Page 20 of Stonewall

“It’s a cheap pay-as-you-go phone; I don’t think he can track it.”

“But he has your number, and trust me, there are ways to do it, so I will feel better getting you another phone,” he said, his face saying it was pointless to argue.

A knock sounded on the door. “That’s Tildie, I have Church this morning, and Tildie thought it would be a good time to visit. Gael will be here soon; Sophia is bringing him,” Lenny said as he went to open the door.

Tildie walked in with a smile; she gave a hello wave to Lenny before coming to sit on the side of the bed.

“I will be back in after the meeting to check on you. So don’t do anything unless you have help. Got me?”

“Yeah, daddy, I got you,” I kidded him since he was being so bossy like a parent.

“I don’t object to being called daddy, just so you know, especially….” he said, his voice husky as he let the sentence dangle winking and wetting his lips, then blowing me a kiss before shutting the door as he left the room. How could he make me feel so sexy when I looked like something the dog drug from outside?

I turned to see Tildie staring wide-eyed at the exchange. She wrote in her notebook and held it up with a teasing smile.Who’s your daddy?It said with a big smiley face.

“Tildie!” I admonished her. This was a side of Tildie I hadn’t seen. Carefree and joking.

“How is Travis?” I remember her saying he was hurt.

He is getting better, he was shot in the shoulder, and Doc says he could start moving around more in a few days, and you can meet him.

“I am looking forward to it; I want to meet the man who gave me this, Tildie,” I said, squeezing her hand.

I leaned back into the pillows, grabbed the remote, and flipped on the TV to a rerun of Seinfeld; Tildie and I liked this show; it made us laugh, which was something we needed growing up.

I prayed those days were behind us now that we had escaped the Fire Dragons, but something inside me said it couldn’t be this easy.

I WALKED INTOour chapel and took my seat,opening my notebook in front of me so I could record the meeting notes. Everyone was seated except for Fuse, who was always late; he didn’t know how to be on time.

“How’s Brooke?” Shadow asked.

“Better, she will be sore for a while, and Doc wants her on bed rest for a week because of the concussion. I moved her this morning to one of the spare rooms,”

“Yeah, the one closest to you,” Fuse chuckled as he took his seat.

“So what? I can take better care of her if she’s close,” I replied, giving him the finger.

“I’m sure you can,” Fuse smirked.

Shadow banged the gavel, getting our attention. “Okay, let’s get started. “As you already know, Cross got away again. And I’m starting to believe he has the luck of the devil to be able to keep doing it,” Shadow growled, his fingers running through his dark hair.

“There was no way to know they had an escape door in the basement,” Viking replied.

“No, but I keep thinking maybe we should have done it differently,” Shadow added thoughtfully.

“We couldn’t risk Reader and Silver by waiting too long; they were lucky as it was that they weren’t killed,” Vampire remarked, the men in the room voicing their agreement.

“But we did get Mouth,” King reminded them.

“Thank fuck for that; at least now Tildie can breathe easier,” I said. Glad that someone as gentle as Tildie no longer had that monster after her.

“What about Brooke? Flex will look for her,” Shadow said, looking at me.

“I’m not worried about a coward like Flex. I hope to find him first and get rid of him before he figures out where she is.”

“Have you guys thought about Cross coming for his sisters?” Kickstand chimed in, pushing his glasses onto his head as he looked up from his laptop.

“Kickstand is right; Cross will want his sisters back; it’s a matter of pride,” Shadow said.