“He nailed me, not the other way around.”
“Sure, but you’re hiding,” Boone said, and I caught Goldie nodding.
Sensing this conversation was my real intervention, I backed away and prepared to battle the whole lot of them.
Before I could throw negativity at him, Boone hit me with, “When I was about to do time for a bullshit rap, I got obsessed with the day I’d be locked up. I kept counting it down in my head. No matter what I was doing, that worry haunted my every thought. Showing up at the jail was actually a relief.”
Boone wasn’t wrong. Though I’d likely feel better once Zodiac knew, I was still afraid to face him.
“Zodiac scares me. What if he flips out or mocks me?”
“What would be the ideal response from him?” Goldie asked.
Her deep brown eyes had a way of breaking down my defenses. Goldie could simply stare at me and wait until I gave her whatever she wanted.
“The best scenario would be if he were indifferent. I don’t want to share the baby with a stranger. I also think he’ll be a crappy dad.”
“You don’t know,” Goldie said immediately, and Clint nodded nearby. “Your father was a bad man with a worse reputation, but he helped Shay raise your uncles. He was a good dad to you and Clint. People are complicated.”
“Remember how no one thought you’d be a good mom?” Boone asked and chuckled when I smacked his arm. “Your pregnancy felt likea mistake, but you proved us wrong. As Goldie said, people are complicated.”
Glancing at Clint, I realized he had organized this conversation when he accepted that I wouldn’t bend to his will.
I sighed dramatically and sat next to Goldie. “How should I tell Zodiac? Would a text be sufficient?”
“We’ll organize a meeting,” Goldie said, clearly repeating whatever Clint told her earlier. “You can do the NIPP test ahead of time. Exile can get Zodiac to Little Memphis. Clint will be there. You won’t have to do it alone.”
“What if Zodiac flips out or calls me names?”
“You can flip out and call him names right back.”
Goldie was right. I wasn’t a lost little girl begging a man to save her. I had my shit in order. If Zodiac yelled, I would yell louder!
For fuck’s sake, I was Elle Reed! My dad killed men with his trusty baseball bat. My brother built a motorcycle club over a damn weekend. My mom survived a mass shooting. I came from tough stock. No way would a sexy biker’s temper break me.
ZODIAC BONDI
Life was always messy for the Roberts clan. My first memories were hiding under my crib while adults screamed and threw things. I was scared because I was small. Once I got larger, drama no longer affected me.
My mom was dead before I was old enough to remember her. My dad shuffled in and out of my life until he lost a fight while too drunk to get medical attention. I heard his body was mostly rotten in the ditch before anyone discovered him.
No one shed any tears over my dad’s death. Big Mike lived longer than his brothers or sisters. By then, I was one of two surviving Roberts clan members. My cousin had been in prison for slugging a nun, while I was running shit errands as a prospect for the Black Rainbow Motorcycle Club.
These days, I was the president. I took what I wanted and didn’t nurse regrets. I liked my life. Nothing about it bothered me.
Decades ago, when I was in the foster care system, I saw a therapist to help me deal with my family’s toxic ways. I shared my feelings freely. Never held back a damn emotion. Hiding from myself wasn’t an option. That philosophy made me healthy enough to survive anything.
When I liked someone, I sided with them even if my loyalty cost me. When I wanted to take something, I didn’t let morals stand in my way. When I got an idea in my head, I refused to walk away until I had accomplished what I desired.
That was why I took over the Black Rainbow Motorcycle Club when its leadership refused to deal with danger in our territory. I burned many bridges by backstabbing Wrecker. He was a popular guy with loyal men who had followed him for decades. Though I was his muscle, capable of destroying the club’s enemies, he never viewed me as a threat to his power.
Wrecker was always shortsighted that way. I had big plans, even back when I was kissing his ass as a prospect. Originally, I planned to run a new club with everything I learned from the Black Rainbow.But why start over when I could take what I wanted from men too lazy to keep it?
Even if I was right, my mutiny hadn’t come without costs. Wrecker and his guys did what they could to undercut me around Baton Rouge. Their sons had no shot at gaining a patch in my club, so they moved to Little Memphis to join the LM Jokers and poison its president, Tricky Curran, against me.
I didn’t give a shit about the LM Jokers or Tricky. He was the dumbass son of a better man. I’d rather align with the other Little Memphis club. The Crimson Guard’s president was solid like his father, Ford Reed. Most of the club’s members were the children of long-time badasses. They were worthy of becoming my allies.
One of their members interested me beyond biker politics. From day one, I'd had my eye on the blonde, gray-eyed Elle Reed. Her smile stole my interest in other women. Her full, round tits filled my head with the best fantasies.
