Fuck this shit.
I moved across the clubhouse and sat down in the booth, on the opposite side of him.
“Fucking talk to me, Trey. Brianna can forgive me, why can’t you?”
He sighed, and for a moment I thought he might get up and move away, but instead, he let out a long breath, his features softening slightly.
“I know you did the best you could. I know that my mother lied a lot, but you are dating my ex-girlfriend, and my friend. That’s hard for me, but it’s also to do with me.”
“I get it, but Rowan is…I don’t know, she’s just something I can’t give up. I hope you can look past that.”
Slowly, he nodded. “I guess I can. With relation to you sending bikers to help me with The Pit, can you stop?”
I sat back in the booth, unsure I could agree to that. Something was pulling at me to agree, and yet something else was holding back. My need to protect him was overpowering, in a way I couldn’t explain.
“Trey…”
“Trust me when I say that I know what I’m doing. If you trust me enough, I promise that the second I don’t have a handle on things, I will call you, and you can come and save the day, like you always do. But for once, I want to have something, I want to be good at something without you fixing it for me.”
“You want to go out, and be someone without me hovering,” I added. He nodded, confirming that I was doing the one thing I’d never had. Be a helicopter parent. “Okay, kid. I’ll step back, but I want at least one of the boys at The Pit every night. They’ll keep to themselves, so you can run things, but I need some kind of protection for you.”
Trey sighed. “I guess I can handle that.”
“Look, I don’t expect you to trust me, not right away, but I’m trying my best here. Meet me half way, yeah?”
Trey nodded. “Yeah, I know. And I know you always fixed my issues for the past few years, without me knowing. Rowan’s told me a lot of what I did when I was out of it, and I fucking hate myself for it. I want to start fresh, be someone that I’m proud of. If that means I become a badass, then that’s what I gotta do.”
Ha! He sounds like me when I was alone in the world.
“Look, kid, when I was younger, I didn’t have anyone. I was alone. My own family up and left, and I had to fight to survive. I never had a parent who wanted me, but you should know that even though I’ve been a shit dad, I will always be there. You’re my kid, my junior. You come first.”
He looked taken aback, like he’d stopped breathing for a minute, before he let out a breath. “You never told me about your past.”
“Because it’s inconsequential. I had bad parents. My worst fear was being one myself.”
“You weren’t that bad,” he said, with a smirk. “Just…absent.”
“Well now you know where I am, kid. I’ll always be here.”
Trey nodded. “Enough with the sentimental crap before someone calls the white coats.”
I chuckled, looking over at my woman behind the bar. She winked at me, obviously liking that I was talking with Trey. I couldn’t wait to tattoo my ring on her finger and call her mine, legally.
Rowan sauntered her way over to us, and sat down next to me. “Looks like you two finally got something happening. That’s two out of two, babe.”
Trey rolled his eyes and I chuckled. “Yeah, junior was a little harder to crack, but I think we got it handled.”
“Why the hell does everyone call you junior around here?” she asked him. “Like I get it, you’re his son, but isn’t it a little annoying?”
“She doesn’t know?” I questioned my boy.
He shook his head, smirking. “Never told her.”
Rowan looked from me to Trey, back to me again. “So spill. I don’t like secrets.”
“My name isn’t Trey, not really.”
“What the hell is it?” she shot back. “I swear it’s Trey on every legal document that I’ve seen.”
