Never Trust the Living (Battle Crows MC Book 7) Read online

I frowned. “What?”

  “That was our first mistake,” he announced. “We should’ve never treated you as anything but a permanent part of me. If I’m there, you’re welcome.”

  I scoffed. “Your family doesn’t like me, remember? I wasn’t ever welcome. And they all thought I was weird, and they called me Dorcas, and I didn’t like being there.”

  He said something quietly under his breath that I had a feeling was a vicious curse, and then said, “We’re going to fix this. This weekend. We’ll have a get together to celebrate the baby. Since we now know the sex, we’ll have one of those gender reveal parties.”

  “Gender reveal parties are stupid,” I said, remembering a time when he would’ve agreed with me. “You remember how much shit you gave that friend of yours for having one? You hated it. He hated it. We all hated it.”

  I’d never understood gender reveal parties.

  Everyone else could have them, but I sure the fuck wouldn’t ever be having one.

  At least, I hadn’t planned on it.

  Until, apparently, now.

  “I know.” Bram started to laugh. “I know. But it’s a good, happy, momentous occasion. We won’t do it big. We won’t even tell them that we’re having it. We’ll disguise it as a welcome home party, and not a gender reveal at all. They’ve all really missed you.”

  I barely contained my scoff.

  There was no way in hell that they missed me.

  In fact, they probably celebrated the months that I’d been gone.

  “You remember last Christmas how not a single person got me a Christmas gift?” I asked. “Not even your parents got me one.”

  I felt him sigh.

  “What’s with the trip down memory lane?” he grumbled. “Trying to remind yourself why you left in the first place? God, sometimes I hate my family.” He hesitated. “Sometimes I hate myself.”

  I ignored him.

  My belly grumbled, and that was his cue to take me to get a cupcake.

  Even though we both knew it likely wouldn’t stay down.

  But it was the thought that counted, right?

  I curled into him more, and when the motor roared to life, I answered his earlier question.

  “I walk down memory lane because that’s the only way I get to run into you,” I whispered.

  What I didn’t realize was that Bram had heard.

  CHAPTER 14

  If you’re ever in an argument that you can’t get out of, take off one of your socks and hand it to the other person.

  -Bram to Shine

  BRAM

  After introducing Dory to Jeremiah’s new cook, Gracelynn, and obviously other things that he wasn’t ready to admit to yet, I went to the front of the store when I heard a commotion break out.

  Jeremiah was way ahead of me, and when we got there, it was to find Noel and Peter, Jeremiah’s counter employees, arguing with a camera crew.

  “No, you cannot come behind the counter! Get back!” Peter cried.

  I moved to block the camera dude with my body as I said, “You either listen to what the employees say, or I force you to get the fuck out.”

  The man’s camera swung to me, and he grinned. “Are you part of the MC in town? The Battle Ravens?”

  “Battle Crows,” someone that was standing quietly in line said. “And that’s Bram. He’s by far the meanest of the bunch. I would suggest getting out of his face as soon as possible.”

  There was a reason that I was known as the ‘meanest’ among the town population. Mostly because I’d spent the last ten years in a perpetual state of anger, at myself, and there was no one better to take it out on than people that didn’t stay out of my fucking face.

  Hell, my boss had told me for years that he didn’t like my attitude, but I did such good work, he wasn’t entirely willing to fire me because I always made him look bad.

  “I just wanted to get a closer up look of the products for my Insta page.” He waved his hand in the air, indicating all the pastries behind the counter.

  “Listen.” I pushed him out of the way until Jeremiah could get the gate closed behind me. “You need to leave. Now. Before I do it for you.”

  The man didn’t take the hint, so when he tried to sidestep me and push me out of the way while he was at it, I’d had enough.

  Since the guy probably weighed a buck fifty at most, I picked him up by placing my hands underneath his armpits and escorted him out of The Sweet Spot, Jeremiah’s bakery. Depositing him on the front step, I pointed at the other camera crew that was still recording their own version of the same shit outside.

  “Keep the cameras outside,” I ordered. “And only come in if you’re willing to pay for something.”

  They all nodded at me mutely, and I jerked my chin up to the girl that’d been patiently waiting for her pastries.

  She smiled at me, then went back to the conversation she was having with her daughter, and I made my way back to Jeremiah.

  Jeremiah was staring at me with a look on his face I couldn’t quite decipher.

  “What?” I asked as I pushed past him.

  “You’ve changed,” he said as he followed me to where I was going—his office.

  He closed the door to his office, then leaned his shoulders against the wood.

  “I’ve… come to terms with a few things,” I admitted.

  “And what are those things?” he asked. “You’ve finally pulled your head out?”

  Meaning, I’ve finally admitted to myself that Dory meant the entire world to me.

  “Yes,” I answered. “I’ve also committed myself to losing her at the end of all of this.”

  He blinked. “What? Why?”

  “Because.” I paused. “I don’t think there’s any way in hell that I can fix any of this. We’ve all been too mean to her. She was telling me stories today of all her memories when it came to me, and my family, and I think I’ve got a burning bridge I’m trying to repair with only my bare hands and no tools.”

