From The Ashes (The Knights of Mayhem Book 3) (24 page)

The warm feeling of being wanted engulfs me and I get a new steam of bravery in me.  I swallow hard and look at him, holding my hands out to my sides and turn.  “So, what do you think?”

“I think you clean up amazing.” He takes my hand and leads me to the door.

Chapter Twenty-One

Hollis

I sit in the cold iron chair, scooted up under a plain metal table with my back to a full mirrored wall.  I can feel eyes on my back, making the hair on my arms stand up.   The room is devoid of color; it has a very clinical feel about it.  I was separated from Roman the minute I walked through the doors, what seems like hours ago.  The door being thrown open makes me jump.

“Oh, sorry Hollis,”  Kent smiles at me.  “And sorry for the wait. The bureaucratic bullshit around here is getting waist deep and I’m getting sick of it.”  He throws a notepad down on the table and lowers his big frame down into the chair.  “So, honey, you good? Need anything?”

“No sir, I’m fine.”  I readjust myself as he takes a pen from his shirt pocket and flips open the notepad. 

He looks at me and purses his lips.  “How are you doing?”

I absentmindedly reach for my cheek and the bandage.  “Healing well, but I’ll have a scar.”  I look up at him and smile.  “But it was all worth it if it gets the Hammonds out of our lives forever.”

He smiles back at me and says,  “Okay, Hollis. Let’s get this shit over with.”  He clears his throat and looks over my shoulder at the mirror behind me.  “This is all a formality. Basically your whole statement and your involvement has been detailed in my report.”  He sits up and leans into his elbows he has rested on the table.  “But I do need you to answer this one question.”

I nod.  “Yes sir.”

