Page 25 of Bound By Redemption
“You live,” Katie said, going into the room, closing the door behind her. The click told me she’d locked it.
Ensley shook her head. “I’m sorry. She gets this way when she doesn’t know what’s goin’ on. It’s a defense mechanism from our childhood. I’ll get her sorted.” Ensley knocked on Katie’s door.
“What?”
“Katie, open up.” The lock flipped, and Ensley slipped in. The distinct click of the lock connecting had me grinning at Dryerson.
“Got your hands full with that one,” I teased.
“Whatever.”
“I’m gonna need you to make sure my girls get settled in. Get them whatever they need, and if they forgot something write it down. We’ll probably have a lot of it,” my mom responded as she walked up to me and Remy. “I have to admit, this is one of the happiest moments of my life. Thank you.” She got up on her toes and kissed my cheek.
My heart squeezed. Yeah. I loved my mom. When everything went to shit with my father all those years ago, she’d always have my back. Even when I was a shit.
“I brought up stuff for sandwiches. Eat and get some sleep,” my mom said, holding out her arms to Remy who didn’t move at first. Her actions warmed me from top to toe. My little girl was holding on to me. Mine.
Damn. It still seemed surreal.
“Thanks, Mom.” She gave me her brilliant smile, gave Remy a kiss, and then was gone.
Dryerson turned to me after watching her go, and if he said anything about her ass I’d kick his. “Alright, what’s the lowdown. Hit me and I’ll see what I can do.”
I sucked in a breath not knowing exactly what I could share with him and wouldn’t until I talked to the brothers and saw what my role was in this situation.
“All I can tell ya is what I said on the phone. Two houses exploded, and we don’t know who did it. We’re all staying here until we figure it out.”
“Can I help?”
My head shook. “I’ll ask. The MC is like us in the field.”
“You told me that before.”
“Yeah. This is one of those operations where only core people know what’s gonna happen. In truth, I’m just barely scraping the surface of helping and could get kicked out at any time.”
“I get it, brother. Just let me know what I can do. I’ve got guns in my bag in the truck.”
“Good. Let’s eat and hit it. Tomorrow’s gonna be a busy day, and I’m fuckin’ wiped.” That was the understatement of the year. It must be the chest compression that was making me so tired. In the field I could go days without sleep.
But tonight, I was throwing in the towel.
7
Ensley
“Tellme right now why I’m living at the clubhouse, Ens, or I swear…” Katie started as soon as the lock clicked on her door. Sucking in a deep breath didn’t help the situation one bit. For some reason, I just needed a moment. A moment to put everything together. Life kept throwing hit after hit, and it was hard to make sense of. And her life was throwing Katie’s life in an upheaval as well. I hated feeling like I was screwing up her life.
It had been a hell of a few hours, and she needed answers. Hell, I needed answers, but in actuality neither one of us would get them.
We’d been with the Ravage MC for two and a half years, and I’d learned many things. One was the brothers didn’t talk to outsiders. As much as I was a part of this, I also wasn’t.
I moved to Katie and put my hands on her shoulders to get her focus on me. “Calm down, Katie. What has you so jammed up? I know this is a lot, but you don’t get worked up like this.”
Katie sighed as I released her. “Everything is just crazy, Ensley. I feel like we’re running away from home again.” Katie had tears brimming her eyes. That was my sister. She got pissed fast, but came down quick. I hated that she had these feelings. It cut me deep in my core, and all I wanted to do was fix it.
Even though she was older than I me, I’d always been the one to handle things. That time in our life was chaotic and scary. She wanted to turn around so many times and just go back, but we couldn’t. Or I couldn’t. I told her she could go if she really wanted to, but she didn’t want to leave me.
Even though it was hard, she ended up happy. That didn’t mean, though, that there weren’t plenty of challenging times. There would always be ups and downs, but the fear always remained in some way, shape, or form.
