by Emily Minton
I walk toward her, meeting her a few feet from the door. “I’m working, Mom. This will have to wait until later.”
“I don’t give a shit what you’re doing. I’m not waiting. We need to talk now.”
She won’t let up no matter what I say, until she gets what she wants, so I might as well let her have her way. “What do you want?”
“I want you to talk to Dad and straighten this shit out with the club. I’m not living as an outcast for the rest of my life.”
I’m tempted to tell her that she’s made me feel like a reject for all my life, so it only seems fitting that she feels the same, but I don’t. “There’s nothing I can do about it, and you know it. I’m not a member, so I have no say.”
“You better do something, or you’ll regret it.”
Frustration makes its way through my body, draining every bit of energy I have. “I doubt very seriously I will ever regret you finally having to pay for the shit you’ve pulled.”
Her anger gets the best of her, and she lifts her arm. Just as she goes to swing at me, Ice steps between us. “Do it and your ass will die.”
Mom snarls at her, but she does lower her hand. “I’m having a discussion with my daughter. Your input is not needed.”
“Considering you were just about to smack her, I believe it is.”
Mom shrugs. “We had a disagreement. It got a little heated.”
“A disagreement? Is that what you call raising your hand to a pregnant woman.”
“I wouldn’t have hurt her, not bad at least,” Mom says, as if hitting me was the most natural thing in world. I guess it is for her.
Ice shakes her head. “You are one crazy ass bitch. Not only are you on Renegade property, but you also raised your hand to an old lady. That’s fuckin’ insane.”
“I didn’t realize that stupid ban included the diner,” Mom says, ignoring the last part of Ice’s statement.
“When you’re eighty-sixed, it includes any property owned by the club. You’ve been around long enough to know that. If you didn’t, I bet the boys made that shit clear to you when they cut you loose.”
Mom’s eyes move from Ice to me then back again. “Fine, I’ll leave. I don’t want any problems with Kidd. After this shit blows over, I don’t want any hard feeling between us. We used to be really good friends, you know.”
Ice’s body goes taut. “Oh, you mean he had his dick in you?”
A cruel smile spreads across Mom’s face. “I was lucky enough to be his first.”
“Mom, you need to shut the hell up.” Oh my God. How can someone be this stupid?
Ice turns to me, a forced smile on her face. “Don’t worry, Daisy. I’ve always known your mom’s a whore.”
She turns back to Mom. “You may have been his first, but I’m lucky enough to be his last. That’s all that matters to me.”
Mom laughs, a bitter sound that I’ve grown to hate through the years. “That’s what we all think when we get a man. Believe me as soon as your back is turned, he’ll be sniffing under some other bitch’s skirt.”
Ice is going to blow, so I maneuver myself between them. “Just leave. If you don’t, I’m calling Preach. He’ll do more than just ban your ass.”
Mom looks me up and down, a look of pure contempt on her face, before she finally turns toward the door. Just before she steps outside, she looks over her shoulder. “This isn’t over.”
Her words echo through my mind as I watch the door slam behind her. I know she can no longer hear me, but I respond anyway. “No, I’m sure it’s not.”
“What a cunt!” Ice booms from behind me. “I’m not sure why you stepped in between us, but I wanted to knock her fuckin’ head off.”
I shake my head. “You can’t do that in here. If you start shankin’ people, our business may suffer.”
She laughs at my half ass attempt at a joke. Ice knows me well enough to understand I don’t want to dwell on my mom’s shit. “Yeah, could affect our bottom line.”
I laugh back at her before getting serious. “Don’t take the shit she said to heart. She was just shouting out crap, nothing for either of us to take serious.”
Ice nods. “I know. It just pissed me off. I’m not worried about your mom or any other woman. Everyone knows, especially Kidd, if anyone so much as lays a finger on him, they’re as good as dead,” she says with nod as a huge smile spreads across her face. “Plus, the bastard loves me, and he loves my pussy. He wouldn’t mess that shit up.”
A second later, Kidd proves her words are true as he walks through the door with an angry as hell Preach following close behind him.
