“Why didn’t you tell me when I got home?”
Stroker smile confirmed I was right.
“A test. When I saw her, which you knew evidently I would. You wanted this confrontation. You wanted to see if I would stand up to you, all of you.”
“Yes, we knew Cutter had taught you well but we needed to know you were ready to take his spot. The Enforcer job of making sure its members follow the rules of the club includes its officers. We needed to see if you would push the envelope.” He opened his desk drawer and reached in, “Here, have that on at the next meeting.” I caught the patch he’d thrown. “You’ll be part of the leadership once the announcement is made at the next full member Church. We hold those once a month. Welcome home, Speed. Now all you boys get the fuck out of my office and don’t ever barrel in here again like that or I will kick your asses, personally.” Stroker stood along with the other dads as they merged to congratulate me. When I looked at my friends, the smiles on their faces said it all, it was the first step in us taking over Black Hawk.
When I walked out of the office I had a new perspective and a new outlook. Nothing would stand in my way. I had a daughter to meet. And a woman to get. It would be just a matter of time. Only thing missing, was my dad to share it with.
Chapter Twelve
Sami
“So how was your shift?” I opened the door to let Carly enter.
“Dinner break, didn’t want to go home or the diner to eat. Ohhh pizza. Whatcha got to drink?” She opened the refrigerator, dug in and pulled out a soda, popping the top while I stuck the pizza in the oven.
“You got time, it will be done in twenty?” I grabbed a drink and joined her at the table.
“Yep, where’s shorty?”
“In her room playing. We ran errands and finished with the grocery store.”
“Ready to talk about this morning? Was the tears about him?” Carly took a drink and watched me.
“Like I told you. Going to tell me what’s with you and Crusher? Or a matter of fact the whole Black Hawk MC?” My closest friend’s eyebrows pushed together and her eyes flashed.
“Nothing I can’t handle and as far as the club, besides them being arrogant thinking they are all that and then some. I don’t think of them. You can’t tell me you like the fact they think the sun and moon sets on what they want or that every woman should drop their panties because they enter a room. You and I both were raised around men like that, why would I want to be another notch on someone’s bedpost?” Carly crossed her arms over her chest and glared at me.
“Glare all you want. But you know that is total bullshit. Not every one of them is like that. My dad loved my mom, she was everything to him. You saw the good in most the men, just like me. Are you including my dad in that, or what?”
“l love your dad. If it wasn’t for him, living in the club would have sucked. He moved me here with you, paid my tuition just like yours. However, he is your dad, not mine. You have a parent who loves you and would move heaven and earth for you and Reed. A parent who grieved when he lost his wife. I have a dead mother who died because drugs were more important than her daughter and a dad on the run for being so strung out he tried to take over the club because in his drug induced mind he deserved it.”
“My dad has never treated you different because of what your dad tried to do, so don’t disrespect him or yourself for that matter by making light of him protecting what he considers his family, which includes you. The men in the club may be brash and rough around the edges on a good day, but family is everything and when they do love, the woman they choose gets their whole heart.” I got up and took the pizza out of the oven, pulled plates out, and moved it to the table. Carly didn’t reply until I was on my way to call Ally down for dinner.
“Sami, why don’t you take your own advice. The man should know his daughter and she should have the chance to have a father. I know you don’t want her to get hurt, but if he hurts her, that is on him. And I know you, which leads me to believe that it’s not all you are worried about because if it was, you wouldn’t have protected him by not telling everyone he was your daughter’s dad. So I asked myself why would it have made a difference to you, whether he accepted her or not.”
I stopped but didn’t turn around, “Did you come up with anything, since you spend so much time wondering on my choices and not your own?”
“Yes. We’ve lived here long enough to have learned the story on how the sons of Black Hawk got started. I think you are worried about him thinking you tried to trap him when all you really want is for him to accept her—and most importantly you.” I was done listening, I continued on my way to call my daughter to dinner.
Once Ally was in the room, I knew no more would be said about Speed. The three of us ate and laughed at some of the things Ally told us. Mundane things. When dinner was done, Carly headed back to work and Ally to take a bath and get ready for bed.
So when I no longer heard noise coming from the bathroom, I put the dishcloth down and headed up the stairs and paused when I reached the doorway. Ally was on the counter, her face pressed close to the mirror, turning her head from side to side, her hands touching her face, her hair.
I walked in quietly, not wanting to scare her. “Whatcha you doing, baby?” She continued to look at herself, only glancing up to acknowledge that I had entered the room.
“Lookin’ at my face.”
“Well, I can see that, but why?” I smiled when she huffed like it was self-explanatory.
“‘Cause he had my face.”
“Who had your face? What’re you talking about, baby?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. My stomach clenched and I rubbed the area.
“The man in the store.” Her eyes met mine in the mirror.
“Ally, help me out here. What man and what store?”
“He helped me gets the cereal.” She sat down on the counter and faced me.
