Leaning against the bar, I watch Julia like a hawk. Across the room, her eyes are on my men as they huddle together talking.
Why didn’t she just leave with the rest of them? She has no reason to stick around.
She might have been their stepmother, but that’s just a title. It holds no meaning to these men.
When Julia leans back in her seat, drink in hand, while licking her lips, jealousy rises inside me.
Slipping a fake as fuck smile on my face, I head over to her, standing in her line of vision, blocking some of the guys. “Hey,” I say.
She scowls up at me. “What do you want?” I think she hates me. I mean, I did put a knife to her belly, but she was hurting her kid with the grip she had on Rica’s arms. She deserved it.
“Just wanted to see how you’re doing. Kane put me in charge of getting the kids everything they needed. What does Rica need?”
“Nothing. Erica is just fine. She has everything she needs.”
I nod my head. “Okay, sure.” I don’t believe that at all. “Where is she?”
Julia pauses, a deer in the headlights look taking over her face. Fucking hell, this woman doesn’t know where her kid is? Does she just wait for Rica to pop up and prove she’s alive?
That kid could get kidnapped, hurt, or fucking killed, and this woman wouldn’t have a clue.
She blinks. “She’s with my friend, Bonnie.”
“Really? Huh, strange, because I’m pretty sure I asked Tyler to keep an eye on the kids while we had this little meeting.”
“Then Bonnie came to get her.” Julia narrows her eyes.
“So if I go find Tyler, Rica won’t be with him?”
“Listen here, you little bitch.” Julia leans forward in her seat. “Don’t come in here acting all fucking high and mighty. Just because your Alphas think they can take over this club, doesn’t mean they’re a part of it. They left; they didn’t want anything to do with this MC. Now they came back here, throwing around demands. You have no right to judge me or how I choose to raise my kid.”
I pull out a chair and spin it around. “No.” I smile, crossing my arms over the top of the chair. “You listen here. However you chose to raise—or not raise, is what I should say— your child? It’s done. If you don’t start taking care of her like a mother should, such as providing her with clean clothes, giving her baths, feeding her, and keeping her safe, I’ll make sure someone else does. Because that little girl is my Alpha’s sister. She’s family, and I’m not about to let family suffer.”
“Rica is nothing to them,” Julia huffs. “They didn’t even know about her until yesterday. So don’t come to me with that ‘family is everything’ bullshit. Where were they when they walked out on this family? The MC? I’m their family, so was their father.”
“Their father was an abusive sack of shit,” I snort. “And based on the way they talk about you, honey, you were never family, so you don’t mean shit to them.”
Oh, the anger in her eyes sends a thrill of excitement through me.
“Family isn’t just about blood or a name on a marriage licence. It has to be fucking earned. And you’ve earned nothing.”
“I won’t let you push me out of my own home,” she warns me. “Sooner or later, they will see that I’m their family. Always have been.”
My brows rise. “What kind of water have you been sipping?”
She gives me this smirk, one that makes me uneasy. “You have no idea how close we are. They just need time to remember.”
What the fuck does that mean?
“Little Rabbit.” Will’s voice has Julia’s eyes snapping up. His large hand grips my shoulder. “You ready to go home?”
“Yup.” I get to my feet and wrap my arms around his waist. Will looks down at me with surprise, but a small smile on the corner of his lips lifts. I can see Julia staring daggers at me out of the corner of my eye. Will grips my chin and tilts my head back to give me a firm, heated kiss that has my head spinning and, yup, my pussy weeping.Hope you can smell that, bitch.
When we pull apart, Will looks over at Julia, eyes hard. “Don’t fight Nova when it comes to Rica. You’re lucky I don’t just take her home with me and kick you out on your ass. The only reason I’m not is because Kane is demanding I give you a chance. Don’t fuck it up.”
“She’s my daughter, Will.” Julia gets to her feet. “You can’t do that.”
“I can do whatever the fuck I want,” Will growls. “And you better fucking remember it.”
