by Mia Malone
“I bet it helped that Cal barged in all shouty and upset,” I said with a grin.
“Might have,” she whispered, and blushed a little.
We turned toward the backyard and saw Cal walking our way, and it looked like he was unharmed, so I smiled. Annie smiled too, albeit a bit wobbly and she looked so cute doing it, I figured there was no way Callum would do anything but take her in his arms and tell her he loved her.
I figured wrong.
“Right, babe,” he said calmly and sat down opposite her. “I'm sorry as fuck that you'll have to re-hash it twice in one day, but I might lose my shit when I hear it, and that can't happen in front of my boss so you gotta give it to me here.”
Annie gasped, but I grinned. Yeah, thirty years from now, Annie would have what Lee had now.
“I’ll take you down to the station later, Annie-girl,” he said, and his voice was still calm, but it had softened in a way that made my grin turn into a smile. “You were in Chicago…” he prompted, and Annie started talking.
***
Padraig
Annie was telling Cal what had happened when they walked into the kitchen, and her voice was quiet but calm. Her eyes never left Cal's and his face was hard, but he held it together. Paddy wasn't sure if he'd be as relaxed, hearing it all again, so he walked over to Jenny and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight to his chest. She leaned back as Annie finished telling them all that had happened but didn’t say a word. He saw her exchange a look with Joke which he couldn’t interpret, and then Callum’s next words jolted him out of his thoughts.
“How far?”
Annie looked away for the first time and closed her eyes.
“Baby, I need to know. How far down your panties was his hand? Top? All the way down? Did he put a finger –”
“Callum,” Paddy barked.
“Paddy,” Gibson said quietly. “They’re gonna ask her at the station. He doesn’t want to know, but he needs to prepare her. Prepare himself. So, it sucks so fucking huge I have no words, but he has to ask, buddy.”
Paddy focused on breathing and watched Cal slowly take hold of Annie’s hand, and stroke it gently with his thumb.
“Half-way down maybe,” she said quietly. “No finger in…” her breath hitched and then she straightened. “No fingers inside. He just stuck his hand down. I got really, really pissed when he did, Cal. I twisted his balls around, and he pulled it out again. It lasted a few seconds, maybe.”
Paddy felt Jenny exhale and held her tighter to him.
“Good girl,” Cal murmured. “It has nothing to do with us, you know this, right?”
“I know.”
“Good,” Cal repeated and got to his feet, pulled Annie to hers and added gently, “Let’s get you dressed and we’ll go get shit done.”
“Your bags are in your room, Annie,” Jenny said quietly.
Annie walked off. Callum watched her until the door closed, turned, and walked out on the porch without a word. Gibson followed him immediately.
“I’m gonna kill that dick,” Cal growled.
“I know,” Gibson said calmly and put his hands on each side of his son’s neck. “Right now, you have to hold it together, Cal. We’ll find him, and he’ll pay.”
“He hurt her, Dad,” Cal said quietly, and Gibson’s face softened.
“We’ll keep her safe.”
“Yeah. Don't think Paddy will let me sleep inside anytime soon, so I need the inflatable mattress.”
“You’re gonna sleep here on the deck?” Gibson asked and glanced over at Paddy.
There was a mix of anger and laughter in his eyes, but it was replaced with pride.
“Don't be an ass. Of course, I will.”
Gibson's eyes snapped back to his son, and the laughter in his eyes turned into a grin.
“Did you just call your old man an ass?”
Cal didn’t laugh or take the bait.
“He hurt her,” he said and bent his head.
“He’ll pay,” Gibson said quietly.
They stood there in silence and then Cal sighed deeply.
“Christ,” Joke murmured. “Get that you’re pissed about how they were sneaking around behind everyone’s backs. Damn it, I’m pissed about it too, but you gotta give it to him. He’s grown into one hell of a man.”
Before he could say a word, Annie walked back into the kitchen, dressed in jeans and a tee. Cal promptly took her hand and pulled her with him toward the door. And then they left.
