by Chelle Bliss
I release Morris and practically run up to Tiny, hurling myself against him. He stumbles back like he’s in shock and not used to being hugged. “Thank you for everything, Tiny.”
Tiny pats my back but doesn’t give me the rib-crushing embrace Morris just did. “Anytime, girl. Now, give me a minute with the boy.”
I stare up at him, craning my neck all the way back to meet his eyes. “Can you make sure they don’t kill Pike?”
“Can’t promise anything when it comes to James,” he says, amusement lighting up his face.
“It was worth a shot.” I shrug and pop up on my toes to just reach his cheek.
Tiny doesn’t move as I kiss his cheek and then step away. He looks a little shell-shocked, which is funny because he’s so big and burly, but my little kiss seems to have knocked the badass right out of him and left him speechless.
Two cars pull in, gravel flying from the speed and hurling in all directions as they slam on the brakes. We’re like deer, frozen in the headlights.
I was scared as hell in the closet, listening to the screams and gunfire going off everywhere. You’d think facing my family would be nothing after that, but nope. I’m just as scared as I was a few hours ago.
“Just stay calm,” Morris calls out as Pike walks up next to me.
“You ready for this?” I ask, looking over at him, ignoring the sound of the car doors opening and boots hitting gravel.
“I don’t know,” he says before his eyes go to where my family stands.
I turn my head slowly, soaking in my uncle James, who looks like he’s about ready to tear a man’s jugular clean through his neck. My uncle Thomas, who looks just as pissed and no less scary. And then there’s my daddy and Bear, looking like caged animals, shifting slightly like they’re unable to stand still or all their fury would cause them to combust.
“Hey,” I call out, putting on a smile and trying to act like our asses didn’t almost get shot tonight. “I missed you guys.” I slowly move in their direction, gaze going between all four men, trying to see if I could make their badass exteriors crack.
My dad rushes toward me, putting his eyes on no one and nothing but me. My slow walk turns into a full-on run until we’re close enough that I leap into his arms, and he catches me like he used to when I was a little girl.
“I love you, Daddy.” I feel like a kid again and finally safe in my father’s arms.
“Baby girl,” he whispers, holding my head with one hand and squeezing my body with his other arm. “I’ve never been so scared in all my fucking life and never more thankful than I am right now.”
I bury my face in his neck, holding on to him like I don’t think I’ve ever held him before. “I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I’m sorry I had you worried.”
“We’ll talk about it in the car,” he says.
Oh goodie.
Car talks have never been my favorite. I’m like a trapped animal and a captive audience with no escape or talking my way out of whatever my dad wants to put down. I freaking hate every minute of the car chats. They are the most sucktastic things ever because they are so effective at breaking me.
“Joe,” Pike says, walking up behind me, but my daddy’s body goes stiff underneath me.
“Get your ass in the car with James and Thomas. I want to talk to my daughter alone.”
Goodie times two.
“Yes, sir,” Pike says without even arguing.
He probably knows it’s a lost cause. There isn’t any arguing with a Gallo man on a good day, but in a moment like this and with the anger on my dad’s face, there is no way in hell Pike or I would win that argument.
My feet are back on the ground as Pike turns his back and is walking toward James and Thomas where they chat with Tiny and Morris.
“Let’s get out of here,” Bear says, giving me a wink instead of saying anything else.
I’m sure he wants all the details, but he isn’t going to ask about shit when my dad’s in a mood. And I’m pretty damn sure my dad’s mood isn’t going away anytime soon either.
“Daddy, can’t Pike come with us, please?” I pitch my thumb over my shoulder toward the five guys.
“I want to talk to you alone, and James wants to debrief Pike.” My father shakes his head. “They know the way home.”
I hang my head, dragging my feet through the gravel as I make my way toward the car. I know I’m going to get my ass chewed out, but I’ll live. It won’t be the first time my father has read me the riot act about something.
But Pike may not be so lucky.
