Filthy Bastard (Grim Bastards MC) (21 page)

“Shhh, baby,” I murmur, trying to calm Addy down. “Your crying is ripping my heart to pieces, Red.”

“I’m sorry, Brew,” she says as she whimpers out another sob.

“Sorry? What in the hell do you have to be sorry for, Red? You haven’t done anything wrong,” I reply, running my hand over her back.

She pulls back and looks at me. “I’m sorry my crying upsets you.”

The utter devastation in her eyes causes me to draw in a breath. “Oh, Little Red, I’m not upset because of your tears. You have every right to cry. I just fucking hate that you have a reason to cry, and there’s nothing I can do to take that pain from you.”

“I told my sister I was falling in love with you,” Addy whispers, looking back at her sister.

“You did?” I ask, wondering where the hell she is going with this.

“Alex said I was wrong, told me I was already in love with you. She said I probably fell in love the first time I laid eyes on you,” she says, tears still streaming down her face. “She was right, just like always.”

“Fuck,” I growl out, tightening my arms around her. “I love you, too, Addy.”

Her eyes move to the other side of the room, where Trix is still standing with Cameron in her arms. Boz is behind her, an arm around her shoulder. The two friends stare at each other for a moment, before Addy places a hand on her heart and mouths something to her friend. Trix returns the gesture as her tears start falling quicker.

“What about Cam?” she asks, looking back at him.

“You have to be strong for him. You’re all he’s got,” I answer honestly.

“You’re right, Brew. My nephew needs me. For him, I can be strong. But you’re also wrong.” She pauses, reaching up to cup my jaw. “He’s got you, too.”

I slowly close my eyes, doing my best to keep tears from falling. “He’s got me, too.”

Suddenly, her body goes taut. “What about Blake? Will he come get Cameron?”

My eyes pop open as the thought hits my mind. I can’t let that fucker get his hands on the baby. No way, no fucking way. Blake will be dead before he ever lays a hand on Cam. My mind goes in to overdrive, trying to come up with something to say.

“Don’t even let that thought take root, Addy,” Boz says, shaking his head. “We’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.”

I lift my chin to him, letting him know that I will make his words true as soon as I can. “He’ll never touch Cameron. I promise you that.”

Addy draws in a broken breath and nods. “We need to get Cam and go to our room. I don’t want him in here a minute longer.”

Nodding, I stand up, pulling her along with me. “You go with Trix. I’ll make the call.”

“Don’t call my parents,” Addy says, going to Trix and pulling the baby out of her arms. “I want to be the one to tell them their greed killed their daughter.”

“I won’t,” I promise as I lead her down the hallway.

As soon as they step inside, I place a gentle kiss on Addy’s lips, run my hand over Cam’s head, and close the door. Running back into the other room, I grab a bottle out of the mini-fridge and grab the diaper bag. After delivering everything to Addy, I head downstairs and see all the brothers sitting in the common room.

“Hack, do a walk through. Any unlicensed weapons get locked in the basement,” I shout, wishing I was still holding Red in my arms.

“Already done, brother,” he says with a nod.

I look around the room, making eye contact with every brother. “We’re gonna have paramedics, the coroner, and probably a few cops here in just a few minutes. All drugs need to be put in the basement. If you have a warrant, I’d hit the road, and don’t come back until tomorrow night.”

“Already handled,” Smoke says, crossing his arms over his chest. “You take care of your woman. We’ll deal with this shit.”

I want to, fucking want nothing more, but there is too much to do. “I gotta call this in.”

“We got it covered,” Round says, walking over to stand by his son. “Boz let us know what was going on. The club is clean, and the paramedics are on the way.”

Knowing a thanks isn’t needed or expected, I rush back upstairs and head straight to our room. When I walk inside, I’m surprised to see Trix sitting on the bed with Cam in her arms. Addy’s nowhere in sight.

“Where’s Red?” I ask, still scanning the room.

Trix reaches up and wipes a tear from her eye. “She wanted to say goodbye to Alex, before the coroner got here to take her away.”

