by Simone Elise
“I guess I’ll see you then.” I wondered if I would ever see him again. Bikers came and went. His commitment to the club might change over the course of a few years. Hell, it wasn’t uncommon for a member to jump ship.
“You might be legal by the time I get back here.” He ran his tongue across his bottom lip. “Then we can finish what we started.”
I blushed. “Well, I guess that means you have to come back then.” I chewed my bottom lip, looking at him with lustful eyes.
“You can count on it, babe.”
Dane took off, and Kade shot me a wink before taking off after him.
I watched as he tore out of the club’s driveway following his president. Count on me to fall for the biker more dangerous and toxic than my father. How the hell was I meant to try and be with a boy now after being touched by a man?
“What did ya give Reaper?” Dad was at my side, and I had been too busy lusting over Kade to realize he had walked across the car park to me.
“A sketch.” I crossed my arms, the cold morning air washing across my body.
“Why ya do that?” Dad pressed me for more answers.
“I liked him.” I shrugged my shoulders and played down the attraction I had towards a man a hell of a lot older than me. “He reminded me of you.” I looked up at my father and kept lying. “A bit of a lost soul.”
Dad grunted and then dropped his big hand on my head, ruffling my hair. “All bikers are lost souls, honey. That’s why we are all so fucked up.”
I shot him up a grin when really my mind was on Kade. Would he ever come back? Two years was a long time, and if I knew one thing for sure, things could change quickly.
Chapter 3
Abby
The years slowly ticked by and to be fair to myself, I couldn’t lie and say they were eventful. It seemed every day I was that bit weirder and a bit more left out at school. Finally, it reached the point that I was invisible, unlike my twin, Kim.
She was anything but invisible—captain of the cheer squad, currently dating one of the most popular guys at school. Mind you, she was still slutting it up with Trigger. Trigger, for some strange and most likely perverted reason, liked it.
I withdrew from society, the biker’s society, and normal society, and as Kim regularly told me, ‘I was a hermit with a pen.’
Drawing was all I had, and to say I spent most of my life doing it was an understatement.
Our eighteenth birthday was fast approaching, which pretty much summed up the reason why I was sitting in Dad’s office next to Kim.
“Dad, you promised.” Kim huffed and crossed her arms. “You can’t go back on a promise.”
Dad never went back on a promise. It was his promise to Mom that he wouldn’t be hard on us and actually let us date. Kim had a current boyfriend who was still breathing.
“Can’t have all those underage girls here, Kim; it would bring trouble I don’t want around my club.” Dad rubbed his temples, looking like a giant behind his desk.
He had shaved his head a year earlier as a dare, and he liked it. He had been shaving it ever since. Personally, I thought it made him look younger, but Kim said he was doing it because of Leah, his current bed buddy, liked it.
“Dad, most of my friends are over eighteen already and if they want to mess with a biker, so be it.” Kim shrugged her shoulders.
“What do you want, Abby?” Dad looked across at me. For the first time this evening, my opinion was actually called upon.
What did I think about having an overly expensive and massive eighteenth birthday party?
“I hate the idea.”
“Of course you hate the idea.” Kim rolled her eyes and glared at me. “You have no friends.”
“Please. You’re inviting the whole darn school, Kim, as if they are all your friends.”
“Well, not one of them is yours, that’s for sure.”
She was mostly right.
“Girls,” Dad growled with a warning.
“I have friends.”
“Yes, two.” Kim sneered. “If you classify that black-headed emo freak and her brother as friends.”
I got along really well with Kayla Knight, my only friend, and her brother Jace. I considered him a friend, too. Even though he was a year and a half older than us and in college.
“Why are we even calling it a joint fucking party then?” I snapped. Once again, Kim lit a rage within me. “It is your party, not mine. I just want to chill in my room and do nothing. But no. You have to have this big bloody event!”
“GIRLS!” Dad roared, sending us into silence.
