Page 12 of Raven's Hacker
We turned around, heading to the exit with Beckam pulling my luggage behind him and holding my hand with his free hand while I held onto Ryder, just until we navigated our way out of the massive crowd of people.
“This her?” A voice asked, making Beckam smile and stop all of us just as we came up to the doors. An incredibly tall, brooding, long-haired man who looked like someone not to be messed with stood in front of us. He looked like a Viking with darker hair, clad in giant boots, leather, and a permanent scowl. I looked at Beckam, and he just had a smile on his face.
“This is Raven. Raven, this is my club brother, Hades. Hades, this is Raven and my little dude, Ryder.” Beckam said, pointing to Ryder. Ryder looked a little shocked, his eyes getting glassy for a moment before he blinked away the tears and looked proud to be calledhislittle dude. I smiled back, holding my hand out to shake the giant’s.
“Nice to meet you, Hades. We’ve heard a lot about you, Bullet and Prez, and the others.” That got me a small smile, which was just him turning up the edges of his lips. It was brief, so quick and fleeting that I thought I imagined it.
“Let’s get you all loaded up and back to the compound. We’ve got a family-slash-welcome dinner tonight and a huge cookout with the whole club tomorrow. You guys must be tired from all the traveling.”
I held Beckam’s hand again, happy that he seemed okay with my touch. We made it out to an SUV in about twenty minutes because this place washuge. The drive back to the compound was filled with light conversation, getting to know Hades, the huge giant of a man, and Ryder was asking a million questions about motorcycles and club life.
I just smiled and thought to myself,so far, so good.
Back at the compound, two guys wearing the same matching vests came out and carried our luggage inside for us. There was a small gathering of people in the main room off the large hallway when you first stepped in. Beckam quickly led us up to all of the people and introduced us to everyone. All the kids, their parents, what they did for the club. Ryder made fast friends with a boy who looked close to his age named Bear. Hades was his dad, so it was no surprise that the boy was as big as he was.
Beckam seemed to be the smallest of all the men in the room, but he still stood a good few inches taller than my five-seven frame. He kept his hand in my hand the whole night, rubbing his thumb across my knuckles. The grown-ups all sat together at one table while the kids played and ate at another table right next to the adults’ table. It was nice talking with people close to Beckam, hearing their stories about him, what he does here, the people he’s helped, other than Ryder and me.
I helped to clear the table while the guys pulled Beckam aside to talk. He explained that there was some club business going on; he couldn’t tell me specifics because I wasn’t a member, but he said it involved Bullet’s girl, Becca, and their daughter, Grey. I was taking a few dishes into the kitchen when Willow, Rowan, and Indiana all cornered me to talk about Beckam, or Hacker as they all called him. They were amazed that he held my hand and kept touching me in some way, shape, or form the whole time we were eating. They said it was a miracle that he’d joined for Friday night dinner as he usually stayed in his room, and they’d never seen him touching someone else.
Ever.
They were all saying such wonderful things about how much he’d improved since we’d started talking. It made me feel good that I was able to help him on his healing journey. After dinner, Beckam led Ryder and me to his room, holding my hand proudly the whole night. I laid on the bed, watching him interact with Ryder. They were up until about eleven playing video games in the little gaming area he’d made just for the two of them. He was so proud, showing off his room to us. He showed me before-and-after pictures, and it looked like a whole new room, to be completely honest. After he pulled out the couch for Ryder and got him set up, we all got ready for bed, sharing thesmall one-person bathroom. Ryder zonked out as soon as his little head hit the pillow, while Beckam came over and laid in bed with me, holding me all night.
“I was thinking,” he started nervously the next morning after we were all done getting ready, “If you guys like it up here and would want to give this, us, a try? I could start looking for a house on the compound that could accommodate the three of us.”
He looked at Ryder, tilting his head and giving him a nod. Was this something they’d been talking about? Ryder stepped forward out of the bathroom, putting his toothbrush and toothpaste back into his duffle. He took a moment before turning to look at me.
“Mom”, he started, taking a deep breath, “I asked Beckam a while ago if he could help me find a way to fully get Dad out of our lives. And, honestly, after the last couple of times of him promising to get me and not showing up or calling or anything, I want to show you what he found for me, so we can start whatever we need to do. I’m,” He sniffled, his eyes getting glassy. I moved over to him, sitting next to him for comfort. Beckam moved to his side, squatting down just below eye level, letting Ryder know we were here to listen to him and support him. He was hiccupping from trying not to lose it, but he continued.
“I’m tired of Dad lying to me. It makes me sad. And hurts my feelings. I don’t want to do this anymore. He’s only taken me two weekends the whole year.” Tears were spilling down my boy’s face as he flung his arms around both our shoulders and cried into us. I looked at Beckam to make sure he was okay, as tears filled my eyes for my son.
Beckam looked a little startled, but then he hugged him back, embracing him, telling him it was okay to cry and be sad. That he didn’t do anything wrong. That he’s an awesome kid. I was sobbing with my boy. The first time I actually met this man in person and he was better than my ex in every possible way.
I knew that after we started texting, though.
E L E V E N: Nothing.
Hacker’s POV
Happycouldn’t even begin to describe what I was feeling. The word felt inadequate, but so didexcited,thrilled, and even the phrase, ‘over the moon’. Last night was so much fun staying up late with Ryder and gaming with him while Raven laid on the bed, watching us and doing a little bit of work. It was nice. I could get used to it. I went to bed last night thinking I’d won the damn lottery. But waking up next to her?
I swear I thought I could die a happy man. Right there at that moment. She rolled over and smiled at me with a sleepy, morning voice, looking like the wet dream to end all wet dreams.
“Morning,” was such a simple greeting, but with her voice still laced with sleep, I swear, I thought my heart stopped for a couple of beats. She was so perfect. Now I had to worry about getting boners around her. All. The. Fucking time. Because I was a thirty-three-year-old virgin. In my eyes, I was still a virgin because I had never willingly given myself to someone else. I was hoping I would be able to give that to her.
My first time, willingly.
Ryder opened up to both me and Raven about everything he was feeling regarding his sperm donor’s absence. I helped them get a packet started for the termination of parental rights. I emailed the evidence of Matthew being a shit father to Jefferson and Kai, our club lawyer, who was traveling down there to work with Jefferson, her soon to be step-father, so they could take this guy down for good. Getting him out of their lives.
Matthew tried to call again that first weekend they spent with me. Ryder ignored it until he couldn’t. The asshole called so many times Ryder just shut his phone off after discussing it with Raven, myself, and Jefferson. He was a little bummed after powering it down, having a lot of emotions to sort through, until we went down to the shop the club owned in town.
Parker, Kai’s partner, took them in his SUV since he had to run lunch to Kai anyway. I rode my bike ahead of them. Raven wasn’t sure if she was ready yet, but I still offered. Even had a helmet made specially for her. It was a light grey helmet with her name on the back and black wings with green eyes painted above the calligraphy name. She smiled at it, gently touching it and running her fingers over the wings.
“Let me see you drive it once, and we’ll go from there.” That was her compromise, and I happily agreed. I wanted her on the back of my bike more than anything. We all knew what it meant, and soon she would know too.
When we pulled into the garage, I heard Bullet screaming at a couple of ladies and saw he was being held back by Prez and Hades, but even Hades looked pissed. I had no idea what was going on, so I motioned for them to all stay in the SUV. Kai was walking the two women to their car. I heard Bullet say something about suing for harassment, defamation, and lying to his wife, and I just knew this had to be something to do with Becca and all the drama that Bullet couldn’t seem to shake.
Shit.
