by West, Naomi
“I’m sure she’ll understand once you explain. She’s your mother. Besides, talking with Cameron cleared things up for you, why don’t we get your mom to meet up with him too?”
Daria paused for a moment, thinking. “Do you really think that’s a good idea?” she asked.
“Well what do you have to lose?”
“I suppose you're right,” she conceded.
Not having thought of it before, I just realized that tomorrow would be the first time I’d see Corinne in years. It was a small town but I still hadn’t been by the diner where she worked, though I definitely should have. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to see her or that I’d been too busy because I really could have made time if I wanted.
Frankly, I was scared to see her again. Especially now that I’d gotten her daughter dragged into things that she had no business being dragged into. It wasn’t even entirely club business that I’d dragged her into, though I didn’t know if that was better or worse.
At least I knew it would be good for Daria to have things cleared up with her mom. She was already looking happier than this morning, just at the prospect of telling her mom everything.
“Are you okay with everything else that happened yesterday?” I asked. This was my main worry, that she’d changed her mind about me or wanted nothing to do with me.
Daria looked up at me with a soft smile, a smile that immediately eased any fears that I had, something she seemed to have a gift doing.
“I wouldn’t say okay, but I’m still standing by you. You're not getting rid of me remember?”
“Just checking. Do you want me to get Cameron here tonight or tomorrow?”
She bit her lip in thought. “Tonight’s probably a better idea. I don’t want to keep lying to her.”
“Alright, I’ll call.”
Cameron picked up on the first ring and agreed to meet with Corinne with no hesitation.
“Have you seen her yet?”
“I saw her weeks ago,” he replied. “She looks really different though.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ll see, son. I’ll drop by tonight.”
And with that, he hung up, leaving me to wonder about his strange warning. How different could she possibly look, except for having aged twelve years? Though, the way Daria talked about her sometimes, I wondered if I ever knew her at all.
I decided that Cameron was just trying to wind me up, knowing what she used to mean to me. Actually, Corinne had spent a lot of time with Cameron and my dad over the years. As brothers, they used to fight between each other a lot, about themselves, about the club, and everything else under the sun.
Corinne would try to be peacemaker between them, making sure that their arguments didn’t get too heated. I didn’t think someone as kind and caring as Corinne could change so dramatically. Though, I would soon find out for sure.
“Cameron’s in,” I told Daria. “We’ll go by the diner tonight.”
“Thank you for doing this for me, you didn’t have to.”
And I didn’t. But if this would appease Daria, getting Cameron to convince her mom that she wouldn’t be in any danger, then I’d do it.
“Yes, I did.”
As selfish as I was, I recognized that this was the only way to keep Daria on my side. And for that, I’d do whatever it took.
Chapter Eleven
Daria
It was strange that in the few months we’d been back in town, I still hadn’t gone to see my mother at the diner where she worked. I knew that Rocky hadn’t either, something he’d told me with slight traces of shame in his voice.
Walking in with Rocky and Cameron, I felt fresh waves of guilt roll over me as I waited for my mother to come out of the back room after her shift. She would have no idea what was waiting for her when she arrived, and I knew that I would be catching her completely off guard. I also knew that this would be the only way to stop her worrying, so I was grateful for Cameron and Rocky’s help.
It didn’t take too long for my mom to finally appear. She spotted me instantly and rewarded me with a loving smile, probably happy that I’d come visit her and spend some time with her. Her smile faltered as she glanced at the rest of the table and noticed Rocky and Cameron.
Her eyes flickered once over to the door and I thought for just one moment that she might leave and not listen to anything we had to say. Thankfully, her eyes returned to us and she approached our table.
“Daria, what are you doing here,” she said in a strained voice, eyeing Cameron.
Her gaze softened a fraction when she looked at Rocky but I doubted anyone else noticed, even Rocky. Sometimes I forgot that Rocky and Mom used to be quite close when we were kids. I used to drag him to our house a lot so we could hang out, and looking back, I knew that she was the closest thing he’d ever had to a mother.
Rocky seemed to deflate slightly in his seat, though he maintained his hardened exterior. It was his eyes that gave him away. I think at that moment Mom remembered that too, but when she looked away from him again I realized how serious she was about not wanting anything to do with the Walkers. Maybe this would be harder than I thought.
“Corinne, take a seat,” Cameron said, gesturing to the empty spot at our table. Mom remained standing for a beat, I think mostly out of defiance, before taking the seat beside me, eyes never wavering from Cameron.
“What’s going on?” My mom was understandably confused, considering all she knew was that I’d taken a job at Rocky’s shop. She had no idea how close I’d gotten to him or how much I knew about certain club business.
