Havoc

11 - Excuse me, what?

Havoc

I fall deeper in love with my wife as the hours tick by. I’ve watched her flourish over the past few days. Whenever Wynter smiles, it melts my heart. It does because I know those smiles are for me. Wynter feels safe with me, and she’s letting go of what drove her away from me.

I’ve never known a woman more beautiful than Wynter. She’s five-seven, with curvy hips, toned thighs, and small breasts that I know fit perfectly in my big hands. Her wavy hair always smells like a summer evening, and those blue-grey eyes sparkle when she laughs.

Watching Wynter with her newfound family and seeing how she smiles has been the highlight of my day. I always want to see Wynter happy. Knowing she isn’t alone in the world seems to have settled something in my wife.

Over the past few days, Wynter has brought me back to life. Those months without her were hard, I’ll admit. Though I didn’t sit and wallow for long, I got on with my life, and I won’t pretend otherwise. Not that I slept with another woman because I didn’t. I had hope that Wynter would come back to me. But I’m a biker, for fuc.k sake, and I’ve always been a hardened bastard. Ever since my big brother died, I hid my feelings well. Some would say that I have no heart when it comes to matters of death. They’d be right to a degree, and I’m hard on my younger brothers because I don’t want to lose them as I did Scott.

Shadow hates that I still tell him what to do, and I still fight his battles. I only do so because it’s a force of habit. Before Scott died, he told me to look out for Trey and to make sure he didn’t get himself into something he couldn’t get out of. Scott always knew Trey would become a biker, and it was Scott who gave Trey the name Shadow because he followed Scott around like a shadow. Cullen wasn’t born when Scott died, but I know he would have told me the same about him.

I don’t think my parents had any plans to have another child. However, Cullan came along at a time when I felt the woman my mother once was had all but disappeared.

My mother was raped by a member of this club years ago, back when I was a teenager. I knew nothing about what had happened to her until the day I heard my father talking with Roman in our kitchen. Dad was upset, and Roman was trying to calm him down.

I shouldn’t have been listening from the hallway to their conversation, but I couldn’t stop myself. Something about what Dad had said grabbed my attention. Mom hadn’t been herself for a while, and he’d found out why on this particular day.

When I heard Dad say those words, ‘He raped my girl, Roman. He hurt the woman I would die for, and she kept it from me because she was ashamed and thought I’d hate her,’ my heart sank to my feet.

I was thirteen, and I knew what rape meant and the effects it could have on a person. Dad had told me from an early age just what would happen to me if he ever found out I’d done such a thing. I would never hurt a woman like that, but he wanted to make sure I knew the consequences of such actions.

I couldn’t get the images of my mother at the hands of that man out of my head. My gut churned, and all I wanted to do was kill the motherfucker who had dared to put his hands on her.

Then I heard Roman say, ‘He’s dead, Red. You took him out, and now he can never hurt another woman. But don’t you realize what you’ve done? You killed him in front of Tammy. Now, she’s devastated and frightened.’

A smile crept across my young face, and the respect I had for my dad right then was out of this world. I didn’t fully understand what murder meant at that point, but I was proud of my father for what he’d done.

‘I know what I’ve done, Roman. You don’t need to tell me. I don’t know how to make this better for her,’ Dad gulped back an audible sob. I wanted to comfort him, but I left Roman to that. There was someone else who needed me right then.

I made my way to my parents’ bedroom. I had to see for myself how Mom was doing. Trey was fast asleep, and I was grateful that he was. He wouldn’t have been able to deal with seeing Mom in the state I found her in that day.

I heard her sobbing quietly as I opened the bedroom door. She didn’t turn to see who’d entered; she just rocked herself back and forth slowly. I breathed deeply through my nose, wondering why I hadn’t noticed how different Mom had been in the weeks previous.

I sat on the bed beside her and wrapped my arm around her shoulder. ‘It’s okay, Mom,’ I told her softly. She didn’t say anything, though she lay her head on my shoulder. ‘No one will ever hurt you again, I promise.’ I kissed her head as she sobbed harder.

I meant it when I said that no one would hurt her again. I’d make damn sure she was safe, no matter what it took. I swore to myself that day to become the man I am today.

It took my mother many months after the rape and her subsequent breakdown to recover. But it was the birth of Cullan that brought her back to us. Trey and I always felt our mother’s love, even when she was too ill to speak. However, I saw her coming back to life little by little after finding out she was pregnant. Then, when Cullan was born, Mom came back to us.

My mother is everything to me, and she’s stronger than anyone I’ve ever met. She went through hell, but she came back from it stronger. Though I know if anything ever happened to Cullan, it would destroy her. The boy has a cold, and she freaks out. I always imagine how that would make Scott laugh.

Dad and Roman have something in common; they slept with the same woman and had a kid with her. Scott’s mom slept with Roman and had Fallon. She’s obviously not my sister, but I know Scott would have wanted me to take care of her also. Dad loves Fallon’s kids, and they call him grandpa, even though they’re Roman’s grandkids by blood. Red and Roman are best friends, and I don’t remember a time when they weren’t.

Ava, Scotty, named after my brother, and Reed are family, even if they aren’t blood. The same goes for Ghost; he’s not my brother by blood, but my parents all but adopted him when I was a kid. His kids, Danny and Vinny, are my nephews. We’re a big family, and Wynter has all of us, as well as the Anderson’s now.

I will make sure that girl knows she’ll never be alone again. No matter what’s going on or why those men are looking for her, I’ll never let anything happen to the woman I love more than life itself.

I look over at Wynter as she stands with Phoenix and Cassie, laughing without a trace of fear in her eyes. That’s the look I want to see on Wynter’s face every day for the rest of our lives. I know it’s not that easy though. At least, not until I sort those men out.

I set my beer on the bar as BlackJack stands in front of me and stares me down. “Something I can do for you, BlackJack?”

“You’ve done a good job taking care of Wynter, Havoc, but she needs to be with her family. Taylor and I have plenty of room for Wynter, and Phoenix will love having her cousin living with us.”

Excuse me, what?!