Mom wraps an arm around me, pulling me into her as we walk to the club.
“So, are you staying with your dad and I now that you gave your room up at Piper’s?”
Shit, that’s right. I have nowhere to stay, and I really don’t want to stay at my parents’. My mom will wake me early in the morning for breakfast, ask me if I’m brushing my teeth, and so on. She’s too much. But Big Chief staying at the club because he’s a prospect. Dad has prospects live in the club until patched in so they’re at his beck and call. If I ask to stay here surely, he’ll let me. It’s better than me crawling off to some hole in the wall somewhere in town.
“I was thinking about staying in one of the rooms until I get on my feet?” My eyes wander to my dad, hoping he’ll give the okay.
“Really? I don’t know…” He gives me a side look and rubs the back of his neck. Rules are females and family don’t really stay at the club because it causes drama.
“I think it would be safer for her to stay here until we know what’s going on with that Thane boy,” Mom adds, and I’m silently cheering for my mother being on my side, but deep inside, I know my dad is going to rain hell on The Fallen Gods MC. I’d be surprised if he doesn’t kill every single one of them.
“Alright, yeah. You can kick it in a room until you figure out what you’re doing.” He reaches for the door and holds it open for all of us to go inside. His eyes telling me this conversation isn’t over. He’s going to want to know what I plan to do.
Where am I going to work and how am I going to get there, because I have no car now? A week ago all the questions would have pissed me off but this trip has really made me see things differently. I don’t have to run away to find myself because I know exactly who I am. What I was looking for was to let go of the past and open myself up to someone. It just took a strong, stubborn someone to do that.
That someone is now sitting at the bar with a beer, he looks like he’s lost in his feelings too. But I just made it to where we will be in the club together, hopefully alone at night so we can discuss us more.
Will we stick to nothing happening between us or continue to break rules? Because him telling me his name like that makes me think he wants more.
Mom brings some of my things from storage, clothes, blankets, and a box of random crap. Setting the cardboard box on the bed, I start to go through it. There’s a picture of me and Zane, my arm hanging over his, both of us smiling. We’re on the beach, his wet hair in his face and my tongue sticking out. I’m not sure why Mom wanted me to have this, but I put it on the table next to the bed. Looking in the box of random crap there’s a candle, I smell it and the scent of coconut makes my eyes close. Reminds me of home and the beach. I put it next to the picture.
A knock on the door has my heart skip a beat, is it Big Chief? Forgetting the box, I open the door finding my dad. Shit! Here comes that talk I knew was coming.
He points to the bed. “Sit.”
Sitting down, I take a deep breath and wait for the interrogation.
“Tell me everything. I mean from the moment you got to Georgia till the moment Big Chief showed up.”
Rubbing my forehead, I sit up and rest my elbows on my knees.
I tell him about not knowing it was Thane running the shop until I got there. The mom not liking me, Bugs, and how the lights went out and they beat the shit out of me. His jaw tics as he takes in the information, his fingers wringing one another.
“What else?” he pushes, and I lift my hands, not sure what else he wants from me.
“That’s it.”
“Are you sure? Have you told me everything? Think!”
“Yes, I’m sure, damn, Dad! Why don’t you put some fucking lights on me and put me in an interrogation room!” I shout, becoming agitated at his constant badgering.
He stands, running his hand through his hair. He’s stressed which means the whole club is on their toes. When the president ain’t happy, nobody is happy.
“Did Big Chief have a gun when he picked you up? Did you?” The question takes me by surprise.
“A gun? Like did we shoot anyone? No, why?”
“Did you have a gun at all?” He narrows his eyes in on me.