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As I walked into the room and closed the door behind me, my brothers were already there waiting for me.
“How is she?” Blizzard asked genuinely.
I moved to take my seat at the table dropping like a heavyweight into the comfortable leather chair. “She’s fucking petrified,” I answered honestly, hanging my head. “She finally fell asleep, even though she fought it with every ounce of her being. Mentally and emotionally she is completely torn to shreds.”
I didn’t sugarcoat it.
I couldn’t if I tried.
Anyone of them could take one look at Meyah right now and see the pure fear in her eyes. It was unmistakable, and I so desperately wanted to take it away, but I couldn’t. She was the only one able to get past this, and the only thing we could do was show her we had her back as she fought these new demons.
“I thought you weren’t supposed to go to sleep after a concussion,” Leo challenged, looking worried.
“Myth,” Skins responded with a shake of his head from down the table. “If the person is able to hold a conversation and walk, amongst other things, then there’s no reason why they can’t go to sleep. It’s actually the best way for them to recover. Their brain has just had a major injury, and it needs rest. Meyah’s concussion’s only mild. She’s very aware of what’s going on around her.”
“Good, because I’m ready to hear what the fuck happened,” Leo snapped, leaning forward and placing his hands on the table. “Some asshole tried to slice her up. Who, and fucking why?”
Inhaling deeply through my nose, I sat a little taller, and all eyes turned to me.
“Meyah said it was the sheriff,” I announced. “Same motherfucker that pulled me over by the sound of her description.”
Wrench pulled out a file sliding it across the table to Optimus as he explained what he’d found. “Deacon said he showed up out of nowhere. Took over the Madison County Sheriff’s Office over in Huntsville with no real purpose.”
“Athens is in Limestone County, not Madison, so the boys over at the Limestone Sheriff’s Office sound like they’re getting a little testy that he doesn’t know his place and won’t stick to his jurisdiction,” Blizzard added.
The club had been here for fucking years. While we weren’t exactly best friends with the local law, they left us alone because they knew, for the most part, we weren’t hurting anyone.
“Nobody has any idea why he just showed up in the blink of an eye and took over.”
“So tell me, what’s the connection here?” Leo asked, sitting back and taking in this information.
“Romeo,” I replied, gritting my teeth. “Romeo’s the connection.”
Everyone looked at me like I’d grown two heads.
This wasn’t what we were expecting.
Shoot first, we were used to.
But if we pushed this guy, he was going to arrest first and ask questions later. And then, we’d all be fucking screwed. We can’t protect our family from behind the bars of a prison cell.
“Of course, this is the motherfucker with a boner for your little brother,” Optimus all but groaned, rolling his eyes to the ceiling. “Levi!”
It was a brief second before the church doors opened, and Levi stuck his head in.
“Get Romeo in here,” Op ordered, the prospect not waiting a second before he was gone again.
“This is something that would’ve been good to know before we started this,” Leo commented, drawing my attention. “I ain’t saying that we all still wouldn’t have agreed to help. Family is family. But given I'm responsible for the safety of the club, we could have addressed the situation a little differently.”
I took the criticism with a nod.
He was right. I should have taken the time to learn more about what exactly Romeo was running from before we started this whole mess. Going in blind was never a good idea, but things had moved so fast, and I’d been blindsided. I had my family back together and fuck the world if they tried to bring me down. What I hadn’t considered was what my other family was stepping into. What they were taking on their shoulders so I could have what I wanted.
Blood or no blood, the lines were so blurred now that it didn’t matter to me whether we were related or not. My brothers were my brothers, and I needed to get my head in the fucking game if I was going to keep every single one of them safe.
It wasn’t long before the door opened again, and Romeo slipped inside. Op nodded for him to take the open chair at the end of the table. I could see the trepidation in his eyes. He felt like he was being cornered. Too many years of being treated like shit. Too many times being jumped in the jailhouse. He’d been burned, and at any point, he felt like he needed to be ready to fight his way out. Even though these men who’d stuck their asses out on the line to save him, he’d do what it took. And where that should make me proud of how strong he was, it actually twisted my gut knowing he was so practiced in that way of thinking where it almost just became natural.
“Chill, Rome,” I ordered. Nodding to the way he was unconsciously clicking his knuckles like he was preparing for a fight. “Will you just calm down?”