“We need to talk.”
“Daria,” Mom’s eyes cut to me and they were filled with steel. It was like she had a sixth sense about what was yet to come and was already chastising me about it. “I told you not to get involved with all this.”
“I tried Mom, I really did.”
Truthfully, I had tried my best to stay away from Rocky, but I couldn’t help what had happened or how close we’d gotten. I hadn’t anticipated that we would become such close friends. Looking back now though, I knew that my heart had never really been in it. That was why it was probably so easy for Rocky to convince me to take the job.
“I can assure you Corinne that Daria has full club protection, no one will go anywhere near her. You have my word.”
My mom scoffed and met his gaze fearlessly. “Your word, huh?” She said mockingly. “I’m sure you’ll understand why that means very little to me.”
I felt something pass between the two of them, but I couldn’t identify what. One look at Rocky told me that he was just as confused as me. I knew that they had some type of history, back when Mom was a member of the club, but now I was wondering if there wasn’t something more at play here, something that I didn’t understand.
“Talk around town is that you’re going after Jason Steele,” Mom said.
“Not yet,” Cameron replied. “And you shouldn’t listen to talk.”
There was a lot of veiled hostility between them, and I couldn’t understand it for the life of me. I looked to Rocky and tried to communicate silently with him but he just shook his head and continued watching the dynamic between them.
“You’re biding your time then? Waiting for the opportune moment?” I couldn’t understand the mocking tone to Mom’s words. It was perfectly reasonable to be patient and wait before acting, but the way Mom said it sounded like she knew something I didn’t. I vowed to speak to her after this and find out what she knew.
“You know how it is,” Cameron ground out.
Mom turned back to me and sighed in defeat. “I never wanted this life for you. We shouldn’t have come back.”
“You can’t protect me from everything, Mom. Sometimes I’m going to make my own decisions.”
“I guess that means I can’t stop you from being part of this, can I?”
I shook my head in the negative.
“Full club protection, right Cameron?” Mom confirmed, staring Cameron down.
“Absolutely.”
“And Rocky, sweetie. You’ll take care of her, too, won’t you?”
I could almost feel Rocky’s emotions from the other side of the table, so strongly radiating off him.
“I swear,” Rocky replied instantly, and I knew it was more a vow than anything else.
“Good,” Mom conceded. She looked between us once more and then stood to leave, walking out the door without a second look behind her.
“Thank you for doing this,” I told Cameron.
He nodded in acknowledgement and I quickly bid both him and Rocky goodbye, following my mother out the door.
She was standing there waiting, looking ragged and exhausted, and I knew most of it wasn’t from her long shift.
We stood in silence for a moment staring at each other. I waited for her to open her mouth, to say anything so that I knew she forgave me.
“Be safe.”
At her words, I knew everything would be okay.
Chapter Twelve
Rocky
“Do you feel better now that she knows everything?” I asked Daria, back in the shop the next day.
“Yeah,” she smiled. “Thank you for doing that for me.”
“It was … nice to see Corinne again. I wish it was under different circumstances.”
It really was nice to see her, though she was entirely different from the woman I’d remembered. She looked delicate, frail in a way. I understood what Cameron had meant when he said that she had completely changed. She used to be a crazy, fierce woman, always demanding, always loud, but always more caring than you deserved.
I had to admit that it hurt when she acted like we were mostly strangers. I knew that it had been years, and for all intents and purposes, we didn’t even know each other. Still, the little boy in me just wanted her to go back to how she used to be.
Daria had definitely acted happier all day. Not just happier, but lighter too, as if she had a massive weight lifted off her shoulders, which I supposed she had. She walked over to the stereo, playing with it for a few moments before she switched songs to a slower melody that I didn’t recognize.
“Dance with me,” she held a hand out. I eyed it curiously for half a moment before I captured it with my own, spinning her around until she was chest to chest with me. I almost couldn’t control my hands when we were this close to each other, but I refrained from touching her ass. She truly was beautiful, I thought to myself as we swayed gently to the music.
“I wish I’d never left Springville,” she whispered, so silently I almost missed it. In that moment, I could practically feel the weight of another life pressing down on me. A life where she’d stayed in town and never met her stepfather, a life where I wasn’t in the club and my dad was alive, a life where we could dance every day and not worry about drug bosses and club wars. A simpler life that never came to be.
“Me too,” I agreed, bending her into a dip. She let out a tiny squeal and a laugh that made me grin in response. I let her hang there for a few seconds until she protested, lifting her back into my embrace.
These were the moments between us that I loved the best. The carefree ones, the moments where we had no expectations and could just be ourselves. Those moments were few and far between so I treasured them while I could.
