I was tired of burying my brothers.
This was no way to live.
I wanted something better.
I needed to believe there was something better in this life but pain and death. There was always going to be evil in this world. Why did we have to be the ones who fought it? Why were we the ones dying when those evil bastards lived? Kids were growing up without their parents, and women lived without their men.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way.
None of it was.
Reaper leaned over and kissed the top of Remi’s head before he walked over to the front of the coffin. Taking a deep breath, he began, “Today is a solemn day. Today we say goodbye to one of our own. Our Golden Sister, Kitty. What can I say about her, other than she was a real pain in the ass, with one of the worst mouths I’d ever heard on a woman. She was crass, stubborn, opinionated, and the best of all of us. There wasn’t anything that scared Kitty, and she faced life head-on. Faced with any situation, she did what she always did. She kicked ass and took names later. She was a daughter. A mother. A wife. A sister and a best friend to all of us. She will be missed.”
Stepping back, Reaper nodded as four of our brothers slowly lowered her casket into the ground. The second her casket was in place, we all heard the whistle as a bullet landed at the foot of the coffin. Turning towards the clubhouse, I tried to see where the shot came from, but I knew I would never find him.
Looking at Reaper, he just lightly shook his head and moved to stand near Remi, who was openly crying now. Savage never flinched, and when I looked for Sandman, he was gone.
None of us moved as several of the brothers took their time filling the hole with dirt, and when they were finished, Savage handed Hailey, who was now sleeping, to Jessica. Walking over to a small fire near Kitty’s headstone, he picked a metal pole attached to a small cup. Walking over to his sister’s headstone, he poured the hot liquid on top of her headstone as we all watched the skull carved into the granite turn gold. He put the metal rod back in the fire and took Hailey back from Jessica when he was done.
Remi handed Reaper a leather cut before he walked over to the headstone and laid it on top.
It was done.
She was gone.
Walking away with my hand in Catarina’s, we headed back to the clubhouse.
Twenty-Three
Player
I was working in the garage when Reaper, Ghost, and Luciano walked in. Looking up from the engine I was working on, I said nothing as they walked over to me.
It had been two weeks since Phantom took my blood and told me that the club wanted to take the legal approach to get my son back. During that time, it damn neared killed Catarina and me as we had to wait on the fucking bureaucrats to do their fucking job. The only consolation was the live feed we watched every fucking day just to see our son.
Catarina damn near had a fucking mental breakdown when we learned Colin had a slight ear infection. It took me, Luciano, and a few of the girls to stop her from going to him immediately. It was only when Gadget attained Colin’s medical records, and Healer explained in great detail that he was fine that she actually calmed down. But that didn’t stop her from sinking into a deep depression.
For the last five days, she had barely eaten. She never left the room and insisted that someone give her a computer so she could monitor our son twenty-four seven.
She never left that damn computer.
I fucking hated that computer.
“What?” I growled as I turned my attention back to the engine I was working on. I needed something to keep me occupied since I wasn’t allowed to leave the compound. So, I emersed myself Massacre’s garage. I may not have all of my brother’s technical abilities, but I could do a simple oil change or change plugs and shit.
“Can you step away from the car for a minute? We need to talk to you,” Ghost stated, looking around the shop.
“No. Just say what you came to say,” I said, pulling a plug.
“Player,” Luciano sighed. “Reggie, please.”
“What the fuck do you want, Luc!” I roared, turning to face them. For two weeks, I listened and obeyed like a good fucking dog. I was tired of being someone’s bitch. I wanted my son back, and I was beginning to believe that the club I had called home for years really didn’t give two fucks about anything, especially me and what was mine.
“Player,” Reaper began. I faced him dead on, daring him to say what I knew he was about to say. I didn’t have to be a fucking genius to know that the legal way didn’t work, and I told them it wouldn’t. I didn’t give two shits who had adopted my son. As far as I was concerned, they were kidnappers. They took my child. A child that didn’t belong to them, and just because they had money and connections, didn’t make a damn bit better than me.
In fact, I lumped them in with the worst scum on the earth.
They were vilest of feigns, and when I got my hands on them, I was going to rip them apart. I wanted to punish them and let them feel what they were putting my woman through.