  “If you think that you’re going to fail, you will,” he said solemnly. “And I think that Dory deserves a chance. I think that, if you can figure it out, you two will mean the world to each other. She deserves the world. Don’t you think?”

  I didn’t think.

  I knew.

  “Maybe we should move,” I thought. “That place in Florida, Accident… it was nice. Away from all of our family. And I know that it’ll be hard but… I could find a place to work there on the coast. Jobs pay better over there anyway. Maybe I need to allow her to get to know me before we repair whatever the hell we broke with my family.”

  Jeremiah crossed his arms over his chest, but his face was open as he said, “I think that might actually be good for the both of you.”

  A fresh start.

  Maybe… maybe that’s exactly what we needed.

  • • •

  BRAM

  “What do you think?” I asked.

  Her mouth opened and closed, her eyes wide, as she said, “I don’t know.”

  I smiled.

  I knew what she was actually thinking.

  She was thinking that I wouldn’t be happy there.

  But I would.

  As long as I had her.

  “I contacted that BNB chick,” I said. “Directly. They said as long as we pay rent, that they’ll be more than happy to rent it out to us for six months.”

  My belly pitched as I watched her face go from excited to unhappy, to pensive, to excited again.

  She didn’t want to be here.

  My family and me… well, we’d fucked something up inside of her.

  She wanted to be away.

  “As long as you’re willing for me to be there, I’ll be there,” I told her. “And if you want, we can look for a house there.”

  “But your family…” She hesitated. “They’ll hate me even more for taking you away.”

  “I’ll tell them that I found a job there that pays better. You know how hard it is to find jobs here as it is.” I waved off her concern. “They won’t even know that it has anything to do with you.”

  The hope in her eyes damn near killed me.

  A little beep had me glancing at my phone, and I grinned.

  “The chick that owns your BNB just messaged back with this house.” I flipped my phone around. “Check those pictures out while I go get dinner started. Let me know what you think.”

  Dinner consisted of some really bland, non-smelly food.

  All the meat was cooked outside, because I’d found out over the last week that she did better when the smells didn’t linger.

  And the rice was plain ol’ boring white rice.

  But if it meant that she would eat, I would eat the shit and be happy.

  Which she did.

  After bringing in the grilled chicken and placing it on the counter, I scooped out some rice onto a plate, more than she likely would eat, and then flipped over a crispy piece of chicken that I’d marinated with the sweetest teriyaki I could find.

  Sweets seemed to do the trick. Not only had she been able to hold down a cupcake today, but a cookie and a kid’s bowl of orange chicken and white rice.

  And since I was all about seeing her eat, I’d tried to recreate a little bit of that at home.

  When she came into the kitchen wearing her gray sweats, my sweatshirt that I’d all but forced on her, and a pair of slouchy socks, I thought I’d never seen anything more beautiful.

  “You look adorable,” I said as I placed the plate into her waiting hands.

  She looked at the food and smiled.

  “Thank you,” she said softly as she moved to the bar where we usually ate our meals.

  But, since I was trying to make this more traditional for us, I gestured toward the table. “I set the table.
We can sit there.”

  She blinked at me owlishly. “You… what?”

  I smirked. “I set the table.”

  It wasn’t much. Just some silverware, a non-scented candle that I’d had to take out of our emergency stash, and napkins.

  But it was me, trying. Trying to give her what she deserved, that I never gave her before.

  “Are you sure?” she asked softly.

  I placed my plate at the table where I usually sat when I was alone, then took her plate from her and set it directly next to mine. “Come on. Do you need a knife?”

  She nodded her head, and I went back to grab a steak knife to cut up our chicken and a couple of drinks for us both.

  “Do you want to try a Dr. Pepper?” I asked.

  She looked thoughtful for a second, then nodded, causing her hair that was piled high on the top of her head to bob. “Yes.”

  I grinned and grabbed two, handing her one before taking the seat beside her.

  I watched out of the corner of my eye as she ate, and ate it all.

  God, I hoped she kept it down.

  When she was through, she even went back for seconds. Which made my heart fuckin’ happy.

  That night, after we were ready for bed and crawling in, I turned out the light and said, “So what do you want to do, darlin’?”

  I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to pull her into my arms and hold her tight all night long.

  But that hadn’t been my question.

  “I’ll go,” she said softly. “I had a job lined up there anyway.”

  I blinked, surprised. “You did?”

  “Yeah,” she said softly. “When I graduated in December, I started to look. That’s why I went to Accident. They had an opening for a child psychologist.”

  That was another reason to feel like shit.

  I’d missed her graduation.

  She didn’t know that I knew, but I had.

  Or I’d mostly missed it.

  I’d gotten there in time to see her walk halfway across the stage and accept her diploma.

  “When you walked across that stage,” I said softly, “I’ve never been prouder. You did all that without any help whatsoever. I still can’t believe that you did it in such a short amount of time.”

  Her breath hitched as she said, “You went to my graduation?”