It wasn’t often that I spent time with anyone for no specific reason at all, just for the sake of being with them. It used to be that way with Michael, but I didn’t see him as often anymore. He mainly just flitted in and out of my life, sparing time when he could. I was more and more thankful each day that I’d hired Daria for the admin job. Even more thankful that she’d accepted and stayed on. I’d had to expand the job to a reception role just to get her to stay, partly because I really just wanted to work on the bikes, but mostly because I knew she would leave otherwise.
As the song climaxed, I extended an arm out so that Daria spun away from me, delicately twisting on her toes and raising her arms in the air like a ballerina. There was a smile fixated on her face as she closed her eyes and tipped her head back, and I knew that she was truly happy, and that I had helped make her that way.
I couldn’t take it anymore. I’d spent too long staring at her every move, searing her body with my eyes and aching to slam my lips against her own. I’d spent too long admiring her perfection from afar, determined to keep my distance and not bring her too deeply into my life.
But all of that didn’t seem to matter anymore. All I could see was Daria, perfect Daria, standing there with the light shining on her and the straps of her dress falling off the shoulder on one side, exposing her flawless skin. She’d kicked off her shoes earlier, just because she could, and something about it was strangely intimate.
I realized I had just been standing there and admiring her for the past few moments. Daria looked up into my eyes searchingly and a moment later, as if she’d come to a decision I was unaware of, she nodded and took a few steps forward.
Nothing could have prepared me for both her arms wrapping around my neck and pulling my face down to hers. It was if she had read my mind and we were entirely in sync, both our thoughts tuned to the same channel. I was frozen solid for half a moment before my instincts kicked in and I realized that Daria was kissing me.
Her lips were soft, gentle, prying. I kissed her back, and immediately changed it into an epic battle of tongues, nipping, biting and sucking at her lips.
I swallowed a moan as she squeezed her arms around me even tighter, pushing our lips closer. I placed both hands on her waist and pulled her flush against me, grinding my hips into hers so that she could feel my hard length.
How did this happen? I prayed to some higher power that she wouldn’t pull away now and leave me aching and needing her. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that this would be what I did tonight.
Daria was hot, warm and inviting, and the perfect height so that I didn’t need to bend down very far. Rocking her hips into mine once more, she groaned again and pulled back slightly from my lips, arching her neck back. Not about to waste an opportunity, I pressed open-mouthed kisses down her neck, tracing my tongue behind her ear and smiling when I felt her whole body shudder.
“Rocky,” she panted.
Unhappy with our skin on skin contact, I grabbed them hem of her shirt and pulled back just enough so I could rip the shirt off her body, throwing it in a far corner of the garage.
Next was her bra, some flimsy thing that seemed to provide minimal coverage. Throwing that item away as well, I was met with perky breasts that spilled out of my hands as I tried to cup them. Unable to resist, I lowered my head to one dusky-rose nipple and sucked it into my mouth, pinching the other tightly between my fingers.
Daria squirmed and muttered senseless things under her breath, arching so that her breasts were pushing further into my face, making it easier for me drag my tongue over her mounds.
I pulled back a fraction to move to the other nipple, but Daria’s hands pushed back on my shoulders. Momentarily afraid that she wanted to stop, I froze solid until she grabbed my shirt and pulled it over my head. She attacked my chest with her mouth, tracing my tattoos with her fingers, flicking my nipples with her tongue.
“I’ve been wanting to do this for weeks,” she said breathlessly, just as she tongued a tattoo at the lowest point of my stomach.
Before I knew it, she had dragged my jeans down enough for her hands to venture inside. I moaned in pleasure as she took out my cock. I almost smirked at the way her eyes widened and she licked her lips hungrily.
She placed the tip inside her mouth, flicking her tongue over and over again. Without missing a beat, she pressed forward and swallowed more and more of my length.
Daria lifted her eyes up to mine as she continued swallowing, possibly the hottest thing I’d ever seen. She grabbed my hands, placing them on the sides of her head and I took her silent encouragement.
When her delicate fingers started playing with my balls I almost exploded.
Eno
ugh was enough, I decided.
I maneuvered her head away from my cock and it slipped out of her mouth with a loud pop. Grabbing her under her arms, I hoisted her up until she was standing.
“Skirt off,” I growled, satisfied when she gulped audibly but obeyed.
She maintained eye contact as she slipped out of her skirt, pulling down the flimsy fabric inch by inch, leaving her in just her panties. Before I could demand that she continue, she turned her back to me and slowly started pulling those down as well, bending completely to the floor so that her ass was in the air.