This might be the hardest battle we’ve fought together, though, so I need to dig really fucking deep to find the strength. I’m not willing to chance losing my husband because I wasn’t willing to talk about the hard stuff.
30
Winter
* * *
I lean back into my chair and rub my temples. A headache is forming. One I don’t have time for. There are too many balls in the air at the moment that I have to keep focussed on.
Axe hasn’t reported anything new on our rat; Scott hasn’t called with news on Zenith; Zane hasn’t dug up anything on Leif Jensen; and Striker hasn’t reported in on Eloise Carter. We’re nowhere closer to fixing all the shit we’ve got going on and my patience is reaching breaking point.
Fuck.
A text comes through.
* * *
Torres: The shipment has been delayed by a week.
* * *
Christ.
I shove my chair back and stand to go find King. This delay will cost us and he won’t be happy to hear the news.
I’m halfway down the hall when I hear Birdie’s voice. “Who let you in here?”
“I fucking let myself in. I’m looking for the big dudes with the beards.” Moses.
“Yeah, that doesn’t really narrow it down,” she says, and I hear the amusement in her voice. Amusement I don’t share. Not when someone talks to my wife with that kind of attitude.
I round the corner as he says, “Fuck, lady, just get me whoever’s in charge.”
Before Birdie can respond, I bark, “You talk to her that way again, you’re not gonna like the consequences.”
Both their eyes come to me. Birdie speaks first. “It’s okay, Winter—”
I lock eyes with Moses. “It’s not fucking okay, and he won’t do it again.”
Moses blazes with insolence. “I just wanna know why the fuck my aunt came home today and lost her shit when I told her you two dropped by yesterday. I don’t fucking like being the punching bag for her stress.”
King steps into the corridor. “She’s not your aunt.”
Moses swings around to face him. “The fuck?”
King moves closer. “What do you know about your parents?”
“I know my father killed my mother and that he disappeared after that. My aunt took me in.”
Compassion fills King’s eyes as he breaks the truth to Moses. “It’s true that your father killed your mother and then disappeared. But Eloise is not your aunt. She was a friend of your mother’s. She went missing the same time you did. We never knew what happened to you until now.”
Moses stares at King in silence. Finally, he says, “Why should I believe you?”
“Believe what you want,” King says, “but that’s the truth.”
“So my father was a member of Storm?”
“Yeah,” King says.
“And a murdering asshole?”
King doesn’t respond to that.
“So that’s a yes,” Moses says. “And my mother? What was she like?”
“I barely knew her,” King says. “She hung out with the guys. Liked bikes and a good time.”
“Great, so you’re as helpful as my aunt’s always fucking been. No one wants to tell me a thing about my parents.”
“How about King gives you their names?” Birdie suggests. “Then you’ll at least have them to go by if you want to search for more information.”
King’s gaze cuts to her briefly before he looks back at Moses. “Come with me; I’ll give you everything I know.”
Moses eyes Birdie as he takes a step to follow King into the clubhouse bar. “Sorry I was rude to you.”
Birdie gives him a smile. It might be the first smile I’ve seen on her in weeks. “All good. Sorry, what’s your name?”
“Maddox.”
With that, he’s gone. Birdie watches him until he disappears from sight and then glances back at me. “Hey.”
I run my eyes over her body, taking in the long flowy dress and make-up she’s wearing. Birdie usually lives in workout gear and doesn’t often wear this much make-up. She’s beautiful either way, but what I like about her today is the way she’s looking at me. It’s how she used to look at me before everything went to shit for us. “It’s been a long time since you just dropped in here, angel.” She comes by to help keep the clubhouse running, but I always know when she’s coming. This visit is a surprise. A welcome fucking one.
Her features soften and it’s like her eyes reach deep inside me. Like she’s trying to reach deeper inside me. “Yeah. Too long.”
My eyes roam her body again. “You got dressed up for me?”