Colson (The Henchmen MC #20) - Jessica Gadziala Page 0,52

in my chest at the sight of him, knowing that my son had seen that, had known the abuse he had been enduring, and thought it was okay, turned his cheek, tried to even cover for the men responsible.

I hadn't gotten a lot of time to talk to Jacob. You know... rationally. When I wasn't a raving lunatic. Though, to be fair, I still whole-heartedly believed I had a right to be a crazy person about his involvement in such a fucked up situation.

But after the yelling and lecturing and crying—on both our parts, though I wouldn't rat him out about that to the men around him—Colson had come back to talk to me, Jacob had passed out watching his disgusting horror movie, and we hadn't gotten any alone time after that.

I felt my stomach twisting as the man—Reign—scanned the room, looking all his men in the eye, acknowledging them and their injuries in their efforts to get him back.

I couldn't imagine having a support system like that.My gaze slid to Colson, wondering if he was aware just how blessed he was to have them. He seemed to sense my gaze, turning to look at me, moving back a step to stand behind me, giving my hand a quick squeeze, mistaking my look for one of worry or fear.

"Hope you guys had a few for me last night," Reign said, getting some smiles. "Huck," he singled out the giant with the granite-like jaw. "I appreciate you coming up. I know you have your own shit going on," he said, offering his good hand to the man who took it, giving him a shrug like it was no big deal to drive all the way from Florida, leaving his whole life behind, to pitch in.

"We have a lot to go over. We are going to have an emergency church meeting, but I see someone I need to have a talk with," Reign said, his gaze falling on Jacob who was trying to blend in with the wall. "After that, I have some talking to do with our guest downstairs," he added, getting some grunts and curses from the gathered men. "Pagan, can I count on you to be my good arm?" he asked, gaze falling on a man who looked like a younger, and even more attractive, Robert De Niro.

"Fuck yeah," Pagan agreed, looking eager, cracking his scarred knuckles.

"You must be Eva," Reign said, stopping in front of me, and I was pretty sure there was kindness in his eyes like Colson claimed.

"Yes," I agreed, nodding.

"Jacob's mom."

"Yeah."

"I hope you weren't too hard on him. He's the only reason I managed to get away," he told me, knocking my breath out of my chest.

"What?" I hissed, shaking my head.

"Yeah. He might be a liar and a thief and have some real shitty friends, but he's not all bad. Has a conscience in there still. You can work with that," he told me, shrugging.

"I, ah, this is news to me," I admitted. "I already screamed at him," I added, wincing.

"Well, he deserved that at least," Reign agreed, smiling. "Come on, let's go talk," he said, jerking his chin at Jacob who seemed to shrink smaller and smaller as he made his way across the room to us. "You too," he said to Colson.

"Sit," I demanded as we walked into the kitchen, pulling out a chair for him.

To that, he chuckled, but lowered himself down.

"My wife would be happy to know I have some woman here demanding I take it easy."

"Well, you just got out of surgery. I can't imagine the hospital wanted you to leave. Do you want some coffee? A bottle of whiskey?"

"Coffee would be good," he agreed, tapping the table with three fingers. "Jacob, take a seat," he demanded.

"Go on. You gotta deal with the consequences," Colson said, nudging Jacob forward.

There was a tug inside me, wanting to grab my son, push him behind my back, protect him from even harsh words this man might want to throw at him.

But the bigger part of me understood that wasn't the right move, that my kid had to learn to face up to the consequences of his actions. He wasn't my little five-year-old with teary eyes anymore. He would be a man soon. He had to learn what that meant. And, in a strange way, I felt like these men could help show him that.

Besides, Reign was a hell of a lot calmer than I was about the whole situation, so I figured