by Jayna King
“Well, he ain’t exactly complicated,” Sable laughed. “He’s in a motorcycle club. Actually, he founded the MC with his brother, your uncle.”
“An uncle?”
I must have looked excited, because Sable put her hand on my arm as if she was trying to calm me down.
“He passed away a long time ago. They were best friends, and it broke your father’s heart when his brother died.”
“I wish I could have met him.”
“So your father loves his bikes, his booze, and the Savage Sons — that’s the name of the MC — more than anything, including me, some days,” Sable said with a laugh.
I realized that I didn’t want to cause problems in Sable’s life, even if it meant that I wouldn’t get to meet my biological father face-to-face. “I’m going to leave this up to you, Sable. I don’t want to come between you and Daniel, so I’m going to let you decide how to handle this. If you want to tell him about me, and if he wants to meet me, then I’ll be there in a heartbeat. But if you want to keep your secret, I’ll understand. You gave me to wonderful parents, and I’ll respect your privacy.”
Sable looked at me and nodded. “I’m gonna tell him. He may be mad at me, but he has a right to know. For that matter, he probably had a right to know thirty years ago.”
I smiled at her. “Thirty-one, actually.”
“You don’t look thirty-one. You have the baby face your dad used to have before he spent so many late nights in the bar.”
I stood up. “You have my card. I’ll let you figure things out, and I’ll wait for your call. If you change your mind, I’ll understand, and I won’t bother you again.”
“Bother me?” Sable asked. “Oh, Luke, you have no idea how happy you’ve made me. To know that my son lived with good people, got an education, has a good job … you’ve made me believe that I did the right thing. I may have suffered, wondering all these years, but you haven’t, and I’m so thankful for that.” Sable started crying, reaching for a tissue. “Luke, I’m sorry I left you, and I hope that you’ll be able to forgive me someday.”
“Sable, there’s nothing to forgive.” I put my hand over hers. “I’ll be in town for at least another week. I hope to hear from you.”
I wondered for a second if I should hug her, but I felt a little awkward, and I needed some fresh air. Even in the big house, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I walked out the front door, closed it quietly behind me, and headed for my Jeep. I felt like I was moving on autopilot as I climbed in, started my car, and backed down the driveway.
Chapter 10
Krystal
The lunch rush had been fantastic, especially for a weekend. Even though Falling Rock was in the perfect area to pull in both tourists and business people, the tips on the weekend usually weren’t as good, especially for a pretty girl. It doesn’t matter how hot you are if a husband’s sitting at the bar with his wife looking over his shoulder while he signs the credit card receipt.
I’d done well over the course of the afternoon, though. I’d hustled and really worked on selling some of the obscure, higher priced beers. It still blew my mind that there were people willing to pay twenty dollars for a single bottle of beer, but I was glad those folks were in Denver today!
I checked my watch and realized that I only had about forty-five minutes to get the bar back into shape for the dinner shift, and I still had a bar that was about half full. Time to shift into higher gear, I thought, as I started wiping down the liquor bottles I’d used to make what had felt like about a thousand bloody marys. I’d just finished a quick cleanup of the back bar, when I turned to scan the bar and see if anyone needed another drink.
And in walked Luke.
I’d wondered if he’d be miserably hung over from the night before, but he didn’t appear to be. He waved as he crossed the room.
“I promise I’m not stalking you,” he said as he pulled out a bar stool and took a seat.
“But here you are,” I said, narrowing my eyes and trying to look suspicious.
“Seriously,” he said, as he started to stand up. “If you want me to go, I will. It’s just that I don’t know anyone else … and I …”
“Jesus, Luke. I was kidding.”
“Oh,” he laughed. “I feel like an idiot.”
“Actually, I’m glad to see you, to be honest.” I wasn’t sure why I told him how I felt, but I realized that it felt good to be able to say what I thought, rather than having to worry about how he’d react — I didn’t have to measure my words and try to anticipate what would make him explode … like I did with Bug.
“If you’re busy, I can leave, but I thought I could drink a beer and tell you about my day if you’re not too slammed.”
“As long as you don’t mind if I work while you talk, that’s perfectly all right,” I answered, getting out the lemons, oranges, and limes I needed to slice to get things set for the closing bartender.
“Go ahead,” Luke said as he looked over the beer menu. “I’ll enjoy every second of watching you work.”
I poured his beer — not one of the twenty-dollar bottles, but a draft from California, and I slowly bent over to place it on the bar in front of him. I looked around to make sure no one was watching, and I ran my finger around the edge of the glass, catching the foam from the beer’s head. I brought my finger to my mouth and slowly licked the foam from my finger, maintaining eye contact with Luke the entire time, finally finishing by inserting my finger into my mouth and sucking it clean.
“You can watch all you like,” I said, as I headed to the other end of the bar to check on a couple who — after a couple of drinks — had started to kiss and whisper in one another’s ears. I laughed as I saw Luke close his mouth and adjust himself inside his jeans. I wondered if I could push him — get him so hot and turned on that he would be unable to control himself and would let his self control slip, just enough to let himself take what he wanted. I realized that I wanted him, wanted him to want me enough to take me. Luke wasn’t the only one turned on.