Without a word, I turn around and walk down the hall. As I open the door, I hear Addy’s voice and see her sitting beside her sister’s body. What she’s saying nearly brings me to my fucking knees. I brace my arms against the door frame and listen, even though I know I should give her this time alone with her sister.

“He told me he loved me, Sis, and I believe him. I don’t doubt he’s gonna love Cameron, too. We’re gonna give your son the family you would’ve wanted him to have.” She’s whispering, but each word sounds like a shout in my mind.

“Don’t worry about Cam. We’ll take care of him, make sure he knows he’s loved every day.” She lets out a whimper before she continues. “I’ll tell him every day how much you loved him. I’ll never let him forget who you are.”

Knowing this is a private moment, I start to back away, but Addy’s eyes cut to me. She doesn’t say a word, just holds her hand out to me. I go straight to her and grab hold. She looks at me for a minute before turning back to her sister.

She places a kiss on her sister’s cheek and says, “I love you, Sis.”

Then, she stands up and leads me from the room. As soon as we step into the hall, she buries her head on my chest and starts to cry again. I do the only thing I can, hold her and whisper how much I love her into her ear.

Addy

THE PREACHER
looks toward my parents, then to me, and finally back to my sister’s coffin. “Let’s bow our heads and pray.”

I do as he instructs, sending a prayer that my sister has finally found peace and happiness. At the same time, I place a gentle kiss on the top of Cam’s head and pray he lives a life filled with both. Tears slide down my cheeks as the finality of the moment hits me.

“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus, Amen.” The preacher ends the prayer before motioning for my sister to be lowered into the ground.

“Amen,” I whisper, as Cam snuggles into my chest.

I continue to watch her coffin as it’s slowly lowered down. My eyes never leave it until it disappears into the ground. When it’s gone, I close my eyes and take a deep breath. My only thought is, how in the hell am I supposed to go on without her?

Finally, I step forward and toss a single pink rose in with her. “I’ll miss you, Alex, miss you more than you can even imagine.”

Knowing there is nothing more to say, I turn around and walk back to Brew, without ever looking toward my parents. Surprisingly, they haven’t said a word to me since showing up just before the graveside service started. They didn’t even show up at the funeral. I’m not sure if I’m relieved or pissed about that fact. I know they stayed away because of Brew. I still don’t know what happened when he and the boys paid them a visit; I haven’t even asked. Whatever it was, it was enough to make them stay away from Cameron and me.

My eyes scan the crowd again, looking for Blake. I truly thought he would be here. Even if he didn’t care about Alex, I figured he would show up to take Cam away from me. Trix told me that Smoke stayed behind, after we went to the hospital, and taught Blake a lesson. It must have been one hell of a message, since he hasn’t even tried to contact me about seeing his child.

As it stands, I have no legal grounds to keep Cam away from him. I’ll be damned, though, if he will ever get his hands on my nephew. I’ll run if I have to. I’ll take Cam so far away that no one will ever be able to find us. Brew promises I won’t have to, but I will if that’s what it takes to keep Alex’s son away from that monster.

“Come on, Red,” Brew says, taking hold of my arm and moving me through the crowd. “Let’s get the Little Man back to the clubhouse.”

I’m about to agree, when I catch sight of my parents walking to their car. Mom’s eyes are trained on me, filled with utter hate. Dad, like always, looks lost in a world of his own. It’s as if he’s just going through the motions of life, without ever really living.

Looking at them for the first time since my sister died, I know I can’t just walk away. I have to let them know what they did. I have to tell them what their utter lack of love caused. I’ve got to keep my promise to Alex and make them pay. Right here, right now, in front of all their friends, is the best opportunity I will ever have.

I grab Brew’s arm, pulling him to a stop. “I need to talk to my parents. I need them to know what they’ve done, what they caused.”

“I think they already know, Addy,” he says in a gentle voice.

I give his arm a squeeze. “I need to remind them.”

He looks down at me for a few seconds, before finally nodding his head. “Let’s take Cam to Trix first.”

I do as he says and walk straight to Trix and Boz, where they are standing with nearly every member of the Grim Bastards MC. We hand over the baby then head for my parents. I catch them, just as their friends have gathered around to express their sympathy. A forced smile spreads across my face as I step between them and the people they try so hard to impress.

