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Winnie kept an eye on the monitors, thinking about Christmas. She couldn’t wait for everyone to open presents. She adored Christmas—the music, the presents, making cookies and candies, and being around her family.
It was going to be a busy week. She offered to help at the diner store to give them some extra hands. The store was exceeding expectations but Bear didn’t want to hire anyone outside the MC until they saw sales after Christmas. Of course, if helping at the store gave her a little extra time seeing her man, she’d take it.
Just thinking about him had her smiling. If it took her years, she was going to show Bear how phenomenal he was. Her grumpy guy was going to get the amazing life he deserved if she had anything to say about it.
Chapter Eighteen
If Winnie brushed againsthim one more time, he didn’t care if the whole world found out about them. Her hand sliding across the front of his jeans brushing his cock had him hard in front of all his brothers. He’d been giving her time and he understood why she wanted to keep it secret but he wanted what War had. He wanted to scream at the top of his lungs she was his. Winnie was softening and he wondered if she’d be open to coming clean to the MC after the new year. He wanted to share what they had with the family. He wanted everyone patting his back, letting him know they had his and Winnie’s backs.
He'd congratulated the couple and pushed War a little into protecting his territory. He’d collected his money from the originals. His dad and the others were positive they knew War better than he did. He’d known he could win the bet. He slid the money in his pocket and glanced around for Winnie. He wanted to see if he and Winnie could sneak off by themselves.
“Prez, there’s a sheriff’s car and another car requesting entrance to the clubhouse. They said they need to speak to a Benton Carter.”
Bear wondered why a sheriff would be needing him. Although he skirted things now that he wasn’t a detective, he hadn’t done anything to warrant a chat with the sheriff.
“Let them in. Take the kids to a back bedroom. Any idea what this is about?” War asked.
Bear shook his head, waiting for them to walk in. He had no clue what was going on. The deputy held the door as a woman carrying a baby carrier and holding the hand of small child walked in, followed by another older child. He recognized the dark curls around the cute face he hadn’t seen for a while.
“Benton Carter?” the woman questioned. Phoebe saw him and ran toward him, throwing her arms around him.
“Officer Bear, Mommy’s gone to Heaven,” her words choked off as she started sobbing.
Bear lifted her up, letting her wrap her arms around him. He’d worried about the kids when he’d left the department but he couldn’t figure out a way to fix it. He’d even offered Cassidy the option of moving to the MC.
He thought back if he could have done anything different. He and War had met Cassidy when they’d picked her up for soliciting. At first he’d lumped her in with his incubator—a horrible mom. But when he really listened, she’d been a victim of circumstance and had just wanted to feed her kids and make sure they had a place to stay.
He’d been single and very frugal his whole life. He hadn’t hesitated picking up groceries and going back over to drop them off. She’d only had two children when he’d gotten to know her. After he’d done some investigating to make sure she wasn’t an addict, he’d given her money to pay her rent for a month. He’d also made sure she had his number if she needed anything.
Over the months, he’d fixed a couple things that had broken at her house and given her money for some incidentals. The last time he’d seen her, he’d opened an account for her with nine thousand dollars in it and he’d paid her rent for a year. When she wasn’t interested in coming to the MC, he’d known he had done all he could.
He’d even touched base with her before Thanksgiving and asked if she was okay. He’d also asked if she needed more money. She’d indicated she’d met someone and was pregnant with his baby and due in December. Now he had more questions than answers but none of that mattered. What mattered was how was he going to take care of these kids?
Phoebe’s arms were wrapped around his neck and her tears were soaking his shirt. He patted her back.
“Yes, I’m Benton.”
