I try to let the air out softly and not all in a rush so no one knows how long I’ve held my breath. A dead giveaway.
This is just about her dad. Not me.
Jesus, man. Get out of your own fucking head. No one cares if you fuck Ruby. They only care if you fuck herover. And they care far more about Law’s recovery than anything else.
Which is how it should be. A brother’s care over another. But when it comes to Ruby, putting anyone, even her dad, before her doesn’t sit well with me.
“We saw the feed,” Casper replies, acknowledging that they were eavesdropping. That this is what they wanted to talk to her about. “We still want to know what your thinking is. Why you thought it was okay to talk to him like that.”
“Talk tohimlike that? My own dad? You’re really going to stand there and tell me how to talk to him?”
“Yes.”
“You’re unbelievable,” she mutters under her breath.
“What did you say?” Casper quirks an eyebrow, and maybe on a submissive it might work. But Ruby ain’t a submissive. On a good day, she’s a brat. But that’s about it.
“You heard me. You ain’t deaf, none of you are, but you might be going mental. The lot of you. You really think you can stand there and tell me what I can or can’t do with my own dad when you keep lying to me? Keeping things from me?”
Casper huffs. “What did we hide this time?” He seems annoyed, like he’s talking to a child.
“Oh, I don’t know. What about telling me to keep all this to myself when you blab to your woman and her group, huh? So you can do what the fuck you want, but me telling my old man off, who doesn’t even remember me at all, is a bad thing? Fucking one-sided assholes.”
“They’re talking?” Bulldog growls and turns his gaze to Casper, who looks equally pissed.
“Abigail sure had no problem blabbing it all over the hospital. Or should we be calling her Rue now?” Ruby looks away with disgust, and the boys look at Casper.
“The club voted.” That’s all he says, but there’s grit in his voice.
“Kind of shitty that you didn’t take the gag order off Ruby first, though,” Flint says.
Whether Ruby wants to acknowledge it or not, she has allies here. And I don’t think Casper expected any of this to go the way it’s going.
But there’s a reason why Casper is the president. He knows when to take a step back and say when he’s wrong. Or at least attempt an apology.
“You’re right. It should have gone differently, but it didn’t. The club fucked up. Again, where you’re concerned. I get it. And you can be mad at us.”
She scoffs. “I am, dumbass.”
“But…” He looks at her with an intensity to keep her from interrupting again. “Don’t let your anger at me, at us”—he gestures to those around the table—“affect how you treat your father. You’re going to regret it. He’s your dad. He might not remember who you are now, but he will. Just give it time.”
Ruby shakes her head. “I’ve given this club plenty of time. Him too. What else do you expect from me?”
“To keep trying,” Atom says, pulling her gaze.
“Trying? He forgot me. He forgot Mom. All he cares about is some ditzy nurse. If he came to the clubhouse right now, I swear he’d hook up with the first vamp he saw.”
“You don’t know that,” Flint says with a shake of his head.
She looks at the others at the table. Everyone but me. “And you don’t know it either.”
When no one answers to deny her, she stands and exits in a flourish. And I don’t even hide that I watchher go.
Chapter 30—Ruby
Oh my God, this place is nuts.Looney Tunesin the crazy house. They honestly think they can pull me in here and tell me what I can and can’t do? How to act and talk to my dad? When they’ve done nothing but pull bullshit over bullshit on me?
“Let’s go, Nat. We’re leaving.” I say the words loud enough so that by the time I get to the table where I left her, she’ll have gathered her things and will be ready to go.