“Yes, you told me about a man helping you, but why does that have you looking in the mirror, sweetie?”
“I tolds you, he had my face and eyes.”
Any other time she’d talk someone’s head off, instead it was as if I had to pry every drop of information out of her. He’d seen her and I had no clue how to handle it. For almost five years I ran over what I would say when this time came. But as I looked at my daughter none of it came to me.
“Yes, you did say that. I’m just not understanding what you think that means.”
“We looks alike, ‘cept he’s a boy.” Damn it, my time was officially up, evidently my daughter and her father had inadvertently met, which led to if she noticed the resemblance, so had he. Awesome.
“What did the man say, baby?”
“Nothing, he gave me the cereal.” She scooted down off the counter and looked up at me, lip between her teeth. I’d never felt so sick to my stomach as I had in that moment. I wasn’t ready for this. “Did you fix the popcorn?” My breath came back and my heart started to beat again. I’d never been so thankful for the attention span of a child.
“I will before we start the movie.” I picked up the discarded clothes on the floor and followed Ally to her room.
“Cans we watch Frozen?” Hopeful eyes looked at me and though we’d watched it a hundred times at least, I couldn’t refuse. Not that it would matter what was on, my thoughts would be for the man who ran into the daughter he didn’t know about, yet he hadn’t bothered to find out why he hadn’t been told, so what did that say about him?
“Frozen it is.” After I tossed the clothes in the hamper, Ally grabbed the monkey off her bed and we headed down the stairs. I’d worry tomorrow about how this was going to work out, minimizing the hurt to my daughter was my number one concern, but how did I prepare her for the chance of rejection from a man she’d never met. It was so going to suck.
We sat and watched the movie until Ally had given out and fell asleep. I carried her to bed then grabbed my laptop to work on schedules until I was ready to go to bed, or maybe some TV. Anything to
take my mind off the changes my life and Ally’s was going to go through, sooner rather than later.
Chapter Thirteen
Speed
“Almost five fucking years I’ve lost. Wish you could see her. Meet her. She’s beautiful just like her mother. It’s not like what happened to you with Clarice, I’d thought about the possibility, but it didn’t fit. She hadn’t known me and if she’d wanted something you know as well as I she would have been at the club raising hell. Instead, she went to school, got a job and from the look of my daughter, she is raising her well.” I knelt down with my hands on my knees and for the first time that day I smiled.
“I figure I’m going to get a little push back when I tell the mother she doesn’t have much of a choice. Pretty sure Stroker, Cruz, Flyboy, Preacher, and Romeo will get a big kick out of it all. You too for that matter. Don’t know much about kids, but neither did any of you when you took on parenthood.
“I told you the club was changing, it’s a good thing, right? I’ll do right by her, just as you did right by me. Grab a beer, hope you enjoy the show.” I stood and started back to my bike, I’d put if off long enough. Calmer, I sat on the seat, started my bike, then pulled out.
There I sat on my bike in the driveway and stared at the glow of the light in the window. She was up. Good. The deep breath helped before I dismounted and made my way to the door and as I stood there with my finger on the bell, the thought that what was behind that door was mine, was a heady feeling. It didn’t bother me.
The sound of the doorbell followed by footsteps could be heard through the door and as I watched I saw the shadow move over the peephole.
A minute went by, nothing. I pictured her looking at me through the peephole and debating if she should open or not. Like she had a choice as I stood in place. If she thought I was going to leave, she was nuts.
“You can debate all you want, but I’m not going anywhere. Open the door, Sami. We need to talk. If not, I will talk from here and I’m sure your neighbors would love it. Up to you. You got one minute to decide.” I looked down at my watch and in my head counted off the seconds. When I’d hit fifty, the lock turned and the door was pulled open.
“It’s late,” was all she said.
“It’s eight o’clock.” My eyebrow rose and her hand hit her hip, a little fire entered her eyes.
“If you wanted to talk, you should have come early after you saw her.” Hmm… I found it interesting since she hadn’t seen me that she knew I’d seen my girl.
“Other things to do before I showed up here.” I slid part of my foot in the opening in case she decided to slam the door.
“Figures, you find out you have a daughter, then take care of other things. Wow, she doesn’t even know you or you her and she’s taken a back seat to the club.” I opened my mouth to speak but she wasn’t done yet.
“Since she seems to have your interest, waiting till tomorrow to see her shouldn’t be a hardship.” The door started to close, my foot stopping its progress.
“Think you’re getting off that easy, Sami?” I heard the door to the house next door open and I turned my head the same time Sami’s did to watch the older woman step out on her porch.
“Look what you have done. Mrs. Mayson will call the police if you don’t leave.”
“Who, Sheriff Lance? Maybe your good buddy, Deputy Monroe?” The older lady stepped off her porch and started across the yard toward them.
“Sami, everything okay?” the lady yelled as she got closer.
“He was just leaving,” she said, then smirked at me.
