Chapter 59

Tank

I needed a work out after dealing with this shit this morning. Or so I thought. I was walking out of the gym to the main room where I noticed several of my brothers gathered. Axel sees me and puts his finger to his lips then points to Lilly and the twins sitting at a booth. I’m not sure what is going on but I listen and quietly go into the main room. That’s when I hear Lilly singing to the boys. Jace and Jax clap when she is done. I go to move when Axel grabs my shoulder and shakes his head. “ Now the dance one.” Jace says. I guess they aren’t done. I see Merigold has her phone out recording them. “ Alright what is the dance song?” Lilly asks. I see Jax smirk “ High Hope song.” Lilly starts laughing. “ Ok. Do you remember how to do it?” “ Yes.” they said in unison. Lilly pulls out her phone, says something I can’t hear and lays it on the table. They all stand up Lilly has her back to us, the twins facing us. “ You have to help me again. Remember your parts?” “ We got it. We smart.” Jace says. “ Let’s do this.” Then I hear the music.They are singing and dancing to ‘High Hopes’ by Panic At The Disco. The only reason I know that is because Merigold said the song was stuck in her head the other day because the boys wouldn’t stop playing it.

They are singing and dancing and they move together in time with each other. I guess they were doing this before Lilly had her accident. I think they are done this time but Jace turns to us and holds a finger up. Jax grabs Lilly’s hand “ Aunt Lilly, we big time love you if we do one more.” Oh, man the face he is making, I would give him anything. “ I would love to guys, but I have to meet Anna.” Lilly says. Axel chimes in “ Anna is here yet.” What is he talking about? Anna is standing beside him. Yet she doesn’t say anything. “ Ok. We can do one more. What do you want?” “ Living Years.” Jax says. Lilly's smiling face morphs into a frown. “ Boys the last couple of times we have done that one we all got a bit upset. Are you sure?” “ We sure. It ok now.” Jace says. Lilly just nods. “ But you have to sit on table.” Jax says. “ Why do I have to sit on the table?’ Lilly asks. I’m wondering the same thing. “ It better that way.” Jace said. Lilly didn’t argue, just carefully made her way to the table and hopped up. “ Are you sure you want to do this?” Lilly asks one more time. “ Yep.”

Lilly does something with her phone and Jax looks at Merigold and nods. I wonder what that is about. When the music starts I recognise it. I have seen it in Lilly’s phone before but never heard it all the way through. It is ‘ Mike + The Mechanics The Living Years’ The boys stand on either side of Lilly when she sings. She gets to the chorus and the twins sing with her. Watching them together is incredible. She taught the twins to sing. And the song is powerful. I want to see what everyone else is thinking so I look around. Merigold, Anna, and Trina are crying. And most of my brothers looked choked up as well. When the songs ends it is quiet for a second before all of us gathered clap. Lilly laughs “ Looks like we have an audience, boys. What do we do.” The twins look at us and bow so low their heads almost touch the floor.

I laugh as I walk up to them. I hug the boys first. “ You guys did a good job. You should be proud of yourselves.” Jax stands tall, well as tall as a four-year-old can. “ That cause Aunt Lilly teach us. She good teacher.” I smile at him. “ She sure is” Merigold says, making Lilly blush. It is cute. Lilly hops down from the table “ Anyway, I have to get ready for Anna.” Lilly says. “ I’m ready when you are.” Anna says. Before she can move I grab Lilly pulling her to my chest. I give her a quick kiss and say “ You did good, sweetheart.” Lilly smiles “ Thanks, but let me go you are getting me all sweaty.”

I came from the gym and got caught up in watching the mini concert I didn’t wipe off. So without thinking I whip my shirt off and wipe my face. I have done it a hundred times and it has never been a problem. Until today that is when Ace yells “ What the fuck happened to your back?” I turn to Ace to see him walking toward me “ What are you talking about?” Lilly looks just as confused as me. Ace is looking over my back and neck, when I notice Axel and Rowdy have come over as well. “ Damn brother. It looks like you went several rounds with a large cat and lost. Your back is clawed all to hell. And your neck has bite marks on it.” I shake my head. I haven’t been near any cats. Anna hands me her phone and says “ Look.” She had taken a picture of my back and neck. They are right. I am covered in scratches and I have at least two bite marks on my shoulder. “ I don’t know what to tell you. I haven’t been around any cats. I don’t know how I could have gotten the scratches.” I hear Lilly squeak and hide her hands behind her back.” Sweetheart, what’s wrong? Why are you hiding your?” I didn't finish my sentence. My poor girl is so red. She is hiding her face. She leans in and whispers to me “ I thought you said they would go away.”

“ Sweetheart, what are you talking about? What would go away?” Suddenly Merigold is doubled over laughing. “ Oh my god.” she says. Merigold looks at my back then at Lilly’s hands behind her back. That’s when it clicks in my apparently slow brain. The marks are from Lilly. She made them last night while we were making love. I didn’t lie to her. When we made them I thought they would be gone by this morning but I guess she went deeper than I thought. Rowdy caught on the same time I did and was laughing too. “ Somebody is a wild cat.” he gets out between laughing and gasping for air. Now everyone is laughing. I look at Lilly oh shit she looks so embarrassed. She turns “ I. I have to. I have to go. Anywhere but here.” and takes off with Harley chasing after her.

I can hear her cry out as she runs. And I’m not the only one. The laughter comes to an abrupt halt. “ Shit, I didn’t mean to.” Rowdy says. I know what he is going to say. He didn’t mean to hurt Lilly’s feelings by laughing. None of us did. This is how we are. We do this all the time. Cut up and joke around. Had it been another brother I would have done the same thing. And Lilly is used to it to some extent but this time it was at her. The first time she has sex and she gets laughed at. My poor girl. “ I’ll go talk to her. Apologize to her.” Rowdy says. I shake my head “ No I should go talk to her. I should have been more considerate about her feelings.” Merigold says. “ Let Me do my fitting with her first. Give her time to calm down. Then you can talk to her. And Tank you should go talk to Lilly as well.” She is right. I need to talk to her. I need to let her know I didn’t mean to make her feel bad. I took something special and tarnished it by joking around with my brothers.