I pulled a rueful face, but I asked her, "Do you regret it, K? I never asked you that, but… I figure that was because I thought I knew the answer already." I was well aware that if it hadn’t been for Cyan, she’d have headed off to college and I’d never have seen her again.
It was one of the reasons I was so fucking grateful to my kid.
"Assuming makes an ass out of you and me," she mocked, but before I could bitch, she muttered, "Of course I don’t. You think I wanted what they planned for me?"
"You gave up college—"
"Did I ever tell you about Haiti?"
"In general?" I joked.
She sniffed. "When I was a kid, before we came to West Orange, my dad took us on a mission to Haiti. We were there for two years and had to come back because I caught malaria. It hit me really bad.
"Mom told me once that she thought it was going to kill me, but I made a full recovery, we came back to the States, and he got the position in West Orange where I started attending school.
"I started late but I skipped grades, was on the fast track for an early graduation, then boom, it recurred. Suddenly, I was behind in everything. Track and field sports were a thing of the past. There was no way I was getting a scholarship for college anymore—"
"Jesus, you never told me any of this!"
"I didn’t really need to. I haven’t had a flare up since I was fourteen. Dad said he prayed for me to be healed."
"Apparently it worked," I rumbled.
"Either that or the care was just better here. Anyway, he used to dangle college in front of me like a carrot on a stick. Without the scholarship, he had to pay, but he wanted me to do the courses he chose.
"Nursing was my calling, because I swear, it was the nurses who saved me, not the doctors; they kept me going, you know? However, Dad saw me as a doctor. Said it was pointless being a nurse, and what he wanted he almost always got.
"Only, I wasn’t made to be a doctor. I never wanted that," she admitted softly. "I wanted out of there, though. Enough to stick with it? I don’t know. I think he thought I’d say no and had a contingency plan."
My brow puckered. "A contingency plan?"
"You remember Ray Leinster?"
"How could I forget?" I drawled, pleased when she laughed.
"Yeah, he had a meeting with your fists if I recall." K snickered. "Dad wanted me to date him because his dad was a deacon at his church. Didn’t matter he was an asswipe and that he’d slapped Sally Jessop in front of everyone, nope, that was who he wanted me to be with."
"You really think so?"
"I know so. If it wasn’t Ray, it would have been someone else. So do I have regrets? About how we ended, sure, but not about how we began." I sucked in a sharp breath as relief whittled away at my bones, but before I could say a word, she continued, "Anyway, we can keep on with this school, but I’m not sure if it’ll be a good fit for her. I get why you’d want an all-girls academy, but it’s a little obvious, isn’t it?"
"I just thought she’d be safe there."
"She’ll also grow up uber curious about guys," she mocked. "She’s scared now, but she won’t be forever. You get someone on the staff to watch over her?"
"Yes."
She sighed. "Who’s the poor schmuck that’s been following me around the state today? He wasn’t the regular one."
"Peanut. He’s usually tailing Cyan when she’s doing the after-school shit. Your regular guy is Jump. He had to go to the doctor’s office."
"I think we should stop wasting gas and get him to ride with me."
"Well, now you know about the guys following you, they don’t have to hide. Now people will see you’ve got an entourage, and they’ll be doubly sure to leave you the hell alone."
"You know how crazy that sounds, right?"
"Yeah."
"Not gonna stop you, is it?"
"No."
She sighed again. "Therapy tonight."
"I hadn’t forgotten. I’ll be there."
"Okay. Just wanted to remind you."
"We’ll go out for dinner."
"Yeah? Where?"
"There’s a diner in town. Sweet Lips said they serve the best pie in the state."
"Sounds good. Why’s he called that? Or do I not want to know?"
I smiled, and even though the truth wasn’t sordid, informed her, "Not sure you want to know."
Her snicker shouldn’t have lit me up from the inside out, but it did.
It really fucking did, and the bitch of it was, I knew it’d only ever be her who did that to me.
Who made me feel alive.
Who made this goddamn world worth living in.
Righting the wrongs of my past was never going to be an easy task, but for the chance to earn more stolen moments like this? I’d go to hell and back to be the guy who was there for her at the end of a shitty day.
Sixteen
Keira
PRESENT
I was about ready to tear my hair out by the time we made it to the diner.
The idea of airing our private business in public wasn’t ideal, but I didn’t want to cook, and I really didn’t want to do dishes. Plus, it was a double slice of pie kind of day.
By the time I pulled into the parking lot, Cyan was pouting. She’d been all sass throughout the ride, more attitude than sense, but then Storm’s bike rumbled up beside us, and she finished off her diatribe with, "I didn’t do anything wrong."
Wishing I had Storm’s superpower of getting her to behave, I retorted, "You headbutted someone in your class, Cyan. You have to see that isn’t right?"
"Aunt Giulia said the best defense is offense."
Oh.
My.
God.
My kid had taken defense lessons from Giulia Fontaine.
Holy Christ, no wonder she was getting aggressive.
Giulia had more testosterone than any woman on the planet. She was wasted as Nyx’s woman because she had the brass balls to be the MC’s Enforcer in her own right.
"What did this kid say?"
"I don’t know how but they know Daddy is a biker."
I narrowed my eyes at her. "So?"
She sniffed. "They called us names."
"Why didn’t you go to the teacher?"
"Because I’m not a snitch." She folded her arms across her chest. "It was my first day, Mom. What was I supposed to do? Look weak?"
Oh, God. Now she was channeling Giulia with me.
Unable to help myself, I plopped my forehead onto the steering wheel. "I need to find you some more classes. Karate or something."
"I wanna do Kraft Magad."
"Kraft Magad? What’s that?"
"It’s so cool, Mom. I saw it on YouTube."
The parental controls needed checking—stat.
When Storm knocked on the window, I lowered it without raising my head.
"Everything okay?" he questioned warily, sounding just as tired as me but for different reasons.