Page 57 of Lay Me Down
“Why not?”
“I don’t like him. Which I know sounds stupid, but even if I wanted his help, I’m not sure he would give it. We’ve let him help with some day-to-day tasks, but I don’t want him involvedin anything more than that. He kept trying to convince us that Damien left on his own, and—”
Grease rears back like someone lunged at him. His shock actually takes me by surprise.
“Why the fuck would he think that?”
“Exactly!” I throw my hands forward, feeling relieved that someone outside of Damien’s immediate circle doesn’t believe that either. “Satori doesn’t fucking know him. He wouldneverleave like that.” I lay back slightly and press my hand over the top of the gymnast doing summersaults in my body. At least, that’s what I imagine with all of the bubbles and rumbling I feel. “Even on theextremelyoff chance Damien leftme, he wouldn’t leave his men.”Or our baby, I think, but I keep that to myself.
He looks at me with somber eyes and sits back in his chair. His bottom lip moves between his teeth, like he’s contemplating on saying something, and then he takes a deep breath.
“My son is two months old,” Grease admits, and I find myself focusing on his words more than I did before. “Me and his mom don’t get along most of the time, and she regrets ever laying with me, but she loves our son. I’d die for that woman, and I don’t love her.” He scrunches his face like it’s an unwilling reaction, almost as if he hates what he just said. I have no idea who his son's mother is, but I'm assuming by his tone and the pain on his face that there's a long story there. “D ran through a field of gunfire to get to you, and that was before you even knew you were pregnant. He wouldn’t leave you either, mama. Believe that.”
Warmth fills my chest for the first time in days, and I sink into the chair to soak it in. Damien’s love for me has never been in question, and it’s relieving to hear someone else agree with that.
“I do.” I smile faintly, and he nods at me as he smiles back.
“I’ll get on it and have everything sent within the hour.” He reaches out and grabs his phone.
“Thanks, Grease. Can I ask one more thing?”
He stops typing and looks back up at me.
“Of course.”
“Some of Sahara’s men have been put into our field rotations. Can your guys also keep an eye out? It’s not that I don’t trust them, per se, but I just want to make sure they’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing, and not what Satori tells them to.”
“Sure. What do you want us to look for?”
“Well, you know our guys normally blend in. They walk around or hang out in parks and wait for orders during the day, unless they see something themselves. Then at night, we mostly stick to secluded areas or on the rooftops. I want to know if they go anywhere different than we’ve set up for them, or if they insert themselves too closely into something they shouldn’t. Pretty much, if anything looks different from how we normally do things, I want to know about it.”
“Yeah, you got it,” he reassures me, and I stand to leave, but he leans forward. So, I stop to listen. “If you needanything, mama, you let me know.”
I hate how that affects me. As nice as that offer is, there's nothing he can do for me. I don’t need anything except Damien. I need his arms around me, his scent to flood my senses, and his heartbeat in my ear. But he can’t give me any of that, and everything else is minimal comparatively. It is a nice gesture, however, and somehow I know that deep down, Grease is a good guy.
“I need my husband. That’s what I need.”
He hardens his stare and sits up a little straighter.
“We’ll find him.”
I smile back at him and then walk out with Daisy beside me. Alex and Zeke are waiting anxiously with their arms crossed at their chests, and Viking stands on the opposite side of the hall with a stare that could slaughter. He has a lot of pridethat he's going to have to get over eventually, or it might just get him killed. I like Grease. He’s a respectable man, and if he likes Viking so much, then there must besomethingredeemable about him. I'm just not surewhat.
Those stares that I remember from my first time here are back, and the entire club seems to watch us as we walk back through. I don't pay them any attention, though. Even if our groups can't reconcile any time soon, they're not a problem today. They’re not my priority. Damien is, and this meeting was only to ensure that we had eyes and ears everywhere we could have them.
The rest seems like a later problem.
Chapter 24
Ashia
‘Femininomenon’ – Chappell Roan
Steam billows from the pot on the stove, and Serena’s voice echoes over the timer that’s currently blaring from our oven. Daisy is lying in the bed I bought for her beside the counter, and Zeke and Carter are in the room connected to the garage. After my meeting with Grease, we came back to the house to eat and go over the system again. We’ve been trying to figure out how someone could’ve logged in and made it look like it was Damien. So far, we haven’t come up with anything, but Carter knows that tech lingo better than I do.
“Okay. So, if I entertain this whole ‘it’s a girl’ idea, then I only have thirty-two bows in my Amazon cart. That leaves plenty of room for other colors,” she says cheerfully. Serena has called herself the ‘distraction crew’ lately. As cute as it is, most of her tactics have been to focus on the baby. I want that. I really do.There’s nothing I’d love more than to go out and buy cute little outfits and compare diaper brands, but I just can’t.
Damien would’ve been better at that than me. Knowing him, he already has everything he wants planned out. I’m sure bows are definitely in that scenario, but he and Serena can collaborate on that when he gets home. I want the baby to have everything they need, and whatever is going to make them feel comfortable and loved, but I also want Damien to help me make those decisions.