I turn toward Pike as I open the car door, giving him a small wave and pained smile when our eyes lock. He waves back, tipping his chin like shit is cool, but he’s freaking clueless.
I don’t know much about his dad and know even less about his entire family. But what he’s about to deal with will, no doubt, be nothing he’s prepared for or expects.
“We’re out!” my dad yells across the parking lot, not bothering to wait for a response before he’s climbing in the passenger seat.
“This should be fun.” Bear catches my eye in the rearview mirror, always trying to make light of heavy shit.
No other words are spoken as Bear revs the engine, taking off the same way they came in…fast. I twist my fingers, staring out the window at the endless trees flying by in a blur as we exit the compound.
Maybe my dad is too pissed to even talk. Maybe he’s too happy I’m alive to rip me a new asshole. Anything is possible. How can he be mad when we didn’t do anything wrong, nor did we do anything to cause the clusterfuck of chaos that landed at our feet?
The silence is killing me. I figure maybe this is an instance where I’ve got to rip the Band-Aid off quickly and get it over with. Waiting just makes it worse, and I can’t sit here in silence for the next two hours. “So…”
“Don’t so me, little girl,” Dad says.
I widen my eyes at his clipped tone. “Okay,” I whisper, slouching down in the seat and crossing my arms over my chest.
“You could’ve been killed.” He turns in his seat so he can look at me. “You almost were…”
“But I wasn’t.”
His eyes harden. “Were there bullets flying within fifty feet of you?”
I shrug. Now, I’m pissed. And when I’m pissed, I dig my heels in and turn on the smartass. “I didn’t have my tape measure.”
He surges forward like he’s going to leap over the seat and wrap his hands around my neck, choking the life right out of me. His eyes aren’t hard anymore; his glare is blazing hot. “What did you just say? Say it again.”
“Dad, you’re being a little crazy and unreasonable. Where’s my big, badass father?”
“Your big, badass father is dealing with a lot of feelings after men just tried to bust into an MC compound, raining down fire, in an attempt to take out my kid and end her life.”
“They weren’t trying to kill me,” I say softly because I know he’s about at his wits’ end and he doesn’t need my shit.
“I know. They were trying to kill Pike, who—” he pauses, twisting his lips up, and I know what he’s about to say before the words spill from his mouth “—you didn’t tell me was actually your boyfriend!”
He yells those words, the sound echoing through the car like a bomb blast. “He’s not my boyfriend, Daddy.”
I keep up with the Daddy bit because it’s always worked in the past and usually helps to defuse his anger. This isn’t the first time he’s been pissed at me, but it is the most pissed he’s ever been that I can remember.
Bear shakes his head, muttering something under his breath, and he catches my eye in the mirror. I don’t know what he’s trying to tell me, but I know instantly I fucked up.
“That’s right,” Dad says, nodding his head, eyebrows drawn down, and his top lip curling like he’s smelled the biggest pile of shit. “He’s not a boyfriend. He’s a guy you fucked.”
Uh oh. This isn’t good. Damn. I can’t backpedal my way out of this o
ne. There’re no more secrets at this point, and I lied right to my dad’s face about Pike when Aunt Izzy confronted me at Inked.
I don’t move. It’s as if my ass is glued to the seat, and every muscle in my body locks up as if I’m paralyzed. The only thing I can do is stare at my father with wide eyes and say, “I’m sorry.”
He tips his head back, staring at the ceiling of the car. “She’s sorry.” His shoulders rise and fall. “No big deal, Dad. I met a guy at Bike Week and slept with him even though he could’ve raped me and left my ass for dead.”
“I’m grown and I was careful.”
“Adults die too, Giovanna. How many times did I tell you under no circumstances were you allowed in Daytona during Bike Week?”
“It was a mistake. We went for spring break.”
“And did you tell me you were going to Daytona for spring break?”
“Did you tell your parents everything when you were twenty?” I pause, returning his hard stare because I’m sick and tired of being treated like a little kid. “Oh, wait. No, you freakin’ didn’t. You were out riding your bike, bangin’ broads without giving any fucks.”
