Her words kill me, because chances are, that’s exactly what would have happened if she had stayed and I knew about our child together. But I’m still so fucking pissed off, I don’t want to even look at her right now.
“Carter, I’m sorry, I really am, but please. Let’s talk about this.” She comes to me, trying to wrap her arms around my neck.
“Fuck off,” I growl and pull her away from my body by her hair flinging her to the wall. She collapses on the floor sobbing uncontrollably and I go to the door and walk out it without looking back. “Fucking cunt.”
Fuck this shit. It’s too damn much. The bitch ain’t worth all the Goddamned pain.
Chapter 28
Harlee
The second I’m flung into the wall face first, I feel blood trickling from my nose. “Fuck, Harlee, you okay, Princess?” My dad says, rushing over to me.
“I didn’t think I could hate you more. I really didn’t.”
“He needed to know, I’m not sorry I told him, but I am sorry I let him walk out of this room without putting a bullet in him.”
“Why did you do that? Are you punishing me for running off all those years ago? Is that what this is?”
“No. It was time you pulled your head out of your ass and grew up. Time to stop hiding and be a mom. Did you really think you could make a career out of being a stripper? I know you’re the headliner and rake in the big bucks, but no child of mine is taking her clothes off for money, I couldn’t let it continue. It’s time to step up and take your place by your man at the head of this club. I’m dying, Princess, and I’d like to see you married and secure before my days are up. And maybe I’d like to know my granddaughter.”
“You have plenty of grandkids from your other children.” My head whips around as I realize what else he said. “What do you mean, you’re dying?”
“I have cancer, kid. My insides are covered with it in my stomach and my throat. And it’s spreading fast, going all through my entire body. I’ve been making arrangements, securing Wrecker as VP when he gets patched. I’ve been busy with meetings, buying his vote in. I want to make sure you’re gonna be okay when I’m gone.”
“Daddy,” I cry, using the term for the first time in years on him.
I wipe at my face and take the bandanna he offers me to blow my nose. I have spent so much time hating him but to hear that he’s dying that changes things. “Are you lying to me so I won’t be mad about everything else?” I question. I wouldn’t put it past him.
“I’m a dirty bastard and have lied about many things in my life but not this. Not to you. No one knows except those closest to me.”
“How long? How long do we have?”
“Three maybe six.”
“Months?”
“Weeks, Harlee. Doctors say I have weeks to live.”
I suck in a breath as sobs tear through my chest. All these years I’ve hated him, wishing for him to be dead, and now he’s really dying. I’m not ready to lose him and then there is Carter—he is so angry with me, and I have to think about Ellie. When dad dies, I will be truly alone.
What will I say to my sweet girl about her dad. She hasn’t ever asked about him, and I haven’t volunteered any information about him either. Who knows what Gladys has filled her head with. She has always hated bikers.
Growing up, I thought my dad was the coolest man ever. I used to love when he would take me for a ride on his motorcycle. Sure, he wasn’t always around but when he was, he made sure I knew that I was his world. He loved to read to me at bedtime. He’d do all the silly character voices. My mom would sometimes sit in and listen to him too. She always had the wistful look in her eyes when she’d watch us. Sometimes I wonder if she were ever really happy. The woman never stopped. She was always busying herself with the other ol’ ladies, baking shit for the clubhouse, doing their laundry, taking care of the house...it was a wonder she ever really did anything for fun. But maybe she enjoyed taking care of us. I don’t think I can even remember her playing games with me. I don’t think I ever played makeup with her or practiced braiding her hair. That was all reserved for when Keisha came over. Sure, she was always around making sure I had what I needed but maybe I didn’t even know my mom. I just have this idea of the person she allowed me to see.
I don’t want that for Ellie and me.
I look up at my father and really look at him, noticing that he’s lost weight, and he’s aged so much in five years. “I forgive you, daddy,” I whisper.
