Chapter Three
Dani
Okay, I am attracted to Zane.
That doesn’t mean I will fall for his flirting attempts, or the winks and grins he sends my way.
I like to have men work harder than that.
I also am not sure if I should be getting involved with someone who is a part of the club that my dad leads. I don’t want anything to mess up my chance at getting to know my dad.
I take a break and sit in the main club room, which is where my father finds me.
“Sorry, things have been really busy,” he says while taking a seat beside me. A prospect hands him a beer.
I shrug. “It’s okay, but don’t think that I don’t know you have been spending this time reconnecting with my mom,” I say with a teasing smirk.
“Does that bother you?” he asks.
I shake my head. “Not really. My mom was never really interested in anyone and, if she ever did date anyone, they didn’t last long. I asked her why all the time, but she said she found the love of her life once and no one could ever compare.”
He grins widely at my words. “Love of her life?”
“As if you didn’t know. It’s easy to tell you guys are crazy for each other, even after twenty-five years,” I tell him.
“I’ve always been crazy about her. I didn’t know if I could forgive her for taking off, but I guess now that I know why, I can’t really blame her,” he says softly.
“Everything happens for a reason,” I respond.
Zeke comes into the room before we can say anything else. He locks his eyes on me and walks over.
“I think it’s about time we talked,” he says to me.
I swallow hard. “Yeah, that’s probably for the best.”
“Here or private?” he asks.
“Private,” I say while getting up.
When we get to his room, I blow out a breath.
“How did you end up here?” he asks when I don’t say anything. He takes a seat beside me on his bed.
“I was kidnapped,” I say quietly. I would be surprised if he heard me but, from the reaction I get, I know that he did.
“You were kidnapped? By who? I swear, the fucker who did it is dead,” he says, getting angry.
“He is dead,” I tell him.
“Tell me everything,” he says.
So, I do. I tell him about hanging out with the Vicious Snakes, and then leaving with Katy to go to my grandmother’s funeral. I let him know that we were ran off the road and, when I woke up, I was chained to a wall with other women in the room. The more I speak, the more Zeke’s anger grows. I tell him how the man was obsessed with claiming trophies of club princesses, and he knew that I belonged to my father; even when I didn’t know who he was. I have to reassure Zeke that nothing further happened to me asides from being restrained. I let him know that I wasn’t tortured or raped.
“When we figured out who I belonged to, I met my father and came here to get to know him,” I finish.
“So, your mom hid because of the crazy shit going on when I was taken, and she was scared you would have been taken too?” he asks while thinking over everything I told him.
I nod my head. “Yeah, it’s crazy. We both could have grown up in this club and still have been best friends, but we were taken away and still found a way to be together,” I laugh.
“No shit. That’s a crazy coincidence. What are the odds we actually became friends?” he asks in disbelief.
“We were obviously always meant to be friends,” I tell him. I lean into him as he puts an arm around my shoulder.
“Fuck, this is all so crazy. I wouldn’t have believed it if it wasn’t my own life,” he says in a shocked tone.
“Tell me about it,” I say in agreement.
“Dinner!” A deep voice shouts before banging on the door.
“We better go. I heard that this Mama person doesn’t tolerate anyone missing dinner,” Zeke says dryly.
“The food smelled amazing the whole time, but I didn’t want to get hit with a wooden spoon,” I say while getting up.
“A wooden spoon?” he asks while following me.
“Yeah, she smacked about five brothers with a wooden spoon and told them to eat carrots if they were hungry,” I say with a laugh.
He chuckles as we walk to the kitchen and find everyone already making plates of the pasta and garlic bread Mama had prepared.
We get our plates before sitting next to my parents, which is where Zane is also sitting. We are then joined by Zane and Zeke’s parents.
I look around the room and take in the easy conversation and banter everyone has with each other. When I look across the room, I see a woman glaring at me. She’s in the skimpiest thing I have ever seen, leaving nothing to imagination.
I raise an eyebrow at her. She doesn’t move her gaze.
“Is there a problem?” I ask loudly, causing everyone to stop talking.
“Not at all,” she says with a fake smile and moves to grab a plate.
She only grabs a bit of salad before leaving the room.
“What the fuck is her problem?” I mumble.
“She thinks she’s top dog around here with the ladies. She hates any new women who come to the club,” one of the brothers says.
“If anyone is top dog of the ladies around here, I would say that’s Mama,” I say in between bites of pasta.
Everyone chuckles and nods.
Mama looks at me proudly. “Some of them seem to think I don’t matter.”
“Right, because from only being here for a day and a half, I can already tell that getting on your bad side isn’t the way into the club,” I say with a grin in Mama’s direction.
“The club girls think that because I’m old, and my man died, I have no power,” she says before rolling her eyes.