Paddy sank down on the couch and stared blankly into nothing. He’d thought he’d spend the day with his daughter at the police station, and things had shifted so quickly it felt as if his head was still spinning.
“I did not see this coming,” Jenny said quietly. “But it’s good, isn’t it?”
“Why didn’t she tell us about Cal?” Paddy asked, not sure if it was good or not and reserving the right to judge until after he’d talked to Annie.
“She was afraid for him.”
“She thought I’d hurt him for real?”
How the hell could his daughter even think that? He would have grumbled a bit like he'd done with any boy Annie ever brought home, but he wouldn’t have killed Gibson’s son. Surely she’d –
Jenny was struggling to hold back laughter suddenly, and he narrowed his eyes, both to figure out what she found so funny and to indicate he wanted an explanation.
“Oh, Paddy,” Jenny said. “She told me you don’t know how to fight.” She burst out laughing and turned to Gibson. “She was more afraid you’d be the one roughing up Cal.”
He stared at her, ignoring the laughter both Gibson and Joke barked out.
“I broke someone’s nose this weekend,” he said hoarsely.
“I told her that,” she replied calmly.
“Okay.”
“She asked about you two,” Gibson cut in. “Asked if you’re doing it. I told her you are.”
It felt as if someone punched him in the belly, but Jenny started laughing again.
“Oh, God, I know. She told me. She said she didn’t mind. Said,” she laughed again, and went on, “Said if we want to eat ice-cream in bed again, she’d just go to the movies or something.”
He laughed, but it felt as if his whole world was just spinning out of control. The past week with Jenny, the phone call from Annie. Cal barging in like some sort of avenging motherfucking warrior, and now his girl was telling Jenny she’d go to the movies, so he and Jenny could have sex? It was just too much, so he leaned forward and groaned.
“Take a few deep breaths, Paddy,” Jenny said and got up. “Have another cup of coffee, sit for a while. I'll walk over to the diner. Lee's going to want to hear a word-by-word recount of this, and I'm pretty sure it'll take a while.”
He pulled her back down and kissed her.
“You’re back here tonight,” he said, and meant for the night but didn’t want to say that in front of his laughing friends.
Her face softened, and she murmured, “Okay.”
Then he watched her walk out the same door Annie had disappeared through, turned to the two men and just stared at them.
“Jesus,” he said from the bottom of his heart.
They both started laughing suddenly.
“This is fucking fantastic,” Joke chuckled. “There’s so much love swirling around in the air that it’s hard to breathe these days.”
Then he laughed some more, but Paddy took a deep breath.
“Uh, Joke,” he muttered. “I might have told you I love your sister, but I haven’t actually told her yet.”
Fuck it, if this didn’t make both Joke and Gibson laugh even louder than before.
Chapter Ten
Padraig
Four presidents from the MC’s closest to Wilhelmine and five other men who were all well known to various law agencies, and not in a good way, were in the room when Paddy walked in, followed by his friends, and Cal.
They all stood up and watched with hard faces as the group known to them as t
he Brothers marched in with long angry strides. Paddy stopped, flanked by Gib and Mac. Day, Joke and Cal lined up next to them.
“This man,” Paddy said loudly and threw a stack of papers on a table. “Find him. If anyone wants a marker, you get one.”
“From all of us,” Mac added.
“All of you?” one of them men murmured.
The Brother's didn't hand out markers, and to hear them put themselves in the position to have to do either of them a favor was virtually unheard of. Paddy had done it once, and only to Doug who he trusted. There were a few hardcore criminals in the room, so the confirmation from Paddy's second who was the Wilhelmine chief of police made brows rise around the room.
There was a brief silence, and then Doug Hanes picked up one of the sheets, looked at the photo and the text giving details about Annie's attacker.
“Who is it?”
“This man roughed up my daughter. I want him, my brothers want him. Callum Ward wants him.”
