I lifted my head to look at him and I saw his eyes serious on me.
“He’s gotta decide, as my brother, if he trusts me. Not you gettin’ in his face and puttin’ pressure on, not you takin’ time to explain it rationally. I made the decision I wanted to join. I approached them. When I did, I put myself out there so, before they took me on, they knew everything about me. I did my time as a recruit. I do my part at the shop and in the garage. I take my orders when they come and I have never questioned them. When I get the call, I take a brother’s back and I never question that either. I have not given them one reason to question me. I get where your father is at. I also know he’s gotta get his shit together, think this through as a brother as well as a father and make the right decision. What I said at the Compound today is the God’s-honest truth. I didn’t become a member of the Club to have anyone tellin’ me how to live my life. So that’s a brother thing, Tab, and, it sucks if you don’t like it but that’s how it’s gotta be.”
I lived the life all my life, I knew enough to know this was true, so I nodded.
Shy kept going. “More, he’s gotta come to terms with the fact that his only girl is all grown up and he’s gotta give her the freedom to live her own life. What he’s doin’ to me is uncool. I get him bein’ angry. He thought we were hidin’ for the wrong reasons. But what he’s doin’ to you is more uncool. What he needs to get is that there are now parts of your life that are none of his business. I am not a father. I don’t know how it feels to let go of a child in that way, especially your only girl. What I do know is, I acted on assumptions about shit about you years after it happened, it was wrong and… justified… I lost you. Now, he’s doin’ the same thing seven fuckin’ years after it happened, and he’s gotta clue in you’re not that girl pullin’ shit because things with your mom are extreme. You’re an adult making decisions about your future, and you get to decide when you’ll share.”
That was the damned truth.
“You’re right,” I agreed.
“Yeah,” he replied quietly.
“Okay, I’ll let it be,” I gave in, and his lips curved as his eyes got soft and his arms gave me a squeeze.
“Thanks, baby.”
I smiled at him. Then I tipped my head to the side and asked, “What was that with Hop at the Compound?”
His eyes held mine, he waited a beat, then he shared, “Hop is nailin’ Lanie.”
I blinked.
Lanie was Tyra’s best friend. Lanie was the one who lost her fiancé when all that crazy stuff went down that eventually got Tyra kidnapped and stabbed. Lanie had moved to Connecticut to lick her wounds after Elliott, her fiancé, got whacked and Lanie got shot. She did that until Tyra flew out there, gave her some honesty, and then Lanie moved back.
Lanie was tall, slender, and model gorgeous. She also made a lot of money, she ran her own advertising agency, was pure class, and could be (frequently) pure drama.
What she was not, in any way, was Hop’s type.
“You’re kidding me,” I breathed.
“Nope. They’re hidin’ it too. Don’t know why, but I do know neither Tack nor Cherry know shit.” He grinned. “Not the same as bangin’ one of the brother’s daughters, but figure they’re hidin’ it for a reason. Also, whatever they got is not runnin’ smooth. I heard them goin’ at it in his room at the Compound. Was in the hall when I saw her strut out, pissed as all fuck, Hop tearin’ out after her, not looking any happier. He saw me so he knows I know. We had a chat, he told me to keep it under wraps, I have not said shit.”
“I… I don’t know what to do with that,” I told him. “Has Lanie been with anyone since that Elliott guy?”
Shy smiled and replied, “I’m not one of her bitches, so I have no clue. I just know he’s had her in his bed a while.”
“Oh God,” I whispered, “Ty-Ty might freak.”
“Don’t know why, he’s a good guy,” Shy remarked.
Hop was a good guy. I loved him. Everyone did. But he also had an ex, Mitzi, and when she became his ex, it got ugly. I was not one of his brothers, so I didn’t know why but it got so ugly it was hard to miss.
“He’s a good brother,” I clarified. “What went down with Mitzi was messy. So messy, no one missed it and definitely not Tyra, seeing as she works there.”
“What went down with Mitzi was deserved by Mitzi. She was a pain in his ass,” Shy returned.
“Shy—” I started, my body tensing.
“Tabby,” he interrupted me. “You know, some shit with the boys, I’m not gonna share. Just know this, a woman doesn’t treat men like us like Mitzi treated Hop. They do, they’ll find themselves where Mitzi is now.”
I studied him, then asked, “Was it bad?”
“Bad enough for him to roam,” he confirmed, and I sucked in breath, shocked at this news.
Hop was a good brother. As I already mentioned, Hop was also a good guy. I liked him. He had his imperfections, everyone did. And it wasn’t unheard of that some of the men would do whatever they wanted with whoever they wanted even if they had an old lady at home.
But I did not think Hop was like that.
“Hop roamed?”
“BeeBee,” Shy grunted, and I sucked in another breath.
BeeBee had not been around for a good long while but the ghost of BeeBee remained, such was the power of BeeBee. I had been a whole lot younger when she used to hang at Chaos, but I’d seen her around and I knew she was a biker groupie.
Her mission, as jacked as it seemed, was to collect every member of the Club, become a notch on their bedposts, the more notches the better.
The old ladies detested her. It wasn’t like Chaos didn’t have biker groupies, but they knew their place and they knew the place an old lady held and never the twain shall meet. That said, I’d been to enough hog roasts to see BeeBee communicating with her eyes, and sometimes with her mouth, she’d had a woman’s man. My guess was, since BeeBee’s tenure was long, the old ladies sucked it up and this never got back to their men. Unfortunately, this could be the way with motorcycle clubs, and old ladies learned when to keep their mouths shut.
That was until BeeBee went head-to-head with Ty-Ty. It kinda grossed me out to know my dad went there (though, admittedly, she was gorgeous with a fabulous body, just skanky) and from the argument I overheard Tyra having with Dad, he and BeeBee had been together before Tyra’s time, but still.
Dad found out BeeBee even looked at Tyra, much less spoke words to her (which she did), sent Dad over the edge.
Exit BeeBee.
Forever.
She was also the example Shy threw in my face way back, that night he was a dick to me. None of that night was pleasant, though it was over and I wasn’t going back there. However, I remembered quite clearly that him even suggesting I was going the way of BeeBee was a hurt that dug deep.
On the exhale, I breathed out, “Oh my God.”
“Yeah. Even I think that play was fucked, but when it happened Hop and Mitzi were on a break, a bad one, the break they had just before all hell broke loose and Hop ended it with Mitzi for good. Enter BeeBee, who could sniff that shit out like nobody. Why Hop took Mitzi back, don’t know. Just know he didn’t take her back for long before it was really over.”