Page 172 of Patching Over

“You know that Dragon and Wrecker can help you with that,” I remind her. “They can dull those memories so that you no longer feel that pain in your soul.”

“Maybe I will,” she replies. “Kracken, can I ask you something?”

“You can ask me anything, babe.”

“Will you kiss me? Please?” Her voice is barely above a whisper as she glances at me. I can see her cheeks pinken as she waits for my reply.

Since we’re already both face to face and I’m cupping her cheek, I lean closer and softly brush my lips across hers. The slight hitch in her breath has me pulling her closer and tilting her head sideways before I deepen the kiss. I take my cues from her, so when she relaxes into me, I glide my tongue across her lower lip, and when she opens, I slip it inside her mouth. Soon, we’re learning each other’s taste, as one of my hands delves into her hair, pulling her closer. Long, blissful minutes pass until we pull apart, both of us desperate for oxygen.

She reaches up and touches her lips with her fingers, wonder on her face as she looks at me. “I never ever thought I’d feelanything ever again,” she whispers as one lone tear rolls down her face. “For so long, wheneverithappened, and trust me, they didn’t kiss or do anything resembling it, I would go somewhere else in my head. It’s another reason I wouldn’t talk for so long, Kracken. When you grow up hearing that children should be seen and not heard, then you’re beaten whenever you do speak, it’s ingrained in you to keep quiet. I tried, when we were first taken, to talk back, to fight, but as much as I was used to being hurt by my father, what they did was so much worse. They tore down the self-worth and self-confidence I built up and started reinforcing what my father raised me to believe, they just changed the words slightly towomenshould be seen and not heard. They told me I was only good for one thing, to be the bearer of more children for ‘the cause’.”

The tears are flowing even faster, so I pull her fully into my arms and begin soothing her, running my hands up and down her back as she cries it all out. “Get it all gone, baby,” I murmur. “You’re safe with me, always. Dump all that garbage right here and I’ll take care of it for you.”

“One… one of the things I was so worried about was that they’d give me something, you know? Because there are worse things than pregnancy, although thankfully, that didn’t happen. Seeing how they keep the kids was eye-opening. The ones who were born from their abuse of the women they were keeping were immediately separated from their mothers. I couldn’t have done that. I don’t know if I’d be a good mom, but there’s no way I wouldn’t want to at least try. I definitely would do better thantheydid.”

“You know that Angel physically healed you, right?” I cautiously question.

“Yeah, what does that have to do with anything?” she asks.

“Well, I don’t claim to understand what he does, but it means that if they had given you anything, anything at all, he took care of it with what he did for you.”

“So… so I don’t have to worry about it anymore,” she murmurs, touching my face.

“Ah, sweetheart, you’ve been worrying about that all this time?” I question.

She nods, more tears trickling down. I’m not good with crying females, but don’t seem to have that problem where Moira is concerned. “Yeah, because I know they were raping me, and I knew deep inside I’d have to come to terms with all of that, but the thought that I might find someone down the road to love, and something they gave me could be passed on to them? It terrified me, Kracken.”

“Well, you have nothing to worry about, honey,” I reply. “Now, how about you snuggle in close, and we’ll get some sleep. I thought we’d go for a ride tomorrow if it’s nice outside, now that I have riding gear for you.”

She giggles, because in addition to stopping at Buc-ee’s, we also stopped at the Chunky River Harley Davidson store outside of Meridian, and every one of us dropped a chunk of change. Hell, two of the guys from Cedar Creek bought new bikes, so Dragon had to get a bike trailer to attach to one of their trucks that a prospect was driving so they could take it with them. I also got her several sweet looking HD tank tops, and she picked out one for Belle.

“I’d like that,” she says, cuddling closer to me. “Thank you.”

“For what, babe?”

“For kissing me,” she shyly replies.

“Any time, roisin. Now, sleep.”

“Okay.”

CHAPTER

SEVENTEEN

Moira

“Which one do you like?” he asks me.

True to his word, we left the cabin early this morning and after eating at the diner in town, we got on the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is apparently what a lot of other bikers thought about doing as well, because we pass a lot of them, and every time we see one, Kracken makes a hand motion of some sort that they return.

Now, we’re at a hole in the wall Mexican restaurant that the clerk at the gas station we stopped at recommended, eating the best chips and salsa I’ve ever had while we wait for our food. Hawg apparently sent him a link of the houses the club decided on and he has the page open on his phone. He’s sitting next to me as we go through each one.

“I like them all, but really like the ones that have a log cabin exterior. Kind of fits with where we’re going to be living, don’t you think?” I question. “Plus, how big are we wanting to go? It’s just us right now, so maybe one of the tiny homes would be a better option right now?”

“Babe,” he says.

Since I’m still trying to decipher all the ways he uses ‘babe’, I raise my brow. “What?”

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