as you are thinking. Nash asked to tell you himself, baby. He just didn’t want to do it with little ears around. He feels terrible for keeping this from you and he had his reasons for doing so. All I ask is that you listen to him before you go all momma bear, okay? King has called for church, and Nash is waiting for you.”

“So, everyone knows but me?”

“No, baby.” I shook my head. “Only me, King, Gunner, Pyro, Scribe, Frank, Priest and Lidi know. Everyone else is in the dark.”

“Claudia knows?”

I nodded. “Yeah, she knows because we asked her to check Nash out.”

“He’s hurt?”

“No, baby, he’s not hurt, but someone did hurt him.”

Covering her face, Laurel cried as I wrapped my arms around her, trying to console her. I knew it had to be hard for her to hear. All she ever wanted was to protect her boys. I couldn’t imagine the pain and anger she was feeling right now. I had most of the day to come to grips with everything and I was still barely holding my shit together. But for Laurel, it had to be ten times worse. She was Nash’s mother. The one person in his life that cared for him, loved him, swore to protect him at all costs. I knew she was feeling like a failure and there was nothing I could do to stop that, but I could promise her one thing.

“Baby, listen to me,” I said, cupping her face. “Whatever Nash tells you, I want you to know that my brothers and I will do everything in our power to see that this never happens again. Nash did nothing wrong, babe. Not one damn thing. I swear to you. You raised a strong, resilient young man and I, for one, am proud of Nash. He is the young man he is today because of you. You are an amazing mother, and I love you, Laurel.”

“That doesn’t amount to a hill of beans.” She smirked. “Unless you put a ring on my finger.”

I chuckled. “I’ll see what I can do about that.”

“And fast. Momma wasn’t messin’ around the other day. We put the cart before the horse again and there will be hell to pay.”

“Heard that, did ya?”

“Her voice carries.” She smiled. “Apparently mine does too.”

“I like your voice.” I smirked, then sobered seeing the time. “You ready to do this?”

I had to give it to her. Laurel sat there and said nothing while Nash told his story. Even when King and Scribe jumped in with more information, Laurel didn’t move an inch. She just sat there, nodding while she took deep breaths. When everyone finished, all eyes were on Laurel.

No one moved.

No one dared breathe.

“Mom?” Nash spoke first as he looked at me, then back to his mother and that’s when Laurel moved.

I’ve been terrified twice in my life. Once when I was eighteen and walked away from WITSEC. The second time was when Cameron bolted to West Virginia. However, all that paled in comparison to what I was seeing now, because I’ve heard horror stories of Southern women when it came to the protection of their children.

It wasn’t pretty.

In fact, it was gruesome.

You see, Southern women didn’t play when it came to kids. Anyone’s kids for that matter. A Southern woman wouldn’t think twice before killing a motherfucker. She would bury the body without breaking a nail, then help lead the search party for his dead ass, all the while praying for his soul.

No.

Southern women were a different breed of women.

“Nash,” Laurel calmly said. “Leave.”

My son bolted from the room like his ass was on fire.

He didn’t even think.

He just ran.

“Now, Laurel—” King cautiously spoke, only to shut his mouth immediately when Laurel held up her hand, halting him.

Getting to her feet, she straightened her shirt, took another deep breath and let it rip.

“I’m going to look past the fact that you idiots kept this from me, because I know you care about my son and only wanted to help. That I can forgive. But that motherfucker Williams.”

“Baby, we’re working on it.”

Her head snapped to mine, and I gulped. I would swear to my last dying days I saw the fear of God shining through her eyes.

“Shutting up now.”

“I don’t know how you fancy boys from Virginia do things and I don’t want to know, but I’m from Alabama and we have a whole different set of rules we play by. Now, I’m going to be as crystal clear as possible. Either you read that son of a bitch from the good book or he’s gonna be the main event at a pig roast!”

With that, my woman marched her pretty ass out of church with her head held high, slamming that door behind her.

“Uh,” Gunner asked when the coast was clear. “Can someone explain to me what she just said?”

Sighing, I looked at my brothers. “We have twenty-four hours before the South rises again.”