“Mummy has missed you so much, too, baby,” she whispers, her voice laced with emotion.
“Imogen said we are allowed to come play today,” he yells, his voice animated from his excitement. I look across and see Mason still standing beside her, his hands firmly in his pocket.
“That’s right, baby,” Bella replies, placing him on her hip.
“Yes!” he shrieks. “Today is going to be the best day ever.”
Brandy looks bored. She leans down and whispers something in Mason’s ear, and he chuckles. I can see by her eyes that she’s filling his head with shit, and it gets my hackles up instantly. If there’s one thing that pisses me off, it’s adults playing games with kids’ emotions. It reminds me of my parents growing up, always bad-mouthing each other but never wanting to separate. They’re still together now, but I wouldn’t call it a happy marriage. Noah looks across at me, eyeballing me. I’ll give the boy props—he’s got more balls than most grown men we come up against. Brandy stands proud, the curl of her lip one side as she smirks, she winks at me when she finds me glaring at her. Then turns her back and sits at the end of the bar. Bella walksover to where Mason is left standing, sliding Noah back onto the floor.
“How are you, Mason?” she asks, resting her hand on his shoulder. He pulls away, grabbing his phone out his back pocket, completely ignoring her. I see the pain cross her face for the briefest moment before she smiles.
“Let’s go outside,” she chimes, that bravado back in place. Noah squeals and grabs his brother’s hand.
“Come on, Mason,” he says, leading him towards the exit. Mason rolls his eyes but follows his lead anyway. I come up behind Bella, resting my hand in the small of her back.
“Give it time,” I whisper and she offers me a weak smile before following closely behind them.
I sit on the veranda outside the clubhouse, watching from a distance. She needs time to connect with her boys, so I don’t want to interfere with them, but it’s hard to sit back and watch her painfully try to interact with Mason. He shuts her down at every opportunity with a roll of his eyes. Noah, on the other hand, has clearly missed his mum. He leads her round the courtyard, hand-in-hand, to look at all the motorcycles. He gives a cheeky smile every time she ruffles his hair or tickles him. She goes from being in her element, soaking in all his love, to looking forlorn every time she tries to gain any reaction from Mason. He’s spent the last couple of hours with his headphones in, staring down at his phone. Bella and Noah climb the stairs, and I smile warmly at them.
“How you doing, buddy?” I ask Noah as he takes a seat next to me on the bench. He looks up at me, smiling, swinging his legs as they don’t quite reach the floor.
“Good, mister, thank you.” I smile at him, and he cocks his head to the side, looking at my kutte. “What’s that?” he asks, pointing at the patch on my chest.
“That’s my patch. Do you like it?” I ask, and he nods.
“It’s way cool. Why do you have it?”
“It basically means that I’m part of a very exclusive club.” His eyes light up.
“Ooooh, we have a club at school. It’s a football club. Is your club like that?” he asks, inquisitive.
“Yeah, kind of. You see all those motorcycles?” I ask, pointing at where he had previously been standing with his mum. He nods. “Well, this special badge right here means we all like motorbikes and look after each other like a family.”
“Oooooh, Mummy?”
“Yes, baby,” she answers, kneeling in front of him.
“Are you now in the special club?”
“Yep. Clay here is Mummy’s special friend. He looks after her.”
“Clay,” he says, trying my name out, “thank you for looking after mummy.”
I go to speak, but Mason comes up behind her and interrupts.
“Yeah, right, more like Mum’s new husband.” He rolls his eyes, throwing himself down in the chair beside us before placing his headphones back in his ears. She sighs, standing and offering her hand to Noah.
“Shall we go get some ice cream?” she asks, and he takes her hand, pulling her towards the door.
“Mason?” she asks as she’s dragged away.
“Nah.” He eyeballs her in disgust as if she’s just scorned him.
He looks across at me as I shake my head in disapproval.
“What?” he snaps, removing his headphones from his ears.
“Listen, mate.” I lean forward, resting my hands on my knees.
