by Addison Jane
This feeling was very real, very scary, and awfully fucking confronting.
“Carly is your mom?” Huntsman asked finally, and my heart skipped.
He remembered her name.
“Yes,” I whispered, finally lowering my gun, but refusing to put it down until I heard more of what Huntsman had to say. I could tell he was a hard man. He hadn’t thought twice about putting his hands on me when he thought I might have been lying to him or a threat. Yet, when I looked at him now, I noticed his gaze was glued to the picture he held. His features had softened slightly, which only made my heart race even faster.
“Brew, Orion, go wait outside for me,” Huntsman ordered, much to Brew’s horror.
Orion gave me one last curious look before heading for the door. Brew being smart, he kept his mouth closed and followed, but not before giving me that one final look which was full of dark and painful promises. Almost like he knew I was hiding some secret, and it was just a matter of time before he figured it out.
I wasn’t hiding a secret, but I was pretty sure he was going to find one anyway.
When the door closed, I finally allowed myself to breathe. Taking a seat on my bed, I put the safety back on my gun and slipped it into my bedside drawer. While the state of Arizona wouldn’t let me conceal and carry until I was twenty-one, at eighteen, I was still allowed to own a handgun, and Hadley and Leo had made sure I had one which was perfect for me and that I was confident in using before I left Athens.
I was pretty thankful for that now.
Huntsman was quiet.
He leaned against my window frame, his eyes still stuck on the photo of him and my mother.
“So you do remember her,” I murmured, not wanting to disturb the moment he was having, but impatient and needing to hear what he had to say about the whole thing.
He cleared his throat. “Yeah, I remember her,” he admitted, his brows growing a little sterner when he looked up at me. “I ain’t the one who left her high and dry, though. We spent… time together. Then the minute I got called away to deal with some club business, she fucking disappeared into thin air.”
The nostalgia had passed, and now he was pissed.
He obviously had a different idea of what happened between them than my mom did, or at least, he didn’t know the whole story. “My grandparents… her parents were killed in a car accident,” I told him, suddenly feeling overwhelmed and upset. It was hard for me to miss people that I’d never met, but the emotions I felt were for the pain I knew my mom and my aunt had gone through. The same pain that I knew Ham had gone through when his parents were killed. One I couldn’t ever imagine I’d ever be able to come back from.
Huntsman tossed the photo on the ground with a flick of his wrist, and my mouth dropped open. “I don’t fucking care if her damn dog died. She walked away without a single word. Then she had my child, and never fucking bothered to tell me? She’s just like every other bitch.”
Flying to my feet, I shoved him in the chest, hard enough to have him move onto his back foot to stabilize himself. There’s no way in hell I was about to let him get away with talking about my mom that way. “Before you start throwing the word bitch around, maybe you should listen to the whole story,” I spat, picking up the photo off the floor and slamming it against his chest. “My mom went to the clubhouse to find you, but do you know what she found instead?”
His face had hardened again, his fists clenched by his sides as if he was barely controlling himself, and if I didn’t step lightly, I was probably going to earn myself a black eye.
Yes, I was pretty sure my so-called father wasn’t one of those I’ve never hit a woman type of men. My mom was right when she said these men, they weren’t like Uncle Leo and his brothers, they were different. More intense. Less give a fuck. I wasn’t saying they weren’t capable of love because I could hear the hurt in his voice, not just the anger when he spoke about Mom leaving without a word. I just had that feeling if I spoke too far out of turn, I was going know about it, and it was probably going to hurt.
If there was one thing I’d learned spending time with the club, it was that respect went a long way, and right now, I’d thrown all my respect for Huntsman on the floor, and I was treading all over it.
“No guesses?” I threw in sarcastically. “She found your wife.”
He didn’t look even slightly shocked, but I did catch a twitch in his features, one that told me he wasn’t all that happy with this information.
I gave him a chance to speak, to explain, or tell me that he didn’t know. But when he continued to just stare me down, I gave up. I was done.
“You can leave now,” I ordered, folding my arms across my chest, trying to be strong and not let the tears that were welling, fall and have him think that he’d won. “Go back to your wife. I didn’t come looking for you. I didn’t search you out. But what I’ve figured out during this very informative but brief meeting, is that I’ve done perfectly well without you in my life. Learned to drive a car without you. Learned to shoot a gun without you. Learned to respect myself without you.” I stomped toward the door, yanking it open in anger and holding it, hoping he’d just leave me the hell alone so I could break down in peace.
It was a Mexican standoff—neither one of us moving an inch.
The kids who were milling around the hallway, trying to figure out what I was doing in here with the president of one of the scariest motorcycle clubs around, they all scattered in fear.
I was a mask of strength, and I wore it pretty fucking well.
It was just that though—a mask—a part I was playing to try to get out of this situation possibly unscathed.
When he finally moved, the air in the room shifted around him like a tumultuous storm filled with all kinds of different emotions. He stopped at the door, and in a moment of weakness, I looked up finding his eyes staring back down at me. No, not his eyes—my eyes. Eyes that I’d seen in the mirror every morning for the past eighteen years. I’d never doubted once that what my mom had told me might not have been true, and I was pretty sure he hadn’t either.