PREACH
“Why the hell didn’t you call and tell me your bitch of a mother was here?” I shout as I stomp my way over to Daisy.
“She just left. I haven’t had a chance to call you or anyone else.”
I pull her into my arms. “Me, no one else. You call me!”
She wraps her arms around me and goes to her toes to place a kiss on my lips. “I would’ve called you, but you got here before I had the chance.”
I kiss her back, but am too angry to let it drop. “What the fuck did she want?”
“She thinks I can talk to Gramps and get her back in the fold.”
The bitch is crazy, fuckin’ certifiable. “There is nothing you can do if Mary and Wayne don’t want shit to do with her. She brought that on herself.”
Daisy shakes her head. “I wasn’t talking about the family. I was talking about the club. She wants her place back.”
I give her a little squeeze, letting her know to take my words to heart, because they don’t just apply to Lula. They apply to every woman at the club, even her and Ice. “Baby, Lula’s a woman. Her only place in the club is as Maker’s old lady and Wayne’s daughter. She is not a member, never was. She was nothing more than property. Now that they got shot of her ass, she isn’t even that.”
Her body goes tight in my arms, and I expect a fight. Instead, she is the voice of reason. “No, that’s not true. The women do their part, and I’m not talking about spreading their legs. I don’t know one old lady that wouldn’t lay her life on the line for her old man. I agree that she wasn’t a member and never could be, but Mom could have had a place if she tried. I know my place, and it’s by my man’s side.”
Fuck, again! She blows my damn mind every time she opens her mouth. “You know you’re something special, don’t you?”
A sexy smile spreads across her face. “Want to go up to my old apartment? I’ll show you just how special I am.”
“Hell, yeah.”
Chapter Thirty-One
DAISY
“Thanks for driving me. I just can’t ride my bike that far yet,” Dad says as he crawls into my car.
Things have been strange between us since Preach claimed me. It’s like Dad doesn’t know what his place is in my life now that I have a husband, but he’s still my dad. He’s the same man that I have always loved, even when he didn’t really deserve it. Nothing, definitely not adding Mrs. to my name, will change that. “It’s no problem at all. I’ll always take you to the doctor or anything else you need.”
He looks to me with sadness in his eyes. “Things have changed. You got an old man now. You don’t have time to deal with my shit anymore.”
I reach over and grab his hand. “I’ll always have time for you.”
Leaning toward me, he places a kiss on my forehead. “You’re the best daughter in the fuckin’ world.”
I squeeze his hand before responding. “I love you, Daddy.”
“I love you too, Little Flower.” A true smile spreads across his face as he sits back and turns his eyes to the road.
It’s an hour drive to his doctor’s office in Kansas City, and we’re only twenty minutes into it when I notice a car on our ass. I try slowing down, hoping it will pass, but it doesn’t. “I wish they’d just go around us.”
Dad turns his head to look out the back window. “Fuck! Pull over, Daisy. Pull over right now
.”
I look at him, wondering what the hell he’s talking about. “What?”
“Get off the fuckin’ road.”
The words barely leave his mouth before the car rams into us from behind. The jolt sends me forward, causing my rounded stomach to crash against the steering wheel. Without a thought to my safety, I release the wheel and cover my baby. The action causes my car to jerk to the right, sending it straight into the guardrail. A second later, I feel another impact at the back of the car, this one much harder than the first. Luckily, Dad has pushed his body between the steering wheel and me, cushioning the blow.
After a moment of silence, Dad looks me up and down before he pulls away. “Are you okay?”
Too shocked to speak, I merely nod and watch him crawl from the car. As soon as he steps outside, he starts to scream. “You fuckin’ bitch!”
I watch as he walks toward the other car and opens the door. That’s when I realize, when it finally hits me, that it’s Mom’s car. My own damn mother tried to run me off the road, tried to kill me. More importantly, she tried to kill my baby. I knew she hated me, but I never thought she would go this far. I should have known something was coming though. It’s been days since she came to the diner, and I haven’t heard a word from her. Everyone knows that when Mom is silent, she’s plotting.