Kim glared at me, and I glared right back. We might be turning eighteen, but that didn’t mean we had grown up when it came to fighting.
“Fine, Kim, you can have the party, but everyone that enters this clubhouse is to know the rules. The party is to be in the pub only. No one is to enter the clubhouse or the garage. Abby,” Dad’s eyes shot to me, and for a split second, I saw the pity in them. “You don’t have to attend if you don’t want to. I know this isn’t your type of scene.”
“Please, Dad, she doesn’t have a scene,” Kim piped in.
All through fucking high school, I had to deal with this. When Kim wasn’t bullying me, everyone was ignoring me, and right now, I had had it.
“I hate you, Kim,” I hissed in her face, “and next time you get bitch-slapped, don’t expect me to jump in and have your back.”
I pushed the chair back and got up. Why did I always take the bloody high ground? When Kim was being cornered by Megan the day before at school, I didn’t even think twice about jumping in to get her off my sister.
Kim couldn’t hold her own in a fight if she had to. Though she should learn, because I couldn’t count how many times I’ve had to step in.
“Where are you going?” Dad asked as I opened the door, ready to storm the hell away from both of them.
“Out, and no, I don’t know when I’ll be home, and no, I’m not telling you where I am going, and yes, I’m going to be drunk when I decide to return to this hellhole I am cursed to call home,” I sneered before slamming his door.
I hated Kim, and I hated Dad for never standing up for me.
Reaper
I put my feet up on the desk, reading the newspaper. Once again, Satan’s Sons were on its front cover.
“Yo, Prez.” Liam knocked on my door before walking in.
I hadn’t gotten used to being called Prez, but after Dane was shot down on the streets six months earlier, I had to step up.
“What’s up, Liam?” I put the paper down.
“The guys and I have a request.” His lips curved in a way that told me it had something to do with women and booze.
“What would that be?”
“You know MC?”
Stupid question, did I know the bloody MC? I wanted to scoff but didn’t. I kept my face normal, even though a picture of Abby flashed across my mind. “What about them?”
“Roach’s daughters have got their eighteenth birthday party this weekend. Everyone is talking about it. Thought we could be good brothers and offer our help, ya know, and celebrate the girls coming of age.”
More like he and the rest of them wanted to fuck some barely legal pussy. “Is that so?”
Abby was turning eighteen. My mind drifted back to that early Sunday morning. That smile on her face. I wondered if she even remembered it.
“So what ya say, Boss?” he asked.
I had been waiting for an excuse to take the seven-hour ride back to her. She probably didn’t even remember me. She most likely thought of me as that old guy who took advantage of her in that park.
“Tell the boys we leave in a few hours,” I answered him.
Abby might not remember me, but I sure as hell remembered her, and I wanted to see what she grew up like. I wanted to know if she remembered me.
Roach
By Friday morning, I was already dreading the weekend. Kim painted her fingernails at the end of the table, barely wearing fucking clothes
, and the men had noticed.
How many times had I told her to cover up?
The Western Charter had rolled in late the night before. It was good to have the brothers back, though I knew the thought of young women had caused the visit.
Still, they were here and once the weekend finished—and we got through this bloody party—we might be able to have a real club party, one that didn’t have fucking pink balloons all over my pub.
“Morning, Brother.” Reaper walked in, looking like he had a sleepless night.
The dining table was covered with food; the club women had gone to extra lengths with the visit of another charter.
“Ya look like shit, Reaper.” I put my paper down, looking over the man who was now President of our Western Charter.
“Morning, Reaper.” Kim looked up from her fingernails, flashing that smile I didn’t like her giving to anyone.
“Kim, right?” Reaper barely glanced at her and reached for the freshly cooked bacon.
Kim looked disappointed for a split second, seeing he hadn’t paid as much attention to her as she had expected. Well there you go, a man not hunting down my daughter. Reaper could stay around as far as I was concerned.
