“Did he target you? Ask you about your dad?”
She shook her head. “No, I wouldn’t have anything to tell him anyway. No one knows he’s my dad.”
Ouch. I knew how badly Reaper wanted to be the guy his kids went to when they were in trouble. Trey was a work in progress, but at least he tried when he could. Brianna had been completely cut off from him. I never understood women who did that. You had a freakin’ baby with that guy, surely they deserve to have a chance to be a dad.
“Why do you think you’re in trouble?”
“I overheard a conversation…when I was at his apartment. I think he knew.”
“So you’re sleeping with him?”
“Of course I am, you don’t get to be with someone like Wiley without putting out.”
That crushed me. I had such a fondness for her that I didn’t want her to feel that sensation of needing to put out if you weren’t ready.
“Bri…what did you overhear?”
“He was talking with an older guy, but it wasn’t the guy everyone is saying is the head of the Ironborne. That guy’s young, and just took over. It sounds like they want to change the Ironborne back to the old ways, the ways they were when they were at war with the club.”
“Did you catch a name or see what he looked like?”
“He was old, had greying hair, and he wore a suit. He looked evil. There was just something in his eyes. I think Wiley called him Darian.”
My stomach dropped. “Did Wiley let on that he knew you knew?”
“Sort of,” she said. “I don’t know, maybe I’m just freaking out or something, but tonight…he wouldn’t let me in with him. He said tonight wasn’t a good night, but I snuck in anyway. He was with a few of the Ironborne guys, and they looked pissed off. That’s when I saw Trey, and it kind of appeared to be like they were pissed off with him.”
Shit, fuck, shit.
“Babe, I’m really sorry but I have to tell your dad. I won’t tell him about you, and your relationship if you don’t want me to but I have to tell him the other stuff, it could mean something bad for the club and for Trey.”
She nodded. “Yeah, I figured.”
“Where’s your mum?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “She kicked me out a few days ago. Since then I’ve been sleeping at Wiley’s.”
Fuck me. I hated this for her. I hated everything about this. My heart was aching, because I knew exactly how this felt, and how lonely I was. If I didn’t have Trey, fuck knows what would have happened to me.
“You’re going to come back with us to the clubhouse, it’s safe there. No one will touch you, believe me.”
She nodded, tears falling over her cheeks. Reaper appeared then, his face contorting into a puzzle of rage and heartbreak.
“Do you want me to tell him?”
She shook her head, looking up at her dad, wiping her eyes to deliver the news herself. Goddamn I was proud of her. She’d come so far, but when I found her mother, I was going to give her the beating of her damn life for abandoning her child.
As Brianna recounted what she told me–even telling him about the sleeping with Wiley part–I saw Reaper go through a myriad of emotions, but he never once blew up, or raised his voice. He didn’t even speak, just let her tell him what she needed to tell him.
“You’ll come back to the clubhouse with me and Rowan?” he asked, his voice strained from the anger he was holding back.
She nodded. “Yeah.”
“Come on,” he said, standing up and waiting for Brianna to do the same. When she did, he pulled her into his arms. At first, she was rigid, her arms frozen by her side, until finally she let out a deep sob that absolutely tore my heart out, and clutched onto his kutte with her fingers so tight, I could see them turning white. Reaper didn’t let go, he held her, just standing in the middle of the diner, until her sobs eased. “I got you.”
Fuck, I loved this man.
I wiped at my eyes before the tears could drop, wishing like anything my own father wasn’t a fucking psychopath so I could have that kind of hug from someone who is meant to love you, no matter what.