Anger courses through my body as I shove my door open. I stumble as I crawl out of the car, pain making my legs wobble. I try to step toward her car, but I can’t. My legs just won’t hold me up. Giving up, I slide to the ground. Leaning against the car, I watch the scene in front of me.
“What the fuck were you thinking? Why the hell would you want to hurt our girl?” Dad shouts.
“She ruined me, took away everything.”
Dad’s body vibrates with anger as he responds. “She didn’t ruin shit. You did. You tried to fuck over a brother. You should have known how that would end.”
“She took everything away from me. My own parents love her more than they love me.”
Jealousy, that’s all it is. She tried to kill me because she‘s jealous. I just can’t wrap my mind around it.
Dad’s voice turns to ice. “That’s because you’re a damn bitch. No one could love you.”
I can hear the catch in her voice when she responds. “You did once.”
Dad barks out a bitter laugh. “I never loved you, didn’t even like your skank ass. You had to get me drunk just to get me to stick my dick in you.”
“That’s not true!” she shouts. “You loved me. I know you did.”
He shakes his head. “You’re wrong, Lula. The only woman I ever loved was Brenda. I was drunk when I fucked you. If I hadn’t been, I would have never touched your ass.”
“No, no, no! You loved me. You had to love me. I was beautiful.”
“Beauty isn’t all a man looks for. He wants a woman with a soul.”
“I have a soul,” she screeches, nearly in hysterics.
“No, you don’t. You just proved that by trying to hurt our daughter.”
Mom lets out an evil laugh. “I’ll do it again. That bitch is going to pay for all she’s cost me.”
Those words are all it takes for Dad’s barely leashed temper to snap. He reaches inside the car and grabs the back of Mom’s head. Without any hesitation, he starts to slam it into the steering wheel. Over and over, I watch her face crash forward. Thump, thump, thump. The sound echoes on the deserted roadside.
I’ve never hated anyone as much as I hate her at this moment, but I don’t want my dad going to prison for this. “Dad, stop. You’re gonna kill her.”
My words fall on deaf ears, and he continues his assault. It doesn’t take long before the thump turns to a squishing noise. Even though I can see nothing more than the top of her head, I know that she no longer has a face. The thought has me leaning to the side to empty my stomach.
Just as I’m using the back of my hand to wipe off my mouth, I feel my father pulling me to my feet. I do my best to ignore the blood and brain matter that covers his shirt as he leads me to the car. “We gotta get out of here, Daisy.”
After buckling me inside the car, he takes a seat on the driver’s side. It takes him a minute to maneuver the car back onto the road. I can hear the bumper grinding against the pavement as the first agonizing pain shoots through my stomach. “Please, no!”
PREACH
Rum looks from the ‘06 Heritage Softail. “I think the fuel injection just needs tweaked.”
I shrug, not quite sure. I’ve been working on this piece of shit for three days, trying to earn some extra cash, and I still can’t get the piece of shit to run right. The owner is a weekend warrior that has more money than he has sense. “I think it’s ready for the junkyard, myself. When are these dickheads ever gonna learn you have to take care of your bike, just like you would a car.”
“I’ve had plenty of cars in my days, and I never treated one as good as I do my Harley,” Rum replies, proving that he’s a Renegade to the bone.
“Preach!” I hear Kidd shout as he, Reese, and Timber come flying across the parking lot of the clubhouse.
“What?” I yell back, standing up and wiping the grease from my hands.
“You need to move it, brother. It’s Daisy. She’s been hurt, and Maker’s taking her to the hospital right now,” Timber shouts at me as he moves past me to his bike.
As soon as I hear Daisy’s name, I drop my tools and start running toward my bike. As I start up it up, I yell over the noise of the motor. “Anyone know what the fuck happened?”
Kidd shakes his head. “Fill you in later. Right now, we just need to get to the hospital.”
Fuck! His non-reply is enough to tell me just how bad it is.