“Where is Megan?”

~~~~~~

Roman

I pace the hall, waiting for Hollis to be done and hear what Leo and Cowboy find out in the interrogation of Markus.  I shake my head because yes, I had lied to her.   She didn’t need any more stress knowing he was going to be in the same building as her. 

I lean my back against the wall, shoving my hands in my pockets.  I hate waiting more than anything and because of my close involvement with Hollis, I’ve been shut out. I don’t know why, Leo and Cowboy are just as close to this shit as I am.

In the time she’s been home, it’s been like old times, only better.  We’ve reconnected on a level I’ve always wanted from her.  She lets me help her when she needs me, and she helps me even when I don’t know I need it.  Holding her and knowing she’s sleeping beside me makes the nights fly by and the days when I’m away from her so long I can’t breathe.  

I hear muffled screaming then the door across from me is thrown open for a very pissed off Leo to storm through.  He points a finger at me.  “We need to fucking talk, now.”  I wait as he passes me, then Cowboy comes out behind him. I glance past him to Markus, who looks extremely pleased with himself.

“What the hell did he say?”  I look at Cowboy, who pulls the door closed behind him.

“Come on, you’re getting ready to find out.”  He takes a deep breath and heads down the hall behind Leo.  I run to catch up with them as Leo leads us to the next free room. 

Leo holds the door as we file in.  “Should I go get Dalton?”

“No.” They both answer in unison.

I hold up my hands.  “Okay, so what the hell is up with you two.” 

Leo slaps both hands palms down on the table.  “Dear god, Cowboy, what the hell?”  Cowboy is leaning against the far wall with his arms crossed over his chest.

My head darts back and forth between the two men.  “What the fuck is going on?”

Leo stands.  “Do you want to tell him or should I?”

“I don’t give a shit who tells me, but someone better start sharing right the fuck now.”  I step up to the table that separates them.

“Cowboy, why don’t you do the honors?”

Cowboy kicks off the wall and moves to stand at my left.  “Well …Caden is Dalton’s and I’ve known since she was four days old.”

I shake my head and step back from the table.  “Hold the fuck up and say that again.”

“Caden is Dalton’s.”  Cowboy sighs and sinks down into the chair at the end of the table.  “I knew I should’ve told him, but after I’d held her …”  I sink down into my chair and listen to him, while Leo does the same.  He hangs his head.  “After I’d held her, I felt like I was owed, ya know?  After what Emily and I had been through, and then Emily leaving, I felt the world owed me one and it was Caden, so I took her and claimed her as my own.”

I realize my mouth is hanging open and snap it shut as I let the information sink in, trying to process it all. 

“How the fuck are we going to handle this one?’’ Leo stands, knocking the chair backwards behind him. “It’s not like we can keep it from Dalton, that jerk-off Markus is going to tell everyone that’ll listen until he finds out about his sister.”  Leo cuts his eyes to me.  “Did Hollis ever tell him about Megan?”

I shake my head.  “I don’t know. She hasn’t brought it up and I haven’t asked.  Frankly, it hasn’t even crossed my mind.  We need to get in front of this, Cowboy. What do you wanna do?”

“It isn’t about what he wants to do, but what he needs to do.”  Leo slaps the table.

I turn to look at Leo. I study him for a minute then the words Cowboy had said to me in the truck on the way to his house when I’d left the hospital hit me in the chest.  “No, Leo, it isn’t.  We, as in all of us, will stay out of it.  Emily and Cowboy are the only two who can figure this out.  What we do is be there for all of them when they figure out what they feel is best for their daughter.”

“Emily doesn’t know either.”  Cowboy isn’t helping me at all.

“Can you help me out a little bit here, man?”  I look at him a bit distressed about pressing Leo alone.

“Don’t worry, I
will
handle it.”  Cowboy looks at us both.

“Because you’ve handled it real good over the past six years.”  Leo kicks around to face the wall.

“If the egg ain’t cracked, there’s no need to break it is all I’m saying.” Cowboy holds his hands out to either side of him as he looks up at a pacing Leo.  I just sit and go over the information in my head.

Leo turns around with a skeptical look on his face.  “All I know is if I had a kid out there, I would like to know about it.”

“Oh really?  So you’re saying if Mavis had popped out a kid and another man raised it, you would want to know and take ownership of it?”  I look at him, scoffing at his sour look.  “Didn’t think so, asshole. Now sit down and listen to what he has to say on the matter of
his
family. I’m sure you would no way in this world, or another, let him dictate to you how to run yours.” 

Leo hesitantly shuts the hell up, righting his chair before sitting back down.  Cowboy nods to me a thank you, but looks just as lost as he had when we’d started this heated discussion.  “I’m not sure what to do.  It’s Dalton, my brother. How do I start the conversation?  Hey, sorry but I’ve been raising
your
daughter for the past six years as my own.”

“There isn’t anybody who can do it for you, brother. It’s something you, Emily, and Dalton are gonna have to work out.”  I say the words, but they’re empty. I have no sound advice for him.  There isn’t really anyone that can help him.

“There was a point where I didn’t see it or think about it.  Our life became so routine―me playing Dad and her my daughter.”  Cowboy just talks and we both listen.  “It hit me when she was taken, the thought of her being found dead and only being able to be identified by DNA was the first time in a long time my lie scared me.”  I shudder at the thought of Caden being found dead, especially in the place I found her in, which could’ve probably been the case if it hadn’t been for Hollis.