“Mrs. Mayson, good to see you. How you doing, sweetheart?” The look on Sami’s face almost made me laugh out loud. Almost.
“Kane Weston?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Well get over here and give an old lady a thrill and hug me.” I stepped down off the porch and did just that, lifting her off her feet. She slapped my shoulder and giggled.
“Put me down. Can see the military didn’t knock that smoothness out of you boys. Always were full of yourselves.” She chuckled as I put her down. I looked back to Sami who stood in the doorway, her mouth standing open.
“I’ll leave you young people to talk. See you tomorrow, Sami, when you bring Ally over.” Mrs. Mayson looked between us and then winked at Sami as if I couldn’t see her. All Sami did was nod.
We both didn’t speak as we watched Sue walk back to her house and enter, closing the door behind her.
“Going to invite me in to discuss things now, or maybe you prefer to wait until Mr. Sampson across the street comes out to see what’s going on. Better yet, I think Mrs. Willis still lives on the corner. Sure she saw me pull up the street. Woman has to be ninety but she never misses shit.” She stepped back, held the door open, and closed it after I walked in. She gave up a little easier than I expected. I’d take it.
“How do you know Sue Mayson?” She’d turned, her green eyes narrowed, and her hands rested on her hips. Her hair was piled upon her head with one of those twisty things women wear. I ran my eyes down her body and back up, she had on shorts and a tank that had seen better days and I bit the inside of my jaw when her bare foot started tapping the floor. Just being in close proximity to her, I felt more relaxed than I had in years. So, I hadn’t been wrong with what I felt with her that one night. We’d get to that later. “Well, you going to stare or answer me?” Damn, she was prettier than I remembered and as cute as my daughter had been in the store.
“Sue was married to my brother, Wolf.”
“What? She isn’t married. She’s lived next door to me since I moved in this house. I think I would know if she were married, she watches my daughter while I am at work.”
“Our daughter.” Her eyes flashed but she didn’t acknowledge what I said. “Wolf died about twelve years ago. He caught a bad cold, it turned into pneumonia, and he didn’t make it.”
“Oh, I didn’t know…she never said…please can we do this tomorrow? I don’t want to wake Ally if our voices raise. We can meet somewhere, maybe my office and talk. That would work.”
“No.” I watched her bottom lick get sucked between her teeth and her nibble on it. But when her tongue came out and ran across her lip as if to wipe away a sting, I found myself wanting to do the same thing to her lips, which led me to thinking of her lips kissing their way down my chest until she reached my cock, licking the tip, then wrapping those lips around the head and touching the slit with her tongue. I’d known from her actions she hadn’t been very experienced, it hadn’t mattered. I’d ran my hands in the hair on each side of her head and wrapped the strands around, holding it tight and maneuvered her head how I’d needed, going deeper with every… Her voice stopped me from having my run down memory lane, and if the tightness in my pants was an indication, it was a good thing.
“Are you going to just stand there? I have to work tomorrow so either get on with the accusations or anything else you came here for, so you can move on. No sense upsetting Ally if you’re not interested in her.”
I came for answers and to learn about my daughter but when she moved her hands from her hips and crossed her arms over her chest, I stepped closer. When she stepped back and sucked that damn lip between her teeth, the air thickened and tomorrow wouldn’t be soon enough.
“Fuck it.” I closed the distance, my hands went in her hair, whatever held it on the top of her head shot in the air and landed on the floor while her hair fell in waves down past her shoulders. I tilted her face up, bent down to meet her, and took her mouth, and on her gasp I pushed my tongue in, her taste slamming into me. I wanted to taste and touch every part of her, remembering our first time was nothing like reliving it. She’d been the only woman in a long line that I’d ever wanted to take my time with. The small moan she released had me pushing her back against the door and taking my time to re-familiarize myself with her body would have to wait as I sucked her lip in my mouth and bit at it. My hands moved to her hips when I felt her body melt into mine. Releasing
her lip I worked my way down till my face pressed into the crook of her neck and I stopped briefly to lick and suck at the tender spot. Her hands on my shoulders, holding on while I moved over her shoulder, sliding the tank material off her shoulder as I continued the path until the strap of her top slipped down her arm.
I worked my thigh between her legs and when she spread so I could push between them, the heat from her center radiated through the material of my jeans to heat my skin. The need to feel the heat wrapped around my cock was more than I could take.
Holding her in place with one hand on her shoulder, my other hand tore at the snap of her shorts, moving around her waist, pushing the material of her shorts and panties over her hips as they gave way. I pulled back long enough to push them to the floor before I grabbed her, turned her to face the door, and pulled her hips to me. One arm wrapped around her as I splayed my hand over her mound, my middle finger easily sliding through to rest on her clit and put pressure on the nub until, of her own accord, she pushed back. My other hand fought to release my cock, once in hand I ran it through her slickened folds, aligning it to her opening, then paused.
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