“I’m gonna go to the office and find out why she’s having the pain.”
“What pain?”
“Because I can see you’re worried about her, I’ll tell you this much. She probably has either a bladder infection or a UTI. If it’s either, I can get her some antibiotics, and she should start to feel better soon.”
“And if it’s something else?” I asked, worried there might be something wrong with her we couldn’t help with.
“Then we’ll see what the options are.” She leaned in and kissed my cheek before walking away. Sully followed, but Riley lingered behind.
“Hey, have you seen Dad?”
“Yeah, earlier. Why?”
“Because Kaden doesn’t know I’m here yet, and I don’t want to be the reason something happens. I figure if Dad sees us separately, he’ll contain his anger, but if he sees us together, that’ll be a whole other story.”
“Well, Kaden just walked out of the kitchen and is headed this way.”
My sister turned around as Kaden strolled right up to us. “Hey, babe. What are you doin’ here?” He leaned in to give her a kiss. That shit was still weird to see, but I kept my comments to myself. I had more important things on my mind.
“I came with my mom and Sully to check on Maddie.” Kaden raised his brows. “The girl Linc stole,” she clarified, shoving my arm when I shook my head and scowled.
“I know who you’re talkin’ about. What I can’t understand is why you would need to see her.” He sounded irritated at the thought of Riley getting involved with the situation with Maddie, and while I would never put my sister in a scenario that would endanger her, I didn’t see the harm in her visiting our new guest within the confines of our clubhouse, which was the safest place any of us could be.
“I thought she could use some female energy around her. You guys can be too much sometimes.”
“You’re not wrong.” He flung his arm over her shoulder and kissed her temple.
“Where’s my dad?” Apparently, my answer wasn’t good enough.
Before Kaden could tell her the same thing I did, I saw the man in question headed toward us, his steps faltering when he saw his daughter next to Kaden.
“Fuck,” I muttered before I could tell them to separate. My ol’ man managed to walk up behind Kaden and Riley, shoving himself in between and forcibly splitting them apart. Kaden’s arm fell to his side on a curse, Riley taking a step back out of surprise.
“What are you doin’ here?” he asked Riley, completely ignoring Kaden, even going so far as to step in front of him to block him from her view momentarily. Kaden tried to move around him, but our VP moved with him.
“I came with Mom and Sully. I was just leaving.”
“Good.” When Riley didn’t move, he quirked his brow before pointing toward the exit. “Go.”
They weren’t quite back on speaking terms. He was still upset about the entire situation, and she was stubborn, not conceding to him or any of his crazy demands she not be involved with Kaden.
“Can I say goodbye first?” she huffed, throwing her hands on her hips.
He stared at her, his expression one that would make anyone wary of him. When Riley tried to walk around our dad, he stepped to the side, much like he’d done with Kaden.
“I’m not messin’ around, Ry,” he grated. “Go with your mother.”
“Just go,” I told her, not wanting anything to happen right here in the hallway. Not only did I not want my ol’ man and Kaden to get into it, although Marek had told him that nothing will happen between them within the confines of the clubhouse, I didn’t want them to start yelling and causing a commotion near the room where Maddie was staying. She was frightened enough. I didn’t want anything added to her stress level.
“I told you I’m not hiding us anymore,” Kaden said, moving past our VP before he could block him. The second I saw Kaden grab my sister’s hand and pull her toward the front of the clubhouse, I knew somethin’ was about to go down, the growl from my father making me close my eyes briefly and draw a breath. I prayed whatever was about to happen would end as quickly as it would start.
“You gotta lot of nerve, you little shit,” he shouted, catching up to them in a few long strides. He forcibly removed their hands and shoved Kaden so hard he stumbled back a step. “Don’t touch her.”
“Dad!” Riley shouted, catching the attention of our mom, Sully, Marek, and a few of the other guys who were milling around. “Enough. We’re together, and there isn’t anything you can do about it.” It took courage for Riley to say that to him. It wouldn’t change the way he’d react, but at least she was able to speak her mind, something she’d been afraid to do for years when it came to her and Kaden.
“I’ll never allow this,” he yelled back, keeping his eyes on Kaden and not his daughter.
“Stone, come on.” Addy suddenly appeared next to him and reached for his hand. She wanted the situation to deescalate as much as the rest of us did. Two members in the clubhouse goin’ at it was never good, but a fight within a family was even more stressful.
He finally tore his eyes away from Kaden and looked at his wife. “Take her and go.” Addy didn’t respond or move a muscle, and apparently, her stubbornness was the catapult to the man losing his mind. “I’m not fuckin’ around here, woman. Take Riley and go.” Every word he spoke was clipped. His shoulders were tense, and his neck and face flushed a tinge of red the longer our mother stood there glaring at him.
Then she spoke, but not before pointing her finger in his face and flashing him a snarl of her own.
“You’re drivin’ a wedge in this family because of your anger.” She took a step closer. “I get you’re not happy about Riley and Kaden, but get over it.” My ol’ man opened his mouth to respond, but my mom threw her hand in front of his face before he could say anything. “Don’t bother comin’ home until you get your head out of your ass.”
“What? Are you serious?”
“You’re goddamn right I am. You need to stop this. Stop acting like an ass before you do or say something that tears this family apart for good. And I swear to you, if that happens….”
There were only two other times in my entire life I saw my mom this upset with him, and right now might take the cake.
She walked away and took Riley with her, forcing my sister in front of her when she tried to break away and go to Kaden.
I glanced over at my dad and studied him as he watched the two of them leave, the look of disbelief and anger on his face mixed to form some other kind of emotion altogether.
He cursed under his breath and stalked off toward Chambers, disappearing inside our meeting room without saying another word to anyone. I could imagine that while he was enraged at what just happened, he had to be somewhat embarrassed as well. To have his wife chastise him like that in front of his club had to be emasculating. I wasn’t gonna say I didn’t blame my mom, but I was sure he felt whatever way he did, regardless. Or maybe I was projecting how I would feel if something like that happened to me.
“Always a fun time around here,” Hawke mumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets and leaning against the bar. “I miss this shit.”