I shake my head free of those thoughts.  “Well, let’s not think about that shit, but be fucking thankful it didn’t turn out that way.”

“Thanks to Hollis.”  Leo finally comes out of his fog.  I look at him and smile at his humble expression.  I do believe that the man, in his old age, has begun to calm down and accept his role in life as ‘soon to be’ husband and ‘father’, which is inevitable.

Cowboy takes off his hat and rubs his head.  “In more ways than one.”

“Aw shit, man … Hollis knows?”  I turn to look at him.

“Yeah.”

“The cabin?”  This time it’s my turn to stand and pace.

“Yeah. I exchanged her silence for acceptance.”  Cowboy ducks his head as Leo just sits and watches us. 

“You fucking bribed her?”  His words make me stop.

He raises his head.  “Yes. I know, it wasn’t one of my greatest moments, believe me.”

“Nevertheless, you did it.”  I watch as he just nods.  “You made her go back on a promise she had made me just minutes before, asshole.”

“I didn’t know you were up there on a soul searching retreat.  All I knew was she had information that could fuck up my world.” 

“Your world?  Did you ever stop and fucking think what it was doing to hers?”  I brace myself on the back of a chair.  “Do you realize how many fucking ways we have ripped this woman apart?” I back away from them both.  “Son-of-a-bitch.”

Cowboy stands and moves into my path.  “Roman, I’m sorry.”

I look at him.  “Have you said this to Hollis?”

He looks away from me.  “No, I haven’t had the chance to talk to her about it.”

“Well, when you do, if she forgives you, then I’ll fucking think about it.”

“What?”  We both jerk our eyes around to Leo, who I’d forgotten was in the room.  “What the fuck do you mean?”  He listens for a few seconds more then disconnects the call and looks up at us with a haunted look on his face.

“What the hell is it?”  The suspense is killing me. 

“Avery’s in labor.”

Cowboy and I take a beat to process before it hits us.  “What, Avery’s in labor?”

“Yeah.”  Leo’s standing still with a deer in the headlights look on his face. I need a picture of this, so I take my phone and snap one before he comes out of it and tries to beat my ass. I may have this one framed for Avery and the kid.

“Shit, we’ve gotta get to the hospital.”  I move to the door but Cowboy pulls him back.  “It’ll all be handled by this afternoon, brother, I promise. I’ll fix this whole fucked up mess I’ve created.”  Then he smiles at me.  “But for now, let’s go have a baby.”  It’s strange how I’m excited as we rush out the door when not more than five minutes ago, I was pissed as hell at Cowboy and didn’t want to hear a fucking word from Leo.

We follow as Leo rushes to the room where Kent and Hollis are and watch as he slings the door open.

Kent jumps to his feet.  “Leo, we are conduct―”

“Yeah, who gives a shit. Avery’s in labor.”  He turns and heads for the front of the field office.

Kent looks at the window.  “We’re done for at least a week.”  He grabs for Hollis’s hand.  “Come on, my grandbaby is being born.”  We all rush down the hall with stupid grins on our faces and every agent looking at us like we’ve lost our minds.

We’re all stuffed into Kent’s massive SUV.  Hollis is sitting on my lap with a smile on her face that I wished I could say that I put there.

“This is amazing.”  She cuts her eyes to me and I just hold them there with mine.

“Yeah, it is.”

“Can you not go any fucking faster, Kent?  Damn, she’s gonna have the baby before I get there.”  Leo screams at Kent while bracing himself with his hand on the dashboard.

“Would you shut up! I’m going seventy with the lights and sirens on, dipshit.”  Kent bites back at Leo. 

Hollis

I smile and look at Roman.  How this man could love me after all I’ve put him through is beyond me.  I look into his eyes and see the discourse churning behind them.  “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,”  he whispers.

“No, babe, there is.”  I take his face in my hands, getting a real good look at his distant eyes.

“We’ll talk about it later.”  He looks to his left, eyeing the big man with the baseball cap turned backwards on his head, then his eyes travel back to me.  My throat clenches with fear―he knows.  I go to explain but he quickly places a finger over my lips.  “Later.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Hollis

The waiting room is quiet as we all sit, waiting for news on Avery and the baby.  Emily comes over, patting my knee as she lowers herself into the chair to my right.  “How’s your face feeling?”

“Better than it should with all the activity today.”  I take another sip of the coffee Roman had went and gotten me from the cafeteria.

She looks at me with her eyes wide.  “Oh yeah, that was today. How did it go?”

“We didn’t get to finish, Avery went into labor.  But I could pretty much tell by the way Kent was acting there won’t be a follow up.”

Cowboy walks over to stand in front of us.  We both look up at him and I see the anxiety in his eyes.  Emily stands, taking his hand.   “Hey, babe.”

He leans in to kiss her on the cheek.  “Hey, can I talk to Hollis for a minute?”

She looks at him confused. “Okay. I’ll go and sit with Piper … is everything okay?”

“Oh yeah, just need to talk to her about the case.”  He looks very uncomfortable lying to Emily. 

She raises to her toes, giving him a kiss then turns back to me.  “Talk to you later, Hollis.”  She walks away but Cowboy doesn’t make a move to sit beside me. 

“Can we go outside? I don’t think everyone needs to hear this.”  He shoves his hands down into his pockets.

“Sure.”  I stand, knowing what this is about, but I’m curious to hear what he has to say to me.  The automatic doors close behind us and I turn to look at him.  “Before you say anything, I want to say I know why you did it and I agreed.”

