Patriot (Savaged Souls MC #4) - K.J. Dahlen Page 0,10

“What if my real family is worse than Randy ever thought of being? I mean something pissed him off enough to make him kidnap me. My parents must have... I mean, you would think they would have looked for me at some point right?”

“Babe, you’re an adult now, if you don’t want to be around them you don’t have to be.” Patriot shrugged. “You don’t even have to meet them if you don’t want to. And yeah, sweet girl, if you had been my baby I would have turned over every rock to find you. I can’t begin to imagine they didn’t at least try.”

Becky curled up into a ball. “But they never came for me. They never claimed me.”

“Annie said you guys moved around a lot when you were growing up. Maybe they couldn’t find you back then. Maybe they did not know who took you either.”

Becky seemed distracted by the whole thing. “Knowing the kind of man Randy was, whoever my parents were they must have been bad also. Maybe I don’t want to know who they really are. I was very happy with you and being here before all this came up. Would you think me a coward if I didn’t want to know who I was and where I came from?”

Patriot thought about her question for a moment then shook his head. “Aren’t you even a tiny bit curious about where you came from?”

“Not really.” She shrugged. “It won’t give me back or change my childhood. It won’t change the memories I have growing up. It won’t even change the last three months I endured with Blacky. I really believe things happen for a reason and we can either let our past define us, or it can make us stronger. I’ve had to fight everyday just to start all over the next day. But Annie always gave me the strength to begin again with every new dawn. She always told me that with the new day came a new adventure. That if we let the shadows get to us, we could never see the sunshine. I chose to look for the sunshine.”

“How did you ever survive the time with Blacky?” he wanted to know.

“I believed Annie was looking for me and I wouldn’t give into the shadows. I knew deep down in my heart that one day, she would find me and that all I had to do was hang on until she did.” Becky sighed hard. “Some days it was hard to hang on but I did it. I also lost myself for a while. I forgot who I was even.”

Patriot hugged her closer. “I, for one am glad you hung on. I love the person you are.”

Becky snorted. “Well, if I hadn’t, I knew Annie would find a way to find me in the afterlife and she’d drag me back come hell or high water. That girl is stubborn as all hell.” She chuckled.

Patriot threw his head back and laughed out loud. “I’m not sure which one of you is more stubborn. I think you’re neck and neck.”

“Yeah, well I had a great teacher.” As Becky looked around the room, she saw Annie and Harry bent over their computers.

Annie looked up from her laptop and glanced around the room for her sister. When she found both her and Patriot sitting in the corner talking, she had to smile. Looking over at Harry, she found him staring back at her.

“She’s going to make it you know,” he said softly. “You raised her right.”

Annie shrugged her shoulders. “I hope so. We were all each other had most of the time. Randy always came and went and my mom, well she was there but not there, do you know what I mean? Half the time she was stuck in her own little world where reality didn’t go.”

“Hell baby, that’s half the kids out there. Most of them have no clue what being a real family even is. It’s sad but true,” Harry commented. “The same thing could have happened in our family after my mom was lost but my old man wouldn’t let it happen. We also had grandpa and the MC around all the time. They kept us in line.”

Annie chuckled. “I imagine they did.”

Harry nodded. “We didn’t dare mess around with those guys. You mess up or back talk them and they let you know about it, the hard way.” He leaned back in his chair and stared at her. “What's going on with you?