“So what’s got you so excited?” I asked when I got back to Luke.
“Besides you?”
“Me?” I asked, as if I couldn’t believe him. “I have you excited?”
“You know exactly the effect you have on me, Krystal.”
“Besides me, then.”
“You know how I said I was here to find my birth parents?”
I nodded as I sliced the fruit on the bar.
“I found them.”
“And?”
“I talked to my mother. Sat down and had a cup of coffee in her kitchen, as crazy as that sounds.”
“How did it go?” I looked him over to see if I could tell what kind of emotional state he was in. He seemed to be fine. Excited, but fine.
“It went really well. She’s happy that she gave me up to good parents, and she has regretted leaving me. She seemed like she was happy to see me.”
“Does she have any other kids?” I asked.
“No, and she’s married to my father. My father’s the only possible complication. He doesn’t know about me.”
“What? He doesn’t know he has a son somewhere in the world? How did she hide it from him?”
“She was young, and he was overseas in the military. She went and stayed with a friend and gave me up for adoption. He never knew.”
“Wow,” I said, trying to think about what it would be like to discover that you had an adult child that you had never known about.
“She’s going to tell him, though, and see if he wants to meet me. I’m trying not to get my hopes up, but I really want to meet my birth father.”
Luke seemed so wholesome, so sweet, that it nearly broke my heart. “I hope you do,” I said, not sure what else to say.
Luke reached out and picked up my hand, not caring about the lemon juice that covered my fingers. “Thank you, Krystal. I just had to tell someone, and you’re the only person I know in town. I feel like celebrating.”
“I bet you d
o,” I told him, taking my hand back to wash it.
“Come have dinner with me,” he said, barely able to contain his excitement. “We’ll go someplace outrageously expensive, and we’ll drink champagne until sunrise.”
For a second, I let myself think about what it would be like to spend the evening with Luke. Dinner, expensive drinks, conversation with a man who actually listened to me and didn’t think I was a whore. It sounded like heaven to me.
But it couldn’t happen.
“You have no idea how much I’d love to have dinner with you tonight, but I can’t.” I decided not to explain any further. He didn’t need to know that my evening was likely to consist of me ignoring Bug’s insults and end with an unsatisfying sixty seconds of Bug pumping away inside me while I pretended to enjoy it.
“C’mon,” Luke pleaded. “Cancel your plans, just for tonight. Come celebrate with me. I’ll make it worth your while,” he said, with a sexy gleam in his eye.
He had no idea how gorgeous he was and how much I wanted to take him back to his hotel room and not come up for air for days. But I couldn’t. If I didn’t meet Bug at the clubhouse that evening, any chance I had at moving up to be his old lady would be gone. I was gonna have to work my ass off to afford my apartment on my own, but if I could move in with Bug, even if it was for a couple of years, I could afford to finish college and maybe even make a respectable living on my own. I couldn’t throw that away for the first sexy blond guy who walked into the bar.
“I can’t, Luke. You have no idea how much I wish I could, but I have something I have to take care of tonight.”
He actually looked disappointed. “I understand. We’re still on for Friday, though, right?”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” I answered. I was sure I could come up with some way to get out for one night without making Bug too suspicious.
Luke finished the rest of his beer while I wrapped up my side work, making sure that the bar was in better shape than it had been when I’d come in the day before. We chatted a bit, but he seemed a little subdued after I refused his offer to take me out for dinner. He asked for the check, and I printed it and put it on the bar in front of him.
“Luke, I’m glad you came in to tell me about finding your parents. I’m so happy for you that it went well.”
“You’re very sweet, Krystal. I hope that your boyfriend — or whatever you call him — appreciates you.”
I smiled. “Thanks again for the invitation for tonight. You have no idea how much I wish I could go.”
“That makes two of us, but I’ll just look forward to Friday.”
“Me, too.”
Luke put some cash down on the check, and he waved as he walked away. I noticed that I wasn’t the only woman watching the tall, blond man cross the room, and I hoped that he wouldn’t meet some gorgeous woman who actually had her shit together before Friday. I just knew that if Luke realized how screwed up my head was, that he’d run and never look back.
Without thinking, I automatically picked up the cash and took it to the register to close out the check.
“Holy shit,” I said when I looked at the denomination of the bill Luke had set down. He’d left me a hundred dollar bill on a six-dollar tab. Adding up the tips I’d already made, I realized that I had enough to pay some bills and probably even have enough to set a little aside for the summer class I wanted to take. I wasn’t sure how I felt about Luke’s leaving so much money, though. I might be desperate, but I didn’t want a man to think he could buy me.
I picked up my phone.
You left $100 on the bar. I’ll give you ur change on Friday.
I got back to work and was about to leave when I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket.
Left it on purpose, but if you want, you can buy a round of beers at the game.
Deal :-)
Luke didn’t seem pissed, and I’d made my point, I hoped.
After my shift was over, I got a sandwich to go since I figured that Bug wouldn’t be taking me out to dinner and I knew that I didn’t have anything to eat at home. It could be a long night if Bug planned to drink all night, and there was no way he’d let me leave early. He liked to show me off to his brothers.
