“Sleep on it, Whip will be here by noon I’m sure and we need to brace. Church at ten. Get some rest,” Chains orders and stands pocketing his phone and heads for his room to join his ol’ lady.
Standing I do the same thing. Stepping into my room, I remove my cut and shirt, empty my pockets on the dresser as I regard the boys sleeping on pallets on the floor next to the bed and their mom, my mon bijou, in the bed.
Removing my boots, I quietly move to the opposite side of the room and slide into the bed without disturbing Brielle. Putting a hand behind my head I rest it on the pillow and close my eyes as I plan for what’s to come.
My own maman always said I enjoyed the challenge and that’s why I always sought the rush of it. Said one day I’d find the one and the best rush of all would come with making sure to keep them where I wanted them.
Should have ’done something the first day I saw her. Realize what I know now.
Brielle and her boys belong to me and I’ll do whatever I gotta do to keep them that way.
Chapter Five
Brielle
“Where the fuck is she?” My body jerks at the roar of my brother’s voice as I stand in the kitchen holding a cup of coffee to my chest.
Oh. No.
Bryan is here.
Not good.
He’s not supposed to be here.
“Maman?” Marcus asks.
“Shh, it’s okay,” I murmur lifting a hand from the coffee cup and putting it around my son’s head.
Since Ryder brought me to the clubhouse late last night after I was discharged both my boys have been sticking to me like glue.
“Whip, cool it,” another man snaps.
“Not fuckin’ happenin’ until I see my fuckin’ sister,” Bryan or rather as the man calls him Whip snarls.
“You might want to calm the fuck down before you scare her and her boys,” Ryder suggests but it’s more of an order. It’s scary the only thing blocking me from my brother is a thin wall between the main room and the kitchen.
“I’ll calm down when I see Mini,” Whip mutters.
I close my eyes at the nickname my brother gave me a long time ago.
“You going to cool it before I let you near her man. Her and those boys been through enough. I sure as hell ain’t about to let them go through anymore,” Ryder growls.
Oh.
My.
God.
“Brielle, you’ve missed it but the past six months, those boys of yours became my boys as well by putting their claim on me and by doing so I put mine on all three of you. I just hadn’t acted on it until, and I’ll say this, my boys called crying because you were stabbed. That shit ain’t happenin’ again. Got me?” Ryder’s words ring in my ear.
When I’d woken up this morning, I’d done it next to Ryder. My head resting on his arm. Due to the pain in my stomach I wasn’t able to lay like I normally do during the only times I sleep but Ryder had one arm under my head the other wrapped protectively around my chest. Keeping me secured near him.
Marcus and Micah slept straight through this. They didn’t wake up until right before we came into the kitchen a few minutes ago.
Meaning I’d lain staring at Ryder until he’d woken up, opened his beautiful eyes and grinned at me. “Morning mon bijou,” he murmured, sleepily.
God the way my body reacts to his voice.
Ryder had helped me up, given me one of his shirts and a pair of my leggings. I knew these were mine due to the fact he’d pulled them out of a bag someone had packed full of my clothes. Next to my bag were two other bags filled with Marcus and Micah’s clothes as well.
“Maman,” Micah whispers moving closer to me. Out of both of my boys, though they’re twins, Micah is the one who is the most sensitive. Marcus is protective over his brother, doesn’t matter the three-minute difference between the two of them. He doesn’t like seeing his brother upset and right now he’s hovering even closer to his brother as they huddle into me.
Aware we’re not alone in the kitchen two of Ryder’s brothers were in here sitting down and enjoying their breakfast when we’d come in. Before he left to check on something, Ryder introduced them to me as Brake and Tyres. They were now watching us with frowns on their faces.
Doing my best to ignore them, I put the coffee cup I’d been holding on the counter and slide down, bracing myself against the cabinet doors as I get to my boy’s eye level. “I’m right here boys. No one is ever going to hurt you. Never. You know I’ll never let that happen. Now the man yelling that’s your Uncle Bryan.”
“Why does he sound so mad?” Micah murmurs.
“Probably because I haven’t been completely honest with him about things,” I say, honestly.
“Look man, all due respect, that’s my fuckin’ sister, I haven’t seen her in years and finding this shit out, I need to set fuckin’ eyes on her and my nephews now,” my brother growls causing my body to jerk as I stand back to my full height and wrap my arms around Marcus and Micah.
“Ryder let him in,” I call out through the door.
Immediately, Ryder is through the door to the kitchen with my brother and two other men directly behind him. A few other’s follow suit as well.
“Mini,” Bryan mutters, eyes wide as he stares at me and my boys, taking in the protective hold I have on them. “Fuck.”
“Bryan,” I murmur, cautiously holding his gaze.
“Baby.” I hadn’t even felt Ryder get close and wrap an arm around not just me but the boys as well. What I did feel was the safety I’ve never had the moment he did.
Bryan takes this in as it happens and his brows furrow.
