"I've never seen Meredith like that before," Bianca told Jagger as they drove to the clubhouse."She was in a bad spot after she was raped, but since then, I've never seen that blank stare in her eyes. Back then I was newly patched, so I wasn't privy to everything that was going on, but I can remember Tyler bringing her to the clubhouse. For months afterwards, she had this blank stare that could see straight through you—even when she seemed happy. It was like there was a part of her that would check out and go to this place where she wasn't sure how she felt about anything." He shook his head. "I saw that today, and the thing is, I don't understand it. She and Tyler have wanted this for a long ass time.""I imagine she's scared," B speculated. "I mean, think of it this way. Say you were never able to get pregnant, they told you everything was fine, but for years, you weren't able to have a child—never even got pregnant. Out of the blue, she's pregnant. I'm just saying if it were me
Halloween in South Central Kentucky could be a crap shoot. Sometimes it was so hot that parents worried about heat stroke. This year, it was very cold and none of them could believe that it was snowing."I'm not sure if we should get her out in this." Meredith frowned as she glanced at Tyler. Addie was cute as a button in her Elsa outfit. Frozen was very popular in their household, even though it was a few years old."We'll take her to the clubhouse and she can show off to everybody, and then we'll see how it is. I think Roni and Rooster are takin' Carter to the church. They're doing it inside, and we've done some protection stuff for them before, so…"Her head snapped up. "You did protection for a church?""What?" He shrugged. "They had vandals who thought it was cute to spray paint on the side of the building.""I swear, you never cease to amaze me." She laughed as she helped Addie get her shoes on."I've done lots of things in my life," he told her plainly. "But the chur
"If people could see us now," Rooster mumbled as he, Tyler, and Liam got all the kids situated before they went inside the church."They can." Liam smacked him on the shoulder. "It's not like we have the cloak of invisibility around us.""Look at that Harry Potter reference." Tyler whistled between his teeth. "Doin' a little reading, huh?""Cut the shit. You'll be doing a lot of reading yourself. More than likely princess books. At least my daughter is tomboy through and through." Liam laughed. The ladies had been tapped to work the concession stand the church was operating for the night, so that left the men to take the kids around and get as much candy as they could. "If anybody hands out those piece of shit, black and orange wrapped taffy ones, we avoid them at all costs," Rooster instructed, grabbing Carter's candy bucket."A-fuckin'-men," Liam agreed. "I cracked a tooth on that shit last year and had to get a crown. What we want are candy bars and sweet tarts. Love the
"Are you sure you don't want me to drive you home?" Dalton asked Mandy as they lay in bed together the next morning. "It's not that big of a deal, and I would man up for you to do it."She smiled at him, biting her lower lip. "As much as I would love for you to, I don't want to get into it with anyone, and I don't want any questions about where I was last night. Layla's been out here with Deacon before, so she knows where we are and to keep her mouth shut. I trust her.""I do too." Dalton leaned over, kissing her softly. He ran his fingers through her hair, still not able to believe he was here with her, like this. He had morning stubble, something she'd never seen on him before. Normally he was always clean-shaven and it made her feel special that she'd been able to see this side of him. It made her excited about graduating high school and moving on with their lives."Are you sure you're okay?" he asked her, quietly."I'm fine." She nodded, feeling her face heat up with a b
"Fuck, its cold." Tyler breathed heavily into his hands as he and Drew stood outside one morning in November. He stomped his feet against the hard ground, trying to warm them up. They were about to start their warm up run, before they would move it inside to where the old boxing ring was still erected. "C'mon, me and Mer have an important appointment this morning and I can't be late," he told the teenager as he started them off on a jog."Oh yeah?"His smile was huge. "We get to find out what the baby is today.""That's exciting." Drew grinned back. "I remember when mom found out about Tatum. We were all pretty pumped, although I can admit to you that at the time, I had wished it was a boy.""Understandable," Tyler told him as they ran along the property of the compound. "Is something weighing on you? You haven't been as talkative the last few days."It had been on Tyler's mind to wonder if he should ask Drew if something was wrong, but he hadn't wanted to pry. "It's stupi
"Oh my God, Tyler. Are you okay?"He came to with Meredith and Ashley standing over him. He was lying in the floor, his back pressed against the hard tile. "Did you hit your head?" Ashley asked, as they helped him sit up."No, I'm good," he did his best to reassure them, but he still felt a little faint.Meredith did her best to keep the smile off her face. "You're good? You passed out."It all came back then, they were having a boy. He wasn't sure why that affected him in such a way, but the room swam again, this time not as a bad. "It was a shock," he tried to explain."This isn't unusual," Ashley explained to the both of them. "Let me go get you some peanut butter and crackers, you'll feel better once you have something in your stomach."They were left in the room alone as the technician went with her."Are you sure you're okay?" Meredith asked as she had a seat on the examination table. "You went down like a pile of bricks.""Yeah." He ran a hand through his hair
"What the hell is going on?" Tyler asked again, this time not nearly as nice."Let's take it inside the office," Travis said, marching towards it. Liam followed and Tyler looked around. "Why are you coming too? Did you have a hand in this?""Stop jumpin' to conclusions and let us talk to you," Liam told his friend, pushing him through the office and shutting the door.Meredith had a seat and motioned for Tyler to do the same. Nothing would get accomplished if he stood there, arms folded across his chest, attitude in full effect. "Did you know that Stephanie was Addie's aunt?" she asked quietly, throwing a pointed look at Travis."What the fuck?" Tyler glared at his two brothers, walking up to Liam and getting in his face. "You knew that and you didn't tell someone? That woman was living at CRISIS, around Meredith every goddamn day. Addie was there with her sometimes. What the fuck were you thinking?""I'll accept a lot from you, my man," Liam told him. "But get outta my
"Liam!"He glanced up from where he sat at the head of the table in the clubhouse. He, along with Tyler, Jagger, and Layne, were working out the new protection runs for the month of December. They were about to get much busier than they'd been in a long time. The men had been in the middle of deep conversation when Denise came storming in."Hey, baby." The smile he gave her was uncertain. He was completely unsure as why she would be so pissed off."Don't baby me!""You pissed?" he asked, not because he was stupid, but because he was curious. He wasn't ready to argue with anyone tonight, especially his wife."What was your first clue? I found this," she reached into her jeans pocket and produced a ripped empty condom wrapper, "in the truck.""Oh damn." Tyler chuckled, crossing his arms over his chest. He sat back to watch whatever this was unfold. He had a very good idea of whose it was, but he wasn't about to mention names."That ain't mine! We don't even use condoms, we'