I make the twenty minute drive in just over fifteen, with my brothers following close behind. As soon as I step into the hospital, I see Maker leaning against the waiting room wall, rubbing his hip. “What the fuck happened?”
“Lula ran us off the road.”
“I’m gonna kill that bitch!” I shout, not caring who hears.
“She’s already dead. I made sure of that.” He looks away from me to hand a bag to Reese. “You need to burn that shirt. It’s the only evidence that’s not been taken care of.”
Reese looks into the bag and shakes his head. “What the hell did you do, rip her fuckin’ head off?”
I look toward his hand and see blood pooled in the bottom of the bag. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t care how the bitch died, I’m just glad she’s dead. “How’s Daisy?”
“She’s gonna be fine, just had a little pain. The doctor thinks the shock to her system is what caused her to hurt.”
I’ve heard enough. It’s time to get to my woman. “Where is she?”
He motions his head down the hall. “Third door to the left. Before you go, there is something I need to tell you.”
My heart drops. What the fuck? “I thought you said she was fine.”
He nods. “She is, but that cop she was seeing is in there with her.”
“What!”
“He drove by us as I was driving to the hospital. He saw the damage to the car and realized something was wrong, so he gave us an escort here.”
I want to be angry, but hell, the fucker helped my woman. “That’s good of him, but I’m here now, so he can take his ass somewhere else.”
“Don’t piss the man off. He’s helping to cover the shit up; making sure the police report shows Lula died from force of impact from rear-ending us. He made sure the people on our payroll know the story and are sticking to it.”
“Why the fuck is he helping cover up shit? He isn’t on the payroll?” Kidd asks.
Maker shrugs as Timber answers the Pres’ question. “He’s Homer’s son. Guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
Fuck, that means he’s gonna be around the club. Considering he took care of Daisy, I’ll have to deal with it. “I’m gonna go see my woman.”
As I’m walking away, I hear Maker mumb
le. “Bitch was so fuckin’ jealous of Daisy that she tried to kill her. It makes me sick thinking I put up with her shit so long.” I’m sure he’s not the only brother who’s gonna be having that same thought tonight.
When I step into Daisy’s room, I see the fuckin’ cop sitting on the other side of her bed, holding onto her hand.
“Get your fuckin’ hand off my wife,” I growl out.
“I was just taking her statement.”
I move closer, staring down at their linked hands. “You need to be holding her hand to do that? If not, you better move it before I tear the fucker off.”
He slowly, way to fuckin’ slow for my liking, lets go of her hand and stands up. “I was just comforting a friend.”
I scoff at that. “Didn’t look like friends last time I saw you.”
He looks down to Daisy then back to me. “That ship sailed. I knew I didn’t have a chance the moment you walked into the diner. If I thought otherwise, I would’ve never let you take her.”
“I would’ve liked to see your ass try to stop me.”
Before I smash my fist into his face, Daisy speaks up. “Please, Preach, don’t start a fight. He was just trying to help.”
I nod my chin at him saying, “Get out.”
He shakes his head and chuckles, and then looks to Daisy. “If you need me, just call.”
I’m about to let the motherfucker know that she would never be making that call, but she does it for me. “Thank you, Rick, but Preach is here now, so everything is gonna be alright.”
Her words cut right through me, causing a pain to shoot to my heart. I’m quiet, waiting for the douche bag to leave. As soon as I hear the door shut, I drop to my knees beside her bed. Grabbing her hand, I make a promise that I plan to do everything I fuckin’ can to keep. “No one, no fuckin’ body, will ever hurt you again.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
DAISY
Jenna helps me with my dress. It’s nothing like the one in my childhood fantasies. It’s better. “I can’t believe he did this,” I whisper, trying to hold my tears at bay.
As soon as I got out of the hospital, Preach started acting funny. He was hiding stuff from me, and so was most of the club. I won’t lie and say that I didn’t have any moments of doubt, wondering if he was going back to his old ways, but I stayed strong. In the end, he proved that he has changed for good. He planned my dream wedding. Well... he had Grams, Skittles, and Ice plan it, but it was his idea.
