Shakedown (Souls Chapel Revenants MC 8)

“Bruno is such a weird name,” Priscilla butted in. “But it fits him.”

I thought so, too.

“Mom,” I said. “You’ve been awfully quiet. What’s wrong?”

My mom watched as my father and Bruno as well as Lynn and the rest of the men got onto their various motorcycles or into their vehicles before she said anything.

“I was just thinking that I need to have the ‘talk’ with you.” She looked over at me, causing Daniella to start to cackle.

I frowned and looked from my mom to my sister and back.

“Okay,” I hesitated.

“Do we really need to be here for this?” Booth grumbled under his breath.

“No,” my mom drawled. “Feel free to walk to the hotel we’re staying at.”

Booth sighed and shut up.

My mother gave his ‘quiet’ form a look before she turned to look at me.

Grabbing my sister Daniella’s hand, she gestured toward the door. “Let’s go.”

Booth and Bourne took lead out the door and frowned. “Where’s Heath?”

“Heath and his new girlfriend are… fighting,” my mom said. “He stayed behind to hopefully convince her to stay with him. But if we’re being honest, I’m hoping that they decide to call it quits.”

My brows rose.

My mom was normally a very nice person. She was a social worker and genuinely liked everybody she met.

That was why she’d been so supportive of Bruno and me. She liked to see the good in everybody, even though she knew there was bad in the world.

She liked to treat everyone like they were ‘good’ until proven otherwise.

“Heath and his new girlfriend had a falling out when Mom started talking about Thanksgiving and Christmas. Mom tried to suggest that Meya—if you ever meet her, her name is pronounced me-yuh and don’t you fuckin’ forget it—come over for Thanksgiving Day Eve. Dad, Booth, and I have to work. So, like always, we’re going to schedule the holiday before the actual holiday. Only Meya decided that she was going to go to her mom’s house and cook Thanksgiving Dinner a day early and couldn’t go. Only, when Heath said that he’d go to Mom and Dad’s without her, she all but had a shit fit because Heath is supposed to be at her parents’ house with her. Not off celebrating fuckin’ Thanksgiving without her.”

I frowned at Bourne’s words. “She what?”

How do you put stipulations on a man’s time when it comes to his family?

I mean, I could see if Heath were going out and hanging out with a bunch of chicks, and her not wanting him to go there. But this was Heath’s family.

“So anyway, Heath told her that he needed a break from her selfish attitude. She automatically assumed that they were breaking up and acted like it was the end of the fuckin’ world. Said that she would do anything as long as he didn’t leave her. So they’re ‘talking it out,’” Bourne grumbled.

“If there’s this much of a problem now, how the hell do they plan on doing this when shit gets really real? Like if they ever have kids? I mean, it wasn’t like we were even asking for the actual day. We hardly ever get that thanks to y’all being in law enforcement. I mean, I think there was a time that you and Booth showed up at the Thanksgiving meal, then had to leave during the middle of it because of a SWAT call, and then Angel got called back all the way to freakin’ Austin, leaving Daniella to scramble to find a way home for her and the baby. Honestly, we’re lucky to just find a day. If she can’t do that, then how the hell is she going to do it later when it’s actually tough? God forbid us being able to celebrate on the actual day. Then what will she do?” I wondered.

“Exactly,” Mom said. “If she can’t compromise now, she’ll never compromise then.” Mom shook her head. “Then I tried to book a couple of cabins in Broken Bow. It was for the week after Christmas. Three days and nights. But her brother is coming in from California, and she went all apeshit that Heath would want to go to Broken Bow with us instead of spending it at home in their house with them. I then said that they could also book their own cabin and come with, since I know the guy that does the booking. She said that, and I quote, ‘her brother doesn’t like to go to places with trees.’”

I scratched my head in confusion. “She sounds like a real winner.”

“Heath needs to kick her to the curb,” Booth and Bourne muttered at the same time.

Daniella snorted, but it was Priscilla who said, “Heath thinks he got her pregnant, so he’s staying until he knows for sure.”

Everyone stopped walking right there in the middle of the airport parking lot.

“He what?” my mother snapped.