He turns his head like he didn’t quite hear me. “You want to repeat that shit for me?”
“No.”
He grinds his teeth, and I wince at the sound. “I didn’t fucking think so,” he growls.
“She finally says something smart,” Bear mutters.
“When we get back, I forbid you to see him again.”
He forbids me? I raise an eyebrow, ready to dig the hole I’ve already dug a little deeper. “So, you firing him or me? ’Cause other than that, I don’t know how I’m not supposed to see him. Care to explain, Daddy?”
My father slides a hand down his face before his fingers crumple into a fist near his chin. “Did the bullets scramble your brains or some shit?”
“Nope.” I shake my head. “I’m seeing clearer than I have in a long time.”
“The way your mouth is talking, I’d say you’re still in shock.”
“Not in shock. I’m feeling more alive than ever. So, who’s leaving?”
“Izzy won’t fire him, and you’re not going anywhere. You two can work together without dating.”
“Okay.” I nod, thinking over my next words carefully. “So, the guy who was just ready to take a bullet for me, the guy who put his body in the way, hiding me so he’d die instead of me…” I close my eyes, remembering the way my body shook when the door to Pike’s room opened and I didn’t know which person had died. “I’m just supposed to tell him to kick rocks because my father, who’s also his boss, doesn’t want me to see him again.” I open my eyes and roll them because I know it’ll piss off my dad something fierce. “Hey, Pike, thanks for almost dying for me and being willing to throw yourself in front of a bullet, but my father doesn’t think you’re good enough.”
“I didn’t say he wasn’t a good person.”
I cross my arms again, lifting one shoulder, staring my father straight in the eye. “Just not good enough for me, right?”
My father’s entire face scrunches up like he’s about to shit a brick and it’s painful as fuck. “His life is dangerous, Gigi. Look at all the shit you’ve been through in a couple days of him being in your life.”
“It’s not trouble he brought to his door. It was his father’s fault, and if it weren’t for the men in Pike’s past, he’d probably be dead and maybe me too.” I pause and our eyes are locked in a silent tug-of-war, but I don’t give him a chance to talk because I’m not done making my point. “Didn’t something happen to Mom when you two were dating? Wasn’t she almost…”
“It was different,” he says quickly.
“Shit happens, Dad. Life happens. No matter how hard you try to protect someone, you can’t stop the bad from getting through all the time. Pike’s innocent in this, and the decision of if we’re going to see each other again falls to Pike and me. And frankly—” I swallow because if he hasn’t leaped over the seat yet, my next words may be the nail in the coffin “—it’s none of your business.”
He blinks like I’ve slapped him, and his mouth moves but nothing comes out.
“I’m not trying to be mean, and if I am, I’m sorry. But imagine if Grandma or Grandpa said you couldn’t see Mom anymore.”
“I love your mother.”
“Maybe I love Pike.”
My father laughs. “You just met the kid.”
“How long after you met Mom did you know you had feelings for her? Real feelings…”
“Well…” He looks at Bear because Bear was there in the beginning, and I have zero doubt he’ll call my dad on his shit if he tries to lie. “Honestly, I don’t remember a time when I didn’t love your mom.”
“Then why does it matter that I just met him?” I use air quotes on the last three words because we both know I didn’t just meet him, but I have had fifteen months to think about him and the way he makes me feel.
“I…” He pauses, staring at me like he doesn’t know what to say and hates to tell me I’m right.
“The man would’ve died for me tonight, Daddy. How many guys would do that? Let me tell you. Not many. Guys my age are a bunch of pansy-asses who cry when they get a paper cut. Chivalry is fucking dead. Pike would’ve taken that bullet and died with a smile on his face knowing I was going to live to breathe another day.”
“I…” he says again, but I don’t let him finish before I go on because I have shit to get off my chest.
