After Us (Next Generation #6) - J.M. Walker Page 0,107
the room, not waiting for them to respond. Knowing they would follow, I went to the one source who I knew could find Jaron and bring him and our daughter home.
Before it was too late.
Jaron
When I was a boy, I spent most of my time going through the motions. I was searching for something, but I didn’t know what. It could have been anything really. A new hobby. A new class at school. Maybe even a new friend. I had grown up around the same people. Saw them day in and day out. We spent so much time together, we would fight for no apparent reason. It drove my mom crazy and my dad and the rest of the guys would only laugh and shrug it off. Boys will be boys, they always said.
Sammy and Cyrus were the brothers I never had. They were older than me and I looked up to them with so much damn respect, I always felt guilty that I had both of my parents when they had neither of theirs.
They never said anything about it, but I could sense the longing. Although my dad took them under his wing, as did the other guys in the club, it wasn’t the same. I knew that. They knew that, even though they would deny it if asked.
It wasn’t fair. They didn’t have their dad to teach them how to throw their first ball or give them tips for their first date. They didn’t have a father who would tell them to man up and stop being a pussy when it came to the women they secretly loved. I wasn’t sure if there was anyone in Cyrus’s life, but I knew there was someone in Sammy’s. He had become grumpier over the past few months. I found that I couldn’t wait to meet her, knowing that no other woman had ever caused him to react this way.
While the twins had my dad, Tray, Catch, and a few of the other guys within the club, I knew it wasn’t the same.
I had never been jealous of their closeness with my dad, knowing what they had been through as children. Luckily for me, I didn’t remember any of it as I was just a newborn when Butcher and Trixie died. But I could feel the pain. The walls of the clubhouse wept with silent cries as vacant memories of their deaths still resonated in the air.
Sammy never went upstairs or down the hall with the pictures on the walls. Maybe in time he would. Cyrus did and then he fell into a bottle shortly after. It had been the same routine for the past few years.
See the pictures.
Drink a bottle.
Or fuck. A lot.
I tried not to let the guilt consume me, but it was hard not to. Especially when I had my parents, and they didn’t. Although they never lacked in family, there had still been something missing.
Before I left the clubhouse, I made Cyrus and Sammy promise that they would look after Piper and that they wouldn’t follow me. I knew as soon as Piper found out I had left, she would want to come after me. I just prayed that the twins prevented that shit from happening. She was carrying our second baby. I didn’t need anything happening to either of them.
Now that I had a family of my own, I fucked up and took advantage of it. That had been what it felt like anyway.
Whenever Brynlee had looked at me, it was like I was the only one who mattered in her little world. If I had it my way, I would be the only man she would ever love, but I knew that it was unreasonable to think that way. When the time came, I would deal with it then but first, I had to find her. I had to bring her home to her mama.
I shouldn’t have left like I did but I needed to avenge our daughter. I would get her back and if I lost Piper in the process, at least Brynlee would be safe in her arms. I would hold my head proud as long as my girls were together.
If I made it out of this alive, I would be lucky. I would then have to deal with Piper’s wrath. My body buzzed at the mere idea of fucking each other because we were furious. It would happen. In time. And I couldn’t wait.