“Are you sad, Mom? Does Alex’s death leave a hole deep in your soul? Do you already miss her smile?” I ask, tilting my head to the side to look at my father. “How about you, Dad? Is your heart breaking for the daughter you lost? Are your insides twisting in knots, knowing you will never hear her laugh again?”

Neither answer my question. Instead, they look up at Brew with fear in their eyes. Obviously, they’re more afraid of him than me. Normally, they’d be right to fear my man over me. Today, they couldn’t be more wrong.

I turn to look at all their friends. “I want to tell you all a story, a story about a beautiful girl that was murdered by her vicious parents and her sadistic husband.”

Mom’s hand lands on my arm, but I barely feel it before Brew is knocking it away. “Don’t fucking touch her.”

I ignore them and go on with my story. “See, the beautiful girl, my wonderful sister, needed surgery on her heart, but her parents refused to pay for it unless she married the man who tried to rape her sister. They were more concerned of what you all would think if the wedding was canceled than their daughter’s health.”

A few gasps fill the air, as my dad says, “Lydia, we need to leave.”

My eyes lock on him. “Run away, Dad. That’s what you do the best. It’s what you’ve been doing since the day I was born.”

Looking back at my parents’ friends, my story continues. I leave nothing out, not one fucking thing. Not one of Alex’s tears, none of Blake’s rapes, nor the fact that my parents knew it was going on. These people need to know what kind of people Timothy and Lydia Sloan are. They need to know what type of people they call friends.

People start to step away from my parents as I tell them about the night of my graduation. “They knew what he had planned, agreed to cover for him, while he took me to his room. They knew their daughter was being raped, and not only ignored it but approved of what the bastard was doing. What he had been doing to me for nearly a year.”

I tell them how my sister discovered us, how she found her husband attempting to rape me once again. “She went into labor right there in the room.”

I describe how happy she was to hold her child in her arms. Then go on to tell them of my sister’s one taste of freedom, the happiness she felt, and finish by telling them of finding her dead on that very same day. I tell them of the anguish I felt when I found her. I tell them of trying to revive her, of crying over her dead body.

“She got one day of freedom in twenty-six years,” I say in a near shout. “One damn day before her short life came to an end.”

Brew’s arm wraps around me. “Calm down, Little Red.”

I shake my head at him then motion to my parents. “These wonderful people, the man and woman you all call friends, killed their daughter. They killed her by refusing to pay for her surgery, even though they knew it was the only thing standing between her and death. They knew she was going to die, but your opinion meant more to them than her life did.”

Turning to my parents, I let my tears fall freely. “You killed my sister. Your neglect, your lack of love, your concern for your image killed her. I hope Alex’s death haunts both of your cold hearts until the day you die.”

With that, I push through the crowd. I’m a few feet away when I notice Brew isn’t with me. Turning around, my eyes land on him just in time to see him grabbing my father by the neck. He whispers something then pushes him away. Dad merely nods his head before looking to the ground and grabbing Mom’s arm. Then, they walk away, with only a quick glance back in my direction. Both look defeated, and I couldn’t be happier.

Brew makes it to me a second later and says, “That’s the last time you ever talk to either one of those mother fuckers.”

“Yes, it is.” I nod in complete agreement.

Brew

ADDY HAS
just fallen asleep, when someone knocks on the door. She’s so out of it, she doesn’t even stir. Sliding carefully from the bed, I walk to the door and pull it open to see Smoke standing on the other side with his lips in a tight line.

“Brother, this better be important,” I say, still holding on to the door.

“It is,” he says, turning away from me. “Meet me in the basement in five.”

I watch as he walks away, anger filling me. I love my club, fucking love my brothers, but now is not the time for this shit. Knowing I have no choice, I walk back to the bed and place a kiss on Addy’s forehead.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” I whisper, even though she can’t hear a word I’m saying.

Heading down the stairs, I head straight for the common room and look for Trix. She’s sitting on the couch, talking to Boz’s mom, as she feeds the baby.

“I need you to go sit with Addy,” I tell her, bending down to run my knuckle over Cam’s cheek. “She’s asleep, but I don’t want her waking up alone.”