“Here’s this guy with a mother who’s dead because his father is an asshole. The same father who treated him like shit as a little kid and a mother who wasn’t much better. For growing up the way he did, he turned out to be a freaking great guy. He’s envious of me, you know. He sees how close we all are, how much we love each other, and he knows exactly what he missed out on growing up and even now. So whatever misconceived notions you have about Pike, you may as well forget them all until you get to know the real man underneath.”
“She’s kind of telling you how it is, City.” Bear glances at him with a slight shrug. “Pike’s not too far off from the man you were at that age. You had a good family behind you, but you weren’t a choirboy.”
My father glares at Bear. “You’re not helping. Whose side are you on?”
“Don’t ask me to pick a side because I’ll always pick the girl.”
My smile’s so big, my cheeks hurt. This is why I love my uncle Bear. He can totally call my dad out on his shit, reminding him of the man he is and used to be. It doesn’t hurt that he’s always willing to have my back. Always. It doesn’t matter that we’re not blood; he’s been in my life since the day I was born and is just as much my uncle as any of my father’s brothers.
“It’s a fucking conspiracy,” my father mutters, turning around to face the windshield.
“Just give him a chance, Dad. Give me a chance to live my own life and find my own happiness.”
“I don’t like it.”
“I never asked if you did.”
24
Pike
“Three large black coffees.”
“Would you like sugar, sir?”
“I said black,” James barks out the driver’s window, arm slung over the door, looking chill as fuck but sounding like he’s wound so tight, he could break at any moment.
“Black means no cream, but it doesn’t mean no sugar,” the woman on the other end of the drive-thru tries to explain, but James is in no mood.
“No cream. No sugar. Just coffee.”
“Iced or hot?” she asks.
James looks at Thomas like he can’t get over this shit, and Thomas laughs at James’s misery. “Hot,” he growls out the window, practically foaming at the mouth.
“Please pull around, sir.”
“What the fuck happened to ordering a simple cup of coffee?”
Thomas shrugs. “Life’s moving fast, old man.”
“Get the fuck out of here with that old man shit.”
&nb
sp; Thomas glances down, staring at his phone. “Well, this should get interesting.”
“What?” James asks as he inches the car forward in the long line.
“Mom’s requiring Pike to be at today’s family dinner.”
“She what?” I ask, shocked and a little scared.
“Joe isn’t going to be happy about that,” James states the fucking obvious.
From the moment our eyes met at the compound, I knew Joe hated me now. I’m not even sure hate is a strong enough word for all the things he’s feeling toward me. I can’t blame the guy. I’d fucking hate me too.
“I’d give my left nut to be in that car with them.” Thomas laughs. “Gigi’s more like Izzy than Suzy. She’s probably reading him the riot act.”
“Maybe one of them isn’t going to make it back alive,” James jokes, sliding up to the drive-thru window, trying not to make eye contact with the lady behind the voice.
Seconds later, Thomas’s phone rings, and Joe’s voice comes through the car speakers. “Do you believe this shit?”
“You know Ma.”
“Why on God’s green earth would she want him there?”
James turns to me, shrugging and rolling his eyes while the guys talk about me like I’m not overhearing the entire conversation.
“You know Ma is always the peacemaker and sticks her nose in everyone’s business.”
“This is my kid,” Joe says.
“And you’re her kid,” Thomas reminds him. “I think that trumps your thinking.”
“Does she realize Gigi could’ve died?”
“I’m sure she does. Our wives told her everything, Joe,” James tells him, and I know there’re no secrets left in this family. “You know they can’t keep a secret, and Ma could pull the truth out of anyone, especially them.”
“Fuck,” Joe hisses. “Drop Pike off at my house, and he can ride with us.”
“Do I get a say in this?” I ask from the back seat, wishing I could get out and run, but it’s impossible without a door in the back of this Challenger.
Thomas turns, glaring at me to shut the fuck up but without actually saying the words. He doesn’t need to either. I get the message loud and clear.