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Liam cocks his head and the next thing I know, he’s calling someone and Smoke’s voice comes through the line. My body tenses and Liam starts rubbing his thumb across my thigh.
“Timber.”
“Got you on speaker with Mae. Was filling her in on things when she brought something up. Can you look into a Michael Sawyer? The man you know as Bruce was introduced to Mae as Michael.”
Seconds later, I can hear him clicking on a keyboard.
“Just so we know, what can you tell us about the man you know as Michael? Everything you can remember. I’m guessing Timber told you that the assholes are in the wind. What you know might help us in tracking them down.”
I lick my lips nervously. “Well, uh, are you sure you want to knoweverything? It’s uh,” I pause as I clear my throat. “It’s not pretty, and it’s kind of a long story.”
Liam’s body tenses under me and a strangled noise comes over the phone from Smoke. While it seems like he’s definitely calmed down a small ray of hope blooms in my chest that this might be a step towards him accepting that I am his daughter. However, I refuse to call him my dad until he apologizes and starts showing that he really is sorry.
“With those assholes in the wind, we need any advantage we can get. Just, uh, don’t freak out if you hear me putting my fist through a wall.”
A tremble runs through me, and Liam gives my thigh a squeeze as he keeps rubbing his thumb over my jeans.
“If that happens, I’ll patch it up when we’re back in town. Go ahead, Sunshine.”
Nodding, I take a deep breath, hoping that what I say won’t change things.
Mae’s body is so fucking tense that I wish I could hold her in both my arms, but I need to make sure Smoke can hear her. Her voice has barely been above a whisper the entire phone call.
She opens her mouth to speak, but a knock at the door interrupts us.
“Hang on a minute, Smoke. Someone’s at the door.”
He grunts, and I pat Sunshine’s thigh. She slips off my lap and I get up, walking to the front door. I bite back a groan when I see Odin and Punisher through the window. Then again, if Mae’s going to go down memory lane, it would be helpful having them listen in on it so that someone in the Junction Creek club knows what’s going on. Not to mention having their support as well.
Opening the door, I step aside so they can come in. My gaze snags on the black backpack Punisher’s carrying. Crap, I forgot to grab that from Python earlier.
Both men give Mae a hug, but I don’t miss their concerned looks over the top of her head when they realize how tense she is.
“You okay, Lil’ Bit?” Punisher asks.
She shakes her head. “Not really. Timber filled me in on a few things and we were just updating Smoke about some things. Just so you know, he’s still on the phone.” She pauses as she gestures to my phone in my hand. “You’re welcome to stay. Since you’re now family, you have a right to know as well.”
She fidgets with the hem of her shirt as she shuffles on her feet. It’s then that the full reality of how starved she’s been for a family sinks in. I mean, I know she’s told us before, but seeing her so unsure of how Punisher and Odin will accept her strikes me down to my core. And by ‘accept her’, I mean accepting everything about her, including her past. Fucking hell. Smoke’s done more damage to her than he realizes.
Odin pulls her in for another hug and kisses the top of her head. She melts in his arms, and I bet that if Smoke were seeing this, he’d really be kicking his own ass even harder than he already is.
“Of course we’ll stay, Lil’ Bit, but first, we got something for you. Smoke, how about we call you back in a minute? Stay by your computer.”
“You got it.”And then he’s gone.
Punisher hands me the backpack and I turn to Mae. “Let me set this up and I’ll explain your surprise.”
She looks between the three of us, puzzled, but eventually she nods.
Walking past her, I unzip the bag and pull out the laptop. Looking over my shoulder, I grin when I notice the guys have her turned as they’re talking to her, so she’s not looking into the living room. Quickly I set it up, and since I don’t know how charged it is or how long we’ll talk, I plug it in for good measure. Clicking on the secure program Smoke developed for us, I ring him and make sure everything’s good to go.
Miming him to stay quiet, since this is his surprise, I turn toward the others and clear my throat.
Mae turns around and her hands fly up to her face, covering her mouth in shock. Grinning, I walk over to her and hold out the backpack.
“I meant to give you this earlier, but it slipped my mind with everything that was going on. Smoke asked Python to get this laptop for you all set up. There’s another surprise in here from Levi,” I say as I pass her the backpack.
Hesitantly, she takes the bag and turns toward the laptop as the others sit down. Though I notice they make sure they’re in range of the camera. Smoke chuckles at her shocked and confused expression.