“Could you just stop doing that?”  He shakes his head.  “Why are you so ready to throw yourself under the bus?  This one is on me and my idiotic idea that I could pull this shit off.”

I take a deep breath and watch as he struggles with the words he wants to say, but isn’t sure how to say them.  “I’m sorry, Hollis, for putting you in the middle of me and the fuck ups of my past. I should’ve never asked of you what I did.”

“I forgive you.”  He looks at me with a look in his eyes like I’m going to take it back.  “Seriously, Cowboy, you’re forgiven.  I think you should be more worried about what Emily and Dalton are going say than me.”

“What we’re going to do about what?”  Dalton steps from behind a pillar, taking the last draw off a cigarette. I had no idea he smoked.  How I’d missed him not sitting inside, I have no idea.

I look between them both then lean in to rub Cowboys arm.  “I’ll leave you alone.”  I turn to go back into the waiting room to find Roman waiting for me.  “Hey.”

“What did he want?”  He tucks me into his body and kisses the top of my head, but never takes his eyes off the door I’d just come through.

“To apologize.”

“And you forgave him?”

“Of course I did, why wouldn’t I?”  I look up at him.  “Roman, look at me.” 

He lets his blue eyes drift down to mine and I try to keep from getting lost in them.  “Do you forgive me?”

“Do you forgive me?”  I throw his question back at him.

His eyes smolder as he studies my face and his lips draw into a perfect, kissable smirk.  “There’s nothing to forgive.  You were put in a place with information that wasn’t yours to share.”

“But I know I would be mad as hell at you if you’d done it.”  I try to push him away, but his vice grip his arms have around me tells me he thinks otherwise.

“Difference between me and you.”  I try even harder to push him away.  His laugh makes me stop my struggle.  “I had the whole story before you felt the need to confess.”  He releases his arms from around me and lets his hands drift up to hold my face to his.  “Thank you for being honest. It means a lot.”

We stand suspended in the moment, just looking at each other, The journey I’ve been on to get right here, right now hits me in the chest.  The words slip out before I can stop them.  “I love you, Roman.”

“I love you too, Hollis.”  He kisses me again.  “So you left them out there?”

“I thought it best.”  Just as I say it, the doors slide open and two very jovial men walk through the door, making me think Cowboy hadn’t told Dalton.  I watch as they cross the room and meet up with their women. They each whisper something into the women’s ears that has them looking confused. 

At the same moment, the inner doors burst open and Leo marches through them.  “It’s a girl … I have a daughter.”  Leo looks on the verge of sheer panic and the sight of the big man about to unravel is unusual but a little bit funny too. 

The men move from us to go to their brother, all with huge smiles on their faces.  I wipe a tear from my eye, as I’m overtaken by the happiness that is happening to these people I’d hurt and denied this feeling from so long ago.  I step back and let them all have their moment.  Piper comes up to me and begins dragging me into the huge mob of hugs that are being shared.  “Come on, girl. Get in on this shit.” 

Laughs, tears, smiles, and stories are shared as we all live the happy given to us.  “She’s in the nursery if you all wanna see her. I’m going back to Avery for a little while, then I’ll meet you all there.”  Leo separates from the celebration.

“Leo?”  I call to him just before he disappears between the doors leading back to Avery.  “What’s her name?”

“Gia.”  Then he’s gone, leaving us scurrying to the nursery window to see God’s way of humbling Leo Tucker.

She has a head full of black hair and is the tiniest thing I have ever seen in my life.

“If somebody doesn’t start having boys in this place, this town is gonna go on lockdown,”  Dalton announces as he hugs Piper into him.  When he realizes what he’s said, he casts a sympathetic eye to Emily and Cowboy.  “Sorry.”

They both shake their heads.  “Don’t be. It’s always a good day when a baby is born.”  Emily turns her sweet eyes back to the glass to look over little Gia Tucker.

I pinch Roman’s side.  “I’ll have you a boy.”  I whisper into his ear.

He turns to me with a devious smile on his lips.  He then looks around us, then up and down the hall.  “You think we can find an empty room to get to work on that?”

Roman

I stand over the bed watching her sleep.  I fight the urge to wake her and pull her into my arms, but what I have to do this morning, I have to do alone.  I slowly walk to the door, turning back to look at her once more.  I smile at the ‘normal’ we’ve been living for the past three weeks, and it’s her that has given that to me, to us.  She’ll have a permanent scar from it, and I think it makes her sexier if that’s even possible for her. 

There’s no more looking over our shoulders, wondering when the next hit is going to blindside us.  I squeeze the keys I have in my hand, closing the door behind me and head for my truck. No motorcycle for a while, it’s turned bitter cold and I’ve parked the bike in exchange for my cage.

The drive through town seems as light as it had been when I was a teenager.  I was a boy who didn’t have a care in the world. My concerns back then were trying to figure out how I was gonna get beer for the party on the weekends. 

I pull through the all too familiar gate and travel up the narrow drive.  The trees lining the asphalt have grown large since I was a boy, when my father had planted them.  I look up through the sunroof to admire the natural canopy the branches make and remember that in the summer, the branches are completely full, shading the entire drive.

Reaching the end of the drive, it opens up to the still beautiful house of my youth.

