CHAPTER TEN

REBEL

The Next Day

The cab pulls into the driveway of the apartments across from the Brothers by Blood MC clubhouse, and I notice Shotgun and Avery waiting for us. No one else from the clubhouse is there, though, and I have to admit, I’m happy about that.

I didn’t want a big fanfare and everyone asking questions, though I know Shotgun is going to be straight on me like a bull at a gate.

The car stops, and Shotgun yanks open the back door.

Kenna leaps out into his arms. “Pops,” she coos, and he chuckles, cuddling into her.

“Hey, my favorite girl, did you enjoy your plane ride?” Shotgun asks while I smile at him, unbuckling Kinzley from her booster seat.

“The plane was big, but Mama let me watch the cartoons on the screen. It was fun.”

Shotgun chuckles when I grab Kinz, and we edge out of the cab, Phantom grabbing our luggage from the trunk. “And look, there’s my other favorite girl. She’s getting so big, Thay. What are you feeding these girls?”

I snort out a laugh. “You calling my toddler fat, Old Man?”

He smirks. “Healthy and looked after is what I’m calling them. You look…” He pauses, handing Kenna over to Avery.

“Vee, I missed you! I didn’t want to say goodbye to Daddy, though. I don’t know why he couldn’t come with us?” Kenna says to Avery, and she weakly smiles, pulling some hair behind Kenna’s little ear.

“Sometimes, firefly, we just need a little break to have some girl time, and that’s what we’re gonna have. You, your sister, your mama, and me. How’s that sound?”

Kenna lights up like a Christmas tree as she bounces on Avery’s hip. “Can we have snacks?” Kenna beams.

I snort out a laugh. “Easy, girl, anyone would think I don’t feed you.”

“I’m a growing girl, Mama!”

Avery glances at Shotgun. “C’mon, let’s get you inside while Pops and Mama have a little chat. Phantom, you okay to take Kinz?”

He walks over to me and takes hold of a sleepy Kinzley.

“She needs a nap. So if you can put her down for a sleep, that would be great if you have somewhere for her?” I ask Avery.

Avery smiles. “We have everything, Thayleah. You’re welcome to stay as long as you need.”

My chest squeezes, my eyes watering when I nod at her. “Thank you.”

She turns, taking Phantom and my two girls inside the apartment with her, leaving me to face Shotgun on my own .

Not the part I am looking forward to.

He folds his arms under his chest and lets out a loud exhale. “So, on a scale of bleeding to dead, how bad do I have to hurt him?”

I let out a small laugh, stepping forward and wrapping my arms around him. He’s not my father, but I like to imagine he is. And let’s be honest, he’s been the best kind of father figure I could have ever asked for. He’s stiff for a moment in the embrace, but then he relaxes and slides his arms around me.

I didn’t realize how much I missed his macho ass until now.

“I love you… you know that?” I murmur against his ear.

He furrows his brows. “Thayleah, talk. You don’t just pick up your whole life when you’re eight months pregnant and come back home this close to Christmas. What the hell happened?”

Pulling back, I swallow a lump in my throat. “The club was getting some shipments of Snow White ready at the clubhouse. Somehow, the girls heard the guys talking about Snow White, and Kenna got excited, thinking it was the Disney princess. So naturally, she went looking for her in the shipping containers.”

“Jesus fucking Christ!”

Rolling my eyes, I nod. “She took Kinz and somehow ended up in one of the shipping containers. No one noticed, and they were trapped inside and were shipped off to New Orleans on a cargo train by themselves in the dark, in the cold…” My eyes begin to widen as I think of what they went through. “It was just lucky the men on the other end chose that container to open and check before they put it onto the ships on the Mississippi, or God knows where they would be right now.”

Shotgun growls under his breath. “Why the fuck weren’t they being watched?”

Rolling my shoulders, my stomach churns. “That is another sore point.” I exhale, shaking my head. “We’ve had this new girl, Amber. She’s been subtly hitting on Six. He doesn’t see it, or he does, but he’s doing nothing about it.”

Shotgun’s eyes turn dark.

“Anyway, she’s been watching the kids for us. Seems she has a background in childcare, but I just don’t trust her as far as I can throw her. Get this… the kids go missing to New Orleans, and she suddenly has a family emergency in New Orleans and happens to be there when the kids are found, so we have to use her to pick the kids up and bring them back to us. That’s not a coincidence, right?”

“She still at the club?” Shotgun rubs at his beard, furrowing his brows.

“As far as I know.”

Shotgun shakes his head. “So this suspicious woman is still at the club, and he let you walk out with his family but kept her there?”

When you put it like that.

“Is he fucking her?” he asks, point blank.

Shaking my head, I swallow hard. “I don’t think so.”

“You don’t think so?”

Shrugging, I sigh. “I mean, I can’t be sure what he’s doing every second of the day, but—”

“I’m gonna fucking kill him. All these years, I have just needed an excuse, just one. Now I have it—”

I place my hand on his chest and look him in the eyes. “I’m angry, too, trust me. So fucking angry that this happened. It’s why I had to get away for a bit. But I don’t think he’s cheating on me. He asked me to set a date for the wedding.”

Shotgun tenses, then lets out a long exhale. “You don’t seem happy about that?”

“Because I said no. He asked me in a panic when I was leaving. He didn’t mean it, but he did have an engagement ring, which means he has been thinking about it.”

Shotgun moves in, wrapping his arm around my shoulders, and starts walking with me toward his apartment. “Well… you know we’ve got you. You wanna talk or not talk about Six, you got it. You need me to put a hit out on him, you got it. You want this Amber chick taken care of, you got it—”

“You in a killing mood today, Shotgun?” I chuckle, finally managing a smile for the first time in what feels like days.

“You know how I feel about people fucking with my family.”

Smiling again, I rest my head on his shoulder. “Did I tell you I love you?”

He snorts. “Yeah, you did. Love you too. Now, let’s get you settled and resting. Can’t have that baby in there unhappy.”

“Shotgun?”

“Yeah, Thay?”

Hesitating, I let out a long breath. “Can we stay for Christmas?”

He pulls me to him tighter. “Christmas, New Year, hell… stay for fucking ever.”

Slumping my shoulders, I grimace. “Koda will be mad.”

“Fuck Koda,” he grumbles, clearly not happy with my Old Man.

When he leads me toward the door, I frown. As I get closer, I hear Gage, my nephew and Shotgun and Avery’s son, playing along to some music inside the apartment with Kenna.

This will be good for us.

Some time to clear the air.

Everything will work itself out…

… I hope.