Can I really pull this off?
Chapter 7
Raven
A few weeks later
Life started to settle into a wonderful little routine. I knew I wasn’t going to win any parent of the year awards, but every day Wyatt would pick Emma up from school and bring her to the bar to hang out with me for the last hour of my shift.
It all seemed to fall into place. Jett was a wonderful boss and let me set my hours so I could be home at night for Emma. Katherine was a powerhouse who was teaching me the art of slinging drinks like a pro. Emma even seemed to enjoy getting to know all her uncle’s friends while she worked on her homework.
I’d never thought I would be a bartender in a biker bar, but it was the closest to normal I had felt since I was with my ex planning our wedding.
I ambled back into the office, tapping lightly on the open door. “Jett?”
He glared up at me with smoldering eyes, not in a mean way, but there was something behind those storming gray irises.
“What’s up?” he finally asked, stroking his long dark beard as he leaned back in his chair.
“I need a keg swapped. Bud Light just blew.” I folded my arms over my chest, feeling overly exposed under his gaze.
“Sure thing, darlin’.” His gravelly voice echoed in my mind as I watched his broad body ascend from his seat. Until that moment, I hadn’t taken much notice of my elusive boss. He mostly kept to himself, letting his sister handle the majority of the front-of-the-house bullshit. I hadn’t realized how handsome he was. His bulging muscles, his inked skin, his intense eyes—it had all been lost on me until I was scrambling to get out of his way as he walked to the keg room.
After pouring a couple of pitchers for patrons who were playing pool in the back of the bar, I noticed Wyatt rushing through the front door.
Instantly, I noticed he was missing a key element—my daughter wasn’t with him.
“What’s going on?” I barked as he fought to catch his breath.
“Something’s wrong,” he howled.
“What do you mean wrong?” Panic erupted in my chest. My knees went weak. My hands shook. “Where’s Emma?” I screamed.
Every eye was on me as I grabbed Wyatt by the shirt collar across the bar.
“She wasn’t at school when I went to get her. Her teacher said Seth picked her up hours ago,” he explained quickly.
“Go!” Jett yelled over to me, flying up behind the bar to my side. “Call if you need anything.”
Thrusting a burner into my hand along with my purse, Jett shoved me toward the entrance of the narrow bar.
“Thank you,” I muttered, starting to run for my car.
“Let me drive.” Wyatt grabbed my keys out of my hand.
“What the fuck is Seth trying to pull,” I screamed as I slid into the passenger seat of my sedan.
“We’re about to fucking find out.”
My body was buzzing as I raked my fingers through my hair.
“We’re going to get her, Raven. I promise.” Wyatt let his hand land on my knee. With a gentle squeeze, he looked over at me with all the love he could muster building in his dark eyes.
“I will kill him.” I was resolute in that one fact. I would shoot him in the face if he was trying to keep my daughter from me.
“Not if I get to him first.”
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