“Oh, I do, believe me, I do. I’m going to take care of my son. Don’t worry about him.”
Randall slapped him on the arm. “It will turn out good. I can’t guarantee the when or the how, but I have a feeling it’s just around the corner.”
Preacher watched him leave but he didn’t feel convinced. With Reaper still out there, she would never be safe. With Reaper at large, he’d never trust her alone.
Bishop stormed past him, sporting a bleeding nose, and Bear joined him at the window.
“Do I want to know what happened there?”
“If you’re going to punish me for putting your boy in line, then no, you don’t need to know.”
“Did he deserve it?”
“Yes.”
“Fine.”
“I don’t want him alone around her,” Bear said. “He’s got an agenda. I don’t know what it is and I don’t like it.”
“It’s simple. He wants me away from her because he believes I manipulated her into belonging to me, instead of seeing the truth.”
“And what’s the truth?”
“Robin picked me, not him, and no matter how hard it is for him, he can’t stand to think about how he lost.” He shrugged. This wasn’t gloating or taunting. Until Robin confessed her love to Bishop or even to him, there was no game over.
****
“This is your room,” Bear said.
After struggling up the stairs, Robin had hoped to see her room and to have every single memory come crashing back over her.
Nothing.
Her room was bare.
“Where’s my stuff?” she asked.
“Oh, I’m getting Preacher to gather some of our things and drop it back over. You took a lot of it with you when you went to stay with him.”
“Oh, I went to stay with him?”
“Well, you lived with him and Bishop.”
“Wouldn’t Bishop have taken my stuff when he moved?”
“You and Bishop didn’t share a room.”
“Because we were so young?”
Bear paused for a second. “Something like that.”
“Why does it feel like you’re not giving me the whole story?”
“I’m giving you what you need to know,” he said. “It’s complicated.”
She moved into the room. Holding the crutches in one hand, she lowered herself to the bed. “Complicated seems to be an understatement. I moved everything out.”
“What you didn’t take with you, your mother sold or threw out.”
“Was I close to my mom?”
“No. You hated the bitch.”
“Bitch? I guess you weren’t exactly friends with her.”
“Your mother and I, we had a … complicated relationship.”
“Like Bishop and me?”
“No. You were the best of friends.”
“And we married each other. Why would we marry?”
“How about we just accept that you guys are married and it wasn’t always easy. It’s not easy.”
She tucked her hair behind her ear and nodded. “Not easy. Got it.” She blew out a breath. “I like the room.”
“Good. It’s gone through a lot of changes. When you were first born, I painted the walls yellow.”
“Yellow?”
“We thought you were going to be a boy.”
“Wow, that must have been a bit of a disappointment.”
“Nah, not really. I loved you from the moment I held you. You’ve been my little girl and always will be.” He sat down beside her, wrapping his arm around her. “It changed to this pastel pink when you were a girl. You wanted to be a princess and this was your castle. Of course in your eyes, I was always the fierce knight who protected you.”
She chuckled. “I like the sounds of these memories. They sound nice.”
“They are. We didn’t always have a good time, Robin, but I tried.”
She rested her head against his shoulder. “I can imagine you did a whole lot of the time, and I really do appreciate it. All of it.”
He laughed. “Even if you don’t remember it all?”
She smiled. “I wish I did.”
“I wasn’t the best dad, though. When you do get your memories back, you’re not going to like some of what you remember.”
She glanced down at her jeans- and shirt-covered body. “I’ve got a feeling there’s going to be a lot I eventually remember you’re not going to know about.”
Bear held her hand, but the cast was in the way. Instead, he put his arm across her shoulders once again, and this time, he kissed the top of her head. “Just know whatever the memory, I’m here for you. Me and Preacher.”
“Not Bishop?”
“Preacher’s the one I trust.”
She closed her eyes and the doorbell rang.
“I’m guessing it’s the man himself. You stay here. I’ll have him bring up the box or boxes. You want something to eat?”
“I’d love something. Anything. I’m starving.”
“Food is coming right up.” He kissed her head again and she watched him go.
Just another moment in a whole list of them to confuse her.
Running her hand down her thigh, she stared at the ink, the chain wrapped around her wrist. Bishop had told her she didn’t have any ink on her body when she left. Not only did she have the ink around her wrist, but there was also a rose trailing up her waist, and across her back was the name Reaper’s Bitch.