Sniper | Fallen Angels MC #3

Chapter 29

Surprise! Two updates in one day!

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Police beat the club to the lot.

I simply shut the door of my side of the car and tried to ignore the flashing lights. It wasn't until the roar of bikes sounded nearby that I finally got out and walked around to help Beatrice out of the car.

"Not hurt?" I glanced over her one more time to be sure.

"I'm fine," she smiled. An SUV came around the corner in the midst of all of the bikes and slammed on its brakes. "Now, I'm going to go see dad before he has a heart attack."

"I'll see you in a bit," I smiled back. In reality, my muscles were fatigued, and the burns on my arms had rubbed against my jacket too much.

Pres jogged over, following Queenie to the police while Torch was the one who met up with me first.

"You okay, man? Beatrice okay?"

"We're all fine. They aren't though," I pointed towards the SUV. Officers were already all over the vehicle. "I'm thankful Beatrice is good with a gun. She's almost better than me!"

"Well, that's good to her. She say yes?" Pres eyed me as Maya joined him. She looped her arm through his and waited for my answer.

"Yeah," I grinned at both of them. Everyone started to congratulate me in the middle of this crime scene until Maya put a stop to it.

"They're just going to need your statements. I've made some calls and got some security footage from the restaurant and the bank across the street will be sending it to me tomorrow. You two are free to go after that," she said. I thanked her profusely and was so, so thankful Pres had found her.

"Can I steal him?" Came a voice from behind them. Mr. Odison and Pres nodded at each other before the couple left them alone. "I can't thank you enough."

"Me? I have to thank you. You trained Beatrice yourself and she saved my ass," I chuckled. He laughed and turned to look at his daughter. I followed his gaze and watched her talk to a female cop with Reaper at her side, chewing gum.

"Noah? Oh God, Noah. Are you okay? What's happening?" A small body crashed into mine, almost toppling me to the ground. It was my...mother?

"Ma, what are you doing here?" I faced her and she pushed away from me, eyes glancing all over my body. Mr. Odison was still there, eyeing my parents.

"Are you hurt?"

"No. I'm not," I answered. One glance up revealed my father waiting for her and carefully examining what had happened. My mother sniffled and wiped her eyes. She held a hand out to Beatrice's father.

"I'm Dorothea. Noah's mom," she smiled. He gave a polite smile and shook her hand.

"My name is Pete. I'm Beatrice's dad. It's nice to meet you," he introduced.

"You look familiar," my dad squinted at him. I looked over to glare at him, barely believing he had the audacity to speak, but his eyes were focused next to me. Mr. Odison had finally turned his attention to my father and looked startled. He reached out and clenched my shoulder.

"Noah," he grinned. I was thankful he used my real name in front of my parents. "You didn't tell me your last name was Caddell!"

"I didn't know I had to?" I looked at him with confused eyes.

"You son of a bitch. I never thought I'd see you again!" Mr. Odison laughed and pulled my dad into a hug. He still looked confused.

"Iraq 1991. Pete Odison?" He asked, trying to ring bells. My dad laughed—probably the first time I'd really seen him laugh.

"No way!" He shouted and laughed some more. My mother was still checking me for injuries while my dad reunited.

"Want to explain?" I looked towards my father and his friend.

"We served together," Odison said proudly. On the other hand, my dad looked embarrassed and couldn't meet my eye.

"I didn't know you served," I finally looked him in the eye.

"I never really talk about it," he responded. "It wasn't the best time of my life."

"You're really okay?" My mom peeked at my face again.

"I'm okay, mom. I think..." I trailed off, looking at Beatrice waving me down, "I'll be right back. Mom, do you want to talk to Beatrice?"

"Of course!" She smiled and walked over with me. The two embraced while I answered a couple of stupid fucking questions and was allowed to leave a moment later.

"Are you two here for dinner?" I asked my mom. Dad and Mr. Odison had not stopped talking and gesturing wildly.

"We were just leaving," she murmured. Now she was staring at my father too, but with a different look in her eye.

"How come dad never told us he was in the military?" I couldn't believe he had kept a big part of his life from us.

"Um," my mom kicked some loose dirt on the ground. "He came back with severe PTSD. Do you remember all of those work trips he used to go on?"

"Yeah."

"That's not what they were. I convinced him to go to therapy, but sometimes his weeks were bad. Really bad. He would just stop answering his phone and go stay in a hotel room for a week."

"He did?"

"He would never let me help him," she sniffled, but smiled anyway. The love she had for him was something I, personally, would never understand. Not after the way he'd treated me.

"Does he still take those trips?" I asked. My mom shouldn't be alone for a week, worrying about him.

"Not as often," she answered. The two friends came over, stumbling with laughter and my dad wrapped my mom into his arms.

"Are you ready to go eat?" He asked.

"Why don't you guys eat at the clubhouse? We have a bar...it's no fancy Italian place, but it's good. We could catch up some more," I suggested. My voice grew smaller as the sentences went on.

"I'd love to. We'd love to, right? Honey?" My mom turned towards her husband. He glanced at me, then back at my mother. He seemed unsure, if not a bit hesitant, and but agreed. Beatrice reached for my hand to squeeze.

"Sure," my dad responded. I swallowed as my throat grew thicker. The adrenaline was catching up to me at the same time my nerves grew. Beatrice's dad said goodbye to his friend. Pres walked up and grabbed my shoulder.

"I had Maya bring the truck so you two could head back. We'll stay a bit longer," he murmured.

"You can follow us," I told my parents. They walked away first.

"I'm so sorry. I totally forgot about your...relationship with your parents. I apologize if I made anything worse," Mr. Odison came to me.

"It's fine," I shook my head. "You might have made it better, actually."

Pres tightened his grip on my shoulder and looked at me. "Both of you get checked by Doc before you get back. Just in case."

"Got it."

"Beatrice, welcome to the club," he brought Beatrice into a surprisingly bright hug before stepping away.

"Let's get out of here," I murmured to Beatrice. She looked like she was feeling fine, but I could check on her more in the car.

We would be fine.

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