Chapter Sixteen
Dani
It’s a few days later, and Zane and I are having a family dinner with Zeke and our parents. We head to Carmen and Leon’s house. My father never had a place since it was always just him. I know my mom and he were going to get one before she took off. I think he couldn’t bare to live alone after that and, instead, just stayed at the club.
Now they are talking about getting another place.
I was happy for them. Finally getting what they have always wanted.
Through the weeks, I haven’t spent much time with Zane and Zeke’s parents.
I was nervous since it was their parents and I really wanted them to like me.
“Relax babe, they already love you,” Zane said as we were walking up to their house.
“I just feel bad we haven’t spent much time with them,” I mutter.
He squeezes my hand in reassurance. “They understand that. They know that you need to spend time getting to know your father, and then with your accident, I can’t even believe you would worry that they would think that. You have nothing to worry about. They should also know that I have been hogging you.”
We had been spending every moment we could together. I find myself wanting to know everything about him. He seemed to feel the same since we spent a lot of nights just asking each other questions.
We have gotten amazingly close. I’m now finding it hard to picture what my life was like without him. It’s crazy how important he has become to me.
Zeke has spent a lot of time with his mom and dad, since he basically moved in with them. I now see a light in his eyes that was never there before. I’m glad he gets to have this time with them.
We walk into the house. The smell coming from the kitchen makes me let out a groan.
“If dinner is as good as it smells…” I sigh dreamily.
Zane laughs at my face. “My mom is an amazing cook. The best; just don’t tell Mama I said that.”
“Don’t piss me off, and I won’t,” I tell him with a wink.
“I’ll remember that,” he says with a shudder.
When we get to the living room, my dad is sitting with Leon and is deep in conversation. “What took you so long?” Leon asks when he sees us.
“Had to drag this one through the door,” Zeke says with a chuckle, gesturing to me.
“Traitor,” I mouth to him.
“Oh, we aren’t that scary,” Leon says with a grin.
“Maybe right now. I’d hate to get on your bad side,” I whisper.
“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that. Zeke has told us a lot about you. It means a lot to us that he at least had you in his life. Even if you two didn’t know it, you both still had club around you by being with each other,” he says with a wave of his hand.
“It’s funny how that worked out. Two club kids who were lost to the club found each other and came back,” I say with a small smile.
“Your mom is in the kitchen with Carmen. They are finishing up dinner,” my dad informs me.
I head that way, practically running, making all of them chuckle.
“Hey mom, Carmen,” I say when I get into the kitchen.
“You got here just in time. Dinner is just about ready.” Carmen says with a smile.
I look over at the counter to see a huge roast with plenty of sides. “Do you need help? I can set the table.”
“That would be great,” Carmen says, and my mom smiles at me.
I set the table as they put out the dishes. Carmen grabs beers for everyone and a pitcher of water while I put glasses out.
The men come running when they hear the food is ready. It looks like a lot of food but, from the expressions on their faces, I could tell that they will be devouring most of it. They all take their seats with Leon at the head of the table, and my dad on the other end. Zane and Zeke leave a seat in between them for me to sit. I give them a nod as I help put the food on the table.
Just as I am walking to the table with the gravy boat, I stumble on nothing and unfortunately spill the whole thing.
That’s not the worst part. I manage to catch Leon with everything, and he stands up with a shout.
“Fuck!” he exclaims while ripping his gravy-soaked shirt off as I look at the now empty gravy boat with horror.
When I look up, I forget how to speak.
Some men just age beautifully and, damn, one of those men is Leon. Because holy shit.
That man has some serious muscles going on, not to mention the light dusting of grey hair on his chest. On his side is an eagle tattoo with one wing in the front, and I would have to guess that one stretches to his back.
I hardly even notice the red blotches of skin on his chest from being scalded because my eyes catch the two nipple piercings.
“Babe, you want to quit eye fucking my dad?” I hear Zane shout from somewhere. I honestly could care less right now when I have this masterpiece in front of me.
“Robyn, that goes for you too,” I hear my dad growl.
“How can I not? I mean, Carmen, you are one lucky lady,” my mom says with a sigh.
“Hey! We have matching piercings!” I say excitedly.
My words cause Zeke to choke on whatever he was drinking and bark out a laugh.
When I look up at Leon’s face, his cheeks are red.
Carmen comes running into the room with a shirt. “Here honey. Put this one on. I’d hate to have to gouge out our son’s Old Lady’s eyes on our first family dinner.”
My jaw drops at her words. “Wow, that was really psycho,” I whisper.
Everyone stares at me like they can’t believe I just said that. “I want to be you when I grow up.”
Carmen laughs and gives me a wink. “When you become an Old Lady, you will do and say whatever you can to put women in their place.”
“Well, it’s not like I want to fuck him or anything. But now I have an idea what Zane will look like when he’s older,” I say, and turn to look at Zane with a wink. He narrows his eyes at me.
“Woman, get over here and sit your ass down!” he growls out.
“Oh, I need to refill the gravy,” I say while holding up the empty gravy boat.
“Let me get that,” Carmen says, taking it out of my hands.
