Heart on the Rocks: Rebel Souls MC #4

Brenda 2.0

Liza released me and let me sit back up straight in the booth. Tears were in my eyes as I looked around at them. They'd all been here. I'd been with each of them for most of it. I'd seen the times they'd tried to run from their old men; hell, even Megan had tried to run from Greaser at one point. The only two that had never run were Liza and Carrie. But Carrie had made Bender work for it. Hands had been the only one to catch hid old lady easily and keep her just as easily. Probably why they had four kids.

"You're telling me that all your old men didn't say almost the exact same thing to you, but you haven't ended up taking care of them either?" I asked. I was being bitchier than was necessary but I didn't know how else to deal with the emotions running through me.

"We take care of each other," Megan said. I hadn't been expecting that from her. Her relationship was the most different than the rest of them. Greaser had total control over her. She didn't talk about it much, but it was clear that that's what she wanted and needed. He worshiped her. It wasn't like he was abusive; he would never lay hands on her in that way, but he told her what to do, how to do it, where to do it. And she loved it. I could never understand, but I didn't need to understand it to see clearly how much they loved each other.

"We do," Rachel said. "I would not have gotten through the first few months of Storm's life without Nathan making sure I was eating, sleeping, taking care of myself while I was taking care of him, feeding him. Him being Storm and not Nathan," she laughed.

"Ryan takes way more care of me than I do him," Carrie continued. "He helped me love myself, see my own value when I never could, didn't think I deserved to. He took care of me while I was still working at the hospital, making all my meals when I was too exhausted to cook for myself."

"Hawk does everything for me," Charlie said. "He rubs my sore feet, and goes to all my appointments with me. I don't life a finger at home anymore because he does everything. It's their way of showing how much they love us. Tank wouldn't be any different with you," she said softly.

We all looked at Liza.

"Honestly, you don't want to hear my side of this. I have the only one who's still a child apparently," she snorted. We all laughed lightly at her. "I'm only half serious. Yes, taking care of him is exhausting, and, at times, can feel like I've got five children instead of four. But then he does something like brings me breakfast in bed on a Sunday, or takes the kids to his parents for the day so we can have a day just for ourselves and I realise that even though the scales aren't always balanced, he takes care of me too."

I chewed on the inside of my cheeks while I contemplated their words.

"Let him take care of you," Carrie said. She looked at me like she knew exactly what I was thinking.

Storm started to cry so Rachel stood from the booth. Charlie followed her, probably in need of the bathroom since her baby girl liked to play kickball on her bladder. Megan left too, probably in search of Greaser. And then Liza left too, probably needing to pick up the kids.

That left me with Carrie.

She smiled softly at me. I liked her as soon as Charlie had brought her around. Admittedly, it had taken me some more time to warm up to Charlie. It didn't have anything to do with the fact that Hawk and I had history. At all.

Truly.

I was just worried she was going to break his heart. And she had. She also had been the one to put it back together.

With Carrie, I had known instantly that she wouldn't hurt Bender. She didn't have it in her to hurt anyone, especially him.

"I know what you're doing," she said. "I did the same thing." I couldn't even deny it. "But running from Ryan was never the right move," she said. "I've seen the way Tank looks at you. I was the first one to ask him about it."