Dalton and Piper are already here and I watch as confusion colors her face as I pull to a stop and get out. 

“Roman, why are we here?”  she asks with a small shake to her voice.

I shove my hands down in my pockets and rock back on my heels. “How was dinner last night?”

Cowboy and Emily had invited Dalton and Piper over to their place the night before and Hollis and I had kept Caden.  The news, although tough for Emily to take, had been more difficult for Cowboy to deliver to Dalton. 

Piper’s eyes dart to Dalton, then back to me.  “It went fine.”

I turn to a still silent Dalton.  “Dalton?”

He runs his fingers through his hair and sighs.  “Not gonna lie, it was a shock.”  He reaches out and drags Piper into his side, kissing her hair as she starts to cry.  Her tears are starting to effect Daltons answer.  “So I decided, I mean, we decided to leave her right where she is.  Caden’s been through more in her short life than most people go through when they live to be ninety.  Plus, it’s hard to miss something you never knew you had.  She’s where she’s supposed to be, and that’s with her parents, Cowboy and Emily.  I’m great with just being Uncle Dalton.”

“Piper, how are you with all this?”  I ask and watch her wipe the tears running down her cheeks. 

“Blindsided, and like Dalton, fucking shocked.  It hurt like hell to find out Dalton had knocked that piece of shit up.”  She looks up at me and blinks away more tears.  “But for some strange reason, Cowboy’s explanation of why he did it made perfect sense.”

“Okay.”  I smile at the both of them.

“Okay?  That’s all you’re going to say.  You could’ve done this over the phone instead of dragging us out of bed on a Saturday morning.”  She narrows her eyes at me, searching for the reason to my odd behavior.  “And why did you do that, drag me down here?”

I dig into my pocket and produce the keys I’d taken from my dresser earlier this morning and hold them out to her.  “To give you these.”

“Keys? You got me out of the fucking bed to give me keys?”  She looks at my offering.

“Yes.”

“To Mom and Dad’s house?”

“Yes.”  This is not going the way I’d pictured it.  I’d thought she would be over the moon I was giving her something she had always bitched should’ve been left to her and not me because I was never home.

“You love this house, Roman.”  Her blue eyes soften when she sees that I’m serious and not pulling some cruel joke on her.

“Not as much as you do, sis.”  She’s started to cry again and I’m finding it odd. She’s been so emotional the past few days.  My little sister has always been a hard-ass, not a ‘cry at the drop of a hat’ kinda girl.

“You’re giving us this house?”  Dalton points to the structure behind him.

“Yes, I am.  I know that you two are getting tired of living in that tiny apartment, and Hollis and I are happy in our house and don’t wanna move.”  I look at the second story window that used to be my bedroom.  “Besides, this house needs life in it again.”

I’m taken off guard by Piper slinging her arms around my waist and burying her face in my chest. I wrap my arms around her and hold her close.  I can’t remember the last time my little sister had given me a hug.

“Thank you, Roman.”

“It’s still furnished. You can keep it all, change it around, or get rid of everything and make it yours.  I’ve hung on to this memory for far too long.  It’s time to move on.”

Hollis

I wake to an empty bed. I listen for the shower, but hear nothing.  I roll to his side of the bed, resigned to the fact that he’s more than likely on one of his early morning runs.  Then my breath catches in my throat.

A red rose lays on his pillow with an elegantly hand-written note attached to it.  

Dear Hollis

I had an errand to run this morning.  Getting rid of old ghosts I’ve been clinging to for too long.  I need to do this so that you and I can start over with a clean slate and give this life we want together the best shot we can.  I will be home soon.

My love is all yours, forever.

R

I close my eyes and hold the rose to my nose, smelling it as I hold the note to my heart.  And for the first time, I let myself have hope―hope that we’re getting our happy ending. 

Our life together is becoming a reality.  The love we have for each other is real.  For once there’s no pending threats of death or reasons to look over our shoulders for anything. 

We can actually make plans, look forward to something and be happy. We can finally be content in the safety created by the Hammonds’ being dead or in jail forever. 

I sit up in the bed and look around the room.  I can’t help but smile because I now have so many reasons to.  It’s like a weight has been lifted off my body and there’s no sign or reason for it to return.  I can begin to live the life I’ve yearned for. 

I climb from under the covers and take Roman’s robe. I wrap myself in it and hug my arms around my waist.  There is no dread or foreboding feelings pressing on me, just a light feeling that everything is going to be great from now on.

I head down to the kitchen for some much needed caffeine.  I hear the front door open then close, making my heart flutter in my chest.  I turn to see him standing in the doorway, smiling at me. 

“Hello, beautiful.”  He crosses the kitchen and comes to me, gathering me up into his strong arms. 

“Hello to you too, handsome.”  He leans in, taking my mouth with his.  His tongue glides over my bottom lip and I open for him.   My insides liquefy as he gently takes my mouth.  He backs me into the table as his tongue dances with mine and lifts me up to the table, stepping between my legs. 

“What do you say we redo our first night together and do it right this time?”  He reaches down to untie the sash of the robe, pulling it open to find me still naked, the way I’d fallen asleep last night and how he’d left me this morning.