A single tear falls down his face, and he bundles me up, hugging me tight. “I can’t say I’m sorry enough. I never should have sent Wrecker on those jobs, I know by doing that, I forced him to cheat on you. God, I’m sorry for being such a shit father.”
“I love you, dad. You might have been a shitty person, but before I found out about everything, you were my hero. We had lots of good times together, as a family.”
“Yeah, girl, we did. Hopefully we can make up for lost time before I take my final breath.”
Chapter 29
Wrecker
A kid, a daughter. Fuck. How could Harlee do this to me? How could she lie right to my fucking face saying she aborted our kid?
I’m so fucking done with that bitch. I wasn’t lying to Harlee about how the club changed. Sure, we still do illegal shit, but we don’t have whores in the clubhouse anymore. Not since the day Harlee stormed in and killed one. We keep them in a separate location. After the shit storm that Harlee caused, a lot of the women were terrified to be here, in case it would happen again.
Demon got to work right away building a second compound deep in the woods, the main clubhouse is for business and families only, a safe place so Old Ladies don’t even think their men are cheating.
I’m so fucking pissed, I need some good weed, a hot bitch, and some whiskey to get rid of the urge to go back and kill Harlee and Demon, for keeping my daughter away from me.
I shut my bike off and quickly go into the new compound. Fuck yeah, this is just what I need. Looking around the room, it’s packed full of whores and other brothers. “Wrecker!” I hear screeched by a few women.
Quickly, I work around the room, grab a joint, a bottle of Jack, a woman who looks nothing like Harlee, and head down to one of the fuck rooms.
Lighting up my joint, I sit on the bed. “Clothes off and take me out, baby doll,” I tell Penny.
She bites her bottom lip and does exactly what I say. As her lips wrap around my dick, I harden instantly. “Fuck, suck it hard, all the way, baby doll.”
I look down at her and pull on her blonde hair, needing to escape just for a little while. Her head bobs up and down, and I close my eyes, trying to get lost in the, but my dick goes limp. Harlee’s words playback at me. ‘Daddy is out with a clubwhore making you lots of brothers and sisters.’
I grab Penny by the back of her neck. “Stop. Not gonna happen.”
“I can get you hard.” She spits on her hand and attempts to stroke me.
“I said no. Get the fuck out.” I shove her and she falls back on her ass.
“What the fuck, man?” Should have known better with Penny, bitch is one of the newer girls here, and hasn’t quite learned the rules. Rule one, no club bitch talks back, ever. Rule two, never talk, come near, or touch one of us unless we ask for it. And Rule three, stay the fuck away from the old ladies.
“You back talking me?”
Her eyes go wide when she sees how pissed I am. “No, I’m sorry, Wrecker.”
“Know your fuckin’ place, or you can get the hell out of the club.”
“It won’t happen again,” she says quietly.
I stomp past her, go outside, and suck in a deep breath.
Briggs comes up next to me and clamps a hand on my shoulder. “Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be up at the main house with Harlee and Demon?”
“Fuck Demon. Fuck Harlee.”
He smacks the back of my head. “You dumb motherfucker. Pull your shit together. I’m gonna need your ass ready to rid
e at my back. Fucking Demon, man, he’s dying. He’s got cancer no treatment will help. Plan is to patch you in and make you my VP. Now, personally, I don’t give a fuck about you, but I care about Harlee. Her old man wants her with a man at the head of the club. It can be you or it can be me.” He grins, rubbing his beard as my eyes go wide.
“The fuck you just say.”
“I didn’t stutter. You have a few options. You can let your pride get the best of you and I can kill you. No sweat off my back. Then I can take Harlee for my ol’ lady. Raise your kid as my own, play daddy and maybe see her belly grow with my kid. I’ve seen her work the pole, brother.” He whistles and I go for my gun. I’m gonna kill him.
“Easy now.” He holds his hand over the barrel. “Put it away unless you are prepared to use it. Hear me out, fuckface.”
I aim the gun to the ground but I don’t put the safety on.