We both knew he was my father.
It was now just going to be about what he was going to do about it.
“I’ll send one of my boys around with a DNA test. His name’s Shriek,” he stated firmly. “You do it. You give it back to him… and him fucking only, and we figure this shit out the right way.”
My mouth fell open as he stepped out the door. I was preparing myself that this was it, this was the defining moment in my life which told me that having my father, just wasn’t ever going to be a thing but that and I’d be okay with that.
Shaking the confusion from my head, I leaped out into the hall as his figure retreated. “Can I have my job back?” I called after him.
He didn’t even turn around, but the deep, husky laughter I heard in response washed over me, warming through my body right down to my toes.
I didn’t even care he hadn’t given me an answer, because that was worth so much more.
This was going to be one hell of a ride.
I could already tell.
“How was the visit with Meyah the other week?” Connor asked as he wiped down the bar. It was getting late, or early, I guess you could say. At almost three in the morning, there was still one girl on the stage and eight or so men hanging around, but for the most part, the staff were already cleaning up, and last calls had come and gone.
I was finally off duty and desperate for a drink.
Connor was the manager at X-Rated, the MC’s strip club. It was one of our major income makers, and also a business we used as a cover for other money we had coming in—not so legal money.
The girls at X-Rated were well looked after, and the club had high standards of what was expected from them. No drugs, regular health checks, no drinking on the job, and absolutely no fucking the customers.
We made sure that our business was run properly because X-Rated and the girls there were a reflection of the club. The mem
bers took shifts working as bouncers and also working for the new personal security firm the club had developed, which over the last year had grown bigger than we had ever anticipated.
I picked up the beer Connor had left for me and let the bitter liquid drench my throat before wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. “Didn’t go as well as planned. She basically told me I was a tiny piece of shit on her shoe. The kind that was worse smelling than any other piece of shit she’d ever stepped on.” I screwed up my nose, just saying the words made me feel like I’d licked something sour. “I screwed it up pretty bad, and I’m fucking itching to fix it, but the damn courts have me stuck here until the end of the month.”
Connor raised his brow and stopped wiping. “So what are you gonna do?”
“She’s back this weekend,” I told him, taking a sip of my drink for a little liquid courage. “I ain’t gonna let her leave again. I can’t man. I feel like half a person. I can’t let her go.”
Connor’s head bobbed up and down. “Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do for the people you love, you know?” he commented, hearing me loud and clear. He opened his mouth to add more, but the moment quickly disappeared in a puff of smoke when I heard one of Connor’s waitresses scream. I looked over at the stage seeing Amy scrambling to get up off a man’s lap, with no help from him as he laughed and held his arm securely around her waist.
I slammed my beer down on the counter and rushed over. “Hey! Let her go,” I called, giving him a few seconds warning to release her before I got there and started swinging. I could feel Camo, Levi, and Connor coming up behind me, obviously making note that the guy in question wasn’t alone.
There were three of them, and they’d been here for hours, going through alcohol like it was fucking water and laying down over the top tips for the girls. I’d been keeping a close eye on them hoping they wouldn’t be stupid enough to do exactly what the fuck they were doing.
A few steps from the table, I was about to grab the fucker by the throat when Amy swung her elbow back and caught him in the nose. His head flew back, and he cried out in pain, shoving Amy off his lap. There was a resounding thump as her body slammed into the table before tumbling to the floor.
Two giant steps, and I grabbed Amy’s hand, tugging her up off the floor and into my arms before these assholes got any more bright ideas. I leaned back, searching her face for injuries while I held her up with one arm around her waist. She was a little dazed and obviously thrown by what had just happened, her body shaking as she blinked and shook her head.
“You okay?” I asked, pushing the hair away from her face after spotting an instant bright red mark across her cheekbone from where it had hit the hardwood. “Fucking hell. Camo, take her.”
Gently, I passed her off to Camo as he came up beside me looking at Amy in concern.
“You guys need to get the hell out of here,” Connor ordered, his face a picture of fury, but he was trying to keep his cool because that was his job. “Now. Before I call the police and have Amy here press charges.”
The offender—we’ll call him fucker one—climbed from his chair, wobbling on unsteady feet as he rounded the table. His friends—fucker two and fucker three—followed, looking a little wary and a tad soberer, but blindingly ready to follow their friend into battle.
“The little bitch broke my nose, I should be the one calling the cops,” he protested, his hand over his nose trying to catch the blood that was drizzling out. “The slut has been flirting with us all night, but when I finally offer to take her home with me, she turns me down. Fucking cock tease.”
“Flirting!” Amy gasped in horror. “You showed me pictures of your wife, and I told you how beautiful she was. I hope she figures out what kind of man she married, and I hope she figures it out soon you pathetic excuse for a man.” Camo kept a firm grip on Amy, but the girl had bounced back, the shock of what had happened was gone, and she was fucking pissed.
We didn’t have weak females working here, I can tell you that for sure.
