But he never does.
Chapter Eleven
Nashville
Everyone is looking at Beast while he stares at the wall. So far no one has asked him anything and my tongue is itching to be the first but Nero comes in before I can, which is probably a good thing. He looks at Beast too but doesn’t make a big deal of it.
Nero gets down to business asking Blaze if we’re anywhere on finding Storm. He gets the same response, following leads, tracking men we believe he worked with, but still no sign. Nero’s frustration is obvious, but he doesn’t take it out on Blaze. He is doing his best, working night and day on this.
“Beast, you good?” Nero asks.
“Yeah.”
“You want to try that with a little less lie in your answer.”
“Fuck,” he sits back and puts his hands behind his head. “She’s… I had a paternity test rushed through. And its ninety-nine point nine what the fuck ever she’s mine.”
Everyone is quiet, no one wants to make fun of this the way they have with Nero but that’s a different kind of situation. Nero knew about andhad been raising his kid without telling anyone. This is very different. This is a whole ass teenager showing up out of nowhere.
“You don’t need to tell us everything, but I do want to know where it goes from here, how it affects you as an officer.”
“It won’t affect anything,” he drops his hands. “I’m figuring shit out. Her mom was someone I knew in high school. Shit was rough for me back then and as soon as I could, I got the fuck out. Didn’t know I’d got her pregnant.”
That explains why Beast has a seventeen-year-old at his age. He was the same age as her when she was conceived.
“They kicked her out when she got pregnant, she raised the kid alone.”
“Damn,” Fury says from beside him.
“Yeah, she’s had a tough life. Her mom died, she has no one else. Not gonna get much better with me as a father.”
“You’ll figure it out,” Nero tells him.
He’s not leaving room for arguments. No matter how it goes, this kid is part of the Blackhawk family, she’ll be taken care of.
“Where is she?” Razer asks.
“Staying with Raven,” Rebel speaks up. He eyes us all after our reaction to that. “Surprised me too, but she didn’t want the kid left here, or out on the street.”
Beast clenches his fists.
“Okay, so long as she is somewhere safe, and not being corrupted by Raven,” Nero adds, which gets a laugh from a few of us. “We had a situation at Elegance last night.”
My head whips up to Beast. His eyes meet mine and he shakes his head, he doesn’t know what Nero means.
“It involved Cantrell junior. The dickhead hurt one of the wait staff. Ellie and Walker dealt with it, but I want someone watching the fucker on Saturday.”
“Who did he hurt and how?” Beast takes the words right out of my mouth.
“Charley.”
My seat flies back and I start to get up. Everyone looks at me. Shit.
“What’s wrong with you?” Rebel asks.
I can’t let them know she’s living with me. Or that I am full on infatuated with her. Jesus Christ how did I not know she got hurt? Because I avoided going home last night like a fucking child.
“Something bit me.”