“Do you want to be in this club? Do you love Harlee?”
“It isn’t that simple. She lied to me. Told me she had an abortion. How do I let that shit go?”
“If you wanna be a daddy and have the life other brothers in there would fucking kill for, you’ll have to. Because trust me, there are a good fifty motherfuckers lining up to take your place, but Demon secured your spot. All you gotta do is sew that VP patch on your cut and be ready to ride.”
“I gotta do some thinking, man.”
“I hear ya. Don’t take too long and I can tell you from experience, easy pussy won’t solve your problems. Most of the men in this club have old ladies, but not many are faithful because they are bitches, but Harlee, she's a whole other class of bitch. The kind of bitch you wouldn't dream of fucking around on…Most of the brothers have boys, but the ones with girls haven't even thought of fucking around on their old ladies. Not that they didn't want to, but because they knew if someone did it to their baby girl they'd kill for her. The other members in the club, ones our age, all have wanted Harlee, and would never dream about stepping out on her. Fuck man, even Ash, who isn’t much younger than her dad, even he wants her. You had her man, you fucking had the one treasure we wanted, and you tarnished it. You threw her away. Every fucking single one of us, wanted to kill Demon for making you cheat on her in the first place. Then you, since you agreed to that shit. If Harlee is back for good, you better watch your fucking back, because none of us will hesitate to put a bullet in your head, if you step out on her again.”
Fuck.
Demon…cancer. Harlee… a daughter I don’t know.
I scrub a hand over my face and light up that joint. I need to think about this shit, if I don’t stop being a stupid fuck, I can easily be replaced, and that shit doesn’t sit right with me.
Chapter 30
Harlee
“I can’t just show up and take her away from Gladys. That wouldn’t be fair.”
“She’s your kid. Did you sign away your rights?”
“No, daddy.”
“Do you want Wrecker?”
“You know I have loved Carter Runyon since I was a teenager.”
“Then go get our girl. Get him back. Make shit right. He lays his eyes on her and that will be it. He won’t fuck around no more. He won’t be stupid like me. I regret what I did to your mom. I loved her but only because she gave me you. I never told you this shit because I didn’t want to hurt you. But your mom was a one-night stand when I was just getting started. We met at a bonfire and had a damn good time. Six months later she showed up at my door with a bag and a big ass belly telling me she had no place to go. I tried with her but I didn’t love her the way a man ought to have but I loved you.”
I don’t know what to think about that. All this time I hated him and in his own way he tried to do the right thing. I guess he couldn’t love her the way she wanted.
“What are you going to do, Princess?”
“I guess it’s time to bring Ellie home.”
He nods and I allow him to hug me, even though I am still upset with him.
I walk out to the front of the clubhouse and look for Carter but he’s nowhere in sight. I go to the room we stayed in but I can tell he hasn’t been back here. I thought maybe he could take me to my house and we could take my car to go see our daughter together but I am sure he’s blowing off some steam.
“Well, holy shit, Princess Harlee is back. Come here, kid, I missed you.” I hear Ash’s voice from the door of the room.
Turning around, I see him standing there, arms opened. If he had been younger, Carter would have had some serious competition. I smile and walk into his arms, hugging him tight.
“Missed you, Ash.”
He scoffs at me. “Obviously not enough since you took off and never kept in touch.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I know, girl, I know. I’m just glad your back and I can see your sexy ass every day.”
I laugh. “You old pervert.”
He steps away from me, and mocks heartbreak. “Hey, I’m not that old.”
He goes to say more, and I know, I just know it’s going to be something to do with sex so I put a stop to it. “Nope, shut up. My dad would kill you.”
He gives me a wink. “I’ll be here if you change your mind, Princess.”
Shaking my head, I smile. As he’s about to walk away I grab his arm. “Change your mind? I can take you for a wild ride.”
“Would you stop.” I giggle. “Do you think you could take me to my house, I want to pick up my car and then go get my daughter.”
