Page 60 of Patching Over

“You have no fucking idea. Guess I should get used to it though.”

“Probably so, especially since Madame Laveaux has taken a special interest and liking to your ol’ lady. She’s now spiritually connected to her, so if you thought she was just going to go back to her normal shit, you’d be wrong.”

Voodoo’s mirthless laugh as he enters my suite has the hair at the nape of my neck standing straight out. “Grandmé does what she wants when she wants and trust me, she doesn’t give that first fuck we’re in a motorcycle club with our own shit to do or take care of. If she calls and says ‘go’, we roll out no questions asked.”

“She’s kind of scary.” Rayleigh’s voice permeates the room. “But I really like her a lot. And maybe I can ask her the next time she calls, but she might not know the answer to my question.”

“What’s that, Sprite?” I ask.

“After we watched the home movies, I remembered something from when I was in the ditch waiting to die.”

Growls now reverberate as we all remember the condition she was in the first time we found her. Somehow, I manage to tamp down the outward show of anger because those bastards are dead and burning in Hell as we speak, just like the fuckers who are trussed up in the wine cellar will be soon.

“What did you recall?” Venom’s voice is gentle but firm, far gentler than any of us have ever heard it, but I know it’s in deference to my ol’ lady.

“Just before I passed out, a woman was singing to me. I heard her voice again when we watched the movies with Banshee, Brick. I think… I think it was my mother.” Her voice is barely above a whisper, a look of awe on her face. “How could that be possible?”

“I’m sure my grandmother would know for sure, but if you heard your mother, you were in that in-between place, a realm where you wait when you’re close to death.”

I can’t help the sound that emits from my mouth because I nearly lost her before she was ever truly mine. If not for Voodoo’s grandmother… no, it doesn’t bear thinking about.

“Really?” Rayleigh queries as she tries to prop herself up on her forearms. I go to help her only to have Angel, Venom, andVoodoo move in front of me and block me. The three of them manage to surround her with each touching a piece of her flesh as well as putting hands on Angel.

I can feel the sheer power now flowing throughout my room; it’s almost like when I was a kid, and we did the static electricity experiment in earth science class. Every hair on my body is standing on end and there’s a frisson of molecules that almost feels like an electrical current pinging and zapping all around us.

The entire space is electrified.

Rayleigh

I know I wasn’t awake the first time Angel healed me, so right now, the sheer psychic energy coursing through me feels a bit strange. Well, that’s the closest word I can think of, anyhow, because jeez, with every breath I inhale, the pain in my side lessens and I can almost feel my ribs healing and fusing back together. The taut skin over my cheekbone which was split, and is probably going to scar, suddenly eases, and the eye that was totally swollen shut is letting light in as the inflammation goes down.

As each man removes his hand from me, I feel lighter and lighter until it dawns on me that I feel as if I’ve been energized. Like, if I was a runner, I’d want to run a marathon or something. My hand drifts down to my abdomen, which is still flat since I’m so newly pregnant, causing Angel to flash a full-blown grin my way.

“The baby is just fine, princess,” he states. Turning to Brick, he continues. “She should be good now, brother. What say we let her clean up while we deal with those fuckers?”

I can tell Brick is torn so I urge, “Handsome, I’m good, I promise. I’ll just grab a shower then go down and find something to eat.”

“I’ll get one of the prospects to bring you some food,” he contends, standing firm.

“No, I want to check on your dad and also see how they’re doing,” I persist.

I can’t let him start bossing me around like this so early on in the pregnancy or I’ll never walk anywhere or do anything and that simply won’t do, not at all.

“Brother, she’s surrounded by Bastards, do you really think anything’s gonna happen?” Voodoo questions.

“Fine, fine,” he relents, leaning in and kissing me.

Then along with the other three, stomps like a herd of elephants out of our room. I can’t help the smile that graces my face because his actions showed me he was beyond torn.

Having never been a first priority in anyone’s life, I know there will be times when the club takes the lead simply because of his position and I’m totally okay with that fact. It’s what I signed up for when I accepted his patch and claim.

But right now, knowing he wanted to stay with me even though he had shit to handle makes me all gooey inside.

Freshly showered, I giggle as the kittens frolic on the bathroom counter while I brush my teeth before moisturizing my face.

“Y’all are so silly,” I murmur when Hobbes swipes his paw underneath the running water. “You have your own fountain, remember?”

His little face tilts toward me as if to ask, ‘And?’ which has me chuckling while I finish getting myself together.

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