“Then they need to open their eyes. Especially if they are going to eat your food.” I say the last part loudly as I see a couple more club women come and get plates. They turn and look at everyone sheepishly.
“I think I’m going to like having you around,” Mama says, looking at me with a big smile.
I don’t say anything. I have a feeling I am going to really like it here.
Zane
I didn’t like the way Lydia was glaring at Dani one bit, but I didn’t want to cause a scene in front of everyone.
It looked like I was going to need to have a talk with her.
If she keeps acting the way she is, she won’t last here much longer.
She has this idea that she is the best, and everyone else is under her, because I was fucking her exclusively for so long. I knew I should have put a stop to it, but now it’s obviously too late.
If anyone is in charge of the women, it would be the Prez’s Old Lady but, seeing as he hasn’t claimed her yet, that would make it Dani, since she’s the club princess. I don’t think she knows what that means right now.
Sitting next to Dani is fucking hard. I want to put my arm around her or, fuck, just sit her in my lap and have her enjoy her meal there.
My thoughts were interrupted by Tank as he stomps into the room and heads straight for the food.
He just grabs his plate and leaves the room without a single word.
“Who was that?” Dani asks in a whisper.
“That’s Tank. He likes to keep to himself,” Prez answers.
“He’s huge,” she says with wide eyes.
“That’s why he’s called Tank, I imagine,” Zeke says with a teasing smile.
Dani blushes at his words. “Well obviously. I feel like I wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of him,” she says, mumbling the last part.
I snort and shake my head. “No, you don’t. He’s a good brother, but he had an accident a few months ago and lost his memory for a couple weeks. His memories came back, but now he doesn’t know where the woman is who helped him,” I explain.
“Why would he look for her?” she asks curiously.
“Because she helped him, and he had claimed her as his Old Lady,” Tiny says with a laugh.
“How can she be his Old Lady if he doesn’t know where to find her?” Dani asks.
“She claimed she was his wife until his memory came back. He was fucked up on drugs, so he only knows what she looks like, but not her name. Once we were called, she left. We never saw her after that,” Tiny says.
“So, he just claimed her?” Robyn is the one who asks now.
I nod my head. “Yeah, you know when you want to claim someone as your woman, and he had a cut and everything made with the name “Ice Eyes.” She brought it upon herself by claiming she was his wife.”
“Hopefully he finds her,” Dani says with a soft expression.
The look that Dani gives while she makes that comment brings me to think that she’s a romantic. I will have to file that information away for later.
The rest of dinner goes smoothly. Afterwards, I set out to find Lydia.
She’s in her room with the other club whores, and I tell them all to leave as Lydia gives me a smug smile.
This isn’t going to be what she thinks it is going to be about.
“I knew you would want some more,” she purrs seductively.
I shake my head and step away when she tries to put her hand on my chest.
“This isn’t what you think it is. I think you are forgetting your place here,” I say coldly.
“My place is by your side, of course,” she says, batting her eyes at me. Fuck, she’s delusional.
“No, it fucking isn’t. You aren’t my Old Lady. You need to get that through your head,” I growl out.
She pouts like I am fucking joking. I am not.
“You know you liked what we had,” she says, not giving up.
I shake my head. “You were a fuck. Convenient; that’s it. That’s all you ever were. You will never be my Old Lady.”
She loses the seductive look in her eyes and crosses her arms over her chest. “Everything was fine until that bitch came here,” she snaps out.
Rage bubbles inside of me. “Watch your fucking mouth.”
“That’s it, isn’t it. You want that long, lost puppy.” She lets out a humourless laugh. “You will get tired of her and come crawling back to me; you always do.”
I shake my head at her words. “That won’t ever happen. We are done. It’s over, and I won’t be touching you again.”
I step out to leave the room, and I hear her mumble, “that’s what you think.”
I ignore her and head straight to my room.
As much as I want to go and see Dani, I don’t want her to see me like this. The anger inside of me from just a few words with Lydia is unbecoming.
I lock my door as soon as I am in my room, sit on the bed, and turn on my TV. I need to unwind and relax.
I listen for anyone outside my bedroom door, but I don’t hear anything. Blowing out a breath, I start one of the only shows that seems to relax me.
The volume is on low as the episode I am on starts, and I smile as Gilmore Girls plays on the screen.
Fuck, if any of my brothers knew that I was watching this, they wouldn’t fucking stop teasing me.
I don’t have a lot of time to watch TV, so I am only on the first season. I played the first episode because I was bored, and I don’t mind a chick show every now and then. For some reason, this show has me hooked.
I grin as I sing along with the theme song and find myself relaxing.
I’ll find a way to claim Dani so that her father won’t kill me for touching his girl.