Hammer & Anvil (Steel Rebels MC #2) [Ongoing]

TWENTYTHREE - Blurry lines

A/N: I just wanna say thank you for all the comments and feedback that has been left for the last few chapters ♥️
It means really a lot to me.
-D.

Iron Knuckles

The aftermath that Knux had been waiting for came in form of Isabella having terrible nightmares the whole night through. She screamed and cried so loudly that the first time, half of the people sleeping in the rooms closest to theirs came rushing over to check what was going on and to see if they could help somehow. But the only thing that seemed to help was Knux talking to Isabella, soothing her with his voice and touch until her breathing evened out again. She never woke up. Knux tried to wake her up several times but in the end gave up, settling for soothing her back to sleep after every nightmare. He didn't want to force her to wake up.

Terrible guilt plagued Knux's mind for the whole night. He wasn't sure if he could ever forgive himself for his oversight.

His consciousness didn't get any lighter when Isabella woke up the next morning, obviously being very deep in her little space. She was tired and very cranky. She didn't want to eat and she refused to walk by herself. Knux knew that he deserved her bad mood, but after spending the night in a state of constant worry, his patience was also running thin. When by lunch time he still hadn't managed to convince her to eat anything else than two spoonful of cereals, he couldn't stop himself from raising his voice.

"No, babygirl! You will eat now, because I will not allow you to starve yourself," he boomed through the empty kitchen, after she had said no to everything he had suggested.

Needless to say, that didn't have the effect he had wanted it to have. Isabella stared at him for a few moments in shock and then her lower lip started to wobble dangerously and her eyes filled with tears. And Knux felt like the biggest asshole on the planet.

"Fuck, I'm sorry, babygirl," he said, regretting his words instantly.

He lifted her onto his lap and put her face into his chest, letting her cry into his shirt.

"I'm so sorry," he told her over and over again. "I didn't mean to get loud."

Isabella cried for a long time, soaking his shirt with tears and snot. And even after the tears had stopped, she kept hiccupping and sobbing.

Knux then ordered some fast food to be delivered to the club house and they went to eat and cuddle in bed. Isabella even ate a few chicken nuggets and fries and after that she crawled on top of his chest and fell asleep within a few minutes. To pass the time and to take his mind off of things, Knux put on a car show. But without realizing it, he had also drifted off even before the opening theme had finished.

Helium

Helium knocked lightly on the door to Knuckles' and Babydoll's room. They hadn't shown up for dinner and she worried about them. After what had happened last night, she wanted to see if not only Babydoll was doing better but also to check on Knuckles. It wasn't a rough task to be there for someone, who struggled with severe PTSD symptoms. 

In the first years of Helium's and Shades' relationship, Shades had had regular flashbacks from things that had happened in the years he had served in the army. Thus, Helium could relay somewhat to the obstacles Knuckles was facing.

During Shades' flashbacks, he usually had spaced out for longer periods of time and had been afterwards unable to do anything else than rest for the rest of the day. Helium couldn't remember how many days they had spend on the bed with the curtains drawn and Shades' head laying on her chest, listening to her heartbeat. It had been what he had needed to recover. But it had been still hard to go through. On some days Helium had thought that the feeling of helplessness would eat her from the inside out.