Healing Gabe (The Last Hangman MC #3)(73)

“Not too much I hope. Next thing we know, you’ll be the one throwing a badge around.” We all burst out laughing.

“You’re funny. That’s a good thing to have.” Ray smiles, approving of Sanders. None of us ever trusted anybody with a badge, but Sanders has proven himself to be a man we can trust, despite the badge.

From time to time, I catch Aleck staring at me. I don’t know what’s wrong, but I can feel something is bothering him. We carry on talking about club business, laying down some important rules about the dynamics of three clubs plus a cop working together. It’s a good thing it’s only the ten of us, if the rest of the clubs were here it’d be f*cking chaos, with everyone shouting ideas at each other. Get all of us into a room and you’d think we were a bunch of school kids stuck in the classroom.

Two hours later, we all walk out and shoot the shit with our other brothers. I walk outside to call Viv and check on her.

“Hey Booboo!!!!” she exclaims a bit too loudly. They’ve been eating Red Velvet donuts again.

“Hey Doll.” I chuckle. “How are the donuts?”

“How do you know?” she asks surprised.

“Because you’re hyper as f*ck, that’s why.”

“Oooh…busted!!!” She laughs.

“Either that or you’re drunk.”

“No, we’re hyper on cake, donuts and wedding preparations.” She giggles shushing someone in the background.

“Will I have another near heart attack when I walk inside?” I ask scared of what I might find.

“Mayyyyyybe…” she says tentatively.

“Oh shit, what have you done?” I ask, actually worried.

“Nothing, I swear.”

“You’re full of shit, Viv.”

“I know, haven’t pooped yet.” I laugh.

“I love you, you know that right?”

“Yes. I love you too, everything okay?” she asks, obviously nervous.

“Yes, more than okay. You’re just f*cking crazy. I’ll be home for dinner, don’t cook anything, I’ll grab Chinese food.”

She squeals into the phone. “Can the girls stay over?”

“Yes, of course, I’ll bring Aleck and Ant.” It’s good to see her wanting to socialize again.

“And Bennett.” She adds quickly.

“I’m going to start to think you’re having an affair with Bennett with the amount of times you wanna see him,” I tease her.

“Never! He just seems lonely.” she says sadly.

“Never thought of that. I’ll stop by his house, don’t worry.”

“Thank you Love.”

“You’re welcome Doll. I gotta go now, I’ll let you know when I’m heading back home, alright?”

“Okay, I love you, see you later, Sexy Beast.” I burst out laughing and hear Ayd, Line and Nic laughing on the other side of the line.

“I love you too.” I chuckle and hang up.

“Sounds like she’s feeling much better,” Aleck says walking towards me and sitting next to me.

“Yeah. She has the girls over way too often for my own sanity though, they keep talking about wedding preparations, baby stuff, shit like that and it’s driving me f*cking nuts. I know Viv isn’t pushing to get married or have kids, but Line, Ayd and Nic? They are f*cking onto me, Brother!” I shake my head chuckling.

“I bet, Line talks about it non-stop.” He looks perplexed.

“What’s up, Brother? I noticed you were staring at me a couple of times back there, not starting to fancy me are you?” I turn to face him, trying to gauge his reaction and body language. “You didn’t slip back into drugs, did you?”

“No, no, don’t worry, none of that. Although I could have.” He sighs.

“Talk to me.”

“Did you ever think that maybe the people closest to you have been lying to you all your life?” he says lost in deep thought.

“Considering what happened a few weeks ago, yeah.”

He nods. “My father passed away.”

“I’m sorry, Brother. I know you two weren’t close, but it still blows.” I pat his back.

“That’s not why I’m like this.” He sighs. “I found out some stuff when I went to their house.”

“What?” I look at him concerned. He’s never like this, he look lost.

“Was your mother ever pregnant between you and Nicole?” he asks out of the blue and I’m completely stunned.

“Yeah. How do you know?”

“What happened to the baby?”

“I was four when it happened. When she went to the hospital to have the baby and she said I’d have a little brother, but when she came back, it was just her and Dad, they were devastated. The doctors told them that the baby was stillborn. Something happened with the umbilical cord or something. How in the hell do you know about it?”

“My parents aren’t my real parents.”

“You were adopted?” I’m still confused as f*ck.

“No. My so called mother who’s hated me for years told me the truth about where I come from.”

“What did she say? Don’t leave me hanging Brother.”