Page 118 of Delirium
It was there when I first came to the Club and it was there right now as well, but I had a feeling that she was the one pushing him away, and not the other way around.
The gunshot wound thankfully missed all the vital organs, but I didn’t think that any of us would forget that day when they went to the warehouse where Belladonna hid any time soon. Especially not Zoe.
“Were you talking about me, Kitten?” he asked, his eyes dragging over her body.
“N-no,” she stammered. “I was talking about the dog I want to adopt,” she blurted out and I lost it.
“Speaking of dogs,” Storm said, cutting through the tension. “Where’s Kaiser?”
“Indigo took him out,” Zoe said, taking a step back from Felix, ignoring the poor man, while his eyes never wavered from her. She looked at Storm and me and if the looks could kill, both of us would drop dead right now. But she couldn’t hide from this for much longer, and if I had anything to do with it, she wouldn’t.
I had to talk to her, see what the issue was, because it was quite obvious to all of us that Felix wanted her badly.
“They’re here!” Atlas yelled from somewhere in the house, and I knew who they were.
Storm invited Maya and Kieran to our Christmas dinner without my knowledge. I only found out yesterday when Maya called me and told me that Kieran behaved as if he was going to visit the Queen of England and not the MC. I bawled like a baby when she told me, and Storm found me with a blotchy face and tears streaming down my cheeks. If this wasn’t the testament of his love for me, I had no idea what was.
Cillian stayed with Kieran and Maya after the whole shitshow in Portland, and I felt bad for not taking more time to see him, talk to him, see what was happening. Something was bothering him, but neither one of us were known for our ability to talk about things that were eating us alive.
I hoped Kieran would be able to reach him, to let him open up, but Cillian kept his feelings close to his heart, never once divulging anything to his brother. To say that both of us were worried would be an understatement of the year.
But they were here now, and that’s all that mattered at this moment. I had all my people in one place. As the sound of the door opening and closing filtered through the house, Atlas’s voice ringing loudly as he greeted them and then Maya mumbling about the size of this place, I knew that things would be okay.
Even if we were nowhere near finding Belladonna or Judah Blackwood, we were together. I never thought I would see the day where all of us could be in the same house without trying to kill each other, but it was here.
Years ago, all I had was the darkness to keep me warm at night, and now I had a group of people who I trusted with my life. Not only that, I knew they would do everything possible to keep my kids safe as well, and that’s what mattered.
“You want to go and greet them?” Storm asked, leaning down to me, and whispering in my ear. My answering nod was all he needed to start walking toward the hallway leading to the rest of the house. As we crossed into the small foyer area where Maya, Kieran, Cillian, and Atlas stood, my heart filled with the unfamiliar feeling, something akin to happiness, fullness, something I hadn’t felt before.
“Phee!” Maya squealed, running toward me. Before I could detach myself from Storm, she had me enveloped in a big hug, squeezing me. “I’ve missed you so much,” she murmured against my hair.
“You saw me two weeks ago.” I laughed, pulling my hand from Storm, and hugging her back.
“Well.” She shrugged, taking a step back. “Two weeks is a long time. Just be lucky that I haven’t killed Kieran in those two weeks.”
“I heard that,” he said, coming closer to us.
“You were supposed to.” She glared at him, but Storm was right. I had to admit he was right, because the way Kieran looked at her wasn’t filled with indifference or anger—it was filled with emotions so similar to the ones that passed over Storm’s face every time he looked at me.
“Hey, man.” Kieran greeted Storm first, shaking his hand. Storm tried remaining stoic, but somewhere between that first meeting where he punched Kieran in his face and now, the two created some sort of friendship.
It was different from what Storm had with Indigo and Atlas, even the rest of the guys in the Club, but it was a friendship nevertheless, even though he didn’t want to admit it. He grumbled the entire time I cheered and cried at the same time that he invited them, but I knew that deep down, he liked Kieran.
The fact that Kieran stopped sniffing around me, trying to take me away from Storm, definitely helped.
“We should talk, K,” Storm grumbled, shaking Kieran’s hand, and my eyes widened at the small nickname he gave him.
“K?” I asked, looking between Storm and Kieran. “You call him K?”
“Shush, Sunshine,” he grunted. “His name is a mouthful.”
“You know what else is mouthful?” I grinned, looking up at him. His hand snuck behind my back, pinching my ass. My yelp reverberated around the small foyer, everyone’s eyes turning toward us.
“What was that for?” I pouted, rubbing the spot he pinched.
“You know what,” Storm answered, looking down at me, and I knew that look. I knew that fire and wanted it every single day. That look meant he wanted to put me over his knee and spank me for talking like this in front of everyone else. I always knew he was possessive, but I didn’t figure out just how much until I came back to the Club.
“Birdy,” Cillian called out from behind Kieran, pushing between Maya and his brother to reach me. “You look like a whale.”
