“Okay, Daddio,” she replied, wiggling her toes before lifting her feet from my belly and spinning in her seat until they landed on the floor. “Be right out.”
“We should do this every day,” Lily said quietly, glancing at me as she stuffed her book back into her bag.
“I can make that happen,” I said, watching as her braid fell over her shoulder and she absentmindedly threw it back behind her.
“You’re the best part of my day,” she said, looking quickly at her dad across the room before she lowered her voice even further. “I wish—”
“Come on, kiddo,” Casper called, cutting her off.
I never knew what she was going to say. She hopped off the couch and gave me a huge smile before spinning toward her dad and following him out of the clubhouse. If I’d known what would happen the next morning, I would’ve stopped her. I still don’t know what I could’ve said that would have made what came next any easier, but I would’ve said something. Maybe told her I loved her, no matter what. That I believed that she was going to do big things with her life. That she was the smartest person I’d ever met. That if it was up to me, she’d never hurt or want for anything for the rest of her life.
Instead, I just watched her go, my lips twitching as she bumped her dad with her hip as she passed him.
* * *
“We’re going to that bar Trix likes tonight,” Cam told me as he helped me jack up a Corolla. “Hopefully, the place won’t be packed.”
“You know it’s gonna be,” I replied, shaking my head. “That place is always crowded on Fridays.”
“The things I do for my woman,” Cam grunted.
“You know my sister leads you around by the short and curlies,” I huffed back. “Jesus, this car is a pain in the ass.”
“Why the fuck are they trying to salvage this piece of shit?”
“Nostalgia, I think. The guy that came in said his wife has had it since she started drivin’.”
“Cheap ass doesn’t want to upgrade,” Cam said derisively.
“Could be.”
“So you comin’ tonight?”
“Probably not.” I laughed at his scowl. “I stopped havin’ to do what my sister said when I got bigger than her.”
“You know that ain’t true,” Cam joked. “I’ll just make sure she asks you directly.”
“I won’t answer my phone,” I warned. He knew that I had a hard time telling my sister no about anything.
“Yo, Leo,” Tommy called, his tone off somehow. “You got a visitor.”
“Christ,” I mumbled, grabbing a rag to wipe my hands. “What now?”
I turned and walked toward the front of the garage, pausing in surprise when I saw Ashley standing there awkwardly. She wasn’t wearing any makeup, but she wasn’t really a woman who needed it anyway so that didn’t really alarm me. It wasn’t until I saw the scared shitless look on her face that I wanted to spin on my heel and run in the opposite direction.
If the woman gave me some fucking STD, I was going to lose it.
“Hey,” she said, glancing over my shoulder at the guys. “You have a minute?”
“Sure.” I didn’t look behind me at the men I knew were watching every move I made. They knew the situation with Lily—or at least thought they did—and I had a feeling that none of them were pleased that Ashley was showing up to see me.
“Come on,” I said, ushering her toward the front door of the clubhouse. “Let’s get out of the rain.”
“I’m sorry I’m bothering you at work,” she said as we hurried inside. “I didn’t want to show up, you know, when she was here.”
“Not sure showing up in the middle of the day was any better,” I replied. “It’s fine, though. What’s up?”
We stood awkwardly right inside the door, but I didn’t offer her a seat. I didn’t want to give the impression that her visit was welcome. I knew that made me an asshole, but fuck, the minute Lily heard about this she was going to flip. It didn’t matter how innocent Ashley’s visit was, if Lily heard I was hanging out with her, she’d lose her mind. After all the times she’d seen me whoring around while she waited on the sidelines, I couldn’t stomach the thought of her worrying about that shit now.
“I’m so sorry,” Ashley said, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’m so sorry, Leo.”
“For what?” I asked in confusion. My mind raced. “What the fuck did you do?”
Thoughts of her in bed with our enemies or even worse, the police, made me stare at her in horror.
“I swear to God, I was on birth control. I had an IUD, you know? They put it in and it was supposed to work for like five years. They said it would work.”