His face turns serious, and his playful demeanor vanishes. “Yeah, meet me out front in ten.”
**
Ash dropped me off at my house, but stayed with me until I got in my car. He asked if I wanted him to come with me to get Ellie, but I said no, telling him I’d see him in a few hours.
I pull into Aunt Gladys’s driveway and swiftly close my door, moving quickly up her walkway to get to my girl.
“Harlee. I wasn’t expecting you.” Gladys stands in her doorway like she doesn’t want to let me in.
“Well here I am. I’ve missed my girl.”
“You haven’t called in a week. I thought something had happened to you.”
“Had some things to take care of but like I said. I’m here now.”
“Ellie was upset when you didn’t call her. She refused to go to sleep until you called. Cried all night the first two nights.”
“I’ll talk to her,” I say, getting inpatient.
“I filed papers this morning for custody of her.”
“You did what?” My jaw drops. “You can’t…you can’t mean to take her away from me. I’m her mother.”
“Are you, Harlee? Are you really her mother, because I have raised her these past three years.”
“And I have sent you money and come to see her every free minute I’ve had when it was safe to do so.”
“You might have sent money, but I've been her sole provider while you slutted it up with any man that would have you, and while you fucked a pole at that strip club.”
“You might want to watch your tone,” I seethe at her, my jaw clenching tight.
“You only came by once a week. Sure, you called her at night to put her to bed, and facetimed her, but I'm the one that took her to kindergarten, who potty trained her, who did all the things you should have done.”
Tears sting at my eyes because to an extent she’s right but she isn’t being fair. “Yeah, because I needed your help, I worked every damn second I possibly could. I couldn't raise her and work. But I was with her when I was able! She's MY daughter. MINE!”
“No, she's not your daughter, she's the bastard of a fucking biker. She's My daughter, in all the ways that count.”
“How dare you say that about my baby girl!”
“No, she's not your daughter, she's the bastard of a fucking biker that couldn't keep his dick in his pants, just like your daddy. And you’re a whore like your mother was. I told her not to mess around with bikers but first chance she had she was spreading he
r legs for your father.”
She cries out, as my hand lashes out and slaps her across the face making her fall to the floor. “You'll regret that, girl. I'll call my lawyer.”
"Do it! I'll have my daddy on his way so fast, you'll wish for death"
I storm back down the walkway and get in my car, I should have not insisted that Ash go back, because I could have really used him. I just didn’t think she’d refuse me access to my daughter. I squeal my tires pulling out onto the road. As soon as I get of her driveway I dial my dad and hope she didn’t call the cops on me. She’s the type who would.
“Demon,” his gruff voice answers.
“Daddy, she’s not letting me have Ellie. Said she filed custody papers this morning.”
“That fucking cunt. Don’t worry, Princess, stay put near her house and I’ll have some guys there soon. She’s not keeping my granddaughter.”
“Okay.” The line goes dead and I do as I’m told. There’s a church not far from her house.
Chapter 31
Wrecker
Once I pull my head out of my ass, I go in search of Harlee. Last time I saw her she was still with her old man. I walk through the clubhouse and stop at the bar when I see my sister sitting there.
“Where is she?” I ask, because I know she sure as shit wouldn’t be sitting here is she were still here.
“She’s gone.”
“What to do you mean, she’s gone?”
“Just what I fucking said. She left.”
Rage boils through my veins. She’s not fucking leaving me. I grip the side of the bar ready to go off.
“Calm down, Wrecker. You should be glad she’s gone.”
“Keisha, I am warning you to shut your fucking cock sucker. Sister or not, you don’t say shit about Harlee.”
“She cut us out.” She shrugs.
“Maybe I will drag her ass back here just so she can beat your ass,” I tell her. I sure as shit haven’t forgiven her for fucking getting knocked up by Demon. I start to ask her about his cancer but think better of it. I don’t have time for this shit. I need to talk to Harlee. We gotta figure our shit out.
You Wreck Me (The Prospect Series Book 1) Page 11