Page 95 of Well Aware

A knock sounded at the door seconds later, and I walked to answer it, but stopped to kiss the top of Magnolia’s head on the way. “Come sit down and eat. Lysander understands comfort better than most.”

She nodded and took the seat at the counter between both kids.

I checked the peephole again and found a bombshell blonde on the doorstep looking like a penguin in her puffy jacket that was meant for deep winter, not late fall.

I pulled the door open and grinned. “Merrill. You look warm.”

“I’m freezing my tits off.” She pushed me aside. “I’m assuming my best friend is here, because she wasn’t…” She trailed off when she saw Lysander, who’d lost his shoes, socks and shirt the moment he walked through the door.

He was wearing sweatpants and a wifebeater and was staring at Merrill like he had the breath knocked out of him.

“Lysander, this is Merrill. Merrill, this is my brother, Lysander. That’s his son…” I started to introduce them, but Magnolia squealed in excitement and threw herself at her friend.

“What are you doing here so early?” she cried out.

“Couldn’t wait to see you,” she said, gathering her casted hand to her. “How’s the arm?”

“Making it,” she answered. “Got this cool little cast that allows me to shower without worrying about getting it wet. It also allows me to put my hair up, wipe my own butt, and…” She paused and looked behind her at Lysander. “Sorry, that was a bit too much information.”

Lysander grinned. “I work at a hospital. I think I can handle too much information.”

“Oh!” Magnolia clapped. “Lysander, you’re going to be working with Merrill!”

Breakfast went by with laughter and good conversation. We were all in great moods, especially the kids who were once again watching the octopus documentary that Shaw had recommended.

We were halfway through cleanup when my phone buzzed.

I pulled it out to see a text from Huxley to the club’s group text.

Huxley:

Need some help. Thumper’s not doing good. Have to stay with Katana, but someone needs to come lock him down. He’s losing it. Katana lost the baby last night and she’s decided that she’s tired of fighting. Wants to let go.

Fuck.

The cancer battle had started out hard because from the beginning, Katana hadn’t wanted to fight it. Her mother had passed from breast cancer. Her grandmother. Her sister. Her aunt. She’d watched every single woman in her family pass away from the brutal disease, all of them failing despite fighting hard. Katana hadn’t wanted to fight it at all, but the baby had helped convince her.

Now, without the baby to help her fight, it was no wonder that she was ready to throw in the towel.

I looked at my watch. “Lys, can you finish cleaning up here?”

“What’s wrong?” Magnolia asked in concern.

I gave her a quick rundown.

“Dang it,” she breathed. “He was talking about both of them last night a lot. He was so excited.”

I grimaced. “Gotta get there and make sure he’s going to be okay.”

She nodded, eyes wet from tears.

I dropped a kiss on her head as I passed, then got dressed and headed out in the next moment.

It was as I was driving to Shaw’s place that I saw my sister in a black SUV swerving in and out of the oncoming lane of traffic.

I gritted my teeth and called Black.

“Hey, I’m on my way to Shaw…”