My heart hammers as I watch my girl gently load up the drinks onto a tray, regret sitting heavy on my chest for giving her the space I thought she needed.
Fuck, it messes with my head, especially when I couldn't save…
“Are we all here?” my dad asks as he enters the living area and shuts the door before he scans the room and pales at my stuff everywhere.
Here we fucking go…
“All accounted for plus one,” Trick says as he nods to my girl, and Dad nods, not bothering to ask Drew to leave her own home for this meeting I didn’t even want.
I won’t have her out of my sight, not after yesterday. While she may only have a bruised cheek and a headache from the chloroform. According to Trick the baby is doing good, but I need my eyes on her at all times. She keeps me calm and I really don’t want to shoot my own father, do I?
“Thank you, sweetheart,” my dad murmurs as my girl hands him a cup of tea. I smile as she takes a tray around the brothers that are looking at her with awe.
My fucking girl.
"You’re all heart, ain’t ya, sweets?" Crusher asks with a soft smile.
Drew grins before admitting, "Sometimes…"
I chuckle as she carefully walks toward me, balancing the tray with my cup, which is the last one left.
"Thanks, baby," I whisper as I lean down, gently pressing my lips against hers before taking my drink and her smile broadens.
“Of course, I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me,” she replies softly and I nod, then kiss her again, feeling so fucking grateful to have found her.
She walks to the kitchen just as Dad says, “Alright, church in session!” and every eye comes my way.
Fuck’s sake.
“You can all stop staring at me,” I say, glancing around the room, and Trick smirks.
“Sure, if you tell us you’ll let us pack for you and ride with us…” He says and I sigh and glance at my girl, busy whisking pancake batter.
Of course she’s making them breakfast.
“Not happening,” I state and every man in the room tenses. I huff, “I have built a life here, brothers. I have a steady job. I have my girl…”
"You have your own tattoo parlor back home, your own house! Pack your girl up and bring her with you!" Dad snaps, his face already turning red.
I shake my head at him and say, “Alright, Dad, say my girl drops everything—her family, who she eats with twice a week, her shows that she does to raise money for charity, her business where she has over sixty students—and we go home. What’s to say I won’t fall off the deep end again? What’s to say returning to where I failed, where I hurt most, won’t drag me down that hole again?”
“Because we wouldn’t let you...” Crash says softly, and I swallow hard before reminding them, “You couldn’t stop me last time. You had to knock me out and get my sister to plead.” I sigh, “I think it’s best I stay here, where I’m content and happy, where I’m not at risk in hurting my family.”
Dad scowls. “No!” I shake my head, but he ignores me and snaps, “You’re coming home. I fucking mean it! You have a role even you know you could do, just look at yesterday.” He glances at my girl, then meets my gaze, determination in his eyes and I narrow my eyes in return in warning not to drag her into this. “I miss my son. I lost him when I lost Angie, and enough is enough.” He turns to call, “Drew, come here for a moment, sweetheart,” and I growl, making Dad wince.
He’s out of line, and he knows it and him dragging her into this is out of fucking line, and I’m going to fucking kill him.
Drew furrows her brows but instead of looking at Dad, she looks at me and I tick my jaw and fist my hands. Sensing my anger, she rushes over and ignores my dad.
I lift my arm and she burrows into my side as I wrap it around her waist and gently cup her small bump, allowing her and our baby to keep my anger at bay, a baby I am petrified of fucking up.
"Are you okay?" she asks quietly and despite feeling all eyes on us, I shake my head as I lean in, press my lips against hers. I inhale deeply but my body tenses when Dad oversteps and opens his mouth yet again.
“Drew, would you leave all this behind for my son?” Dad asks, voice firm and Bones mutters, “Fuck’s sake, Chains wants his ass kicked.”
“I’m not answering that,” my girl replies, grabbing my shirt to stop me from pouncing on my father, who scowls. Undeterred, she says, “I love your son, and I know him inside and out and –”
Dad cuts her off, “And what, I don’t?”