After I wolfed down my dinner, I looked in the mirror and decided that I could use another shower. After having had Luke ask me out, I was feeling pretty good about myself, and I decided that I was gonna wow Bug. If he was an asshole, I’d just walk out of the clubhouse. He could either chase me or let me go, but I was starting to think that his bullshit wasn’t really worth it at the end of the day. Even without Luke’s crazy tip, I’d had a good day, and if I could up my tips a little, I thought I could pay for school and manage to pay my bills.
I felt fierce, and I was gonna find an outfit to match my attitude.
Chapter 11
Luke
I’d felt so elated when I walked into Krystal’s bar and saw that she seemed genuinely happy to see me, and now I just felt like an idiot for having asked her out for dinner. She obviously had a boyfriend, even if she insisted that the situation was complicated. I knew better than to get drawn in by a pretty face — and a fantastic ass, in her case —but there was something about Krystal that called to me. Sexual attraction aside, she seemed sweet and a little sad all at the same time, and I felt compelled to try to make her happy, give her something to smile about.
I needed to grow up.
“If she’s interested in me, she knows how to get hold of me,” I said to myself, unaware that the person standing at the bus stop was watching me walk and talk to myself.
No sooner had I spoken than my phone chimed.
You left $100 on the bar. I’ll give you ur change on Friday.
I hadn’t really thought it through when I dropped the big bill for the beer, but I realized that Krystal might take my gesture the wrong way. She’d mentioned that her school was expensive, and I had more money than I knew what to do with at the moment. I’d meant to be nice, but I was afraid that I’d come off like an asshole. I agreed to let her buy a round of beers at the ballpark and let it go.
My phone chimed again, and I assumed that it was Krystal calling me to talk, but when I looked, it was a number I didn’t recognize.
“Luke Callaway,” I answered.
“Luke, It’s Sable Hall.”
My heart jumped into my throat. “Yes?” I hadn’t expected to hear from her so quickly. It hadn’t been more than a few hours since I’d left her house.
“I talked to your …um … Daniel, and not only is he thrilled that he has a son, but he wants to meet you.”
“Wow. I don’t know what to say. Guess he wasn’t too mad at you, huh?”
Sable hesitated. “Well, he isn’t exactly happy with me, but he’s seriously excited about meeting you.”
“I can’t wait.”
“You mean that?”
“Of course. I drove all the way from Arizona, you bet I want to meet him.”
“You busy tonight?” Sable asked.
“Nope. Free as a bird.”
“Well, if you’re interested, you could stop by the house around seven and meet your father. He is dying to take you to his club and introduce you to all of his friends, but I’ve convinced him to take baby steps and meet you here first and see how things go. I figure it’s kinda like a first date, and it’s been a long time since he’s had one of those.”
I laughed. “You’re a smart lady, Sable. I’ll be there at seven.”
I could hear her sigh with relief. “Good.”
“And thank you,” I said before I hung up.
“No, Luke. Thank you,” she said quietly before she hung up.
***
I stood in my hotel suite and tried to decide what I should wear to go meet my old man. I knew he was a blue collar sort of guy, so I figured that I shouldn’t get too dressed up. I didn’t want him to be uncomfortable, but I didn’t want him to be insulted either. I stood naked in front of the window that looked out over the city a
nd the mountains, and I decided on clean jeans and a collared shirt. I’d leave it untucked so it didn’t look too stuffy.
As I buttoned my jeans, I was glad I’d made myself go to the fitness center in the hotel. The workout had helped me clear my head and given me a chance to sweat out all of the beer and scotch from the night before. I felt good — nervous, but good. I checked the time on my phone. Time to leave.
The drive to the Hall’s house felt like it was over in an instant, probably because I was a little anxious. When I pulled into the driveway, my mouth was dry and my heart was racing. What if Daniel didn’t like me? Or what if we had absolutely nothing in common? After all, I knew he was a biker, and I didn’t know the first thing about motorcycles. Taking a deep breath, I climbed out of the Jeep and headed for the front door.
I didn’t even make it to the door before it opened and Daniel stepped outside, clearly eager to see me. I stood still and waited for him to speak.
“Oh, my God,” he said, shaking his head. “You remind me so much of your uncle when he was your age. Come here and let me get a look at you.”
I walked toward him and held out my hand. “Luke Callaway, sir,” I said.
“Fuck shaking hands,” Daniel roared, holding out his arms. “Come here.”
I stepped into his embrace, and I thought he was going to squeeze me to death. He held on like his life depended on it.
“Nice to meet you, Daniel,” I said when he finally let me go.
“Call me Joker,” he said, coughing as he tried to calm down. “That’s what my brothers call me.”
I assumed that he meant the other members of the MC, and I nodded. “Okay. Joker, it is.”
“Come on inside,” he said, gesturing toward the doorway, in which I could see Sable watching the two of us.
“Hello, again,” I said as I walked inside.
“Want a beer?” Joker asked.
“Sure,” I answered. “That would be great.”
I was surprised to see Joker nod to Sable and sit down in the living room. He waved me toward a love seat and Sable brought me my beer. Clearly, the gender politics in the household were old-fashioned.