“You sick fuck!” Snake shouts, charging at me only to be held back by a few of the men.
Ignoring him, I speak loudly. “You’ve all been warned what will happen if you touch her. Don’t even fucking look at her.” Pointing at the head stuck to the pavement to drive my point across. “Now…get me the Prez.”
Ares chuckles, shaking his head. “You’re a ballsy fucker; I’ll give you that. What do you expect’s gonna happen when you tell the Prez you’ve claimed his little girl as your Ol’ Lady and you never even asked him?”
“I don’t give two shits what’s going to happen or if he’d have given me his permission. There’s nothing to discuss; she’s a grown-ass woman. I fucked her in front of an entire bar full of people and let every goddamn one of them know that I own her. Just like I don’t give a fuck what any of you think about it.”
Snake makes a sound reminding me of a roar as the guys hold him back from charging at me again. The dramatics are interrupted when the heavy metal door leading into the clubhouse slams closed, announcing the Prez’ presence.
Snake shoots his mouth off before the older man even makes it off the four steps leading to the parking lot. “He has Princess! This dick thinks he can claim her. Tell them to let me go so I can slit his throat.”
Prez sighs deeply, striding toward us with purpose. “Brently, stick a sock in it, son. You have any idea who you’re threatening right now? You’re a Prospect, son of mine or not; you shouldn’t be speaking right now.”
Snake breaks the guys’ hold, storming off toward the shop. Probably angry his father just called him out in front of the other members.
Prez comes to a halt next to Ares. He claps him on the shoulder affectionately. “Thanks for handling this son, but let me have a talk with him.”
Ares’ brow furrows, his irises growing lighter as he relaxes and allows the Prez to take over. I can see why he was the Enforcer for so long; he’s definitely the protector who loves his club. I can’t stand him, but I do respect that bit of him. “You need me, I’m here,” he mumbles, taking a few steps away and lighting a smoke.
Watching him, Prez huffs, “Your Ol’ Lady’s gonna have your ass if she catches you out here smoking again. You want babies and don’t I remember that you agreed to stop if she’d get knocked up?” He glances at the others standing around. “Someone give him some gum before Avery chews him a new one on his health and he takes it out on the brothers.”
Rolling his eyes, Ares stomps on the cigarette, then folds his arms over his chest. If the situation weren't so serious, I’d laugh. I guess his Ol’ Lady’s a stubborn one like my Cinderella.
The older man’s kind gaze meets mine again. “Last I checked, your cut said Oath Keeper on it. You’re welcome here, so how about you get off that bike and take a walk with me?”
“I’m not the strolling type, how about you just get out what you have to say.”
“What did he do?” Prez gestures to the Prospect’s head, so I fill him in on everything, including the part where his daughter’s now my Ol’ Lady. It takes a while to explain everything and eventually, I’m off my bike, walking with him along the fence line as I talk.
Shocked is probably the most accurate word to describe him at my news. At first, he didn’t believe me, but when I described her looks, her car, where she lived, etc., he started to realize I was telling the truth.
“Out of everyone, she ends up with a biker and a Nomad at that.” He shakes his head in disbelief.
His boots suddenly become interesting as he stares down at them and thinks it all over, the Prospect no longer on his mind now that his daughter’s involved. I don’t know if the man’s happy or about to come unglued. One thing I’ve noticed is that he’s hard to read about how he feels about anything. He could probably win a grip of money if he ever decided to try his hand at playing poker.
“I would never have pictured her with someone like you,” he finally continues. “Prissy tell you that she was a good girl growing up? Went to college, stayed out of trouble. She hates me with a passion, but that’s all right; it kept her safe overall.”
“We haven’t talked about her past; it’s all happened pretty quick.”
His eyes find mine again as he smiles slightly. “It always does. It was that way for her momma, and I fuckin’ fell hard for her, and best believe she had a temper like no other.” The happiness falls from his face, his gaze growing firm. “Just don’t fuck it up. Her and I, we’ve grown so distant, I no longer have the privilege to make demands with her anymore. I lost the right to tell her who to love and be with when she gave up on me being her father. In many ways, I’d love to put a bullet through your skull, but in the end, I have to be grateful that she ended up with a member and a strong one at that.”
We walk back to the parking lot, continuing our discussion.
“She knows I’m a hard man.” It’s the best answer I can give. I know I’ll screw up sometimes, what matters is if I can fix it.
“I fucked it up with her mother—worst mistake of my life. When I tried to go back and fix it all, club threats against Princess and Brently started pouring in from my rivals. I had to let them go. It was the hardest thing I’ve done, leaving my family and letting them hate me. Tell me, you have kids, can you walk away from them and your Ol’ Lady, then not look back to keep them safe?”
Adjusting on my bike, I sit back a little and reply truthfully, “No.”
“So you’re the selfish type.”
“Hell, yes, I’m selfish. She belongs to me—they would belong to me. Best believe I would hunt down every last motherfucker with the balls to threaten my family. I’d feed them their fucking nuts as my entertainment and then take their lives as my payment.”
“I thought I could too, tried for years, out on the road looking for any of them.” He sighs. “It drove my children away from me, caused my Ol’ Lady years of heartache. At some point, you have to figure out your limit. You ever reach that, you come find me so I can help you sort things.”
No matter how sad his sob story sounds, I can’t find it in myself to feel any type of sympathy for him. I grew up with a fucked-up family. I know firsthand what that’s like, and I’d never put someone through that experience.
“That’s the difference between you and me, Prez. Princess is my limit. She’s the type of woman I’d happily kill a hundred men for. I’m not saying it’ll be an easy life for her; in fact, she’ll fucking hate me at times, but I’ll do my best every day of my life not to break her. And I’ll damn sure protect her.”