Page 9 of Bender

See? Konrad doesn’t care if I cuss. He cusses. You even do. Don’t be a hypocrite!

Me

Ace…

Jax

Gonna need more info before I send MY woman anywhere with your tighty-whities, asshole.

Me

This is ridiculous. You bastards are a pain in my ass.

Me

Shit on the mission went sideways. Now, I’m bringing home my own woman. And my boy. So bring me some damn clothes and don’t all of you fucks show up and scare them!

I shove my phone back into my pocket and ignore the constant vibrating of their incoming messages. We’ll be there in ten minutes, and I’ll deal with their shit then.

“What happens next?” Blu’s voice is soft and husky, but I’ve heard her brat enough to know how deceptive that sweetness can be. The girl’s got grit. Far more than the boy does. He may try his best to protect her, but she’s the fighter of the two.

“What do you mean?” I know damn well what she’s asking, but I need to buy some time to figure out how comfortable she’ll be with me. How ready she is for what I’m planning.

Because my plans are set in stone, whether she’s ready to hear all of them or not. It’s pretty simple, truthfully. Get them home. Clothed. Fed. Claimed.

Obviously, the last part’s gotta wait. Maybe, for a real long time. But we’ll get there. I have enough certainty in that for all of us. Over the last few hours, I drove while the two of them slept curled up like kittens with their heads in my lap. The feeling they belong with me grew and grew. Now, I’m as certain of it as I am of anything in this life.

Blu and Grey are mine. To protect. To heal. To cherish. The rest of the family will just have to move over and make room, because these two aren’t going anywhere. Even without a formal claiming, they’re mine. And what I claim, I keep.

“What do you mean what do I mean?” Ah, there’s she is. The little brat from before peeks out when she throws my question back at me.

“I mean, what do you think should happen next? Did you have a plan for what you wanted to do when you escaped Huber’s House of Horrors?” I hate bringing up the place, but I can’t help but want to know everything about the two of them. That means I need to hold my temper in check if and when they’re willing to confide in me about their time with that sick fuck.

She and the boy exchange a long look, deciding how much to tell me I assume. I don’t mean to push, but not knowing is hard. I’m worried I could unintentionally scare them or hurt their feelings by walking into bad memories in the future.

“We tried once,” he says.

I wait.

“It didn’t go well,” she adds.

I wait some more.

“We didn’t try again,” she finally says. And maybe, one day, she’ll expand on what they experienced. Allow me to help them work through the trauma. This insight is enough for today. It tells me no one helped them.

“Is there anyone looking for you?” Giving up either of them would be damn difficult, but if they’ve got family out there searching for them, decency demands I help.

“My ma’s not the type to go looking, especially if it meant calling the cops. I mean, she wasn’t terrible. Just, sorta, not really there.” Weariness taints Blu’s explanation and I resolve to look into the details someday in the future.

“Blu’s all I got, sir.” Grey speaks so quietly I almost miss it.

“We go together or not all. I promise, Grey.” Her statement is as much directed to me as to him.

“Nobody’s going anywhere, Jellybean. I may not be a superhero, but I’ll tell ya, I’m something even better.” Trying to shift the mood in the truck, I give her a wink.

She plays along. “What’s better than a superhero?”

“A motorcycle club VP is, Little Girl. And it just so happens, you just got found by the very best one of those in the universe.” I raise my arm in the air and flex my muscles, showing off playfully, and the pair fall into a fit of giggles.

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