Page 6 of Brother to Brother

“Um, hi,” I said back nervously, stepping aside.

“I’m Ashton, this is Hayden. Trigger is my ol’ man and Reaver is hers,” she said and they both breezed into the living room, arms loaded with plastic bins; paper grocery bags in them.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know any of the brothers’ names here yet, Noah and I just got in yesterday.” I shifted uncomfortably and closed the front door.

“I heard all about it,” the one introduced as Hayden said, rolling her eyes.

“Was Reaver one of the men there, then?” I asked.

“Yeah, he’s my husband,” she said smiling.

“Look at you!” Ashton cooed, and she smiled, waving at Noah, “I’m Ashton, what’s your name?” she asked and I went to Noah and picked him up.

“Can you say ‘hi’?” I asked him.

“Hi,” he said softly. For some reason I wanted to instantly like these women, but I was still reserving judgment. Back in Arizona, the ol’ ladies of the club there wouldn’t hesitate to throw you under the bus. Snakes in the grass, all of them.

“He’s Archer’s?” Hayden asked and looked tickled pink.

“Oh, no… he’s Grinder’s,” I said softly.

“Oh, you poor thing!” Ashton said and touched my shoulder.

“I… I still don’t know what happened,” I said and my eyes welled. It was still so awful and new.

Hayden sighed, “Tell you what, let’s get this place sorted, and laundry going and then we can all sit down and talk about it.”

Ashton was nodding, tossing her long auburn braid over her shoulder. I bit my lower lip and asked, “Did Archer call you?”

Ashton and Hayden exchanged a look and rolled their eyes, “No, Reaver told me about you, and Ashton and I figured with Archer’s bike still at the club he had you holed up here like some kind of prisoner, all by yourself, with an infant.”

“We figured we’d come to the rescue with a welcome and some grown up conversation, but don’t you worry. We swung by the garage he works at to ask permission first. He told us you probably needed a few things like laundry soap, and some bins to stash your stuff, so here we are.” Ashton smiled brightly and these two struck me as genuine. Still, I kept on my guard.

“Thank you,” I murmured.

“Not a problem, and you’re not you know,” Hayden said.

“Not what?”

“A prisoner, silly!” Ashton laughed. “You get used to these guys acting like Neanderthals and doing what they want like you’re some kind of afterthought,” she made a face, “The good news is, they usually make it hard to be mad at them, because they’re just doing it to protect you.”

Hayden’s look grew distant and she muttered something to the effect of, “Oh trust me, you can still be mad.”

Ashton sighed, “He meant well,” she said and I was bouncing between the two of them like a tennis match.

“Well you know what they say about hell and good intentions,” she said dispassionately.

“I feel like I’ve missed something significant,” I said, my curiosity getting the better of me.

“Trust us, it all ties in to what happened surrounding your man,” Hayden said. I must have made a face, because she froze, both her and Ashton looking at me, “I’m sorry did I say something wrong?” she asked.

“Grinder was never technically ‘my’ anything,” I uttered. “I was just a club...” I paused and looked at Noah who was playing with a lock of my hair against my shirt. “Well, you know…” I uttered.

“A club bunny?” Ashton supplied and I smiled.

“That’s what we call them here,” Hayden murmured. “It’s a little more kid friendly and not quite as rude to the girls.”

I laughed, “I’ve never met an ol’ lady who cared aboutthat.”

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