I can’t help but smile at her, but sit down anyways.
“I’m going to spank your ass later for checking out my dad,” Zane whispers in my ear, causing me to shiver.
“I look forward to it,” I whisper back.
“You guys know I can hear you right?” Zeke whispers loudly.
“We can all hear you,” my dad states.
I look at my mom.
“That’s way more than what I needed to know about my daughter’s activities tonight,” she announces.
“As long as you don’t hurt her. She’s still healing,” Leon warns.
“Maybe save that for a day when she’s healed,” Carmen says with a wink to Zane.
This family is crazy.
I love it.
Zane
I’m leaving my parents house shaking my head.
The night went better than I had even planned it to. Sure, it was crazy; but it was also full of laughter.
As much as I didn’t like Dani checking out my dad, it seemed to get her out of her nerves.
I could tell my parents approved of her, which means a lot.
Hey, I may be a grown man, but I want them to like the woman I want to spend my life with.
I always knew that they wanted me to be happy. They did the best they could for me, considering they spent most of their time looking for Zeke or riddled with guilt about losing him.
I take Dani back to the club. She is the reason that I haven’t stopped smiling all night.
When we get to the club, a bunch of brothers and club whores are partying.
I look over everyone and see Viking checking out a club whore who seems to be smirking at him.
I shake my head hoping that Ana doesn’t see that but, when I turn to the kitchen, I see her standing in the doorway looking at Viking with a sad, defeated expression.
“Go. I think your friend needs you,” I say softly to Dani.
“Thanks,” she says and gives me a light kiss before walking over to Ana.
I head to the bar and grab a beer, sitting close to where Viking is.
“What are you doing, brother?” I ask when I notice that he isn’t taking his eyes off the club whore.
Finally, he turns my way. “What do you mean?” he asks.
I let out a sigh. It might not be my place, but seeing that defeated expression on Ana’s face did something to me.
“You know what I mean. With the club whore. You’ve got a good woman at your side,” I tell him.
“I know she’s a good woman, brother. I’ve known that since I met her. Things are just going on that you don’t understand,” he says with a sigh.
“Well help me to understand. If you don’t want Ana anymore, then let her go,” I say.
He scoffs at my words. “You know it’s not that easy. She has got my patch, and my ring on her finger.”
“Well, if you don’t figure your shit out, you are going to lose the one woman you have; that is, if you haven’t already,” I say.
He drops his head with a sigh. “I know it, brother. These women here are nothing but temptation. That’s all it is. I haven’t touched them. I don’t plan on it. Ana always told me if I wanted to fuck someone else, to let her go instead of cheating on her.”
“When you guys were going through your shit a few years back, you said there wasn’t anything that would make you let her go. What changed?” I ask him.
“We just have seemed to hit a stall. I guess happily ever after doesn’t last forever. Sometimes it gets a bit boring fucking the same woman all the time. Never anything different. These women here aren’t wearing much, but Ana wouldn’t be caught dead in that. Always seems to cover up in her baggy clothes. She let herself go after we got married,” he says.
I look at him with disgust. “Brother, I don’t know what the fuck is going on with you, but you better figure your shit out because someone might come along and see the amazing woman she is, and you won’t have anyone to blame but yourself.”
“Not likely,” he says with a shake of his head.
Before I can say anything else, the club doors open and a voice shouts. “Guess who’s back!”
A grin spreads over my face. “Ice! What the fuck are you doing here?” I walk over and grab him in a hug.
“I finally fucking transferred. I didn’t want to say shit until it was approved, but my Prez told me this morning that I was free to come to the mother chapter, and that the mother chapter Prez approved it, so here I fucking am!” he says with a grin.
“Well, it’s about fucking time,” I tell him and walk him over to the bar for a drink.
“Finally fucking left that place. It was a good club and good brothers, well, most of them; but I couldn’t stand to be around them anymore, you know?” he says.
I nod my head in understanding. “I get it, brother. I would feel the same if I was in your shoes.”
Dani walks over to me, but I don’t miss the glare she sends Viking’s way. It was quick, and I would have missed it if I wasn’t looking at her, but I caught it.
“Hey babe, where’s Ana?” I ask, pulling her into my arms.
“Oh, she left,” she says coldly.
“Where the fuck did she go? She never told me,” Viking spits out.
“Like you even care,” Dani whispers low enough that only I hear, but she gives Viking a fake smile. “She said she wasn’t feeling well, and that she would send you a text.”
He pulls out his phone, reads whatever is on it, and nods his head.
“Is she okay?” I whisper in Dani’s ear so that Viking can’t hear me.
Dani shakes her head. “No, we heard everything you guys said.”
Fuck.
“Ice, did you come back for your love; the bag of potatoes?” Dani asks, smiling sweetly at Ice.
Ice fucking blushes and shakes his head. “Yeah, I don’t think I will ever fucking live that down.”
Dani nods with a laugh in agreement.
Ice tells her about transferring to this chapter, and Dani seems genuine when she tells him that she’s glad he’s here.
Things are always interesting here. That’s for sure.
It’s only just beginning.