“Hadley.”
“Hadley what?”
Silence.
I dart my eyes to the rearview mirror to find her staring at me with mascara streaked cheeks. Defiance gleams in her glare, reminding me so much of Blaire my chest feels like someone punched it. I tear my gaze away from her to focus on the road. By the time we arrive at Animal’s, I’m still trembling with barely contained malevolent energy.
“Why are we here? What are we doing?” she demands the moment I shut off the truck.
“Meeting,” I grunt out. “We’re going to get you cleaned up and some clothes on you. Let’s go.”
She makes no moves to get out, so I hop out of the truck and fling open the back seat door. Hadley can’t be any older than my Blaire was when I last saw her. That thought fucking hurts. Real damn bad. Slender. Frail. Young. This girl got herself mixed up with a bunch of asshole bikers. It’s a good damn thing I showed my ass up when I did.
“What’s your story?” I demand as I grab her arm and drag her from the truck. “Where are your parents?”
She hisses at me. “I don’t have parents.”
Liar.
Her brown eyes flare with the lie just as my daughter’s used to. Only thing is, nowadays, I don’t have patience for this shit.
“Guess you’ll have to come with me then.” My hand squeezes around her bicep when I feel her tugging away. “You stay right by my side until I can figure out what to do with you.”
“Are you gonna kill me?”
I bark out a cold laugh. “I’m a cruel sonofabitch, but I’m too lazy to rescue some kid only to turn around and put a bullet in her head. Tell me what the fuck would be the point of that?”
“Are you…are you going to sell me?”
Stopping right before we reach the door, I turn to look down at her. Her big brown eyes widen impossibly more when I step close enough our chests touch.
“Do I look like some sick bastard?”
“You’re a one-percenter, aren’t you?”
“I’m one hundred percent evil, but I don’t deal in fucking kids.”
Her nostrils flare. “You kidnapped me.”
“No, little girl, I fucking saved you.”
“You. Killed. My. Boyfriend.” Fat tears race down her cheeks.
“Your boyfriend was a piece of shit. It’s a good damn thing I came when I did. The fucker was going to hurt you real bad.”
“Maybe I was into it,” she challenges with false bravado, lifting her chin.
“Then you’re just another dumb, brainless bitch who’s gone cock crazy because she gets a good dickin’ every now and again. I don’t take well to liars. You’ll figure that one out real quick. Ask my guys what happens to liars. I’ve taken a belt to my nephew’s ass many times for lying. Don’t think I won’t do the same to you.”
She gapes at me. “You’re not my daddy.”
“Until you tell me who is so I can drop your ungrateful ass on his doorstep, I sure as hell am. Now get the fuck inside before you catch a cold.”
Animal, Copper, Filter, and myself all sit at the table with a big-ass bottle of Jack we keep passing back and forth, trying to put our heads together as to where the fuck Putnam would go. Animal is going to keep an ear out for that motherfucker to resurface and when he does, I want him alive. I’ll pay Animal handsomely and he fucking knows it.
Loud music blares from the other room as both our chapters party it up in celebration for taking out most of the Roaring River MCs. My eyes keep drifting to the bathroom where Hadley last went. I already checked it. There’s no windows or anything, so she can’t get out. She’s just taking forever in there.
I catch Copper staring at me and give him a lifted brow. His lips press together in a firm line. With a heavy sigh, he picks up his shot glass, slams back the amber liquid, and then rises from the table.
“Can we talk a minute?” he asks.
I mimic his action and drink my Jack down, relishing in the burn. I follow him over to the living room near the bathroom where I keep my stare fixed.
“You okay, man?” He clutches my shoulder. “Above everything, you’re my brother. I remember…I know how all that shit irrevocably fucked you up.”
I grit my teeth. “Your fucking point?”
“That girl ain’t Blaire.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
He lets out a frustrated huff. “You’re watching over her like she’s yours.”
“For now, she is.”
“You can’t replace your daughter.”
The alcohol burning through me ignites into a blazing inferno. I grab the front of my brother’s shirt and slam his back into the wall beside the bathroom door. “Who the fuck says I’m trying to replace my baby girl?”
“No one,” he bites back. “But the look on your face. It’s fucking crazy.”
I clench my jaw. “Don’t make me kick your ass tonight. I’m not in the mood.”
“No,” he taunts. “You’re in the mood to play house. You need to ditch the girl. Let me take her in and get her sent back home.”
The bathroom door jerks open and Hadley steps out. Freshly showered and wearing some other bitch’s clothes now. She’s no longer dripping in blood or wearing smeared makeup. Fuck, she looks even younger. More innocent. More like Blaire.
“I can’t go back home,” she whispers. “I…I just can’t.”
“Darlin’,” Copper starts, but she shakes her head.
“Just let me leave and I’ll figure things out on my own.” She says it in such a prissy bitch kind of way like she’s used to demanding shit and everyone just bowing. I don’t know what world she came from where she was the princess, but I’m the motherfucking king around here. What I say goes. Her ass isn’t going anywhere.
“Nope.” I grab her skinny arm. “Let’s find a place to crash. We’ll figure all this out tomorrow.”
She yelps, tugging, but I have an iron grip on her. Copper scowls at me. I ignore his ass as I make myself at home. Animal may be a crazy motherfucker, but he and I are cool. He knows I’d do the same shit to help him out if he were in a bind. I push through a room with a couch and a television. There’s a window but no outer doors.
Hadley eyes the couch with suspicion. Like I’m going to actually touch her. I’m not some sick asshole. She looks like my daughter, for fuck’s sake.
“I can’t have you walking off,” I tell her. “I don’t know half those men in there. I’m by far the safest one to be with. We’re going to catch some sleep and in the morning I’m taking you home.”
“I told you—”
“My home.”
Her brows furl together and she crosses her arms over her chest. With no makeup and fully clothed, she looks all of fifteen.
“How old are you?” I drop down to the middle of the sofa and nod to the cushion beside me.
“Old enough.”
“Stop fucking playing with me, child.”
She hisses at me. “I’m not a child.”
“Then stop acting like one, goddammit.”