Doug’s brows went up, understanding why Cal’s name was singled out, but then his face hardened.
“He hurt your daughter?”
“Hit her, gave her a nosebleed, stuck her hand down her pants. Was going to rape and kill her but Cal had apparently taught her some self-defense, so she twisted his nuts around a few times, punched him in the throat, and took off.”
“I’ll get my trackers on it,” Doug growled. “No marker.”
“We’re on it,” a dark-haired man said smoothly. He looked like a tax-auditor, but he was the head of one of the bigger drug-cartels operating in the mountains. “We don’t always agree, Paddy, but this? I don’t approve, so no marker for us either.”
When the two of them had thrown down like that, the others followed, and Paddy knew some of them didn’t like to do something like this for free, but they couldn’t ask for payback without looking like worse assholes than they were, so they didn’t.
“What do you want done with the man when we find him?” Doug asked.
Paddy opened his mouth but didn’t get a chance to respond.
“Just bring him to me,” Cal stated and took a small step forward.
He sounded calm, but there was a tone in his voice which told everyone that the man would pay for what he’d done.
“Who are you?”
The question had come from one of the presidents, and since they hadn’t been formally introduced, he had the right to ask. It was a small insult and done to put the younger man in his place, which Paddy would mostly have to allow, although he’d protest some just on principle, he thought. He didn’t get the chance to speak this time either.
“Don’t give me that shit when I’m the spitting image of my old man,” Cal replied calmly. “You know who I am, and I’ll be sure to shake everyone’s fucking hand if we ever end up on the same fucking garden party. This isn’t a social event, and you all know who Gibson is, so you all know who I am.”
Paddy almost smiled, and he checked himself, but Christ how proud he was of Cal at that moment. His eyes met Gib’s and saw the same pride there.
“Except for me, Callum is angrier than the rest of us,” Paddy cut in, not willing to put other words to whatever relationship his daughter was building with Cal. “Bring the douche to either of us. Cal gets the first hit and the last.”
The men nodded and reached for the papers on the table.
“Thank you all for coming,” Paddy said. “Appreciate your help.”
“Meeting’s closed,” Doug said. “Don’t give my boys any trouble on your way home.”
It had taken less than five minutes, and Paddy watched silently as everyone cleared out of the room at the Wolf-compound. When it was just Doug, and his men left, he relaxed.
“Fuck,” he grunted, turned to Cal and gave him a small grin. “Cocky bastard,” he murmured, but he knew Cal understood that this was praise.
Then he turned to Doug and nodded.
“Thank you for doing this.”
“Is your daughter okay?” Doug asked.
“Yeah,” Paddy said. “She’s with Jen at our place, she’s good.”
He'd meant his and Annie's home but realized it had sounded as if he'd talked about his and Jen's, and he liked that.
“Good. I know you’ll want to get home to them, but if you want to eat before you go, we'll have food on the table in fifteen.”
Doug was right, he did want to go home, and he had to stop by one of his building sites on the way, but the man had done him a huge favor. Bringing them all together with half a day’s notice, and without even knowing what it was about could not have been an easy feat, so they’d stay for a while.
“We’d appreciate something to eat before we leave, Doug,” he said.
Doug nodded and raised his hand to point at someone, but he kept looking at the group of men still lining up around Paddy.
“Fucking tall motherfuckers, aren’t you?” he muttered. “Makes a man wonder what the hell they put in the water up there in Wilhelmine.”
Paddy burst out laughing and moved to shake hands with Doug's second. That gave the signal that this was now, in Cal's words, “A fucking garden party,” and the mood eased. The Wolves were a pretty informal crowd, so once Gibson and Mac had walked Cal around the room, they sat down and spent the next hour eating and talking casually.