Most of our girls knew how to stand up for themselves, and if they felt like they couldn’t do that, then they knew there was no shame in speaking to one of the boys and getting them to do it for them. We were here to keep them safe.
“Time for you all to leave,” I stated strongly, taking a step forward. I was ready to usher these guys out, peacefully or with force if I had to. Either way their pictures would be taken and they’d be blacklisted.
That was the plan anyway, turned out fucker two had a different idea.
There was a loud smash, the sound of glass breaking. “Don’t you dare fucking touch me. I know you fucking motorcycle riding bastards,” he slurred, making me think that maybe fucker one wasn’t the most drunk. All three of them were wearing expensive suits, you’d think they would have some kind of class. “I ain’t being buried in a hole in the woods just because Randle tried to grope some pussy.”
I frowned. The dude thinks we’re gonna off him just because his buddy is a misogynistic asshole. Jesus, ain’t nobody got time for that.
“I wouldn’t even waste a bullet in my—”
He didn’t wait to hear what I had to say. Suddenly fucker one went flying, and fucker two was coming, almost diving at me while swinging a broken bottle in his hand.
My first reaction was to swing, throwing a right hook at the side of his face. It connected with his temple, but with the momentum of he’d already gathered, and the way he was erratically waving the broken glass around, I couldn’t move fast enough to get completely out of the way of the weapon, and I was instantly angry at myself. The sharp, jagged edges of the bottle slashed through my shirt where my cut hung open and piercing pain shot through my body.
“Ham,” Amy called when I stumbled backward, hunching my body over and pressing my palm against my hip, but trying to keep my eyes on these guys in case they decided to attack again. Not that they’d get very far because Connor and my brothers were already right there with me.
Levi came like a flash from the side, leaping on top of fucker two as he crumbled to a pile on the ground, his eyes rolling to the back of his head. Levi made quick work of flipping him over and pulling both arms behind him, probably a lot harder than necessary. Fucker one and fucker three stood in awe, their faces turning white. They looked between each other, their eyes meeting for a second before both of them took off running, scrambling for the door, leaving their friend knocked out on the floor.
I expected Connor to race after them, but instead, he headed toward me with a worried frown. “Kat! Call an ambulance,” he yelled to one of our girls who was standing at the edge of the stage watching the whole thing go down.
“It’s fine,” I tried to tell him, but it was followed by a wave of pain that almost made me want to vomit. The adrenaline was quickly wearing off, and I was beginning to feel a little lightheaded. “Fuck,” I cursed under my breath, wobbling as I searched for a chair to sit on.
“Here. Sit the fuck down,” Camo ordered, pulling a seat over to me and holding my arm as I lowered my body into it, excruciating jolts of pain shooting like electric shots through my body.
I groaned loudly in both pain and frustration. “Last thing I fucking needed,” I hissed through clenched teeth. “Maybe I should kill the motherfucker and bury him in a hole in the forest.”
Camo snorted out a laugh. He pulled his cell from his pocket. “I better ring Op,” he said, hitting the speed dial.
“Tell him I’m fine and not to fucking come down here,” I demanded, pressing even harder against the wound in my side, after looking down and realizing there was blood seeping through my fingers.
“The ambulance will be here soon,” Kat confirmed as she rushed over, a large cloth in her hand. She kneeled down beside me, it was almost comical to see her crouched there in her stage outfit with rainbow feathers sticking out all over the place and a worried look on her bedazzled face. “Here, let me have a look.”
I leaned away from her. “Like fuck! Can you see
the blood coming out? I’m trying to stop it, if I let go—”
She reached out, ignoring my protests and pried away from my hands.
I screamed—yes, I fucking screamed like a little bitch—when she pressed the thick cold cloth against it, applying pressure.
“Goddammit, woman!”
She grinned up at me, the gems in the corner of her eyes sparkling in the light. “No internal organs fell out when I did that. So I think it’s safe to say you aren’t going to die. It’s just a couple of cuts, they look kind of deep, but a few stitches and bing bang… you’ll be ready to go.” Kat was basically the only woman here who would be able to get away with saying every single thing she just fucking said because she’d been here working at X-Rated so long she’d become more like family to the club and less like an employee.
I decided not to reply, focusing on breathing through my nose as I tried to block out the pain which was now threatening to steal my sanity. Usually, I’d avoid the hospital like the fucking plague, but the moment I heard those sirens coming, I almost yelled out fucking hallelujah because I knew they had the drugs.
And right at the moment, I was pussy enough to tell everyone there that I fucking needed them.
“I’ll send a nurse in to do your stitches,” the doctor said as he scanned my chart. “No allergies? No medical history I should know?”
I shook my head. “Can we just get this done so I can get the hell out of here? I’ve been working all night.”
The doctor nodded with a smirk. “It could be thirty minutes, it could be an hour. Friday nights can be pretty damn busy, and we’re full to the brim. You aren’t the only one who needs stitches courtesy of a broken bottle.”
“The difference being I wasn’t drunk and didn’t do it to myself,” I threw back in annoyance.
Sitting here waiting for someone to come stitch me up really wasn’t the ideal way to spend my Saturday morning. I wanted to go back to the club and fucking sleep.