  I twisted to lie on my side, my stupid sweatpants getting caught up in the bedclothes.

  I ignored them as I said, “I was there. I was able to get out of work in time to go. But I had to go right back. It was during my lunch break. And you know how my boss is.”

  I heard her sniffle, and I stiffened. “Baby? Why are you crying?”

  She kept sniffling, and I couldn’t stop myself from reaching for her and pulling her in close. “Dory…”

  “You just made my day,” she whispered brokenly. “I thought nobody cared.”

  CHAPTER 15

  I don’t know about you, but I don’t have any more passwords left in me.

  -Bram to Dory

  BRAM

  I thought nobody cared.

  Her words from last night played over and over in my head as I talked to the lady on the phone about renting her house out for the next six months.

  Then, once I was done with that, I contacted some movers that were going to be here tomorrow to start packing up our house.

  Tomorrow would be the last day we would live here for a while. Possibly forever.

  But that didn’t bother me.

  What bothered me was that she thought nobody cared. She thought that I didn’t care.

  And that couldn’t be further from the truth.

  I more than cared.

  I cared too much.

  I cared so much that I overthought everything there was to ever think about.

  Which sucked because a lot of my thinking always centered around how much better off she would be if she wasn’t shackled to a man like me.

  But that was a moot point now.

  I would be fixing what I’d broken.

  And that started with me getting us out of the city. Away from my family. To a place that she would be comfortable. To a place that she could heal from the wounds my family, and mostly I, had inflicted on her.

  “Thank you again for getting this done on such short notice,” I rumbled. “I’ll see y’all bright and early tomorrow.”

  Everything getting done in a timely manner, and it wasn’t even eight in the morning yet, I looked at my watch and considered what to do next.

  I needed to go to my job and quit.

  I also needed to go see my family and let them know what was happening.

  Give them an in-person explanation as to why I wouldn’t be here anymore.

  Not to make them feel bad about what they’d put my wife through all these years—they were just feeding off of what I’d done myself—but because they deserved to know.

  “What are you doing?”

  I looked up from where I was doodling on a piece of paper I’d put down quotes and who would be here when and where, to find Dory standing in the kitchen staring at me with confusion.

  My eyes took in the length of her body, and barely hid the urge to growl in appreciation.

  She was wearing my T-shirt, what I assumed was a bra and panties, and slouchy socks that had been mine from high school.

  They were ones that I wore while on the football team, and I hadn’t seen them in a very long time.

  It made me wonder if she’d had them all along.

  Which made my stomach and heart do weird things.

  “I’m getting quotes.” I paused. “Or I got quotes. I have the movers coming tomorrow to start packing up the house. I spoke with the lady about another house that she has as a rental. She’s having the place cleaned now, and it’s right on the water—bay side, not even a block from where we were at originally. But it’s more spacious, and a little more secure. Which she figured I’d want. Which I do. It’s about twice the amount of money in rent every month, but I thought being waterfront would be worth it. She also mentioned renting to own, but not having seen the house, I can’t very well say that I want it when I’d have to get your opinion on it first.” I hesitated. “Unless you want me to do it?”

  She blinked owlishly, then shook her head. “No, no. That’s okay. Let’s look at it first.”

  I flashed a grin at her. “I have a couple of preliminary appointments with a few underwater welding jobs there, too. That starts next Monday. Which, might I add, is about twice what I get paid right now. So this might work out really well for us financially. They’re in high demand down there right now due to that last hurricane that hit the Gulf Coast.” I stopped. “And I also talked to that chick about your upcoming job interview. Though that wasn’t because I called her, but because she called here looking for you. I asked her if she’d mind moving it to Monday as well, seeing as you’d been really sick and couldn’t hold any food down. She agreed, and so I’ll drop you off at yours before I go to mine. It’s a good thing we got you a new vehicle.”

  She continued to blink. “You’ve been busy.”

  “I’ve been motivated,” I admitted. “And now, I have to go quit my job and talk to my family. One of which I think I need to do alone, and one of which I think you’d rather me do alone. But, if you want, I can take you to both. It’s completely up to you.”

  She licked her lips, then shook her head, causing her hair that’d obviously been twisted up and loosely tied to fall down around her shoulders.

  She immediately started to twist it back into place.

  Which I watched with rapt attention.

  God, I wanted to sink my hands into that soft hair.

  “I’ll stay and help you pack since I haven’t really unpacked,” she said softly. “I don’t… I don’t want to talk to your family, if that’s okay with you.”

  That made my heart sink, because even though I knew that’d be her answer, I still had hoped for a different one.

  God, what had I done?

  Why had I allowed this to go on for so long?

  “Sure,” I said softly. “In the meantime, if you get tired of packing, you can eat some of the food I had delivered?”

  I pointed to a few bags on the counter.

  “They’re just a couple of orders of breakfast style food. Some pastries. I made a run over to Jeremiah’s bakery and got you a few things that I knew you might be able to hold down.”

  Her shoulders slumped. “Thank you, Bram.”

  I winked at her. “I’ll be back. If you need anything, call?”