He was here a few months back when my friend, Mammoth, came up with his ol’ lady, Riva. But it just so happened it was during one of our quarterly meetings. Now the time’s come for him to come up, and Joker will be riding out next week. And oh, I’m so thrilled to see my brother. The last time he saw me he called me a callous bitch and hollered in front of the entire club how it made sense why I wasn’t locked down with anyone yet. I’m sure that comment made our father roll over in his grave. Fuck, he wanted Joker and I to get along, but we’re both far too stubborn to let it happen. Plus, we’re horrible at apologizing. Neither of us like to admit we’re the one in the wrong.
Ricochet comes walking up to me and I catch Venom sitting at a table in the corner of the bar, staring right at him. He’s just come back a couple hours ago after being down in Virginia to visit Emerson. She’s at one of the Devil’s Riot MC charters, an ol’ lady to one of their main boys. She and Ricochet claimed each other as adoptive siblings, so he makes sure to pay her a visit every couple months, calls her every Sunday morning. It’s cute, but I have a feeling one woman in this club is a tad bit jealous. But, it’s her fault if she isn’t the one making a move on him, and I’m staring right at her Barney purple hair right now.
“Everything good with Venom?” Ricochet asks, turning his head to look back at her. She quickly looks over to Abyss and starts laughing, acting like she wasn’t just staring the man down. Goodness, I could roll my eyes at her all day. She’s never been the shy, quiet type, yet here she is acting like a child with a school crush.
“Yeah, just thought she did something with her hair. It looks a bit different today,” I give him a bullshit excuse. Meanwhile, he looks right at her and narrows his eyes on her.
“See somethin’ you like over here?” Abyss cackles with a cocked brow.
“In your dreams. Ven’, you dye your hair different or somethin’?”
Venom darts her eyes between me and Ricochet. “No? It’s the same color it’s always been.”
“Ah, must be the lighting then.” Ricochet quickly tells me.
I nod in agreement, “Yeah, it must be.”
“Mama!” The door opens just as Destiny speaks, and Iris is walking beside her with a beaming smile as Destiny runs up to me with her arms out, just like always.
I bend down as she comes rushing up and she jumps in my arms, so I hike her up on my hip and she sticks a thumb in her mouth as she stares at Ricochet. She has such the little baby crush on him. “Did you have fun with Auntie Iris?”
“Mhm. We went to the zoo!” Destiny shrieks, loud enough that everyone in the bar area stops what they were doing to look at her, ending up breaking out in laughter. Alas, the life of having a toddler.
“I might have lost a bet and ended up buying a certain someone a couple stuffed animals from the gift shop.” Iris giggles.
“You didn’t. We barely have enough room for everything you guys buy her in the first place,” I groan with widened eyes. I need to make it a point to donate some of her toys soon. She really has too much and there are plenty of other kids who actually need this stuff.
“Can you really blame her? Your kid is kinda cute.” Muffler, the road captain for the club, comments from the other side of the room with a laugh.
“Kinda? Don’t make me come up there and smack you!” Iris threatens, shaking her fist in the air.
“Come on over here and try, baby. The only thing gettin’ smacked is gonna be that tight ass of yours.” He smirks devilishly, getting a blush in return from Iris.
Iris and Faith came to the club a couple years ago and will both be graduating college next year. They work at the bar down here for our parties, and a few nights during the week. When company comes into town, we say they’re the club’s barmaids and they’re off limits as far as touching goes. A lot of outsiders want to call them clubwhores but it isn’t accurate. We give them more respect than that.
Muffler and Iris have never really flirted before, but it’s damn cute to see. He’s a little bit older than her, so I think it’s a bit intimidating for her. After all, she is a sweet little southern lady.
“Oh, hey, Cowboy. I didn’t even hear you come in man!” Chuckles speaks up out of nowhere, causing my blood to run cold. It happens every time I see him. Every single time I know he’s coming here I get nervous, like something is about to come falling apart. I don’t know if it’s because of the circumstances surrounding . . . everything that happened, or what, but it hurts. God that sounds weird. It just. It’s not easy seeing him, because I really do care about him, more than he probably realizes.
Destiny darts her head in his direction and screams her little head off, kicking at me to get to him. I bend down and let her run over to him. She keeps repeating ‘Daddy’ over and over again.
Cowboy isn’t her father, but Destiny would tell everyone different. He’s the man who video chats with her every day, comes to see her on her birthday, Christmas, and Valentine’s Day. He even buys her a bouquet of flowers and everything. He’s the type of man every woman is desperate to be the father of her kid, or kids. And here I stand, eyes focused in on the man I pushed away, the one my daughter is blessed to have in her life, and the one I’m so thankful to for not leaving her when I pushed him out of my life.
“How’s my ‘lil girl doin’, huh? Gosh, you’re getting so big!” His smile is about a mile wide when he stares down at her, melting my heart like it does every damn time.
My throat feels tense and anxiety spreads through my chest. “You alright?” Ricochet asks me lowly.
All I can do is nod, and I head out through the doorway that goes to my office.
But Ricochet, the fuck, doesn’t know when to ever leave me alone. He follows me to my office and shuts the door behind him. “What the hell is up with you?”
“Nothing,” I quickly say, so fast in fact I don’t even think he finished asking his question.
“Don’t you dare do that shit to me. Other people, fine, sure, ‘cause they don’t actually give a flying fuck about you. You know me better than that, Boss. And for the love of god, don’t make me call you by your birth name.”
I look directly into his eyes, speaking with authority. “There are only two men who have the right to call me that.”
“Your father and Cowboy, right? Except that one time, you know, the time you had a baby.”
“It was an off day for me. I’ve told you this a million times. But yeah, can we just skip through this conversation? I don’t have the patience for it. Okay? Just . . . not today, Ricochet. Please, just not today.”
Ricochet walks further into my office and sits his ass down on the couch that’s been here for years. When my dad was staying at the club this is the shitty thing he slept on. God, it brings back memories. “You’re in fucking love with that country hick. Aren’t you?” He smirks, already knowing the answer. Hell, he knows me better than most, so I’m sure he figured it out ages ago.
“Can we not? I really don’t have the patience for this shit, Ricochet. I’m not playing.”
“You know, I don’t always come to hassle you. I had somethin’ to tell you, somethin’ I thought you might wanna know about.”