She ran her hands over the wood. I’d sanded everything down, then stained them to match. “They’re incredible, Bolo.” She smiled up at me. “I didn’t know you could make stuff like this.”
There wasn’t much I couldn’t make if you gave me enough time to figure out how it was supposed to go together. I’d driven my mom insane when I was younger because I’d constantly been taking shit apart to see how it worked. That was just the way my brain functioned. The last straw had been when she’d walked in to find me dissecting the motor on her KitchenAid mixer.
She’d banned me from touching her things after that. I’d mostly respected that boundary, with only a couple slips here and there. Things like furniture? They were easy. Just wood, nails, screws, and glue. “There’s one more,” I said, then pointed over toward the wall.
Devyn sucked in a breath, stopping the motion of the rocking chair as she stared at the intricate wooden rocking horse I’d made. That one was specifically for our boy.
“Bolo.” She got up and went over to it, running her hand over the head. “This is…” She shook her head, at a loss for words.
“It’ll be his war horse when he gets a bit older,” I said with a smile.
“I’m surprised you didn’t make him a motorcycle,” she replied.
“When I build him a bike, it’s going to be the real thing,” I warned her. “It’ll be one we restore together. When he’s old enough.”
She stepped forward again to hug me, but someone clearing their throat caught our attention.
We turned and faced Mike together, a united front. “Dad,” she said, her voice a little chilly.
I was glad she wasn’t talking to me in that cold tone. I much preferred the soft one she’d just been using on me.
“Can I speak with you?” he asked, looking at me.
“Of course.”
“You can speak with us both,” Devyn said, giving me a nudge.
Mike narrowed his eyes, then nodded. “Fine, but I’m not changing what I have to say to him just because you’re here.”
“Fine,” she echoed, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Why don’t you sit?” I told her, leading her back over to the rocking chair.
“I’ve been thinking about everything my daughter’s told me,” Mike said once she was settled. “I don’t like it a damn bit that being involved with you could put her in jeopardy.”
“Dad-”
He shook his hand. “You don’t have to like what I have to say, Devyn, but I’m going to say it.”
“That’s understandable,” I told him, interrupting an argument between them. “I don’t like it either.”
“Then why don’t you leave?” He studied my features as he asked that.
“Leave? My club?” I asked. When he nodded, I raised my brows. “Could you leave your family? Your wife? Your daughters?”
“You’d be leavingforyour family,” he countered.
“I’d be leaving for a portion of my family,” I corrected. “As much as I love my parents, if they asked me to leave Devyn, I wouldn’t. If Dev asked me to leave the club, I couldn’t.”
“I’ll never ask that,” Devyn said, voice filled with shock. “I understand the bond you have with them.”
Dad scowled at her. “They’re not his family.”
“But they are, Dad,” she insisted. “They’re as much his family as his parents and brothers. Asking him to leave that isn’t fair. I would walk away before asking that of him.”
“I don’t want that either,” I told her.
“I thought maybe you were asking too much,” Mike said, then he sighed. “Really, I’m just looking for a way for Devyn to be with you and be safe.”