Half-way home, Paddy veered off to check on a site where the owner apparently had decided to do some of the work himself over the weekend without informing them, which meant they would have to spend time fixing what he’d done, remove some of it and as a consequence miss their deadline. The idiotic owner threatened to sue them over the delay, and it took Paddy a few hours to get the man to understand the consequences of what he’d done. He wasn’t back in Wilhelmine until it was almost time for dinner and when he walked inside, Cal was in the kitchen.
Peeling a cucumber.
He blinked.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
“Peeling.”
“Why?” Paddy asked what he thought was a very reasonable question.
“How the hell would I know, she’s your daughter.”
“What?”
“She told me to peel the damned thing, so I'm peeling it.”
Ah, crap. With those words, Paddy knew he’d have to learn to accept whatever they were building together because Cal stood there with his goddamned muscles and a faint bruise around his eye, after spending the morning mouthing off to the presidents of five motorcycle clubs and a slew of criminal assholes, peeling a vegetable just because Annie told him to.
“You’re gonna eat it too?” he asked.
“Fuck no.”
The answer came instantly, and Paddy snorted.
“Hey,” Gibson called out. “Lee says we’re eating here.” He stopped and stared at his son. “What the fuck are you doing?”
Paddy had to turn away, so they didn’t see his grin.
“Dad,” Callum said.
“Cal.”
Cal was apparently finished with the cucumber, so he threw the peeler in the sink and slapped the sorry looking thing into the counter so hard it bounced.
“Dad. If Lee asks you to get up on the fucking tips of your toes and do a plié you’ll do it, so don’t give me any shit about peeling a damned cucumber, okay?”
Gib’s mouth twitched.
They stood there fake-glaring at each other, and it was like looking at a warped mirror with an older and a younger version of the exact same man. He’d known Gibson his whole life and looking at them, he knew there was a whole lot worse than Cal that could happen to Annie, but also that there probably wasn’t anything better.
Well, shit. They were not sleeping together under his roof. Not because he was delusional enough to not realize what his adult daughter would be doing, but if Cal were anything like his father he'd fucking hear them. Just the thought made him a little nauseous, so he pushed that out of his mind.
“You’re not spending the night here,” he said.
“Paddy –”
“But if you want my girl at your cabin then I will hold my damned breath and count to ten. I’ll probably have to do it more than once, but I won’t kill you.”
“Right,” Cal said and nodded, looked at the cucumber, and then back at Paddy. “What do you think she wants me to do with this godawful thing?”
“You’re on your own with that one,” Paddy muttered and went looking for Jenny.
Dinner wouldn’t be until later, and the house was full of people, but there would be time to pull her away from everyone and feel her up a little bit.
***
Jenny
The look on Annie’s face was both hilarious and cute when Cal calmly told her they wouldn’t eat dessert with us, but they’d pick up ice-cream on the way to his place, and she should pack a bag because she was spending the night.
Paddy’s expression was just hilarious. He tried so hard to look nonchalant, which he should because Annie might be his daughter, but she was also twenty-seven years old. I couldn't see Gibson's face because he apparently felt an urgent need to scrutinize the backyard, but my eyes met Lee's, and we grinned.
“Shit,” Paddy said on an exhale when the door closed. “I know,” he added when he saw my face. “She's old enough, they've probably done it a million times already but she's my goddamned daughter, and she got assaulted just a few days ago.”
“I know, sweetie,” I said. Then I couldn't help myself, and added, “I'm sure they'll eat the ice-cream out of bowls while watching a game.”
Paddy closed his eyes, but he did it laughing with the rest of us.
“And on that note…” Gibson said and got up. “We’re leaving.”
“You want to watch a game?” Lee asked, confusion written all over her face.
“Babe,” was Gibson’s only retort, and we walked them to the door.
Lee’s small wink as they left told me she was just messing with him, and I laughed as we walked back to the couch.
“You wanna watch a game?” Paddy asked with a grin.
“No.”
“You wanna stay the night?”
“Yeah,” I said and felt heat pool low in my belly. “I can do that.”
“Do you need to go home and get anything? I’ll clear out a few drawers,” he said, and I froze.
