Page 63 of Patching Over

“If you feel like you wanna go out sleighing, I’m sure the prospects can dig them up for y’all. The hills are steep enough, but count my ass out. I need more warm food, my ol’ lady wrapped in my arms, and about a decade worth of sleep.”

Dinner is a rousing success, with my ol’ lady, my pops, and the prospects appearing to be no worse for the wear. With the Devil DemonDouches, as Kracken couldn’t resist calling them, out of the picture, the beer and alcohol was flowing amongst the brothers while Pops regaled all of us with stories from the club’s past.

Now, I’m outside, freezing mydamnballs off because my ol’ lady got all ‘super’ excited, her words not mine, when Rael said he and Shadow wanted to go sleighing.

Fuckers.

I heard them cackling like a bunch of teenage girls when they mentioned it right in front of her.

Troublemakers. Every damn one of ‘em.

“You’re showing remarkable restraint right now,” Grim says, standing alongside me as I watch the two assholes laughing their heads off, their Reapers on full display right now, as they chase each other down the huge hill not too far from the clubhouse. “I figured you’d have shot them at least when they pushed the issue and your ol’ lady wanted to do it too.”

“Aside from the fact I’ve already got a debt I’ll owe to Lucifer someday, she’s never had this, brother,” I quietly admit. “Those bastards took her when she was too little to know about building snowmen, or going sledding. Hell, I know the clubhouse looks like the North Pole vomited all over the place, glitter, and that tinsel shit she’s become obsessed with strewn everywhere, but she doesn’t ever remember celebrating Christmas as a kid. At all. So, it’s a small thing to stand out here freezing my nuts off to see her withthatexpression on her face.”

We gaze over to where Rael is now pulling the sled back up the hill, Rayleigh holding on to the sides, her head tilted back as her laughter rings out, echoing. I notice every brother standing by watching has a smile tilted up on the corner of their lips while watching her as she has a good time. Shadow’s hollering that it’s his turn to pull the princess but Rael keeps the sleigh just out of his reach.

“Yeah, I can’t say that I blame you one fucking bit. You know she’s gonna push to go shopping with her friend tomorrow.”

“Can’t keep her hidden, Grim. The threat’s gone. I’ll send the prospects with her, or hell, maybe my pops. It would servehis ass right.” We both chuckle then because like most men, my pops isn’t against shopping, as long as it involves wheels, lead, leather, or chains. In short, a Harley Davidson showroom or barring that, the local truck dealership. “You know, maybe I’ll put a bug in her ear that I wish I had a new wallet because then she’ll ask him, and he’ll offer to go. It’s a win-win situation.”

“Damn, Brick, you can’t hold it against him forever, brother.”

Like hell I can’t! “The asshole told her I was scared of fucking heights.” Which is one of the reasons why I’m not sledding with my ol’ lady. “But he failed to tell her the reason behind it, which is why he’s due some payback as far as I’m concerned.”

“Well, spill it, why are you?” Grim questions.

“Because when we were what, eight or nine? We thought we were gonna be tough little shits, so we climbed onto the top of the shed’s roof then tried to walk across the clothesline. We thought we were like those fucking assholes who would walk across tightropes over Niagara Falls and shit,” Banshee states, walking up next to us. “Brick went out first and of course, the line snapped, he fell about fifteen feet or so and busted up his leg and arm. Ended up having to have surgery and couldn’t ride that whole summer.”

“So, you’ve hated heights since then? Seems kinda harsh.”

“Yeah, well, the ground coming up to meet me as I was flying down toward it isn’t what I was looking forward to that particular day either, so there’s that,” I retort. “Took a shit ton of physical therapy to be able to walk right again and I came damn close to losing my arm when my stitches got infected.”

Grim’s about to say something else when Rayleigh comes running toward me, giggling over her shoulder at Rael and Shadow slipping and sliding as they try to keep up with her. “Help me, Brick! I’m frozen solid but these two want to keep sledding.”

“Looks like I need to warm my ol’ lady up now, brothers,” I convey with a wiggle of my eyebrows, pulling her into my arms.

“Thanks for letting me go sleighing with y’all,” she says over my shoulder as I turn and head back into the clubhouse, laughter ringing out around us.

Rayleigh

“I had fun tonight,” I whisper against his throat, my voice slightly slurred with fatigue. “I can’t wait to go shopping tomorrow with Cassie.”

“What else do you possibly need to shop for, Sprite? There are a million presents under the tree in here, and at least half a dozen more than that downstairs for everyone else.”

“I need to look for something called a butter hut.”

“What the fuck is that?”

“Something your dad wants, handsome.”

“Maybe he’ll go with you then, because I know your brother needs a new wallet and he’s partial to the ones they have at the Harley store in town.”

I perk up a little, then say, “I’ll ask him tomorrow morning at breakfast. When are your other club brothers going home?”

“Think they’re planning to take off at some point tomorrow since Christmas is just around the corner. They wanna get home to their own chapters and ol’ ladies.”

“Yeah, I’d hate it if you weren’t home with me too,” I murmur, nice and cozy in my after-sex happy place where the kitties purr around our heads and Brick’s holding me close. “I wonder how long before I’ll be able to feel the baby move.”

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