Chapter 8 EMMETT #3
Mom followed, watching as I chugged a glass dry. Then, thankfully, she didn’t talk about Dad again. “I had Tera and Maggie over for dinner last night.”
“I saw them as I came in.”
“She’s a good woman, Emmett.”
“She is.”
“Why not ask her out to—”
“I met someone.” The words came out so fast it surprised us both.
“Oh,” Mom said, her voice full of hope. “I didn’t realize.”
“It’s not serious.” Fuck. This thing with Nova was not serious and it was likely over. But I’d opened my mouth and now I’d be backtracking. Because the last thing I wanted was for my mother to get her hopes up of a daughter-in-law or grandchildren. The chance she’d have those was slim at best.
Her shoulders fell. “Okay.”
“I’d better get home. I’ve got some work to do around the house.”
“Thanks for coming over.” She smiled as I walked over and pulled her into a hug. “Friday?”
“Friday.” I let her go, giving a quick glance to Dad’s book on the end table beside the couch as I walked for the door.
On the wall was one of the last photos the two of them had taken together, Mom sitting behind Dad on his bike, both wearing bandanas tied around their foreheads and wide smiles on their faces.
Mom was in love with Dad. She’d loved him her entire life, even though they’d divorced when I was in fifth grade.
Mom still wore her wedding rings. Dad had always worn his.
Their wedding picture was on the nightstand in her bedroom.
A copy had been on Dad’s dresser at his place.
Never once had Mom gone on a date and as far as I knew, Dad had never been with another woman.
Because he’d loved Mom too. Even though their marriage had ended, and he’d lived at his own place.
At the time of their divorce, I’d been too young to demand or understand an explanation. But years later, when I’d been a new member of the club, I’d gotten drunk at a party and asked Dad why.
He’d told me that after Chrissy Slater had been murdered, it had spooked Mom. Rightly so. Chrissy had been innocent, but because of her husband’s club, she’d been murdered outside of her own home.
A rival club, the Travelers, had been causing the Kings some trouble back then.
Mostly skirmishes over some drug runs and disputed territory lines.
Draven and the club had been aggressive about expanding in those days.
They’d taken on more drug routes, trying to boost club income.
The Travelers hadn’t liked it and had sent threats. Draven had ignored them.
He shouldn’t have ignored them.
The Travelers came to Clifton Forge and went straight to the Slater house.
Chrissy was outside planting flowers. They shot her in the back of the head. Dash and Nick were the ones to find her body after coming home from school.
Dad helped Draven kill every member of the Travelers. Every. Single. One. Then he divorced Mom, hoping that Chrissy’s fate wouldn’t fall on her.
Mom would never have asked Dad to leave the club—she knew how much it had meant to both of us—but Dad had insisted on the divorce.
They hadn’t been married. But they’d been married.
And when Dad had died, it had broken Mom’s heart.
Mine too.
Outside, I sat on my bike and walked it backward out of the driveway, then I cast a glance at the house as I started the engine. Mom was standing in the living room window that overlooked the front yard. She had that book of Dad’s pressed to her heart and a hand raised to wave goodbye.
I waved back, then roared down the street. My chest was too tight. Mom’s expression, with that damn book, was stuck in my head.
What I needed tonight was a distraction. A hard fuck. Maybe a fight. I could probably find both at The Betsy but instead of going to the bar, I rode home. The bar would be there later if I changed my mind.
I turned down my lane and when I spotted a black car in the driveway, the tightness in my chest vanished.
Thank fuck.
She was here. Nova.
I parked beside her car and stood off my bike.
She was waiting beside the front door, leaning against the log exterior.
I walked up, shoving my sunglasses away.
“Hi, Ace.”
I hated how glad I was to hear her voice. I hated how relieved I felt to see her. But damn it, I hadn’t been ready to call it off. Not yet. There wasn’t a single woman I wanted to see tonight but her. “Hi, baby.”
There was a stiffness to her body as she stood straight, her eyes falling to her fingers clasped in front of her before she looked up. Maybe she hated being relieved too. “I’m sorry I haven’t been around. I’ve been—”
I held up a hand. “No explanations, right?”
Her shoulders fell. “Right.”
I took the key and slid it into the lock, then shoved the door open and keyed in the code to shut off the alarm.
Nova hesitated outside, her lower lip between her teeth.
“Coming in?”
She waited long enough that my heart jumped into my throat. Then she stepped inside, her heels clicking on the hardwood.
Damn, but I’d missed that noise too.
The second she was clear, I slammed the door behind her and swept her into my arms. “Bed or couch?”
Her legs wrapped around my hips and her lips came to mine. “Bed.”