Chapter 7

~ Declan ~

My gut twisted hearing her lash out the way she had, but to hear that Ever – one of the strongest, most vibrant women I know – had tried to kill herself, or even thought about doing it… That didn’t just twist me up it gutted me. As soon as she was out of sight I took a damn knee, right there in the middle of the lobby of Permanent Marks. I didn’t give a good goddamn who saw me do it either. There were very few things that had rocked me to my core over the years, but finding out just how low things had gotten for Ever was something I don’t think I will ever be able to fully process. The fact that my brother caused it, in part, and my MC family perpetuated enough of that hurt to cause that kind of reaction… I was sick.

“You really didn’t know?” It was a question, but I think Kane meant it as more of statement judging by the look on his face.

“No, I didn’t fucking know. Hell, if I had known things were that bad I would have come the fuck back home whether the military let me or not. I sure as fuck had no clue she would… even the thought of… fuck!”

“Your own family didn’t bother telling you?”

“My brother sure as fuck wasn’t going to tell me his part in this, because he would have known about the ass whopping he had coming. My dad, fuck, I don’t know what his excuse was other than to try to hide an embarrassing fuckup from trusting his youngest son. My mom never talked to me about Ever. She had hopes of marrying Jason off to the girl so she could have the daughter she always wanted. She never associated me with Ever like that, so I don’t think it would have occurred to her to tell me anything.”

“Well, shit. Sorry I jumped your ass then. I just heard so much of that shitty story from my sister over the years, that I was ready to go do battle for the girl. Hell, when she came begging Zeke to take her on as an apprentice before she was of age he was going to send her packing. I took him aside and gave him the short version of her story, not that I knew it all, apparently. I don’t even think my sister knew about the pills man, that’s… fucked. It’s completely fucked. I convinced Zeke to give her a shot so she’d have something. Hell, my parents talked about maybe taking Ever in, but my dad was always worried about blow back from the MC if he even suggested one of theirs wasn’t handling their kid right, you know?”

“I know a lot of people failed that girl,” I told him. “I know that when I came back and found out how bad things were I promised myself and my mom that I would make shit right again.”

“Why?” Kane asked, and I wasn’t sure what exactly he was asking until he clarified. “Why is it your problem all of a sudden to make things right for her?”

“She’s family. My family failed her so it’s only right that one of us tries to put her back together.”

“I think there’s more to it than that,” Kane explained wearily.

“If there’s more to it than that, it’s mine to know.” I gave him a look that said I wasn’t willing to delve any further into my personal reasons. Hell, I wasn’t sure I was ready to dive in that deep as to why I felt as strongly about this as I did. “I need to get out there and go try to make those two men understand some hard truths. I think it starts there.”

“Yeah, I imagine you’re right about that. Just do me a favor.” It hadn’t been a request, really, judging by Kane’s tone.

“What’s that?”

“Don’t bring them back until they’re willing to fall on their fucking sword for her. I mean it. If I see any of them around, blaming her in any way for how they made her feel, and I will start a war with the MC. Don’t matter if I can win it or not.”

“Seems like there’s more to that statement,” I parroted his earlier sentiment.

“Nah, there’s really not. I owe her and my sister as much for not doing it sooner, when it could have mattered. I thought since Ever wasn’t my friend directly that she wasn’t my problem. I was wrong. Should have done something about her shit well before she marched her talented ass in here looking for a mentor.” Kane huffed out a frustrated sigh and turned to head towards the back where Zeke had taken Ever. Before he got to the hallway that would lead him left or right he looked back over his shoulder at me. “If you’re going to step into the fray, you make sure you fight for the girl, and don’t ever fuckin’ stop fighting. I think she’s had enough people half-assing it in her life already.”

I nodded and then turned to leave the studio in order to go hunt down my brothers. We had a lot of work ahead of us, but as I caught sight of the tattoo Ever had drawn for me on my forearm an inkling of an idea began to form. There was something she had in common with all the bikers who had failed her. She loved art and ink. They did too. The bikers had their ceremony of forgiveness, but it only benefited them. It was time for them to put up or shut up and get behind a new kind of family therapy that I had in mind.

I caught up to Trunk and T-Bone as they were mounting their bikes. “I heard her,” T-Bone said to me, voice full and gravely with emotion. My spine straightened as I waited for him to explain what exactly he heard. He shook his head as his shoulders noticeably shook. “She tried to…” His hands flew to his face, no doubt to hide another onslaught of tears before the general public could see them. “I knew shit was bad, but I never in a million years thought…” He shook his head. “Why didn’t my mom ever say anything?”

I scoffed at that question. “You think Ever was going to let Lucy tell everyone how low she had gotten? Not only would that be another hit to her pride, but she would have been letting people she considered her enemies know just how deep they’d stuck that knife in her back.” I almost regretted how harsh those words were, but then I thought of Ever and how she faced down a bottle of pills thinking it was the only way out, and suddenly I didn’t care if I hurt any of their feelings anymore.

“Hey now,” Trunk started to come to T-Bone’s defense.

“No, it’s fine. He’s right. She wouldn’t have wanted any of us to know, and she was right not to want that. At the time, they would have used it as a sign that she had a guilty conscious or something, and would have made it worse.” He sucked in a ragged breath. “I can’t believe I let my little sis slide so far. It didn’t even occur to me that I missed her birthday that year. I think it was two weeks later when I realized, and only because I heard Anna ask if she was going to have to cancel her party like Ever did. I don’t know how I could possibly ever make any of that up to her, and honestly, I don’t think she’ll ever talk to me long enough for me to try. I love her; she’s been a part of me since we were little. We bonded over being the hidden children, you know? I’m so fucking afraid I blew my entire life-long relationship with my own sister based on what Jay had to say back then.

“I should have known. Hell, that’s a cop-out, because I did know. I knew in my gut that it didn’t sound like anything Ever would say or do. Even if it had been, I didn’t think she’d be wrong for finally snapping. Jay knew how she felt and he still paraded his girls around her. I knew it must have hurt her, but I never made him stop either. I just let my need to be one of the brothers take precedence, because I was too stupid to see they weren’t as important as my sister.”

I clapped T-Bone on the back and then moved to my machine. “I have a plan, T. You’re going to have to help me convince the others, starting with our dads.”

“I’ll do anything, man.”

“Good, because what I’m going to ask you to do is going to leave a permanent mark.” I winked at him and then glanced back over my shoulder at the name of the tattoo shop. I wasn’t sure he put two and two together yet, but Trunk seemed to understand as he nodded his head in agreement.