“Okay. What are you thinking, beautiful?” he asks.
“What about putting her in karate or another sport like it? They teach discipline and when to use force and when not to. I still want you and Icer to work with her, but I think if she had a Sensei, or whatever they’re called, it’d give her an added person to have to answer to if she goes against her teachings and rules laid out before her.”
“It’s something to ponder. Maybe I could take some classes with her. I can see it now, both of us with black belts ruling the circuit,” he says, daydreaming.
Well, shit. This idea of mine may have backfired on me.
Story of my goddamn life.
CHAPTER
SIX
Indiana
The more Ithink about Zoey’s idea, the more I like it. As a kid, Indiana Jones wasn’t my only hero and he wasn’t the only man I admired and wanted to be. The Karate Kid was my idol too. A gangly teen standing up to the bullies and kicking their asses.
‘Wax on, wax off’ was my favorite line in the movie. I went around spouting it for weeks after watching it for the first time—about drove my folks insane. My father took my VHS tape and went out to the backyard and gave it a burial. I never found it as many times as I dug for it, but that didn’t stop me from heading to my friends’ house and watching it.
You can take the Karate Kid out of the house, but you can’t take the Karate Kid out of the boy. I was a determined little shithead and dreamed of earning myself a belt and fighting in the ring against the best of the best.
Who knows, maybe I can make that childhood dream a reality as a grown man.
As the tires eat the asphalt as we head to our destination, I decide that when we get back home, I’m going to start making inquiries on a studio with a good reputation that isn’t too far away from where we live.
Watch out world, this father and daughter duo are going to be taking you by storm.
As we navigate through the curvy road, I picture a future that, a couple of years ago, seemed like nothing more than a pipe dream. Zoey was there one minute, and gone in a flash the next. For months we were attached at the hip, and during the time her parents sequestered her to the house, I was taking care of club shit. I was a prospect back then, I was so caught up in our whirlwind romance and spending time with my own family and earning my stripes, that I didn’t see what was right underneath my nose.
Zoey hid her struggles well. Either that, or I was blinded from the signs. Now that I think back on it, they were there. The fingerprint bruises, the slight limps when she walked, the way her eyes were always downcast unless it was just the two of us. Every single time I’d ask about those things, she’d have believable excuses. I was young, dumb, and impressionable back then. I had the best damn parents in the universe so I never thought that two people who were supposed to have unconditional love for you, could hurt you so significantly. And the physical abuse wasn’t the only thing she was dealing with back then when it came to her folks and their twisted congregation. Little did we know, she was being groomed for theleader of the Onyx Dragons, another reason I want to destroy them and end them.
They hurt what was, and still is, mine. That’s unfuckingacceptable. There are times when I’ll glance over my shoulder every now and then only to see her eyes glazed over with memories of that past.
There are still triggers that we’re working through.
As a couple, and as a club.
My brothers are cognizant of her past, they know that she was taken advantage of and attacked by those pussies. The love a child has for their parents is endless and forgivable, no matter the transgressions. Zoey always tried to see the best in them, but as she aged, she realized they didn’t have many great qualities that were admirable. The only good thing those pieces of shits ever did, was bring my treasure into this world.
“What are we doing today once we get to our retreat?” Zoey asks, yanking me out of my thoughts.
“I thought we’d play it by ear,” I tell her. “I didn’t want this to be a scheduled getaway, I wanted us to explore and visit things that interest us.”
“I’d love to stretch my legs once we arrive, Harrison. There’s a trail behind the cabins, right?”
“There is, and from what I saw online when I booked it, there’s a lot of tree coverage so we’ll lose most of our heat from the sunlight. Are you sure you want to go exploring today, or do you wanna wait until tomorrow when the sun is at its highest and will keep things warmer than they are in the evenings?” I inquire, not wanting her to be chilly from the airy breeze. That’sthe one bad thing about walking through the wild, the trunks of the trees act like a wind tunnel that keeps things colder in the winter.
“Maybe we’ll just stay inside today, start a fire and bunker down with a movie and takeout,” she says, changing her mind.
“Among other things,” I say, wiggling my eyebrows. “We don’t have a little one that could walk in on us at any moment. We can be spontaneous and as loud as we wanna be.”
“Ooh, lala,” she teases, wiggling her brows, copycatting me. “So you won’t be cupping my mouth, or burying my face in the pillow, or capturing my lips with yours to keep my moans muffled?”
“Absolutely not,” I avow. “I’m looking forward to hearing your screams, especially since I’ll be giving you the pleasure that’ll be the cause of those sounds.”
“Check your ego, Harrison.”
“It’s been checked and mated, Zoey,” I state, tormenting her. I love nothing more than to rile my old lady up, especially since she gives as good as she gets.
