Page 58 of Walker

“When you figure it out, or hear from Trouble, come get me. That’s my woman’s best friend out there with him and she was doing a solid for the club by following that bat shit crazy bitch into the fucking forest service roads and letting us know. We need to bring her home safe and fucking sound.”

“Trying to, brother. Get some rest. I’ll send for you if anything major happens.”

I curled up behind Reesa who had Diesel tucked up to her front. Apparently, the kid had woken up at some point and she soothed him back to sleep. Fuck, but I didn’t envy Spike.

“Everything okay? Any updates?” Ree asked sleepily as I pushed in closer to her.

“Nothing new. Quickshot will send someone for me if things change.”

“Get some rest, honey. Tomorrow is going to be awful, no matter what.”

If she only knew the whole truth of that. I wondered what she would think if she knew that two of her former bosses were downstairs in what amounted to soundproofed prison cells. Then again, if the women of S.H.E. were responsible for bringing the mafia to town – the men who threatened her life and caused the chain reaction of events that took Tash’s life – I don’t think she’d give them the courtesy of taking them bread and water.

How did shit get so fucked up, so fucking quickly? That was the last conscious thought I had before sleep took me down.

“Mom,” someone whispered as the bed shook a little bit. “Mom!” The voice was louder than time. I peeked an eye open to find Josh Jr. poking at his mother’s shoulder. He leaned carefully over Diesel, so he didn’t wake him up. “Momma, I’m hungry.”

“Come on little man, let your mom sleep. She had a long day yesterday.” I got up out of bed and tossed a t-shirt on over my bare chest. I slept in jogging pants considering we had two teenagers and two preschoolers bunking in with us.

“Can I come too?” Ariel asked in a quiet voice. I turned to see that she had been watching her brother try to wake their mom.

“You let that happen?”

She shrugged. “I’m hungry too. I wasn’t able to eat much yesterday.”

“Come on, better wake your pillow too.” Under any other circumstances, I’d be pissed that my 15-year-old, soon-to-be stepdaughter was sleeping with her head on a 16-year-old boy’s chest. These just weren’t normal circumstances, and they were both fully clothed. “You know that shit won’t fly any other time, right?”

“I know.” Ariel blushed from the roots of the dirty blonde hair she had inherited from her mother right down to her damn toes.

“Everyone should be on their best behavior out there this morning, but if I tell you to shut your damn eyes, you do it without question, you got me?”

“Ew, what do you guys get up to here?”

“You don’t want to know,” Griffon told her as he patted her shoulder. “Hop up, Ariel. Need to get to the bathroom. The sweet little girl routine ended then and there as she jumped up and rushed off to the ensuite bathroom. “Me first. Boys dribble all over the seat.”

“I’m not a fucking preschooler.” Griff called out before he grumbled and left the room to go use one of the community bathrooms.

The door opened a minute later, and Griff popped his head inside. “Walker, man, you might want to get out here. A couple bikes just rolled up and everyone’s running out to greet them.”

“Thanks, kid. Be right there.”

“Go!” Reesa said. The kids and I will be right behind you.” She leaned in and gave Diesel a kiss on top of his head and then a gentle shake to wake him up. “Hey, buddy, we need to go get some food. You ready to eat again?”

Spike’s youngest son sleepily nodded his head as my woman got out of bed looking cute as fuck and rumpled all to hell. “When this shit is over, the first thing we’re going to do is put my mark on you, so everyone knows you’re mine.”

I wanted to get my ass out there to see who had come back, but there was no way I’d leave my family behind to navigate the clubhouse by themselves. “Hurry up, Ariel.” Reesa called out a warning to her daughter. “We don’t have time for you to make yourself pretty. Throw your hair up in a ponytail and let’s go.”

I rolled my eyes. “Jesus, is that what she was doing in there?”

“Most likely.” Ree muttered. “Welcome to the joys of having to share a bathroom with a teenage girl.”

Once everyone got ready, Reesa and I walked the kids out to the common area to find that Trouble and Hollywood were in the middle of what amounted to a group hug. “Oh my God! They’re back. Where is Trinity?”

The crowd parted and my woman’s friend hauled ass for her. She looked worse for the wear too. There were still a few twigs stuck in her hair and she looked like she had tried to camouflage herself in a mixture of river silt and Georgia, red clay mud.

My woman didn’t give a shit what her friend looked like. They threw themselves at one another and held on for dear life. “I was so worried about you,” Ree cried into her hair.

“Shit, Ree, you don’t even want to know what that crazy bitch tried.”

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