“Wait, what?” I follow quickly, turning into the main clubhouse and seeing he’s already halfway to the door. I half run but not full out, as I still need to put my pants and belt buckle back in place so they don’t fall down and make me trip. Who gives a shit if someone sees my snatch? A fall is time wasted.
I bust out the door and run to the truck that Bass is getting into. I jump into the passenger seat, but before I can ask for details, he’s telling me.
“He had a nightmare.”
“Oh.”Shit.
Bass peels out of the clubhouse, no doubt knowing this can’t be good. I’m sure he’s heard the screams coming from Ollie’s room. Doesn’t happen every night, and honestly, only once since we’ve been at Bass’s. I was hoping we were getting past this, as it used to be almost nightly. Guess my wish went unanswered.
“You tell Chains to make sure Teddy isn’t close to him?”
He looks to me with a frown, and I’m reluctant to explain, but I have to.
“Ollie keeps a pocketknife on him. It’s small but can cause damage. Ollie also doesn’t have nightmares, more like night terrors. He takes a while to know where he is when he wakes up. He might react to defend himself without knowing who it is.”
The look he gives me makes me think about when my brothers wanted to punish me: nothing fun about it. Hedoesn’t say anything, just pulls out his phone and texts something.
It’s a short drive, but as soon as we park, I’m out and running to the open door Maddy has propped open as she holds a sleeping Wyatt in her arms.
“Sorry, I know you said you didn’t want him to sleep over. I just thought you didn’t want to deal with a sleeping kid when you came to get him. I put on a movie to settle him, and he and Teddy just crashed. The kids played hard for so long that I—”
I stop her with a shake of my head. “No, it’s fine.” It isn’t, but only because I was worried about their safety, not my kid’s. He reacts when scared, and usually it means someone gets hurt, but never him. I keep that part to myself, though, and just hope she doesn’t think Ollie is too fucked up to play with her son after this. This would be twice that something could have happened to Teddy because Ollie was triggered.
“He must trust you. He let his guard down. It’s a good thing that he was sleeping.” I say it to comfort her, some of it true, but I don’t miss the look she tosses to Bass, who’s hot on my heels.
I’m guessing at where to go, but once I walk into the house, I look down a hallway and see Teddy. I head that direction and then hear Ollie’s screams.
Once I see him, all the games, all the carefully crafted lies and stories, are put on hold as I go to him. Noting that Chains is close to my kid on the couch but never touching, I nod in his direction as I get close, and he takes his leave. No doubt just to the door, as I feel more than one set of eyes on me, but just like at the pool party, I forget them. I forget everything but Ollie, as he’s the only one who matters.
“Mama, Mama. I want mymama.”
I choke down the swell of emotions that erupts from his brutal cry of anguish. “I know, baby. I know.”
He looks at me, and I smile as I see his eyes aren’t clouded over. That he sees me. But that has him crying harder. He knows, he sees, and it breaks his heart.
I grab the knife from him as I pull him into me with the other hand. I hold out the knife behind me, not caring who takes it, just glad when it’s gone and I can wrap both arms around the bravest kid I know.
We stay locked like that for a few minutes, but I know we can’t stay here. He needs to be somewhere familiar, and as much as it pains me to admit, Bass’s home—our prison—is the best place for him.
I stand, and he wraps his legs tight around me, not letting go an inch—not that I would let him go anytime soon.
When I turn, I’m not surprised to see everyone but Teddy looking at us, but no one says anything as I lead the way out.
“See you later, Ollie,” Teddy says with a wave as we pass him.
I smile as I feel Ollie waving in a random direction as he continues to bury his head in my shoulder. The crying is still there, but not soul deep as it was.
Doors are held open for me, first the front and then the truck, by Bass. Pretty obvious that my kid and I aren’t being separated right now. I say nothing, even as Bass buckles us both in and shuts the door. He says a few things to Chains; then he’s in the truck, and we’re headed back to our cell.
But as we pull up, all I can think isThank God we’re home.
Chapter 15—Bass
“You going to ask me?”
I look behind me and give Milly a once-over before turning back around to pour coffee into my mug. “You going to tell?”
“No.”