“Yep.” She smiled that smile again and blew on her nails. “So, you sleep well?”
“Kim, don’t you have shit to do?” I barked.
I won’t have her chatting up a bloody man older than her. I might have promised her mother to let them have a semi-normal dating life, but this was beyond that promise.
“Nope.” She looked back at me, that taunting grin in place.
“Where’s ya sister? Why don’t you go and find her, see if she is right for this weekend?”
Abby had been keeping low since she stormed out the other night. It wasn’t like Abby to make a scene, but I knew Kim was pushing her.
“I haven’t seen her since she left.”
“Left?” I got up from my seat. “LEFT WHEN?”
Kim looked at me with a pointless expression. If she weren’t my daughter, I would backhand her right now.
“Since she left the other night. You were there, Dad.”
“You’re telling me Abby hasn’t been home for two fucking days?”
“I can’t believe you didn’t know that.” Kim dropped her head to the side, frowning. “Well, looks like she is invisible to you, too.”
I already had my phone out, dialing her number, and when she didn’t pick up on the third ring, I got concerned.
“Why the hell didn’t you tell me she hadn’t come home?”
Images of her being raped and left for dead in a ditch somewhere flashed through my mind. Rage boiled within me and spilled out across my face. Why the hell hadn’t I checked on her earlier?
Two whole bloody nights she hadn’t been here.
It wasn’t like my Abby to disappear.
“Dad, you really need to calm down. She will be at Kayla’s. Look, I’ll call Kayla.” Kim dialed a number on her phone, finally acting like a caring bloody sister.
“Hi Kayla, it’s Kim. No, I’m not drunk dialing. Look, bitch, drop the attitude. I just want to know if you’ve seen Abby?” Kim went silent, listening for a moment, and then swiftly hung up.
“Well?” I demanded.
Kim chewed her lip and got up with caution. “Um well, Kayla said she hasn’t seen or heard from her since Monday.”
“TRIGGER!” I roared. “Keys. I needed fucking keys.”
“What’s up, Prez?” Trigger held a cue stick, a club whore under his arm.
“Abby is missing.”
“I’ll get the boys.” Instantly, Trigger snapped into the mode I needed him in.
“Has she got any other friends she would stay with?” Reaper questioned Kim.
“No,” Kim answered as she pulled on a jacket. “I’m coming, Dad.”
“What the fuck for? It’s no secret ya hate her, Kim. Stay here.”
“I’ll get my guys up, Roach. The more eyes out looking for her, the easier it will be.” Reaper had his phone, and I nodded my head in thanks.
I prayed to whoever the fuck was in the sky to let my little girl be ok. Trigger barked out orders to the brothers as I straddled my bike.
Where the hell would Abby go, if she didn’t want to be found?
Chapter 4
Abby
I got out of my car, and I noticed my dad looking furious—more so than normal—mounting his motorbike.
I feel sorry for the poor bastard that pissed him off.
I was striding to the clubhouse when Kim yelled across the lot, pointing at me. “SHE’S THERE!”
Fuck, Kim, you are getting more brain dead by the day.
Dad’s head whipped in my direction, along with every other bikers’. Suddenly, I felt like I was the poor bastard.
“Where the fuck have you been?” Dad roared at me, throwing his bike down on the stand and storming across the car park to me.
I felt like a trapped deer; I couldn’t move.
“I’ve been at my art show.” I blinked, looking up at him. “Why are you so mad?”
“Mad? Why am I mad?” he spat down at me. “You haven’t been home for two days!”
“I was home this morning!” I looked up at him, confused. Then I looked around the car park. Some bikers were looking at me with pity, others with annoyance because I was sure my dad had roared their heads off all because of me.
Suddenly it hit me. Dad thought I hadn’t been home for two days? He thought I hadn’t been home since I stormed out of his office two days ago? It was official; I was invisible not just to everyone at school, but my own dad, too.
