“Who is this kid?”
“His name is Travis; he is part of the DIK fraternity. Full disclosure, DIK is the brother fraternity to the one that Finley is in,” Banks tenses a little, mostly in his hand that is still holding the empty glass. His fingers are tight enough that I worry the glass is going to break.
“Pulling her out isn’t an option, is it?”
“I mean no offense, but I will not be the one to suggest that she drop out.” If I tried to pull my weight in the club and make her come home, she would eat me alive. Even though she has come around to the idea of us being together, I know she is still trying to figure things out with herself, and being away at college is helping her with that.
“You have a point there. I could make her come home but that wouldn’t be a fun time for anyone. She would be mad at me, but she would give you and the other guys the cold shoulder for enforcing it. We aren’t supplying the alcohol for the party this weekend so I was thinking I might send some of the younger ones to go to the party and keep an eye on things on the inside.”
“That’s a good idea, I have seen a few people that would make some of our men blend in a little better. It would make me feel better as the guys and I couldn’t exactly go unnoticed.” I have never regretted any of my tattoos or scars until it came to Finley not wanting people to question who she is.
I can’t show up at the house just to surprise her, or just spend time with her between classes. Even without the tattoos, the scar on my face is too much for anyone she knows to see and not ask about. She doesn’t have to tell them, but not answering them would only cause more issues.
“Then I will make it happen. I have to ask though…” the way he pauses gives me no hope for what he is about to bring up. I am sure it won’t be too bad considering that she is his daughter but still. “For obvious reasons, I don’t want specifics about things but why exactly did three men who could have their pick of women around here decide that they all wanted to date the same person?”
“Tough and I just had this conversation, and the easiest way to put it is that we all care enough about her that making her pick one of us didn’t seem right. There was too high a risk that it wouldn’t be me and I don’t know what I would do if I had to sit by and watch Pyro love her. I think that if she had chosen anyone in the club I might have asked for a transfer.” I never thought that I would be admitting that to her father but it’s the truth. I wouldn’t have been able to sit back and watch her fall in love with someone else and not get to be a part of the rest of her life. It hadn’t been an issue before because she never showed interest in anyone in the club for more than a night, but I knew the day would come that she would look for something more serious.
“You would give up your placement here in the club just to not have to watch her fall in love with someone else?” I try to think of a way to explain it to him so that he will understand, it’s not as easy as one might think.
“How did you meet your wife, Banks?” I wasn’t around the club when she was still alive, but I have heard a few stories that make me think he would have done just about anything for her.
“We met in college. I wanted her the second that she walked through the door. I was already a prospect in the club and when she didn’t run screaming after the first party at the clubhouse, I knew she was the one.”
“And how would you have reacted if one of the patch members had tried to take her from you simply because they had the rank, and you had no say?”
“I would have fought like hell. She was my Ol’ lady, even back then when I hadn’t claimed her yet. She was mine and I wouldn’t have let her go without blood.” Banks gets a look in his eyes I hope to never see again. Banks hasn’t had a serious relationship since I joined the club, he isn’t lonely, but he has never kept someone around for more than a few nights. I get the feeling that it’s because he doesn’t think that anyone could live up to his late wife.
“I fell in love with your daughter slowly. I tried to talk myself out of it too many times to count. When she was given the freedom and needed security, I was reluctant because I didn’t want to babysit the president’s daughter, but then I got to know her. Everything that I ever thought about her was so far from the truth that I was mad at myself. When I started to get feelings for her, I knew I should walk away but she was always the easiest person in the room to talk to. By the time I realized she could have feelings for Pyro and Bell, it was too late. When she started flirting with all of us, we got trashed one night and had a weird conversation about how it would go if she would ever let us in. We eventually decided that if she was okay with it then so were we. In the end, it’s up to her, we wouldn’t ask her to choose but if she did then the other two would accept it the best we could. I never told them that I would leave but it didn’t matter, if it came to that then it was no one’s business.”
“Why do you think it would be Pyro?” of all the things he could have questioned, I didn’t expect it to be that.
I thought that the answer was obvious, but maybe not to everyone.
“Pyro is the youngest of us, not to mention that they were friends. Sure, she has always been friendly with Bell and me, but if she wanted to talk to someone, she looked for him. Even before he knew he had feelings for her, they were close. I have spent so much time avoiding her that there is no way she would pick me. I always thought if it was anyone, it would be him.”
“But you are the VP?”
“You know as good as I do that Finley doesn’t give a shit about our titles in the club. Before she started to show interest in me, I didn’t think that she would ever be interested in dating someone so much older than her. I mean FUCK, it made me feel so fucking weird at first, I am old enough to be her fucking father.”
“Hey! I am older than you by at least 10 years,” I don’t know if he is trying to make me feel better or himself.
“That only points out that I am closer to your age than I am to hers. Though I am not worried about what people will think of it. I am sure that all sorts of people in the world will think that she is using me or that I am using her, but I don’t give a shit. I think she does though.”
“She will get over it. Imagine how much fun she will have making religious old women feel uncomfortable?” We share a laugh because as soon as he said it, I get the image in my head. The four of us out and some old entitled white lady giving her weird looks after she notices there is something different.
Even if it wasn’t all of us, if it was just me and our obvious age difference, I can imagine being at dinner with her and her waiting to piss someone off. The way that she would kiss me, maybe running her hands up my legs. Groping me under the table, I know she isn’t into public sex—considering she grew up in the clubhouse where you could catch someone getting it on in the hallway after a certain hour—but that wouldn’t stop her from going to a certain line to piss someone off.
“Get your head out of whatever gutter it just went into, that’s my daughter you fuckhead.”
“Sorry, sir.” I am laughing so hard that a few of the brothers look over at us. I know that they have been keeping back because it’s obvious that we were having a serious conversation but it’s hard to ignore when someone laughs as much as I am right now. Tough is the one that makes his way over to us, thankfully he has three drinks in his hands.
“I guess we aren’t going to need to replace our VP then?” He sits down in the chair between Banks and me and smiles between the two of us.
“Not unless he and his brothers fuck up and I have to clean up the mess of my daughter killing them.” I don’t tell him that I don’t think she would be able to do that on her own, no matter how mad we made her I don’t think she would be able to kill us. I don’t know that I am capable of doing anything to her that would hurt her enough to make her that mad.
“Not going to be an issue,” I don’t bring up Bell and how utterly crazy he is. Banks knows, but he is trusting Bell to keep his head with Finley, that on its own is a fuck ton of trust.
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