Avenging Angel (Pounding Hearts 5)

“Sorry,” I say.

“No, you’re not.” She smirks at me before continuing. “From what the doctors are saying, it’s not a death sentence, but he needs work done to fix a bunch of problems. He also needs rest, from work and stress. Both of which we haven’t gotten much of since Tommy passed.”

“Helen—” I start to say, but she cuts me off quickly.

“No use putting blame on anything or anyone, the only way is to move forward. That’s why I talked to Bear,” she says as she looks at me intently.

“He probably doesn’t have much good to say,” I warn her, “but whatever he’s said is the truth, I imagine.”

“He said you’d say that.” She smiles softly. “He also agrees with me that Casey coming to live with you for a few weeks while I take care of Bill is the best thing for you both.”

Well, there goes my fucking mind. Boom. Big fucking brain explosion.

“What?” I ask incredulously.

“Yep, it’s high time you got out of the gutter and started putting the pieces back together. And Casey needs someone who can show him the light at the end of the tunnel he’s hiding away in.”

“But—” I try to say, and she steamrolls right over me.

“It’s also high time you start acting like the man I know you are and quit fucking around,” she snaps.

Holy fuck, she said fuck. That’s a first, and I know it’s deliberate. She’s trying to get through my thick skull.

“Helen, I don’t know the first thing about helping Casey, or how to raise a kid… Hell, I don’t even know how to raise myself,” I say wearily.

“That’s probably good for both of you,” she says before standing.

Casey comes walking back in the gym with a backpack and a large duffle bag.

“What?” I ask, and I feel like I’ve said it too many times today, and for way too many fucked up reasons.

“If you did, you wouldn’t be able to fix each other.”

She motions for me to follow her over to Casey.

My head feels light and kind of fucked up as I follow behind her. She stops in front of Casey and smiles down at him. She’s tired and she’s got so many heartaches on her heart, but she reaches out and pulls him in like she did all those years ago when she took care of me.

Her voice chokes up a little as pushes him away and holds him at arm’s length. “Casey, you can be mad at me and think unkind things, but I do this because I love you more than you’ll ever know. You both need each other, and you need to learn that life must go on.”

“Grandma, I don’t want to live with Emmett,” Casey says, sadness staining his cracking voice.

“I know, sweetheart, but you need to do what’s best for you both right now and not what’s the easiest.” She turns to me. “Pick up the phone when I call or I’ll send all the guys over again. And next time it’s Reaper who comes calling, not Chase.”

Fuck. There’s a big difference between those two names for the same person. One’s a monster, and is the one the boogeyman fears.

“Message received,” I say with a chuckle.

Reaching down, I pat my phone in my pocket and hope to hell it’s charged.

“Thought so. If it makes any difference, the girls wanted to go the first time with the guys. I said it wasn’t necessary,” she says with a wink.

Fuck, that probably would have been even worse than what happened with the guys. I’ve seen the women gang up on the guys when something needs to be done. It’s not pretty.

“Just so we’re clear, you want Casey living with me for the short term. Not like daycare where you come pick him up at the end of day?” I ask.

“See, I knew you were still smart. Not too many punches to head,” Helen teases me before she hugs us both quickly.

“I need to go, I want to get back to Bill.”