“I came home last night!” My fists clenched at my sides. “Who do you think took the cigarette out from your hand and put the bucket next to the couch for you?” At that moment, I hated him. I hated her. I hated school. I hated everything and everyone. I pushed him hard in the chest and stormed past him. “Great parenting, Dad.”
***
Dad hadn’t really said anything else; he just let me storm off. After a few hours, I wasn’t angry with him anymore. I was angry with myself for making such a scene.
I knew Reaper had witnessed the whole event. I knew that because I caught his blank stare as I stormed across the lot.
Kim had followed me, muttering some empty apology. At the time, I wasn’t interested, but now as I thought about it, I wondered why she had bothered.
I was lying on my bed, staring at the ceiling, when there was a knock on my door.
“Come in.” I sighed and pulled myself up, throwing my legs over the edge of the bed. I wasn’t even half surprised when I saw Dad closing my bedroom door behind him.
Dad looked exhausted. His eyes were locked on my carpet, his hands stuffed in his jeans pocket. It was the first time I could honestly say that Dad looked his age.
“Need to talk to ya.” His lips formed a firm line after he spoke, then slowly he looked up.
Just like that, my mind went blank. My stomach fell and my world seemed to freeze. Something was seriously wrong; one look and I could see it.
“Not going to lie to you, Abby. Shit isn’t looking too good for me at the moment.” His grim words seemed to form ice as he spoke. “I have a bunch of loose ends, and ‘til they are all dealt with, I can’t have you and Kim around me.”
“This morning you were yelling at me for not being home, and now you’re telling me you want me to leave?”
“Not leave.” Dad moved across the room, then sat down beside me. “I need you to make a break away from this type of life.”
“Type of life,” I repeated his words.
“I can’t have you and Kim paying for my mistakes. Your mom would kill me.”
“Dad.” I dropped my hand on his knee, looking up into those big green eyes. “What makes you think that we don’t want this type of life? It’s all we know. Don’t push us away. Look, we have dealt with threats before, and each time Kim and I have come through untouched. If you want us on house arrest for
a while, we can do that.”
Dad seemed torn, and it showed so clear across his face. “What did I do to get two great daughters?” His face softened, and he threw an arm around my shoulder, pulling me to his side.
“So you spoke to Kim?” I asked.
“Yep.”
“What did she say?”
“The same thing you said.”
Sometimes, on very rare occasions, Kim and I thought alike; this was one of those times.
“You know, Dad,” a grin slowly spread across my lips, “you can’t cancel our party that easy.”
A deep laughter rumbled from his chest. “I guess you’re right, kiddo.” He gave me a wink before getting up.
Dad said something about a late tea and heading out for a while before he left me alone once again in my room.
I was too young and perhaps too stupid, or maybe I was just so sure that nothing could or ever would really tear our family apart, so I didn’t take Dad’s ‘loose ends’ seriously.
It would take something huge to tear the Harrison family apart, and that something huge was coming. It was a hurricane of broken glass, and it would shatter and slice our lives into pieces beyond repair.
But I didn’t know that then.
Chapter 5
Abby
Pink and more pink. I had never seen so much pink in my life. I was sure Barbie had come around and spewed up all over the joint. So when Kim asked for my opinion, I couldn’t help but voice my honest reaction. “I hate it.”
Kim pursed her lips and took a deep breath. “You hate everything. Do you have any idea how much time we have put into this?” She waved her hand around the pub, and her minions that were slumped on bar stools looked more like overworked slaves.
I screwed my nose up when I noticed the pink cups as well. “Well, I never asked you to turn Dad’s pub into Barbie’s paradise.”
“There isn’t that much pink!” She stomped her foot and as if on cue, Dad walked up behind her.
“Fucking hell,” he hissed, looking around his once-manly pub. “This… this… this is rubbish.” He pointed around at the pink balloons. “Better be gone by tomorrow morning.”
